Romans 6:15-23

What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that, if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you who were slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted and that you, having been set free from sin, have become enslaved to righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, leading to even more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to sanctification.

When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what fruit did you then gain from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the fruit you have leads to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sermon Text

 Good to see everyone back after our, admittedly, dour service last week. We looked at sin, its dehumanizing and deadly effects, and I promised you all that we would look beyond sin this week to something a bit more hopeful. This week I want to point out the most powerful thing I can about God’s grace. The grace which we receive from Christ, through his death and resurrection and our faith in the same, does not just save us from death and hell and sin, but frees us to do good and to be good in ways we never could be alone.

Protestants are not good at talking about “doing good.” We are a tradition that has focused in on the fact that we are saved through faith alone, we had a reformation and several wars about that fact! Yet, if we are being truthful about the work of God in our hearts, then I do not think we can look at our Spiritual Health without considering the goodness we learn to do. That goodness may be in spiritual matters – prayer and scriptural study and affection toward God – but it must also be in more worldly signs of goodness too – prayer and service toward and beside others and affection for our fellow human beings.

To be a Christian is to be a person who realizes that they can only truly be saved through faith in Christ. To live as a Christian is to, having acknowledged our dependency on Christ, invest ourselves in the life of Christ such that we begin to resemble the savior who first called us. The life of a Christian can be a static thing, clinging only to as much grace and growth as might save us from hell. However, if we truly want to experience the fullness of God’s mercy, then we must take “the more excellent way,” of a pious life.[1]

Paul uses a metaphor out of his own world to describe the way in which Christ allows us to be freed from sin and equipped for good works. He says that in the same way that a slave is completely subservient to their master, so is a Christian completely subservient to Christ’s example and rule of life. The slavery we once had to sin, such that it controlled our every desire and action, is now a slavery to Christ, such that we are freed to do all good through the perfectly good God we call our master.

We may bristle under the language of “slave,” to describe our role in serving Jesus, but Jesus uses the same language in the Gospels.[2] I will not paint you an overly generous picture of Roman Slavery to suggest it was much better than American Chattel slavery. Our discomfort at the term was probably shared with the first Christians in Rome who read Paul’s words. It is an uncomfortable idea to think that we, free people that we are in most respects of life, should be called “slaves,” and by God no less.

What I would like to put forward, however, is that this kind of absolute service we render to Jesus and the mastery that Jesus shows us is only called “slavery,” because no earthly parallel truly exists. To give ourselves entirely to Christ, to have every breath be filled with the fullness of God, that is freedom itself. That Christ looks to this metaphor, and that so does Paul, perhaps is more an indictment on our own world that on Christ’s words. We cannot imagine giving ourselves completely to anything without “ownership,” being part of the equation. I think that is why “marriage,” is the other metaphor used to describe our faith. It again fails to address all aspects of our life with Christ, failing in different ways to the other metaphor, but all the same it approaches the right idea.

Our service to Christ is another thing only made possible through the grace we receive by faith. We are given the spiritual strength we need to develop our skills in holiness. Praying without ceasing, forgiving as we have been forgiven, honoring all people and all life as sacred, and serving all people and our God with all our hearts are all marks of a holy life. Yet, if we are to summarize what that holiness looks like, we just need to see it in terms of “love.” When we are unsure the way to move forward, we can ask ourselves the simple question, “Would the thing I am doing allow me to better love others and to love God?” If the answer is yes, then we move forward in holiness.

1 Corinthians 13 is usually the verse you will hear quoted talking about love, and almost always recounting romantic love (usually at a wedding.) Today though, I want you to apply it to your actions toward God and others. Are we being patient? Giving people time and taking time to work? Are we being kind? Not just good, not just right, but also kind? Are we shunning all envy? Pride? Boastfulness? How long of a list have we kept of the wrongs others have done? Do we have a kind of heart that, “… bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

To grow in holiness takes intention. As we discussed last week when we looked at avoiding sin, we must intentionally seek to do good. Have you made yourself available to serve? Have you taken time, more than once, to pray for others? To read the scriptures? Have you practiced loving your enemies? I can ask more question! The simple thing we have to ask is, are we willing to be perfected in love? Christ has given us Grace that we might be made whole. I would ask that all of us devote ourselves, intentionally, to letting the grace of God lead us into life, and life abundant. – Amen

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[1] John Wesley. “The More Excellent Way.” Available at: https://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-89-the-more-excellent-way/

[2] Luke 17:7-10