Which Master?

A while ago I had a conversation with a Jehovah's Witness. He wanted me to join his cult. I wanted him to come to Christ. And at one point I said to him: 'Your problem is that you have nothing to offer me. In fact,' I said, 'All you can do is rob me of what I've got through Jesus.' He said: 'What do you mean?' So I said: 'Well, tell me this. Are you sure that God accepts you?' He said( as I expected him to), 'No. You can never be sure, because you can never know whether you've done enough to be accepted.' So I said, 'That's where you're wrong. I am sure God accepts me, because acceptance isn't based on what we've done, but on what Jesus has done. When he died on the cross, he took on himself the judgement we deserve so we could be forgiven and accepted.' And he thought for a moment and then he said, 'So you don't have any fear of possible future punishment?' To which I said, 'No. Jesus has taken the punishment I deserve.' And he had a long think and finally he said, 'Then what motivates you to live a good life, if not the fear of punishment if you don't?' That's the question Paul is dealing with in Romans 6. In Romans 1-5 he's explained that acceptance with God is not based on what we do, but on what Jesus did when he died for us on the cross. He took on himself the punishment for all my sins past and future, so that I will never have that punishment visited on me. Which raises the question at chapter 6, verse 1 (as we saw last week): What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace [ie God's forgiving acceptance] may increase? Last week we saw the beginning of Paul's answer in vv1-14. This week, we start at v15, where he comes back to his original question. Verse 15: What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? If our trust is in Jesus, we know we're not under the condemnation that God's law says we deserve ('not under law'). We know we're under God's forgiving acceptance ('under grace'). So, shall we just sin because we know God will forgive? Verse 15: 'By no means!' And Paul gives two reasons why: first, SIN IS NO LONGER YOUR MASTER; and secondly, SIN HAS NOTHING TO OFFER. First, SIN IS NO LONGER YOUR MASTER (vv 16-18) I don't know the sins you most struggle with. It may be taming our tongues; or a particular habit; or greed or envy or sexual purity; whatever. The question is: what will motivate us to resist those sins when faced with them? What will we say to ourselves at temptation point? And Paul says, the first thing is to say to ourselves: 'Sin is no longer your master.' Verse 15:

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or [slaves] to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

In vv15-23, Paul uses an extended illustration - the relationship of a slave serving a master. And in v16 he makes the point that we humans don't just do things; we serve things. Verse 16: 'you are slaves to the one you obey.' So when we give in to a sin, we're not just doing a sin. At that moment, we're serving sin as our master. You see, at temptation-point, sin says to us, 'Go on. Do me. It'll just be an isolated little action.' And Paul says: That's a lie. Verse 16:

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey?

We never just do a sin. Every time we sin (and this side of heaven we still do), we serve sin. And that is a total contradiction of our identity as Christians, if that's what we are. If we're Christians, we're saying, 'Jesus is Lord. I am his servant.' And every time we sin it's a total contradiction of who we are. Because at that moment, we're saying 'Jesus is Lord', but serving sin as Lord. Imagine Alan Shearer defending on the edge of the Newcastle penalty area this afternoon against Everton. And he suddenly feels like scoring a goal. So he gets possession, turns and shoots past Shay Given into the back of the Newcastle net. Imagine the stunned reaction of the Newcastle supporters. Stunned not just because Shearer's scored a goal for once. But because he's scored an own goal. Well Ruud Gullit takes him straight off and has a good go at him. 'What do you think were you doing?' he says. And Shearer says, 'I just felt like scoring a goal.' And Gullit says, 'But there's no such thing as 'just scoring a goal'. You either score for us or against us. And if you're on our side, you score for us. What you just did is a total contradiction of who you are.' Sin loves to present itself as an isolated little opportunity. 'You feel like doing me,' it says, 'So why don't you?' And Paul says: because there's no such thing as 'just doing a sin'. When we sin, we're serving sin. And if we've received Jesus as Lord, that's a total contradiction of who we are. Onto verse 17. Paul tells Christians:

