Message: In Acts 6 Paul answers the questions that tangle up so many
Christians. Now that we are “free from the law” is it acceptable to continue in
sin knowing that God’s grace will be multiplied to cover it all? What Paul is
explaining to them is that before salvation we were enslaved to sin. We owned
ourselves and the consequences that came with that. Our salvation and baptism
into Christ is a reverse mirror reflection of the death Jesus died when he
denied his own desires, rights and privileges in order to save us from our
slavery to sin. The Jews had an understanding of the cost of sin because their
slavery to the law meant they had to abide by 613 commands for things that they
did, or even things that happened near them, like someone dying and making them
unclean. I can’t imagine how much of their lives were consumed with constantly trying
to become clean again only to find themselves having to start over again. This
not only cost them time, but they had to sacrifice perfect animals for each
sin. This was their livelihood, so the cost of sin was expensive! When Jesus
came, he became the last and final sacrifice. The Jews were no longer required
to abide by all of those requirements anymore. His death not only fulfilled the
punishment that came from their inability to follow the law, but it was a
direct and unequal exchange. His perfect life for our tainted lives. His death
in exchange for our lives means we die a spiritual death in order to live for
him. We die a death of our obedience to our own sinful desires, rights and
privileges that were bent toward selfishness, and we live a resurrected life surrendering
all of us to God for his use and for his pleasure. We no longer live to serve
ourselves, we live to serve God. We can no longer say “it’s my life” because we
exchanged that right for a better one. We belong to God in both obedience and
in blessing. We can’t pick and choose the parts of ourselves that we want to
hang onto. It’s an all or nothing exchange. This might be a silly example, but
if you’ve ever watched “What Not to Wear” it’s a show where somebody
with terrible fashion sense allows fashion experts to come in and show them how
to dress stylish and in a way that flatters their body type. They start the
show by looking at what the person typically wears, and then they go shopping
and buy them an entire new wardrobe to begin their new lives. The catch is:
They have to give up their entire old wardrobe. All of it! They aren’t allowed
to hang onto anything. They literally trade in their entire closet for a new
one. This sounds amazing until you see the conflict in people. There are
comfort items, and ugly favorite shirts that people really struggle to let go
of. It’s emotional and yet we all relate to it because we have all hung onto
things that were holey, stained and ugly because they were comfortable and
familiar. We wouldn’t go dumpster diving for our old broken worn out stuff if
someone came in and replaced it all with brand new beautiful things, but we do
even worse than that when we try to hang onto or return to old sin once we have
been renewed. I’m not saying we will all transform in a day. I’m saying that
once we have been saved, we no longer have the right to hang onto sin. Paul
says that just like death no longer rules over Jesus because he conquered it,
sin no longer has rule over us.
Command: Die to our sinful selves.
Promise: Jesus has made a direct and unequal exchange
for our lives.
Warning: We are constantly tempted to serve
our old master of sin because it is familiar and more comfortable that change.
Application: For me that old sin master shows up in the form of a bad
attitude. I may be able to conceal it with compliant behavior, but if I don’t
silence the bad attitudes, they will take control of the direction of my life.
Gradually and subtly they will steer me into a direction I don’t belong in. I
need to remind myself that I’m not a slave to my emotions and I don’t have a “right”
to be angry. My submission is not to the will and selfish desires of other
people, but to God who directs my life.
