Why Can't I do That?

I overheard a co-worker the other day talking about a u-haul truck passing him like he was standing still and later saw the same truck pulled over up the road and being glad that he was. This got me thinking of times when I too saw someone passing me by smiling when I saw them pulled over up the road. There are many times when I see someone doing something against the law on the road and wondering where a cop is when you need one. I think to myself that if I did that I would never get away with that. Do these thoughts come out of wanting to see the unlawful punished or that if I can’t get away with it why should others?
There are many times in the Bible when men and women of God wonder why the wicked prosper. The Bible teaches us that calamity falls on the unjust and the just alike, yet sometimes the ungodly prosper while the godly know little but suffering. Job in his response to his friend’s counsel says in Job 21:7 “Why do the wicked live and become old, yes, become mighty in power?” David seems to cry out to God for vengeance on those who prosper while he is oppressed. In psalm 17:10-14; “They have closed up their fat hearts; With their mouths they speak proudly. They have now surrounded us in our steps; They have set their eyes, crouching down to the earth, as a lion is eager to tear his prey, and a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O lord, confront him, cast him down; Deliver my life from the wicked with your sword, with Your hand from men, O Lord, from men of the world who have their portion in life. And those whose belly You fill with hidden treasure. They are satisfied with children, and leave the rest of their possessions for their babes.” Again the Psalmist is calling on God to make things right, but right in God’s eyes or right in our eyes? When we are surrounded by the wicked we call on God to sic’em as David did the passage above when he called on God to confront them and cast them down. It is right to call on God to deliver us from the wicked, but we tend to go further and ask God to have vengeance on these people because they are getting away with something we know that we can’t.
This thought process begins when we are children as we see our siblings doing things behind mom and dad’s backs and we think that they are getting one over on them. I know that when I hear some kids now speak to their parents I think to myself that if I had talked that way I would be picking my teeth up. But many times the thing we do not see is that others aren’t always getting away with what we think they are. I know that my own kids marveled that I was able to find out things that they had done, and I relayed stories to my mother of the things that I did when younger, she was amazed that I was still alive. As we grow in age and in the Lord we are to put these childish thoughts behind us, I Corinthians 13:11 “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” but instead we still rejoice when others are caught in there sin, and resent them when they seem to get away with something.
Are these thoughts born out of a desire to see people do right or out of envy to return to the pleasures of the flesh. There are times when I want to speed down an empty stretch of road to see how fast I can get my truck up too, but the fear of a ticket and higher insurance rates keep me from doing so. It seems that as I am thinking these thoughts someone passes me and does the thing that I wanted to do and I look for them to be pulled over up the road, but they are not.
There are people all around us that walk in ways that are in direct disobedience to God, and yet they seem to prosper, and it seems that while we, following the Lord and His will for our lives, do not enjoy the same pleasures they do. Why are we surprised when we see those who are not God’s walking outside of His will? They are just doing what they feel is right, so is there something wrong with them or with us? Since the unrighteous are being true to there nature why are we upset that they are allowed to walk in that nature? Since we are born with a new nature, in Christ, then shouldn’t we be acting according to that new nature? So in fact they are more inline with their nature than we are with ours.
Take heart no one gets away with sin, even if you talk with someone who seems to have everything and act according to their own will there is still something missing, something that those who are born again enjoy, peace, joy, a relationship with the Father, and everlasting life with Him. Galatians 6:7-9 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” We tend to tug at the hem of God’s robe to show Him what others are doing as if He can’t see what is going on this planet that He created. God sees all, and knows all, and He has a timetable that is beyond our understanding.
What of those who we see in church every Sunday and yet we know that there walk at home does not match what others see on Sunday? We say how can God allow them to get away with that? Galatians 6:1 says; “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you be tempted.” So instead of complaining that they are getting away with something right under the nose of God than we should reach out to them in love to bring them back to a right relationship with the Father.
Still this whole problem is our way of thinking. When I mentioned that if I talked to my mother the way I hear some kids do I would be picking my teeth up, goes with this thought. I NEVER WANTED TO! Obedience to God is born out of a desire to serve Him out of love. I had more respect for my mother than to talk to her that way and I am to have more respect for God than to walk in disobedience to Him. Yeah there was that fear of getting slapped for sassing now there is a phrase that you do not hear any more. And there is that fear of God that keeps me inline, but my thinking is to be that I want to be obedient to God out of love. When Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment, He replied; “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Matt. 22:37 To love God with all your heart is to place nothing in comparison to Him, and will go to great lengths to please and glorify him. To love God with your all your soul is to be ready to give up your life for him and also to live for Him giving him your service. To love God with all your mind, or as others translate as strength, is to employ all our power, gifts, and talents to service of Him. In all this we won’t want to break his commandments and walk in sin, nor desire to get away with something before God and man, for in reality all sin is sin before God.
Jesus added this thought in verse 39; “And the second is like it; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Are our prayers for those caught or seeming to get away with sin “get’em God” in hopes that God will catch them in their sin? Or are our prayers for them that God would chase after them that they might be saved from their sin. If we truly love God and our neighbor than we won’t be worried if someone is getting away with something that we can’t, but that others and ourselves aren’t sharing in the joy that a right relationship to the Father brings. Our prayers are to be God chase after us, and never let go, pursue us Lord till we are yours.

Hey Old Man!

