"Why not? " from Romans 6

Today I am commenting on Romans 6:11-23 and I am asking the question “Why not?”

President John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address said that some men look at a situation and ask, “Why?”  But President Kennedy preferred the question, “Why not?”  In saying this, he was hoping to instill a positive, forward thinking attitude in the nation.

We, too, need to ask, “Why not?”  We need to ask it in a different context, however. In our text for today, Paul answers the question, “Why not sin?” 

One of the areas that becomes a pinch point in evangelical theology is the balance between our day-to-day walk in which we all are frail and limited human beings, and our position in Christ in which we are forgiven of all our sin, past, present, and future. Paul knew about this issue; nothing we see today in the church is new. All of our blessings and all of our challenges have been in the church since the beginning.

Paul knew of the tendency of people to relax and wind up committing sin. However, in our focal passage today, he gives us four reasons not to sin. Let's look at them more closely. 

Why Not Sin? Because We Are Dead To It:

Verses 11-13 tell us that,

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 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.

If “dead men tell no tales” as the old saying goes, then dead people don’t sin.

Have you ever had the experience of trying to type a command into a dead computer? Have you tried to make a call on a dead phone? How about trying to start a car with a dead battery? None of that could happen because the objects in question were dead!

If we are in Christ, the old person has died. Sin can’t entice that person because they are dead. Satan and all his demons can’t tempt that old person, and neither can the weaknesses of the flesh. A dead person cannot fall, and a dead person cannot fail. Why not? They are dead!

On the other hand, if we are alive in Christ, we become a new person, a person who has a fresh start and a fresh purpose. We become an instrument of righteousness and not an instrument of darkness. We become a part of the family of God and a part of His plan to bless creation.

Just as a dead person cannot sin, a new creature cannot help but follow in the path of the one who gave new life. A human child, when grown, becomes a human adult, and not some other type of creature. So, when we are born again in Christ, we should grow up to be like Christ.

Why Not Sin? Because We Are The Servants Of Righteousness:

Verses 14-18 remind us that,

For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 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? 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. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Before Christ we were slaves to sin.

Slavery is an abomination and a stain upon humanity, but it was a common state of life in the 1st Century. How did someone become a slave then? People were often sold to satisfy a debt, or as restitution for a crime. Some were captured in battle. And, the children of slaves were born into slavery.

We all know that legal slavery was abolished in the wake of the Civil War in the United States, but in truth, many people today, of all races and ethnic groups, are slaves emotionally and spiritually to forces they cannot control. The classic example of that is one who is addicted to drugs and alcohol, but other types of spiritual and emotional slavery exist today as well.

Paul said that sin is a slave master, and that those who practice sin are in thrall to it. So, how do slaves become free?

We love the idea that slaves can revolt and set themselves free, but that has rarely happened in history. Most commonly, slaves were set free by being redeemed by relatives or by an army that would defeat the kingdom which was holding their compatriots as slaves. Sometimes, it was by being set free by the owner, either during the owner's life or in his will after his death. All of these apply to us as we have been set free from sin by Christ who is our brother, our master, and our conquering hero.

Slaves were the possessions of owners and treated as chattel property. They were required to give immediate, total obedience. Jesus taught a parable about the servant who worked in the field and in the house also. He could get no rest because he served his master at all times.

Here is the fact of the matter: we were slaves of sin, but now we are the servants of righteousness. We need to obey righteousness with the same vigor as we once served sin!

Why Not Sin? To Avoid Its Poison:

Verses 19-21 teach us that,

I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!

Sin is a poison.

Why do people fear snakes? It’s not because they crawl or have scales. We don't even really fear their fangs. We fear their poison! Many nonpoisonous snakes are kept as pets, even boa constrictors, but few people have pet rattlesnakes or cobras.

 

How do these poisons work? Some attack the nervous system, and others the cardiovascular system. Some may also cause severe damage to the flesh at the point of the bite. Usually however, the effects are largely hidden until the final thrash of death. The poison works inside a person, killing them silently, the same as sin! The antidote for sin, of course, is Christ! He heals us from the spiritual death and disease caused by the poison of sin

Make no mistake, sin is a poison! It kills those without the antidote, but it also makes those who have the antidote sick! I am told that a man who raises rattlesnakes in order to milk their venom has been bitten over 300 times, and he still gets sick. So, we would do well to avoid the poison of sin. It impedes our fellowship with God, and it impedes our fellowship with people also. 

Why Not Sin? Because We Need To Produce The Fruits of Righteousness:  

Verses 22-23 say,

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sin chokes out the Fruit of the Spirit.

Before a garden can produce it must be weeded. Weeds steal nutrition from fruit-bearing plants. Weeds prevent a garden from being as productive as it should be, so weeding is hard, but it is essential.

My dad kept a large garden when I was a teen, but at least we could plow that garden with a tractor. When my wife and I were in Africa, we often saw men and boys weeding peanut fields with short, little hoes. I tried it once and it was a back-breaking, difficult, and sweaty job! Yet, for the fields to produce an abundant crop, they had to be weeded.  

Once weeded, however, a garden can be fruitful. A vegetable garden can produce abundant food. A flower garden can bless by producing beauty. A kitchen garden can enrich by producing spices. Weeds, however, can overcome these good things if the gardener allows.

Sin is a weed that kills the good fruit of holiness in our lives. The outward things of life reflect the inward things in our being. What is inside us will come out of us and our inward sin will be seen in a lack of outward fruit.

Conclusion:

Paul gave us some very good reasons why we should avoid sin.  The only thing remaining is to accept his reasons and to avoid sin. So, let’s ask ourselves, “Why not?”

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt