Sermons

Introduction

Even though God's grace in Christ has covered over our sin, we do not continue to sin. If we do, we allow ourselves to be enslaved to the power of sin. Sin is not only a choice, it is force or a disease spurred on by the desire for us to better ourselves by our own strength. But in Christ, we have a new option-we have the option to let ourselves do what is right and good in God's eyes and be mastered by righteousness.

Today we will continue with the second part of the four part series, "Set Free From the Power of Sin."

Discipleship Is a Choice
Last week we learned that Every Believer is Called to Be a Disciple. This is the first principle of discipleship. Many of those who believed Jesus' message of salvation through Him believed. And to those who believed he told them what? John 8:31-32, "… Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Believing is an important first step in our relationship with God, but it is only the first step. But God did not call His church to make believers. He commissioned them to Make Disciples. The next steps involve becoming Disciples of Jesus.

How do we become a disciple of Jesus? We must make a choice to follow, live with, and obey Jesus.

The second principle of discipleship is…Each Believer Makes a Personal Choice to Be a Disciple. Let's briefly look at one of the original twelve Disciples of Christ, Peter.

Peter and his brother Andrew were casting nets into the sea-for they were fishermen. Then Jesus the Rabbi came along and called out to them. What did He say to them? Mark 1:17-18 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
For three years they lived with Jesus, observed him teach and heal, and were taught by Him. If anyone would stand by Jesus in the tough times, it would be His disciples. But what happened when Jesus was arrested?
The disciples, including Peter, followed Jesus in the shadows. In fact, Peter three times disassociated himself from Jesus by denying He even knew Jesus.

After Jesus was resurrected, He desired to restore Peter. Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loves Him. For every time Peter disassociated himself from Jesus, he made a choice to re-associate himself. When Peter says yes three times, what did Jesus say to him?

John 21:19-23
19 …Then he said to him, "Follow me!" 20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them…[John]21 When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?" 22 Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me."

Just as Jesus called Peter individually, he calls each believer individually. It is not our concern what happens to the person sitting next to you on your left or right, or your family members or friends. Rather, Jesus says, "You follow me!" For Peter, this meant death on a Cross. He was once in the shadows following Jesus, but he would die in plain view for His faith. For John, it would lead him to the island of Patmos. And to follow Him where He might lead us is our personal choice God presents to us as well.

In my environmental scientist position we had a very slow period. During that time the company wanted to keep me. I knew God wanted me to enter seminary some time, but I was not sure of the timing. Now I sensed was the time. I asked my supervisor to lay me off to help the company so I could go to seminary. He thought I was crazy as did my coworkers. The point I want to make is this: decisions we make for God may not always be the most popular or advantageous according to the world. But ultimately they are our choices before God. These are decisions that openly show we follow Jesus even with opposition.

But oh how we stray, and I have as well! Our personal choice to follow Jesus as His disciple is not just a one time, one-day kind of choice. It is a choice to enter into a series of choices daily, for the rest of our lives. I followed God to seminary, but when I got there I struggled with stubbornness and pride that God wanted to root out. The process is a series of daily choices.

In Romans 6 we are told about the two sides we are to choose from: to sin against God or to obey God.

Review: Alive to God (5:20-6:14)
Romans 6:1-14 addressed the first reason we should resist sin. We do not resist sin because we want God to accept us. By His unmerited gift in Jesus Christ He already accepted us. All our sins are washed away in Christ. We cannot earn, buy, or steal grace. Grace is so dynamic and powerful that it overcomes, and always will overcome, the power of sin. How have we come under grace? We have been joined to Christ.

Romans 6:4
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

I asked everyone to memorize 2 Corinthians 5:17, say it along with me if you remember, "Therefore, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come!" We resist sin because of what we are now in Christ: we are New Creations made to do what is right in God's eyes. There is power in identity-when we realize we are new creations, the question of whether to sin or not becomes a non-question.

