Old Men

6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be adone away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.7For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 6 - 11 NKJV

Nobody enjoys getting older.  Getting older, among other things, means forgetting some things we once knew.  Although I have not experienced too much of this as of yet, I'm sure that over time that I will forget more than a few things.  Of course, as christians many of us live day to day forgetting just who it is that we are.  All too often we forget that we ourselves are younger than we used to be.  How can that be?  Well, as the apostle Paul assures us in Romans, we left our "old man" behind us when we placed our trust and faith in Christ Jesus.  I ran into a discussion on old men this week with a coworker who tried his best to remind me that we are indeed still sinners.  He even called a friend of his who is a deacon in the church as if this were to confirm his point.  I get it.  However, all the deacons in the world will never cover over that truth which we have in Christ.  That truth which assures us that we are no longer who we once were.  Those days are now gone forever.  However, instead of recognizing this to be true, there remains those in the faith who continue to put the mask of that old man.  Whenever we agree with the conventional wisdom that we ourselves are but sinners saved by our Lords grace, we once again invite that old man back where he has no business being.  After all, he's dead now.  Indeed, we are the ones who will choose to resurrect him from time to time.  So, if we are assured that we no longer carry with us that sin nature which we once had, what does it profit us to continue to dwell in it?  Sorry, old man, but you're dead to me now.  I need not worry anymore of what once was.  Those sins which once plagued me will no longer be held against me.  In fact, whenever I come to my heavenly Father seeking forgiveness for my own sins, His response might very well be...what sin?

20“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galations 2:20 NKJV

A friend made a interesting comment this week when I brought forward this notion that we may well be sinners saved by grace.  To this he simply said that many times we have forgotten who it is we really are.  Agreed.  This may very well be the biggest case of mistaken identity in history.  Each day we walk through life believing that we are someone we're not.  THAT, my friends, is the basis of our belief that are but sinners.  We place our trust in our old man and not in who we truly are in Christ Jesus.  We're not alone, for this has been the teaching of the institutional church for generations.  I get it.  I hate to say that those who continue to teach that we are yet sinners continue to keep us in the bondage of sin, but that's just what it is.  As Paul tells us, we're dead to that.  Maybe it's just me, but I prefer to live in the freedom which Christ has given me.  That freedom which assures me that not only am I a new creation in Him, but that He Himself now lives through me.  For to not live in the freedom of Christ is to live in bondage.  That choice is ours alone.  I used to wonder why there were more than a few somber faces in a sunday morning church service, now I guess I know.  My best advice would be to not live as the old man...don't be that guy!  Instead, relish in the freedom which we find in our new life in Christ Jesus.  I'd much rather have that.

~Scott~