Not a Game of Thrones

Last week we finished up chapter 5 and we looked at:

• WHY do we need to be saved?
• HOW is it possible to be saved?

We need to be saved because Adam’s sin is imputed to us. It is possible to be saved because our sin is imputed to Jesus when we place our faith in Him. We left off with:

Romans 5:20–21 NLT

²⁰ God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. ²¹ So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This week, we launch into:

• WHAT does it look like if we are truly saved?

I guess one of the big questions is what does it look like to be a Christian? Can people look at the way that we dress, or listen to the way that we talk, or watch the way that we interact with our children, or see the way that we manage problems at work, and know that there’s something different about us?

Let’s see what Paul says, and I will read it from the CJB this time because I just like the way it captures the thoughts:

Romans 6:1–14 CJB

¹ So then, are we to say, “Let’s keep on sinning, so that there can be more grace”? ² Heaven forbid! How can we, who have died to sin, still live in it? ³ Don’t you know that those of us who have been immersed into the Messiah Yeshua have been immersed into his death? ⁴ Through immersion into his death we were buried with him; so that just as, through the glory of the Father, the Messiah was raised from the dead, likewise we too might live a new life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was put to death on the execution-stake with him, so that the entire body of our sinful propensities might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For someone who has died has been cleared from sin. ⁸ Now since we died with the Messiah, we trust that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, never to die again; death has no authority over him. ¹⁰ For his death was a unique event that need not be repeated; but his life, he keeps on living for God. ¹¹ In the same way, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God, by your union with the Messiah Yeshua. ¹² Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal bodies, so that it makes you obey its desires; ¹³ and do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as an instrument for wickedness. On the contrary, offer yourselves to God as people alive from the dead, and your various parts to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin will not have authority over you; because you are not under legalism but under grace.

Paul launches into another diatribe where he anticipates the reactions people might have to the statements he made in chapter 5. Sin increased and God’s grace increased even more. If that’s the case, some might assume that since we have the righteousness of Christ imputed on us past tense, and we have a gracious God who abundantly pours out mercy upon us, that it really doesn’t matter how we live.

Romans 6:1–2 CSB

¹ What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? ² Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Paul throws out what seems to be a ridiculous argument. However, it might not be so far fetched. I have to admit – grace feels good! Experiencing God’s forgiveness is a wonderful feeling. It can possibly be very addictive – so addictive that we look for ways to experience that feeling over and over again.

Example: a child wants his parents attention and he’s not getting it so he does something bad so that he can get his parents attention. He learns that if he misbehaves he gets the attention of the people he wants to get the attention from. So what does he do the next time he wants their attention? He misbehaves. To satisfy the need he has he will do something wrong.

You and I would say that obviously the child was wrong and in this example the parents were probably wrong too. But the behavior of the child is a natural one. If my needs are being met, if I’m experiencing the thing that I long for through bad behavior, whether that’s belonging, acceptance, being recognized, getting attention – then it would be natural for me to exhibit bad behavior just so I could experience the things that make me feel good.

The reality is that God’s grace makes us feel good.

Paul also knows that our human nature is to push boundaries. If all it takes is faith to be reborn, and that is what Paul said, then there’s a very real chance that some will conclude that it doesn’t matter how they live once they have believed. We’ve talked about this before, it’s called antinomianism, and it says it doesn’t matter how I live because I’m saved. And if I’m saved then I experience God’s grace. So if I keep on sinning I keep on experiencing grace. And by doing that I demonstrate just how amazing God’s grace is.

Paul wanted to address this because he knew that it would be natural. Not healthy, but natural. So Paul has a hypothetical argument with himself. Should we keep on sinning so that there can be more grace? What is your answer? Paul’s answer is in verse 2:

Romans 6:1–2 CSB

¹ What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? ² Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

• “absolutely not!” – 14 times in the NT – 10 in Romans, only by Paul.

The Greek is  “mē genoito” and it is the most emphatic denial available in Greek – the strongest possible way to reject that something can or should ever happen. Your Bible may translate the phrase: “Not at all!” “Certainly not!” “By no means!” “Never!” “Absolutely not!” or “Heaven Forbid!”

EXAMPLE: Moms – you see that your toddler is about to do something like put their hand on a to stove or run out into the street. Do you calmly speak to them in a tender voice, “oh honey, please don’t go into the road you might get a really big owie when that tractor trailer introduces himself to you. Let’s me good life decisions, shall we?” No, how do you speak to your child? “STOP!!!”  That is the force of this phrase in the Greek. NOOOOOO!!!!!!!  “mē genoito”

Paul uses this phrase when he wants to move us into a different way of thinking. In this case, he wants us to think about our actions differently now that we are in Christ.

