Slices
Prepare
Read through the words of John Newton’s hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ (1779). How have you experienced God’s grace in your life?
Bible passage
Dead to sin, alive in Christ
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Explore
Some people – in the Roman church and across the centuries since – have cynically suggested that since we are forgiven by God’s grace (his undeserved mercy), we might as well go on sinning (v 1)! Paul strongly refutes such a view. That’s not what Christ’s good news is about. It’s about death and life (v 4). God’s grace is the key to this tension.
Our sinfulness is what brings death. But God brought the solution through his perfect Son, Jesus. In his death, the penalty for our sin was taken and, in him, we have ‘died to sin’ (v 2). In Christ, our old self has been crucified (v 6). Sharing in the death of Christ brings the promise of life (v 5). Jesus died, ‘once for all’ (v 10). You can be sure of life in him because he was raised from death and is not going to die again (v 9).
How should we respond to such costly grace? We can easily be tempted to turn away from what is right and allow ourselves to go sin’s way (v 13). Remember what God in Christ has done for you. Choose to turn away from the old sinful desires and offer yourself to him. Grace rules now (v 14).
Respond
How might living under his grace make a difference in your own life and to those who live around you?
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Chronicles 4–6; 2 Corinthians 11
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray for All Together camp taking place next weekend. This camp is specifically for families who adopt or foster children. Pray that the families would have a chance to relax and connect with others and for Steve and Judy Hutchinson as they lead the event.
