CHAPTER 6
(KJV)
Romans 6:12
[Ro 6:12] Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, (KJV)
The half-cracked window
This statement of Paul is both a teaching and a warning: Sin will rule our life - if we are not diligent. Sin rules our lives when our lusts rule our hearts. It sneaks in quietly at first then takes complete charge. Sin comes through a half-cracked window - never the front door (until it rules the house). At that point, the door is wide open to all the demons. I can walk through almost any town and locate the crack or gang houses. People come and go at all hours and (if there is a front door) it looks like the opening of a wasp hive. Trouble comes and goes at all times.
When working with schools, I would ask principals to take me around their campus - but, I would always walk about ten feet behind the principal. I could tell who controlled the school (the principal or the kids) by the way the youth would respond as the principal approached and passed by them. In healthy schools, kids stop and acknowledge the principal with warmth as he/she passes. In unhealthy schools, there is little acknowledgment or even behind the back negativity when the principal walks down the hallway.
How do the hallways of my soul look? Who reigns there? Think of the Lord and His Word like the principal. Do I look forward to Him in the hallways of my soul? Does my heart leap joyfully as he passes by me? Does sin cringe at His presence or laugh behind His back? Do thoughts of sin excite my heart or make me run to the principal?
Sin is the weed never pulled that quickly takes over the lawn. It is the dealer by the school yard waiting for the unsuspecting soul. It enters with a false promise to steal all the true promises of my life.
Sin is bold. We must be bolder!
[Psalm 13:6] "As for me, I will be bold in the Lord's boldness." (Author's translation of Hebrew text)
Romans 6:13
[Ro 6:13] and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (KJV)
The Strategy of Sin
The 'members of my body' are any 'parts of the whole'. That is a real indicator of sin's strategy. It tries to divide and conquer. A small wound - becomes an infection - that attacks the entire body.
Whether it be my own body - or the body of believer's - sin reigns by conquering one part of the body at a time.
Social Psychologists often speak of the 'broken window' effect. A neighborhood that tolerates one vandalized window - or graffiti on one wall - quickly loses control over the entire neighborhood. Allowing brokeness in one area invites brokeness into all areas of my neighborhood, my life or my church. For this reason, Jesus made the emphatic statement; "If your arm causes you to sin - cut it off!" Today, we might also say; "If your computer causes you to sin - throw it out!" "If your TV causes you to sin - unplug it." "If beer causes you to sin - quit buying it!"
Left untreated that 'part' infects the whole. Obviously, it would be far better to catch the problem early (while the thief is crawling in the window or before the limb atrophies). Then, you can treat the problem aggressively with prayer, study, fellowship and service.
The thief who sneaks into the back window brazenly takes everything out the front door. The weed left until tomorrow flowers and turns to seed within a day. Its seedpods float throughout the entire garden. The lazy afternoon beer turns into a gut that makes sitting easier and exercise seem pointless.
The 'untreated part' becomes an agent of destruction to the whole.
Paul states that the untreated member of the body becomes a [hopion] weapon for unrighteousness [adikia] in our entire body. 'Dike' is to be found righteous. 'A-dikia' is to be found 'without righteousness'. This is a serious word when you consider that the word that Paul uses for our salvation is 'dikaioo' - or, found guilty and still set free.
Secret Agents
One might even look upon this 'instrument' as a 'secret agent' of unrighteousness. So secret - even the agent doesn't know it is carrying an infection.
We carry infection when we:
Instead, seek first your complicity in the sin of anger? Is it righteous or selfish? Righteous anger is on behalf of others - selfish anger worries only about 'fairness' and 'my rights.' Much of 'selfish anger' could be viewed as persecution and an opportunity to witness for the Christ-centered believer.
What makes me so weak that I am angered by this person's behavior? If I desire a changed behavior in someone else, then, how can I share my feelings with this person without attacking them as well? Yes… even if they attacked me first.
No one can defend themselves against whispers in the dark. The "someone said that someone else said…" which is so frequent in 'The Body' must stop. This is the true nature of leprosy, deadening first the nerves so the mind does not since an open sore.
Being a 'carrier' contributes to sin. Far better to not comply with sin by choosing to tell a person - "Let's go to that person you are upset with and tell them directly." If every member of the Body would do this - leprosy (sin) would stop in it's tracks.
