A Slave of the one whom you Obey

Romans 6: 16-23

“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”

Always ask to whom is this being written, and the answer once more is to the followers of Jesus Christ.  And how appropriate is the question being ask: “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”  I’m very concerned that a very large number of people who call themselves Christians would fail the test if asked the question.  Many years ago a Baptist boy signed up for the army, he was not a follower of Christ, but he wore the title of Christian, and for the first time in his young life he had his rights taken away, he was a slave to the one he learned to obey.  This is a small part of the story; “When I enlisted in the United States Army, I went to boot camp, my civvies were taken from me, and I was issued a new set of clothes.  I was introduced to a man we called Sergeant Major he told me the old Bob was dead. The old Bob could wear what he wanted, eat what he wanted, and go and do what he wanted, all of that was lost now.  I would look to the United State Army and its rules and commands.  I no longer needed my opinions; all I needed was to obey his orders.”

Now do not go crazy on me I’m using that time as an example of becoming a slave to the one I obey, but one day I ended my commitment to the army and I was once more free to go and do whatever I wanted, and I was still a lost Baptist with no relationship to the Jesus I claimed to know.  The army helped to grow me up but I went in with a lot of fear and came out with fear of being a failure.  Now I’ve shared that I had an encounter with Jesus Christ in a hotel room in Victoria, Texas, when I was 27 years old and I was changed, but I also was making some bad choices, going to church but not learning to follow Jesus, I had no real prayer life, I did not attach myself to a men who could teach me how to walk in the world but not to look to the world, but to Jesus and the Father.  I did not know that the Holy Spirit lived in me and would guide me into all truth; I was a mess.

And so flying without a compass but with great zeal to do great things for God I began to teach youth when it was I who needed a teacher, and zeal will only take you so far, and for me it brought about pride, arrogance and broken fellowship with my Lord.  The best thing that happened to me was a wreck, it cost me big time and yet it brought me to brokenness and I found the Father waiting with open arms to welcome me back into fellowship.  Would that be a great way to end this?

With little knowledge or understanding of the way the world system was molding me, or wanting to mold me and that the enemy of my soul was a thief whose goal was to steal what I valued, to kill or destroy my testimony, I began to achieve acclaim in the market place, and without understanding I almost became a slave to the success of my business life.  I made many mistakes the greatest was I used people more than caring for them.  But God; don’t you love those words, He sent people into my life that challenged my actions, people l worked with like, Cory Munn, Bill Taylor, Joe Whitehouse, Bill Barr, John Craig, and Greg Stovall who were Christ centered and people centered and their actions more so than words drove me to confess that I had left the road of real success, to gain what; the acclaim of what?   

A follower of Christ should take on the attitude of the one they are following, so learn from a messed-up guy like me and look to Jesus for the real life, it will begin by looking to Jesus and not religious acts, “So now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice