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Lesson 12: United to Christ *

Introduction: Let's review for a moment what we have learned in the past few weeks. Jesus came as a second Adam. Jesus succeeded where Adam failed. Just as we were swept into sin by Adam, so we are swept into righteousness by Jesus - if we choose. We can choose to be incorporated into Jesus' baptism, sinless life, death and resurrection by being baptized. Are we together so far? Last week we began to consider what is next: living life according to our spiritual, not human, nature. Let's continue to explore what it means to be united to Jesus in day-to-day living. Ready? Let's plunge into our Bibles!

  1. New Life


    1. Read Romans 6:3-4. What does Paul say we can have new? (A new life.)


      1. Do you like new stuff? I've got a friend who used to say to me, "I like my toys new." That is not how I look at life. "Open box," "refurbished," "scratch and dent," "second" are my "brand names." For me, part of the joy of ownership is paying less.


      2. What is the problem with getting used toys? (You inherit the problems of someone else.)


      3. If you are reading this, you have a "used" life. (Hopefully, you don't qualify as a "scratch and dent.") What is the attraction of the "new life" offered by Jesus? (Those things you regret, those problems you created are part of the old life.)


        1. Is leaving the old life behind really possible? Or, is this unrealistic talk?


    2. Read Romans 6:5-7. How does Paul describe our new life? Does it completely erase the old life? (The Bible says the "body of sin" is "done away with" and we are "no longer ... slaves to sin." The memory and the awareness of past sins may be there, but sin, at least the dominance of sin, is past.)


      1. Would it be best to completely forget our past sins? (For some people, getting burned by sin is an important aid for future conduct!)


    3. Read Romans 6:8-11. When does our new life begin? Is this future? Or, is this something we can have right now? ("Count yourselves" means to apply it now. This new life is something we can have now.)


  2. New Life Living


    1. Read Romans 6:12-13. When I become new, when I take on my new life in Jesus, is the sin problem, if not sin dominance, a thing of the past? (We still have to make the decision to "not let sin reign in us.")


      1. What does it mean to "offer" ourselves to God instead of to sin? (First, we have a conscious decision to make - and we need to be making it all the time. That decision is to choose righteousness instead of wickedness. Second, the word "offer" seems to mean be available, be willing. We make the choice for righteousness, but we let God make the decision on how we are used.)


    2. Read Romans 6:14. If you just had a twinge of anxiety about the idea of turning your life over to God for Him to make the executive decisions, what does this text suggest? (It suggests that our decision is to continually choose sides. Even if we chose selfishness we are not the master - sin is the master.)


      1. Can you remember (maybe short-term memory is all that is needed) when you were addicted to sin? (If the answer is "yes," then the reasonable conclusion is that we have more choice when we choose righteousness.)


    3. Romans 6:14 says something very interesting. It says that sin is not our master because we are under grace and not law. Let's try to paraphrase this: You will no longer have to worry about a traffic accident or a traffic injury because we have abolished all of the traffic laws. No more speed limits. No more pesky stopping for traffic lights or stop signs. It's your choice on which side of the road to drive. Would that make any sense to you? (I think "not under law" means a couple of things. First, it means "not under the condemnation of the law." Grace has set us free from the condemnation of the law. Second, it means that keeping the law is not the way we seek salvation. Grace is our new way of salvation.)


      1. Read the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:17-19. What does Jesus say about His role and the law? (If you think I'm going to teach you to break one of the commandments, you are not reading the text carefully!)


      2. Read Galatians 3:10-11. In what way does Paul say here that we are not under the law? (We are not depending on the law to be just before God.)


    4. Read Ephesians 4:22-24. What new part of our new self is mentioned here? (A new attitude.)


      1. Those of you who have been reading these lessons for years know that I like to refer to "righteousness by attitude." What do you think this "new attitude" means? (You love God. You are grateful to God. You want to please Him. From experience I know it is hard to turn away from wanting to please yourself, it is even more difficult to be honest about what pleases God and what pleases you. But, if you decide by the power of the Holy Spirit to develop this attitude, you are on the right road.)


    5. Read Romans 6:15-18. What does this say to Christians who argue that the law is done away with and that we can do whatever we want because we are under grace? (It tells us as clearly as possible that sin is not an option - even for those under grace. The reason why we should not (cannot) choose sin is because we will become a slave to it. As we mentioned before, anyone who has been addicted to sin (which is probably all of us) knows precisely what this text is talking about.)


    6. Read Romans 6:19. What encouragement do you find in this verse? (Paul confesses that we are weak. How I love to know that other people are weak - it is not just me who is weak.)


      1. What does Paul imply is the cure for human weakness? (Not to be in our "natural selves." He suggests we look to the Holy Spirit for power (against sin) beyond our natural self.)


    7. Read Romans 6:20-21. Be honest, when you were addicted to sin, what benefit did you reap? How did it work out? (There is no doubt that sin has its attraction. But the outcome is a train wreck. If your sin did not result in a train wreck, thank God for His mercy to you and consider how it could have worked out if Satan had his way.)


      1. Although Paul challenges us to consider the result of our sins here and now, he also directs our attention to the fact that the destination of the sin train is eternal death.


        1. Considering all of this, how dumb do we have to be to choose sin?


    8. Read Romans 6:22. Where does a life united to Jesus lead us? (Holiness and eternal life!)


      1. When the verse says "leads to holiness" what does that suggest about the times when we slip and fall into old habits? (We are on a path. If we have the right attitude, if we ask the Holy Spirit to lead, if we choose to be united to Jesus, we will keep moving towards holiness. It might be three steps forward and one step back, but we are on the move towards holiness.)


    9. Read Romans 6:23. What is within our power to earn and what is not within our power to earn? (We can earn death. Eternal life is a gift.)


