Free to Serve
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Pastoral Reminder: Head Heart Hands
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Please turn to Chapter 6 or Romans today as we will be continuing there today. Chapter 6 Paul starts to teach about how a person’s life will change in practice when a person has believed in the gospel of Jesus and been justified because of their faith. As he is working through the gospel in detail, he started with the status of all men and women before salvation. That all people are born condemned in sin. In the fallen nature that entered into the world through the disobedience of Adam. That none are righteous, no one does good, not even one.
But God in his great mercy and love through the sacrifice of Jesus, justifies those that could not earn it on their own, giving them the gift of God’s own righteousness. At this moment a person is justified, reconciled, forgiven, and adopted heirs.
But because this was all a work of God, the Jews who had put their trust in the works of the Law for salvation had many objections to these truths. If it is not about works then how are we to live. if are not under the Law but under grace as you say then what do we do in sin. And if we could not do anything righteous before then how is it possible for us to do it now.
15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, 18 and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 19 I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. 21 So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death. 22 But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life!
Here is the question.
The Question
The Question
15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not!
Isn’t this a question that many people ask. Pastor you say that all of the commands in scripture are what God wants for me. You say that the Law was given to reveal God’s will and people were to obey. But no one could live up to them. They showed us the depth of our sin as we could not live them out in our lives. But I am not saved by works but by grace, I am not saved by what I have done but by what God has done.
God saved me just the way I was, a complete sinner. Pastor if all of this is true then doesn’t this mean that God loves me the way that I am. That I don’t have to change anything in my life. That I am free from the Laws and commands, and that nothing I can do will separate me from God.
Are you saying there is no consequence for my actions. So how do I live?
All of this is not based on merit or work but on God’s work. The believer is no longer under the Law but under grace. In the previous passage he commanded that his readers were to consider themselves dead to sin and alive to God.
11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. 14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.
His conclusion was that sin will not rule over you, because your are not under the law but under grace.
This is what we think of as freedom. To be out from under the rule of another. I can be out from under my parents rules I will be free. If I can work for myself and not for the man, I will be free. If I can be out of my marriage I can be free. If there was no government, taxes, or laws then I would be free.
I could live a life that had no rules I would be truly free. If there was no law then life would be grand. Paul just said that they are no longer under the law but under grace.
The Law was given to the nation of Isreal to tell them what God desired for his people, what was right and wrong. So if the law is gone. Then Paul are you saying that we can do what ever we want.
Paul answers with the emphatic, Absolutely Not! May it Never Be!
Your Master is Who You Obey
Your Master is Who You Obey
16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Don’t you know. Come on guys think it through? The one that you submit yourself too, the one you obey, clearly demonstrates who you are a slave too. The master gives the command the slave obeys. Who or what you obey reveals who your true master is. When two commands are given from two different masters the one that the person follows shows who they serve.
There are only two out comes of obedience. There are only two masters and their commands are in conflict with each other. The person’s obedience will end in one of two results depending on who they chose to obey.
Their obedience will either lead to death as they obey sin or it will lead to righteousness as they obey God. Two Masters two outcomes.
There is a deep desire in men and women to be free. Freedom is a part of the fundamental beliefs of our nation.
Men desire to be truly and fully free but how do you define freedom. When we look to define what it means to be free we may think of
the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
We cherish the freedoms of our founding documents that include the of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and freedom to assemble and peacefully protest. The power in each person to not have hindrance or restraint to act, speak, and think.
Other times when we define freedom we think of the
absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government.
To be a sovereign nation with no other government having dominion over our lives. To be a person that is not subjected to any government rule.
A third way in which we think of freedom is
the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved.
We want all these in our lives. We want to say and act the way we want. We do not want any authority over us. We do not want to be enslaved to anyone. We want to be our own master. This all sounds great from my own perspective.
But Paul does not give us the option to be our own master. There are just two, sin and God. Both Masters Promise freedom while requiring obedience. This is not how man wants to think of freedom.
Peter speaks of this
16 Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves.
Submit as free people by being a slave to God. Freedom is found in submission to God.
The false teachers that arise in the people of God also make promises of freedom.
18 For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.
The one who is a slave to sin has complete confidence that they are not in bondage. The promise of freedom if you join in what they do, but in reality they are enslaved to what defeats them.
A person is enslaved to what masters them. Those that are slaves to sin will find that even if they believe they are free, they are mastered by what wins over in their life.
To live a life that is blinded to this reality is the sad state of fallen man. This should be obvious to Paul’s readers but he points this out before he points them to the great fact that God did not leave them in their deception.
You Have Been Set Free to Obey
You Have Been Set Free to Obey
17 But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, 18 and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.
Thanks to God that a work has been done in the life of those that were slaves to sin and who were blind to their state. Man does not do God on his own in his fallenness. The unbeliever does not pursue or obey God leading to righteousness.
10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.
Thanks to God because it was he who did the work and transferred man from one master to another. Their position is no longer one who habitually practices sin in all aspects of their life. The central part of our person is our heart. It is the place of all that we do and say.
45 A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
Thanks to God that you obeyed from the heart the pattern of teaching to which you were handed over. There are the false teachers that teach the pattern of sin and promise rewards that never come because they teach and preach from their heart of sin and their hearers follow from their heart of sin.
