Slaves to Righteousness

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Join me in prayer.

Father, would you speak to us and would we hear, not just with our ears but with our hearts,

and would our hearts be open and tender to the way that your Spirit wants to mold us into the image of your perfect Son.

Convince us, Lord, that true freedom is slavery to you, slavery to righteousness.

Would we delight in you as our Lord, you as our Master.

There is no greater Master, no one who has loved us like you have.

Would you convince us of that even more deeply than we already think we might be convinced of that truth.

Today we pray in the preaching of your Word, in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right, so we are still in Romans and we're still in chapter 6 of Paul's letter to the church in Rome.

And last week we looked at Paul's response to pretty much the biggest objection that his message faced.

And that objection goes something like this.

If we are justified, if we are righteous in the eyes of God by faith and apart from our good works,

then what's going to keep us from continuing in a bunch of wicked works?

Like, Paul, if the gospel you preach is true, how is this not a license to sin?

And we heard last week that Paul answered this objection in the first 14 verses.

And he ends and he caps it off saying,

For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

But then today we find that he raises pretty much the same objection, right?

The same objection comes up again, verse 15,

because he knows that what he preaches is so radical, so counterintuitive,

so unlike anything anyone else has ever preached.

Whenever the gospel is preached and the scandal of God's free gift of grace is heard,

Paul knows that the question will arise again and again and again,

like, how is this not a license to sin?

So here in verse 15 we find Paul posing pretty much the same objection he just answered,

but he puts it in a different way.

Verse 15,

But this time he applies, he supplies a second reason.

So we're going to look at that second reason today,

whereas the first reason he gave pointed us to Christ's past work,

the second reason he gave points us to our present identity.

The first reason he gave for why we should not go on sinning

was our union with Christ and his death to sin.

And now the second reason he gives for why the church should not go on sinning

is our identity, our identity in Christ.

And notice how he describes our identity in Christ, though.

Verse 16, what does he call us?

We are slaves.

Don't you know that when you offer yourself 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.

The number two reason Paul gives for why we should not sin,

even when we are under grace,

is because we are all slaves.

Even if we've been freed from slavery to sin, he says,

we are still slaves.

And we're going to talk about that,

what it means to be slaves to God,

slaves to righteousness.

But before we talk about that,

I want to first bring your attention to the beauty of Paul's reasoning here.

See, just like he refuses to motivate us

by, you know, dangling a carrot like heaven or happiness

or threatening punishment upon us like heartbreak and hell.

For Paul, and I think this is the heart of God himself,

the main reason for us to not sin

isn't about following rules or being good versus being bad.

For Paul, it's always been about being real.

It's always been about being authentic

to our highest and our truest identities.

And that's why he says,

by no means.

By no means.

We aren't going to go on sinning,

not just because it's bad for us,

but because it defies the truth

about who we are and what is real about us

in God's eyes.

In Christ, we are dead to sin.

And that is why we cannot live in it any longer, he says.

And here in verse 15 and following,

he reminds us of another reality about who we are,

and that is we are slaves of righteousness

if we're united to Christ by faith.

As I heard one of our past pastors,

Pastor Quinn, she used to say,

you know, God is not interested

in shitting all over us, all right?

Like, you should do this, you should do that,

you should not do this, you should not do that.

No, time and time again,

what God is most interested in speaking to us

is who we are.

Who we are, because everything else flows from that,

from our identity.

So in Genesis 1, right,

when God creates the heavens and the earth,

he says to Adam and Eve,

you are the crown of my creation.

I have made you in my image, in my likeness,

therefore, be fruitful, right?

Or to his own son at his baptism in the Jordan River,

before he sends him out into the wilderness,

before he sends him out to teach

and to do all his miracles,

what does the father say to his son at the Jordan River?

He says, this is my son whom I love.

With him I am well pleased.

See, it's only when we accept the reality

of our identities before God

that any of us will ever do the things

we should be doing

or stop doing the things we shouldn't be doing.

Again, God's primary task is not to should all over us,

it's to tell us who we are to him

and what we are to believe about ourselves

if we would just see ourselves through his eyes

in order that we might live accordingly.

And that's why I left verses 11 through 14

in our text today,

even though we went through them last week,

because it's so important how we count ourselves.

It's so important how we count ourselves,

it's so important that we count,

how God counts.

Verse 11,

in the same way count yourselves dead to sin

but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

So in a sense we could say

that a question underneath Paul's question here

in verse 15,

shall we sin because we are under grace?

Another question that Paul is provoking here is,

well, who are we fundamentally?

Particularly Christians,

how should we count ourselves?

What is our identity?

identity?

