28 Oct Gospel People 03 – Citizenship

Romans 6:1-14

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ¹³ Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Let me start with a little bit of my story. Not too long ago, when I was 18, I went to Dallas to study at a Bible College. I did pretty well. I was one of the top student and I served in a local church. I was living the Christian life and I was sure that God was lucky to have a guy like me on his side. I was sure I was going to have a great future with God. He will use me to preach around the world and I’ll be the next Billy Graham. My future is bright because God is going to help me accomplish all my good desires. Then on my fourth year in Dallas, the church I served in was relocating to a new place that was an hour drive from where I lived. So I checked out some other churches in the area where I lived and I heard one of my teachers is pastoring a church in the area. So I went one Sunday and that day changed everything. That day, the very first time I came to that church, God decided to hit me with a gospel bomb. The pastor was preaching on sin, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And I did not know what happened. I have heard sermon on this passage so many times. In fact, I studied it in class. But for the very first time, I truly understood the passage. I was a sinner. I mean, I knew I was a sinner but I never thought of myself as a bad sinner. I thought of myself as a good sinner. Oxymoron. But finally for the first time my eyes were opened to who I really was and to who Christ is. It’s like light suddenly invaded my darkness. I can see! And no church can do this. No ministry can do this. No Bible College can do this. Only God can. I realized that I was a bad sinner and Christ is a great savior. I experienced a gospel awakening when I was 22.

So here is what happened at that time. I experienced the gospel. I began to savor the book of Romans. I mean, you cannot love the gospel and not love the book of Romans. The two goes together. Here is the thing though. Even though I experienced the gospel, my life was still a mess. I was still struggling with the same sin that I struggled with before. I was still enslaved to lust. Then when I was 23, God graciously allowed me to be diagnosed with leukemia. It was through leukemia that I knew that the gospel is not only true but it is also sweet. I tasted the sweetness of the grace of God toward me that radically transformed the way I approach life and ministry. However, I was still faced with a dilemma. In my heart, I love God. I know that I know that I love Jesus. Don’t tell me that I don’t love Jesus. I’ll punch you in the face. But at the same time, I still had lots of baggage. I was still struggling with lust, pride, and selfishness. Those baggage did not automatically went away the moment I understood the gospel or even after I tasted the sweetness of the gospel. I found in myself both the desire to love Christ, to give all my life for him, and at the same time I also struggled with sinful behaviors. This struggle led me to this vicious cycle of falling into sin, repenting and loving the Lord, falling into same sin again, repenting again, on repeat. And I was torn in the inside because I had a deep love for Christ but I had a serious sin cycle at the same time. There was a gap in me between what I believed and how I lived out my life. I continued to try to fill the gap but I failed consistently and I felt like a fraud. Anyone with me?

This is why I am very excited about our passage for tonight. The passage that we just read has the potential to radically transform your lives. John Piper says that this text is dealing with one of the greatest issue in Christian life. If Piper says so, who am I to argue with the fourth person of the trinity. But I know it is true not because Piper says so but because this is the text that God used to set me from that vicious cycle. And my prayer and hope is that God will do the same to you through this text. That is why I come with a big expectancy tonight that many of you will be set free from that vicious cycle that you are in.

What is the gospel? The gospel is not a good advice. The word gospel literally means “good news.” If I can sum up the gospel in one sentence it would be something like this. The gospel tells you that there is absolutely nothing you can do to save yourselves but it also tells you that Christ has purchased your salvation fully and all you have to do to receive it is to trust him. No mortgage or loan. He paid it in full at the cross. You are saved by grace through faith alone. You don’t have to pay a single cent. The blood of Jesus has purchased you. You belong to Christ forever. And nothing can separate you from his love. In a single moment of faith, your eternal salvation is secured. You are forgiven of all your sins. There is nothing you can do to undo what Christ has done for you. Not even your sin can overcome the gospel. Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. The bigger the sin, the brighter the grace of God shines. Your salvation is received, not achieved. This is extremely radical. This is the gospel.

