Will Preach For Food Podcast

My name is Doug (he/him/his), I'm a precious child of God, and so are you. I'm serving as lead pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, based out of Shelton, Washington. In this podcast I talk about the Bible. I talk about Jesus. And I talk about 20 minutes.

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Will Preach For Food Podcast

Slaves to Sin (Romans 6)

June 20, 2020 • Season 1 • Episode 15

"The Gospel is that Jesus came to set us free from sin and death, by uniting us with him in his own death and resurrection, so that we might walk in the perfect freedom of the God who created us, loves us, and has a purpose for our lives. Baptism is a sign of God’s promise, the waters through which we pass from slavery into freedom."

In today's podcast, we look at what the Bible says about sin and freedom. Sin is a slave owner, the Bible says, and thus is in opposition to God and God's creation. The Bible story is one where God is always opposed to slavery of any kind. Through the story of the Exodus, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and our own history of slavery in America, we see how God is always working to set people free, inviting us to join God in the fight for liberty and justice for all.

Takeaways:

Remember your Baptism.
Guard your Freedom
Champion Liberty and Justice for All

Faith Lutheran Website

Readings:
John 8:31-36
Exodus 12-14

Romans 6:1-18
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

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Emancipation (Romans 6)

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to the Will Preach for Food podcast. My name is Doug and I am the pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, based out of Shelton, Washington, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Thank you so much for tuning in. Happy Father’s Day!

Sin is a big deal, and Christians often talk about how Jesus saves us from sin. But what, exactly does this mean, and where does this language come from? Well, Romans 6:1-14 is a good place to start. In this passage, sin is a force, and entity, a diabolical system opposed to God that wants to enslave the human race, take away our freedom, our dignity as children of God. The Good News, the hope of the Christian faith, is that Jesus is the Great Emancipator, the one who came to liberate the human race—you and me--from our enslavement to Sin.

This biblical theme of emancipation from sin happens to coincide with this week’s Juneteenth commemoration of the emancipation of slaves in America 155 years ago. I hope this message gives you some encouragement. I hope I am able to unpack some of the theology of the Bible around sin and freedom. And I will leave you with a couple of suggestions for the coming week, ways to recall, celebrate, and experience liberation from sin.

I’ve included some Bible references and takeaways in the podcast notes, and you can find more worship and study resources our website, www.faithshelton.org. I’m grateful to Chas and Jordan for their production work on this podcast every week. Please open your Bible to Romans 6, and let’s pray…

Holy and righteous God, you created us in your image. Grant us grace to contend fearlessly against evil and to make no peace with oppression. Help us to use our freedoms to bring justice among people and nations everywhere, to the glory of your Holy name through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Romans 6:1-14

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Sin is the Slave Owner

To get at the heart of what the Bible says here, we need to zero in on and unpack Romans 6:6-7--For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. What does the Bible mean when it says that we are “slaves to sin?”

Let’s start with the affirmation that God created you, me, the color purple, all of it. God’s intent for creation is for freedom and enjoyment. We’re supposed to take care of the planet and take care of one another. We’re supposed to learn stuff, create stuff, make babies, discover stuff, and reflect the creative, compassionate heart of the God who created us, loves us, and has a purpose for our lives.

The problem is sin. And sin is the problem. Certainly, sin is what we call our willful disobedience to the commands of God. A couple of weeks ago I compared sin to a virus that can infect us and cause us to manifest symptoms of sin. We “sin” because our rebellious nature, because of the weakness of the flesh, original sin, free will, human depravity—we have all sorts of explanations for why we sin, why it is wrong, and why we deserve punishment—or at least a firm slap on the wrist.

But Sin in the Bible is more than mere disobedience to God and God’s rules. Sin is also the name of an outside, malignant force, person, system who tempts, deceives, crouches at the door. Sin, the Bible warns us, is a force that tries to possess us, steal us, lead us to the dark side, take away our freedom. Sin, sometimes personified as the Devil, is like a slave owner who captures us, strips us of our dignity, humanity, and hope, and compels us to do what it wants us to do. Sin, the Bible argues, is the enemy of God, the enemy of freedom, the enemy of the human race.

Jesus is the Emancipator

Sin opposes freedom and seeks to enslaves God’s people. God doesn’t like that. God is fundamentally opposed to slavery, because slavery is antithetical to God’s intent for creation. God is FOR freedom and opposes anyone who tries to make slaves out of God people (which is all the people, Amen?) The central story of the Old Testament was when God sent Moses to free the Israelites from their slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt. The heart of the New Testament is that God sent Jesus to be the new Moses to liberate the human race from the Slave Owner named Sin, in order to lead us out of slavery and into the Promised Land, the kingdom of God, where all people are as God created us to be, free daughters and sons of God.

