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
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