The summer months is memorizing a verse of scripture one for each week tying together with the theme Those of you who were here last week received one of these green cards Undoubtedly that is well worn already this week as you've labored over the first verse
And if you need another one, there are some extras out there. You can wear them out. Maybe in one week worrying about this Others of you didn't even get a card last week We want to encourage you to pick one up at the information desk and make use of it Today's memory verse deals with our union with Jesus Christ Romans 6 for therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life
So easy that is Let's all try it together our purpose in printing these up Using the New King James version so that we could all memorize from the same version and quote them together at least occasionally This is the longest verse of the month and perhaps the most challenging therefore to our our feeble minds And so let's attempt to say this together. I recognize by the way difficulty That is some of us memorize out of other versions
You say why did you go to the New King James? Well because That's the closest to the King James And those of us who are older have memorized out of the King James all of our lives and we're used to that kind of language And so it helps us now you young ones don't have any trouble memorizing But those of us who are older need something a little more familiar, so that's why we're using the New King James version Say it together with me Therefore we were buried with him by 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 Romans 6 4
Right very good. Thank you some of you made your mouth move that looked good Nothing was coming out, but there was nice assimilation Next week, it's a little easier Colossians 4 2 as we talk about prayer But this morning before we come to the Lord's table we want to have time for a brief meditation at least on our theme of union Enjoying your new relationship, and I'd like you to turn with me to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verses 14 through 17 For the love of Christ controls us
Having concluded this That one died for all Therefore all died You see there is the union the one who died for all is of course the Lord Jesus And therefore all died how because we died with him that's the point and romans 6 4 There's a good reference for that And it says he died for all The day who lives should no longer live for themselves But for him who died and rose again on their behalf Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh
Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh yet now we know him thus no longer Therefore if any man is in Christ He is a new creature The old things passed away Behold new things have come A pastor friend of mine was rather new at his church One sunny morning he was running a little bit late to the first service And as he came off the expressway Near where his church is located He decided he didn't have time to stop at that sign that's red with the sign
He didn't ride on through it intending to drive another block and pull into the church lot The problem is there was a law officer there observing his actions And even though it was Sunday morning the Lord's Day He felt that he needed to apply the law And so he pulled into the parking lot after my pastor friend and stopped him with his lights flashing And so he pulled into the parking lot after my pastor friend and stopped him with his lights flashing Now you have to get the picture in mind
People are driving into church And here is their new pastor Pulled into the parking lot with a policeman behind him and the lights flashing
He said may I see your license, please? He pulled out the license and gave it to the gentleman He went back to his car and was writing up the ticket, but he also punched in The information from the license to the computer He got out of the car and came up and asked my friend to get out of the car And he put his hands up on the car Now remember church members are driving in during this whole time He frisked him put handcuffs on him and put him in the back of the police car
He said what in the world happened?
Well my friend almost 20 years ago Had joined the SDS That some of you may remember was a subversive organization In our nation I belong to young Americans for freedom That was never put in the computer for some reason But the SDS was a A counter Political organization And therefore the SDS was a A counter against the law And therefore those who belong to it were put into the law officer's computers And still almost 20 years later because of his association With the SDS back in college
When he is pulled over for any kind of a minor violation he's put into cuffs Until they can get the whole thing straightened out What an embarrassing thing to happen to him None of us is without identification Not only is that true on a personal level but it's true on a spiritual level In the eyes of God we have identity Personally and corporately Every one of us has identified God knows us individually with our unique characteristics He's built into us as our creator
But we're also identified by him with a group By our natural birth we are identified with our forefather Adam By our supernatural birth we gain a new identification With the Lord Jesus Christ We today are either in union with Adam And in sin Or we are in union with Jesus Christ And with righteousness There is no alternative to one of those two unions We need to understand what union means Union does not mean unity We're not in unity with Jesus Christ merely
I might illustrate that by what we saw a couple of weeks ago over in the church office backyard As we looked out the window we saw two geese And following behind the geese were 20 goslings All of them right in a row going after mom and dad Reminds me of a great far side cartoon You may not enjoy far side you have to have a rather perverse sense of humor to enjoy it But I recall seeing one where there was a duck going this way And right behind mom a duck was little duck one and little duck two
And right behind little duck two still moving in that same direction was one of the famous snakes That the gentleman draws in his cartoons And the snake was looking out at you with a big grin on his face And the snake looked like this Went back one hump, two humps, three humps And he was about to get two more humps Well that is unity, bringing things together Bringing things together But union is different Union shares vital life
The best illustration of union is perhaps the vine and the branches That Jesus talks about in John chapter 15 Union means that we share the same life And that is exactly what it means when we are in union with Adam We share the same life of Adam, a life of sin, condemnation and death But when we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ we have a new union It is a union with Jesus Christ and we share his life, eternal life And his righteousness and heaven
By bringing us into union with his son, God has given to us a new relationship with himself And it is a relationship that he wants us to enjoy And I believe that we will enjoy it if we learn to live in the light of two freedoms Which this union involves It is in the first place a union from and in the second place a union for Excuse me, a freedom for Freedom from what?