Now, Paul is a very brilliant man. He understands how radical the gospel is and he anticipates the question that people will ask when they hear the gospel. Romans 6:1 – What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? The train of thought goes like this. Since my sin makes grace shines bright, and the more I sin, the brighter grace shine, so I should sin more. Ladies, you understand this train of thought very clearly. How do you make yourself look slim in the picture? It’s easy. The answer is you stand next to someone fatter than you. The fatter they are, the slimmer you look. Right? Don’t pretend like you don’t know ladies. I see you do this all the time. And how does Paul answers this question? Romans 6:2 – By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Paul answers it very strongly. I’m going to teach you one of my favourite Greek words. It is “mey genoito” which literally means “may it never be.” So girls, if a guy ask you out on a date and you have absolutely no interest in him, answers him “mey genoito boy.” There is no way you can continue to live in sin. Why? Paul continues with a question, “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” This is a rhetorical question. Paul is not expecting an answer. He is making a point. It’s like when my parents asked me, “Yos, you are already 32. When …?” I do not need to finish the sentence. You know it. And my parents are not expecting an answer. They don’t want me to reply, “Wait till I am 40.” The point they are making is, “Get married tomorrow if possible!” Right? The point Paul makes is that Christians are those who died to sin. If you died to sin, you cannot live in sin! Are you with me? The good news tonight is that you do not have to live in sin. You can be set free from your vicious cycle of sin.

Paul is going to unpack his point in the following verses. Three things that we will talk about tonight. Union with Christ; Consider your union with Christ; Live out your union with Christ.

Union with Christ

I’m going to teach you an important Christian doctrine called union with Christ. The word union, which comes from a word united in verse 5, is actually a horticultural term that means grafted into another tree. So what they do is they would take a dead branch and engrafted that branch into the root of another tree so that the branch would receive its life directly from the root of the living tree. It is a metaphor of what happen to us when we become Christians. We have been inserted to the very root of Christ’s life. We are united with him. It means this: Whatever is true about Christ is true about us. Christ’s past is our past and Christ’s future is our future. We become one with Christ. Rankin Wilbourne gives a really good illustration. It is like you are working in Disneyland. At one time, you are simply nobody. You are just another worker in Disneyland. No one cares about you. But the moment you put on that Mickey Mouse’s costume, suddenly everyone in the park loves you. Suddenly everyone wants to take picture with you. In a sense, that is what union in Christ means. You are not just you. You are found in Christ. Whatever is true about Christ is true about you since you are in him. And this union is reflected in two ways in this passage.

First, we are united with Christ in his death. Romans 6:5-7 – ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. You first need to understand that there are only two category of people. You either a slave of God or you are a slave of sin. That’s it. There is no third category. You either live for God or you live for something else. But you must live for something. You must serve something. No one in this world is truly free. And whatever you serve is your master. “Yos, I don’t serve anyone. I just do whatever I want. I am a free person.” No, you are not. You might think you are but you are actually enslave by your own desire.

David Powlison, a Christian counsellor, identifies four masters at the centre of every human heart. They are: power, control, approval and comfort. Which one is yours? Mine is approval. Ever since I became a RSI pastor, I only have one recurring nightmare. I am not lying to you. I don’t have nightmare a lot but every time I do, it is always the same. It is me standing in front of you not knowing what to preach. And eventually all of you left the church and I am standing in an empty room. Here is the thing. You have to serve something. And these 4 things are not bad things. They are good things. There is nothing wrong with power, control, approval and comfort. But they become a problem when they become our masters. Sin makes a good thing becomes an ultimate thing. Sin makes them god in our life and we are enslaved by it. The bad news is that all of us is enslaved to sin in the body of sin. But here is the good news. Because of our union with Christ, whatever is true about Christ is true about us. So when Christ died at the cross, our old self, our body of sin, was crucified and died together with Christ. Therefore we died to sin and have been set free from sin!

