Tag: Understanding the Gospel

Morning Musing: Romans 6:23

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“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the classic approaches to sharing the Gospel from the last century was to take unbelievers along the Romans Road. This was a series of verses in this incredible letter that spell out the basic Gospel message, leading the listener to the point of making a decision to follow Jesus. This verse is one of the major stops on that road. Paul here spells out the result of sin. Let’s take a look at this and talk through just what it means.

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Morning Musing: Romans 6:21-22

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“So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death. But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life!” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When Dr. Phil was doing his regular, daytime talk show, one of the lines he became famous for was a simple question: How’s that working for you? People would come to him with complaints about their lives, and he would lead them to tell him about the things they were doing. What were their patterns? What kind of choices were they making? Then he would ask his question: How’s that working for you? His point was that the outcomes we experience in life are the result of the choices we make. The path we are walking determines the destination to which we are heading. Paul would seem to agree. Let’s look at what he says next.

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Morning Musing: Romans 6:20

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“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the truth claims of the Christian worldview is that God is the only source of goodness in the universe. Everything that is good comes from God. Apart from Him, there is only evil. Moral evil is any word, thought, or action that does not flow out of the character of God. This idea can lead to confusion when we set it against our own experience of meeting and interacting with people from other religions or even unbelievers who seem to us to be not only good people, but people who share many of our moral convictions. Or, to put that another way, should all non-Christians be insufferable jerks? Of course not! Paul here gives us a reason why.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 6:19

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“I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Welcome back! I know there was a post yesterday, but I wrote that one almost two weeks ago. Today we’re back to our normal, day-of-posting writing. It was a good week away, but I’m glad to be back with you digging into the Scriptures together. Trying to get our minds around what it looks like to live the new life in Christ isn’t easy. What Paul offers here is a bit of an explanation. It’s about not doing one thing, and committing ourselves actively to do another. Let’s explore what he has to say as we continue our Romans journey today.

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Morning Musing: Romans 6:15-18

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“What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not! Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey – either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Freedom beats at the heart of every person. This has always been the case. Freedom hasn’t always been as widely available in the world as it is today, but the freest people have always been the envy of the rest. In the ancient world, some longed for it but assumed they weren’t made for it. Today, there are occasionally national revolutions to obtain it, even as rulers try to deny it every way they can because they understand that the freer people are, the less power the ruling class has. But our longing is freedom. So, why would anyone want to follow a religion that calls its devotees to slaves? Let’s explore this today in one more post that is a repeat of one I made several years ago. Also, this will be the last post, with the exception of Sunday’s sermon, for the next week. It’s Spring Break in my world. I’ll see you Monday and then not until the following Monday. That being said, let’s dive in.

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