Die. Then Live!

While in college I answered a “roommate needed” advertisement for a place in Uptown Minneapolis. After talking with the guy on the phone I decided to meet with him, after which I decided to move in. After moving in I learned that he had to kick out his previous roommate because of his behavior - apparently the prior roommate was a heavy drinker and when he got drunk he would get violent and start to break things around the house. I noticed evidence of that around the house – some of the walls were damaged, I found some broken glass on the carpet and things like that. I even found some smutty magazines and a pipe for smoking weed in the bedroom when I moved in. The old roommate had moved out, but there was still evidence of him being there. 

I got to thinking - this is what it’s like after being born again. Our “old man” was “crucified with Christ and no longer lives” and then “God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts” - in other words our old roommate moves out and dies and then a new roommate moves in. But there still may be evidence of the old roommate laying around the house. Our old self is gone – died and buried – but we might find some of his old socks laying under the bed or some empty bottles or smutty magazines or things like that.

Often times this confuses us and we get deceived into thinking the old roommate was somehow resurrected and moved back in. Waves of anxiety and depression wash over us as we frantically try to fight and kick out an old roommate who is 6 feet underground. We see his empty bottles and smelly socks under the bed and assume he’s hiding in the closet. Unless we snap out of it and remind ourselves the old roommate is dead, we will see all his old stuff and assume we are still struggling. And, if we think we are still struggling, we will still struggle. If we think our house is still divided, it will be divided. If we think we are still sinners, we will sin.

“We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” – Romans 6:2

There are those who are teaching that we need to die multiple times – that we need to continue fighting the old roommate – that we will never truly kick him out until we die – that we will always be struggling with sin. But what this does is create a battle that isn’t even there. What this does is deceive us into thinking, “Well, the old roommate is always going to be here so I might as well just make a truce with him and try to live with him as best as possible.”

But “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is not what Jesus had in mind. 

Jesus died once for all. It is finished. We identify with His death once – that is what baptism represents. When we go under the water it symbolizes our death, and when we rise up out of the water it symbolizes our new life. Death happens once. We don’t need to be baptized over and over again. We made the decision. We took up our cross. We died. Jesus didn’t nail Himself back onto the cross after His resurrection. 

Neither do we. 

But we may still find some of that old man’s stuff laying around our house. We may need to purge the house of a few things. Those things are no longer consistent with who we are. We lost interest. This first “purge” may require a dumpster. After that, the garbage we throw away becomes more manageable as the new roommate takes over His responsibilities. 

May we come to know the truth which makes us free. May we rise up out of the baptismal waters into the new life that Jesus promised. May we grab a dumpster, purge the house, and rest in the righteousness of our new Roommate – Jesus Christ.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." - 2 Cor. 5:17