It does not mean we are no longer tempted to sin. Some people try to interpret it this way. They said that because you have died, now you are as corpse to sin. You are unresponsive to sin. You no longer feel the temptation and the power of sin. I think this is an unhealthy teaching. One that is incompatible with Christian experience. I’ve been alive for quiet sometime and I have yet to meet a single Christian who is immune to temptation of sin. If you meet one, just know that they are lying to you. So what does it mean to be dead to sin? It means that the penalty of sin has been paid. We don’t owe anything to sin. Christ has paid the full penalty of sin by dying at the cross. The wages of sin is death and Christ has died to fulfil the requirement of sin. And when Christ was crucified, our old self was crucified with him. Christ’s death is our death. Sin is no longer our master. It is like a man who is convicted of a crime and is sent to serve his time in jail for 5 years. For those 5 years, the man was under punishment for his crime. But what happen after the 5 years is over? The man is a free man. His old crime no longer has claim over him. Why? Because he already paid for his crime. Translation: Because of my union with Christ, Christ’s death is my death. I have paid the price of sin when Christ was crucified. Sin is no longer my master. The old Yosi and all his baggage is dead. Oh sin still exists. Sin still continue to tempt me but it has no dominion over me. I don’t have to serve sin anymore. I can say no to sin.

As amazing as that is, there is another thing that happen because of our union with Christ. We are not only united with Christ in his death, but second, we are united with Christ in his resurrection. Romans 6:8-10 – ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. Don’t miss it. This is beautiful. The gospel not only gives us out-of-hell-free-card, but the gospel also gives us power of new life in Christ. The gospel is not just a pardon but it is also a power. Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection from old life to new life. You are no longer the old you but you are the new you. And this resurrection not only make you a new creation in Christ right now, but it also guarantee your future physical resurrection. I love the way Paul uses the word “certainly” in verse 5. Paul has no doubt of your eternal salvation. If you are united with Christ, you will certainly experience future physical resurrection.

I love the way John Stott describes it. Our biography is written in two volumes. Volume one is the story of the old Yosi, the Yosi before Christ. Volume two is the story of the new Yosi, the Yosi after I was made a new creation in Christ. Volume one of my biography filled with me being enslaved to my lust and sinful passion and it ended with my death. I was a sinner. I deserved to die and I did die. I died in my union with Christ who have become my substitute. But that’s not the end of the story. That’s just the end of volume 1 of my biography. Volume two of my biography began with my resurrection. My old life to the slavery of sin has ended and my new life to God has begun. If you are Christian, you are no longer in the volume 1 of your life. That part is over. You are now living in volume 2 of your biography. Praise God for volume 1 but that story has ended. You are now a new creation. You are citizens of the kingdom of God by your union with Christ.

Consider your union with Christ

Romans 6:11 – So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. This verse is life changing for me. This is the first exhortation in the book of Romans. After six and a half chapters of explaining the bad news and the good news of the Gospel, Paul finally tells us to do something. And he tells us to consider something. I love the word consider. I will teach you another Greek word. This is a very important word. “Logizomai.” Paul uses this word a lot. It is translated into English as consider or reckon. It is actually an accounting term that is used to acknowledge something as true. But it is not wishful thinking or forcing yourself to believe something that is not true to be true. It is not pretending but considering. Since I am not an accountant and I don’t like numbers, let me explain it different way. It is like having a wild card when you play UNO. Now all the non-accountant nod their head. When you play UNO and you have a wild card, that card can be used to replace any colour that your do not have. We consider the wild card as the colour of the card that we do not have. So here Paul is giving his first command in the book of Romans for us to consider our union with Christ. Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. Transformation does not happen automatically. It requires active thinking. It requires us to consider our union with Christ. What is amazing about the thing that we have to consider is that it not just a duty, it is a fact. It is not just an idea, it is a reality. It is not just an experiment but it is an event. It is something that has happened. You are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

