Wholehearted Living
Intro: Previously, we looked at the first 14 verses of Romans 6 and talked about the fact that we’ve been freed by grace. The former person that I was before Christ found me and transformed me is dead and gone! I’m not the same and never will be by the grace of God! Paul started that section with a question: Romans 6:1 “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” Then he spent some time showing why that doesn’t work. It is totally inconsistent with who we are in Christ! We are new people! We are free from sin! We have a new nature that leads us in the right way! It would require a U-Turn to go back to a life of sin.
-In v.15 Paul asks another question: 15 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” Then Paul uses the analogy of a slave to show how a lifestyle of sin doesn’t work for someone who has been bought by the Lord and belongs to Him.
-Now here is something to think about. Everyone is a slave. We were born to serve. The question is who will be our master? To whom will we present ourselves to obey and follow? That question must be answered by each of us because it will directly impact the way we live our lives. If Jesus is our Master, we cannot continue to do our own thing or indulge in a lifestyle of sin. It just doesn’t work! If Jesus is our Master, His values and His leadership will be evident in our lives. Christians must live their lives wholeheartedly for the Lord and not hire themselves out to sin any longer. We can only serve on Master wholeheartedly – and that Master is the One who created us and loves us more than we can comprehend.
-Let’s take a closer look at these verses and the idea of slavery and see what we can take home with us in the way of life-changing truth. Please follow along as I read.
Romans 6:15-23 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 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? 17 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. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. 19 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. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 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. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I. Marks of Slavery
1. Submission – v.16 says that whoever you offer yourselves to becomes your master. Some translations use the word “present” or “yield.” The idea is submission. I think of people like Abraham and Samuel and Isaiah in the OT. When the Lord spoke to them, their response was, “Here I am.” They presented themselves to their Master when He spoke to them. And that is what we do when we first come to Jesus. We offer ourselves to Him because we’ve heard Him speak into our hearts. He has called our name and we have responded.
-I must admit, sometimes when I hear my name called I am reluctant to respond. See, there’s this beautiful blond lady I live with. And when I hear, “MarkO?” Somehow I know how that sentence is going to end. It’s probably not going to end with, “Will you sit down so I can rub your feet for you?” I’m probably not going to hear, “MarkO, why don’t we go on a fishing date?” Now please understand that I’m happy to oblige most any request because it has to do with cooperation in making our home a happy place. It is what I signed up for. As a partner in the relationship I cannot simply do what I want to do. I have learned to surrender my will to what is necessary and best for our family.
-When we come to Jesus, we also must learn to surrender our will to Him and what He asks of us. He knows what is best for us and wants us to trust Him – even when we do not understand.
-Paul told the Romans in v.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.” Instead of surrendering your body to sin, surrender your body and all that comes with it in slavery to what is right. God is looking for our trusting surrender to Him. Along with this trusting surrender comes obedience, a second trait of a slave.
2. Obedience – Slaves do what the Master tells them to do. If they refuse, there will be major problems. Throughout the history of slavery the consequences for a slave disobeying his or her master have varied from reduction in wages (if they received any) to beatings, imprisonment, and even death.
-Those who have offered themselves to sin are obedient to their impulses and consistently surrender to their sinful nature. However, those who offer themselves to God no longer serve the old sin master. They present themselves to God on a daily basis to do what He wants. And as v.16 says, this submission and obedience leads to righteousness.
-Now let me clarify that God’s righteousness is given to us (or placed upon us, on our account) when we begin to trust in Christ. This is what Paul calls justification – When we believe God, we are made right with Him based on the death and resurrection of Jesus! However, the righteousness of v.16 is righteous living. The first is righteous standing before God; the 2nd is righteous conduct – living in a way that is consistent with who God is – since He lives in us! Obedience to God does not save us, but it is a sign that we have been saved and are truly doing life with God!
-Imagine an employee who showed up for work each day but never did what the boss asked. Instead, this employee began doing things for another company. While on the clock, he’d do business for the other company. In fact he even wore the logo of the other company and advertised for them. How long would this employee last?
-Folks, God requires our obedience! Either we’re all in or we’re not really in at all. I understand that we are all in process and God is helping us grow and teaching us to follow Him, but if your life is characterized by a pattern of neglect and disobedience to Him, then something is dreadfully wrong. Something has to change because you are a slave to whomever you listen to and obey.
