warm-up

Have you tried holding your breath under water? How was the experience?

Do you use a tool or instrument for work or for a hobby? Share how you use it.

Share a hard life decision you had to make recently.

word

¹What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ²By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? . . . ⁴We 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. Romans 6:1,2,4

(Read also Romans 6:1–13.)

In an earlier part of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he describes the power of the grace of God. Where sin increased, God's grace abounded even more (Romans 5:20). So does this mean we can keep sinning? Paul challenges this idea using the picture of baptism, which itself is a picture of death, burial, and resurrection. We died to sin and were buried with Christ, and then raised to new life with Him. What does this mean for us?

1
Consider yourself alive in Christ.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11

(Read also Romans 6:5–11.)

Because we are united with Christ in His death and resurrection, our old, sinful selves have already died with Him. This frees us from the power of sin. When we consider ourselves dead to sin, we no longer focus on struggling with sin. Instead, we are alive in Christ and rely on the grace He gives us. How has this new life in Christ changed the way you live?

2
Let Christ reign in your life.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Romans 6:12

Because we died to sin, we are no longer governed by it. Instead of allowing sin to direct our decisions and actions, our response must be to let Christ reign in our lives. We should put our trust in Him, submitting and yielding to Him and allowing His grace to transform all the areas of our lives. Share a time you deliberately allowed Christ to govern your decisions and actions.

3
Present yourself to God as an instrument of righteousness.

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. Romans 6:13

Instruments are tools used by a skilled person, like a surgeon or a musician, to accomplish a goal. Since we have already died to sin and have been made alive with Christ, we are no longer to deliberately offer our bodies for sinful purposes. Rather, as people who have been given a new life by God, we are to present ourselves to Him to be His instruments for righteous purposes. In what ways have you presented yourself to be an instrument for God’s purposes?

application

Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ so that you may have new life in Him? Ask someone to pray with you to experience this new life today.

Is there an area of your life over which you have not yet allowed Christ to reign? In what way can you surrender this area of your life to Him this week?

How can you, as an instrument of God’s righteousness, demonstrate and declare the gospel to your family and friends this week?

prayer

Thank Christ for dying for us so that we can die to sin with Him. Pray that you will continuously consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God.

Pray that Christ alone would reign in your life. Ask Him to use you for His righteous purposes.

Ask God to show you opportunities to be used as His instrument of righteousness in your home, workplace, and with your family and friends.

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Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®)
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