Service
Notes
Transcript
Romans 6:15-23
Romans 6:15-23
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Good morning again. First of all, I want to thank Pastor Dan and the elders for the opportunity to come and share with you this morning a topic that has been close to my heart for many years. After spending most of my adult life in churches around the country, I’ve seen those where service flows out a heart of love for God and others - accompanied by great joy. And I’ve also seen those where service is burdensome and duty or guilt driven, which has the tendency to lead to burnout and in some cases much worse.
So this morning, we’re going to unpack what it looks like to serve the Lord from a sincere overflow of our love for Him, in response to His great love for us. For his glory, and our joy.
But before we get to that end, let’s start by standing together as we read God’s word and allow ourselves to be reminded of the great love with which He’s loved us.
1 Timothy 8-17:
8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. Christ Jesus Came to Save Sinners
12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
You may be seated.
There is so much in this passage. We could spend hours breaking down the many points Paul mentioned in this letter. But I’ll do my best to sumarize this, as we reflect on our hopeless state as sinners....
Paul begins this passage in verses 8-9 by stating that the law is good, so long ast it’s used lawfully. That it’s not for the just but for the lawless and disobedient.
He then goes on to define who he’s talking about when he references them as “lawless and disobedient”.
the unholy and profane, those who strike their fathers and mothers, murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers.
Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list, because he concludes by saying “and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine...”
Pastor Dan is just finishing up preaching through the book of Romans, but if you reflect all the way back to Fall of 2020, he was working through the first chapter of Romans. At the end of that chapter, Paul defines even more exhaustively what he means by “whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.”
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Now we read this, and it reads like the evening news, doesn’t it? We look at society, and it’s as if Paul is in the here and now writing about what he sees happening. Just another example of the fact that there is nothing new under the sun, and God’s Word is as relevant today as it’s always been.
But before we’re too quick to look at culture, and become like the Pharisee, who thanked God that he’s not like others, let’s look back at how Paul continued his letter to Timothy.
In verse 15, he says, “...that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”
In fact, if we back up a little further to verse 13, he writes, “formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” So he doesn’t let himself off the hook here. He rightly understands that he too was once dead in his trespasses and sins. He’s no better than the lying, theiving, adulterous, blasphemers. In fact, not only was he once one of them, he identifies himself as formost. Or in the King James, he was the “chief” of sinners.
But something happened. In verse 16, he says, “But I received mercy”
Now mercy, not getting what he deserved, which if we remember back to what we just read in Romans 1, is death, isn’t applied because Paul has some redeeming quality. No. It’s not about anything Paul brings to the table. Paul understands clearly that he is the foremost - or chief of sinners. Instead, he tells us exactly why he received this mercy.
It was “for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”
We’re all aware of Paul’s Damascus Road conversion. Paul, formally known as Saul, was persecuting Christians. Litterally hunting them down and killing them, when he was confronted by the risen Christ. Upon seeing God for who He is, caught in the midst of his trechery, overwhelmed by mercy & grace, he was baptized into the faith he once tried to extinquish.
He then goes on to plant multiple churches and writes what now makes up almost a third of the new testament. But it’s not like the red carpet was just rolled out for him.
In 2nd Corinthians, he tells us:
“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 2 Co 11:24–28.
Now, I realize I’m in a Baptist Church, and we just finished a multi-year study through the book of Romans, so none of this is new to you.
But here you have a guy, chief of sinners in his own words, who toils for the gospel at great personal cost. But what were his motivations?
Clearly, it wasn’t selfish ambition. If that was the case, after the first shipwreck and beating he would have found an easier pursuit. There has to be another explaination.
Was he driven by guilt?
At first blush, this is a plausible explaination. Penance is a common practice in many world religions. It’s the practice of voluntarily inflicting self-punishment as an outward expression of repentance for having done wrong. It takes on many shapes and sizes. From simply moping around and withdrawling from relationships, to more extreme examples of cutting, denying oneself of food and water, standing on your head in a desert for 24 hours without food or water… People go to great lengths to rid themselves of shame and guilt.
So is it possible that Paul was motivated by guilt, that his hard work and willingness to endure such hardship was in some way an effort to right the wrongs he had committed?
