When the Bible speaks of what happens to us when we receive
Christ Jesus as our Savior and Lord, it uses words like transformed, changed,
made new, resurrection, freedom, and holiness. That’s precisely what
Paul is talking about in our text for today.
In the first part of chapter 6 Paul says when we come to Christ
by faith and are baptized into Christ, we are buried to the old way of life
and raised to a whole new way of life. In our passage, he’s really just
going on with that truth. It’s the idea that when we become Christians
it’s far more than a change of status. It’s far more than joining
up with a new club. Our whole orientation of life is shifted. And using illustrative
language that would have been meaningful to them, he says it’s like
once being a slave to the master called sin and then undergoing a total change
of ownership. Now, through Christ, sin no longer owns us. We now belong to
Christ and having been freed from the grip of sin we are free to embrace a
new “slavery”—not of compulsion but of love. This, Paul
says, is slavery to righteousness.
As you know, Paul was earlier laying out how we are saved by
God’s mercy and grace and not by our own good works. Perhaps he could
imagine some in the Roman church saying, “Well, if God is full of grace
and mercy then it really doesn’t matter much how we live. God will always
forgive us no matter what.” In fact he takes it a step further by asking
the question we heard in verse 15: “Shall we sin because we are . .
. under grace?” His answer is passionate, definitive, and strong—by
no means! God forbid!
However, could it be that this is precisely the mindset of our
age, even among people who identify themselves as Christians? In our popular
Christian music, in Christian books, TV, radio, and from pulpits across the
land one of our favorite proclamations is that “God accepts us just
as we are.” It is true God does not demand we clean up our act before
we can come to Him and receive His love. But God has absolutely no intention
of leaving us as we are. Appropriate response to the amazing grace of God
is called for. So in verse 19 Paul says, “Just as you used to offer
the parts of your body in slavery to impurity . . . So now offer them in slavery
to righteousness leading to holiness.”
The text presses this question: To what, to whom are we offering
ourselves on a daily basis? To hear this text fully we probably also need
to review what the Bible means and what our people think of when the word
“sin” comes up. Perhaps what comes to mind for many of our hearers
is a certain behavior or behaviors. However, the Bible doesn’t frame
sin primarily as a moral category, in the sense of a list of prohibited actions.
The essence of sin is when the human mind and heart turns in on itself. It’s
when we live under the sovereignty of our own will and desires instead of
under the sovereignty of God.
Consequently, in this whole discussion of “the life you
were meant to live,” the issue is much deeper than figuring out how
to eliminate certain, unacceptable behaviors from our lives. It’s all
about the total orientation of our lives under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
That’s why Paul puts it as he does. Either you’re going to be
a slave to sin, or you can by God’s grace be a slave to righteousness.
(For the full manuscript
of this sermon go to www.preachersmagazine.org and click on “Sermons”)
I began by guiding my people to think about freedom and the
desire in the heart of every person at some level to know and experience freedom.
I did not talk narrowly about political freedom, but about how life in this
world tries to bind and chain us in a thousand different ways. There are chains
of social status and chains of poverty; chains of shame and chains of fear;
chains of addiction and chains of abuse. I don’t really know of anybody
who has ever experienced bondage to anything who does not long to be free.
The amazing thing is that even when that freedom finally comes, it’s
often surprisingly hard for people to remain free.
The question I pressed to my hearers in hopes of opening a space
for the gospel to be heard was this: “Christian, to what, to whom are
you offering yourself on a daily basis?” I believe most of us really
want to live the life we were meant to live—a life that would please
God and bring joy and peace to our hearts. But it won’t happen unless
and until we use the grace that has already been given to offer our heart,
mind, soul, and body to the Lord on a moment-by-moment basis.
Out of my pastoral relationship with the congregation, I also
went on to specify the nature of that moment-by-moment surrender to which
God invites us. Here’s what I said:
“I’m worried about you. I’m worried about
us. I’ll tell you specifically what I worry about:
1. I worry that you have no margin in your life from which to
serve people. You are so consumed with your own stuff that you don’t
offer yourself and your gifts to ministry.
2. I worry that you gauge your life by how you feel instead
of by what is true. A feelings-oriented life will always end in disappointment.
A truth-oriented life will always end in peace.
3. I worry that there is no space in your life where God can
meet you and shape your mind and heart. You don’t read His Word; you
talk about praying, but you don’t really pray.
4. I worry that our culture’s obsession with sex is eating
away at your very soul. It may feel exciting when you’re consuming lust,
but it always leaves you feeling empty. There will come a time when suddenly
you’ll realize there’s nothing left.
5. I worry that you are robbing God and apparently think nothing
of it. Every time you fail to surrender your resources fully to God, there’s
a little more distance, a little more desire to hide.
It’s a bold word, I know, and it can probably only be spoken out of a carefully developed, pastoral relationship over a long period of time, but perhaps our preaching in these days needs to move from “Five Simple Steps” to “Five Piercing Questions.” This sermon suggests the “life you were meant to live” will not be satisfied to stay assigned to one compartment, but will lay claim to every corner, every arena of life.
