Scripture: Romans 6: 12-23
Message: Presenting For This Life Only: “You”
Anthony Perry Jr.
Therefore do not let sin reign (be king over you) in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer (ðáñßóôçìé = to place beside or near you – to present) the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer (ðáñßóôçìé = to place beside or near you – to present) yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 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? 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.
I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. 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. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 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. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (NIV).
A. Intro
I. Your first great presentation: Birth
a. From the Doctor to your mother “Presenting for this one life only –You.”
b. From Jesus to the world
II. Your last great presentation: Death
a. Close your eyes in death and open them before the judgment seat of God. Your life displayed before all of heaven
b. Girl and Sunday school teacher – Teacher: What do you think were Jesus’ first words after coming back from the dead? Girl: Tada!
III. What happens in between your birth and life will go a long way in determining if there will be a “Tada” Before God or the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
IV. Shakespeare once said the world is a stage and all the people are the actors. I say if this is acting, then I want another job, because acting hurts. Romans 6:12-23 has all you will need to make sure that sure that “for this one life only” you will receive the applause and praise of the God in Heaven at the end.
B. Ðáñßóôçìé –
1. In the short passage this morning Paul uses this Greek root word six times.
2. It means: to place beside or near you; to present or offer.
C. Real question is this. Why is Paul explaining all of this to the Romans?
1. Sharing what he believes
2. Maybe Paul heard a few things
a. When Paul writes other churches he always exposing their weaknesses.
3. We know for sure that Paul believed the Romans were weak! “I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.” Maybe not just the Romans, but all Christians!
4. Jesus once said the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He meant the spirit inside of us wants to do the good we should do, but our human condition makes us weak to carry it through.
5. The opposite is true. The flesh is more than willing and strong enough to rush us to sin, even when the spirit within us is crying out for us to stop.
D. The Basic Instruction for living a Tada life you can be proud of begins with the instructions: Don’t present you and any physical part of you to sin, as an instrument of wickedness, but present yourself to God as an instrument of righteousness.
1. Nestled in between two sayings: Paul states don’t let sin be your king; and sin shall not be Your Lord, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
2. For a great “Tada” at the end know who your king is, know who your Lord is, and know and experience the difference of not being under the law, but under grace.
E. Look back and look forward
1. Bear Grills (A survivalist - T.V. show Man vrs. Wild) traveling through the snow. Dragging a branch behind him to make sure that he was traveling straight in the direction he needed to go.
2. Look back at your life and ask yourself the question, “Where or what things ever brought me shame?” (Are you still doing these things?)
3. Look forward in your life and ask, “Where do I want this offering of my life to lead me.”
a. To God
b. To be an Instrument of righteousness
c. To Holiness
d. To eternal life: The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
F. Conclusion
1. Whether or not your life will be a Tada, or you will get booed off the judgment seat to the weeping and gnashing of teeth according to Paul will have a lot to do with who your king is – who your Lord is – and whether or not you experienced and lived as an instrument of righteousness. All made possible by the grace of God through the gift of God – Jesus Christ.
