WE ARE ALL SLAVES
Text: Romans 6:15-23
Introduction
1. Illustration: In 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation was proclaimed in America. The word spread from Capitol Hill down into the valleys of Virginia, and the Carolinas, and evens into the plantations of Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. The headlines read, ’Slavery Legally Abolished!’ However, the greater majority of slaves, in the South, went right on living as though there had been no emancipation. They went on living like they had never been set free. In fact, when one Alabama slave was asked what he thought of the Great Emancipator, whose proclamation had gone into effect, he replied "I don’t know nothing about Abraham Lincoln except they say he set us free. And, I don’t know nothing about that neither." How tragic. A war was being fought. A document had been signed. Slaves were legally set free. Yet most continued to live out their years without knowing anything about it. They had chosen to remain slaves, though they were legally free. Even though emancipated, they kept serving the same master throughout their lives. That’s how it is with many believers today. They have been set free, yet they have chosen to remain slaves to the same strongholds that have gripped them all of their life.
2. In the previous section Paul used a metaphor of the kingdom of sin vs the kingdom of grace; here he uses a new metaphor, that of emancipation from slavery, but he puts a unique spin on it.
3. The great paradox of Christianity is that Jesus sets us free from slavery to sin to become slaves to God. However, that major difference is that of our old cruel master verses our new master filled with love and grace.
4. Paul's major point here is that we are all slaves to something or someone. We are either slaves to sin and the devil or God and his grace and holiness.
5. Now I realize that this is not a popular metaphor to use at this present time, and I by no means want to come across as insensitive to our black brothers and sisters.
6. However, there is a major difference to the slavery that Paul is talking about and the slavery of our nation’s history. The slavery that Paul is talking about is not a forced slavery, in fact, it is one that we choose! By accepting Jesus, we make the choice to become slaves to God.
7. In our text today, Paul talks about…
a. We Are Slaves To The One We Obey
b. Our Master Has Changed
c. Our Fruit Has Changed
8. Let’s all stand as we read Rom. 6:15-23.
Proposition: As followers of Christ, we are slaves to holiness and grace.
Transition: First, Paul tells us…
I. We Are Slave To The One We Obey (15-16).
A. Slaves To The One You Obey
1. Paul begins this section with a rhetorical question: "What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace?" To which he answers, "By no means!"
a. Now this may sound familiar to us because this is nearly identical to how he began this chapter.
b. In v. 1 he was dealing with an error in thinking that we should sin more so that we could get more grace.
c. Here he is dealing with the thought that we are free to do whatever we want because God will forgive us and give us grace.
d. That's like a child saying, "I know this is wrong, but Dad won't do anything if I get caught."
e. People in the church today make the same mistake. They take God's grace and take advantage of it.
f. Just because God freely gives forgiveness and grace doesn't mean that we should make sin a habit in our lives.
g. Instead we should heed the words of Jesus in the "Model Prayer," to "lead us not into temptation."
2. In v. 16 Paul begins his reference to metaphor of slavery. He says, "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?"
a. It was a common occupancy for a person in Paul's day to sell themselves into slavery in order to get themselves out of debt.
b. It has been estimated that 85%-90% of all Roman citizens were slaves. So again, this is very different from how we know slavery from America's past.
c. For Paul's original audience this was a very powerful image. Paul's point was that if you obey someone or something, we become slaves them.
d. So, when we surrender to the power of sin in our lives, we become its slave.
e. Many people in our world are slaves to things like drugs, alcohol, sexual addiction, money, and possessions. Our obedience to these things is voluntary and continual and means that we have willing become slaves to these things.
f. That is why Paul encourages us to become slaves to righteousness, because being slaves to sin leads us to spiritual and physical death, but righteousness leads us to life.
g. So, we have a choice, we can allow sin to control us and become its slave, or we can allow God to control us and become his slaves.
h. To me this seems like a no brainer; I'd rather be a slave to God who is a loving Master filled with forgiveness and grace than a master who promises me nothing but death.
i. There is no middle ground here; you are either one or the other. As Bob Dylan put it, "You're gonna have to serve somebody!"
