Justified: Gotta Serve Somebody
God Gives Life
Romans 6:12-23
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. July 2nd, 2023
One of the best things about moving to the Thumb is the lack of mosquitos. I don’t know if it’s because there’s less standing water, or if the wind blows them all away but I can sit out in my backyard without a care in the world. When I was in the UP the parsonage was, unfortunately, behind a swamp where the local pond emptied out into. The wind blew the mosquitos out of the swamp and into my backyard. They would swarm like gnats if I sat out there for too long. And there’s only so much bug spray can do for you.
My body would get eaten up by the mosquitos and black flies each summer, no matter how much I did to stay away. And I knew what I’m supposed to do with mosquito bites. You’re supposed to ignore them and the itching goes away. Or, if it’s really bad, you can put camomile lotion on the bite. What you’re absolutely not supposed to do, however, is scratch. The more you scratch the more the bite itches. The more the bite itches, the more you scratch. And it becomes a vicious cycle until finally you scratch too hard and begin to bleed. Though, hopefully, once it gets that far it stops itching.
I know better, but I do it anyway. Isn’t that the condition of Sin? When Paul talks about Sin he means more than acts we commit. We can distinguish between sin with a little s and Sin with a capital S. With a little s we mean discrete acts. A lie we tell, the act of theft, or what have you. But we do not commit little s sins simply because we want to. We commit little s sins because of the power of capital S Sin. Sin with a capital S is a slavedriver. A bad boss. A furious foreman. Sin with the capital S commandeers us. Uses our members as its weapons. Forces us to do what we would prefer not to do. Takes the things we do and twists them to hurt ourselves and others.
I used the example of scratching an itch for relief even though I know scratching that itch comes with consequences. But there are other itches Sin commands us to scratch. The little s sins. We know we shouldn’t tell tales but we do it anyway. We know we shouldn’t lust but we lust anyway. We know we shouldn’t be vengeful but we are vengeful anyway. We know we shouldn’t be envious but we show envy anyway. This is all evidence of being held captive by a power stronger than we are. Paul diagnoses that power as Sin, in league with another power called Death.
We might like to imagine that we are free when we engage in sin. That obedience to God is what’s constraining our wills. When we sin we do what we really want. The fun stuff. When we are holy we are doing what we don’t want. Eating our vegetables. But that is not the picture Paul gives us this morning. The picture we are given is of two Lords. Sin and God. And we gotta serve somebody.
Paul writes, “For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.” There are two ways. We can serve Sin, we can serve the Lord. But we will never serve ourselves. Sin claims we are free, but we actually grow sin addicted. We find ourselves bound by the things that hurt and harm. God tells us to be obedient, but what we come to find in obedience is life and happiness.
For as Paul famously says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Sin is the taskmaster that makes us earn death. But God doesn’t ask us to earn anything. God doesn’t require our work. God only asks for our faith. God accepts the ungodly. God forgives the sinner. And God gives to us his life.
It goes without saying that everyone is looking for happiness. Sin promises happiness, but all we are doing is scratching an itch so hard we open a wound. God promises happiness as well. It is happiness founded in obedience. It is happiness given as a matter of grace. God promises happiness to all who have faith, to all who cling to Christ and the work he has done. And God’s promises are always fulfilled.