Romans 6:1–2 CSB

¹ What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? ² Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

I know that when I believed in Jesus, I was justified in God’s eyes. Is Paul saying that I am also totally done with sin? Did Paul say that we are totally done with sin? Well not exactly.  Paul does go past tense on this and says that all of us who are justified through Christ have died to sin. What does it mean to die to sin?

Romans 6:3–9 CSB

³ Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. ⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, ⁷ since a person who has died is freed from sin. ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, ⁹ because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him.

Paul uses the imagery of baptism to help his readers which includes you and me understand more about what Jesus did for us and how it affects our relationship with sin. Baptism is a beautiful picture of somebody going into the grave or underwater (immersed) symbolizing death of the old nature, and being raised out of the water into newness of life.

In these verses we have our old self, and new life. There is the old and there is the new. The old was buried, the old was nailed to the cross, the old was rendered powerless. We are now given a new life where death does not rule and sin does not reign.

I think verses 6-7 and the key verses for understanding these verses:

Romans 6:6–7 CSB

⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, ⁷ since a person who has died is freed from sin.

There is only one way to truly be free from sin, and that is death. Dead people do not struggle with sin. This is one of the reasons we look forward to our eternity with our savior, because when we leave these bodies behind death becomes a gateway to ultimate victory and peace with God.

So to answer the question, “are we totally done with sin?” – we would have to answer: not yet, but it’s coming. Jesus paid for all of our sin but we will still struggle with sin until the day we’re made new completely.

The ultimate example that Paul gives us is that of Jesus Christ. While he is the only one who lived a perfectly sinless life, he bore sin on his shoulders for us and died for us and was raised to newness of life never to struggle with temptation or pain again.

Romans 6:10–11 CSB

¹⁰ For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹ So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Just as Jesus died to sin once for all time and the life he lives now he lives for God so we too are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus. We need to “consider” who we are and what we have in Jesus.

“consider”: λογίζομαι – “count, consider, reckon” this is the same word that Paul used for Abraham’s faith being “credited” to him as righteousness, and David’s sin not being counted against him in chapter 4. It also refers to faith being credited to us as righteousness in that same chapter which is the last time he used this word.

Our union with Christ has applied his atoning death and defeat of sin to us, but our minds and hearts need constantly to wrestle with this truth so that we might live in a way that is consistent with it.

This counting, moreover, should be an ongoing activity, as the present tense of the verb indicates. We should adopt a way of life in which we frequently “do the math” and see for ourselves that what is true of Christ is also true of us. SINCE our old nature and our sin was Crucified on the cross, and since we have been united with Christ, and since we have Jesus as an example of how to live:

Romans 6:12–14 NIV

¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do 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. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 6:12–14 CSB

¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. ¹³ And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.

Going back to our bad parenting illustration at the beginning of the message, our children need to know what is bad behavior and also what is good behavior. If we spend all of our time just telling our children what not to do they will get frustrated. If we only ever tell them what to do, they won’t know when they’ve done something wrong. There needs to be a balance between explaining to our children what they should not do and then also giving them direction on what they should do.

Paul is applying that same principle here to you and me. He starts by telling us what we should not do now that we are followers of Jesus. And then he tells us what we should do now that we are followers of Jesus.

I think this is a great reminder that as Christians it is not just what we choose to avoid that will show people our lives are different. It is also what we choose to purposefully do with our lives that will demonstrate that there is something different.

1. 12. do not let sin rule in your mortal bodies

… so that is makes you obey its desires

1. 13. do not offer any part of yourselves to sin

… as instruments of wickedness (weapons for unrighteousness)

On the contrary

1. 13. offer yourselves to God

… as people alive from the dead

1. 13. [offer] all your parts to God

… as instruments of righteousness (weapons for righteousness)

Do not let sin dictate how you live. Do not allow sin to dictate your words, your actions, your thoughts.  In the contrasting lifestyles that Paul presents, the difference is whether our bodies, our lives, are instruments of unrighteousness or righteousness.

• That which is unrighteous, is that which is not right in God’s eyes. Sin.
• That which is righteous therefore is that which is right in God’s eyes.

There’s 2 interesting words or phrases used in this section:

Instruments/weapons – the CSB actually translates the word weapon as opposed to instrument because that is the way Paul uses it in some other places in the New Testament. A weapon is something you use against an enemy. When you and I choose to allow sin to reign in our bodies, when we allow sin to dictate the way that we live instead of allowing God to dictate that, we act as if we are at war with God. When we choose to live in a way that demonstrates Christ’s character we fight our war against sin and darkness.