B. Slave Of Jesus Christ
1. Illustration: "One is never 'free' from a master, and those non-Christians who think they are 'free' are under an illusion created and sustained by Satan. The choice that people are faced with is not, 'Should I retain my freedom or give it up and submit to God?" but 'Should I serve sin or should I serve God" (Douglas Moo, NICNT: The Epistle To The Romans, 399).
2. Our life choices demonstrate which master we are serving.
a. 2 Peter 2:19 (NLT2)
19 They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.
b. We need to answer the question, “Who is controlling us?”
c. Are we allowing sin to control us, or are we allowing the Holy Spirit to control us?
d. Now, we can allow the devil to get us all discouraged and say, “Well I sinned the other day, so I must be allowing sin to control me.”
e. But that’s not what I’m talking about, because we all struggle with things and there will always be things the Holy Spirit is working on in our lives.
f. However, there is a difference between falling into sin and living continually in it.
g. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to have the keys to the car!
h. As Paul told the Philippians, Philippians 3:12-14 (ESV)
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Transition: Next, Paul says…
II. Our Master Has Changed (17-29).
A. Slaves To Righteousness
1. In vv. 17-18 Paul shows that the Roman Christians have not given themselves over to sin. He says, "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."
a. By giving the thanks to God Paul makes it clear that it was the grace of God that enabled them to leave a life of sin and begin living a life of righteousness.
b. They chose God rather than sin; they used to be slaves to sin, but now they are slaves to God.
c. Those who come to faith in Christ are given their letter of emancipation from the cruel master of the kingdom of sin.
d. Here again we see that great Christian paradox; we have been freed from sin only to willing become slaves again, but this time to a loving and compassionate God.
e. The only real freedom we can have as human beings it to be a slave to God.
f. This means that we have been set free from the power of sin to and be declared right by God and allowed to live right as we live for God.
g. This enables us to live beyond the chains of sin to live a life of holiness in which we are set apart for God.
2. In verse 19 Paul says, "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."
a. What Paul is saying in the first part of this verse is that he is putting this in human terms that we can understand, because this is simply too wonderful for us to be able to grasp.
b. So, he is putting it in terms we can relate to. He then restates the point of this entire chapter, that once we were slaves to sin and ever increasing evil, but now we must submit ourselves to God and his righteous sanctification.
c. This another one of those big theological words that simply means an ongoing process of being set apart for God.
d. This is the other side of slavery; people willing run to sin, but it's still slavery.
e. But it's not this way for follower of Jesus. We have willingly joined God's army, and we have obeyed our commander and become slaves to doing right.
B. I Am Your Servant
3. Illustration: Elisabeth Elliot wrote a beautiful prayer, in "A Lamp for My Feet": "Lord, break the chains that hold me to myself; free me to be Your happy slave – that is, to be the happy foot washer of anyone today who needs his feet washed, his supper cooked, his faults overlooked, his work commended, his failure forgiven, his grieves consoled or his button sewed on. Let me not imagine that my love for You is very great if I am unwilling to do for a human being something very small."
4. When we realize that we are slaves of Jesus it makes following him a lot easier.
a. Psalm 116:16 (NLT2)
16 O LORD, I am your servant; yes, I am your servant, born into your household; you have freed me from my chains.
b. When we come to the conclusion that we are slaves of the Master, we figure out that it’s no longer about us, it’s about him.
c. It’s no longer about satisfying our lusts.
d. It’s no longer about what makes us happy.
e. It’s no longer about what looks good to us.
f. It’s no longer about what makes me look good.
g. It’s about serving the Master.
h. It’s about pleasing the Master.
i. It’s about hearing the Master say, “well done, good and faithful servant!”
j. When we realize it’s not about us, it makes serving him so much easier.
