Today we’re going to be encouraged in how we are to fight for faith on a daily basis. There are some who shout “GRACE!” in church and to others, but never submit themselves to the will of God for personal righteousness in following after Christ. These people are not believers – they don’t truly know or love Jesus, they just want something from Jesus. They don’t want to hear anything about obedience as a mark of true faith, they want to continue in their sin. On the other side of the spectrum, you have some people who can make obedience and “being” a Christian into such a burden the the weight of “trying to do everything you’re supposed to” is unbearable. These people may or may not be believers, but they are definitely Pharisees, unhelpful to themselves and anyone else truly wanting to grow in their faith. Their constant focus works and “measuring up” would contradict our Lord Jesus Christ when He said “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
There is another way to live as a Christian, that does not remove the call to obedience but also exudes peace and joy in reconciliation to Christ. This is what we see in scripture. 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” That’s where we find ourselves in Romans today.
Romans 6:15-19 – “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”
The first part of the passage above confronts a topic that I believe needs to be preached on heavily, especially in the US – what is the gospel of Jesus Christ saving us from? What is grace for? Most people, if they are honest with themselves, see their sin, see that God is righteous and judges their sin, and see that Jesus died for their sin. They embrace this gospel of salvation from the judgment of sin. What many do not embrace is the gospel of salvation from the power of sin. Jesus preached one gospel – to repent and believe. Mark 1:14-15 – “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The gospel of Jesus Christ is salvation from both the power of sin and the judgment of sin. You can’t have one without the other, and you can’t want one without wanting the other and still claim to love Jesus and His salvation. If you are identifying with the risen victorious Christ, then you must also identify with the death of Christ to sin. Today though I want to be very practical. My burden is not to expose false-believers or call out Pharisaical behavior. What I want to focus in on is what it means to “present you members as slaves to righteousness” and how that leads to sanctification. Hopefully you noticed something that was very important in that scripture – the ordering of things. Your presenting your members as slaves to righteousness leads to your sanctification, NOT your sanctification leads you to present your members as slaves to righteousness. This exposes the error that many Christians enter into, trying merely to “pray their way into sanctification”. That isn’t to say we ought not ask God to continually change our heart, but we also have a role to play beyond that. God has told us from scripture that He chooses to use the actions of men for His good purposes. (Eph 2:10, 1 Cor 3:6, 2 Cor 5:20, and on and on).
So in some way our actions of “presenting our members as slaves to righteousness” will lead to God accomplishing sanctification in us. This is another example of the mystery of how man’s will (choices) and God’s sovereign plan are compatible, not contradictory. Philippians 2:12-13 – “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
When you have a desire for righteousness to glorify God, rejoice, that is from God and evidence of the Spirit at work in you. When you work towards personal righteousness, rejoice, that is God at work through you, for your good and joy.
Now, I am confident that the great many of you reading this desire the righteousness of God in your life – how else could you manage to read through these emails all the time! So what I want to exhort you in is how to “present your members as slaves to righteousness”. I know I can be wordy at times, so this should a nice reprieve… I’m actually going to use bullet points below:
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Looking to Jesus, be continually building your understanding of the righteousness of God (Start in gospels in the life of Christ – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)
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Be brutally honest with yourself about your current sin, including how it usually comes about
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Remind yourself of the weight of sin and that sin deserves (the wrath of God)
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Quickly remind yourself of salvation through Jesus in the gospel from the judgment and power of sin
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Proactively remove those things that lead to sin from # 2 above, and replace them with things that help grow your affection for Christ and righteousness
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Repeat
Now the key here is being honest with yourself and not trying to see how close you can get to the edge of sin without sinning. Meaning everyone knows that if you’re an alcoholic, going into a bar isn’t a good idea, but we need to go deeper. If you general find your struggle with sin happening later at night, then start going to bed earlier and make it a point to redeem 30 minutes of time before you go to sleep in the Bible and prayer. If you are struggling with anxiety/materialism with money, search for ways to start doing with less and giving more away. Each of us have our own struggles, and the plan of attack will be slightly different for each of us. Does this mean that we will never sin if we pursue this kind of life change to pursue righteousness? No, but by the grace of God we might begin to grow closer in our fellowship with God, increase our joy, and grow in our sanctification. We are all equals in this fight together and in love we need to be encouraging one another towards growth in righteousness for our joy and God’s glory.
I hope this finds you well, know you’re prayed for, and may God’s blessing be upon each of you today.
Grace and Peace,
Adam
Following the Way 