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Romans Lesson 11

NEW LIFE OF THE JUSTIFIED (II)
(WHOSE SLAVE ARE YOU?)
Romans 6:14-23
Key Verse: 6:19b

“Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness, leading to holiness.

People like to think that they are in charge of their own lives. However, the popular notion that a person can master his own life and destiny is a delusion that the devil has promoted all throughout history. The truth is that we are slaves. The unsaved person is not free to do good or evil as he chooses. He is bound and enslaved to sin. The only thing he or she can do is sin. In today’s passage, Paul says to the Christians in Rome that through their faith in Christ they have been set free from sin and have now become slaves to righteousness. Does that mean that we don’t need to struggle? Or can we live naturally? No.

In the preceding passage, Apostle Paul defended his gospel, the gospel of grace, that it does not encourage Christians to continue sinning in order that grace may increase. He argued that it’s totally illogical for us Christians to continue sinning because we died to sin. How did we die? We died when Christ died because we were baptized with him in his death. (6:1-14) Now, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (11) In today’s passage, Paul continues to defend his gospel with a slightly different perspective, that his gospel of grace does not give us freedom to sin but actually enables us to overcome the power of sin and leads us to sanctification. Let’s see how he defends his gospel, the gospel of grace.

Look at verse 15. “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” At the end of last week’s passage, Paul said that sin shall not be our master, because we are not under law, but under grace. (14) When Paul said this, it again sounded like Christians no longer need to obey the law of God and but instead do whatever they please. So some might have accused Paul, saying that Paul was condoning lawlessness in the name of God’s grace. In fact, we are often tempted to think that it’s no big deal to sin a little because we can always repent and God will forgive us. Some might even say, “It’s okay to sin a little bit. Just don’t be hooked into it.” What is Paul’s answer to that kind of temptation? He said in verse 15, “By no means!” Why not? Does it really matter whether or not we sin now as believers? Doesn’t God promise to forgive our sins anyway? In verses 16-23, Paul gives several reasons why we should no longer live in sin.

FIRST, SIN MAKES US A SLAVE. (16)

Look at verse 16. “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Whenever we drive in the city, we get very frustrated because nobody seems to care about traffic rules. We have to struggle a lot not to yell at them. We must also admit that there are many decent, honest, law-abiding people, whose lives are exemplary. However, we are often shocked to hear the terrible outcome of the lives of certain people who seemed to be living quite decent and good lives among non-Christians. Why does this happen? By accident? No. Sin can dominate anybody. Sin makes us a slave. Before we were saved, we were slaves to sin, just like the rest of fallen humankind who followed their tendency toward sin and only became worse and worse. They have no way to resist the tyranny of sin.

In the ancient world, slaves were captured in war or bought in the marketplace. However, some extremely poor people would offer themselves as slaves voluntarily in order to survive. Whether voluntary or involuntary, all slaves are subject to their masters. Christians are set free from the bondage of sin. Even though it’s totally illogical that Christians would want to continue in sinning, there is a danger that we can again offer ourselves to the bondage of sin again, because in reality, Christians are also tempted to sin.

The devil really try to deceive Christians to fall from the grace of God. The devil is very deceptive. We don’t want to be enslaved to sin. But when we engage in sin, we might think we are just fulfilling our fleeting desire and relieving our stress. We assume that one small act wouldn’t hurt anything. But the deception is that we don’t realize that a little sin and a little compromise is the beginning of bondage. Jesus also said in John 8:34, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Even if we are Christians, if we willfully disobey God and engage in sin, we can become slaves to sin. Sin is like an addiction. What Paul is saying here is that we Christians cannot serve both masters, sin and God. We are either slaves to sin or slaves to God. We are called and redeemed to serve God. The grace of God does not encourage us to serve our old master, Mr. Sin, again. Because of our weakness and sinful tendency, we still fall into sin. At times sinful disobedience appears to dominate our lives again. However, a true believer cannot continue to live in sin. 1 John 3:9-10 reads, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