So what happen when we consider our union with Christ? Two things. First, our identity is united to Christ’s identity. What is true of Christ is true of me. Let me give you an illustration. Let’s say there is a poor boy who worked really hard to earn money. He worked 60 hours a week, he did not go on shopping spree, he saved lots of money, he ate Indomie every day for 10 years, he graduated with Cumae laude, and he became a very successful and rich man. He became rich and successful through his hard work and sweat. He did all the work. And then he fell in love with a common girl from a poor family and decided to marry her. It’s very Korean drama-ish. What happen to this poor girl when he marry the rich man? She instantly became very rich. How? Through legal union. One person did all the hard work to become very rich and the other person just get married. This is the power of legal union. Now listen to me. If legal union is that powerful, how much more is our union with Christ? What is true of Christ is true of us. Therefore, my past, present and future life does not define me. Christ defines me. Christ is my identity. I am united to Christ. Everything else in this world can be taken away from me. You can take away my parents, and I am no longer a child. You can take away this church, and I am no longer a pastor. You can take away my voice and I am no longer a preacher. But there is one thing that you cannot take away from me. You cannot take Christ away from me because I am united to Christ. Nothing can take away my identity in Christ. Christ is my identity.

The second thing that happen when we consider our union with Christ is we have a new life. St. Augustine, one of the early church fathers, had a very messy past. Prior to his conversion, he used to party like a wild animal. He lived out his life pursuing his sexual desire and he had lots of mistresses. So one day, after he became Christian, he was walking and one of his old mistresses showed up. She came after him and started to flirt with him. She tried to get his attention and invited him to her house to do you know what. I don’t know how girls in those days flirt but apparently this woman was very aggressive. So Augustine acknowledges her presence and say, “Thank you. Oh that’s wonderful. You think I am handsome and sexy? I think so too. That’s nice of you. Okay. Glad to see you. Good bye. Jesus loves you.” And he walks away. The woman is confused. She thought maybe Augustine did not recognized her. So she grabs him and say, “Aurelio, it is I.” I love how Augustine responds to her. Augustine looks at her, smiles and says, “Yes I know it is you dear lady. But it is not I.” What Augustine saying is, “I know it is you. I know I used to be attracted to you. I know I used to sleep with you. But Aurelio is no more. It is not me. I am Augustine. I am a new creation in Christ.”

The same is true about all of us. All of us had masters that we used to serve. All of us were driven by our sinful desires. We can say with Augustine that we used to sleep around. We used to be addicted to porn, drugs and others. We used to be selfish. We used to crave for approval. We used to “___”. Name whatever it is. But here is the good news for us. Sin will come and tempt us. Sin will call out our name and say, “Yosi, it is I.” But because of our union with Christ, we can look at sin in the face and say, “Sin, I know it is you. But it is not I. The old Yosi is dead. I have a new life. You are no longer my master. Christ is my master. So, I don’t have to listen to you. Astalavista babe!” It does not mean that we are immune to sin. Christian is not one who is sinless but one who is empowered by the gospel to sin less. We are not enslaved by sin. We have a new life and power to resist sin. Therefore, what marks our life is not perfection but continuous repentance.

Live out your union with Christ

Romans 6:12-14 – ¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ¹³ Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

This part of the passage is filled with commands. After we consider our union with Christ, then now we are told to live out our union with Christ. Notice that is not a passive words. It is an active words. We are told to do two things. One negative and one positive. Lets start with negative. Paul commands us to not present our members to sin as instrument of unrighteousness. Okay, let’s chat. Hear me clearly. Sin is not your pet. Sin only has one purpose. Sin wants to eat you and destroy you. You should not try to domesticate sin. Sin is not something to be controlled. It is something to be killed. So when you see sin, don’t try to pet it. Take out your gospel machine gun and start shooting. Are you with me on that? But here is my concern. Some of you are not going to like me for saying this but I need to say it anyway because I love you. You and I know that sin is an enemy that need to be killed. However, many of us intentionally, and I’m using the word intentionally intentionally, many of us intentionally put ourselves in a position where we are very vulnerable to sin. It expresses itself in different ways. For those of you who are dating, you know that sex outside of marriage is sin, but why do you intentionally continue to put yourself where you are vulnerable to the lure of sex?