Transition: Not only has our Master changed, but also…
III. Our Fruit Has Changed (20-23).
B. Fruit Leads To Sanctification
1. In v. 20 Paul talks about the delusional mindset we had before we came to Christ. He says, "For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness."
a. At that time, we thought we were free from anyone's control, that we controlled our own destiny and actions.
b. However, the reality is that we were slaves to sin, and the only thing we were free from was the control of righteousness.
c. This is the misguided concept that unbelievers live by, thinking they are free from all of the restrictions of living by the restrictions in the Word of God.
d. The reason we felt that way is because we were ignorant of the chains of sin that controlled us.
e. All we were really free from was the ability to please God.
f. Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
2. Not only is there no freedom when we are controlled by sin, but the benefits we reap are even worse. In v. 21 Paul says, "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."
a. Paul is talking about the clear Scriptural principle of reaping what we sow.
b. Galatians 6:7-8 (ESV)
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
c. If you plant wheat, you'll reap wheat, but if you plant weeds, you're gonna get weeds!
d. The fruit that we harvest if we live in sin are the things, we are now ashamed of.
e. When people plant sin, they harvest shame. Shame in the Bible carries with it the idea of the shame we will have before God when we face the judgment.
f. But the major result of that shame is eternal death.
g. For the believer, we face only death in this life, but the unbeliever not only faces death in this life, they also face the second death, which is eternal.
3. The good news for us as Christians is that we've been set free and released from the results of the kingdom of sin. Look at what Paul says in v. 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."
a. The basis of this incredible truth is when we gave our lives to Christ.
b. The evil empire of sin was rendered powerless in our lives by the cross and we have been liberated from its control.
c. Unlike the previous verse, the "fruit" here is holiness. Unlike non-believers, we plant righteousness and reap a harvest of holiness and sanctification.
d. Our obedience to God leads us to a life that is increasingly God-centered and God-directed.
4. Paul then concludes the chapter with a very well-known and important verse, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
a. This illustration refers to a payment for services rendered.
b. We can even see a military reference here like when a soldier receives pay for his service to his country.
c. Those serving in the army of sin receive the wages of death, in this case, eternal death.
d. This is the worst payment that anyone can receive, but this payment is received after a lifetime of rejecting God and choosing sin.
e. On the other hand, the believer receives the wages of eternal life through the blood of Jesus!
f. This, however, is not an earned wage, but as Paul puts it, a free gift.
g. Eternal life does not mean endless life on earth, but resurrection from death to eternal glory with God.
h. Because eternal life is a gift, we cannot earn or purchase it. It would be foolish for someone to offer to pay for a gift given out of love.
i. To be a gift, it must be given and received freely. A more appropriate response to a loved one who offers a gift is grateful acceptance (Barton, 602).
C. Fruit Of The Spirit
1. Illustration: The Spirit's provision of fruit might be compared to a man standing on a ladder in an orchard, picking the fruit and dropping it into a basket held by a helper below. No matter how much fruit is picked and dropped, the helper will not receive any unless he is standing under the ladder with his basket ready.
2. The fruit that Jesus offers is far superior than the fruit we received from our life of sin.
a. Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
b. I want you to notice something about the fruit of the Spirit (and again, there’s only one fruit of the Spirit), there’s no law against it.
c. That means there are no restrictions and no limitations.
d. Think of all the limitations that come with the fruit of sin.
e. There are consequences that go with sin.
f. There are consequences when we lie that it hurts those close to us.
g. There are consequences to adultery, it destroys your family.
h. There are consequences to murder, you either go to jail or you get the death penalty.
i. There are consequences to serving other gods, it sends you to hell.
j. But the there are only benefits to the fruit of the Spirit.
k. The benefits to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
l. There is really no comparison to the fruit that God gives!
Conclusion
1. In our text today, Paul talks about…
a. We Are Slaves To The One We Obey
b. Our Master Has Changed
c. Our Fruit Has Changed
2. THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER…
a. WHOMEVER YOU LET HAVE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE IS YOUR MASTER. LET JESUS BE LORD OF YOUR LIFE.
b. OUR OLD MASTER, SIN, BRINGS US NOTHING BUT DEATH. SO, LEAVE IT AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS.
c. THE FRUIT OF SIN BRINGS MISERY, BUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT BRINGS PURE GOODNESS.