The other interesting phrase is “various parts of your mortal bodies”. What parts of our bodies might he be referring to? What parts of our body might sin want to control? James might tell us that it’s the tongue and our words. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul might tell us that it has to do with sexual matters.

WHAT PARTS of our bodies?

• mind
• lips
• hands
• feet
• sexual organs
• emotions
• eyes

Paul keeps it vague because the application is exponential. Is there a part of your body that has been used for things God would not like? At the end of the day, we need to make the change necessary to honor the new life we have been given and the one who gave it to us.

Romans 6:14 CSB

¹⁴ For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.

Paul wraps up this thought talking about what will rule us. This might be a foreign concept to somebody who lives in the United States of America. While people might complain about who is president or who is the governor of their state, we really do not have a situation where we are forced to understand the concept of somebody totally ruling over us.

In many other cultures, even in the monarchy that helped establish this great nation, the idea of people serving their leader is very common. These nations with a powerful leader often have a special building for that person, and even a special place for them to sit referred to as a throne. Many nations still have this and still use it.

The oldest throne in continuous use is a thirteenth-century carved oak chair in the House of Lords in Britain’s Parliament in London. The monarch officially opens sessions of Parliament from this throne. Thrones are elevated to put the one who sits on it higher than those around them. They are “lords”, and are over their subjects.

Paul says that our lives will be different because we no longer have sin lording over us, ruling over us. We are not longer under the leadership or power or sin.

Romans 6:14 CSB

¹⁴ For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.

BECAUSE

… sin will not rule over you

… you are ruled by grace

Common in the late 20th century (yes I was alive then), was a concept used for evangelism that went like this:

“In a way, all human beings sit on their own individual throne, desiring to rule their own affairs without interference—from God or other people. Ultimately, earth knows only two kinds of people: those who have enthroned Christ in their lives and those who have enthroned self. The issue we must face is, What about the throne of our own life? Who is on the throne of my life today?”  ~  Easley, K. H. (1998). Revelation (Vol. 12, p. 82). Broadman & Holman Publishers.

I have a real problem with this. Putting a throne in the center of my life makes ME the center of all things. That is not the case. I have no throne. Our individualized, ego-centric culture might want me to think that, but that is far from the truth.  I do not have a throne and I am not in power.

There are two thrones, and two powers that reign. They have been spelled out by Paul in chapter 5:

Romans 5:14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a type of the Coming One.
Romans 5:17 If by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires.

There are two thrones -> the throne of death and the throne of life. The throne of the grave or the throne of grace. And each of them has a lord that sits on it. For the throne of grace, it is Jesus who is the Lord. This is how Paul introduced our passage…

Romans 5:21 “… grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

And later in this letter, Paul will say it this way:

Romans 14:9 “Christ died and returned to life for this: that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.”

While “lord” can be a general title of respect, most often when it is referring to Jesus post-resurrection, it is more of a position of power and rule over. He is the Lord, the one who sits on the throne and rules over those that choose to follow him.

You and I are either bowing to the throne of sin or to the throne of the savior. We have no throne. We are given the choice to serve a cruel master that will make us think we have it good only to find out he is leading us to death and destruction, or we can follow the one who conquered death and destruction and rules with grace.

The question is not who is sitting on MY throne. The question is, “Which throne am I bowing down to?”

Romans 6:14 CSB

¹⁴ For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.

Wrapping it up.

So, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and live to Jesus. This is a lifetime of submitting to Jesus as our Lord. It is a daily commitment to serve under his leadership.

The battle with sin goes on for our whole lifetime. Justification is instantaneous. The second we believe, we are fully justified. We will never be any more justified than we are at the moment we believe, but sanctification is a process that begins at our justification and is completed in our glorification in heaven.

If we are believers, we are in that process of sanctification and it MUST show up in the way we live.

We have already been transported from the realm of death to the realm of life. To go back to death, would be the equivalent of an inmate who’s been set free clawing his way back into prison believing it was a better life.

What about the guilt when I do sin?

Have you ever thought, “If I am a Christian, then why do I keep failing?”

Remember, only dead people are completely free from sin. When we do sin we have the gift of confession and repentance.

1 John 1:9 CSB

⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But as Paul reminded us, let’s not use that gift as a abuse of God’s grace. Instead consider yourself dead to sin – it was nailed to the cross – and alive to God through faith in Jesus. Sin does not rule you, Jesus does. Sin has no power over you, the Spirit does. Surrender your mortal bodies to Jesus and become is weapon of righteousness.