Slaves of Righteousness

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.- Romans 6:15‭-‬23 ESV

Rev. Dan Whang

True spiritual freedom is found in slavery to Christ.

The inevitability of slavery

Paul comes at sin from another angle. Should grace be the cause of giving into sin? The answer is the same, not at all! The argument here is that there is no neutral ground. We will either serve Jesus or sin, but not both. We cannot choose to have no master. We can be enslaved by money, pleasure, or other sinful desires. Or we can submit to Jesus and God. For those who have been set free, they can choose. But for those who have not been set free, they are still under the dominion of sin. They have no choice to submit to God.

The impact of slavery

Lawlessness leads to more lawlessness. Righteousness leads to sanctification. Sinful behavior will only lead to a greater degree and severity of sinful behavior. It always gets worse.
It hurts the people around us. It will damage the testimony of the church. It hurts our integrity. We say one thing and do another. If we continue to dabble in sin, it leads to tastes of death. Bitterness, disappointment, brokenness of life..

But what if we submit to ourselves to God? It gets better and better! We will be progressively better and better in both character and will. We become more and more like Jesus over time. It ends in eternal life. As we continue down this path, we will instead receive tastes of life. Joy in service, love for others, rejoicing in salvation.

The intentionality of slavery

We need to live as those who are free. Daily surrender to God. It covers things big and small. Suppose we have two job offers. One is comfortable, well-paying, but makes it harder to serve at church and surrounds you with ungodly behavior. The other doesn't pay as well. It is in tough area, but gives you time to serve the church and use your spiritual gifts. The choice is yours.

True understanding of the gospel will lead to a change in heart. We will want to please God with all our heart. The ten commandments were given, but Israel became more sinful rather than more like God in character. We submit to God because of what he has done, not because we just seek to obey.

So the sin is brought to Jesus rather than trying to make it up to God somehow. We lay it down at his feet daily. That is how we submit to Jesus. We are gripped by Jesus... and it drives us to kill sin and to pursue God rather than selfish desire & gain.