But the believer has been handed over or delivered to the pattern of teaching of the truth of God.
To his son in the faith Paul would tell Timothy
13 Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
They have been set free from sin and are now enslaved to righteousness. He is reiterating what he spoke of in verse 16.
Continuing in 19
The Practice of Obedience
The Practice of Obedience
19 I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.
Paul is using the analogy of masters and slaves because the human mind cannot grasp all of what God has and is doing but this analogy is to help them grasp the idea that their practice shows who their master is and what the out come of continued obedience.
When we think of practice, what do we think of first, maybe a sports team. What is practice, it is continual obedience to a set on instruction that leads to growth and maturing in the task at hand. No one would expect the Seahawks to win the Superbowl without continual and progressive practice.
How about a profession like and engineer, doctor, mechanic, carpenter?
The practice or continual obedience to sin by offering the parts of ourselves as slaves to sin is also a practice of slaves to impurity. Which leads to greater and greater lawlessness.
17 Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. 19 They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.
Sin never satisfies. It never leads to contentment or satisfaction. The impurity and lawlessness lead to more and more. What used to be little sins. Grow over time and become overwhelming gross sin in our life. A little of this hear a little of this there.
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough?
Those that practice a life in this way get worse and worse.
13 Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.
They will not just get worse but they will encourage and praise others that do the same.
32 Although they know God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.
Instead they are to offer themselves up obedience to God as slaves of righteousness. The practice of righteousness leads to sanctification. Sanctification is the process of maturing as a believer.
11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.
There is a progression in the life of a Christian. As we practice, as we continually obey God, we will mature in to a maturity that is measured by Christ’s fullness. God gave the church leaders to equip the saints to do the work, to do what God has commanded. Producing in the people a maturity growing into the image of our savior.
Timothy it told to train
7 But have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness. 8 For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. 10 For this reason we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
Obedience to righteousness, training in godliness, holds the promise for this life and the next. The promises of maturing, being stable, not stumbling, continuing till the end. And promises for the next life, specifically eternal life. Timothy is to practice what he preaches.
11 Command and teach these things. 12 Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. 13 Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching. ...15 Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. 16 Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Sanctification is the result of those who train and practice in being slaves to righteousness. For it is God’s will, our sanctification.
3 For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, 4 that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God.
After he point out that there are only two masters and that the practice of obedience reveals who they serve. He turns to the output of the practice.
The Fruit of Obedience
The Fruit of Obedience
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. 21 So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death. 22 But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life!
Think about what was produced from your practice of sin. You willingly followed your corrupted heart as one dead in sin. What was the outcome of all of a life filled with sin.
28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right. 29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.
He appeals to their reason. What was accomplished in all of your sin. Where did it lead you other than more sin and ultimately death. Was there anything of value ever produced in the gathering of the fruit of sin.
29 Because they hated knowledge, didn’t choose to fear the Lord, 30 were not interested in my counsel, and rejected all my correction, 31 they will eat the fruit of their way and be glutted with their own schemes.
The fruit of a person’s life will testify to the place of their heart. Many word can manipulate, deflect, and make us look good in the world but our fruit will tell the truth of who we serve.
16 You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.
In contrast to the fruit produced in sin. The fruit produced by the one who follows their new desires in the spirit will see fruit that results in sanctification.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.
How do these result in sanctification? They do so because they are perfected in our savior and our Lord Jesus Christ. Who’s life demonstrated an unwavering love, an abundant joy, unending peace, continued patience, the sweetest kindness, a life of goodness, a faithfulness that never fails, and a will that never loses course or direction.
The fruit of sanctification will fulfill the promise of eternal life to those that believe. For a person’s fruit will stand before the judgement.
5 Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. 6 He will repay each one according to his works: 7 eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness. 9 There will be affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.
Those that present themselves to sin, who show their master is sin by their obedience, who practice obedience to sin, who produce more and more unrighteousness, who produce the fruit in which we are now ashamed will receive in the end death. This is the progression of the life of one who is born in sin and who dies still condemned and dead in sin.
on the other hand.
Those that present themselves to God, who show that their master is the Lord Jesus by their obedience, who practice righteousness, and mature in the likeness of their master, who produce the fruit of righteousness as they are sanctified, will receive eternal life. This is the progression of one who was born dead in sin but who has been made alive in Christ through the gospel that has the power of salvation for all who believe.
Conclusions
Conclusions
Freedom is something many seek in their own lives but the words of God reveal to us that our definitions of freedom do not play out as we envision. We see freedom as being able to act, speak or think without any hindrance of restraint. We want to live without any authority over our lives. We want to call no one master.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
A Christian is not free to act, speak, or think any thing they want but to align all of these to the will of God through practice and obedience.
A Christian is not free of authority or dominion. But is transferred from the dominion of sin to the dominion of grace. From darkness to light.
A Christian is not free from being enslaved but taken from one master to another. Taken from the master of sin that is at work in the world by Satan and brought into the household of the good master as adopted son’s and daughters. Heirs to the inheritance of eternal life.
So what is freedom for the believer. It is being freed from sin to God. Not freed to self.
This freedom allows for us to choose to do what is right or wrong. To follow God for the first time and to choose to obey though the strength and guidance of the Spirit in our lives.
12 Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.
How do we respond.
Let us pray.
Let us pray.
Prayer
Blessing/Benediction
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.
