Good Monday Morning!
This past week was a great week of studying. Preparing for Sunday’s message and for my Sunday evening small group crossed paths. Last night I was leading my group in a study of Romans 6:1-14. We have been in Romans now for about 9 weeks and as usual, God’s timing is just right. We missed about 3 weeks in a row before last night. Sherry and I were gone one week. Two of the families were going to be gone one week and then Easter was last week and we didn’t meet. So, “at just the right time,” Romans chapter 6 appears.
In 1979, Bob Dylan wrote the song “Serve Somebody.” I am not a huge fan of Dylan but in my reading it sounds like he went through a “Christian” or “gospel” phase around that time. In 1980 the song won a Grammy award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male. In this song, Dylan hits about every kind of occupation, every kind of “pleasure.” He hits on ambassadors, socialites, construction workers, state troopers, barbers, city council leaders and even preachers are noted. Gambling, dancing, drugs, bribery, adultery and drinking are some of the so called pleasures mentioned. And he says, “you are going to serve somebody. It may be the Devil or it may be the Lord, but you are going to serve somebody.” Nobody gets a pass on choosing who you will serve. It’s either or.
I think Paul is talking about this very thing in Romans 6. Verse 12 says “Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.” Do not serve the Devil! Verse 14 tells us that “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law.” Serve the Lord, not sin. It is verse 13 where we find the strength to not serve the Devil but serve the Lord…
Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead (in sin), but now you have new life (in Christ). So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. (parentheses are mine, P.R.)
Before we gave ourselves completely to the Lord we were dead in our sins and the wages for those sins was death. When Christ died for our sins, he cleared our account. That doesn’t mean we are done sinning though. We still must die to our sinful nature each and every day. Dying to sin is not just a one-time event it is a process…a lifelong process. Jesus talks about daily denying self if we are to follow him. The apostle Paul says I die daily. Later on Paul says that he is striving, pressing on because he hasn’t achieved it yet. Sanctification – the process of growing in Christ – is a life long journey which will find its completion on the day we breathe our last earthly breath and find ourselves in heaven with the Lord.
The key is, once again, you have to be all in! No more hokey-pokey. We will still sin but we don’t want to stay there! Some of us are trapped in sin that so easily ensnares us (Heb. 12:1). Let’s not make it so easy. Prov. 4:15 says to not walk in the way of evil, avoid it, do not travel on it. Peter says be sober or alert for Satan (1 Peter 5:8). Paul says in Colossians to set your mind on things that are above.
Give yourselves wholeheartedly! Be all in! Be intentional! Satan is all in and is very intentional. Remember, he has nothing to lose.
P.R.
Rick Neubauer
But you man of God, flee from all of this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. I Timothy 6:11
