What if I told you that you were a slave? I am a slave, too. Look around you. Look into the eyes of each and every person and what will you see? A slave. We are all slaves. We are not, however, all slaves to the same master.
Who is your master? What holds you? Binds you?
Growing up, I wouldn’t have considered myself a fan of the Apostle Paul. In fact, up until recently, I would have said that out of all the people mentioned in the Bible, he didn’t rank very high for me. This wasn’t because I didn’t appreciate his life of obedience and service to the LORD. I liked that. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate his dedication to spreading the Gospel to the Gentiles. I benefit directly from that. I think I felt like I didn’t really connect with Paul’s delivery – which at times seemed, well, harsh – maybe even cocky and offensive.
Lately, however, I am starting to see something that is a new thought to me. Paul’s directness stems from boldness. Paul’s sharing of the Gospel perhaps comes across as offensive – but frankly, the Gospel message does offend people, doesn’t it?
The message of the Bible offends people. It always has. It likely always will – at least here on earth. We shouldn’t really be surprised, I guess. Why do you suppose it offends?
People don’t like to think about sin. We don’t like to acknowledge that the things we desire to do or for that matter consistently do, say, and think, are considered sinful. We like to think that we are free. Free to do, say, think, and believe anything we want to do. We hate the idea of having someone rule over us. We hate the idea of submission.
The Bible offends because the Bible reminds us of our slavery. It tells us that we cannot possible determine what is true, what is good, what is righteous – because we are broken and damaged. The Bible offends because it consistently reminds us that there is One who sees and knows all things. There is One who is holy and is LORD of all, and we must submit to Him and His ways or we will perish.
The Bible offends those who don’t understand the beauty of it all.
Paul writes in the book of Romans reminders of our sin and brokenness apart from God. Over and over again he reminds us that we are made right before a holy God only by the free gift of Jesus Christ and putting our faith in the fact that God did in fact raise Jesus from the grave. Death could not hold the sinless son of God. His death is the hope of the world. It is the only thing that can set us free from being slaves to sin.
“We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:6-11)
Through Christ and his death on the cross on our behalf, we who believe are no longer slaves to our sin. We are set free from it’s power. It has no hold on us.
“Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become and instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.” (Romans 6:12-13)
Are you living in a way that is consistent with this passage? Do we let sin control the way we live? Do we give in to sinful desires? Do we allow any part of our bodies become instruments of evil? We do not have to live this way! We are set free, remember? We have the promise and power available to us to walk away from that which has had a hold on us and be delivered. This is deliverance not only from small sins – but from all sins. Period. There is no sin that Christ has not defeated. There is no sin that can stand against the power of our LORD.
“Don’t you realize you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.” (Romans 6:16)
We don’t determine what sin is, by the way. Just as we don’t determine what is righteousness – or righteous living. God determines it. Only the perfect One can. That means, if we are to live as Christ, we are to believe that what God says goes. Truth is not subjective or equated to story-telling and life experiences. Good and evil are not determined by my feelings, or for that matter the feelings of others. They are determined by the Creator alone. I cannot make something “good” when God determines it “evil.” What God says, goes.
This is what I mean when I say that we are all slaves. Either we are slaves stuck in sin, or we are slaves to our LORD and Savior. Make no mistake, they are not the same.
“Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led to even deeper sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.” (Romans 6:19)
Slavery to sin is a bigger deal than we like to think it is. We like to fool ourselves into believing that if we only commit sins (if we even admit this) that are “smaller” or “lesser sins,” than we are really ok. We convince ourselves that we aren’t really “slaves” to the sin. We are still in control. We can stop sinning if and when we want. We minimize the truth and allow the deception within us to take over. But the Bible is very clear on this, right? God is clear. Sin separates us from God. Sin holds us in bondage. Sin is the act of our will to defy what God says under the guise of freedom. But sin spirals. Sins that we think of like murder, or theft, or adultery, don’t happen as a first step. A first sin. It’s a fading process. A gradual build into greater bondage. It’s not freedom. It never was. It’s cost is too high. It provides nothing but ultimate pain and destruction.
Praise God we have a different option! We can choose to be slaves to something other than sin. We can be slaves to a loving Father. “But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus our LORD.” (Romans 6:22-23)
The Gospel may be offensive to some, but to those of us who have tasted and seen – those of us who are new creatures in Christ, this Gospel is our greatest possession. It is our very source of life and breath. We are set free – even while being slaves to our Heavenly Father. We are washed clean. We are made new. We are filled with hope and the promise of everlasting life.
Christ followers, friends, we cannot be ashamed of this Gospel. We cannot water it down to make it more palatable for culture. We cannot omit the parts we don’t agree with. We cannot improve upon it. God is the master. We are to serve Him. I cannot speak for you, but there is no one I trust more.
Blessings.
LORD, help me to always be more concerned about you and your Word than I am with the opinions of the world. Raise up within me a bold spirit for you. Lead me in the paths of righteousness. Forgive me of my sins. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me LORD God to fall more and more in love with You and Your Words of Truth. I choose You. I submit to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.