When we engage in sin, we become ashamed. Sin fills us with guilt. One horrible effect of sin is that it produces memories. This is one of the major problems for Christians who keep falling in sin. How do we deal with the memories of sin. Even though God said that he would no longer remember our sin, we still remember. Sin produces memories, and many people are haunted by those memories. The shame of sin can destroy the quality of our lives. After all, sin hurts everyone, our selves, our loved ones and mostly our Father in heaven. That is why it is so important to avoid sin. Galatians 6:7 reads, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

SECOND, WE HAVE BEEN SET FREE FROM SIN AND HAVE BECOME SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS. (17-19)

In verses 17 and 18, Paul reminded the Christians in Rome of how they had been changed from slaves to sin to slaves to righteousness. It was through the powerful work of God’s salvation through the gospel that they had been changed. Although Paul was not the one who preached the gospel to them, he deeply acknowledged the work of God among them and gave thanks to Him who always deserves our praise and honor.

Read verses 17-18. “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” Here we see that the transformation occurred in their lives, not just by attending some religious meetings. Paul said that their change was the fruit of God’s work through their wholehearted obedience to the form of teaching to which they were entrusted. The form of teaching may refer to the apostolic teachings of the gospel. Saint Peter also said in his letter, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23)

Here, we are told that true change or transformation in our lives can occur through sincere struggle to obey the word of truth. There is no easy way or magical formula or program that can bring change and transformation into our lives. We need to trust and obey the truth of God in order to experience God’s transforming power in our lives. When we attend some conferences or Bible retreat, we may enjoy the good programs. We can be motivated to live a new life in Christ. However, we can truly experience the life changing and transforming power of God in us through our obedience to God’s words. That what Jesus said to his disciples in John 8:31, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” What does it mean to “hold to my teaching”? It means not to let go of the truth, no matter what. In other words, we dare to become voluntary slaves to God’s righteousness through our obedience to the truth of God.

In verse 19, Paul gives another important tip. Read verse 19. “I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.” Paul has been explaining how Christians can be sanctified by using the terms in slavery, which might not be the best way to express the lives of God’s beloved children, the children of freedom. But he chose to speak in human terms because of our limited understanding of God’s truth. Although we are still vulnerable to sin, it’s possible for us to resist sin and to live righteously by depending on the indwelling Spirit of God in us. Paul says that just as we used to offer the parts of our body in slavery to sin, so now we should offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. Just as the life of sin leads to further sin, so the life of righteousness leads to further righteousness.

Here, the term holiness means “sanctification” or “consecration” which is a process of spiritual and moral transformation in our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18) The Holy Spirit can use the word of God, the people of God, and circumstances to change us into the image of Christ. But it requires our cooperation. That’s why Paul said in Philippians 2:12-13, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” We need to offer the parts of our body in absolute submission to righteousness that will lead us to bear fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes, we feel that we are not growing or bearing any fruit, like dead trees. We only feel discouraged, defeated, confused, depressed and frustrated. Why are we like this? We like to blame somebody. But whose fault is it really? Why are some of us always unhappy, angry and disturbed? There may be many reasons. But according to verse 17, it’s fundamentally because we are superficial Christians. We may be studying the Bible all the time but with a superficial attitude. Even though we read the Bible, we don’t necessarily choose to obey God’s way. Instead, we choose our own way. We don’t necessarily surrender the entire area of our lives because we don’t want to give up some area which is too precious to us, our time, money and privacy. We are afraid to give up our cherished freedoms. We don’t always come to God in sincerity and honesty. We often pretend to be fine when we are not. Something is hindering our fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, it’s not natural for us to trust and obey. Yet, we need to struggle to trust and obey God and His words. Sometimes, we might have to overcome our doubt, fear, pride, unforgiving attitude, selfishness, anger, bitterness, impatience, jealousy, unbelief, worldly and selfish ambition. We constantly need to cultivate our hearts and minds through sincere repentance. We need to offer ourselves in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

