Intro
We continue our way though the book of Romans. And with that we continue our conversation about God’s grace in relation to our day to day life. Last Sunday we explored that abundance of God’s grace is not a licence to sin. The fact that God’s grace can cover any multitude of sin does not mean that we allowed to sin as much as we wish. But, rather otherwise we should consider ourselves dead to sin, in order to raise for new life for God, in Jesus. We said that you cannot be resurrected if you haven’t died yet. And our baptism symbolized our death to sin. We walk in the newness of life which described in verse 14
Romans 6:14
¹⁴…For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
I feel like this important statement is one of those that often being misused to justify the lifestyle that does not align with the scriptures.
Example
You ask a couple that claim to be devoted follower of Christ:
“Hey, why do you live together and do not get married?” And the response you get:“It’s OK. We’re not under the law, but under the grace”
Which produces question:
Romans 6:15
¹⁵What then? Arr we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?
Does God’s grace allow for sin?
Today we will seek the answer to this question. And as we do so we should remember that when taken out of the context scriptures can be misused to justify pretty much anything. People twist the bible to fit their view of the world instead of letting God change their way of thinking. Let’s not be this kids of people and consider the context of the scripture and let’s open our hearts for God to speak to us, encourage and even convict us as necessary. We should not be afraid to pray this kind of prayers because we know that even when God has to exercise correction it’s not to hurt us, but to give us life.
Rewind
I’ve notices that my approach to bible study is very similar to painting - Every new coat should overlap previous one around 50%. And that is how you get 100% coverage without blind spots. It’s not like I’m doing it intentionally, it’s just happens. So, let’s rewind a couple verses and start at the end of our previous passage.
Romans 6:14(NIV)
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Sin shall not be master over you
Last Sunday we talked that people are slaves to sin. That our brokenness is internal and it flows from Adam into every last human being. The only way to escape from sin is to consider ourselves dead to sin. Baptism symbolizes our death to sin, just like Christ died for sin once, for all. And then we rise for new life, just as Christ were reason by the power of the Father.
When we rise with Christ we rise free from the dominion of the sin. We are no longer slaves. And sin is no longer our master. We do not have to sin. Now we have a choice. In our previous life sin made us to obey it’s passions. But now we no longer can be forced to obey sin. And here is important part. We still can willingly return under control of the sin. We can give up and let sin take over.
Example
Imagine a person, let’s call him Patrick. Patrick was a good but naive yang man. And because of a few bed life decisions Patrick became a victim of the human trafficking. He end up as a worker in the foreign county. No documents, no language. Huge debts. Ridicules amount that he will never will be able to pay off. As much as Patrick hates it, there is no escape. His masters not gonna let him go. They tell what to do. They tell how to behave. They tell when to start and stop working. They control his life. At this stage Patrick lives by the mercy of his masters.
It is not that uncommon in our days. Human trafficking flourishing in certain parts of the world.
But let’s imagine that one day someone comes and buys freedom for Patrick. Get’s him out of the system. Provides all the paperwork and arranges return home. It’s amazing and beautiful moment. Tears running down the Patrick’s face. There were no hope, but now he is free. He is treated like a real person. Patrick was saved. And unlike many others he got a chance to start a new life.
And here is a paradox. If Patrick not gonna be willing to move forward. To learn how to live like a free man. Remember many years he have been kept hostage and got very used to, or we can say adopted that life style. It might sound bazaar but after a while it becomes quite tempting to go back to the old masters, to go back to the life he is so used to. To lifestyle he understands. Maybe it was not that bad after all? Maybe it ok if He will let them to control him again.
Even imagining something like that sound like a horrible tragedy. No one deserves that.
But this is exactly what we do when we chose to go back to the lifestyle of sin, after we tasted God’s grace. And bible says it shell not happen. Sin shell no longer be your master.
Not under the law, but under the grace.
Once you’ve had no choice. You’ve been controlled by the sin. But now the era of the law has ended. We will talk about the law in the more details in following Sundays. But in short the Law was never able to set us free from the reign of sin. For the most part it was only pointing to a problem that we have.
But God’s Grace did. That’s why our new life in Jesus Christ is under God’s grace. Which means we regained the ability to choice who to serve. We can choose who will be our master.
No Master
[show an image of Dobby] Unlike Dobby, none of us have this option. If you carefully read the bible, you will know that if Lord God is not your mater, then you are slave to sin. We are free in Jesus because unlike sin, God never forces you to do things. God respects our will and never taking control over our bodies. When on the other hand sin never let’s us do what we want, but rather manipulates us to obey it’s passions.
Romans 6:16
¹⁶Do 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?
Please, note that Bible teaches us that there is no neutral position. You choice between obedience and sin. You ether obey God, or rebel against God. And that’s what sin is actually is. Sin - is rebel against God.
Also, scriptures tell us that each path has it’s own consequences.
Obedience - leads you to righteousness.
And Sin or something that world portrays as “Independents” - leads to death. And it is not so much physical death that we are talking about. Because, if Jesus not gonna come back very soon, most of us will died physically. Our body will, you know, “expire”.
This scripture is not about the death of the body. But, rather eternal death.
Matthew 22:13
¹³‘…cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
As much as we not really now how eternity with God will look like. Except that it will be much better that what we have now.
Same goes for eternal death. We don’t really know how it’s going to look like accept that it will be something really really bad.
Living under the grace
Romans 6:16 start to shed some lite on what is to live under the grace.
We can clearly see that Living under the grace does not mean freedom to do whatever you want satisfying desires of your flesh, your mortal body. Living under the grace also not about being independent and doing your thing. Like people say “I’m just doing me..”
No. This is what bible calls living in sin. Rebel against God. And you cannot obey God and rebel again God all in the same time.
True approach
True approach described in the following verses:
Romans 6:17,18
¹⁷But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,¹⁸and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
To Live under the grace is to become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching
To be obedient from the heart that’s where it’s all at. Not superficial obedience. Not just formal following some rules. No. Obedience that comes from the depth of the heart.
It is like those people who use turn signals when they drive in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere when no one sees them. They do it not because they have to do it. Not because they are afraid to get a ticket. But because they believe it is right thing to do. From the depth of their heart.
It is like not throwing trash in the middle of the forest. No one gonna know. But you don’t do it because you believe that it is wrong thing to do. From the depth of your heart.
To be obedient from the depth of your heart will cause the change of the behavior
Romans 6:19
¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
We talked about it last time. That it’s not only about stopping doing the wrong things, but it’s about start doing the right thing. Sin often uses our members that have been given to us by God for good works, to do lawlessness which leads to eternal death.
But once you’ve been raised for a new life you need to present very same members of your body, which sin used for lawlessness, for doing righteousness. And this will lead to sanctification. Which will lead to eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:20-22
²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.²¹ 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.²²But 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.
The bottom line is that living under the Grace is to be obedient from the heart to God and His Word. You cannot continue in sin. Do not fool yourselves you cannot live a life of obedience to God and rebel against God all in the same time. You have to chose one or the other. But remember:
Romans 6:23
²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The choice is ours. If you never have been born again today is the day. To die for sin, and raise for new life for God in Jesus Christ. Or maybe you are going to church for a while now. But in all honesty you can’t say that you are obedient from the depth of your heart. Maybe not too much righteousness happening in your life. Maybe you slipped to the old way of living.
If that’s something that resonate with you. I invite you to pray.