We have been set free from sin to serve righteousness

We died to sin to live for Christ

Paul says: “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11).

Brothers in the Lord, since the death that Jesus Christ died, “He died to sin once for all” (Romans 6:10 – NKJV) and “the life that He lives, He lives to God” (Romans 6:10 – NKJV), we also ought to count ourselves dead to sin but alive to God, which means that we must no longer serve sin having been made alive together with Christ to live for Him, who died for us and rose again. Sin no longer has dominion over us, who are under the grace of God, because we have been set free from it. Now we are free, however we are not free to do whatever we want because we became “slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:18 - NKJV). As slaves of Christ we must pursue righteousness and we ought not to use “liberty as a cloak for vice” (1 Peter 2:16 - NKJV), for Paul said to the saints of Rome: “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” (Romans 6:19). You may ask me: ‘What does Paul mean by that?’ He means that just as we used our members to commit all kinds of sin and to chase after the wind when we were slaves of sin, so now we ought to use them to do the will of God for us because we are slaves of righteousness and the will of God is our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

Your reasonable service

For many years you used your feet to go to places full of demons, such as dance halls, gambling houses, cinemas, theatres, so called ‘christian basilicas’ (which are full of idols), and you took pleasure in walking with perverse people to do evil things. But now you must use your feet to go to the true places of worship to worship God in spirit and truth with other believers, to go to the houses of believers to visit them, to the hospital to visit the sick and to the prison to visit those who are in prison for the Gospel’s sake. Your favourite destinations must be those destinations you hated while you were slaves of sin. You now must not walk in the crooked ways in which you once walked and must not take pleasure in going to the tents of the wicked nor in standing in the path of sinners. Your feet must not be swift to do evil things but must be swift to proclaim the Gospel to this lost world. Our feet now are slaves of righteousness and they must serve righteousness until the end.

You once used your hands to steal and strike other people and make angry gestures, but now you must use them to work, doing something useful with your own hands; you must extend them to the poor and reach out them to the needy; you must lift them up to praise God and must not beat people any longer. Beloved, serve righteousness through your hands.

You once used your mouth to speak all kinds of malicious gossips, impure words and all kinds of foolish, vain and perverse words; but now you must use your mouth to sing to God, to give thanks to Him, to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, to testify to the Word of grace, to comfort the fainthearted, to uphold the weak, to bless those who curse you, to pray for one another and for those who are outside. Your mouth, which was full of perversion, must be now full of the wisdom that comes from God.

You once used your eyes to watch evil things, but now you must use them to see right and true things. You must not fix your eyes on vanity any longer, that is to say, you must not fix your eyes on high and luxurious things, because now you are called to set your mind on humble and modest things. You must not be haughty any longer, because you have been set free from haughtiness to serve humility.

You once used your ears to listen to diabolic music, worldly songs and perverse speeches; but now you must use them to listen to spiritual songs addressed to God, wise speeches and all things which help to edify you spiritually.

Brothers in the Lord, do not deceive yourselves: your body does not belong to you, because it is “the temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16 - NKJV) and thus you must possess the temple of God in sanctification and honour. All those who profane it, that is to say, who use it in an unworthy manner, will be punished by God because the temple of God is holy. Consider this: one day Jesus said to the Jews: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19 - NKJV). The Jews thought that He had spoken of the temple of Jerusalem, but Jesus had spoken “of the temple of His body” (John 2:21 – NKJV). Why did Jesus call His body ‘temple’? Because His God and Father dwelt in Him, as He Himself said: “The Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:10 – NKJV). With regard to this, Paul said that “it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell” (Colossians 1:19 – NKJV). Therefore, the body of Jesus, being the temple of His Father, was holy. Now, how did Jesus use His body? He served God through it, for Paul says that Christ “has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Ephesians 5:2 - NKJV). Jesus Christ gave His life for the world, as He said: “I am the bread of life …. and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:35,51); yes, Jesus presented His flesh a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, and in this way He fulfilled the will of the Father, who sent Him. Likewise, we who are the body of Christ ought to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, as it is written: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).

Brothers, I want you to know that by denying ungodliness and worldly lusts and living a holy life we worship God because we glorify and honour Him with our body. Do you think perhaps that we ought to glorify God only with our lips and only when we gather together in the place of worship? If you have thought such things so far, stop believing them. The Scripture teaches us that we ought continually to glorify God with all our body and not only with our mouth, therefore with all the members of it because the body is not one member. This means that we can’t see nor do nor say nor buy whatever we want. If we use the liberty, to which we were called, as an opportunity for the flesh, we will cease walking in the Spirit and we will fulfil the lusts of the flesh, and thus we will cease presenting our members (which are Christ’s members) as slaves of righteousness to holiness, which is the fruit we must bear to the glory of God, as it is written: “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life” (Romans 6:22 – NKJV). Therefore, brethren, keep in mind not only that one day you will inherit eternal life but also that your fruit is holiness and you can bear this fruit only if you do the will of God. What is the will of God? “This is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 - NKJV). Brothers, serve God with the members of your body because this is what God wants all of us to do.

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