Offering Ourselves To Him Series

Romans 6:12-23

Getting on the Same Page as God about offering ourselves to Him

Introduction

A. I remember back in I believe 2 or 3 grade we had the word of the day

B. The teacher would tell us the word and the definition and the beginning of the day

C. If we were to use that world correctly in a sentence we would get a point

D. And at the end of the day the person with the most points would be the winner

E. Today we have a word of the day

F. The word of the day Paristeini

G. Paristeini – to place beside, or near, to present, to put at one’s disposal

H. In the NIV it is translated at Offer

I. In the KJV it is translated as Yield

J. When I think about that definition I think of the last part to put at one’s disposal

K. When Heather was on her Christmas break, I was starting to go crazy. I wanted to get everything done and spend all my time with Heather and her family. With the Christmas Eve service and everything else I was going crazy

L. Heather came and basically Paristeini herself to me.

M. She put herself at my disposal.

N. Today we are going to learn how to Paristeini ourselves to God

O. We are going to look at being

a. Subjects

b. Slaves

c. Servants

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V. Subjects (12-14)

A. Explanation

1. Looking at verses 12 and 14 we get this idea of a evil dictator

2. That evil dictator in this case would be sin

3. And we would be the subjects who fall under the evil dictator

4. In the last passage we learned about how Christ defeated sin and we were no longer slave to sin

5. In the same way we are no longer under the rule of the dictator

6. When we were under the rule of the dictator our bodies were being used as instruments of wickedness

7. Now we are told to use our bodies as instruments of righteousness

8. Because of the freedom we have we get to choose how to live

9. We are no longer subjects by demand, we are subjects by choice

10. I like the last definition of our word of the day, paristeini, to put at one’s disposal

11. To put at God’s disposal all the parts of our body as instruments of righteousness

B. Application

1. Let’s put this to our lives

2. We have a choice

3. We know that we are free

4. But we have a choice to be an instrument of righteousness or unrighteousness

5. You can go a head and choose to be under the evil dictator

6. The evil dictator will try his best to make it look good

7. He will tell you about all the fun that you will have, all the good times

8. Soon you will realize that stuff does not matter

9. And you will be left with nothing

10. Try this for a change, become a subject of God’s

11. Offer – Put at God’s disposal, ALL – not just some – all the parts of your body as instruments of righteousness

12. Go ahead try it, see what God can do.

13. See that change.

C. Illustration

1. I remember a couple of months ago when Saddam Regime was coming to an end. Here it was we were fighting a war against Saddam and we start seeing these pictures of the statue of Saddam being taken down. What intrigue me was there were all these people celebrating that fact that Saddam was being overthrown. I thought about that, I would not welcome someone coming and overthrowing my government. I would think that would be a horrible event. But I never had to live under that Evil Dictator. I did not have to suffer like the Iraq’s suffered. Here they are finally with a chance to be free from the Evil Dictator

2. That is what Christ did for us, he released us from the Evil Dictator and set us free

3. What does he want in return? He wants us to offer the parts of our body to Him as instruments of righteousness

4. Is that too much to ask?

5. Offer, lay a God’s disposal, you whole body

VI. Slaves (15-18)

A. Explanation

1. Take a look at verses 15-18 we go from this idea of being subjects to be slaves

2. Now how many of you feel like you’re a slave to your work be honest?

3. Most of us feel that way, I think I had that thought every day I worked at the Lighthouse

4. Here is the difference though, when you come home, you are no longer a slave to work