Similarly, our personal bodies are filled with 'messages' that alert us to sin constantly. This is called temptation? Temptation is far different from sin. Temptation warns us of sin's presence in the room. Sin is when we stay in the room or don't sound the alarm.
Sin rarely enters a room with great fanfare - until an advanced stage of infection. It hardly ever says; "The party animal is here - everyone can now get down!" Usually, it coils up in the corner and waits until we come over to poke at it with a stick.
The moment sin enters the room our response needs to be the Big Four: Turn to God ("Sick 'em, Lord"); turn to the word, turn to fellowship and turn to service. All four are preventative measures against sin - but can be immediately used 'in case of emergency.'
As a frequent small group leader, I can see when a small group is in trouble as soon as one participant in that group leans back and away from the rest of the body. Once a person 'disengages' but remains in the circle - others become afraid of risking and start to disengage as well.
How many disengaged Christians are in Christ's Body today? Do I ever act as a disengaged Christian? Taking up a space without contributing my heart?
When I act like that - I am probably more of a damage to a church than the person who would attack the church publicly. At least that person is actively participating and their issues can be met.
The Strategy of Life
Paul doesn't leave us with a list of 'nots' here. He tells us how to confront the strategy of sin by:
Don't go to God as a presentation of the 'living dead' - but as one 'alive from the dead!' What's the difference? The living dead fill a space - but are content in their pew. They are conspicuous in their lack of response - like the person leaning back or looking at their watch in the middle of a small group discussion.
Those who have returned from the dead are quite different altogether. They look like they have just landed from the worst flight in the world and are ready to kiss any piece of earth upon which they can solidly place their feet. "Praise the Lord!" is written upon their brow. The Hallelujah Chorus is riding on their tongue.
In essence, Paul tells us to use our entire body as one whole - focused on righteousness (making things right) for God. The Hebrew word for Holy [qadowsh] means unity or one. You can get the feel of this Hebrew thought in Christ's perfect prayer; "Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
In a contemporary translation, one might say; "Our Father, you are everlasting joy (heaven) - only in your Name is wholeness (hallowed be thy Name). We will experience that wholeness (Thy Kingdom come) the moment we begin to live in your will - even here and now as in eternity (thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven)."
Last week's Psalm [Psalm 86], offered us a wonderful prayer for wholeness that we can take with us throughout the day: [Ps 86:10] For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. [12] I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. [13] For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. (KJV)
Uniting our heart for one purpose - to serve the Lord, to make things 'right' for Him - aligns our lives in wholeness. Rather than acting as fragmented or disintegrating people, our whole being is pointed towards a singular purpose - serving Him.
What applies to the individual body - also applies to the Body of Christ gathered on earth. It is unity in the singular purpose of serving God that will give us sails and a course. God will provide the wind - if we provide the vessel. Let's get on with it!
Romans 6:14-20
| • | For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. |
| • | What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. |
| • | Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? |
| • | But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. [Mt 22:37] [1 Cor 15:1-11] |
| • | Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. |
| • | I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. |
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| For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
(KJV) An bullet cart on the front line Paul draws a pretty distinct line right down the middle of this page. You are either a servant of Jesus Christ - or a servant of sin. He lives very little wiggle-room between the two. His primary point is that - while many would love to believe that they are 'in control', the 'self-made man', and so forth - we are actually standing in the middle of a battlefield. God wants this world and so does Satan. There are no 'neutrals'. I might think that I am operating independently of the battle - but my every action goes to support one side or the other. I am like a man selling ammo right down the center of the front line. The moment I start serving one side - I am damaging the other. |
A servant to my own flesh - "What about me?"
Paul also tells us that being a servant to my own flesh is how sin starts. Essentially, he is pointing to what most of us would like to think is a private sin. This does not have to be sexual in nature. Private sin is selfishness. Acting to please only ourselves - even just focusing on ourselves. Whenever I focus on; "What I want." Instead of focusing on; "What God wants."
Temptation presents itself and the Christian has the opportunity to respond by either saying; "I see Jesus in this" or "Jesus, don't look over here for awhile." It is an either/or choice - we have to choose to embrace temptation or embrace sin at that moment.
