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Freedom through Slavery Romans 6:15-23 |
July 4, 2004 Pastor Tom Marcum |
A Personal Word of Gratitude for 5 Years at PVBC
33 years ago at the ripe old age of 17 I realized that God was calling me into the ministry. I didn't know exactly how that calling would ultimately be expressed in my life, but I knew that God had called me and I told Him that, for the rest of my life, I would do whatever He wanted me to do. And, 33 years into this journey, I can tell you that it has been an amazing ride.
I share that with you because it was exactly 5 years ago this very day that following God's call brought me to this incredible place called Petaluma Valley. And, before I jump into the sermon, this morning, I'm going to prevail upon your graciousness and ask for a moment of personal privilege to say just a few words of thanks.
First, I want to thank God for continuing to bless me with the grace of this call to His service. I will never understand why He called me. I know myself better than any of you know me and…trust me…I don't deserve to get to do this. But I am genuinely grateful for each additional day that God continues to allow me to serve Him in ministry.
Next, I want to thank God for the spirit of peace, unity and fellowship that He has poured out on this place and I want to thank you for nurturing and valuing that same spirit. Throughout these past five years, Petaluma Valley has been blessedly free of contentiousness, bickering, pettiness and squabbling. God has protected our fellowship from those destructive and divisive attitudes and behaviors. Instead, our fellowship has been super-abounding in grace, kindness, mercy and countless expressions of love. I am so very grateful for that.
Next, I want to thank you for giving me the freedom to be me. I have to confess to you that I am not comfortable…and frankly, I'm not very good at playing "the role of the pastor." If you had tried with your expectations to force me into the mold of the traditional pastor, you would have been thoroughly disappointed and I would have been thoroughly miserable. As it is, you may still be disappointed but I'm having a great time. The truth is, the only role that I'm any good at, at all, is the role of being me. And you have given me the freedom to play that role and I'm very grateful.
Next, I want to thank you for being family to my family. While it's true that I "work" here, it's also true that my family goes to church here. And there are a lot of churches out there that just don't get that…but you do. You have welcomed us with open arms and treated us like family. In the past 5 years, all three of us Marcum's have formed some of the greatest friendships with some of the greatest people that we've ever known. And on behalf of my family, I want to say, "thank you."
Finally, I want to thank you for valuing God's word enough to allow me the time that I need to go deep into God's word as I prepare to speak to you from God's word, week in and week out. The hours that I spend studying, reflecting, praying, writing and waiting for the Holy Spirit to reveal to this dull mind of mine the deep truths of God's word, are hours not spent doing other things. And oftentimes those "other things" are things that consume the majority of the time of many other pastors. Consequently, they end up offering sermons reflecting very little study and very little preparation. Not because they want to do so, but simply because they ran out of time. But you have not only allowed me the luxury of regular, lengthy periods of study and reflection on God's word, you have encouraged it. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that I am deeply grateful for your graciousness in this matter.
So, this morning I want you to know that I am looking back with gratitude for 5 great years and looking forward with confidence that the best part of our journey together is still to come.
Now, on to Romans.
Everyone's a Slave
Two weeks ago, when we were last in Romans, we moved from chapter 5 into chapter 6 and saw Paul's focus shift dramatically. Through the first five chapters of Romans Paul had explained in great detail the amazing process that God had established to make it possible for sinful people like us to get right with God. The process is called "justification by faith," meaning that we don't have to do anything to get right with God, we simply have to believe that everything necessary for us to be made right with God was accomplished in full through Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross. We put our faith…our trust…our confidence in Jesus and God declares us justified-made right with Him. That was Paul's focus through the first five chapters of Romans.
Now, in chapters 6-8, Paul shifts his focus to help us see that once we are justified…once we get right with God…our lives are going to change. Paul wants us to understand that getting right with God produces substantive, qualitative changes in our life. And here in chapter 6 he is specifically working to help us see that once we are justified we are freed from the dominating power of sin.
Now, in the first half of chapter 6 Paul introduced this idea of our newfound freedom from sin by correcting a mistaken conclusion that some people were drawing from his wonderful statement about "grace" at the end of chapter 5. In Romans 5:21 Paul had written, "But where sin increased, grace increased all the more." Some people were mistakenly interpreting that as an invitation to sin freely so that grace would abound freely. But Paul squashed that idea completely in the opening verses of chapter 6 when, in Romans 6:2 he said that those of us who are united to Christ have "died to sin…(So, he asked)…How can we live in it any longer?" Then he used verses 3-14 to explain what being "dead to sin" means concluding, in VERSE 14, "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."
Choose Your Master Wisely
Now, that appears to be the perfect closing statement to the point that he's been making about the proper way for Christians to understand our relationship with sin, namely, that it has no place in our new lives with Christ. But, as we come to verse 15, it's clear that Paul has realized that some people are likely to misinterpret what he's just written in verse 14 as yet another invitation to sin. He reasons that their warped thinking would go something like this: "Well, if we're really under grace and free from the burden of the law then, what's so bad about a little sin."
So, Paul now uses the rest of chapter 6 to squash that kind of thinking. And, once again, he begins by employing one of his favorite teaching techniques: he asks and answers the question that he believes verse 14 is likely to prompt in the minds of many.
In VERSE 15 he writes, "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" In the strongest language possible Paul says that this whole line of reasoning that interprets God's grace as an invitation to sin at will is absurd and appalling. And to make his case Paul creates a powerful metaphor that is guaranteed to get everyone's attention: slavery.
He writes in VERSE 16, "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?"
