Seventh Sunday after Trinity
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My Brothers and Sisters in Christ in our Epistle Lesson we read what St. Paul has to say to those Christians in Rome who after being baptized, being saved, and brought into the faith now wonder why it is that St. Paul is urging them towards good works. For right before this He told them of the blessed gifts that they had received in Baptism. He is reminding them of these things because of what God has done for them for there are those who have been set free from sin and are falling back into sin. For imagine the great tragedy it would be that a person who had been condemned by the Law to die, was pardoned of all his sins, only to be caught the next day doing the very same thing.
When the Scriptures say that we have been set free from sin, it means that the chains that have enslaved mankind since the days of Adam and Eve have been broken loose. It means that your end is no longer death and hell and separation from God for all eternity, but rather that the Father sent Jesus to free you that you might no longer belong in the kingdom of the devil. For Adam had sold the entire human race into slavery when he took a bite of that fruit from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. But if you remember God made a promise that He would send one who would rescue mankind from the power of that evil serpent, the devil, and that is the seed that the Old Testament follows from the beginning of time all the way to Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem.
For Jesus came into the world to free mankind from our slavery to sin, death, and the devil that we might live in His Kingdom, that we might belong to Him and be his own precious treasure. That is what Paul talks about at the start of this chapter as the Christian is rescued through baptism and brought to life in Christ. There is also something here which we as Americans have a bit of trouble understanding. We need to break apart a bit of our understanding of how we are saved.The language that is used here might cause some confusion depending on how you think about what it means to be a slave and be free.
For you might have noticed that Paul says that when we were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Then a few verses later he says that now we have been set free from sin, and have become slaves of God. Now that might cause some confusion or perhaps people might not like this, because no matter how you look at it, we are slaves. We either belong to God or the devil, but there is no middle ground.
This ties in with that fancy phrase, Divine Monergism, which means that God alone saves. We are hearing that same thing here in our text. That Jesus like a conquering hero has freed you from slavery to sin, death, and the devil, but that doesn’t mean you now belong to yourself, He fought to win for you a place in His kingdom. To the ancient world this made sense slaves would change hands and it was outside of their power to affect or change that. Paul is speaking to them in this way that they might understand that they no longer slaves to sin, but now belong to God. If God claims ownership of you, then why would you serve that old master who when you were in service to them was leading you into death instead of the one who gave to you the free gift of Eternal Life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
We look back at the life we once lead with regret and shame, for indeed when one becomes a Christian that are not proud of their sins, they do not rejoice in them, but think back to the harsh words that they used when dealing with those that loved them. They think of the lies, the stealing, the things their hands would do, their eyes would see and it fills them with regret. But they also think on the joy they have that Christ would come to rescue one like that, and set them free not only from their guilt and shame, but also the inevitable death that awaited them.
Here Christians are being encouraged that if you have been set free from the power of the devil and have been given the free gift of God, that is eternal life, why would you then go back to your sins? Why keep on sinning against your neighbor when you know that it brings to you death?
Even the world understands the great tragedy that happens when person is given new life and then falls back into old ways. If a criminal receives a pardon, only to go rights back to their old ways. A person who cured of lung cancer, only to take up smoking again, or an alcoholic who receives a new liver, only to lift the bottle to their lips again. If world recognizes this as a great tragedy when it comes to this short temporal life, what about our eternal life?
That is why it is with a heavy heart, that many Christians see friends, family, loved ones who after having received the gift of eternal life fall back into sin once again. That after a person has been set free from the heavy chains of sin and slavery unto death, that they would then turn their back on their citizenship in heaven and become slaves once again to the one who was leading them into death. Do not think the devil is content to let those he had enslaved find peace in the service to God. He would rather see all of us perish.
Just as Adam lost the righteousness with which God created him, we too can lose the gift that we have been given in Jesus Christ our Lord. So don’t treat sin as an idle or insignificant thing, but are encouraged to flee from it, and be joined with the Body of Christ to be renewed by the Holy Spirit working through the Word and Sacrament, that you might be kept strong in the faith. This is why it is said that sins which we consider small or insignificant are more dangerous than sins that we treat as severe. Think of the poisons in the world, you know it doesn’t take much cyanide to kill ya. But how many cigarettes does it take to get lung cancer? Both will kill a person, but people will risk cigarettes without a thought.
What Paul is pointing out here, is if sin brought death to you, why would you go back to it when you know that it will kill you. If your life has been spared when you thought you were going to die, why would you go back to die? Rather since we have been brought into God’s Kingdom we ought to serve where He has placed us.
We are being encouraged to do Good Works. For if you belong to God, then are already saved. You have received the gift of God, and been set free from death. That is how God brought you into this divine and Holy Kingdom. For you were washed, you were sanctified, you clothed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness. Why lay aside that which brought you life, and take up again that which brings only death.
Now this is an ongoing struggle throughout the life of the Christian, one that we do not see perfected, but we are constantly being strengthened and helping our neighbor. As God works to change not just our works, but our very hearts. Now St. Paul in the very next chapter will acknowledge how much of a struggle this is. That as the Holy Spirit works upon him, he comes to the conclusion that he is a sinner, but thanks be to God, that Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
So you dear Christians, Christ came to set you free from sin, and to bring you into His Kingdom. Since you have been saved by the Blood of Christ, and By His victorious resurrection, don’t go back to the ways that lead to death, and even when they tempt you with short lived pleasures, or money, or promises of good days, remember also the shame, and the guilt that you also carried as you walked the road to eternal death. Then look and see Christ, and see the road that He walked for you, that you might have a way to heaven, a way that is not encouraging you to do shameful things, but rather seek the good of your neighbor as you walk the road that will end in eternal life. In Jesus name. Amen.