Embracing Jesus makes us stronger in the Holy Spirit. Every time that we do this, it brings closer into relationship with the Trinity and farther from being ruled by negative habits.
Hopefully, it has become obvious that all sin begins with choice. Temptation exists… It presents the opportunity to choice life or death. The greatest disguise of temptation is that it dresses in my own clothing. It looks like me. It looks like a mirror image saying; "What about me?" "I deserve this." "No one will know." "I can hide this." "I have a right to kick back occasionally."
Anytime you hear that message - you know that battle lines are being drawn. Run!!!
Don't think of it as running from the battlefield. You are a running to the big cannon - Jesus Christ.. Which is more intelligent? To stay on the front line of a four alarm fire with a glass of water and your spit or running for the fire truck. Turning to Jesus means that you are throwing down a squirt gun for a fire hose.
Romans 6:21-23
(KJV)
Looking down the telescope to where you're going
There is an interesting comparison that Paul makes between the statement; "the end of those things is death" and "the end everlasting life." The word for 'the end' is telos. We use the word in such phrases as telescope. A telescope is a tool for seeing distant objects. In this case, Paul invites us to look to the endpoint of our actions.
One of the crises of our culture is 'inconsequential' thinking. We do not tend to think of the consequences of our actions and we combine that problem with our inability to delay gratification. In short, we live without an eye on the future. Our eye is only on "What I want now!"
However, it is interesting to continue studying Paul's actual words because he uses the word, 'Aionios', twice when he talks about the fruit of holiness (wholeness with God) and the gift of God through Jesus Christ. This word, 'aionios', which we translate as eternal life, means more 'the abundance of eternity in the present moment.' It is a word used of the past, present and the future as well.
In other words, the moment we turn to God, the promise of the great "I Am" becomes obtainable in the immediate present. In a previous study, I stated that the best definition of "I Am" (as God declared His character) is; "I am whoever I need to be, whenever I need to be, wherever I need to be to bring you to me. God can heal the former, strengthen the immediate and direct the unfolding - at the very moment - we bring Him into our present.
The salary of sin - the cost of freedom
There was an article in yesterday's paper that I viewed as lazy reporting. It reported on 'the cost' of educating inmates. Anyone could pull that information off the Internet and compile such newsworthy dribble in minutes. Responsible reporting would also ask the question; "What is the cost of not educating inmates?"
I often ask individuals - who are concerned with the cost of such programs - a derivative of the question first asked by Jesus of the Pharisees; "Which person would you rather have as your neighbor? The one who was left in jail to increase their anger, to learn new tricks from other inmates, or the one who received their high school equivalency exam and maybe developed an interest in furthering their education?"
The reality is - over 80% of inmates will become our neighbors. They will be released back into our neighborhoods. Writers and newspapers that publish such shallow and opinionated articles are not reporting the news - they are creating an atmosphere of unfairness and injustice. Readers who don't read between the lines of such biased reporting and go off with 'half-cocked opinions' based on a piece of the truth - are just as irresponsible as those who print it.
One inmate kept out of prison for one year would result in over 80 times the savings over the cost of their tuition ($42,000 per year for imprisonment vs. $500 tuition for a GED course). If one wants to weigh the cost of freedom through education vs. the cost of imprisonment - there just seems like no apparent comparison.
Paul uses a similar example as he weighs out the cost of momentary pleasure with choosing Jesus as your Lord and Savior. To Paul, the cost of sin is nothing but death. Yet, death is living without God - not someday - but TOday. In other words, everyday that I choose selfishness over Godliness - I die. In other words, we must get it out of our heads that we can 'sin just a little' - for no one is 'kind of' dead. Contrasting the choice of sin, everyday that I choose to accept the gift of God - the very life of his son, Jesus - I am freed!
There just seems like no apparent comparison.
The fruit of sin
Paul asks; "Is there any fruit of sin that does not embarrass you in the long term?" That embarrassment is the evidence of a wounded Holy Spirit. As long as the wound is there - it is good for it reminds us of the painful and real cost of sin - death; separation from God. Yet, every that we choose sin over life, our awareness of sin diminishes. Death (separation from God) becomes a little less intimidating. Temptation becomes a little more inviting. A stand against sin does not just mean everlasting life tomorrow. It means more abundance in life today. God's heaven in today's trials.
There just seems like no apparent comparison.