So now we are alive to God when? It is when we are in Christ Jesus-when we are obeying Jesus as disciples. When we are offering ourselves to God's service-6:13 tells us. When we have gone astray, then we consider ourselves dead to God and once alive to sin. But this is not the way of the New Creation.

Today, we will examine the second reason we should not sin.

Under Grace, Should We Sin? (15-18)

Under Parent's Roof
How many of you have left home and gone to college? Okay, how many of you are still living under your parent's roof?
I have certainly gone to college and now have a family of my own. But when I still lived with my parents as a minor they had a few rules I did not appreciate. When I was little they would not let me eat chocolate because of my skin. Whenever I went to the supermarket with them, I wanted SnoBalls. After my parents said no to SnoBalls enough times, I vowed that when I could make my own choices I would buy a mountain of SnoBalls and eat them all myself.

Another rule they had was curfew. They did not want me out too late or to sleep over at friends' houses. I wanted control of my own time, but they would not give it to me. So I vowed in my heart that I would stay up as late as I wanted and sleep over at any friends' house that I wanted when I left home.
I am sure you have or had rules under your parent's roof that you wanted to get out from under.
By the time I graduated from high school, I was ready to leave home. Looking back, I think my dad and mom were just as ready. They were very eager to help me pack! I had a car, so we both drove up to Davis. After a BBQ and a couple hours they left. I was lonely at first, but after a couple of days I realized something.

I could eat all the SnoBalls I wanted-within budget constraints, and I could stay up as late as I wanted. Now I did not live under my parent's roof any longer. Now I did not have to follow their rules. Now I could do just about anything I wanted, and they would never find out. And I just smiled.

My experience going to college illustrates a mindset that we might have-when the consequence of rules are taken away, then we are free to do what we want. Think of our relationship with God. When we sinned, judgment and condemnation was brought upon us. There was literally hell to pay for our wayward thoughts and actions. But what does verse 14 tell us? You [who are believers in Christ] are no longer under law, but under grace. When we come out from under our parent's home, we are no longer under their control and consequences. When we come out from under the system of the law-in other words, you break a law, you are punished even by death-we are no longer under the control and consequences of the rules.

A fair question to ask is simply, "Now that Jesus has taken care of my sins, why not sin?" That is the question Paul addresses in Romans 6:15:

Romans 6:15
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

I want to stress this point again: we are not accustomed to Grace. What our customs and social norms recognize is a series of obligations and reciprocity. To receive a gift without any strings attached in truly too good to be true. And yet it is true! We have forgiveness of our sins.

When we went to Disneyland last month, we had to drive two cars. I was driving behind my dad. When I pulled out my money for parking, the attendant said, "Somebody really likes you in the car ahead of you. He paid for your parking." If I tried to pay the parking anyway, I would show that I did not understand what my father had done. God sent His Son to pay a debt that we owed. If we try to repay the debt, we do not understand what has happened when we were saved! We do not understand God's Grace.

Roman Christians were not accustomed to grace either. Paul responds to this concern, "Hey, if you remove the rules and constraints, what is going to keep people in line? They are going to eat SnoBalls and stay up all night!" I think we get the point-grace can actually present a threat and grace can actually be feared.

So if there are no rules to live by, and Jesus has taken care of our sins, what keeps a Christian from sinning?

Let's read 6:16 again:

16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

There's a principle everyone should know: Habitual obedience leads to slavery. When we say yes enough times to something, we become its slave.

Have you ever been a slave to the TV set? Is there is a show that you like to watch every week? For me it was Monday Night Football and Seinfeld. Those shows we like to watch, we will do just about anything to watch the show. If we can't make it, we'll tape it on the VCR.
Are we slaves to the Internet? A few years ago we didn't even have the Internet. Now we may need to surf the Internet or check our email. Try not logging on to the Internet for three days. We cannot help ourselves.

This principle works for the non-Christian as well as the Christian: when we give ourselves over to an activity, it will eventually enslave and control us. We will have difficulty to break free from that activity.

