Slaves of Righteousness
Notes
Transcript
Review & Intro
Review & Intro
Seeing it has been a few weeks since we looked at Romans, let us review where we are. We saw the theme of the entire letter clearly stated in Rom. 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the Good News, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who trusts—to the Jew first and also to the Greek. In it the righteousness of God is revealed, from trust to trust. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by emunah.”
Paul then makes the case over chapters 1 to 3, that regardless of whether we are Jewish or Gentile, we are all unrighteous and we all need salvaging, or in other words, we all need Salvation. This is clearly stated in Rom. 3:21-23
But now God’s righteousness apart from the Torah has been revealed, to which the Torah and the Prophets bear witness— namely, the righteousness of God through putting trust in Messiah Yeshua, to all who keep on trusting. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
In addition to being salvaged, we also need to be legally set right with Adonai; this legal process is call Justification. Paul brings us the case studies of Abraham and David, and shows that we are made right with Adonai, in the same way as these two men. This is shown in Gen. 15:6
Then he [Abraham] believed in Adonai and He reckoned it to him [Abraham] as righteousness.
After discussing the legal status change of Justification, Paul has now begun talking about the process of Sanctification.
Sanctification
Sanctification
The word sanctification speaks of the process of making us holy before God. This is the work done by the Ruach HaKodesh in our lives over time.
Paul will also be discussing in detail: sin, death, the law and the flesh. Some of the questions will be: How do we overcome sin? What role does death have in our new lives? How does the flesh influence us? And what is “the flesh”? What role does the Torah now play in our lives, now that we are followers of God? Who will we now serve?
Through all of these topics and questions, Paul will help us to understand how we are supposed to live our lives now that we have been forgiven. So let’s now pick up in Rom. 6:15-23
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that to whatever you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to what you obey—whether to sin resulting in death, or to obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching under which you were placed; and after you were set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you yielded your body parts as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now yield your body parts as slaves to righteousness, resulting in holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. So then, what outcome did you have that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. But now, having been set free from sin and having become enslaved to God, you have your fruit resulting in holiness. And the outcome is eternal life. For sin’s payment is death, but God’s gracious gift is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
Should we continue to sin?
Should we continue to sin?
For a third time, Paul asks the believers in Rome a crazy question. Since we are no longer relying on our own ability to keep the law, but instead are now relying on the gracious forgiveness of God, should we continue doing the things against God and others that required us to repent in the first place? Of course not.
There are many people who want spirituality, but do not want that spirituality to affect their ethics. They want to feel and experience the spiritual realm, but do not want to be told what to do by the ruler of the spiritual realm. Following Yeshua is not like that.
In the Sermon that Yeshua gave on the Mountain side, in Matthew 5, we see that He calls us not only to follow the letter of the law, but also the heart and spirit behind it. So in Matt. 5:21-22
“You have heard it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever commits murder shall be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca’ shall be subject to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be subject to fiery Gehenna.
So if I ask the question that Paul asked, is Yeshua teaching us that it is OK to Murder? Of course not. Rather Yeshua is pointing to the root behind murder, which is anger, and tells us that we need to deal with our unrighteous, self-centered anger as well. If we do not deal with the anger in our hearts, then we are not fully living the life of grace and truth that we are called to live.
And again, Yeshua says in Matt. 5:27-28
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that everyone who looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Yeshua is calling us to deal with the desires in our heart that are not aligned with His Will. We are called, not just to be faithful to our husband or wife physically, but also mentally. Yeshua is pointing out that we are responsible for our strong desires or lusts. Now I do not doubt that HaSatan, the Accuser, will plant thoughts in our mind, but we choose whether or not we will dwell on those thought. I actually think that the Devil gets blamed far too often for things that are simply our flesh, or as the Rabbis put it, our evil inclination. I have also heard the the flesh called, habit structures of thought.
We were so used to thinking in certain ways before we were a believer, and now that we are following Yeshua, we still seem to do some things automatically. But Yeshua calls us to walk another way, to follow Him with our actions and our thoughts.
Slaves of whom?
Slaves of whom?
Coming back to Romans 6:16, Paul asks another rhetorical question.
Do you not know that to whatever you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to what you obey—whether to sin resulting in death, or to obedience resulting in righteousness?
We all choose whom we will follow. Some people claim that they do not want to follow God, because they don’t want anyone telling them what to do. They think that they are free because they do not have to ask anyone for permission. Paul points our, however, that slavery is shown by who or what we obey. Are we controlled by our own desires? Then we are not free, but slaves to those desires. Are we committing any uncleanness or lawlessness? Then we will earn the consequences of those actions.
In verse 18, Paul contrasts this enslavement to sin, with a new enslavement. Now, after choosing to obey Yeshua, we are now slaves of righteousness.
Now in our modern mind, we might reject this concept of being willingly enslaved to someone, but it should be noted that almost all of the disciples of Yeshua, introduce themselves as “Servants of Yeshua the Messiah.” And in Hebrew, the word for servant and slave is the same. For example: Jude 1:1
Judah, a slave of Yeshua the Messiah and brother of Jacob, To those who are called, who are loved in God the Father, and kept safe for Yeshua the Messiah:
or how about 2 Pet. 1:1
Simon Peter, a slave and emissary of Messiah Yeshua, To those who have received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Messiah Yeshua:
And one more example, this time of Paul himself, Phil. 1:1
Paul and Timothy, slaves of Messiah Yeshua, To all the kedoshim in Messiah Yeshua who are in Philippi with the overseers and servant-leaders:
Think about that. When we choose to follow Yeshua, we ask Him to be our Savior and our Lord. We might like the salvation part, but do we recognize Yeshua’s Lordship over us? That means he gets to tell us what to do. It means that if there is something that Yeshua taught that we disagree with, then we choose His way, instead of our own way.
