Explore the Bible Series for Oct. 23: Once freed from sin, don’t choose to be its slave

Posted: 10/19/05

Explore the Bible Series for Oct. 30

Once freed from sin, don’t choose to be its slave

• Romans 6:15-23

By Trey Turner

Canyon Creek Baptist Church, Temple

Recently, Disney pulled its animators together for a serious discussion around the issues of pencil or digital animation. Pressures from Pixar and Dreamworks are making the traditional giant Disney rethink and rediscover what made it great.

In the meeting, both traditional pencil animators and digital animators were afraid of total control by the other. It is a conversation which had to take place if Disney is to move into new vitality.

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The upcoming movie “Chicken Little” will be the marker of how well the team addressed the problems of reinvention when they discovered their sky was falling. The question: Will some of the traditional animators be a slave to traditional ways or can they make changes to meet the vision of being the best?

Similarly, will Christians, who have been saved by God’s grace, show themselves to be slaves to their old ways of sin and the “patterns of this world?” Or will they find the joy of their freedom in Christ and use that freedom for obedience?

Being obedient (Romans 6:15-16)

Should anyone, by the very fact that they are free, be lax about obedience to Christ? He or she could say, “I can live with freedom to sin, because my sin will not lead to death; I have been given life.”

The Apostle Paul says such statements show the person to be a slave to the old nature. People are not now free to sin. They are free and now able to live lives pleasing to God. It is ironic how Paul talks of using freedom to choose a new slavery.

This slavery (to righteousness) is a benefit leading to maturity. The other slavery (to sin) would lead only to death and destruction. Note, this slavery is voluntary subjection; either he or she becomes a servant of God by the power of God’s Holy Spirit or shows him or herself as slave to sin.

Before a person is a believer, he or she cannot choose to be obedient to God—falling short of the standard having been tainted by sin. That is part of the slavery. Now a Christian, he or she has the Holy Spirit living within and is enabled to be pleasing to God, only now able to choose to be servant of God by faith and obedience.

Living righteously (Romans 6:17-19)

What is the motivation for living righteously? It is maturity. Paul begins with a praise, “Thanks be to God!” The Christian gives himself to a new lifestyle because of no threat—he or she is free. Instead, that Christian uses the freedom given to grow in maturity. With the praise to God, Paul also gives an accolade to the Roman Christians for choosing to follow basic Christian doctrine and ethical standards. He affirms the commitment to the new behavior, calling it slavery. Paul shows how slavery to sin is to be continually deteriorating. The same extreme commitment to Christ progresses the life of the believer.

Growing spiritually (Romans 6:20-23)

Paul acknowledges the shame the Romans feel over those acts which kept them in bondage. Both slaveries bring some type of freedom. Freedom from righteousness brings shame. Freedom from sin’s ultimate condemnation leads to a life set aside for godly living.

The last verse summarizes the great difference between the two slaveries. One brings life and the other death. The first slave owner pays what one deserves—wages, which are death. The second slave owner brings a gift—what one does not deserve, which is life.

Again notice, the result of God’s gift is eternal life; obedience to Christ matures the believer toward that glorious end. This is the way the Hebrews received the law from God at the base of Mount Sinai. They received it by faith from a God which called them out from slavery in Egypt. They followed the law because of who they now were as the people of God. The Christian is saved as a gift. He or she lives differently because his or her new identity, not in order to secure eternal life. Eternal life is never a wage, it is only a gift.

Discussion question

• What are some temptations keeping believers reaching down as slaves to sin rather than up using freedom for obedience?

• Name some patterns of life which pay off in sick or broken relationships? How do these actions trap Christians in living below obedience? Are these sins of omission? Commission?

• What are two ways you will act to put away your own slave patterns and choose obedience to a new master?