And how might that actually be the key

to all of our actions and our behaviors

in the first place?

You know, I have two girls, four and three,

and my goal is to raise them

to be beautiful women of God

who are secure in themselves before God

and in this world.

And so I tell them that that's what they are,

that they are beautiful

and that their only comfort in life and in death

is that they belong to Jesus.

Like more than telling them what to do, right,

in order to be beautiful

or what to do to belong,

I tell them who they are to me

and to their mommy and to God

that they are beautiful

and that they already do belong.

I don't say to them,

try hard to be beautiful or else,

or else you won't belong.

But you are beautiful and you do belong,

therefore live like the beauty that you are.

Because I want them to have so deep inside of them,

I want them to trust this reality in their hearts

to know and believe the truth about themselves

so that when those days come,

when they are tempted to not believe

that they are beautiful

or that they don't belong to anyone of any significance.

And those days have come,

actually the days have already arrived.

One of our daughters some months ago,

she said this to us,

she said,

I wish I had my little sister's eyes

because they're prettier than mine.

She said that,

and you might think

that this was just some minor sibling rivalry jealousy,

but to me this was a lie from the devil himself,

tempting my daughter to believe

that she's not enough,

that she's not beautiful enough,

that she's not pretty enough,

she's not desirable enough.

And is this temptation really so unlike

what the rest of us face?

No.

My daughters need to know.

We all need to know our true identities

in the eyes of God.

If we ever want a chance

at living and experiencing

the beautiful lives of belonging

that God wants for us,

we can see our identity,

who we are,

who we understand ourselves to be

will ultimately dictate how we live.

But again, the question is,

well, who are we?

Who are we?

And to this, Paul says,

well, if you've been justified by faith

and if sin is no longer your master

and you are now under grace,

guess what?

You're still slaves, he says.

You're still slaves

and that's why you should not sin.

He even gives thanks for this in verse 17,

but 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.

You have been set free from sin

and have become slaves to righteousness.

No longer under the dominion of sin,

but now under the reign and rule of Jesus Christ.

See, for Paul,

even for those who are under grace,

you see, they are still under something.

Yes, set free from sin,

but now slaves to righteousness.

For Paul, it's not a matter of

whether or not we're slaves,

but whether we're slaves to sin

or to righteousness.

Just as it says in verse 19,

we are either offering ourselves

as slaves to impurity

and to ever-increasing wickedness

or we are offering ourselves

as slaves to righteousness

leading to holiness.

For Paul, there is no third alternative.

As Jesus said,

you cannot have two masters

no matter what we are slaves,

he says,

either slaves to sin

or to righteousness,

to the devil or to God.

And now, maybe,

you find this offensive, right?

To speak of people as Paul does,

as slaves to sin.

Maybe you even disagree with Paul here

because aren't people

like more complex than that?

For us to categorize them

into just slaves to sin

and slaves to righteousness.

But what Paul means here

is not that some people

can only do utterly wicked things

and others, you know,

Christians are the best

and they can only do righteous things.

We all know that's not true.

No.

What Paul is talking about

are the two different domains

and directions

that people are in

with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ.

See, slaves to sin

might do some great things,

feed the hungry,

donate to charities,

advance our society

with technological innovations

just like the descendants

of Adam and Eve's

wicked murderer son, Cain, right?

They were the ones.

Cain's descendants

were the ones who what?

They made music

and they developed tools

and they built cities

and developed livestock, right?

But the question is,

for what and for whom

and to what end?

Was it truly unto the glory of God,

unto the glory of the kingdom of Christ,

or was it to the glory of Babel?

Let us build a city

and a tower with its top in the heavens

and let us make a name for ourselves,

they said.

See, when Paul talks about

slaves to sin

versus slaves to righteousness,

what he's saying

is that apart from liberation in Christ,

we are all slaves to sin.

As Paul writes earlier in chapter three,

quoting from the Hebrew Scriptures,

there is no one righteous,

not even one.

There is no one who understands.

There is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away.

They have together become worthless.

There is no one who does good,

not even one.

And listen to what he says

at the end of this list.

There is no fear of God

before their eyes.

For Paul, you can do

and achieve some pretty impressive

and good things,

but if there is no fear of God

in your eyes,

if you do not have a relationship with God,

if you're living your life

not in a Godward direction,

for the glory of Jesus Christ,

and I'm sorry,

but as good as whatever it is

you're doing is,

it is still tainted by sin.

And that's how the prophet Isaiah

can say things like,

all of our righteous deeds

are like filthy,

bloody menstrual rags

before the Lord.