But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted [ie, the gospel message which brought you to faith in Jesus in the first place]. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

To sin is a total contradiction of who we are as people who say Jesus is Lord. It's also an act of total forgetfulness of what God has done for us through Jesus. Paul basically says (vv17-18), 'Thanks be to God that he has set you free from sin as your master and made you his servants.' Before someone turns to Jesus, sin acts as a master in two departments. Sin masters their behaviour. And sin masters their destiny - ultimately, it'll take them to hell. When someone turns to Jesus, he becomes their new master in both those departments. And he changes them in the behaviour department as they grasp that he has rescued them in the destiny department. His death on the cross has freed us (if we're believers) from all future punishment for sin. It's the measure of God' love for us. And it's grasping that freedom from the destiny of punishment for sin which frees us from the behavioural grip of sin. Earlier this century, some tourists were visiting Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. They were looking at a painting of Jesus dying on the cross when the bishop walked by. He stopped and said, 'You know, there's a story about that painting.' And he told them about a hard, rebellious gang of teenagers. They let in new members only on the condition that they did a 'dare' set them by the gang. And he told them about one kid who wanted to join. And the dare they set him was this. He had to come into the cathedral, stand in front of this painting of Jesus and say three times out loud, 'Jesus Christ. You died on the cross for me. And I don't give a damn.' So, in he came, stood in front of the painting. And all he could get out was, 'Jesus Christ, you died for me.' And he realised in that moment what Jesus had done to set him free from the punishment he deserved. How God had loved him as the rebel he was. And it melted his heart. And the tourists asked the bishop how he'd heard the story. And he said, 'Oh I didn't hear it. That was me.' Verse 18:

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

When you and I sin (if we're believers), it's a total contradiction of who we are. And it's an act of total forgetfulness of what God has done for us through Jesus. (Which is why we need these communion services to remind us of the Lord's death for us with these visual aids of bread and wine.) What shall we say to ourselves at temptation point? Well, firstly: 'Sin is no longer your master.' And secondly, SIN HAS NOTHING TO OFFER (vv 19-23) The trouble with sin is that it's so deceptive. And the trouble with us is that we're so deceivable. There's nothing more gullible than a human being facing temptation. Which is why Paul uses this stark language about slavery to show us that in reality, sin has nothing to offer. Verse 19:

I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.

ie, I realise I'm using an inadequate, human illustration to speak of our relationship to God. I realise it's infinitely more than a master - slave relationship; it's a loving Father - child relationship. But, v19, 'I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.' You are so deceivable, so weak at temptation point, that I have to use this master-slave illustration to make you see reality. And the reality is that sin has nothing to offer. Sin always presents itself as if it had masses to offer. At best, it looks hugely attractive. 'Go, on; laying into that person would feel so good, and get it all off your chest, and get them back where it hurts.' At least, it offers relief from the effort of resistance. It was Oscar Wilde who said, 'I find the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.' But the reality is that sin has nothing to offer. Nothing but the three 's''s of: vv19-23: slavery, shame and (ultimately) separation from God. Verse 19:

I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

There's the first 's' that sin offers. Slavery. These Christians in Rome were tempted (as we are) to think that having Jesus as Lord was hard and restrictive. So Paul reminded them of their lives before coming to Christ. They had known what it is to be mastered by desires and habits. They'd thought they could say 'Yes' or 'No' them. But actually without Jesus they could only say 'Yes'. And the more you say 'Yes', the more prone you become to say 'Yes'. It's 'ever-increasing' (v19). Sin says to us, 'If only you weren't on this path with Jesus as Lord. You could be free!' And it's lying through it's teeth. Verse 20:

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from righteousness. [NIV adds in the words 'the control of', which isn't brilliant because it makes Christians sound like robots.]

