You Gotta Serve Somebody. Romans 6.

By mmayer

Romans 6:12-23

¹²Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Slaves to righteousness

¹⁵What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

¹⁹I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! ²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in^[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.

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You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6:18

‘You gotta serve somebody,’ sang Bob Dylan from his 1979 album, Slow Train Coming. ‘Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you gonna have to serve somebody.’ He was echoing Paul from Romans 6. The language of being either slaves to sin, or slaves bought(redeemed) by God is still very confronting imagery. It means we are never our own little independent selves, that popular culture keeps telling us. We are either slaves to sin, that leads to death and shame; or slave of grace, sharing in Christ’s holiness, learning to live in right relationships (righteousness) with God, with others and with ourselves. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life.

In sporting terms, the team we are on has a new owner and a new coach. There is a whole new game plan we have to learn, because the old game plan (sin and selfishness) just won’t work anymore. There’s a whole new power at work in our lives – grace.

Paul encourages us to offer our whole selves to God. That means more than just the good parts of us, and the things that we do well. We are also invited to hand over the not-so-good parts of us and the parts that aren’t working so nicely. We probably all have closed off or no-go areas in our life stories. Gently, at the right time, these also are to be brought into the light and love of Christ, to be worked through in grace and mercy, so that they no longer have the power to cause destruction or lock us down. What once couldn’t be faced can now be worked through. And if we need someone else to support us on that journey, we find a good person or a good group, and ask.

Unleash the grace at work in you. Trust the gift of forgiveness. Look for ways to respond out of faith and love, rather than fear and failure. Keep practicing the new game plan. It will become part of you after a while.