And this is what it means

to be a slave to sin,

to not live Godward,

to not live unto and under Christ,

but with something or someone else

as our master.

And if this describes you

and you are not living

unto or under Christ,

he invites you today

to at least consider

what or who your master really is.

He invites you to consider

a different yoke,

a different bondage,

a different master,

slavery to righteousness,

slavery to God through Christ.

Now maybe for some others of us,

it's precisely this

slave to righteousness,

slave to God stuff

that sounds so offensive

and unappealing, right?

And maybe that's what some of us

either hate about being Christians

or for those of us

who are hesitant

to become Christians,

this is why.

Like, see, I knew it.

You Christians are always

talking about how,

oh, I can be free from my sin,

but here you are

just pitching another

kind of slavery,

so no thank you.

And honestly,

I deeply resonate with this.

Growing up,

I've shared about

my best friend, right?

Both of us grew up

in the church

from the days

that we were born.

He was born

just 10 days before me.

Both of us grew up

in the church.

Both of us got baptized

together on the same day

as sixth graders.

We went to the same

Sunday school classes,

the same Christian school

from kindergarten

to 12th grade.

Both of us went off

to college

and became involved

in our churches

very heavily.

We loved theology.

We loved apologetics.

We loved studying the Bible,

and yet I've become a pastor,

and my best friend now lives

a life apart from God,

apart from Christ,

in unbelief and skepticism.

And I've shared this before,

but we used to play

this game as kids,

this game called,

Man, If I Weren't a Christian,

and he'd be like,

Man, If I Weren't a Christian,

I'd totally ditch church

and Sunday school,

and we'd be outside

working on our jump shots.

And I'd be like,

Man, yeah, that's right, man.

And yeah, man,

if I weren't a Christian,

I'd have so much more money

because I wouldn't be tithing,

and that would be awesome.

And we'd go on and on and on

fantasizing about the happiness

and the freedom that we'd enjoy

if we were not Christians,

if we were not slaves to God.

And you know, looking back

and reflecting on where

both of us are now today,

I wonder if what has happened

is that both of us rightly understood

that Christianity does involve

a kind of slavery,

slavery to God,

slavery to righteousness,

a commitment to denying ourselves

and following Jesus.

But I wonder if what has happened

is maybe one of us

has had our eyes opened

to the beauty of being a slave to God,

while the other has yet

to have his eyes open

to the beauty and the true freedom

that are found in slavery

to righteousness,

slavery to God,

to being under the rule and reign

of a good master and Lord,

King Jesus.

Now, I get why you might be skeptical.

Like, how is Christianity

not just another power play

on my life,

just an extra external authority

here to limit and restrict

my happiness and freedom?

And honestly, you're not wrong

that God wants you to be free.

You're not wrong to want to be free.

We all want to be free.

God put this desire into us.

But see, the real question, though,

is what does it mean to be free?

What does it mean to be free?

And I want to suggest,

according to the scriptures,

that the truest freedom,

the highest freedom,

is actually,

is subversively

only found

in being a slave

to God.

You see, our modern,

secular,

Western world

will tell you

that true freedom

is the absence

of all restraints.

All restraints.

That we are cheetahs

whose most fundamental need

is to get out of our cage

and to be untamed, right?

The modern Bay Area

definition of freedom

is that freedom

is antithetical

to any and every

binding limitation.

That freedom

is freedom

from all such restrictions

and freedom

to pursue

whatever it is

that we want.

And you're not free

unless you can do

whatever you want

and no one can tell you

what to do

or what not to do.

But is this truly freedom?

Is it?

To be able to do

whatever we want.

To have every option

in the world.

Tell me,

are you free

when you turn on

Netflix at home

and you have

a million options

before you?

A million options

of what you could watch

but you spend

half an hour,

right,

deciding

what that is

that you want to watch

and even after you decide

for the first five minutes

you're thinking to yourself,

do I want to keep going

or do I want to switch back,

right?

Is that freedom?

In his book,

The Paradox of Choice,

this Swarthmore psychologist,

Barry Schwartz,

he actually is a visiting scholar

here at Cal.

He wrote,

actually a greater variety

of choices

actually makes us feel worse.

He actually advises,

choose less

and feel better.

And you know,

Paul would agree

that sure,

maybe this is

a kind of freedom

but is it

the kind of freedom

we want?

Is it?

Verse 20,

look at verse 20.

In verse 20,

he begins to describe

and remind his readers

of what it was like

when they were once

slaves to sin

and lived to make

all the God-free choices

that they pleased.

And he recognizes

that it was

a kind of freedom,

a freedom from control

but freedom from whose control?

Verse 20,

when you were slaves to sin,

you were free

from the control

of righteousness.

