Slaves to obedience (Romans 6:15-23)

Slaves to obedience

 

 

 

 

 

[Romans 6:15-23]

 

 

Last week, during a wedding service for a couple in our church's English ministry, I gave three recommendations under the title of the sermon titled “By Faith,” centered on Hebrews 11:23-26.  One of those three exhortations was to have higher values by faith, refuse to enjoy the sinful pleasures of the world, but choose to be mistreated and to suffer for Jesus Christ.  I took Moses as an example.  What did Moses do with faith?  He made the right choice “by faith”.  Moses made the right choice with faith in the choice between to be called the son of Pharaoh's princess (v. 24) or to be called the son of God, to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a short time (v. 25) or to suffer with the people of God (v. 25), to choose all the treasures of Egypt or suffering disgrace for the sake of Christ (v. 26).  In this way, faith makes the right choice on the path of both choices.  It never wanders this way or that way.  We make the right choice while distinguishing what is right and what is wrong with clear and distinct biblical value.  The reason we make the right choice is because we have eternal hope.  In other words, in the case of Moses, he was able to make the right choice because he “was looking ahead to his reward” (v. 26).

 

We Christians who believe in Jesus must clearly draw the line and live.  In other words, there must be distinct differences between our life before believing in Jesus and our life after believing in Jesus.  If we do not have clear and obvious differences or changes in our life before and after believing in Jesus, we cannot play the role of light and salt that influences the world for good.  If we truly believe in Jesus, there must be a change in our lives. ‘If life before and after believing in Jesus is the same, I need to check whether I am a person who really believes in Jesus.  Many people in the Bible lived a different life after accepting Jesus as their Savior.  After meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus, who was an embezzlement slave of money, repaid the original owners of the property he had unrighteously accumulated and robbed, and gave to the poor.  He broke up with an unrighteous life.  After meeting Jesus, the apostle Paul no longer took pride in his splendid background, such as his family, position, and academic achievements, and left his arrogance and humbly lived a life of living Jesus as the most precious Person in his life.  After meeting Jesus, the Samaritan woman who had several husbands no longer pursued pleasure.  She left her water jar and preached Jesus as the Savior to people’ (Internet).  But why do we believe in Jesus and live a life of faith, yet there are no clear changes in our lives?  Why aren't the differences in our lives before and after believing in Jesus clearly revealed?  The reason is because we have not drawn a clear and unequivocal line between life before and life after believing in Jesus.  We must draw a clear line between life before and after believing in Jesus.

 

In today's text, Romans 6:16, we see that apostle Paul, writing a letter to the saints in Rome, draws a clear line between life before believing in Jesus and life after believing in Jesus.  Look at 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?”  Paul told the saints in Rome that even though before they believed in Jesus, they offered themselves to sin and were slaves of sin, but now, after believing in Jesus, they were justified and became slaves of righteousness.  Then, what does Paul mean by slaves to sin and slaves to righteousness?

 

First of all, slaves to sin refers to the life we lived before believing in Jesus.  Life before believing in Jesus refers to a life in which we were slaves to sin, a life in which we gave our members to impurity and wickedness.  Look at Romans 6:19 - “…  Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, ….”  When we say here that we give our members to the “impurity”, it literally means that we waste ourselves on things that have no value.  From the point of view of the saints in Rome who received Paul's letter, that worthless vanity refers to a life lived in pursuit of impurity according to the sinful desires of their hearts (1:24ff).  In other words, it refers to a life of sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another (v. 24).  He writes a letter to the saints in Rome, reminding them that before they believed in Jesus, they were enslaved to sin because they were led by “shameful lust” and committed the sin of meaningless sexual depravity.  Also, he writes this letter to the saints in Rome, telling them that before they believed in Jesus, they gave their members to lawlessness as slaves to sin.  In a word, before we believed in Jesus, we lived in violation of God's law.  This life of breaking God's law and living in sin (1 Jn. 3:4) was our life before believing in Jesus.  Why did we break the law and live with sins like this before we believed in Jesus?  The reason is that our thoughts have become futile and our foolish hearts were darkened because we have suppressed the truth with unrighteousness (1:18-21).  As a result, not only did we exchange the truth for a lie (v. 25), but we also did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God in our hearts (v. 28).  We did not want to have God's word or His law in our hearts.  Therefore, we lived with sins, following the laws of the flesh and doing the works of the flesh according to the sinful desire of the flesh.  In this way, before we believed in Jesus, we lived a life that led to more and more lawlessness by giving our bodies to impurity and wickedness.  In a word, sin reigned in our lives.  What was the result?  The result of sin is death (vv. 16, 21, 23).  Before you and I believed in Jesus, our life was a life leading to death by giving our members to impurity and wickedness.

 

Then, what kind of life does the life after believing in Jesus refer to?  Paul refers to the life after believing in Jesus as slaves to righteousness (6:18-19).  What kind of life does the life of the slaves to righteousness (v. 18) refer to?  It refers to my life and yours who are justified by believing in Jesus.  In other words, it refers to a righteous life as a person who has been justified by believing in Jesus.  What kind of life does a righteous life refer to as one who has been justified by believing in Jesus and received the greatest gift of eternal life by God's total grace?   In other words, what is the life of the slaves to righteousness?

