Thrive: Sin or Righteousness


For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
 
Slaves to Righteousness
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 6:14-22

Jesus passed righteousness on to us when He died on the cross and we accepted Him as Lord and Savior.  Our sins are remembered no more.  It is not by what we do, but by the grace of God.

Even in this age, humans are in a state of slavery.  Our ancestors may have fought oppression or foreign rulers to be free and that is true in a political sense but as individuals, we are still slaves to masters of our own choosing - such as sin and righteousness.  While we can say that we don't want to be slaves to sin (who does?), this is still a choice that needs to be consciously made and practiced every single day.  And it can be done, by the grace of God.

Pastor Janssen, VCF Alabang
January 16, 6PM

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