WHAT ARE YOU A SLAVE TO?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves 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?”

“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.”

“I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!”

“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.”

Romans 6:15-22

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The things of this world have a way of entrapping us and holding us hostage. Certainly, there is no shortage of temptations that can move from a one-time sample to a full time addiction.

In other words, we can be enslaved to sinfulness in life. It is true today just as it has been true since the dawn of mankind. Maybe you can relate.

Given this enslavement to iniquity exists, it should be of no surprise that God addresses it through the scriptures such as the ones we’re studying from today as our Lord speaks through His faithful apostle, Paul. Here’s what he had to say as he writes to the people of Rome:

“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves 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?”

“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.”

“I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!”

“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.”  Romans 6:15-22

Slavery was prevalent in biblical times and so people would be very familiar with the concept. They would know what Paul was describing when he said people become enslaved when they offer themselves up to someone or something in obedience. In other words, a person becomes a slave to the thing they obey.

Spiritually, we find Paul show that there are only two types of enslavement someone could find themselves under, one bad and the other good. First, let’s look at the bad, an enslavement to sin which leads to death.

You can identify a slave to sin because they willingly offer themselves up to “impurity” and “ever-increasing wickedness. Immersed in transgression, a sinner lives outside the control of righteousness, the type of enslavement that our Lord wants us to connect to.

Why?

Because when we are slaves to righteousness, we are only that way because we are first slaves to our Lord who provides us “the pattern of teaching” that claims a person’s allegiance and helps break the bondage of sin, setting the captive free and on the path to eternal life. Enslavement to righteousness is the way to holiness before a Lord who has called every person to strive to be holy as He is (1 Peter 1:16).

And so all this brings us to the question the Lord would pose:

“What are you a slave to?”

Your answer will depend on whether or not you have accepted the Lord into your life.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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