Slavery is not all bad. When we think of slavery, we think of America enslaving the African Americans and are horrified. But in this biblical context, Paul is saying that this principle of enslavement is one built into who we are-and it is neutral. We can either be enslaved to that which is good and right in God's eyes, or to that which is sinful and wrong in God's eyes. The question is not whether or not we will be slaves, it is rather to whom will we become slaves: sin or God?

Some would say that the sin nature in me is too strong-it is too hard to stop. I have to keep doing the wrong I know I should not do. But this is old thinking and a deception to keep us enslaved. Jesus has freed us from the reign, mastership, and power of sin when we entrusted our souls to Him from the heart (circumcised hearts, Romans 2:20).

Verse 17-18 gives us true hope. Thanks be to God that what? He saved us! Before God saved the believer, the believer had a weakness. Imagine your arm is weak. Even if you want to pick up a ball, the arm has no strength. In the same way we were too weak spiritually to follow right as we should. But when we entrusted our lives to God, verse 18 tells us we have been SET FREE! We have been empowered to follow Him.

This is Jesus' teaching to those believers he had called to be true disciples. Earlier we read 8:31-32. In John 8:34-37

34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

We are truly free in Christ to follow Him.

Some may still ask, "What is so bad about being a slave to sin? Sin is attractive, sin is fun, and sin is that forbidden something I can now have." If we need any more motivation, Paul lets us know that not only will sin enslave, but once sin has control it will lead you off a cliff.

Understanding the Choice: Reap what you sow principle (19-22)
I have a tree just outside of my bedroom window. I am not a botanist, nor do I know my trees well enough. A few months ago my parents drove up to visit us. They took the kids outside to play in the front yard. After about ten minutes they came back inside the house with a bag. Timmy's lips were red and the bag had cherries. I wondered how they could have driven to the grocery store and back. Then my dad said, "Did you know you have a cherry tree in front?" I ran outside and there it was all along, a cherry tree with cherries on it.

Just as I was ignorant that I had a cherry tree in my front yard, we were ignorant in our old selves about our sin. We just lived every day as with any other day following the rest of the world. We did not know any better, so we lived as the world lives.
Verse 20 says, "When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness." He is saying we were ignorant of our ways and were not aware of God's ways.

In the case of our sin, ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance actually brought death to us. In verse 21 Paul asks the question, "What benefit did you reap at that time of ignorance?" The world for benefit is the word for fruit. In this case it means the result or outcome. In other words, we reap what we sow. If we sow a cherry tree, we get cherry blossoms and cherries. If we sow sin in our lives, we get what? Death.

Verse 23 is a famous verse, "The wages of sin is death." Wages are given to someone who has earned, by their work, payment or salary. What sin earns is death. This death is separation from God. That makes sense, since when we sin we are saying we do not want or need God in our lives.

We could think of many ways people are enslaved to the principles and ways of this world. We should not be naïve and think that sin is not attractive or enticing. Temptation would not be temptation if it did not appear to be lovely or desirable. And God would not consider sin as such a problem unless the whole human race had succumbed to its power. Let's not deceive ourselves. Sin only brings destruction.

But what is the fruit of obedience? Verse 22 says Holiness and Eternal Life. And this eternal life is not just a pie in the sky, I'll get it when I die kind of fruit. It is a benefit to be enjoyed today. Obedience leads to fellowship with God that is characterized by joy and peace.

Conclusion (23)
We started out with a question. Why should we resist sin?

Now we know the second reason we should not sin. The first: because we are New Creations where sin is inconsistent with our beliefs. The second: because even though we may be free to sin, to sin will bring us into the control of sin.

Every day is filled with choices. Every choice we Choose our Side: To be a slave to Sin or a slave to God in obedience to Him. While we were once slaves to sin and had no choice, we have now been empowered to Choose Our Side. What side will it be?

The choice should be easy. In essence it is a choice between life and death.

We have good reason to resist sin. But we have only come to the place of choice-to want to resist sin. The next two weeks we will talk about how we can carry out our daily decisions to follow Christ as His disciple. 
 

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