Sunday, 12 July 2009
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ROMANS 6:15ff
· Audio for the sermon can be found at http://www.sermoncloud.com/sovereign-king-church/
· One of the surprise hits last year was a movie entitled, “Taken.”
o It was sort of a middle-aged “Bourne Identity.”
o The plot involves a former spy who is trying to reconnect with his daughter.
o She gets kidnapped while on a trip across Europe, and her father springs into action to keep her from being sold into slavery.
o The movie spends the majority of its time watching the Father kick butt across Europe in the desperate attempt to save the daughter he loves from a fate that is almost unimaginable.
· Now slavery may seem like a strange concept or premise here in 2009, but the slave trade is alive and well in the world and even in America.
o ABC News reports that as many as half a million American children under the age of 18 are involved in slavery and as many as 3,000,000 are involved in prostitution.
o The East Coast hub for sex slave traffic is just a few hours away down in Atlanta.
o Now if Atlanta seems to far away, but just last week, Durham police arrested a Duke employee who was attempted to traffic his adopted son to someone on the internet.
· Now, the proper response to this news should be disgust, anger, and a desire for justice. Slavery is disgusting, and the proper response to anyone in it is compassion and a vigilance to see that person freed.
o Imagine for a minute that you actually knew someone who was a slave. Someone who was helpless to a ruthless master who held them captive. I think most everyone here would do whatever they could to free that person, especially if it was someone they were close to or someone they loved.
· In light of that, listen to this:
o Titus 3:3-8 - For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
· There are some foundational truths here, and it is important that they are understood before venturing any further into Romans.
o Each and every person is a fool, disobedient, led astray, and a slave to their passions and pleasures, full of malice and envy apart from God.
o However, when the goodness and loving kindness of God, through Jesus our Savior appeared, God saves people. He doesn’t save anybody because of good works, but because God is merciful.
o God washes you by regenerating from you death unto life by the Holy Spirit whom He pours out on us through Jesus.
o So, if you have faith in Jesus, you are justified or legally declared innocent by God’s grace. Not only are you declared innocent, God makes you a co-heir with Jesus with the hope of inheriting eternal life.
o And you know what the proper response should be? We should devote ourselves to good works out of a heart of thankfulness.
· So, let’s get this straight: you were transformed from a slave to an heir of eternal life through God’s work. You went from a slave to passions to devotion to good works because of God’s grace.
o Now if you fully own this truth. If you fully own how desperately hopeless your situation was before knowing Christ, then you should be the most compassionate person in the world to anyone that you know that is a slave to sin presently.
· In light of that, let’s ask this big picture question:
Big Picture Question: How should God’s transformation of you from slave to sin to slave to righteousness motivate you to share the Gospel with others?
Romans 6:15-23
6:15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 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?
· When you read a passage like this, a wise question to ask is, “What does it mean that you are not under law but under grace?” Well, answering the question can be pretty divisive, and entire denominations disagree with each other. So, let me speak to that for a moment before me move to other application.
o Some say, “Well that means I can do whatever I want to do because God has forgiven me.”
§ Well, if you are in Christ, God has forgiven you, but Paul just got through telling us last week that grace should cause us to no longer continue in sin because we are no longer a slave to sin. In light of that, not being under the law does not mean that there are no moral absolutes by which to live any longer.
§ It means we are now enabled to obey, so let’s eliminate that interpretation.
o Some way, since we are saved by faith, the law as given by Moses doesn’t matter anymore.
§ But Paul will says in Romans 3:31 “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.”
§ So we to need to uphold it and not throw it away, so let’s eliminate that interpretation.
o Some say, “Well, Jesus fulfilled the law so the only part of the law that anyone is to obey are the parts of the law that are repeated in the NT.”
§ This is a pretty popular interpretation.
§ It is an interesting view of the scriptures, but that puts you in a pretty difficult place. For example, Leviticus 18 tells you not to marry your mother, your sister, or your aunt. Those verses aren’t repeated in the NT anywhere.
§ I’m pretty sure God still doesn’t want me to marry my mother, so that doesn’t sound like that interpretive tool works either.
o So what is the solution? Well, the classical Reformed position meaning the interpretation consistent with the theologians of the Protestant Reformation framed it in this way.
§ There were 3 types of laws in the law Moses gave.
· Moral Law which applied to the living of a Godly moral life in reflection of God Himself.
