Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness.
--Romans 6:16 (NKJV)
From the daily Bible reading on April 7, 2013 of Psalm 70; Romans 6:15-7:6; Deuteronomy 18-20.
In the latter part of chapter five of his letter to the church in Rome, Paul spoke at length about how the actions of one man can affect many generations of mankind. Specifically, he contrasted and compared the actions of Adam and Jesus. It has been said that Jesus is the man God had originally intended Adam to be, so it can be considered quite natural to compare the two. Paul looks at how Adam's sin of disobedience to God was passed along to all humans that came after him. Because of Adam's sin, a great chasm opened between man and God. From that moment on, man has been dead in sin, born into sin and in sin for life. Until Jesus. Mankind received a second chance with the coming of Jesus. By His actions, His great sacrifice on the cross, mankind is given the opportunity to shed that sin and to not fear the lasting death because Jesus defeated death. Through Him we have a bridge over that vast chasm opened by Adam's sin.
One man, Adam, condemned all humankind to the death of sin by his action of sin, by disobeying God's only command to him. One Man, Jesus, offered all mankind a reprieve from death by His action of sacrifice, by taking all the sins from every person the whole world over onto Himself, carrying them to the grave and leaving them there when He defeated death and rose from the dead and walked away from that cold tomb. One man's acts sentenced us to death. One Man's acts pardoned us. But that pardon requires a thoughtful, purposeful act on our part: we have to choose whether to accept it.
Paul says we become slaves to whoever or whatever we present ourselves to as slaves. How do we present ourselves as slaves? Usually by obedience, and blind obedience at that. We can put ourselves under slavery to someone or something by putting it first in our lives, ahead of anything else. A good example we may all be familiar with is a "wage slave" who puts their jobs ahead of their leisure time, their health, even their family. If we don't question what it expects of us, we may be its slave. If we stop caring about all the demands it makes of our time and resources, we may be its slave. If we see only its face, hear only its voice, obey only its word, we may be its slave. When we were in Adam, we were slaves to sin; sin was our master. But if we accept Christ Jesus as our Lord and Master, if we present ourselves as slaves to Him, obeying Him, then we can be slaves of righteousness. Obedience to our Master Jesus leads us to righteousness.
Jesus says we have a choice to make, that "no one can serve two masters" (please reference Matthew 6:24). We have to willingly and sincerely accept His offer of salvation. We have to choose Christ as our Master and no longer present ourselves as slaves to sin. The choice is clear. Amen.
Ever merciful God, thank You for giving us a choice of which master we wish to serve. Thank You for making the choice easy to see, whether to be slaves to sin and reap death in the end, or to accept Jesus as our Master and find our reward with Him in heaven. We pray that we always be faithful and obedient slaves to God our King and Jesus our Master. In the beautiful name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
One man, Adam, condemned all humankind to the death of sin by his action of sin, by disobeying God's only command to him. One Man, Jesus, offered all mankind a reprieve from death by His action of sacrifice, by taking all the sins from every person the whole world over onto Himself, carrying them to the grave and leaving them there when He defeated death and rose from the dead and walked away from that cold tomb. One man's acts sentenced us to death. One Man's acts pardoned us. But that pardon requires a thoughtful, purposeful act on our part: we have to choose whether to accept it.
Paul says we become slaves to whoever or whatever we present ourselves to as slaves. How do we present ourselves as slaves? Usually by obedience, and blind obedience at that. We can put ourselves under slavery to someone or something by putting it first in our lives, ahead of anything else. A good example we may all be familiar with is a "wage slave" who puts their jobs ahead of their leisure time, their health, even their family. If we don't question what it expects of us, we may be its slave. If we stop caring about all the demands it makes of our time and resources, we may be its slave. If we see only its face, hear only its voice, obey only its word, we may be its slave. When we were in Adam, we were slaves to sin; sin was our master. But if we accept Christ Jesus as our Lord and Master, if we present ourselves as slaves to Him, obeying Him, then we can be slaves of righteousness. Obedience to our Master Jesus leads us to righteousness.
Jesus says we have a choice to make, that "no one can serve two masters" (please reference Matthew 6:24). We have to willingly and sincerely accept His offer of salvation. We have to choose Christ as our Master and no longer present ourselves as slaves to sin. The choice is clear. Amen.
Ever merciful God, thank You for giving us a choice of which master we wish to serve. Thank You for making the choice easy to see, whether to be slaves to sin and reap death in the end, or to accept Jesus as our Master and find our reward with Him in heaven. We pray that we always be faithful and obedient slaves to God our King and Jesus our Master. In the beautiful name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
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