-Here’s the good news. We don’t have to accomplish this in our own power. In fact, we can’t! Remember, that’s one lesson the law brought was that you can’t be good enough to be close to God. You can’t change your own heart or life – only God can! So we need His help! We need His benefits so we can have what it takes to honor and obey Him.
3. Benefits and Compensation
-In Paul’s day slaves often did receive wages and benefits. Technically, everything they owned belonged to their master, but many masters paid them something for their labor and some were eventually able to buy their own freedom.
-It appears that Paul is addressing some form of immoral behavior here, or sinful lifestyles in general. Whatever the case, he made it very clear that sin was not a good master. The benefits are temporary and the pay is terrible!
-Someone said, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay!” As long as sin is your master, you will never be able to find freedom. The only payoff you’ll get from sin is death! Sin is what brought death into the world to begin with, and it still produces death.
-But if God is your master, freedom and life are your benefits! Jesus already paid the price so you could be free from sin! Notice there are no wages for those who follow Christ – only benefits and rewards because we cannot earn God’s grace. Our benefits are freedom, righteousness, and holiness. Our benefit is the gift of God – eternal life through Jesus!
-So slavery requires submission, obedience, and some kind of payoff- good or bad. Those who put their trust in God and submit themselves to Him will not be disappointed with the end result. However, those who follow their own desires and let sin call the shots will experience oppression, bondage, and deep sorrow.
-Paul shows several contrasts, most of which we’ve already mentioned, but I wanted to give a quick overview of the difference between serving God and serving sin.
II. Contrast of Masters
-Yielding to Sin makes sin your master
-Yielding to God makes God your master
-Yielding to Sin pays off in death
-Yielding to God leads to righteousness, holiness and eternal life
-Yielding to Sin brings oppressive bondage
-Yielding to God sets you free from sin
-Again, sin is a terrible master. It doesn’t love you or care about your life at all. We typically personify sin as Satan, who is known as the father of lies. Paul does not use that terminology here, but he writes about Satan in other places. The Bible portrays him as the leader of the forces of darkness. He hates us because we were made in God’s image. He wants nothing more than to destroy us because he sees that as a strike against God. John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
-Jesus told Peter that Satan wanted him and had asked for him in order to shake his faith. But Jesus said, “I have prayed for you, that your faith would not fail.” Satan wants to shake your faith and make you a slave to sin, but Jesus has prayed for you that your faith will not fail.
Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
-One master wants to destroy you, and one Master is praying for you and helping you at every turn. Which one do you want to serve?
III. Implications
1. Choose your Master
2. Yield Yourself wholeheartedly to Him
3. Receive His benefits (His benefits enable you to serve Him- that’s why we need to receive His benefits before we can expect to serve Him wholeheartedly)
4. Serve Him with your whole heart (Actions, attitudes, lifestyle)
-God doesn’t want 80% of you. He wants you to be completely His! He is the one who bought you. Satan didn’t pay anything for you. He doesn’t place any value on you except as a way to strike back against God. You are a pawn to Him.
-If you are at a place where you need to make a choice today, I pray that you will choose Jesus as your Master. Doing things our own way may seem inviting, but it will not end well. Maybe you’ve already chosen Jesus as your Master, but like the disloyal employee, you find yourself working for a different master sometimes. Will you yield yourself to God again today? Maybe you need to experience the benefits of His grace in a new way in your life. He is kind and gracious and will forgive when we surrender ourselves to Him. Have you been serving Him with your whole heart, or is there an area where you’ve been continually disobedient? If you know what the right thing is, but you don’t do it, that is sin. Would you be willing to confess your sins of disobedience to God and ask Him to help you do the right thing? He will help you because He cares about you. He can do a lot more for you than you can for Him, but He does want you to be involved in His business, giving people help and hope.
-What will you do with what God is speaking to your heart through His word? Will you act on it? Will you take a step of faith and obey what the Holy Spirit is speaking to you right now? That is my prayer for you – that you would obey wholeheartedly the teachings of Jesus, and that you would present yourself to Him as a slave of what is right. Let’s pray.
