Jesus was God's perfect servant because Jesus surrendered to God in total obedience. God wanted His son to come to earth. He obeyed and came. God wanted His son to live on earth as a human. Jesus obeyed and became a man. God wanted His son to devote himself to a ministry of service. Jesus obeyed. He assumed the role of a servant and did a servant's work. God wanted His son to be devoted exclusively to God's purposes and objectives. Jesus obeyed. He did only those things he saw the Father doing and spoke only those things the Father wanted him to speak. God wanted His son to surrender life in a criminal's death. Jesus obeyed. He was executed by Roman soldiers on a cross.
Jesus made this truth clearly evident: serving God and obeying God walk together hand-in-hand. To divorce serving God from obeying God destroys God's presence in your service. To divorce obeying God from serving God reduces divine activity to a meaningless human enterprise. God's ideal servant [Jesus] served and obeyed. John repeatedly quoted Jesus as saying, "I can do nothing of my own initiative." Today God's mature servants [hopefully us] serve and obey. The world can see our obedience in our service. The world can see our service in our obedience.
Romans 6:12-23
Context:
Paul wrote to Christians living in Rome (1:7). The church contained Jewish Christians. Their
religious background was shaped by their study and knowledge of those scriptures we commonly
refer to as the Old Testament. The church also contained non-Jewish Christians. Many of them
had a religious background fashioned by worshipping the gods through idolatry. Obviously, there
were Christians whose ancestors knew the living God for centuries. And, there were Christians
who had just met the living God through Jesus Christ.
Many Jewish Christians did not appreciate a presentation of and emphasis on grace. Grace made it possible for people who had not known God to be "first class citizens" in the kingdom of God. A resentment of God's grace was founded on a misunderstanding of their baptism. First, Paul led these Christians toward an understanding of their baptism. Then Paul led them toward an understanding of obedience.
In the context of verse 12, the word "reign" means "to rule over." The Christian refuses to allow sin (evil) to rule him or her by controlling his or her physical body. This verse also addresses the question asked in verse one. It is unthinkable that a Christian would deliberately do evil in an attempt to demonstrate God's grace. A person becomes a Christian to end slavery to evil. To deliberately commit evil deepens sin's rule over the person. Evil, not God, determines the actions of the person who deliberately does evil. A Christian does not and cannot destroy the reign of evil by surrendering his or her body to the control of sin.
"Lusts" is "strong desire." The more common word that we use is "passion." In this context the strong desire or passion refers to a strong desire to do evil or an evil passion. The concept: the use a Christian makes of his or her body is not determined by strong evil desires or evil passions. When we allow strong physical desire to determine what we do, we make our passions our ruler. We place evil "on the throne" to rule our bodies when strong desires or passions control our actions.
The Christians does not present parts of his or her body to sin.
The Christian presents his or her body to sin when he or she allows sin to use his or her body as an instrument [a tool, a weapon] to accomplish the purposes or the objectives of evil.
Sin will use a person's body as an instrument [tool, weapon] to do unrighteous things or accomplish unrighteous purposes. In this context, "unrighteousness" can be understood as any act or behavior that opposes God and God's purposes.
The Christians should present himself or herself to God.
He or she views himself or herself [including his or her body] as being alive from the dead. He or she sees himself or herself as a resurrected person. He or she was dead in slavery to sin; he or she has been brought to life in Jesus Christ.
He or she wants God to use his or her body as an instrument [tool, weapon] for righteousness. He or she wants his or her life to be placed in God's hand so that God uses his or her life, actions, and behavior to (a) lead people to cooperate with God and (b) accomplish God's purposes.
Sin is not to be a Christian's master. God, and only God, is his or her master.
God DID NOT intend grace to be used as a license to sin. Law reveals when we fail. Law condemns us because we fail. Law does not commend us, encourage us, or sustain us. Law exists to convict us of our shortcomings and failures. Grace exists to give us love and forgiveness in spite of our failures. Grace exists to encourage and to heal us. Grace is not weakness; it is strength. The person who understands how he or she is blessed through grace would never try to exploit or abuse grace. The unconverted abuse grace by refusing to accept responsibility for their evil. The converted understand and feel their enormous indebtedness to God's love. They would never use grace to condone their evil or to attempt to manipulate God's forgiveness.
They needed to understand that you belong to sin if you obey sin, or you belong to God if you obey God. The person who belongs to God cannot obey (be ruled by) sin. The person who belongs to sin cannot obey (be ruled by) God. Paul is not talking about the impossibility of falling to temptation. A person who belongs to God will not continually, deliberately live his or her life doing evil, being ruled by physical desire. You are the slave of the force you obey.
Paul's point is not that they delivered themselves. Paul's point is that they cooperated with God so that He could deliver them. They were delivered because they obeyed from the heart the teachings they received. The focal point of those teachings was the resurrected Jesus Christ, the one whom they died with and were resurrected with in baptism.
They were freed (released from) the slavery of sin to become (voluntarily, by personal choice) the slaves of righteousness.
You are slaves. Speaking from reality in a world of slavery: you belonged (in the past) to a master who was dedicated to your destruction. You now belong to a Master who loves you and blesses you. Serve the Master you have now with the zeal and undivided attention that you served the old master. May your heart and commitment to God be as full of zeal and devotion as your heart and commitment to sin was. Be a better Christian than you were a sinner.
They were "free" in regard to righteousness. They served no righteous purpose. God in no way benefitted from their lives.
The consequence was death. Aside from the momentary gratification of their strong desires, there was no lasting benefit in those things. As they found pleasure in the passion for the moment, they were destroying themselves.
The immediate benefit would be sanctification. Through forgiveness God purified them so that they could stand before and belong to the God in whom there is no evil. The outcome produced by sanctification was eternal life.
The wages of sin are death. Sin provides you only what you earn. The only thing you can earn through sin is death.
God's free gift is eternal life. The gracious God gives us a gift. The only way any of us could receive eternal life is by receiving it as a free gift, an inheritance. It is not within the power of a person or the power of human deeds to earn or deserve eternal life with God.
Caution: Christians do not manufacture obedience. Christian obedience is not artificial obedience. We do not create our own standards and attach them to obedience. We do not produce our own emphasis and attach it to obedience. We do not confuse personal preferences with God's desires. We learn God's will; we do not define God's will.
We begin life in God by focusing on and understanding Jesus Christ. We realize he is the Word and the Light. We study the Bible to understand God. We study the New Testament to understand (a) Jesus and (b) Christian existence in Jesus. We learn who we are as individuals in Christ. We learn who we are as the church. We serve God to be God's community of people in Christ. We serve God because we want our lives and existence to be ruled by God.
Our obedience comes from our faith, our hearts and our love. The objectives of our obedience include these four things: (1) to build our personal relationship with God; (2) to build our personal relationship with all who come under God's rule by being alive in Christ; (3) to reveal to weak Christians the values and joys of allowing God to control our lives; and (4) to reveal to those enslaved to sin the life and freedom found in Christ.
Grace and obedience are not enemies. Grace never gives us "the right" to be disobedient. Obedience never "earns" salvation or "obligates" God. Grace renews our relationship with God when Satan defeats us through temptation. Obedience expresses our love and gratitude for God's grace. We serve God because the benevolent God of compassion saves us from death. Obedience expresses our love and demonstrates our gratitude.
Suggestion: if time permits, help class members realize that too much of what we regard to be obedience focuses on the requirements of religious people instead of the will of God. Artificial obedience is obedience given in religious matters that are of little or no interest to God. Obedience must place the concern and emphasis where God places them, not on the things that people place them.
Link to Student Guide Quarter 2, Lesson 9