Jesus Offers Newness of Life
April 16, 2017 Speaker: Mike McDonald Series: Easter Entering Into The Newness of Life
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A Recap From Sunday's Sermon
Preaching Text: Romans 6:4
Rather than make a defense for the empty tomb, it was simply assumed that Jesus is risen. But why should anyone care? The answer is:
Jesus' resurrection is an invitation to a new kind of life.
The "old life" apart from Christ is marked by various ambitions and pursuits that cannot ultimately satisfy. A tempting myth is that true freedom is found in doing whatever we want. But the truth is that God made us to serve and love him. To live for anything else is a form of slavery that will not satisfy. Instead, our selfish ambitions will eventually consume us, even ambition for good things if they take the place of God in our lives. As God warned Cain in Genesis 4:7, "Sin is crouching at the door. It's desire is for you. But you must rule over it." So, what are you living for?
The cure for this slavery is to be baptized into Christ's death so the old self can die and his resurrection life will give us newness of life. Then we are free to serve God, who is a much better and worthy master. He came while we were his enemies. He took our punishment and earned salvation for us. He shed his blood for us, which makes us of infinite worth.
Connecting with Christ through repentance and faith means that his life will flow through our dead bodies to give us new life. We certainly have a duty to serve God, but what is an obligation also becomes a joyful choice because we love him back. Consider this illustration of how life can flow through a dead body.
For discussion at home:
Why is "doing whatever I want" not truly freedom?

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