Why was this reference to slavery so powerful? Because, when Paul wrote this letter to the Christians in Rome, it's estimated that a third of Rome's population were slaves. Some have speculated that as many as half the Christians in Rome either were or had been slaves. And that means that every Christian reading Paul's letter was well aware of the fact that the defining attribute characterizing the life of a slave is obedience. Slaves obey their masters.
We can make the same point coming from the opposite direction by saying that which you obey is your master. And Paul's point here is that, ultimately, all of humanity serves one of two masters: you are either a slave to "sin" or a slave to "obedience," which means obedience to God. Those are your only options. You can obey sin or you can obey God…and you better choose your master wisely, because these two masters lead to vastly different destinations. The sin-master leads to "death," while the obedience-master leads to "righteousness."
Now that he's explained the two slavery options, in VERSES 17-18 he offers a word of affirmation to the Roman Christians who have made the wise choice. He writes, "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."
Now there are three very important points here that I want you to see.
--First, notice what it is that Paul is thankful for. He is thankful that these Christians have faithfully obeyed the "form of teaching" that they were given. The best way to understand that unusual phrase "form of teaching" is as a reference to everything they had been taught from the teachings and example of Christ about the proper way for Christians to live their daily lives. In other words, Paul is thankful that these Christians have truly become the slaves of Christ by going beyond merely learning about Christ to actually living the Christ-life. The change in their lives is obvious and Paul is thankful for that.
--Second, notice that their obedience is not rooted in obligation but rather it is rooted in their hearts. Paul is rejoicing because he can see that their obedience is "wholehearted." They're not obeying God because they have to. They're obeying God because they want to. They have become enthusiastic slaves to righteousness.
How can you be enthusiastic about slavery? Because slavery to righteousness sets you free. They have, as he writes here in 18, been "set free." Once we throw off the shackles of our enslavement to sin, we are finally free, for the first time in our lives, to begin to experience the life for which God created us.
--Finally, notice the person to whom Paul directs his thanks. He doesn't thank the Roman Christians for their wholehearted obedience. He thanks God for their wholehearted obedience. He writes, "Thanks be to God..." Why? Because their wholehearted obedience is evidence of God's grace at work in their lives.
"Under the law" we remain under the dominating influence of our sinful nature and our sinful nature always inclines us toward sin. The law is powerless to change our hearts. But "under grace," we are set free from the dominating influence of sin. "Under grace" our hearts are inclined toward obedience. And that means that any time you see a Christian who is wholeheartedly obeying God it's not a testimony to their personal resolve, it's a testimony to the transforming power of God's grace. All the honor and all the glory belong to God. So Paul says, "Thanks be to God for the change that has happened in you."
The Benefits of Being Enslaved to Righteousness
So, Paul has introduced the idea that everyone is either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness and he has affirmed the Roman Christians for wisely choosing righteousness to be their master, now he's going to bring chapter 6 to a close by identifying the benefits that come to those who wholeheartedly give themselves to a life of enslavement to righteousness.
He writes in the first part of VERSE 19, "I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves." Paul is acknowledging, at this point, that he's a little bit uncomfortable with his use of the slavery metaphor. Obviously, slavery is an abhorrent concept and using slavery to illustrate something as glorious as God's grace and its impact on our lives is a bit awkward. But the truth is there are no words to fully describe the wonder of God's grace, so Paul acknowledges that he has chosen a metaphor that is helpful though limited.
He continues in VERSE 19, "Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness." The contrast that Paul draws for us could not be starker.
--Those who are enslaved to sin go on to ever-increasing degrees of wickedness. Sin never reverses its course. As long as you follow it, it leads you further and further down the road of wickedness.
--But, those who are enslaved to righteousness are led to ever-increasing degrees of holiness. Righteousness also never reverses its course. As long as you follow it, it leads you further and further down the road of holiness. I love the way Paul expresses this same truth in 2 Corinthians 3:18 which says that we, "…are being transformed into his…(that is, Christ's)…likeness with ever-increasing glory." In other words, the longer we walk down the road of righteousness the more we reflect the character, the beauty and the glory of our Lord.
Paul continues in VERSE 20, "When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness." There are two main ideas to note in this verse. First, by saying, "when you were slaves to sin" rather than "if you were slaves to sin," Paul is making it clear that everyone starts out enslaved to sin. No exceptions.
The second idea worth noting is that while we are enslaved to sin, righteousness is completely unappealing to us. One of the characteristics of a life dominated by sin is a lack of interest in those things that God considers righteous.
Then, in VERSES 21-23 Paul gets very specific about the dramatically different benefits that come to those enslaved to sin and those enslaved to righteousness. He writes in verse 21, "What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!" In other words, those who choose to live their lives in obedience to their sinful nature have chosen death as the ultimate goal of their lives. And they will succeed in reaching their goal. They will spend all of eternity cut off from the presence of God.
Then, Paul continues in VERSE 22, "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." In other words, those who choose to live their lives in obedience to God have chosen eternal life as the ultimate goal of their lives. And they, too, will succeed in reaching their goal. They will spend all of eternity in the presence of their God.
And why is it that we can be so confident about our hope for eternal life? VERSE 23 tells us why. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The slave master of sin pays its slaves the wage they deserve. And the wage it pays is death. But God does not pay His slaves a wage, at all. He gives them a gift. And the gift is in no way based upon what they deserve. It's based upon their relationship to Jesus. To those who are "in Christ Jesus," He gives the gift of "eternal life."
So, folks, the choices before us are very clear.
We can be slaves to sin, which leads to death.
Or, we can be slaves to obedience, which leads to eternal life.
Choose your master carefully. The stakes could not be higher.
© Copyright 2004 Pastor Tom Marcum