Walking in Victory Over Sin
Sin sounds out of touch today. Fifty years ago a book asked, “whatever became of sin,” and predicted that sin would drop out of the public consciousness. It has. People laugh at sin or do not mention it at all. That week the pastor of the largest church in America, with over 100,000 attending, stepped down over sexual immorality that was long-standing. He told the church it was with a child and that the church covered it up, and it is now coming out as a scandal. “It’s a tragedy when someone who preaches the word does not live the word and that’s true for absolutely every one of us.” But if we pretend sin is not a reality in our lives and families, how are we going to have victory over it? Romans 6 answers two questions: why does this matter, and how do I do it?
Thinking Like Paul
I taught the book of Romans in Russia 21 years ago, and the more I study it the more it applies to me today. To understand the book, it helps to know Paul’s world. Rome was a power culture where half the people were slaves, so slavery was a natural picture for him. It was also immoral and degrading: he said nine out of ten Roman emperors were homosexuals. The Greek world had its philosophy, and the Jewish world was legalistic. And Paul wrote in a precise language. Romans has a simple shape: chapters 1 through 5 are salvation, chapters 12 through 16 are service, and the middle chapters 6, 7, and 8 are sanctification, our walk. Chapter 6 warns against license, chapter 7 against legalism, and chapter 8 gives the Spirit’s power. I would encourage you to make Romans your book this summer.
Why: The Practice of Sin Leads to Slavery
Jesus said in John 8:34 that everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. In Rome it was an easy picture to understand. I need to hear this too. “You and I even though we’re Believers we’re only about this far away from becoming enslaved to sin again.” The principle is this: “if you start it’s hard to stop.” Sin works through our mouths, our arms, and every member of our body. The Dallas pastor’s sin started small and took over his life. None of us is beyond that.
Why: Union with Christ Is the Basis for Victory
Paul asks, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? When we were united with Christ at conversion, we were baptized into his death. I believe this is Spirit baptism, though believer baptism is a wonderful testimony. We were buried with him so that we might walk in newness of life. And this is the pivot from salvation to sanctification. “Sanctification is our walk with Christ is becoming like Christ it is allowing Christ to flow through us.” In the first five chapters, we were set free from the penalty of sin. Here we are set free from its power.
Christ’s relationship with sin and death changed on the cross. He died once for all, and that gift comes to us. “Sin has no power to force you to do anything.” It can tempt you, but you can say no, because Christ lives in me and I am dead to sin.
How: Consider Yourself Dead to Sin
Verse 11 gives the first command in Romans: “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” The word is an accounting term. I grew up on an apple orchard. We stored apples over the winter at 32 degrees, and every box had a number on the outside that told how many apples were in it. Two of us would read the numbers and write them on a manifest, and that count followed the apples all the way to the store. “It’s a term of Economics consider that it’s true you can Bank on this because God has said it.” Am I still tempted? Absolutely, because it’s a present tense issue.
How: Present Your Body to God
Verse 13 says to stop presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness and present yourselves to God. Our members are our hands, feet, mouth, and ears, and they can be weaponized for evil, as in the Roman Empire and in our society now. It is no wonder we are losing our young people, who leave church with some idea of salvation but little understanding of sanctification. Our young people are bombarded by the world with a message about their bodies: “it’s your body do with it what you want.” You can be a boy or a girl, it does not matter. Presenting is the word for a slave standing alongside his master and asking what he wants him to do. Romans 12:1 says to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, and “worship is not just singing worship is presenting ourselves to God.” That sets the stage for service in chapters 12 through 16, and “if we get service ahead of sanctification we’re in trouble.”
How: Practice It
Here is what I do every morning in my devotions. I read the text, then I go back to verse 11 and pray: Lord, today I want to consider myself dead to sin. My head, my heart, my hands, and my feet, I want to go where you want me to go and think what you want me to think. I speak it first to myself, and then I say, “Lord I can’t do this on my own.” That is what Romans 8 is about, submitting to the Spirit so he empowers us to do Romans 6.
Discussion Questions
- Sin has fallen out of our public vocabulary. Where have you stopped calling sin what it is in your own life?
- Paul says to consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God, as a fact you can bank on. How would your week look different if you counted that as true?
- Which members of your body, your mouth, your eyes, or your hands, are you most tempted to present to sin, and what would it look like to present them to God instead?
“Every person lives under the rule of something or someone.” Under whose rule do you live?
