July 14, 2019 -- Romans 6:20-22 Whose Slave are You?

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?

For the end of those things is death.

But now that you have been set free from sin

and have become slaves of God

the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end,

eternal life.

Romans 6:20-22 English Standard Version

The passage is, in many ways, offensive to those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ. It is offensive because such persons likely do not see themselves as “slaves of sin”. Our world has this concept of neutrality. We can see the world without bias. That is a lie. All of us have a starting point. All of us have our own compass that guides our thinking. In this brief passage, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul is taking direct aim at the lie of neutrality.

There are many people today who do not attend church, do not claim a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as the King of their lives, and yet, they believe they will enter heaven. Why? Such people claim many excuses, you’ve heard them, things like:

My good deeds outweigh my bad deeds

God is love and He wouldn’t throw me into hell

There are many people far worse than I am

If you are not all-in for Jesus and serving Him, you are a slave of sin. You have no claim on God, no claim on His righteousness, you are caught up in the tangled webs of your sins and the lies you tell yourself have no impact on God. You are ‘free from righteousness’. God is under no obligation to save you, help you, or bring you into His heaven. The result of being free from righteousness and embracing your own way of life apart from God is death and hell.

Conversely, God in His great mercy, provides freedom from sin for those who are slaves of sin. At the cross on Calvary the penalty for our sins has been fully paid upon the body and mind, soul and life of Jesus. He stood in our place. Those who confess their sinfulness; those who realize they are not “neutral” with regards to sin and wickedness are released from the kingdom of darkness are brought into the kingdom of God and of His Son. The Spirit of God then rules our hearts and minds, our hands and our souls so that we are slaves of God.

Wait—I don’t want to be a slave—I can hear many protesting right now. The fact of the matter is all of us are slaves. We are either slaves of sin or we are slaves of God. There is no middle ground. There is no neutral place. It is not my opinion, it is the Word of God that teaches me this difficult truth. And life experience shows me the reality of it. When I set out to do the right thing, it never ceases to amaze me (and shame me) how quickly and easily I compromise! All any of us needs to do is think of our New Year’s Resolutions—they’re usually knocked down and forgotten quicker than we’d care to admit. We are slaves.

For the Christian, it is the power of God which is restraining our unbridled sinfulness. He rules us by His Word and His Spirit. We are changed from the inside out. In the light of Christ and the high standard He sets for holiness, we see how far we miss the mark of right living. And thanks be to God, we confess our sins and acknowledge our wrong-doing and the righteousness—the holy-living of Jesus—is credited to our account.

As slaves of God He brings the fruit of sanctification—the life of holiness takes hold of us and sin becomes more and more distasteful to us. Sanctification means we grow to admire, love and follow Jesus more whole-heartedly. We begin to see clearly the demarcation between being a slave of sin and being a slave of God and the later is the only way of hope and peace and joy!

This is a difficult teaching. However, if the Spirit of God is giving you a sense of dissatisfaction with your life and an awareness of the power of sin in your life, if you are tired of lying to yourself about how good you are, speak with a Christian friend. Know God is reaching out to you and showing you a new way of life. Jesus Himself says of His followers: “I no longer call you slaves…but I call you friends” (John 15:15). Oh, it is my prayer, that all of you reading this devotion today may find this great joy—being the friend of Jesus.

King Jesus, thank You for the power of the cross. Thank You that You have paid for all my sins! Thank You, Merciful Father in heaven, that You declare men and women, youth and children to be Yours by the power of the cross. Thank You Father in heaven for the gift of Your Holy Spirit—taking the Word and by it wrestling our consciences to the ground until we hate our slavery to sin and become Your slaves. Thank You Jesus, that You call the slaves of God Your friends—for when You walked this earth in Your flesh You lived as the slave of God and did so perfectly and with great joy and perseverance. Jesus, Captain of Salvation, there are many friends, many family members who are lying to themselves and think they are “okay” while in fact they are dead to the things of God and slaves of sin. Break the power of sin, Great Jesus. Help these people who are dear to me, become slaves of God and Your friends. Amen.