· Ceremonial Law the ceremonial law involved all laws pertaining to being clean and unclean, the Jewish festivals as well as all the laws explaining the sacrifices offered for sin.
· Judicial Law were the civic laws of the day pertaining to life within Israel the state.
§ Within that, the position I think best addresses these things is called the Reformed position and it is the opposite of the one mentioned above. The believer does everything within the law except that which is explicitly overturned by the NT.
· For example, dietary laws were overturned when the sheet came out of heaven to Peter in Acts 10.
· The entire book of Hebrews is about how the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus negate the need for the ceremonial law.
· The cleaniness laws were tied to the sacrificial system so now that we are made clean by the work of Christ, those do not apply.
· So if there are parts of the law that we are still to obey, what does it mean when Paul says the believer lives by grace and not by the law?
o Quite simply, it means that you are not judged by your obedience to the law because Jesus was judged for you. He obeyed perfectly, and His obedience and righteousness is given or imputed to you.
o But Paul’s point is that even though you will not be judged by obedience to the law that does not mean that you can headlong run into and pursue your sin.
· The law showed you your slavery to sin, and Jesus brought you into slavery to righteousness, so Paul wants to know why you would pursue slavery to sin again when you are now freed to be a slave to righteousness.
o As always, let me try to make this intensely practical: if you were once held captive and chained to a wall in a dungeon and you had no choice but to commit the most vile, sinful acts in the world, in fact it was you wanted to do, if you were freed from that bondage, why would you return to the dungeon and those vile, sinful acts when you can now walk in freedom of life, peace, and joy?
· Paul answers that for us in verse 17.
17 But 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, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
· If you had to grade yourself, how thankful of a person do you really think you are? To figure that out, let’s talk about what gratitude really looks like. Think about a time when you were really thankful and expressed it. I mean it was abundantly clear you attitude and posture of thanks.
o One of the safest ways to gauge thankfulness is not by momentary outbursts of thanks over one event but ongoing thankfulness and expression of gratitude. Let me give you an example.
§ My parents are getting up in age right now. They are both well into their 70’s, and the cars that they have driven up until recently were from the 70’s as well. They were in desperate need for a car and had no real hope of getting one.
§ Well, my oldest sister, Claire, started to hatch an idea. She thought, “Why don’t the kids get them a car?” So she proposed that all 5 of us throw in and buy them one. To her credit, she bore the majority of the cost, but whether you had $5 or $500 to contribute, the car was going to be from all of us.
§ On my parents 49th anniversary, we gathered at my sister’s house and surprised them with their new car. They of course were surprised, overwhelmed, began to cry and all the other things that you expect from being thankful.
§ But their thanks didn’t stop there. That moment knit us together as a family. My parents of course profusely thanked us every time they saw us for the next few months, but their thanks were expressed in an even greater way.
§ My parents began to…relax. They began to trust and rest in the fact that as they grew older, their children were going to help take care of them.
· You see a heart of thanks is of course expressed in saying “Thank You” and sometimes in tears, but the greatest expression of thanks, the most clear articulation of thankfulness is…trust.
o Well, Paul is declaring thanks to God because in the most magnificent of ways, He has taken care of you. He has transformed you from slave to sin to obedient children. And you know what a heart of thankfulness that trusts God looks like? Paul tells us in verse 17.
o You become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,
· Thankfulness to God is trusting Him enough that His will is perfect. Walking in that perfect will is obedience, but not just obedience outwardly: obedience of the heart. Paul says, “You will obey from the heart and what you will obey is God standard of teaching to which you are committed.” Let’s talk about that for a minute:
o Every parent I know, including myself, has been guilty of this mistake at some point and time. Your child disobeys, say they are too loud in a the grocery store, target, or I don’t know church, and you want them to be quiet.
o You don’t care if they want to be quiet or not. All you want is silence. So you yell at them under your breath, grit your teeth, or maybe even pinch them.
o If they quiet down, you tell them “good job.”
o But inside, your kids are not obeying because they want to; they are obeying because they are scared or mad or sore from your pinching.
o They are not obeying because they thankfully trust your wisdom about what is right.
