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
5. You ate what you wanted to, watched the TV that you wanted to, relaxed, enjoy your house, go where you wanted to go
6. Then you get up in the morning and do it all over again
7. Now when is talking about being a slave, a slave back in the time that Romans was written (which was about 58 ad.) was one who was sole property of the master
8. He had no choice in what he did
9. There was no clock, no his time my time
10. Everything about him every choice every decision, was controlled by the master
11. The Master had the right to plan his day anyway he wanted
12. It would be like if you had a palm pilot but where not allow to schedule anything it in
13. Remember what Mathew 6:24 says: No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
14. I never quite understood that, I figured, it is possible to have two jobs. Therefore maybe you could serve two maters right?
15. Well in understanding the Biblical times definition of Slaves, you cannot serve two maters
B. Application
1. God has freed us, has bought us, from our slave owner we are now free
2. Now God has called us to offer ourselves as slaves of righteousness
3. Offer ourselves as slaves of righteousness
4. To put at God’s disposal ourselves to become slaves
5. Slaves that everything we have everything we do is controlled by righteousness
6. To go beyond time punching Christianity
C. Illustration
1. Have you seen the Subway commercials were they say “Good so you don’t always have to be?” The one that I am think of is where the guy and the girl were going to visit her family and ate all the crackers and the guy said you ate all of those she responded with the It’s ok I had subway for lunch. Then they were playing football and he leveled the Grandpa because he thought he could be bad
2. That is call time punching Christianity
3. When you start to thinking it ok to do this, even thought its bad, because I am good at other times
4. When you start to think, hey I am a Deacon, I’m a trustee, I’m an Elder, I do all these good things, so I “earned” a chance to be bad
5. That is time punching Christianity
6. God is calling you to become a slave to righteousness
7. Are you listening?
VII. Servants (19-23)
A. Explanation
1. Take a look at verse 19-23
2. Now we go from subjects to slaves to servants
3. Here Paul apologizes, and I will take the opportunity to do the same, for using human terms, this is far more then mere human terminology is just that we lack words, so let me just eco what Paul said
4. I like the way Paul uses our experience as slaves to sin and relates it to what we should be as servants of Righteousness
5. Someone once told me the hope to be as good as Christian as they were a pagan
6. Now that might not sound that impressive to you, but you did not know the person before they found Jesus
7. They were definitely a good pagan
B. Illustration
1. You notice the mention of reaping in verse 21 and 22. When I think of reaping, I think of Gardening. I remember when my mom would plant a garden, I do not for the life of me know why she planted eggplant, and I do not like eggplant. And she would also plant corn, now in the summer eating corn on the cob with butter, yum what could be better
2. So I look at these verse and apply my gardening experience to them and when I think about the egg plant I get this idea of verse 21 in my head (read 21)
3. Then I look at verse 22 (read 22) and now I am eating the corn!
4. Paul then uses verse 23 which I know many of you have memorized
5. Now understand he is referring to the wages part based on the whole slavery concept
6. We reap what we sow, we sow sin, and we reap sin. But then there is God who freed us from this sin and offered us eternal life
C. Application
1. Let’s apply this to our lives
2. Once again this there is the word of the day Paristeini. To offer them a servants of righteousness
3. Think about it, you have a choice.
4. Your mom is no longer making you plant egg plant
5. You can choose only to plant corn
6. Think about it, never having to taste, never have to smell, never having to look at egg plant
7. You can enjoy the corn your entire life
8. Just look at verse 21, I have talked to many of you about before you were saved, I think for a lot of you, you understand this verse
9. Everything you did before Christ you are ashamed off
10. You get the choice now, the choice to live as a slave to righteousness
11. To only plant corn!
12. Go! Reap the benefits that lead to holiness
Conclusion
A. When I was working at the lighthouse we got a new sticker for window saying we accept credit cards
B. I hung the part up I was suppose to and I had and extra piece that I cut off.
C. It said “It’s Your Choice”
D. I stuck that part of the sticker on one of the filing cabinets, just to remind myself it’s my choice
E. I once read a quote (which became my dad’s favorite) People make rules to prevent from making decisions
F. It our choice
G. We can choose to be servants of the evil dictator sin
H. We can choose to be slave to sin
I. Or we can choose to be servants of God
J. What’s it going to be?
K. Maybe you are here today and you have been searching for your purpose and meaning in life, you have been finding life is meaningless
a. If that is you I have good news, I know your purpose and meaning, it is found it God, it is found in becoming a slave to righteousness
L. Maybe you are here today and you have found that you have become a time punching Christian, you want to do just enough not to get fired
a. If that is you your missing the whole point of our word of the day Paristeini – to put at one’s disposals
M. Maybe you are here today and you have been planting both corn and eggplant
a. You can stop, the choice is yours
N. No one can serve two masters, who is your master today?
O. Are you a slave, a full dedicated slave to righteousness, or are you a slave to sin?
P. If you need to get things right, if you need to straighten out your life, I invite you to come, nothing special about this alter, just a place you can open up to God, feel free to come
Q. The question is are you on the same page as God about offering yourself to Him?