Jesus is the new Moses, the great Emancipator, Liberator of the human race. Jesus’ death on the cross defeats Sin, dismantles the systems that perpetuate our bondage to sin, and through Baptism, we are liberated by the authority of God, and led into freedom under the protection and provision of God.

The gospel of John, chapter 8, says a similar thing:

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Jesus’ authority as the Son of God breaks the hold that the Slaveholder Sin has on our lives. Jesus’ self-sacrifice on the cross provides the path out of slavery and into freedom. God hates slavery. God sent Jesus to liberate us from our slavery to Sin.

Born Again

How, exactly, does that work? The best answer to that is: “we don’t know.” It is the mystery and grace of God. But the Bible does take a stab at some ways to understand it, something like this:

Jesus’ own death and resurrection is the template, the pattern, the path to freedom for all of us. When we are baptized, baptism puts us to death, drowns us, so that we die to Sin. The reasoning is that, once you die, the slave owner no longer has a claim on you. In the waters of Baptism, we die “with” or “in Christ,” which releases us from our bondage to sin. Then we are raised with Christ, born again, to live now and for eternity under the lordship of Christ, no longer enslaved by sin. In Christ we are truly free, connected to the source, led by the Spirit, united in Christ, living in grace. This is the God-filled life we were made for. We are no longer slaves to sin, Paul says. If we are slaves to anything, he says, we are slaves to righteousness, goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-control.

The Bible compares Baptism to what happened when the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, in that having passed through the waters, we arrive on the other shore having been rescued from the One who had enslaved us. Jesus leads us through death, through the Red Sea, in order that we arise, emerge as the free people we were made to be.

This section of Romans 6 ends with a reminder, a warning about the ongoing threat of Sin. Since we are free from Sin’s claim on us, then why in the world would we voluntarily submit to Sin by sinning? Jesus set us free from sin, but Sin is always looking for loopholes and lures to draw us back onto the plantation.

Martin Luther teaches us to “die daily” to sin, by recalling, remembering our baptism every day: that every day we die to sin and rise to newness of life in Christ. Our Baptism liturgy refers to Romans 6 when we say:

In Holy Baptism our gracious heavenly Father liberates us from sin and death by joining us to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are born children of a fallen humanity; in the waters of Baptism we are reborn children of God and inheritors of eternal life.

God hates slavery. God sent Christ Jesus to help us, to liberate us from sin.

Party-pooper Theology

When we are young, we sometimes get the impression that the God of the Bible is a party-pooper. That God doesn’t want anyone to have any fun, so God makes a bunch of rules that no one can follow, then spends eternity making a list, checking it twice, finding out who’s naughty and who’s nice. Anyone who has too much fun on earth has to pay for it in Hell, a kind of eternal hangover. In this party-pooper theology, Jesus is sort of the hero who intervenes with grace and convinces “Dad” to lighten up on the human race by insisting that he receive whatever punishment everyone else deserves. “Dad” has soft spot for His Son, and decides that everything is better now, and now the only rule is that you have to believe in God and be a nice person.

The problem with party-pooper theology is that it puts humanity in opposition to God, rather than as beloved daughters and sons. It reinforces the myth that somehow obeying Sin is more fun than living in the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.

Look, the commandments spell out specific behaviors we are to avoid, and we should seek to follow them as best we can, not because God doesn’t want us to have fun, but because lying, stealing, killing, and committing adultery do damage to our neighbors—also created in God’s image—and can lead us down a path of slavery to those habits, what our worship liturgy describes as “captive to sin.”

Slave holders are always looking for ways to lure slaves onto the plantation, to strip them of their freedom, their dignity, their humanity. Sin is no different. A few more verses from Romans 6:15-18--

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Juneteenth

As Americans, we don’t have to go back to Bible times to understand the pervasive and insidious threat of human slavery. Some of our ancestors subjected others of our ancestors to human slavery based on race and skin color. These enslaved ancestors of ours, precious children of God, cried out to the God of Moses, the God who hates slavery, the God who Emancipates slaves and opposes the Slave owner. They leaned into their faith and hope that Jesus would set them free: “I have a dream!” they prayed: Liberty and justice for all.

