God's children seldom live in the power of the resurrection because they have gained very little insight into dying with Christ. In Christ we have to die before we can live. Paul said it like this, "If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him." (Rom. 6:8) We must be dead to sin in order to be alive for God in Christ Jesus. Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." These words give us the assurance of God as to who and what we are in Christ Jesus. The truth of this work of the cross is not something we can master with our minds or call our own. The power and work of the cross must be revealed to us by God's Holy Spirit. In His power we experience the death of the cross as the power for our daily lives.
Our life of worship must not be something we do, but the power of the death and resurrection of Christ made real in us as we trust in Him to do that work in our loves. All of Romans 6 is an extension of verse 2 stating that we who have died in sin cannot still live in it. "If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him . . . The death He died, He died to sin once and for all." We must rest and depend on God's assurance: If we have died with Christ, we go on living only with God. This is the secret to God giving us the power to live the resurrected, victorious life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We need only thank Him, acknowledge His power in us and live and worship in that power. mjm
