December 2, 2012 Romans 6 Pastor Larry Adams Remember His Gift You know, as David said, I can t think of a better place to begin the Advent season than right here at the table of communion. If you have your Bibles, I d you to turn with me if you would to the book of Romans in Chapter 6. Today we re gonna be focusing on the gift of God, a gift that is probably greater, more powerful, more needed than any of us can imagine. I want to say a Good morning welcome to all the folks down at the Antioch campus. Thanks for all you re doing down there and how God is using you as well. We are glad that we can all worship together here today on this rainy, windy day. Romans 6, Paul was sharing a bit of his heart about how much he appreciated the gift of life. Remember, it was his Paul that called himself the chief of sinners. Sometimes I can share from my own experience that when you have lived a life you deeply regret at times, the forgiveness of God and the gift of that is something that really hits home. I m very grateful for the people who have known the Lord from an early time in their lives. The gift is no less for them, but I want you to know when Paul writes this, he really understands what this gift is about. Romans 6 there were some people who were saying, Well, if it s all by grace, and if my great sin caused God s grace to shine brighter, then why don t we just keep on sinning now that we re saved so that God s grace will shine even more? Paul writes and says in verse 1: What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of Page 1 of 7
wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. 19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to everincreasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let s pray for a moment. Father, this is your word sent to remind us of this incredible rescue, a rescue from the greatest slave master the world will ever know, sin and Satan and death itself. I want to thank you that we can begin this season of celebration at the table that reminds us of this gift. And we thank you, God. In Jesus name, Amen. A few years ago, I came across a touching true story in a pastor s newsletter that I was reading about a Christmas that took place in 1935. This is what the article said: It was Christmas Eve. The Depression was at its height, and the young widow and her six-year-old son prepared to try to celebrate Christmas. This year there would be no Christmas candy or buying of gifts, even supper tonight, which usually was a lavish feast, would be very plain. The gifts, well, they were very simple too. The mother had knit a pair of mittens for her son and herself. Then, just as she was going to have her little boy sit down for supper, he raced to the bedroom and came back proudly holding out a gift to his mother. The small gift was wrapped in an old newspaper and done as well as any six-year-old boy could hope to do. Open it, mommy. Open it, he urged his mother. His eyes were dancing and sparkling with excitement. The mother carefully removed the newspaper wrappings to find an old cigar box. She then opened the cover to the contents of the gift. Inside there was a shining copper penny and a piece of paper on which was written in crayon and terribly misspelled, I luv u mome. Page 2 of 7
Tears welled up in her eyes as she read those words over and over and over again. Hugging her little boy she cried, Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is the best gift I have ever received. I ve received a number of very meaningful gifts in my lifetime. Gifts like the one the mom received that night you never forget. Of all the gifts I ve ever received my lifetime, I can honestly tell you that there is none greater than the one we re remembering at the table this morning. Communion is our remembrance of Jesus. It s here that we remember his death and the gift of God that was purchased through that death. We ve said many times that communion is not just some religious ritual. It is not just some sentimental journey, but neither will eating this meal make you a Christian. This won t get your sins forgiven. It won t earn you any grace. It won t reserve you a spot in heaven. I ve said that many times. The only way you can have the hope of heaven and sins forgiven and relationship with God is that by faith you accept what Jesus did at the cross in your place, paying for your sin, dying there, being buried, and rising again the third day. Alive today you ve received him into your lives and accepted the gift that he offers. Eating this meal won t do that for you, but this meal does serve to remind us of the cost of the gift. And there s no gift like it. This gift was not deserved or expected. It didn t come fancifully wrapped. It s not a gift that most people even initially want or understand or accept. But to those who have received it, it is the greatest gift of all. The greatest gift we will ever receive is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Why is the gift so great? Because of what it means for us. This gift of eternal life means that we have been set free from bondage to sin and death. Here s the way Paul put it in Romans 6 verse 22: But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Sin looks good. It s why so many people stay trapped in it. It s why so many people fall prey to it, but don t ever misunderstand that sin is nothing but bondage and slavery. I remember a time when I received a call here at the church years ago from a man who said he was desperately in need of help. We drove over to his house, and it was not was I expected. I went up to the house; everything looked good. In fact it was one of the nicest looking houses in the whole neighborhood, but inside was one of the worst sights I d ever seen. There was filth and vomit everywhere -- everywhere. Beer cans littered the room. Sitting in the midst of it all I found a shell of a man, sick and alone having lost his family, lost his health, and in the process of losing his life because of his addiction. If I were to ask that man, Is sin fun? He would have said, In the beginning, yeah, it s why I do it or This is why I do it because it helps or Everybody else does it, but sin is bondage. Like so many people caught in the bondage of sin, they never realize how far their wrong choices will take them. I remember pastor Adrian Rogers once saying in a message, Sin will take you further than you want to go. Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay. Sin will cost you more than you want to pay. Page 3 of 7