 

First, life as slaves to righteousness refers to the life of being ashamed of what we did when we were slaves to past sins.

 

Look at Romans 6:20-21: “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!”  At least now, if we are living a life of faith in Jesus, our conscience must be alive.  And if our conscience is alive, when we lose the spiritual battle with ourselves and commit sins according to the sinful habits of our old self, our conscience should be stricken, and we should feel guilty and ashamed of having sinned.  Furthermore, we shall be ashamed not only of our own sins but also of the sins of others in the church.  For example, we should be ashamed when we hear the news that a certain pastor of a certain church has committed a sexual sin through TV or newspapers.  In a word, we must be Christians who know how to be ashamed.  It is said that former President Roh, who passed away, said these words at the Democratic Peaceful Unification Advisory Meeting on December 21, 2006, in a statement opposing the transfer of wartime operational control by a general in reserve service: ‘They created an army that could not properly control the operation of their own country's armed forces, and I, the Minister of Defense, and I, the Chief of Staff, were so proud of yourselves?  …  So, they rushed in and made statements saying that we shouldn't take back operational control, and they said they were dereliction of duty.  You should feel ashamed.’  The buzzword that originated here is ‘You should be ashamed!’ (Internet).  It is right.  We, those who believe in Jesus, should be ashamed.  We should be ashamed of committing sexual sins driven by “shameful lust” after believing in Jesus.  Also, breaking God's law (commandments), we should be ashamed.  We must never be obstinate and stubborn like the Israelites (Ezek. 2:4).

 

Second, life as slaves to righteousness refers to a life lived under grace.

 

Look at Romans 6:15 – “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!”  Apostle Paul said to the Roman saints, ‘You are not under the law, but under grace’ (v. 14), and then, as those who are under grace, ‘Shall you sin since you are under grace?  You cannot’ (v. 15).  How can we not sin?  The reason is that sin no longer has dominion over the believers in Jesus (v. 14).  Why does sin no longer have dominion over you and me?  The reason is that we have been set free from sin (vv. 18, 22).  Hymn “Would You be Free From Your Burden of Sin” comes to mind: (v. 1) Would you be free from your burden of sin?  There's pow'r in the Blood, pow'r in the Blood.  Would you o'er evil a victory win?  There's wonderful pow'r in the Blood. (v. 2) Would you be free from your passion and pride?  There's pow'r in the Blood, pow'r in the Blood.  Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide.  There's wonderful pow'r in the Blood.  (v. 3) .Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?  There's pow'r in the Blood, pow'r in the Blood.  Sin stains are lost in its lifegiving flow.  There's wonderful pow'r in the Blood.  (v. 4) Would you do service for Jesus your King?  There's pow'r in the Blood, pow'r in the Blood.  Would you live daily His praises to sing?  There's wonderful pow'r in the Blood.  (chorus) There is pow'r, pow'r, wonderworking pow'r In the blood of the Lamb.  There is pow'r pow'r wonderworking pow'r In the precious blood of the Lamb.  We have been freed from sin through the power of the blood of the Lamb, Jesus.  And we can overcome the test of the lust of the flesh with the power of the blood of Jesus.  Believers who have been justified by faith in Jesus by God's total grace no longer commit habitual sins and become slaves to sin through faith in the power of the precious blood of Jesus.  Rather, the life of the saints who live under the grace of God lives while enjoying freedom from sin.

 

Third, the life of slaves to righteousness refers to a life of obeying the word of God with their hearts.

 

Look at Romans 6:17 – “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.”  Paul tells the saints in Rome that they must live a life of slaves to righteousness, that is, they must obey the word of God with their heart, and the result is leading to righteousness (v. 16) and holiness (vv. 19, 22).  In other words, if we disobey God's word and serve as slaves to sin, the fruit is death (v. 21), but if we obey God's word with our hearts, the fruit is holiness and eternal life (v. 22).  God has given us the “sound doctrine” to us who believe in Jesus (Tit. 2:1).  And God gave us a heart that wants to know God and to obey His word (1 Pet. 2:2) (MacArthur).  We must thank God for this grace (Rom. 6:17).  Then, what is the word that God wants us to obey?  It is not obeying evil desires to our sinful nature (v. 12).  The word of God that we must obey is the preaching of the gospel (Rom 1:16).  We must clearly distinguish between what to be ashamed of and what not to be ashamed of.  What we should be ashamed of is the sins we commit against God.  But what we should not be ashamed of is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  In the midst of this, we must live a life worthy of the gospel.  We must preach the gospel of Jesus Christ not only with our lips, but also with our lives.  This is the life of obeying the word of God with our hearts.  This should be the life of me and you as slaves of righteousness.

 

Before believing in Jesus, life was a slave to sin.  But now, by God's total grace, we have been justified through faith and have eternal life.  And as those who have been justified, we are no longer slaves to sin.  The reason is because we have now become slaves to righteousness after believing in Jesus.  As slaves to righteousness, we should be ashamed of what we did when we were slaves to sin in the past.  Also, as slaves to righteousness, we must live under God's grace.  In the midst of this, I hope and pray that we will be able to glorify God by obeying God's word with our hearts.