Daily Journal: 28 March

A New Way of Thinking

"I am a sinner saved by grace" is a well-known church saying, more famous than a lot of scripture.

Am I a sinner saved by grace? Or am I the righteousness of Christ? Is it right to think of myself as both?

Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

If I have been reconciled to Christ Jesus because He became my sin, I am no longer able to carry it.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (ESV)

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 

Romans 6:8-11 (NLT)

And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

This ministry of reconciliation is a different way of thinking. If I can’t wrap my head around it and receive it in my heart, Christ’s full work is in vein. If I can’t view myself correctly in Him, I can’t walk in His fullness and live the new life that the bible says I have.

Romans 6:4 (NCV)

When we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared his death. So, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the Father, we also can live a new life.

How can I identify with my sin if Christ no longer counts my sin against me? It's not that I don't sin, it's that I cannot identify myself as a sinner any longer. I must identify with the righteousness that Christ Jesus has given me through his death, resurrection and ascension. If I have received this ministry of reconciliation from Him, I have died with Him (he took the penalty for my sin), been resurrected in the spirit with Him through my baptism and I am now seated with Him in heavenly places.

I can’t identify in that spiritual place if I am still identifying in my sinful state. One is a carnal state and one is a spiritual state.

2 Corinthians 5:16 – 6:1 (ESV)

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

6 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

Colossians 3:3 (NCV)

Your old sinful self has died, and your new life is kept with Christ in God.

Ephesians 2:6 (NLT)

For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.