That s why God describes people living in sin as slaves to sin. Sin is described as a taskmaster who vies for absolute control and mastery of your life. That s the way God speaks of it. The more you offer yourselves to sin, the more it takes. In verse 16 Paul said: Don t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? There s your choice. I m gonna be a slave to something because, whether you know it or not, you are not the master of your own life or your own fate. You ll either be a slave to sin and what it produces, death, or you ll become a slave to God in obedience to him, and see God produced the life that only he can produce, a life of righteousness. Left ourselves we become slaves to sin because we cannot deny its power. You can t. We try to stop. We try to clean up our act, but we re powerless to do so. I know I used to try. I remember reading in the autobiography of Ben Franklin one time how he made a list of what he knew of his known sins. He said one by one he was gonna defeat them. When he got number one under control, he felt good. He went to number two. He said he started working on that and he found out he was doing number one all over again. There is no record that Ben Franklin ever committed his heart to Jesus. He had a respect for him, spoke highly of him, but there s no record he ever came to Jesus. I hope he did, but, you see, his story tells the story of all of us. We are powerless to break sin s power over our lives. We can t do it on our own. No sooner do we seem to conquer one vice then we find ourselves struggling with another. Sin demands a wage, and it pays a price. It s called death. That sin always collects this wage from everyone every time. The wages of sin is death. If we choose to stay slaves to sin, offering ourselves to it instead of to God, then the final price will be separation from God forever. Rescued from sin and death is a gift. It comes only in and through the person of Jesus Christ. That s why Paul said in verse 23, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus is God in the flesh. His coming to earth is what we celebrate every Christmas. He is Immanuel, God with us. But he didn t come just to be an example. He didn t come just to be a good teacher. He didn t come just to show us the way. He came because he is the way, and there is no other way. He came to die in our place for our sin to set us free. Even in coming to Jesus we still sin, but now we can be forgiven and by his strength choose to live a new life. That s what Paul was saying in Romans 6 when he said: 1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Isn t it interesting, it appeals to this baptism that we ve had in Christ? It s total identification with him. That s why Christ asked people who come to him and are saved by him to be baptized as a testimony, because it s total identification. What we are Page 4 of 7
saying in our baptism, Jesus, your death is my death. Your burial is my burial. That whole life is put away. Now your life is my life. I don t live under those old terms anymore. Now I m living a whole new life. I think different. I act different. I desire different. And when there s conflict with the new life, I confess it for the sin that it is, and I call upon your name to repent of those things and to live according to my new identity. It s what it means to be Christian. That s why Paul said in Romans 6 verse 17: But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. It s about obedience, who we are choosing to obey. Obedience is a choice. So then we live each day according to our new identity and by the Spirit s power, which is what he was writing in Romans 6 verse 11 when he said: In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. That s why he said in verse 19: I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Aren t we? I am. I need God to help me with this. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to everincreasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. You believed God, he said. You obeyed God. You trusted God, and he broke sin s power over you. Now you don t have to be a slave to him. Stay in sin and pay with your life. Come to God by faith and live in obedience to him, and he ll give you his life. No wonder Paul, who called himself the chief of sinners, would later write to the Corinthian church 2 Corinthians 9 verse 15, Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. I was reading a piece that first appeared in the New York Times by reporter Nicholas Kristof, who told about an experience he had in going to Cambodia doing a story on the forced prostitution trade of that country, some of which is spilling over now into the United States as women are being held against their will for those purposes. In doing this story, he realized that it was possible at times to buy the freedom of some of these girls from the brothel owners. He said in this article that he chose two Cambodian girls and attempted to buy their freedom from their brothel owner. He selected young women who were there against their will, willing to tell their story, and actually wanted to leave that life. Page 5 of 7
