“Don’t you know that you’re a billionaire?”

“Don’t you know that you’re a billionaire?”

 This challenging question was put to me by a new friend, a visiting scholar from India. He was from a Hindu background but described himself as agnostic. Yet, he seemed to have much respect for my role as a Christian pastor.

“Spiritually speaking, you are a billionaire. You have so much to give away.”

I think that he had a higher view of my role than I did.

His challenge?

Live like a billionaire as you bless the lives of others.

The Christian life is full of ‘Don’t you know…?’ assumptions and hopes. And we often need to be reminded of what we have and who we are in Christ. Not to put pressure on us to perform better or do more, but to give us freedom from old patterns and ways of thinking that continue to keep us stuck.

This Sunday at the Gathering Church, we continue the series, Free for Freedom: Removing Roadblocks to Life with God. Check out Romans 6:1-14, a great ‘Don’t you know…?’ passage.

According to the apostle Paul the death and resurrection of Jesus has created a new reality, not just for him, but for anyone who trusts and relies on Jesus for life.

It’s a passage of contrasts: death and life, sin and righteousness. For instance, we don’t have to be stuck with anything that is more like death than life. To imagine that we have a real choice between the two is pretty remarkable.

I heard someone making that choice just yesterday as they described an argument with their spouse. Death in the argument would have easily won the day if the person had followed their typical pattern of ignoring the needs of their spouse, getting defensive and withdrawing, or basically just going for the win. They chose ‘life’ as they listened well and cared more for the other’s heart in the matter as well as their own heart. Life won in that little interaction.

How may we expand our capacity to live our new life, to be alive to God?

How do the death and resurrection of Jesus actually shape that capacity?

Let’s get death out of the way this Sunday.