Slaves of Righteousness

 This morning we continue to work through the hard questions that Paul poses about the Gospel. Last week, he asked, “If salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone, then why don’t I just go on sinning that grace may abound?” Paul answered that question by explaining that, when we come to Christ, our identity, nature, and will change. We are set free from sin and are empowered by God’s Spirit to live in righteousness. But, Paul recognizes that someone might push further. So, this morning we are going to look at this follow-up question from Rom. 6:15-23. From this passage I want you to see two points: The Analogy of Slavery and The Actions That Follow The Slave.

First, let’s consider the analogy of slavery in verses 15-19. Paul begins by asking: “Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace?” He sees this question stemming from what he said back in verse 14: “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Remember, what Paul meant was to say that our identities have changed through faith in Jesus Christ. Sin is no longer inevitable for us. Rather, we are free to live in righteousness. But, the reader might think, “so now you’re saying we don’t have to follow the law?” To answer this question, Paul gives an analogy using a very common institution of his day: slavery. In fact, until the mid 1800s, slavery was an assumed institution of every major society on the globe, and ancient Rome was no different. It is estimated that slaves made up 30% of the population of the Roman Empire. In the Roman Empire, slaves had no rights and were traded like property. They were compelled and coerced to do their master’s will, and the full force of Roman law was on the side of their masters, should they decide to rebel. Understand, this is not like being an employee. You can quit your job. You are paid an agreed-upon wage for the work that you do. The government has established certain laws that constrain your employer and require him to treat you with basic fairness. None of that existed for a slave. If your master wanted you for his own perverse pleasures, you had to obey at risk of punishment or death. If he wanted to separate you from your family and sell you off, you had to go.

I point this out because I want you to catch the weight of the analogy that Paul gives. In verse 16, Paul says that we are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness. I know our society highly values freedom, believing that the ultimate goal in life is to be able to shape one’s life as he or she sees fit, but in reality, we are not radically free. We have very little control over our lives, when it comes right down to it. This is because God has made humanity to be contingent. In other words, we weren’t made for ourselves. We were made for him. Yet, when Adam rebelled against God he plunged the whole of humanity into slavery to Satan, sin and death. In John 8:34, Jesus says that anyone who practices sin is a slave to sin, and because all have sinned in Adam, we are all slaves to sin. Recognize what that means. Those who are outside of Christ are under the compulsion and coercion of their masters, Satan and Sin. Just as a slave must obey his master in everything, so those who are outside of Christ must obey sin.

Now, in hearing this, we might make the mistake of thinking, “OK, so I was a slave to sin, but now, because of Jesus, I’m a free man. I can do what I want now, live how I want to live, and I don’t have to be obedient to any master.” Wrong! Verse 18 says that we have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Yet, there is something different about this slavery. In verse 17, he says that we “have become obedient from the heart”. In other words, because God has changed our nature in Christ and given us his Spirit, we want to obey our master.

The difference between these two masters is seen in contrasting their fruits. So, now let’s consider the actions that follow the slave in verses 20-23. Here, Paul says that our master determines our actions. There are two places that we see how the difference in master produces different actions. First, we find it in a difference in the fruit we produce. In verse 21, Paul moves from the analogy of slavery to the analogy of fruit. He asks us to think about the fruit that our sinful ways produced. As he says, the things we produced when we were living in sin were “shameful.” All sin carries shame with it. Sure, we may suppress it. We may teach our conscience to ignore it. We may make posts on Facebook about how we are above everyone’s judgment, just living our best life. But, the shame is still there. Shame has real consequences. It feeds itself by leading us deeper and deeper into sin. It weighs on our lives, causing stress and anxiety. It divides friendships and marriages. To numb it, we abuse substances or other people. And shame ultimately kills. This is the fruit that all who are slaves to sin produce. Jesus, in Matt. 7:18-20 says, “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

In contrast, those who are slaves to Christ produce fruit of a different kind. In verse 22, Paul says that those who are slaves to God produce fruit that leads to sanctification. This word, “sanctification”, means purity. It is the opposite of shame. Where the sinner lives with regret, the sanctified lives with grace. Where the sinner lives with stress, the sanctified lives with contentment. Where the sinner lives in despair, the sanctified lives in joy. Nothing God commands of us carries with it a consequence of shame. He commands us to worship him alone, which means we don’t worship false gods that have no heart. He commands us to rest, which is a blessing for those consumed by work. He commands us to value human life, to speak truthfully, to remain committed and faithful, to be content with what he has given us. All of those commands are for our good and bring joy. They keep us from regret and shame. They are lifegiving.

Finally, notice the difference between the end result of slavery to sin and the end result of slavery to Christ. In verse 23, Paul says that the wages of sin is death. The word “wages” was the salary that a soldier was given. Imagine being a soldier, putting your life and limb on the line for your emperor, and then being paid in death. That is the payment that sin will give for those who live in it. Understand that sin can only bring death. That death is not just a physical death that leads to nonexistence, but a spiritual death for all of eternity in Hell – an eternity of shame, regret, and despair. But the end result of slavery to Christ is totally different. Paul says that the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ. Catch the play on words. For the sinner, he receives wages – what he deserves, which is death. For the believer, though, he receives a gift, not a wage. He receives eternal life with Christ – a life free from shame and full of joy, a life of purity and love. If you are here today and you don’t know Christ, won’t you turn to him today that you may escape shame and death and instead receive the gift of eternal life.

Brothers and sisters, we are no longer enslaved to sin. Now, we are slaves of our Lord Jesus Christ. And our Lord is a good and kind master. He is the master who serves. And, if he has served us, then we are to serve others. In John 13, after the last supper, Jesus takes a cloth and water basin and washes his disciples’ feet. Then, in verse 16 he says, “a servant is not greater than his master… if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” We are to do as our master has done. We are to serve the least. We are to love our enemies. We are to teach the truth about God. We are to rescue the lost sheep. May we leave this place ready to serve our master as he has served us.