And for you singles, don’t think you have a pass on this one. I have greater concern for you because there are more singles in RSI than couples. Singles, why do you intentionally put yourself in a place that leaves you vulnerable to sin? Let me just give you one common example, clubbing. First, let me acknowledge that clubbing is not a sin. So don’t hear me saying that if you go to club, you sin. I did not say that. But this is what I am saying. Clubbing leaves you very vulnerable to sin. You know it. I know it. Every corner of a club is filled with temptation to sin. Just by entering a club, you are straight away tempted with sin of drunkenness and sin of lust. Now I know every now and then there will be guys who said that going to club does not affect them badly. In fact they said that seeing the wonderful girls in tight and short skirt only increase their thankfulness and worship to God for creating such a wonderful creation. Prettt. “Yos, I only go to club to socialize. To have fun.” Okay, but then why do you dress provocatively? You are trying to get his or her attention even though you know that whoever you meet at the club is not a good match for you. You don’t go to a club to meet a Christ-loving guy or girl. You go to RSI for that. The person you meet at the club only wants one thing. They want your body. So, why? “Yos, I only go there to dance. I love to dance.” Well, okay. But by doing that you are leaving yourself very open to sin. You might not sin yet but you increase the likeliness of you falling into sin. Paul is very clear here. Do not present your members to sin. Stay as far away as possible from what might lead you to sin. So can we go clubbing or not? Let me give you my rule of thumb. If clubbing can increase your love for Christ, then go for it. If you can dance and it makes you want to sing “I love Jesus” then go clubbing for the glory of Christ. I am serious. But if clubbing takes away your joy in Christ and leaves you very vulnerable to sin, then stay away from it. You are new creation in Christ.

But Paul does not stop in the negative. He also gives us the positive. He tells us to present ourselves to God. I love it. Paul does not say stop doing bad things and start doing good things. No. That is not the gospel. That is morality. What he tell us to do is to pursue God. Pursue Christ. This is a different game. Our primary call is not to live a good life but to know the author of life. We are to present ourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. This is the gospel. Transformation happen as we pursue Christ. Here is what I want you to get. You do not grow in Christ-likeness accidentally. You intentionally pursue it! You intentionally pursue things that help you to know Christ. That is the reason we do everything we do. That is the reason we gather here every Sunday. That is the reason why we do small community. That is the reason we read our Bible and pray. That is why we do GKM discipleship. It is to know Christ. Transformation happens as we know Christ more and more. This is how we fight sin. Christians fight sin by pursuing Christ. And when we do that, we present our members to God as instrument of righteousness. God will do his work in and through us as we pursue to know him. Our union with Christ happens the very second we put our faith in Christ. But living out our union with Christ takes constant practice. It takes a moment to declare Independence Day but it takes years to live out our independence. We need to learn to live out our new citizenship.

