Slaves (2)
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Introduction:
Introduction:
This morning we finally arrive at a crossroads that might be difficult for some to grasp or be okay with. We are told in our passage this morning that we are to be slaves of righteousness. That might be an appalling thought for some, however we need to quickly realize that, as created beings we are going to be enslaved by something. Something good or something evil.
Recap:
Recap:
A fews ago we discussed the fact that we are all under the bondage of sin and shame. While on the surface it looks unfair. We know that through the second man Jesus Christ we have forgiveness and restoration.
With all of these free gift of grace Paul knows that there will be some who will try and take advantage of it. So in the beginning of chapter 6 we saw him ask the question:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
And his response to that was:
By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Paul would for the rest of our passage last week make point after point defending the gospel of Grace and showing the implications of what it means to be free from sin and slaves to righteousness.
We ended the bible study last week with an understanding that we have been given “newness” and with this newness we have freedom from sin through the power of the resurrection and the Holy Spirit that resides within us!
V 15) What about occasional sin?
V 15) What about occasional sin?
Paul has already convinced us that a lifestyle of habitual sin is not compatible with one whose life in changed by grace.
However, what about an occasional sin here and there?
If we are under grace, do we need to worry about a little sin here and there?
habitual sin is something that is very damaging and should cause us to question if we are truly living for Jesus.
Timothy Bridle: “But in a sense when a Christian sins It’s more sickening than sins of wicked men (Why?) ‘Cause we’ve tasted His goodness as recipients of grace.”
What it comes down to is the fact that we have a worship issue. We would rather worship our _________ then to give God our worship.
Don’t waste your life. Give up and let God take control.
Here in our passage this morning the verb tense of “shall we sin” indicates dabbling in sin, not the continual habitual sin described in the question posed in:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
Those who are afraid of grace insist that it gives license for sinning.
Paul says absolutely not! The reason is that we are free from the law but that does not make us lawless.
Grace means freedom to serve the Lord, not to sin against Him.
Vv 16-17) Spiritual Principles
Vv 16-17) Spiritual Principles
Family hear me: Whatever you present yourself to obey, you become its slave.
For example: If i obey my appetite constantly, I am a slave to it. We have a choice in our slavery.
sin which leads to death or obedience which leads to righteousness.
Choosing to become a slave to sin will lead to eternal death at the end of that road.
However the flip side. If we choose to obey God, the result is a holy life.
Either way, we will serve somebody. The option to live our life without serving either sin or obedience isn’t an option given to us.
Sin’s slaves are bound by guilt, fear, and misery, but God’s servants are free to do what the new nature loves, to love and honor God with everything!
[17] Paul puts in the past tense because we have been freed from our slavery to sin.
Family, if you are struggling with slavery to sin look to Jesus the author and finisher of your faith.
You shouldn’t walk through that alone either.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
memorize these verses:
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
For one who has died has been set free from sin.
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.
We have been set free by faith, which is described as obedience from the heart .
That faith is a wonderful description. “Obedient from the heart:” It shows that faith comes from the heart, not only the mind. It show that faith results in obedience because we really believe something, we will act according to that belief.
The faith is put in God’s word, which Paul describes as the standard of teaching.
This phrase, “The standard of teaching” is a beautiful picture. It describes a mold used to shape molten metal. The idea is that God wants to shape us- first He melts us by the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Then He pours us into His mold of truth- that standard, the form of teaching or doctrine.
“Here Christianity is represented under the notion of mold into which they were cast, and from which they took the impression of its excellence. The figure of this mold is the image of God, righteousness and true holiness, which was stamped on their souls in believing the Gospel and receiving the Holy Spirit. The words… refer to the melting of metal, which, when liquified, is cast into the mould, that it may receive the impression that is sunk or cut in the mold; The words here may be literally translated, “into which mould of doctrine you have been cast.” They were melted down under the preaching of the word, and then were capable of receiving the stamp of its purity.”- Adam Clarke
The point of all of this is very clear: If you put your faith in God and His Word, you are now set free. Now live every day consistent with that freedom.
C.T. Studd “One life twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”
[Example] Rope
In the beginning of this chapter we saw that we can be legally free and still choose to live like a prisoner.
Paul has a simple command and encouragement for the Christian: BE WHAT YOU ARE!
You will notice that as we go through the Bible not once will you see an author or concept say, “you are good where you are.”
As believers we are not to plateau. We need to have the same drive as Paul:
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
V 18) What about occasional sin?
V 18) What about occasional sin?
Being freed from sin does not mean that we no longer have a sinful nature. The old way, the old man is done away with. If we are truly born again the old man is dead.
Sinless perfection in this body is an illusion.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
We know that in the power Jesus we each can resist the next temptation- and that is what Jesus wants us to be concerned with.
The context here shows that it is referring to freedom from sin as the dominate power in life.
What does it mean to be free from sin and to become slaves of righteousness?