So it's a perverse kind of freedom that sin offers. Freedom from doing the right thing. Freedom from living the way we were made to live. Sin actually makes us sub-human, mastered by our desires and habits rather than masters of them. C.S. Lewis uses the illustration of a horse and rider. The horse stands for our desires; the rider stands for us. And God meant us to ride the horse and be in control of it. But we've all fallen out of the saddle, and we find ourselves at best struggling to stay on, at worst being dragged along at high speed by a foot stuck in the stirrups. Sin looks like freedom. But in fact it's loss of control. It's slavery. The second 's' that sin offers is shame. Verse 20 again:

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?

Sin looks good in prospect. But in retrospect, we are ashamed. Mark Twain said, 'Human beings are the only creatures in the animal kingdom capable of blushing. And the only ones that need to.' I've already quoted Oscar Wilde ('I find the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.') Here's what he wrote at the end of his life: I took pleasure where it pleased me, and passed on. I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes a character, and that therefore, what one has done in the secret chamber one has someday to cry aloud from the house-top. I ceased to be lord over myself. I was no longer captain of my soul, and did not know it. I allowed pleasure to dominate me. I ended in horrible disgrace. And I quote that not to put sexual sin on a pedestal of special badness, which I fear we're rather good at doing (at least, we're perceived as doing that). I quote it because he saw in retrospect the truth about all sin. Others will look back and say, 'I allowed ambition to dominate me'; or envy; or bitterness; or unforgiveness; or money; or materialism; whatever. The point is: sin brings shame. Slavery; shame. The third 's' that sin offers is separation from God. Verse 21 again. [Looking back to your pre-Christian days, says Paul]:

What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!

Sin says to us, 'If only you weren't on this path with Jesus as Lord. It would be much easier not to have to resist wrong desires. No struggle. No effort.' And Paul says, 'But think where the other path leads.' In a worn-down moment, it's easy to cast a wistful glance at the non-Christian world. Or at our pre-Christian lives. 'If I was still on that path, I wouldn't have this struggle,' we say to ourselves. But: that path is going to hell. End of verse 21:

Those things result in death! [ie. ultimate separation from God]

It's what the Lord Jesus himself said:

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed, than with two hands to go into hell where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. (Mark 9.43-45)

ie, it's better to be on the path of having Jesus as Lord, with all the radical resistance to sin that involves (expressed by the images of 'cutting' off hands and feet), than to be your own lord and go to hell. Anything is better than hell, says Jesus. And he should know. He's been there for us on the cross. Sin has nothing to offer. Nothing but slavery, shame and separation from God. So don't listen to its 'sales patter' at temptation-point, says Paul. Verse 22:

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, [what's it like to be on that path? Well,] the benefit you reap leads to holiness [ie, our present experience is not slavery and shame, but gradually becoming the way we were made to be - more like God], and the result [ie, the future destination of that path] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [ie, finally being with God in a sin-free body in a sin-free heaven.]

'Then what motivates you to live a good life, if not the fear of punishment if you don't?' That's what the Jehovah's Witness asked. To put it another way, 'Why not sin when I know that all my sins past and future will be forgiven?' What will we say to ourselves at temptation point? Two things, says Paul. Sin is no longer your master. Jesus who died for you is. And, sin has nothing to offer. Nothing but slavery, shame and separation. But having said all that, the perverse and sad fact is: we Christians still sin. Not because we aim to. Not because in our heart of hearts we want to. But, v19, because we're weak. Which is why we need to end with the truth with which we began. Our acceptance with God does not depend on how we live. We don't earn it. It's a gift. Verse 23:

For the wages of sin is death [that's what we deserve, every one of us], but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The gift is the forgiving acceptance of God that starts the moment you turn to Jesus and goes on, through death, into eternity; that covers every sin past and future. Which doesn't mean we sin because we know we'll be forgiven. It means we aim to please the Lord who's shown us such love. And where we fail to, there's forgiveness.