Who’s Your Master

Announcements & Joys

Call to Worship

Leader: I will sing of Your steadfast love, O Lord, forever.

People: With my mouth, I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations.

Leader: Blessed are the people who walk in the light of Your presence.

People: We rejoice in Your name all day long and celebrate Your righteousness.

Leader: Come, let us worship the Lord who is faithful and true.

All: Alleluia! We lift our voices in praise!

Opening Praise Songs or Hymns | O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing (#57)

Opening Prayer

Gracious God, we confess that we have failed to see Your presence in the small and simple acts of love and mercy. We neglect opportunities to serve and to share Your grace. Forgive us and open our hearts to welcome You in all we do. We pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Passing of the Peace

Children’s Moments - “Who’s the Boss?”

Good morning, boys and girls!

I have a question for you. Have you ever played the game “Simon Says?”

How do you know when to do something?

That’s right! You only do it if Simon says!

If Simon says, “Touch your nose,” you touch your nose. If Simon says, “Clap your hands,” you clap your hands. But if someone just says, “Jump!” without saying, “Simon says,” you don’t do it.

That game reminds me of something Paul talks about in the Bible. He says we all choose who we’re going to listen to.

Sometimes we listen to good voices—our parents, our teachers, and most importantly, Jesus.

Other times we listen to the wrong voice that tells us to be mean, to lie, or to disobey.

Jesus wants us to listen to His voice because He loves us and always leads us the right way.

So this week, whenever you have to make a choice, ask yourself, “What would Jesus want me to do?” Then listen to His voice.

Let’s pray.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank You for loving us. Help us to hear Your voice, trust You, and follow You every day. Amen.

Gospel Scripture Reading Matthew 10:40-42

Matthew 10:40–42 NIV

“Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

Sharing of Concerns

Pastoral Prayer with the Lord’s Prayer

We ask all of this in the name of Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray, saying:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Presentation of Tithes & Offerings & Hymn | Have Thine Own Way, Lord (#382)

Offertory Music& Doxology

Prayer Over the Offering

Epistle Scripture Reading | Romans 6:12-23

Romans 6:12–23 NIV

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 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 of 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.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you O Lord, our strength and our redeemer; and Get me behind the cross so that your glory and not mine might shine through; and in spite of the stammering of my speech and the inconsistencies of my character, may your Word be proclaimed and heard here today.

Sermon | Who’s Your Master?

Introduction

Have you ever noticed that everyone wants freedom?

We celebrate it as Americans.

We long for it personally.

We tell our children to think for themselves and be independent.

So when we come to Romans 6, Paul’s language almost feels offensive.

He talks about being slaves.

If we’re honest, we’d rather skip over that word.

But Paul isn’t trying to offend us. He’s exposing a truth about every human heart.

As theologian Shawnthea Monroe writes:

“To be a slave, as Paul understands it, is to surrender your life to the control of another. When slavery is defined in this way, it turns out we are all slaves of one sort or another.”

That’s Paul’s point.

Not that some people serve a master…

Everyone does.

The only question is:

Who’s your Master?

Paul gives us three responses that describe what life under Christ looks like.

I. A New Master Changes My Mind

“Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11)

Notice Paul doesn’t begin with behavior.

He begins with belief.

He tells us to count ourselves differently.

To reckon.

To consider.

To think differently because Christ has already changed our identity.

Clarence Bence summarizes Paul’s progression beautifully:

“The first is a new direction in one’s thinking.”

Grace changes the way we see ourselves.

We’re no longer defined by our past.

We’re no longer prisoners of sin.

We’re no longer who we once were.

Think about someone who has spent years in prison.

The day they’re released, the prison doors open.

Yet many former inmates have spoken about feeling afraid to leave because prison had become all they knew.

The door is open…

but their thinking hasn’t caught up with their freedom.

Many Christians live that way.

Christ has set us free…

yet we still think like prisoners.

Paul says:

“You are alive to God.”

Think like it.

We’ve got to be willing to change our minds to the things of God.

