Who is Your Master?

 

Romans chapter 6 in the New Testament has always been an important part of my recovery.  Early on, when I first began to realize that porn was a problem for me, a preacher mentioned that Romans 6 was a good chapter to study and memorize if we were struggling with habitual sin.  So that is what I did.  I memorized it and several other chapters from Romans.  It was helpful, but it took me many years to come to understand what it really means and how to apply it to my life.

One of the most powerful ideas presented in Romans 6 is the fact that in Christ we are set free from the power of sin.  We may feel like we are in bondage to sin and addiction, but the reality is that Christ has broken those bonds.  Now we have a choice.  We get to choose who our master is now, either sin or the Savior.

We have looked previously at this chapter and the truths about our identity in Christ, that we are dead to sin and alive to righteousness, and the importance of reckoning ourselves dead to sin.

Take a look at a few verses, these are from Romans 6:12-22, and notice the word "yield" in its various forms.

"12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?  God forbid.

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you.

18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed: for the end of those things is death.

22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end, everlasting life."

There is a clear tension or dichotomy here between our flesh, uncleanness, unrighteousness and righteousness, holiness and God.  Sin pulls at us, trying to drag us away from God, and God calls on us to leave sin behind and pursue him into righteousness.  We cannot have a relationship with God and be walking in unrighteousness at the same time.  The key factor we see here is yielding, or surrendering.  If we want to be free from sin, we must surrender to God.

The image that comes to mind for me is when we are driving and come upon a "yield" sign.  This means we have to stop and let cross traffic go until we find a break.  We have to surrender our right to go to the others.  We have to prefer them above ourselves.

We can think of school or sports as well.  If we want to learn a subject or play a sport, we have to yield to the authority of the teacher or coach.  If we think we know better and there is nothing they can teach us then we will not learn and grow.  We must humble ourselves and surrender to their authority to allow them to teach us and train us so we can find success.  

The image in this passage is that of a servant, or a slave, but the curious thing here is that we get to choose who are master is.  Back in the first century when this was written, if you were born a slave, then odds are you would remain a slave your whole life and would probably serve the same master or household the entire time.  Today, many of still feel like slaves, but the difference is, if we don't like being a slave at McDonald's we can always choose to be a slave at Burger King.  That is what this verse is teaching.  Because of the death and resurrection of Christ, we were slaves to sin, but we have been set free, now we have a choice.  We can choose to serve sin and unrighteousness or we can choose to serve obedience and righteousness.  We can follow Christ, or follow our unclean compulsions.  It is up to us.

This is a decision we must make, to let go of sin and embrace the Savior.  If we want to be free from sin, we need to recognize that the addiction does not have power over us.  We were slaves in the household of addiction, but Christ has liberated us.  We can choose to be a slave in his household if we so choose.  But we must choose.  We will be a servant somewhere, it is unavoidable.  If we do not decide to serve Christ, we will automatically go back to sin.

This decision must happen daily, if not multiple times a day.  We humble ourselves and surrender our will to the Lord's.  We recognize that in ourselves, we are powerless over the addiction and need his power to stay clean and sober.  Prayer is our lifeline, we learn to rely on Christ, moment by moment, day by day.  We yield ourselves to him, letting him have absolute authority in our lives.  As we learn to abide in him and obey him, we will find the chains of sin slipping away.