Under New Management from Romans 6

Today I am commenting on Romans 6:1-14.

 

No doubt, we have all seen the sign outside a local business which proclaims that it’s “Under New Management.” The shop has the same name, and possibly even the same merchandise, but has different owners and staff.

 

This was done because the shop was not making money.  It was losing customers and wasn't financially viable.  The change was made to stem the loss of trade and to increase the customers.

This only works if the change of management makes a difference: in products, in prices, in service.  If there is no difference, the business won't be saved from bankruptcy. This also applies to our lives as we see in Romans 6:1-14.

In Christ We Have A New Life:

Verses 1-7 tell us that in Christ we can have a new life.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Like a failing business, we need a new life. A rotten building must be redeveloped, not just painted.  If the current manager is failing, a replacement is needed, like firing the manager of a baseball team or the head coach of a football team. When we fail at managing our lives, and we all do fail, we need a new manager to take over.

           

Christ will give us new life if we ask Him to. While there are no hostile takeovers in God's Kingdom, Jesus is glad to take over if we will let Him. Galatians 2:20 explains this process the best: “I have been crucified in Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

 

When we receive the free gift of salvation from Jesus, we've been taken over by new management which has new plans for our life! We look the same outside but are different inside!

 

This is like two computers from the same manufacturer. They may have the same case, keyboard, and display, but the internal specifications may be very different between the two. They may look the same but have totally different performance. What is inside makes all the difference!

           

Paul taught that Baptism is a great illustration of what happens when Jesus takes over our lives. Baptism originated in the Jewish sect “Essenes” from whom we have the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was used by John The Baptist as a sign of a new beginning and a repentance from old ways of living.

 

According to Paul, when we are immersed it symbolizes death to the old life, and when we come up out of the water, we are rising to new life, like the old saying, “Bury a seed, produce a tree.”

 

In Christ We Have a New Lord:

 

Verses 6-10 teaches us that in Christ we have a new Lord.

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

Everyone has a lord. Everyone has a governor.   

        

It might be many different things: self, Satan, world, money, pride, power, possession. One's lord is that person's master, controller, boss; the one who has supreme power over a person. The bottom line is your lord is the one you obey!

 

 Our Lord before Christ is, in a word, sin!

 

In our natural state, before Christ intervenes, we are like an alcoholic, addicted to doing destructive things. We can promise, cry, struggle, but we have no power. We are like a SCUBA diver in the grasp of an octopus's tentacles.

           

With Jesus, we have a new Master, a new controller. We are no longer in the power of sin, and self. We have a new boss, who gives us the power to do what is right!

 

One of the keys to success in a large company or organization, is that you must know for whom you work! When we allow Jesus to save us, then we work for Him. Remember, Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

 

In Christ We Have a New Lifestyle:

 

Verses 11-14 teaches us that in Christ we will have a new lifestyle.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. 

So, what is the evidence of new management in a business?

Again, in a single word, change.

 

We should see a change in the way business is done.

 

We should see a change in the attitude of the staff.

 

We should see a change in what is produced, hopefully for the better.

           

The evidence of a new life and a new Lord is a new lifestyle. If there are inward changes then that should improve outward performance.

 

I recently overhauled an old computer. I gave it more memory and better storage. It had become sluggish and unreliable, but with new inner parts, it works almost like a brand-new computer. I changed it on the inside and now it has new life, and it shows!        

 

We must begin to live as ones who are alive, not as ones who are dead. We should start to become like our new owner. We should start to speak like our new owner. We need to start to act like our new owner. What’s inside us will always come out be it good or bad!

 

Alcoholics Anonymous has a saying, “If what you say and what you do don’t match, then what you say is a lie and what you do is the truth.”

 

1 John 3:10 asserts that, “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”

 

Conclusion:

 

A business is not a building, but an owner and a staff. If you change the owner, you will change the outward results.

 

A person is not a body, but a soul. If you change its Lord, you will change the outward results.

 

This IS the message of The Gospel!

 

Every blessing,

 

Dr. Otis Corbitt