The strength to do that comes from the next verse. It is a very beautiful verse. Romans 6:14 – For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Pay attention that verse 14 is not an imperative. It is not a command. It is a declaration. It does not say “Do not let sin have dominion” but it says “Sin will have no dominion over you.” It is a good news that sin has no dominion over us since we are not under the law but under grace. This is the gospel. So how does it look like in our daily lives? Let me illustrate it for you. When parents have their first baby, they tend to get super excited about everything the baby does. By their third baby, they don’t care anymore. I remember when my niece first started learning to walk. Just like every baby, it begins with her holding on to something firm. And slowly she begins to let go and begin to fall forward. At that time, she has two options, either to fall head first and die (a very unlikely scenario since her grandma, grandpa, dad, mom and auntie are surrounding her), or she moves one leg forward and begin to take a step. I remember when she took that first step. The whole house celebrates and clap as if she has won a gold medal in Olympic. Her mom is taking lots of pictures and tell everyone, “my baby is walking!” No, she’s not walking. She just took one step, and then the next step, she fell. Now at this time none of us think Elle is dumb. Her dad does not yell at her. “Cmon! What’s so hard about taking another few step. Don’t be so weak. You are my daughter. You have my blood. Everyone in my family were able to walk without struggle. You are not supposed to fall. It must be your side of the family Sher.” My brother in law does not say that. If he does, he will probably get kick out of the family. But the whole family celebrates that one small step she took.

The same goes with God. He does not curse and yell at us for stumbling. But he celebrates that one step we take. We are not under law but under grace. We are united with Christ. Oh yes we will continue to fall and struggle but God will constantly reminds us that he loves us and he celebrates our progress. He will keep reminding us of our new identity. That his loves for us has nothing to do with our performance but because of our union with Christ. He loves you. So, do not present your members to sin but present yourselves to God. Pursue him. He is waiting for you with an open arm ready to embrace you. Live out your union with Christ and grow in Christ-likeness.

One more thing before we end. Some of you might have realize that I leave out few verses earlier in the sermon. Now, I want to go back to it. I want to talk to you about baptism. Romans 6:3-4 – ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Let me say few things about baptism. First, baptism does not save you. We do not believe in salvation by getting wet. Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. Second, baptism is not necessary for salvation. So if you put your faith in Christ and you have not been baptised and you die tonight, God will not give you minus mark in heaven and send you back to earth to get baptise first before you can enter eternity with him. Baptism is not necessary for salvation.

Then, why baptism? Good question. First, because Jesus commanded us to be baptised. It is part of the great commission for us to baptise people. Second, it is our way of showing our obedience to Christ. Christ commanded it, so we obey. Third, and this is what Romans 6 shows us, baptism is a picture of our union with Christ. When you are dunk into the water, it symbolises that the old you is dead with Christ. You are buried together with Christ. And when you are lifted out of the water, it symbolises your new life with Christ. Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection. Now you have a new life. That is why it is important for you to be baptised after you understand the gospel and put your faith in Christ. Your baptism symbolize your union with Christ. If you were baptised when you were young or at a time when you have yet to fully put your faith in what Christ has done for you, then you were not baptised. You were just wet.

So tonight, I want to challenge some of you to either be baptised for the first time, or consider re-baptism. I was baptised when I was 12 before I truly understand the gospel and put my faith in Christ. I was rebaptised when I was 24. And again, baptism does not save you. But baptism functions like a wedding ring. It is a show of public commitment that you belong to Christ. Water baptism does not save you just as a wedding ring does not define your love for your spouse. But let me put this way. I’ll be very nervous, extremely nervous, if I see Edrick hanging out with some girls without his wedding ring. Edrick without wedding ring does not mean that he does not love Ellis anymore. But I’ll be sure to call him and keep my eyes on him constantly. So that’s the function of water baptism. If you have put your faith in Christ and have yet to be baptised, or if you were baptised in the past without you putting your faith fully in Christ, tonight I am inviting you to put on your wedding ring. If you love Jesus, what stop you from being baptised?

Discussion:

1. How would you describe the doctrine of “Union with Christ?”
2. What does it mean to be united with Christ in his death?
3. What does it mean to be united with Christ in his resurrection.
4. “Consider” your union with Christ. What does Paul mean by “consider”? What effect does it have in your life?
5. “Christian is not one who is sinless but one who is empowered by the gospel to sin less.” Explain.
6. Read Romans 6:14. Explain the significance of this verse.
7. What do we need to do live out our union with Christ? Give personal examples.
8. Why Baptism is important?