FREEDOM & SERVING
(Further reflections on “Being Delivered” — Sunday 30-Aug-2020)
To Christians who are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus but still struggling sins,
We are instructed that to be free from sin, we must consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (cf. Romans 6:11). We also need to die to the law (cf. Romans 7:1–6), so that we can be “separated” from the “perfect husband” — the Law (who is always holy, righteous, good, and judges/condemns us according to its highest standards, but unable to change/transform us) and stay married to another “perfect husband” — the Son, Jesus Christ (who is not only holy, righteous, good, fulfills all the requirements of the Law, puts us under His grace, brings justification to us by faith alone in Him, but is also able to change/transform us from the inside out (cf. Romans 7:1–6). However, sin is the wicked “master” who will not let his slaves go free, and who continually seizes an opportunity through the commandment of the law to deceive and kill us (cf. Romans 7:7–11) — suffocating the relationship we have with with God. As a result, we do not always understand our own actions and do not do what we want, but we do the very thing we hate (cf. Romans 7:14–20) because of the sinful nature that dwells in us. Thus, we are torn between two laws, the law of God and the law of sin (cf. Romans 7:21–25).
So we are asked to go further one more step to be delivered from the sinful nature, that is, to delight in the law of God in our inner being and serve the law of God with our mind (cf. Romans 7:21–25) while our flesh (the sinful nature) still serves the law of sin. Being saved by God’s grace through faith in God’s Son — Jesus marks the beginning of the process of sanctification — being made holy. This is the process of being delivered from the sinful nature and being transformed towards being Christlike. This calls our soul to delight in and serve God’s law, which was fulfilled by Jesus. Thus, we must delight in the Word of God and serve Jesus Christ. Only then will our body/flesh (the sinful nature) follow what our soul delights in and our mind serves. Only then will our “marriage” with Jesus remain faithful.
So serving the Lord with our mind puts us on the path of being delivered from our sinful nature. Our freedom reflects our serving . May the delight of our soul in God’s law and the service unto the Lord with our mind set our body/flesh free from sins that we all have struggled from time to time.
Amen.
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Pastor Lap
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