The first woman, her name was Srey Neth, a Cambodian girl. For $150 he bought her freedom, left with the girl and a receipt. The other girl was named Srey Mom. He said her situation proved a bit more difficult since the brothel owner demanded more money. This is what he wrote in his article: After some grumpy negotiation, the owner accepted $203 as the price for Srey Mom's freedom. But then Srey Mom told me that she had pawned her cellphone and needed $55 to get it back. ''Forget about your cellphone,'' I said. ''We've got to get out of here, now.'' She started crying. I told her that she had to choose her cellphone or her freedom, and she ran back to her tiny room in the brothel and locked the door. With Srey Mom sobbing in her room and refusing to be freed from her cellphone, the other prostitutes -- her closest friends -- began pleading with her to be reasonable. Even the owner of the brothel begged her to, ''Grab this chance while you can.'' But Srey Mom hysterically refused to leave. Srey Mom only stopped crying when Kristof agreed to buy back the cellphone too. Then when he agreed to that, I ll pay your freedom and buy your cellphone. Then she said, I ve also pawned my jewelry, and that needs to be part of the deal. Nicholas Kristof, reflecting upon that day and that situation said: I had purchased the freedom of two human beings so that they could return to their villages. But will emancipation help them? Will their enemies and villages accept them or will they, like some other girls rescued from sexual servitude, find freedom so unsettling that they slink back to slavery in the brothels. Then at the end it said this -- I don t know if this last line appeared in the New York Times Sometimes we may resemble this woman. Though Christ sets us free from sin and death, how often we choose to live in slavery rather than the newness of life. There s only two things you can do initially with a gift. You can reject it or you can receive it. Those are the choices that the world had when Jesus came. John 1 verse 10: He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. You hear it? God sends the gift but the world doesn t see who he is and they choose that they don t want him. It s still happening today. People stay locked in their slavery to sin. John 1:12: Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband s will, but born of God. Page 6 of 7
You know the question today, any day really but especially at the beginning of an Advent season like this one, is, Have I received this gift? Have I been born of God? Do I have eternal life or am I still trapped in bondage to sin and death? Am I a slave to sin or am I a slave to obedience and righteousness? Jesus is offering the gift of life to everyone who will receive it. Communion is for those who have accepted the gift of eternal life that they may never forget the one who gave his life that they might have it. There s no gift like this one. I remember a few years ago, a pastor friend of mine named Jim Meyer wrote a little piece in his Christmas newsletter which I ve shared before, but I like reading this every few years to remind me of what it really means to be saved when I come to communion. This is what he wrote in the newsletter: My memory is crowded this holiday season with discarding gifts of Christmases past. Gone forever are a cowboy set which got lost; a football which went flat; numerous pens which ran dry; a telescope which my brother inadvertently broke; piles of clothing now outgrown, outworn, or out of style. Sure, it s the thought that counts. Love endures while presents disappear, but eventually all our hard-earned investments fade into nothingness. All things pass except one. I know a gift that is indestructible. Weather won t fade it, thieves can t steal it, and money can t insure it. It s not available in shopping malls. It s free for the asking because it s already paid for. No need to return it. It comes with a full, divine guarantee. It s the gift of life, eternal life only available through Jesus. And when you know him, every day is Christmas. Every day is Christmas. In just 23 days, many people will be sitting around Christmas trees opening gifts of which most will be returned. All will eventually wear out. Most will become just a distant memory. But today at this table beneath this tree (pointing to the cross), you can open a gift that will change you forever. That s the gift of Christmas. That s the gift of eternal life. That s why that night, Jesus said, This is for you. This bread is my body. This cup is my blood. This is for you. So as often as you eat it remember me. Father, that s what we re here to do today. We re here to remember. Not just to have one thing go on our mind and out the other side, but we re here to really remember, to encounter you again, to remember the first time we ever heard this gift being offered, the first time we ever realized this gift was offered to us, to remember the first time we ever opened up our minds and our hearts to ask you to come in to cleanse us of our sin to set us free. It s a time to sit today and remember the gift of eternal life, or it s a day to be sitting here being confronted with the reality that we may have never received this gift, but it s still being offered. Eternal life is coming to those who receive it. May you have your way with us today, Lord, and thank you for this reminder. I don t know how fun or difficult, how easy or hard this coming Christmas season will be for any of us, but I know this, you have given us a gift that nothing can take away, no consequence can steal, no circumstance can diminish. It s the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, and we thank you for reminding us today. In Jesus name, Amen. Page 7 of 7