Paul says,

yes,

there is freedom

apart from God

but he says,

is this the kind of freedom

you want to be free

from what is right

and good

and pure

and true

and beautiful.

And then he asked

his readers

to consider the fruit,

the fruit of that kind

of a freedom

from the control

of righteousness.

Verse 21,

what benefit

did you reap

at that time

from the things

you are now ashamed of?

Those things

result in death.

He's basically asking,

where did that freedom

from all restraints,

where did that lead?

What did it produce?

What kind of a person

did it make you?

Someone who is proud

of themselves

or someone

who is ashamed

of themselves?

I'm listening

to this audio book

right now,

this book on Audible,

it's a New York Times

bestseller called

Tweak,

it's by someone

here from the Bay Area,

Nick Sheff,

and it's a memoir

of his life

and his struggle

with addiction

to meth.

And even as a

very gifted person,

someone from a very

privileged background,

you know,

they had a house

in the city

in San Francisco,

they had a weekend

house up in Point Reyes,

his family loved him,

he had a great life.

And I'm only a few

chapters in,

but it's really,

it's a riveting,

wonderfully written memoir.

And basically,

it's Nick's sober retelling

of the stronghold

of meth on his life.

A retelling

of how ashamed

he is

of his many decisions

as someone

under the control

of meth.

And early on

in the book,

he recounts how

not long after

his first stint

in rehab,

he comes home again,

but he's suffering

from withdrawals, right?

And so,

the first chance

he gets,

he gets out of the house

away from his parents

and he leaves

and he finds himself

all of a sudden

unconscious again.

And so,

he tells about how,

yeah,

he has no idea

what happened that week,

but all of a sudden

he wakes up

from his blackout,

he's back in his parents' home,

and what wakes him up,

though,

is this commotion

that's going on

in the house,

a commotion between

his little brother

and his little sister.

His little brother

is crying,

where is it?

Where is it?

Where is my five dollars?

You took it,

he's saying to the little sister.

And she says,

no,

I didn't take it,

and they're both crying

and this wakes Nick up.

This wakes him up

and in that moment,

Nick says,

I didn't remember

taking the money,

but I knew I had.

So,

he begins to

pack his stuff up,

he heads toward the door,

he can only look down

at the floor in shame,

but his parents stop him.

His parents stop him

and they're all red in the face,

their heart broken,

and they block his exit

and they confront him.

They say,

where are you going?

Nick,

we know you're using again.

And Nick says,

yeah,

I'm not coming back.

But they slam the door

and his dad says,

you can't just leave

with tears running down his face,

you can't just leave,

we'll get you help,

Nick.

And Nick says,

no,

I have to,

I have to do this,

I have to leave.

And at this point,

his dad says no

and he tries to physically

stop Nick

from leaving the door,

but Nick pushes his dad

really hard

and Nick says,

what the hell

are you doing?

Jesus Christ,

you people

are suffocating me.

you people

suffocate me.

And in this moment,

Nick is basically

screaming to his parents,

let me be free,

get out of my way,

untie my bonds

from this family

that loves me

so I can be free

to do what I want,

so I can be free

to do what I know

that I need.

But you know,

he's writing in retrospect,

right,

this is a memoir,

and as he recounts this moment,

he also writes in his memoir,

the truth was,

I didn't want to stop.

It's not like I enjoyed

stealing or hurting my dad,

I was just so scared

of coming off the drugs.

It was like this

horrible, vicious cycle,

the more I used,

the more I did things

I was ashamed of,

and the more I had to use

so I never had to face them.

And my question for us is,

was Nick truly pursuing freedom

when he accused his parents

of suffocating him?

Was he free

the moment he left the house

and started getting out

on the streets,

driving around,

shooting up again and again,

hiding in bathrooms,

missing veins,

blood running down his arms,

hanging out in filthy hotels

with stained mattresses

and trash all over the place?

Was Nick free

when he fled

the alleged suffocation

of his parents?

Or was he fleeing

from their love,

trying to free himself

from their love,

free himself

from true liberation?

You know,

the reason Paul celebrates

our slavery to God

and to righteousness

is because freedom

from any and all restraints

and authorities

and commitments

isn't freedom at all.

It's just another kind

of bondage.

I mean,

and think about it.

Is the freedom we seek

apart from God

not actually a greater burden,

a heavier yoke

than the one Jesus invites us

to take up

alongside of himself?

You know,

all around us

in the Bay Area,

we are advised,

we are even commanded,

right,

to be true to ourselves.

True to ourselves,

right?