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he writes in chapter 2 verses 8-10:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
So here, he’s talking about the fact that we're saved not by our works, or by anything we could possibly due to pay for our sin, it is by the pure gift of God. We were created in Christ Jesus for good works, yes. But good works, or an attempt to pay for our sins by punishing ourselves do not save. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, as revealed by scripture alone that we are saved.
Paul communicates further in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
That doesn’t sound like the words of someone who is consumed with guilt to me.
Paul clearly undertands that Jesus paid the death penalty for all his sins, past, present and future, on the cross.
So, if Paul isn’t being driven by selfish ambition, and he’s not being driven by guilt, maybe he’s being driven by pride. Again, this is plausible, except that he closes his letter to the Galatians by saying, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
He applies this directly to his ministry in 1 Corinthians 3:5-7 when he writes:
1 Corinthians 3:5–7(ESV)
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth...
This theme of boasting only in the cross of Jesus Christ comes through lound & clear in all of Paul’s letters. So it seems obvious it wasn’t pride driving Paul’s hard work & devotion.
So what was it? He worked, not to earn credit before God, not to make restitution for his sins, not to attach something to the gift of Christ’s righteousness, not to gain favor among men, not to boost his own ego, instead, it was the only adequate response to the love God showed him in that while he was still a sinner, Christ died for him.
In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, he writes:
14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all… that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Co 5:14–15.
When I opened, I drew contrast between churches where members service flowed out a heart of love for God and those where service in the local church was guilt driven, leading to
They were able to love and serve others because they, like Paul, though once dead in their trespasses and sins, were loved first as demonstrated on the cross.
And I’ve also seen those where service is burdensome and duty or guilt driven, which has the tendency to lead to burnout and in some cases much worse.
This passage provides a clear contrast between being slaves to sin, and slaves to righteousness. For the Christian, it’s easy to recall the before and after in our own lives. Prior to being saved, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, while we might have been deluded into thinking that we were free, the truth is that we were anything but. The dead don’t have a will of their own. When you’re dead, you’re dead. You don’t get to choose between this or that, becauase you’re dead.
As Paul put in his letter to the Romans, we were “slaves” to sin. A slave doesn’t have the freedom to excersize his or her will. They do what their master tells them to do. If the master says, I want my breakfast at 6am, the slave doesn’t have the luxury of replying back that they prefer to sleep in until 10. Breakfast is at 6, so whether they feel like it or not, they’ll be up in time to make that happen.
The same concept is at play here. As slaves to sin, you’re held captive by it.
Augustine taught that there are four states of humanity:
These four states, which are derived from the Scripture, correspond to the four states of humankind in relation to sin:
1) able to sin, able not to sin
This was the state of mankind in innocency, before the Fall
2) not able not to sin
This is the state of the natural man after the Fall
3) able not to sin
This is where we live as Christians through the power of the Holy Spirit.
4) unable to sin
By the grace of God, this is where we’re going once we’ve been delivered from these bodies of death and enter into glory.
Paul’s point in verses 17 & 18 is that there was a time for all of us where we were “not able not to sin”. This is a double negitive, so it can be hard to wrap our heads around it, but the point is that we were slaves to sin. We were stuck. While we may want to put an end to sinful behavior in our lives, we’re powerless to make that change.
Still, while it’s true that we’re unable to gain victory over sin apart from the grace of God, it’s also true that no one is putting a gun to our heads and forcing us to choose sin. In fact, not only are we not forced to choose sin, we volunterily pursue it at great cost.
Prior to Jesus radically saving me, I spent all my time, my money, and whatever natural giftedness I had pursuing my own sinful self interests. The point isn’t that every interest I had was inherantly sinful, although many of them were, the point is that I was building my life with my selfish ambition as the foundation, informed by whatever the godless culture told me was admirable, and meausuring success by a standard that gave zero concern to God’s standards.
In that pursuit, we spend a lot money on the things that will make us feel good, or that move us closer to achieving what we’ve been deceived to think will bring us greatest happiness. We invest tremendous time and energy seeking to achieve success however we define it. And we leverage every bit of talent with the same goal.
In our natural state, all of our energy, our money, and our abilities are spent on our selfish ambition, and along the way we become entraped in addictions, relationships......