· Now we do this all the time. We feel like it would be wrong to actually do the sin that we want to do, so we don’t…outwardly. But inwardly, we are doing whatever we want. For example:
o Ladies, you can’t literally kill your husband, so you don’t. But inwardly you curse him, revile him, talk bad about him or who knows, maybe even wish he would die.
o Men, you think an affair might be nice or at least fun but it would probably be pretty messy, so you just have an affair in your mind.
o Teens and kids, your parents tell you to get off the computer or the Xbox or PS3, you do it, but you grumble and complain about it just out of your parents hearing.
o How ungrateful!
· But Paul is talking about different type of “obedience” – the heart of trust and thankfulness obeys because the heart wants to obey. An obedience that is merely outward and seeks to convince others that you obey while lacking an inward desire is not an obedience that will endure or be found true or sincere.
o Ultimately, that kind of “obedience” falls apart especially under pressure.
o If you tell a child that is it is not nice to hit their brother or sister, they’ll hold off for a while, but once a toy is stolen or something doesn’t go their way, they start swinging. Their lack of hitting before or “obedience” if you will was really social conformity.
o Teach a child about Christ and his walking silently to His crucifixion as an act of love and obedience and mold the character and heart of a child.
· Same works for you. You can come to church, I can talk to you all day about loving your neighbor or friend or coworker, and for a while you might be nice and wave or strike up a conversation in the yard.
o Find out your neighbor voted for someone you didn’t, find out that they are for gay marriage, find out they don’t care about immigration, find out they believe in evolution, find out they like Dallas Cowboys, and all of a sudden, you’re not so friendly.
o However, if your heart lives in the reality that you were God’s enemy, enslaved to your own passions and enslaved to sin, and He was gracious to you by sending Jesus to live for you, die for you, secure heaven and goodness for you, then your heart wants to love your neighbor because you relate to them really well.
· Paul continues in verse 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. 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.
· Paul cracks me up here, but he speaks this way for a reason. He is basically saying, “This is really hard to get. It is very easy to obey on the outside but not on the inside. So let speak to you in the most basic of terms.” And let’s be honest, it is hard to want to obey. We’re lucky if we even make an attempt sometimes.
· So Paul speaks about presentation.
o Just like we mentioned last week, everyone is either a slave to sin or a slave righteousness.
o So, each either presents themselves to sin or presents themselves to goodness.
o The more you present yourself to sin, the more you sin.
o The more you present yourself to righteousness the more sanctified or the more like Jesus you become.
· If you present yourself to sin, then the only thing you are free from is righteousness and goodness. It is just not something you need to worry about.
o The only fruit a life of presenting yourself to sin is the fruit of death.
· Now that last statement sounds cryptic and medieval so let me explain this presentation that Paul is talking about.
o Every day, each one of you make a choice to present yourself as a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness and you make that choice based upon the intimacy of your relationship with Christ.
o If you are living out of thankfulness to God, you will present yourself to righteousness in several ways.
§ You will spend time in prayer
· Praising God
· Asking Him how you can participate in His kingdom
· Asking for the desire to do and be content with His will
· Praying for your daily bread or basic needs
· Confessing your sins
· Asking God to protect you in temptation
§ You will spend desperate time in study of the scriptures because you know that it is the true source of wisdom and a true aid to your obedience
§ You will look beyond your own circumstances to meet the needs of others because you know that was the example of Jesus Christ.
§ You will look to proclaim Jesus Christ in word and deed because you want to see others walk away from slavery to sin and lead them to walk in slavery to righteousness.
o There are of course other ways you can present your body to righteousness, but if you aren’t doing these things, then you’re presenting yourself to sin.
§ How can you hope to be thankful and obey from the heart if you aren’t praying?
§ How can you hope to be thankful and obey from the heart if you aren’t being transformed by the scriptures?
§ How can you hope to be thankful and obey from the heart if you aren’t studying the example of Christ?
· Now, that list of todo’s I just gave you may seem overwhelming. What keeps these disciplines from another oppressive yoke around your neck is the fact that God has done everything necessary for you to be able to do these things. Look at verse 22.
22 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. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
· Folks, if you have faith in Jesus Christ, you have been set free from sin. You can now bear fruit that leads to eternal life.
· If you do not have faith in Jesus Christ, then the fruit you bear, the wage you earn is death.
o When you know what the stakes are, when you know where you have been, and you know what Christ as done for you, why would you not be passionate about telling others of the free gift of grace from Jesus Christ?
· Let me use Jesus’ words to apply this for us: Luke 17:11-19
o 11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.
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