Our predecessors in the faith saw their story in the Exodus story of the Bible. The Israelites were slaves for 400 years in Egypt. The story of their emancipation involves divine intervention that includes plagues, hardened hearts, bloodshed, and reparations (Exodus 12:35-36). Modern day readers of the Exodus story wonder why God is so hard on Pharaoh, unless we grasp the absolute horror of slavery, that the slave-owner has set himself or herself in direct opposition to the will and sovereignty of God, and that God will not stand for it, will not tolerate human slavery in any form, as it is a fundamental violation of God’s creation.

The Exodus story also speaks to how difficult it is to undo a system of slavery that has been in place for 400 years. Juneteenth—June 19—is a holiday celebrating the announcement of the emancipation of American slaves (and I confess that, along with President Trump and most Americans, I was not aware of this holiday until two weeks ago). Yet we also know that slavery did not relinquish its hold in 1865. Overt slavery gave way to sharecropping, the KKK, segregation, voter suppression, and Jim Crow laws.

Even as some of these more subtle forms of slavery gave way in the Civil rights movements of the 1960s, the degradation of slavery still asserts itself in racial discrimination, media stereotypes, and mass incarceration. For many in the African American community, whose right and ability to vote has been harassed and hindered at every turn for decades, the phrase “voter security” sure sounds like more of the same…

The point is that all slave owners are the same: Pharaoh would not readily relinquish his claim on the Israelites. American slave-owners do not readily relinquish their claim on African Americans. Sin does not readily relinquish its claim on you and me.

The Gospel is that Jesus came to set us free from sin and death, by uniting us with him in his own death and resurrection, so that we might walk in the perfect freedom of the God who created us, loves us, and has a purpose for our lives. Baptism is a sign of God’s promise, the waters through which we pass from slavery into freedom.

Takeaways

1. Remember your baptism. Or learn how you can receive the gift of Baptism. Baptism is a sign that God gives you to show you, remind you that you were made for freedom, that no one has a claim on your life apart from the one who created you, who loves you, and has a purpose for your life. Baptism invites you to lean into God, not away from God. So find some water, make the sign of the cross on your forehead: child of God, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit, marked with the cross of Christ forever. Then go outside and throw water balloons at people, you know, to help others remember their baptism…

2. The second thing I would say is a warning to guard your freedom. Recognize the areas of your life where you are susceptible to slavery: addiction, politics, race, pornography, social media, jealousy, perfection, success. Notice what voices you are listening to. Remember that sin is crouching at your door, ready to kidnap and enslave you. The devil prowls like a lion seeking someone to devour. Be alert and of sober mind, the Bible says. Here’s a dangerous conversation to be had: ask a young person what they think of everything that’s going on these days. And listen to them…

3. As Americans, it is in our job description to be champions of freedom, liberty, and justice for all. As Christians, we are called to apply this NOT primarily for my own benefit, but for the benefit of others. We are supposed to work together to ensure and protect the rights of all people. There are innumerable causes and charities and concerns out there, locally, nationally, globally. Faith Lutheran gives specific support to a few: Lutheran World Relief, Community Lifeline here in Shelton, Living Stones Prison Congregation, Corner of Love Ministries in Nicaragua, a school in the Dominican Republic. And we are committed to being open to dialog about the issues and concerns of our day, including race, gender identity, and faith. The thing I want to encourage you to do is: pick one! Identify a cause that promotes the liberty and well-being of others, and be an advocate, a supporter, a champion of safe schools, feeding the poor, religious freedom, the humane treatment of animals, clean water, Black Lives Matter. We don’t all have to agree on like one cause that we all support. But when God’s people are all engaged in the pursuit of liberation and emancipation: this is the freedom we have in Christ.

Conclusion

Thanks for listening to this week’s “Will Preach for Food” podcast.

For more information about Faith, as well as worship and study resources, you can go to our website, www.faithshelton.org. You can also subscribe to this podcast through Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or any other way you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to check out our Facebook page, Faith Shelton. If you would like to make a financial gift to support this podcast or some of the other ministries of Faith Shelton, you can click on the link on this podcast site.

I love to hear comments, and I’d be delighted to connect with you if you are interested in Baptism or church membership. I’ve asked my friend Chris Ode, pastor of the Living Stones Prison Congregation at the Washington Correctional Center, to fill in for me on this podcast next week. I’ll be back after the Fourth of July weekend. I’ll leave you with a good word, a benediction:

Benediction

The Lord bless you and keep you.

May God’s face shine on you and be gracious to you.

May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard and keep your hearts, and your minds, in the freedom of Christ Jesus. Amen.