Freedom from living for oneself It says in 2 Corinthians 5, 14 He died for all that they who live should no longer live for themselves You and I will learn to enjoy our union with Jesus Christ And we will experience the joy of it when we learn to live in the light of these two freedoms The first one being the freedom from living for ourselves Living for oneself is intrinsic and fundamental to the nature of the sinner
It is the final test, it is the bottom line of what is important to one who is in union with Adam and with sin Our culture is perhaps the most overt, bold, and unashamed of this ethic of living for self Than any that have gone before us In previous generations, living for oneself was certainly there But it was politely disguised It was not admitted to, it was called other things It was always the hidden agenda in every deal or every decision or every motive
But it was politely covered over and called something else But we today have become so blatant and open about living for oneself That we have come to say that living for oneself is the highest good Duty to self is the ethical revolution of the 1980s We demand our freedoms The freedom is demanded to live the way one wants to live To pursue one's personal interests, yes, to live for oneself That's why we want to be free, to live for ourselves I always say that's part of our heritage
Liberty is, but I remind you that liberty in the early United States culture was for the common good Not necessarily for the personal good Today we have changed liberty for the common good, for the social good To be liberty for personal rights and for self fulfillment The fact is that this liberty, this freedom to live for oneself Is the cruelest kind of slavery of all in the end For living for oneself does not liberate, it does not ennoble the soul It does not even make one truly happy
Self-centeredness is like a drawstring on a bag of misery and disappointment The harder one pulls on it, the more constricted the bag becomes And the more impossible to escape from it What is said a different way, self-centeredness is a poison That is sweet to the tongue, but deadly to the soul I ask you, have you ever met a self-centered person who is truly happy?
I dare say you have not, for self-centeredness does not bring joy to life, but misery in the end To be in union with Jesus Christ is to be one with the most selfless person who has ever lived Indeed, he laid down his life, he died for all, he gave himself up To be in union with him means that I am now free to live other than with self-interest As my primary motive for what I do I want to repeat that To be in union with Jesus Christ means that now I am free to live other than with self-interest
As my primary motive in what I do Let me balance this by saying that it's not wrong to include self-interest in making decisions Not to live for oneself does not mean that you must deny who you are by God's creation or his regeneration Not to live for oneself does not mean that you must deny your feelings Not to live for oneself does not mean that you must deny your God-given desires to have, to enjoy, and to be significant Those are God-given
The problem is when we begin to make self-interest our primary motive Then our God-given desire to have becomes covetousness And our God-given desire to enjoy becomes lust And our God-given desire to be significant becomes pride It is not wrong to include self-interest in making decisions We may in fact act with self-interest until that conflicts with the interests of others and especially of God As a child of God, you and I are in union with Jesus Christ
We are set free from slavery of living only for ourselves We can live otherwise If you and I want to enjoy our new relationship with God through Jesus Christ We must learn to exercise this first freedom Freedom from living only for self-interest A second freedom is a freedom for A freedom for living for Christ One united with Christ is freed from the tyranny of self-centeredness The love of Jesus Christ which converted now compels that believer to live with a certain self-abandon
He says, he died for all that they who live should no longer live for themselves but for him Who died and rose again on their behalf You and I have a second freedom which if we enter into will enable us to enjoy our new relationship with God It is the freedom we have to live for Jesus Christ There are three statements about this that I want to make briefly One is that this freedom is granted to every child of God without exception Every child of God is free to live for Christ
Secondly, this freedom is used only by deliberate choice to forsake self-interest For the good of others and for the glory of God I want to repeat that when you and I deliberately choose to forsake self-interest For the good of another, for the glory of God We are using that liberty, that freedom God has given us To be free from self-interest Thirdly, this freedom when used as a pattern for life will bring the genuine joy of God to you
If today there is little Christian joy in your life, one question you need to ask yourself Am I employing these freedoms that God has given me by my union with Christ? Or am I still submitting myself to self-interest and self-centeredness?
And refusing to forsake self-interest for the good of others and the glory of God You see we are tempted every day to live in accordance with our old slavery and our old union Every day it comes to us Scores of opportunities are presented and they are tempting by which we may exercise self-interest We are tempted every day to live according to that slavery and the old union with Adam Every day we must deliberately choose to live in accordance with our new union
And the new freedoms that we have been given With each of the messages through the summer we are going to try to develop with it a certain project Some of those can be accomplished immediately right here in this auditorium Some of them will take some thought and effort during the week The project this morning is of the first variety As you partake of communion today I want to exhort you to recognize that you are remembering one, the Lord Jesus
Who deliberately chose not to live for himself but for others And to remember as you partake of that bread and the cup That actually you are in union, a living union with this selfless one So as you bite into that bread, as you drink that cup, remember this reminds me This represents my selfless Lord With whom I am in a living union And I am remembering in doing this the culmination of his selflessness And his choice to go to the cross for me
And as you remember that I then would like you to say to him The one to whom you are eternally united, Jesus In partaking of these elements, I deliberately choose to live like you did Not for my own self-interests But for the interests of others and for your glory in my life I think it's only when we partake of it with that kind of commitment that the Lord's table is meaningful When we will make that kind of commitment
Then we will enjoy the relationship that God has secured for us through the sacrifice of the Savior Would you bow in prayer with me please?
It may be that quite honestly and transparently your life recently has been lived basically on the bottom line for self The decisions that you have made, the plans that you've laid have all focused on what's good for you And you have deliberately excluded others and there may be others that are hurting because of that It may be a spouse or children, it may be your parents or friends of yours Or someone at work, perhaps a neighbor
Every day we must deliberately choose not to live for ourselves but for Him If this last week has been lived otherwise, now is a good time to confess that to the Lord Would you do it? Would you acknowledge your sin to Him and repent of it?
And would you say to the Lord Jesus even now, even before we partake of the Lord's table Or Jesus, I choose from this point on to make my decisions based upon living like you, denying myself for the sake of others Lord Jesus, I pray that we will learn what that means So that we then might experience the fullness of joy that you have for us in life Thank you for the union that you have brought to pass through faith by the grace of God
Thank you for delivering us from what we were that the old has passed away Thank you for making us new persons, new creatures in yourself Amen