There is a powerful scene in Rocky 5 where Rocky is speaking to his son, now a grown man, and says, “I'd hold you up to say to your mother, ‘this kid's gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid's gonna be somebody better than anybody I ever knew.’ And you grew up good and wonderful. It was great just watching; every day was a privilege. But somewhere along the line, you changed… you stopped being you. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not point fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that!”
Rocky doesn’t shame his son, but points him to who he already is. Rocky reminds his son of his true identity. And Paul does the same thing in Romans 6:11 when he says, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Paul has already laid the ground work and made very plain that their bodies are no longer to live in sin, but now he hammers the point: Consider it.
Why would he now say consider it? Reckon it? Ponder it? Realize it? Because he knows we look at our lives and know we don’t feel like we’re dead to sin. We look at just this morning’s grade and find we’ve already failed. We see sin upon sin upon sin. We see sins underneath other sins producing more sins, and we wonder if we are even Christian? And Paul tells us to consider it. Consider who I’ve made you already. It’s a legal term for a new status that you now possess. You have a new status and a new identity once you’re a believer.
But this is precisely where we doubt. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once used the illustration that we consider those who were once enslaved in our country. When the Civil War came, slavery was abolished and those who were once enslaved were now free. Those same men, women, and children, though legally free, when approached by a white man would tremble and quake with the thought, “am I going to be sold?” The point is that you and I can be free legally, but remain a slave experientially!
We can be free from sin…dead to sin, but alive in Christ Jesus. But we may not feel as though that is true. And Paul and Rocky tell you to consider it! Consider who you really are! Look back upon who God has made you. Know your worth. You’re not trash anymore! You’ve been bought by Jesus’ precious blood. And so you are priceless gold to Him! Know your worth! You’re better than that! We’re not beasts, so stop acting like them. Jesus Christ died for trash and beasts, and has now made you into gold, and sons and daughters in His Kingdom.