Hey Old Man
Romans 6:1-10
1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2. Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3. Or do you not know that as many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into death? 4. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6. knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7. For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9. knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10. For the death that He died, He died to sin once and for all; but the live that He lives, He lives to God.
I cringe when I hear someone introduce their spouse as their old man or old lady, but what if every time I sin and revert back to my old nature I just dismiss my behavior, by introducing my old man to everyone, when in fact this is just what I fear I do. That by “getting in the flesh” others will see how I used to behave and I fear what this does to my witness for Christ, when in truth I should rejoice that it reminds me of who I used to be and who I am in Him. Yet I agree with Paul when he says in Romans 6:1, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” or in Romans 3:8, “And why not say, ‘Let us do evil that good may come’?” And again in Romans 5:20, “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” So are we by sinning providing an opportunity for God to display grace? Some believed that by sinning more that they were providing God an opportunity to display His grace so they should sin more and more, when in fact they were looking for justification to continue living in their old nature that God by His grace had freed them from.
Paul in verse two answers his own question by saying; “Certainly not!” There are a lot of times that we are able to answer our question of can I do this or that and still be a Christian, by the conviction of the Holy Spirit that comes with the new nature that we receive at our conversion. Instead of asking how much of old nature can we display and still be called a Christian, we should ask how much of my new nature can be revealed to bring glory to God. For is it not better to bring glory to God out of obedience, than it is out of His obedience to His nature to forgive for then God only glorifies Himself. Paul continues in verse two by saying; “How shall we who have died to sin live any longer in it?” If we have died to sin with the death of our old nature, than sinning is harmful and contrary to our new nature.
And yet I still sin, so am I ruled by my old nature or my new nature. Dying to our nature means that that we have died to the love of sin and its ruling power over us, so much so that it brings conviction upon us that we no longer love the things that we once did. For example; I love ice cream, and if left alone to my love of ice cream I would eat a ½ gallon in one day. I spend much too long in that wonderful isle in the store that displays my passion, gazing at the different flavors of ice cream that cry out to me to be eaten. I finally pick out my prize and proudly display it to everyone, rushing home with the one thought of grabbing a spoon and ripping open that carton of frozen bliss. Yet I know that too much ice cream is not good for me, so I temper my love for ice cream with the realization that it is not the best thing for me. Impassioned as this account is it serves as a dramatization of how were ruled by our old nature that ever seeks to regain what it had lost. Yet the conviction of our new nature wrestles with this thought, till we put it aside or surrender to it.
I n Galatians 2:19 Paul says; “For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.” The law brings us to an awareness of sin, but the law has no power to overcome sin, so we turn from the law and accept this new nature brought by the grace of God. One of the keys to faithful living is living the truth of our conversion by a faith that allows us to live as never before in our new nature. If this new nature were as easy to spot as adorning a new jacket, it would be easy for others to see when we put it on and walk in it and seem to take it off and walk in our old nature. Only through living for the good of others, born out of a love for them that comes from this new nature can others see a change. In verse three Paul tells us that we are not alone in this battle of the natures, Paul says: “as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus”. In Galatians 4:27 he repeats this thought when he says: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” To put on is to be identified with something. A baseball player puts on a uniform to be identified as a member of that team or a fan wears a hat, a shirt, a jacket to be identified as a fan of a certain team or person. We as Christians put on the nature of Christ and are identified with Him having received His Spirit, become interested in what He is interested in, and walking in His nature. We can adorn our cars with an outline of a fish, we can wear a cross around our necks, we can even display a honk if you love Jesus bumper sticker, but if you are continuing to act as you did before your conversion have you put on the nature of Christ?
Paul gives us this thought in verse three and four of Romans six; “were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Baptism identifies us with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection. In II Corinthians 5:21 is says; “For Him who knew no sin; God made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus took on our old nature that we might take on His nature. Since we could not die for the atonement of our sins, Jesus stepped in and did it for us, allowing us to offer up His death as atonement for them. In baptism we are coming forward and making a declaration of our association to the Savior.
Paul goes on to say; “we were buried with Him in baptism into death;” When Christ was buried, the separation between men and God was put to rest with Him. The redemption work of Christ was finished and salvation was available to all who, through faith, accepted the savior. His work of redemption forever enabled us to put aside the old man and walk in the newness of being a new creature in Christ. By comparing this process to baptism Paul probably was alluding to the act of immersion, where the whole body was placed under the water, symbolizing drowning and death. I wanted to experience this process and was baptized this way and it was a humbling experience, not to say that one way of baptizing is better than the other, I just wanted to experience it.
Verse four goes on to say: “Just as Christ was raised from the dead,” and in I Corinthians 6:14, “And God both raised up the Lord and will raise us up by His power.” Just as Christ was raised from the dead we too are raised from the death of our old nature to become a new creature at our conversion. This is symbolized at our baptism by the coming out of the water to life. Verse four also says that this is done by the glory of the Father. Just as it required the power of God to raise Jesus from the dead, we also rely on that power to help us raise from the defeat of sin in our lives to walk in the newness of life. We believe because of what Jesus did for us and we can also walk in our new nature because of what He did for us. This is not done so that we can think we are better than anyone else and walk in piety, giving glory to ourselves because we go to church, sing in the choir, become baptized, or even write on a web page, but in order that we may walk in obedience to God and enjoy the fullness of our relationship to Him.
Life denotes not only a physical life but a spiritual life, which we can possess only through faith in Jesus. Eternal life not only refers to duration of life, but to quality of life. It is a present life of grace and a future life of glory. Will my old nature surface now and again? It will, but by the grace of God I received at my conversion, I am able to put aside this old nature and walk in the fullness of a new life dedicated to the service and in honor to the One who died for me.