“Goodbye, Old Self!”

This last week at Church Camp, and the two weeks prior, I had the privilege of Baptizing several students, and seeing more baptized in to Christ. I explained to them that the creek was a watery tomb, that Jesus was crucifying them, burying their old selves, and raising them up as new creations in Christ. As we were exiting the creek this last Thursday, one kid looked at the creek, smiled and said “Goodbye, Old Self!” It was a fantastic moment! All too often, the Church can’t agree on what this kid understood in this moment, what Paul says in Romans 6:

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” 

Romans 6:3-4This idea of Baptism is more than an outward sign of an inward change: it is the work of Christ burying our old selves and raising us from the dead! All too often, Christians either make too much of it (if I get baptized, I’m good with God, right?) or too little (relegating Baptism to membership in a local congregation). I don’t want to align with Man’s opinion: I want to be right in line (as much as I can) with Christ who said:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

And

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

If I am born again, my Old Self needs to die, and Christ must crucify him, bury him and raise me up again a New Man. What is more, the journey does not end there! I must continue to grow, be taught to obey, and seek to live a life, by the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit, that is honoring to the sacrifice that Jesus made for me! Goodbye, Old Self! You’re dead! You have no place with me anymore, for Christ has crucified you, buried you, and raised me up as a New Creation! Since I have been buried with Him in a death like His, then I want to live that resurrection life in a Life like His. May we ALL seek and strive for Christ in this way!

Romans 6

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self^[a] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.