But in his book,

You Are Not Your Own,

which I highly recommend,

Alan Noble writes,

how can you ever be sure

that you are being

true to yourself?

How can you ever know

if you are being authentic?

You are utterly alone

in your judgment,

sovereign,

but alone.

And to make matters worse,

you cannot trust yourself.

The human mind

is capable

of tremendous self-deception.

Maybe you are least

true to yourself

when you are trying

to be like yourself.

And he writes,

the freedom

of sovereign individualism

comes at a great price.

Once I am liberated

from all social,

moral,

natural,

and religious values,

I become responsible

for the meaning

of my own life.

With no God

to judge or justify me,

I have to be

my own judge

and redeemer.

This burden

manifests as

a desperate need

to justify our lives

through identity crafting

and expression,

but because everyone

else is also

working frantically

to craft

and express

their own identity,

society becomes

a space

of vicious competition

between individuals

all vying

for attention

and meaning

and significance.

So you see,

the freedom

that so many of us

are pursuing

apart from God

is far more burdensome

than we realize,

even leading to death.

Like,

what if a fish said,

I'm not free

unless I can get

out of this water

and get onto dry land?

How would that turn out?

Horribly.

Horribly, right?

Because a fish

seeking to be liberated

from the ocean

onto dry land

is a fish

that's denying

its own God-given

identity and purpose.

But what God wants

for us

is to be liberated fish.

Dolphins.

He wants us

to be dolphins.

Alright?

Swimming free

in the vastness

of His ocean.

God's word

is saying to us

that there is

a better freedom,

a better slavery,

one that leads

to wholeness

and holiness

and eternal life.

Verse 22.

But 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.

God wants

this slavery for us.

I know this sounds

daunting and scary

and restricting,

but what if freedom

is not what you thought?

What if freedom

is not the absence

of all restrictions

but life within

the right,

proper,

God-given restrictions?

What if true freedom

was the freedom

to be who you

were meant to be

according to your maker?

Freedom to be your best

and most ideal self.

Freedom from every

other alternative path

other than the narrow road

that Jesus wants you

to follow Him in.

What if freedom

was not found

in being unbound

by God,

but in being bound

within a holy

and loving relationship

with this God?

See, the essence

and the beauty of love

is not liberation

from one another, right?

It's being bound

to one another.

I officiated a wedding

yesterday.

Two people became one.

They covenanted

with each other

to belong to each other.

And this wasn't sad, right?

It was beautiful

because the truest intimacy,

the truest intimacy

and experience

of love and delight,

the truest sense

of purpose

and calling

that you will ever experience

is only ever going to be

in a binding relationship

that requires

your commitment.

And see,

this is the antidote

to the paralyzing paradox

of unlimited choice.

It's covenantal commitment.

And that's what God

wants for us.

That's what God wants

for us when He calls us

to be slaves

to righteousness.

He's calling us

to something good,

to something pure,

to something holy,

something liberating

and delightful

all at the same time.

Take my yoke upon you,

Jesus says.

Take my yoke upon you.

And yes, it's a yoke.

But what if the point

is not that our necks

are under a yoke?

What if the point

is not the yoke

but who we are yoked to?

What if the point

is that we've been invited,

we can be yoked

right up next to Jesus,

the Son of God Himself

who's willing

to bear our burdens.

And see,

this is the gospel.

This is the gospel.

This is the good news

that while every other master

pays a terrible wage,

there is a better master,

a loving Lord,

who promises

not to pay you

what you deserve,

but who wants to give you

a free gift

at His own expense.

Verse 23,

for the wages of sin

is death.

But the gift of God

is eternal life

in Christ Jesus,

our Lord.

So Christ Church,

choose today.

recognize that

we're all slaves

and what matters

more than anything

is who we are a slave to.

A master who pays us

the wage of death

or a Lord who dies for us,

a Lord who's risen again,

a Lord who offers us

the free gift

of eternal

and abundant life,

a life free from freedom

for freedom's sake

and bound

within the loving arms of God.

For really,

what's better?

What is better?

to be forever free

from our maker,

sustainer,

and redeemer

or to be permanently

and inseparably bound

within His warm embrace?

Will you pray with me?

Father, would you convince us

that it is better

to be bound

within the loving arms

of Jesus

than free from Him?

Show us the beauty

of who you are

as a loving Lord

and Master.

And oh God,

thank you

that you are not

a master

who pays us

the wages

that we deserve,

but you are a master

who wants to give us

a gift

and the ultimate gift

of yourself,

of eternal life,

abundant life

with you

in Christ

forever and ever.

Make us a people

who treasure that

and who live

out of that identity

that we belong to Jesus.

It's in His name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.