OVERCOMING SINFUL LIFESTYLE
ROMANS 6:1-23
INTRODUCTION
Dr. Siang-Yang Tan in his book Lay Counseling challenges the church to become a caring community but miss the opportunity because the church is more often a museum for saints rather than a hospital for sinner.
When Jesus was criticized for eating with tax collectors and sinners He responded by saying “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” (See Matthew 9:9-13)
In one of my previous pastorates in the Philippines, our church was criticized for having members who were former womanizer, gambler, drunkard, corrupt government employees, arrogant, indifferent persons, dishonest businessmen, etc. And my response was “Hallelujah!”
I would be alarmed if our church functioned as a hospice instead of as a hospital. I would like to believe that the church is a hospital for sinner. But I would like to be a hospital that discharges sinners back to the world because they were healed of their serious sinful lifestyles.
Discharged sinner still gets sick but not seriously – headache, common colds, and fever but not cancer or any kind of serious illnesses. How can we help a follower of Christ live a life not dominated by sin? Please open your bibles to Romans 6:1-23.
EXPOSITION
1. Understand that God’s grace is not an encouragement to sinful lifestyles. (v. 1)
Paul’s statement simply emphasized the greatness of God’s grace. No matter how sinful a person is, God’s grace is inclusive and sufficient. (See Romans 5:20)
ILLUSTRATION There have been many definitions of grace, and I thought that the best of these definitions was simply “unmerited favor,” or the biblical line, “the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man” (Titus 3:4). Thus we have this acronym: —Donald Grey Barnhouse
G=God’s
R=Righteousness
A=At
C=Christ’s
E=Expense
Our goal while waiting for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ is upright and godly lives in this present age. (See Titus 2:11-14)
2. Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God. (v. 11)
Paul did not say that sin is dead to the Christian. Sin would always lurk around the followers of Christ but Christian should be passive in terms of responding to sin like a dead person.
Paul did not present here the impossibility of committing a single sin, but the impossibility of continuing in a life dominated by sin because we are supposed to be dead to sin.
To count means “to put to one’s account.” It simply means to believe that what God says in His Word is really true in your life. Paul didn’t tell his readers to feel as if they were dead to sin, or even to understand it fully, but to act on God’s Word and claim it for themselves.
When did we die to sin?
a. When we were buried with Him through baptism into death (vv. 2-4)
Paul uses baptism to illustrate this vital union with Christ in his death (v. 4), though baptism does not accomplish it. Submergence of the physical body under the baptismal waters pictures burial with Christ.
b. When our old self was crucified with Him. (vv. 6-10)
The importance of burial is that it attests the reality of death. It expresses with finality the end of the old life governed by relationship with Adam. It also expresses the impossibility of a new life apart from divine action.
The expression "to live a new life" is literally "to walk in newness of life," the walk being the evidence of the new type of life granted to the child of God.
How can we count ourselves dead to sin but alive to God?
a. Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. (v. 12)
To reign means to possess or exercise sovereign power; to be dominant. Paul said do not let sin to possess or exercise sovereign power in your mortal body or to be dominant influence in your own life.
Example: Physically, we don’t let bad cholesterol to be dominant in our bodies. Sugar is sweet but when it becomes a dominant element in your blood, we are in trouble.
b. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instrument of wickedness. (v. 13)
The word offer implies a critical resolve, a decision of surrender. The word offer is found several times in this section and means “to place at one’s disposal, to present, to offer as a sacrifice.”
We can read in the Bible accounts of the members of the body being used for sinful purposes. David’s eyes looked on his neighbor’s wife; his mind plotted a wicked scheme; his hand signed a cowardly order for the woman’s husband to be killed.
As you read Psalm 51, you see that his whole body was affected by sin: his eyes (Ps. 51:3), mind (Ps. 51:6), ears (Ps. 51:8), heart (Ps. 51:10), and lips and mouth (Ps. 51:14-15). No wonder he prayed for a thorough cleansing! (Ps. 51:2)
c. Offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. (v. 13)
Place your self at God’s disposal; willingly surrender your life to God. Offer your whole being and then its individual parts.
d. Offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. (v. 13)
ILLUSTRATION No scientific instrument is as sensitive to light as a person’s eye. In the dark, its sensitivity increases 100,000 times; one can detect a faint glow a thousand times dimmer than a candle’s flame.
The ear is as much an acoustical marvel as the eye is an optic one. The inner ear is like a keyboard with 15,000 keys, because that is the number of different tones that can be detected. “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.” (Proverbs 20:12)
When we permit God to take and use our bodies for the fulfillment of His purposes He would use us. God used the rod in Moses’ hand and conquered Egypt. He used the sling in David’s hand to defeat the Philistines. He used the mouths and tongues of the prophets.
Paul’s dedicated feet carried him from city to city as he proclaimed the Gospel. The Apostle John’s eyes saw visions of the future, his ears heard God’s message, and his fingers wrote it all down in a book that we can read.
3. Remember the results of your slavery. (vv. 19-23)
The believer must face the fact that his salvation actually means a change of bondage. As he once served sin, he is now committed to a life of practical righteousness.
• Slavery to wickedness = death. (John 8:34); To commit sin, then, puts one into bondage to sin, and the sequel is death (Romans 8:13).
• Slavery to righteousness = eternal life. (Romans 6:23)
Beware that the two bondages are not on the same plane. The one is rigorous and relentless, leading to death; the other is joyous and satisfying, leading to life and peace. To be free from the bondage to sin is a great blessing in itself. But life cannot be lived in a vacuum. Service to righteousness means positive achievement that adds meaning to life.
If you serve a master, you can expect to receive wages. Sin pays wages—death! God also pays wages—holiness and everlasting life. In the old life, we produced fruit that made us ashamed. In the new life in Christ, we produce fruit that glorifies God and brings joy to our lives.
ILLUSTRATION When Leonardo da Vinci was painting his masterpiece The Last Supper, he sought long for a model for his Christ. At last he located a choir singer in one of the churches of Rome who was lovely in life and features, a young man named Pietro Bandinelli.
Years passed, and the painting was still unfinished. All the disciples had been portrayed except one—Judas Iscariot. Now he started to find a man whose face was hardened and distorted by sin—and at last he found a beggar on the streets of Rome with a face so wretched, he shuddered when he looked at him.
He hired the man to sit for him as he painted the face of Judas on his canvas. When he was about to dismiss the man, he said, “I have not yet found out your name.” “I am Pietro Bandinelli,” he replied, “I also sat for you as your model of Christ.” —Indian Christian
If the believer refuses to surrender his body to the Lord, but uses its members for sinful purposes, then he is in danger of being disciplined by the Father, and this could mean untimely death. (See Heb. 12:5-11) Samson, for example, would not yield himself to God, but preferred to yield to the lusts of the flesh, and the result was death (Judges 16).
CONCLUSION
Our identification with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection should cause us to rejoice on our victory over sin. Whatever happened to Christ has happened to me. When He died, I died. When He arose, I arose in Him. I am now seated with Him in the heavenlies. (Eph. 2:1-10; Col. 3:1-3)
Because of this living union with Christ, the believer has a totally new relationship to sin. However, we need to exercise our will to make sure that the reality of victory be realized in our lives today. Yield yourself to God and offer the parts of your body as instruments of His righteousness.
