No Longer Slaves

Intro

Hey everyone. We are continuing our series in Romans called “Am I Really That Bad”. Just to remind you, it’s a look at the idea that we all have things that go on in our lives, both good and bad, and what we will see through the passages we are going through is the idea that yes we are that bad, but God is so much greater, more awesome and able to take care of all the stuff that we have going on in our lives.

So tonight we’re going to walk through . Anyone here like video games? Or do you spend a ton of time on youtube? I know for me I spend more than enough time on this thing (NETFLIX). I find that there are times where I put this on and I’m not even watching it. Or I’ll sit in front of my iPad or tv and just binge watch endless hours of episodes. I’ve even found that watching Netflix has pulled me away from doing important things in my life, spending time with people and more importantly this gets in the way of me growing in my faith. Do you think that’s a good thing? The passage that we have tonight will show us how we can respond to moments like this in our lives.

says, “5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.”

5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

This verse is telling us that when we give our lives to Jesus. When we say you know what Jesus I want you to step into my story, into my life and take control, that we don’t have to be slaves to sin anymore. But what does being a slave to sin look like? For a lot of us it could be allowing things, even good things, things that aren’t bad, get in the way of Jesus in our lives. Get in the way of reading our bibles, spending time with people or get in the way of spending time with God praying. When we allow things; like video games, time on the internet watching youtube, spending time on our phones on social media, or whatever it is to pull us away from the things that we need to do we find ourselves being slaves to these things. Guys I think there are opportunities where we need to look into our lives and find these things. Like I said they might not be things that are obviously bad, but could be good things that just pull our focus and attention. And we need to look for these.

Sometimes there are moments where we know what we are doing and we know that it isn’t good. Like for example, has anyone here ever done something to get someone to like them? Like you worked hard trying to be the cool kid or class clown because you wanted people to like you? When I was in middle school I remember doing things to try to be popular. I wasn’t as cool as I am now, honestly, so I had to try hard to get people to think I was cool. One time in science class we were doing an experiment, and part of the experiment was to see 2 liquids separated. On the bottom layer was water and the top was this chemical. So a classmate of mine decided to stick his finger in the beaker and touch the water and put it on his tongue. Trying to fit in and be a cool kid I did the same. Guess what it was me who got caught and I got reemed out by my teacher, who decided to read out the warnings on the chemical bottle, one which included not putting the chemical in your mouth. And I have a bunch of stories that are similar to this. I was a person who spent a good bit of time trying to fit in and be cool, I made being cool the thing that I chased after, it was what I chased after. We’re going to look at a verse tonight and we’re going to see what the bible says about being a “slave to sin” or letting something take priority in our lives.

You see when we have Jesus in our lives he can help us through the tough moments. You see guys what I think this passage is saying is that when we’ve accepted Jesus it won’t mean that we won’t be tempted to sin, but that we now are able to lean on and use the strength of Jesus to help us to navigate life and these sins that we have.

How can we know this? I trust this passage when it says that we know that we can navigate this because of what we know about Jesus. We know that because of Jesus, his life, his death and resurrection that nothing can stop him, nothing has power over him, not even death. And if that is the case then he can handle and help us to handle the hard things that go on in each of our lives. This is comforting, that if we give our lives to Jesus that he will guide us and help us.

So where do we go from here? What does this mean for us? I think this gives us a chance to consider ways that we can allow Jesus to help us out in this. The first thing that Jesus gives us to help us to figure out what we are being dependent on and where we need to change is prayer. Praying to God and asking him to point out to us areas in our lives where we are putting things ahead of him. And asking God to help us through that.

Another place is here. Maybe it’s talking to your small group leader or a trusted friend. Talking to them about what is going on in your life. Asking them to help point out to you areas were they might see that you are being dependent on anything except for Jesus.

Guys the reality is that Jesus is exactly that we need and when we are obedient and allow him to affect our lives for the good we will see great things happen and take place.

So as we head into Small Group time let’s spend time talking about how God can

Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print.