We concluded yesterday's study with the Apostle Paul reminding us, "You are not under the law, but under grace." In today's passage he wants to make certain we understand that, though we are under grace, we don't have the right to live in sin. We once were slaves to sin; it owned us. But now that we are in Christ, Christ owns us. We are not free to do whatever our carnal natures desire. Just as a slave must do what pleases his master, we must do what pleases our Master.
"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey---whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (Romans 6:15-16) We belong to whoever or whatever we have chosen to serve. If we belong to Christ, then our conduct should demonstrate that. If we belong to the world, our conduct will demonstrate that as well. This is why Jesus wisely said that we could determine who a person belongs to by the fruit his life produces. (Matthew 7:16-20)
Salvation by grace through faith is not to be treated lightly. We used to be able to live comfortably in all manner of unrighteousness before we came to Christ, but trying to live in sin after we come to Christ is going to make us absolutely miserable. Paul reminds his readers that they are to be thankful they aren't the kind of people they used to be. They are no longer caught up in a shameful manner of living but are busy serving the One who bought their way out of slavery to sin. "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." (Romans 6:17-18)
We are ashamed of the things we did before we came to Christ, aren't we? Then why would we ever want to keep doing those things now that we have been redeemed? "I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!" (Romans 6:19-21)
We will never be perfect as long as we live in the flesh on this earth, but Paul isn't saying we will never sin and fall short after we give ourselves to Christ. He's saying sin is no longer our master. When we sin after coming to Christ, our consciences bother us. The Holy Spirit who lives within us convicts us of wrongdoing and pleads with us to repent and turn away from the sinful thing. We become very unhappy campers when we try to serve sin and Christ at the same time. Before we came to Christ, when sin was our master, we weren't troubled too much by our sin. We even enjoyed it. We made deliberate choices to do what our flesh wanted rather than what God wanted. We reveled in living in the moment and experiencing the pleasures of this world. But none of those things benefited us whatsoever. Now though, in Christ, we have the opportunity to live a life of honor, a life that benefits ourselves and others. "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." (Romans 6:22)
Paul concludes his discourse today with one of the most familiar verses of the Bible, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) If we choose to keep living in sin, we are earning the wages of sin---death. A wage is something that is paid to us for work we have performed. But the gift of grace is something else altogether. We can't earn it. We can't do any amount of good works to blot out our sins. The only way to receive the gift of grace is to give ourselves to Christ and trust that He will impute a righteousness to us that we can't earn for ourselves.
Below is our worship song link for today. I think I may have used it in a previous study, but it goes wonderfully with our text today, for it speaks of the grace we couldn't earn and didn't deserve.
Reckless Love
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