Every Hour
Notes
Transcript
ENGAGE
Bob Dylan - you gotta serve somebody
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody
TENSION
There are only two religions in the world:
1. Worship God. Or
2. Worship someone or something else.
There are only two ways to live your life- based on your chose of who or what you choose to worship.
Paul’s talks about this in Romans 6:1-14
Because what God did through Jesus and his crucifixion, death and resurrection, we are no longer servants of sin.
We are not slaves to sin. We are no longer under sins control.
Today, we are going to go one step deeper- once you choose who or what you worship.
Let’s say you do choose to worship God.
Paul says in verse 14.
14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
You are no longer under sin’s control, no longer controlled by the law. You are not saved by the 10 commandments.
You are not saved by anything you can do. You are saved by God’s Grace.
TRUTH
Even though you are not a slave to sin any longer, You are still forced to live in a broken world, where you are constantly surrounded by temptation.
Its true for you, its true for me, its true for every disciple.
Our will was captive to the will of sin. That’s what we did by our nature. It took Jesus’s death to break the bond of slavery to sin.
Then we are born again into a new life.
Our will is now the will of God.
Only death will break that bond.
Paul continues on in verse 15.
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
We can still wander back into sin.
No, were probably not going to jump right back into it with everything that we have, but we may occasionally still fail to resist a temptation.
I cant be the only one that has had this happen to them, right?
As a Christian, as a Disciple, we still occasionally sin, right?
Paul is answering an argument here, that if we are no longer under THE LAW, and we are now under GRACE.
There is no reason to not sin. God will forgive us right? And when God forgives us, that makes God look good right?
So we should sin so God gets more glory!
Paul of course says no.
He then goes on to give us some insight into how we can live under the rule of our new master.
16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,
Whoever you obey, that is your master.
You were once slaves of sin, but now you have become obedient to the teachings of God.
This standard of teaching can be compared to a mold. You know when you take a chunk of gold and put it into a mold to make a design out of it.
But what do you have to do to it first? You have to melt it. You have to essentially break it down and reform it into a liquid form that can be used to pour into a mold. This mold is the teachings of God. The qualities of God handed down to us through the Bible. They are used to shape us into a form that allows us to be fruitful.
So in our new form, we are not slaves to sin, and we no longer serve it day and night. But occasionally, we forget where we work and we show up for work for the wrong boss.
Instead of showing up for righteousness, we spend a few minutes with sin. And that few minutes snowballs into an hour, and then a few hours, and pretty soon, we are back to work full time for sin.
Sin is no longer our master.
Say it with me.
Sin is no longer our master.
Now. say it like this. Sin is not MY master.
Sin is not My master.
18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
We are free from sin. We do not ever have to work for sin again.
but Sin is inevitable until resurrection. So how do we deal with occasional sins?
Even if we occasionally sin, through Jesus we can stand strong against the next temptation.
We are in a new environment where we are not slaves to sin but we still have to deal with occasional sin.
We have been set free so we need to be living as free people.
Prisoners who have been incarcerated for a long time, often get so comfortable in their captivity, they don’t want to leave. But when they are freed they have to learn how to live as free people again.
We have a few essential principles to keep us from enslaving ourselves to sin again.
19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1. Show up to work for the new boss and work only for him. Present your members as servants of righteousness.
Two dukes in Belgium- Raynold and Edmond. Brothers. Edmond captured Raynold. Put him in tower. Others accuse him of being cruel to his brother. Brother is free and can leave anytime he wants. See slightly smaller than normal sized doorway with no gates or door. He truely is free to go at any time.
but
Raymond was really overweight
and we see the brothers cruelty when we learn that Edmond sent a Chef with amazing food up every day.
Edmond had to tell his body that he was free. He had to stop being a slave to eating, in order to be free from the prison cell.
The second thing we need to keep in mind is a simple law of science.
2. An object in motion tends to stay in motion until it is acted on by an outside force.
You have been going really fast as a slave to sin, its going to take a lot to slow down, stop and turn the other way. Spiritual momentum keeps you going in one direction.
Godly habits will get your momentum going.
think about it like this.
a Tree that has been planted for a year, or three planted for 20 years. Which is easier to pull up.
right, the one that has only been planted a year.
We have to start the reversal process by incorporating Godly habits into our life styles.
3. Remember the ending.
What fruit did you have in your previous life.
IF you had not changed, would you be happy with the end of your life, would you produce fruit?
But now you have the ability to produce good fruit.
Sin pays a tremendous wage. And is guaranteed to pay. Death is certain.
APPLICATION
We have to live like slaves of righteousness-
How do we do that?
1. We have to get our thinking corrected.
2. Then we have to Show up for new master, (act like we’re slaves to God not back with sin)
3. We have to use our spiritual momentum to gain traction and speed
(communicate with God,
learn God’s word,
obey His word,
store his word in our hearts,
spread the message of the gospel to the world through Evangelism
and renew yourself daily.
Even hourly to decide every minute to choose to be a slave of righteousness.
4. And we have to remember the ending.
Remember where we would be if we went back to being a slave of sin.
INSPIRATION/REFLECTION
What were you like before you met Jesus and stopped being a slave to sin?
What fruit were you producing?
God’s first command to us was to be fruitful and multiply.
I used to misunderstand that as to say we need to be fruitful BY multiplying. But that’s not what he says.
He said to be fruitful. And also to multiply.
We wants our lives to have purpose and meaning.
We can’t do that if we are slaves to sin.
It’s only after we get our new boss and new empowering through the Holy Spirit that we can truly be fruitful.
NEXT STEPS
So we thought about or previous lives as slaves of sin.
Now let’s look at our current lives as slaves of righteousness.
What fruit are we producing now?
We are closing tonight with one of my favorite songs right now on KLOVE.
Its called Every Hour and it really reminds us that we need God, every hour. Not just when we decided to serve him, but when we have choices that will impact the future, if we decide to continue serving God with that choice, or if we show up to work for the wrong boss in that choice.
Think about every decision you made this week. How did it impact the kingdom in one way or another?
How did it lead you toward sin or toward righteousness?
Be in an attitude of prayer as we listen and sing along with this song.
When the song is over, we will close in prayer.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father.
Lord we want to be slaves to you. We want to serve only you.
Lord we don't want to jump back and forth. We need your help, we need your guidance.
Lord the things of the world, the things of sin, they only end in death.
But you have promised us life and life abundant.
Life that is greater than we could eve imagine.
Lord, We need you ever hour, I need you ever hour.
I don't want to clock in and out with different bosses, Lord I want you to be the only one telling me what to do with my life.
Lord be with us and lead us and guide us in all the choices of our lives.
And all God’s people said,
Amen.
SING
Every hour of every day
Oh, I need You, Lord, and that will never change
And every moment in every way
Oh, I need You, Lord, and that will never change
Every hour of every day
Oh, I need You, Lord, and that will never change
And every moment in every way
Oh, I need You, Lord, and that will never change
Oh, that will never change
(Whoa-oh-oh-oh, oh, that will never change)