It means that sin is no longer your boss or master. Righteousness is now you master and boss.
Serve righteousness instead of sin. It isn’t right to think about pleasing your old boss when you changed jobs.
Correct doctrine and sound teaching should lead to correct obedience. Responding to the truth that we have been set free from sin as our master, we become slaves of righteousness.
What does it mean to be a slave? A slave is more than just an employee, though some of you feel like you are slaves.
Lets define the ancient Greek word for slave:
One born into a condition of slavery.
One whose will is swallowed up in the will of another.
One who is bound to the master with bonds only death can break.
One who serves his master to the disregard of his own interests.
Slavery to sin:
We were born as slaves to sin.
Our will was swallowed up and captive to sin within us.
Our bondage to sin was so strong that only death- spiritual dying with Jesus on the cross- could break the bondage.
We were so enslaved to sin that we served it to the disregard of our own interest, even when sin destroyed us.
Slavery to righteousness:
We are born again, now as slaves to righteousness.
Our will is now swallowed up in the will of God. It is His will that matters to us, not our own.
We are bound to Jesus with bonds that only death can break; but since He has triumphed over death and given us eternal life, those bonds will never be broken.
We now willingly choose to serve Jesus to the disregard of our own (selfish) interests.
Vv 19-23) Avoiding ensnarement
Vv 19-23) Avoiding ensnarement
[19] Paul is apologetic for using slavery as an illustration in the pervious verse, because it was so degrading and pervasive, and especially because many of his readers were slaves.
However, that did not negate how accurate and meaningful the illustration would be for them.
Paul uses the simile of slaves and master. He is speaking in human term; that is, he is using a familiar illustration from everyday life.
And he does this because of the weakness of their flesh- in other words, because of their intellectual and spiritual difficulty in understanding truth when it was stated in general terms.
Truth often needs to be illustrated in order to become intelligible.
The believers had surrendered their bodies as slaves of all kinds of impurities and unrighteousness. Now they should dedicate those same bodies as slaves of righteousness, so that their live would be truly holy.
He also wants to make sure they realize that those who live righteously are not in bondage.
Those who practice sin are slaves of sin, but those whom the Son sets free are free indeed.
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Paul repeats a point he made earlier. First presented your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. This means that we don’t show up for work to our old boss
Can you imagine? A new job, and the first day on the new job you leave work at lunch time and go to your old job and ask your old boss what he wants you to do.
Paul describes a principle ingrained in human nature.
Impurity and lawlessness leads to more lawlessness. while Righteousness leads to holiness- which is more righteousness.
This describes the dynamic power of our habits and how we move along in the direction we are pointed.
[Example] Think of four trees in a row: The 1st tree has 1 year of growth. the 2nd has 5 years of growth. The 3rd tree has 10 years, and the last has 15 years.
Which tree will be the most difficult to pull up out of the ground?
Obviously, the longer we are rooted in behavior the harder it is to uproot it- and this principle works for both good and bad habits.
[20] Paul’s point is almost humorous here. When we were slaves to sin, we were free all right… free from righteousness. Bound by every evil and free from every good!
[21] Paul here, is challenging them and us to inventory the fruits of an unsaved life, fruits in those activities of which believers are ashamed of.
The end product of sin is death. The end product of righteousness is eternal life.
It’s a no brainer right?
In times of temptation, these truths can seem unreal- so we must rely on God’s Word.
When we are tempted, faith reminds us of the bitter fruit of sin when our feelings may forget that bitter fruit.
[22] Conversion changes our position completely. Praise God! We are now free from sin as our master, and now we have a new Master, God. The result of living for that new master is eternal life.
That life starts now! Not just when we die.
[23] When you work for sin, your wages are death. When we serve God we get no pay- but he gives us the best benefit package imaginable!
This last verse summarizes the subject brought up in verse 15.
Two masters- sin and God
Two methods- wages and free gift.
Two aftermaths- death and eternal life.
Notice that eternal life is in a Person, and that Person is Christ Jesus our Lord.
All who are in Christ have eternal life. It’s as simple as that!
Communion
Communion
With that in mind family we are going to partake of communion this morning.
No matter where you might be on your journey with the Lord, either in a season of dryness, leading a hypocritical life, season of despair or hardship, or perhaps you are doing rather well and in a season of blessings.
There is no better time to take communion.
But Thomas i’m not worry. Yes you are. I would say if you are already determined to go out from here and sin bringing dishonor to God’s name then don’t take communion. If you truly want Him to rule and reign your life then 100% partake with us.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Pray over the bread:
Pray over the cup:
Verse 1
All to Jesus I surrender
All to Him i freely give
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live
Verse 2
All to Jesus I surrender
Humbly at His feet I bow
Worldly pleasures all forsaken
Take me Jesus take me now
Chorus x 2
I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee my blessed Savior
I surrender all
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.