I like the illustration of a kite. A kite can fly higher and higher in the sky, especially by the support of the wind. The freedom of a kite to fly in the sky is related to the string that holds the kite to earth. However, if we cut the string, what will happen to the kite? It will fall. The string appears to bind the kite, yet it allows it to fly. By the power of the God’s grace, we are set free from the bondage of sin, and we can now freely fly in the grace of God in Jesus. Yet, we have be bound by the truth God. In the past, we didn’t have a choice. We were slaves to sin. We appeared to have freedom, yet in reality we were slaves. But after we are justified by God’s grace, we have become slaves to righteousness. Although we appear to be bound, we can enjoy freedom as God’s children. We must understand that true freedom is not the ability to do what only we want to do, rather, it is ability to do what we know we should do. This slavery is the slavery that makes us fly by giving us true freedom that leads us to sanctification.

THIRD, THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE (20-23)

In these verses, Paul compares the outcome of our lives of sin with the outcome of our life of righteousness in Christ. There is a tremendous difference between these two lifestyles, between BC and AD. Read verses 20-23. “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Of course, the freedom from sin that Paul mentioned here does not mean that we are no longer capable of sinning. It means that we are no longer enslaved to sin, no longer its helpless subjects. We were set free from the bondage of sin when Christ died on the cross for our sins. We are now enslaved to God.

Some of us are more faithful and obedient than others, but all Christians are equally freed from the bondage of sin and equally enslaved to God, granted sanctification and eternal life. We don’t want to go back to our old slavery to sin. Why should we go back to that empty way of living, that leads us to remorse, shame, corruption and finally to death, not just physical death but the second death which is spiritual death, a complete separation from God? The wages of sin is death. If we continue to live in sin, we get what we deserve. We earn death as our wages. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (6:23) This gift is the best gift we can ever get. The gift of salvation is not a small gift. We have the gift of justification, the gift of sanctification and the gift of glorification through our Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s gift of salvation is the best and most valuable treasures we want to possess. In his parables, Jesus often compared God’s salvation with the treasures hidden in the field. (Mt 13:44-46) These treasures are worthy of our entire investment. Our journey of faith can be tiring in times, but we must not forget what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. We should remember that we are set free from the power of sin and now have become slaves to righteousness as God’s beloved children. Everything is provided for our journey to heaven. We don’t actually lose anything but sin. Most of all, we gained the gift, the most valuable treasures in heaven in your life. There is cost of following Jesus Christ. We are to invest everything we have in order to get the full benefit of God’s salvation in our lives. Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Mt 16:24-25)

It’s really sad to see many people who buy cheap freedom by sinning that actually takes away their freedom at the expense of their soul. We know that we should not take sinning lightly. We don’t wan to be deceived by the devil. We don’t want to say “yes” to cheap freedom that takes away our real freedom. We want to say “yes” to the truth of God that leads us to holiness and freedom. But so many young people fall into sin because they are full of energy and so bored. When we know what it really means to be a Christian, we realize that Christian life is not boring. The grace of God does not give us license to sinning. Rather it enables and encourages us to avoid sinning and love God more and more out of deep thanksgiving. We must remember that like a kite, we can fly freely, higher and higher in the grace of Jesus Christ when we are attached to the truth of God through the string, the string of obedience through God’s word of truth and prayer. We can have new excitement and adventure in discovering the depth and the new height of God’s love and grace in Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus said to his disciples, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Mt 7:13-14) If you have taken this narrow path, you made a wide decision. There is no other easy way. We must be united with Christ, abide in him and imitate him in every way. We need to offer the parts of our body in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. All of us used to offer the parts of our body in slavery to sin, but now we are set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. In fact, we are blessed slaves of God, the children of freedom.

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