Gift of Eternal Life
Gift of Eternal Life
Paul finishes this chapter with the Good News. Hopefully all of us know that the life we left, was leading us toward death. Now Paul points out in Rom. 6:22-23
But now, having been set free from sin and having become enslaved to God, you have your fruit resulting in holiness. And the outcome is eternal life. For sin’s payment is death, but God’s gracious gift is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
The new outcome that we all receive, now that we are slaves of God, is eternal life. This is not something that we earn, but just like forgiveness, this is something that is a free choice of Adonai to give us eternal life.
David Stern puts it this way:
The Jewish New Testament Commentary Romans, Chapter 6
Verse 23 is Sha’ul’s classic expression of the idea that the only place you can work your way to is hell; no one can work his way to heaven. To reach heaven one must acknowledge the futility of striving in one’s own strength and accept God’s free gift of eternal life as being offered in union with the Messiah Yeshua our Lord by his grace when one responds with faith or trust.
While some people, who have demonstrated extreme self control, and have never broken the laws of Adonai, may take issue with this, Paul (who fit in that category) says this in his letter to the believers in Phillipi: Phil. 3:2-6
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship by the Ruach Elohim and glory in Messiah Yeshua and have not depended on the flesh— though I myself might have confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he might depend on the flesh, I far more— circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel; from the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the Torah, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting Messiah’s community; as for Torah righteousness, found blameless.
Think about those last 2 words, “found blameless”. If anyone had a claim on righteous attained by keeping the Torah, Paul was it. And yet what does he say next (and this is one of my favorite passages in Scripture)? Phil. 3:7-11
But whatever things were gain to me, these I have considered as loss for the sake of the Messiah. More than that, I consider all things to be loss in comparison to the surpassing value of the knowledge of Messiah Yeshua my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things; and I consider them garbage in order that I might gain Messiah and be found in Him not having my righteousness derived from Torah, but one that is through trusting in Messiah—the righteousness from God based on trust. My aim is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death— if somehow I might arrive at the resurrection from among the dead.
Recently I was overwhelmed with a sense of anxiety. I was experiencing this fear due to financial concerns. I was praying, that my emotions would come in line, I was declaring my trust in God, and yet for some reason I was not able to shake the feeling. About a week later I was listening to someone, and they pointed out that you can not be anxious and thankful at the same time. It is simply not possible, so instead of focusing on the problems, I chose to start thanking God for what He has already provided me. All of a sudden, my emotions switched, from fear to thanksgiving.
When I think of this passage, I am reminded of how much we gain by following Yeshua. It is true that we have lost some freedom, specifically the freedom to sin, and to do whatever I want to do. But what do I gain?
Surpassing knowledge of Messiah Yeshua
Righteousness through trusting in Messiah
Power of His resurrection
Sharing of Yeshua’s sufferings
Like Yeshua in death
Resurrection from the dead
Think about each of these things. We get to know about Yeshua, who is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We are legally made right, not based upon our own abilities, but based entirely upon what Yeshua has already done. This means that I can know for certain that I am right with God. We get to experience the Power of God, specifically through Him giving us the Ruach HaKodesh.
You might not think that sharing in the sufferings of Yeshua sounds enjoyable, but not only do we get to know about Yeshua, but we get to experience what He went through. In other words, we never will need to suffer alone again. We will always have someone who not only know what it is like to suffer, but also is with us when we suffer. And finally, just as Yeshua’s suffering led to His death, and His death led to His resurrection, so also our ultimate destination is Resurrection Life.
This is what Paul was saying at the end of Rom. 6:23.
Application
Application
Now how can we apply this passage to our lives? We are:
Called and empowered to live a holy life
We choose who we will serve
We choose where we put our focus
God does not call us to do something that is not possible with His help. Of course the last three words are critical.
What does it look like to trust in the power of God in order to overcome our habits and live a holy life? Well, we recognize that our emotions do not define us, our heart’s desires can be deceptive, but when we see that our actions are not aligned with the Word of God, we should openly, vocally submit our lives into God’s hands.
When it comes to who we serve, we should ask ourselves who is getting the glory from our lives. Are we, or is God?
None of us can control our circumstances, but we can control our response to our circumstances. And in the event that we find ourselves reacting, we need to ask God to bring healing to the areas of pain and suffering in our lives that cause us to react. The way to address previous pain we have experienced is through repentance and forgiveness.
Many times there are lies that we believe about ourselves, about others and especially about God. For instance, do we truly believe that Phil 4:19
My God will fulfill every need of yours according to the riches of His glory in Messiah Yeshua.
Or do our actions demonstrate that we think God is holding out on us? Sometimes it is hard to know what we truly believe until we watch ourselves behaving badly. Then we need to ask ourselves and God, why am I acting this way?
Are we always thankful as it says in Eph. 5:20
always giving thanks for everything to God the Father, in the name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
Or do I find myself being anxious about how God is going to provide all my needs.
Finally let us remember that we are called to love others the same way Yeshua loved us. Jn. 15:12
“This is My commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you.
