Romans 6:15-23

 Romans 6:15-23

We all live as slaves to something. We can see the slavery of sin clearly in a desperate drug addict or alcoholic. I once talked with a police officer who described the underbelly of street life in a major city. He described the most desperate of prostitutes by their street term “crack whores,” who would exchange sex for a five-dollar rock of crack cocaine. We can easily see their slavery to their sin. But not all slavery to sin is so obvious. For some, the devil will be subtler in his seduction to slavery. One of the key things to understand about sin is that it is always progressive in nature, taking more and more control over our lives once we begin down that path. The particular thrill or attraction of each sin is unique, but they have this in common: they always move to a deeper level of darkness and control. 

The one who gets away with a bad temper will eventually move into the realm of rage and intimidation. The one who gets ahead by innuendo will sooner or later become a skillful gossip. When one begins by viewing “artful pornography,” they will progress to hardcore pornography. The slavery of sin is never static! That is one of the reasons why every sin is a big deal. When we first open the door to sin, we don’t know where it will end up. The devil may tell us, “It is only a little thing; it is no big deal; it is not a gross sin.”. He lies. First, anything, any sin that sent Christ to the cross is a big deal. Second, our culture may think it is a small thing, but God‘s opinion is the one that matters. Third, that sin may be the one to which we are especially likely to become addicted. 

A Christian may dabble with certain sins and not become enslaved and be deceived into thinking dabbling is not a problem. She finds pornography gross and drunkenness not worth the hangover. But she is thrilled with a little office gossip; she finds hearing exciting, knowing delightful, and telling exquisite. She may be almost prudish about sex and a perfect teetotaler but the most horrific source of misery by means of gossip. When we sample sin, we will sooner or later find a poison that suits us. Not every slave to sin is the drunk in the gutter or the prostitute in the filthy brothel. The slave may be the person in the mirror of a fine upscale store, admiring the reflection, and so addicted to their appearance that they imagine if they had one more outfit of clothing, they would be happy. We crave that which is our master.

“Lord, bring Your conviction on me that I will never be hard hearted about sin.  AMEN”

Romans 6:1-14

 Romans 6:1-14

Paul has stated grace has completely overcome sin. By grace, those of us in Christ have been made righteous. We are sort of God’s trophies of His victory. In God‘s trophy case, there are multitudes of sinners who came out of deep sin and into life in Christ and thus prove the greatness of grace. Because of this remarkable grace some people were saying “go on sinning so that there will be more grace, which is a good thing”. Paul reacts with the most powerful negative the Greek language has. Let’s consider why.

Some years ago a friend of mine suffered the horrors of his wife having an affair. The depth of pain he experienced is beyond words. But with counseling and love and care, the marriage was restored and actually made better. His mercy and kindness was a beautiful thing. Only the filthiest person would say, “The restoration of their relationship was so beautiful she should have more affairs so it can be repeated.” To think I’ll sin because God will forgive is the most unloving thing a person can imagine.

But Paul makes an even stronger point. While we were in sin, we were dead but grotesquely alive. One of the phases that the entertainment industry has gone through is the zombie phase. Zombies are monsters with superhuman cruelty and malevolence and subhuman intelligence and beauty. Zombies are an excellent picture or metaphor for the non-Christian life. The person who is a sinner is sort of an anti-man or an un-man, a monster opposite of what God meant man to be. At baptism the unman is buried alive and killed, and the wholesome or fully man is born. When we come up out of the waters of baptism, it is a kind of new beginning. We are born again. Can you imagine the horrors of taking a beautiful, healthy, new baby and trying to turn it into a monstrous zombie? That is what we do when, as Christians, we sin. We are perverting the pure and innocent into a monster.

Finally, Paul argues for an idea that has been made into the cliché, “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”. In verses 12 through 14, Paul describes us as instruments. That word literally means weapons. That means that every act is an act of war. If our behavior and actions are holy, righteous, and pure, then we are agents fighting for God’s cause. But when we sin, we are using our bodies as weapons fighting against God. When we do that it is if a man betrayed his country, or his wife, is forgiven and then in the next moment turns to attack them. We can see how and why Paul recoiled at the idea of using Grace as an excuse to sin.

“Lord, help me to never return, or even want to return, to being a spiritual zombie. AMEN”