11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. ~ Romans 6:11-14
In v.11-12 of today's passage we read, "11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts."
The Apostle began v.11 with the word "likewise" because he is tying the instructions he gives in today's passage with the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus mentioned in the previous verse. Every believer in Christ "has died to sin with Christ" which means that we have been given the power to say "no" to sin and we now do not have to obey sin. As we have pointed out before, sin is selecting another definition of anything other than God's definition. When we trusted Christ as our personal Savior, His power was made available to us to choose God's way of thinking and living. When we reject sin, we do so because Christ lives in us.
The first step involved in being defined by God's culture is to "reckon ourselves dead to sin." The Apostle utilized the Greek word from which we get our English word "logic." This word means "to calculate," or, "to estimate something to be true." It means: What God says to be true in His word is true, thus we choose to live our lives accordingly. So, to "reckon" something is to believe something to be true so much that we make choices in concert with that truth.
When we turn away from sin, we discover that our old habits are deeply engrained in us. In time, we discover that we have the power to say "no" to sin because we have the life of Christ within us. Thinking His thoughts and walking in His ways will always be a struggle this side of heaven, but as we grow in our faith, learning God's faithfulness, we will move forward toward the freedom the Lord Jesus died to grant us.
I think of the Robert the Bruce in the movie, Braveheart who was a "Nobleman." Along with other "Noblemen," Robert the Bruce had made a pact with King Longshanks of England that they would turn a blind eye as the English soldiers would periodically invade Scotland, pillage the land and rape the woman. Just as long as the English would not bother the land or the women of the Noblemen. At the end of the movie, Robert the Bruce, the former coward, had had enough. And in the end of the movie it was Robert the Bruce who turned his back on his cowardice ways and fought for the freedom of Scotland.
This is a picture of today's passage. We decide to be defined by God, not just for our freedom, but for the freedom of all those who would be touched by the ministry of God in and through our lives. This is why I say that our sanctification is not so much about us changing as it is about our lives being useful to others who see God's work of transformation in and through our lives.
In v.13-14 of today's passage we read, "13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."
The second step involved in this process of our sanctification is in "presenting ourselves to God," which is when we experience intimacy with God. When we trust God, then allow Him to define us by obeying His Word, it will be then that we experience His heart in and through our lives. Since the Lord Jesus died for us, He conquered sin and death. As a result, sin is a dethroned monarch. Even though we know that our sin has been forgiven us, dethroned sin will always try to stake its claim on us. But, we do not have to obey it. When we let God define us, we make choices that are in concert with His word. We choose not to steal because God has told us not to steal, and, we choose to tell the truth because God has told us not to lie.
The word "instruments" can be translated "weapons." Instead of allowing the devil to use our minds, our wills and our emotions, for his purposes, we choose to yield our souls to God, allowing Him to define us. This is basic military strategy. We do not give our weapons to the enemy, and, as soldiers, we never give the enemy the upper hand. So, we choose the weapons of our God to battle the mental games the enemy tries to play with us. This is why it is so important for us to hide God's word in our hearts.
Most believe that once we become believers in Christ that the goal is to adhere to the Law of Moses. As we have pointed out, this is impossible even though we have been made righteous in God's eyes. We have been
so engrained with this way of thinking that when we sin, even as believers in Christ, we think God gets angry with us and we have to go through some period of time to earn His kindness back. This is not so.
The believer in Christ is no longer under the Law. Now, we are under God's grace which is the greatest change agent in the world. You see, once we become saturated by God's grace, our hearts are changed so much that we will find that we can't wait to be defined by God; not because we have to but because we want to. The Lord Jesus died so that we could not only be righteous in God's eyes, but also that we might know His life of holiness in and through our lives. The wholeness that His holiness brings to our souls has such an affect on us that we will daily live out of this idea: Less of me and more of Him.