It’s a daily choice, not a one time thing.

My dad always joked, first with us kids when we were little, then later when the grandkids were of age to ride rollercoasters with him - he’d typically wait until he’s halfway up the lift hill to lean over to us and say these simple words - “I changed my mind”

As if there was anything WE as kids could do if he truly ever did want to change his mind mid-ride.

However, in life; it’s not too late to have that change of mind.

Change your mind to the things of God before it’s too late.

Choose wisely, choose daily, to follow God as your master.

For new master changes your mind.

II. A New Master Changes My Choices

“Offer yourselves to God…” (Romans 6:13)

Now Paul moves from the mind…

to the will.

Christianity isn’t merely believing different things.

It’s daily surrender.

Every day we offer ourselves to someone.

Paul says,

Offer yourselves to God.

Notice he doesn’t say,

Offer God part of yourself.

He says,

Offer yourselves.

Your whole life.

Clarence Bence points out that Paul is echoing the very words of Jesus.

“You are slaves to the one whom you obey.”

Jesus said it this way:

“No servant can serve two masters.”

We all obey someone.

Today, those masters often don’t look like idols carved from stone.

Pastor Earl Johnson observes that we’d probably use different words today.

“Today pastors might refer to this concept in terms of obsession, compulsion, or addiction.”

Think about that.

Approval.

Money.

Comfort.

Success.

Politics.

Entertainment.

Phones.

Even good things can become cruel masters when they demand our ultimate allegiance.

Whatever continually captures your obedience…

becomes your master.

So every morning we have a choice.

Who gets the steering wheel today?

Christ…

or something else?

Carrie Underwood sang a beautiful song about that very idea; Jesus take the Wheel.

Randy even had it out on our church sign a few weeks ago, less Nashville, more Reno, it said “If God is your co-pilot - switch seats” - because God deserves to be the one driving, the one we follow, the one we are looking to as our Master.

The one who helps guide our choices.

As our new Master changes our choices.

III. A New Master Changes My Life

“Offer the parts of your body in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.” (Romans 6:19)

Now Paul reaches the destination.

Holiness.

That’s a word that makes many people nervous.

Some imagine perfection.

Others imagine impossible standards.

But Paul isn’t describing perfection overnight.

He’s describing transformation over time.

Clarence Bence explains it this way:

“Holiness…is the outcome of those who are living by faith.”

Then he adds these encouraging words:

“As the believer responds to those inward changes of God’s grace, holiness becomes a word that is increasingly appropriate to characterize his or her life.”

That’s wonderful Wesleyan theology.

Grace changes us from the inside out.

We don’t become holy to earn God’s love.

We become holy because we’ve already received God’s love.

Like a healthy apple tree naturally bears apples…

a life surrendered to Christ naturally begins producing righteousness.

Not perfectly.

But increasingly.

People begin hearing Jesus in our words.

Seeing Jesus in our actions.

Experiencing Jesus through our kindness.

Holiness is simply looking more like Christ every day.

Conclusion

Paul finishes with one of the most familiar verses in Scripture.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Notice the contrast.

Sin pays wages.

God gives gifts.

One master takes.

The other gives.

One leads to death.

The other leads to life.

So this morning, the question isn’t whether you have a master.

You already do.

We all do.

The question is:

Who has your mind?

Who has your choices?

Who has your life?

Because the Master who calls us to follow Him is also the Savior who first gave Himself for us.

And there is no greater Master to serve than the One who first became a servant for us.

Amen.

Let us pray…

Heavenly Father,

We thank You for Your Word today. Thank You that You have not left us as slaves to sin, but through Jesus Christ You have called us into the freedom of belonging to You.

Renew our minds, strengthen our wills, and shape our lives so that each day we look a little more like Christ. Help us to surrender every part of ourselves to Your loving hands.

As we sing, remind us that true freedom is found in trusting and obeying You. Give us the courage to follow wherever You lead this week, confident that Your way is always better than our own.

We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Master.

Amen.

Sending Hymn | Trust and Obey (#467)

Benediction