    10. Friend, are you living the new life now? Do you have an attitude that desires to please God? Do you want to live a Spirit-led life? Do you want to leave the dirty feeling of your sin addiction? Will you, right now, confess your sins to God and ask Him to help you this day to enter new life-living?


  3. Next week: Atonement and Universal Harmony.
* Copr. 2008, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. All scripture references are to the New International Version (NIV), copr. 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society, unless otherwise noted. Quotations from the NIV are used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. The lesson assumes the teacher uses a blackboard or some other visual aid.

Discussion

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The comments below are the opinions of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bruce N. Cameron or SabbathSchoolLessons.com.

you said above that grace ia a new way for salvation.... well how can that be if the law never saved anyone ?from creation to now we are saved by the grace of God..i belief.... I want you to know that your lesson are of great help to me and my students.... thank you very much.
Posted by gustavo guzman on Sunday, December 14, 2008 at 01:19 PM
12-15-08, Brother Cameron, in the introduction you say we can choose to be incorporated into Jesus baptism, ... by being baptised. From your previous teaching, I know this is not complete, for the baptism is an outward sign of the decision made to submit self and accept Jesus as Lord. Keep up the good work. RA
Posted by Richard Ashworth on Monday, December 15, 2008 at 11:07 AM
I love your analogy of traffic laws!

This is what I see,

The "New Humanity" brings us to the means to not only understand the ways of God and how they differ from the old "sin" humanity, but to take on its ways.

In His death, Jesus showed us the way things are done in heaven, in God's Kingdom. Our sin had to die with Him, the Holy One, the only worthy sacrifice, in order for us to take on the "New Humanity" which was poured out after His resurrection in the person of the Holy Spirit. We must identify with Christ in His sacrifice by seeing our old nature "Old Humanity" dead on the cross and identify with His resurrection by seeing ourselves resurrected into the "New Humanity" by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who is given to all who believe.

If the old nature attempts to rise, we should deny it access by turning away from its call and continuing to walk in the newness of His ways in us. Remember, Adam & Eve was not walking in sin in the Garden of Eden when the serpent beguiled them. They did not take in the sinful nature until they turned to it. Satan continues to draw us back the same way he drew Adam and Eve. He has to do it this way because in Christ, we enter into the new creation (humanity) which is like a spiritual Garden of Eden.

Because we have gained the knowledge of good and evil through Adam and Eve’s fall, we can now know how sin defiles us and should more easily choose which spirit to walk in; whether the spirit of the flesh, which is dead, or the Spirit of God, which is alive in us. Just as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was in the garden ready to tempt, so is it in the world ready to tempt. Do not even look at it! (There is so much I can teach on this.)

Here is one aspect of the Kingdom of God that is perfect for this time of year. It reflects giving the greatest gift to others.

As I examine God's greatest gift, I see Christ's death and resurrection. I see myself free from sin and the wrath of God it deserved. So now I take on this same task by dying to self, which is, simply put, not making myself important any more. (1 Cor. 13:4-7)

If I am no longer more important that others, than any evil they might do against me is not more important than my love for them.

Wait. Here's a condensed version of the message God has given me lately, which I wish to share with the world. The purpose of the message was to teach me why there is no pain or suffering in heaven, that is, pain of the heart. This is something I had sought for a long time, and am grateful to God for seeing it now.

If one says or does something against you, remove the essence of it from them. (I imagine grasping it with my hands out of the person, and it is contained in a ball between them.) Examine it, and if it is evil, it represents Satan's kingdom and should be cast out. In this way you recognize the true source of the action, and prevent it from entering your "New Humanity".

Now that it is gone from your sphere, you look at the person who transgressed and since the evil was removed, you are able to see the good in them. In fact, I start to fill my mind with all the good I can ascribe to them so that when I think of them, I can look at that instead of the past transgression.

Just as God has removed my sin from me, I remove their sin from them. Why, because Christ died once and for all. Through this forgiveness is complete, and I can treat the person with kindness. (I can actually feel the forgiveness, and have no malice. Why not? Because I know that I was a sinner, and still have the capability of walking in the flesh and doing things even worse than they did to me, yet I am forgiven by the Almighty! To walk with God is to forgive as He has forgiven me.) It is written “If you do not forgive your brethren, than I will not forgive you.”

Roman's 4:8, "Happy is the person whose sins the Lord (or I) will not keep account of."

I said all this to say, the greatest gift you can give another is true forgiveness. This is how we can be an instrument of peace on earth.

If the Lord gives me anything new from the remaining lessons for this week, I'll try to send it to you.

In Christ,
Celeste Davio





Posted by Celeste A. Davio on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at 11:57 AM
1. The unity in Christ is the revelation of God's commandments in his creatures, in an infinite universe, eternal and full of joy.
2. Human beings without God, conflicts with the neighbor, with himself, disaggregates himself, and ends in death.
3. In Christ is revealed that mankind can only exist if allows God existing inside, and testifies to the other.This means that the God of each one feels the same God in the other.This is possible only in Christ because God of everybody was inside him, and died by another, and resurrected, for to make it possible to exist God in the other.
4. The union in Christ is only possible when we let Christ die and resurrect in each, and the same time for the others. But the union is not enough.
5. Besides the union is necessary to know more of God and this is achieved by gifts that are capabilities for the benefit of others. These gifts are the infinite development of Christ in each other from one that has any kind of gift.
6. The Spirit is God who is revealed to humans and calls for units in the causes, the goals, in the works and the universal values in a universal diversity of individuals.
Posted by João Cavaco on Friday, December 19, 2008 at 01:16 PM
when we get into heaven, will our memory of earthly liife still be there?
Posted by laywah on Friday, December 19, 2008 at 08:15 PM
i just found out about your page.
great material
Posted by walter on Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 08:12 AM

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