The Freedom of Accountability – 2/07/2023

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Romans 6:12-23

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 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. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

 

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 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? 17 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. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19 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. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 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. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is so much mention of the word ‘freedom’ across all of our public dialogue – freedom of speech, freedom to choose everything from toothpaste to my gender, freedom to reach your potential and ‘be who you want to be’, freedom to think, say and do whatever you want, ‘as long as it does not hurt anyone”  …  I guess that one depends on what you mean by ‘hurt’!

Paul tackles the nature of freedom in his letter to the church at Rome.

Paul sees freedom as obedience to the will of God.

Truth is, we don’t. Contemporary Aussies, and perhaps most of humanity, tend to think of freedom as the exact opposite – Freedom is obedience/responsibility to no one. In our culture, freedom is the ability to ‘do whatever you want’.

This belief of freedom always has destructive consequences.

  • We see Mr Putin is exercising his freedom to destroy a country and a people.
  • I watched the Shane Warne mini-series to see how they would tell his story. Luckily, they did not hide from the truth that Shane was an outstanding bowler, but also a man who acted out his freedom which included betraying his wife a few times, living it up on the destructive high life opportunities fame and money brought him, and generally be the ‘larrikin’ that we Aussies are supposed to all love and aspire to be like. Lord. Save us!
  • I had a look at the self-told documentary story on Arnie Schwarzenegger too. Another man who has lived his life his way at high cost to those around him. He may have done some good, but he definitely did some damage.

And before we get all smug about all those high-flying famous people, the same could be said about me most days. “He did some good, but he did some damage too”. None of us get it right all the time and all of us have this belief that true freedom is ‘doing what I want to do’ with no constraints by anyone or anything.

Our so called self-determined ‘freedom, ends up being a prison for us and those we hurt in our attempt to live without any accountability to each other, and certainly to the Lord.

So, we hear Paul say to the community in Rome:

“Do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you

obey their passions” (6:12).

“Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but

grace” (14)

“You, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of

righteousness” (18)

“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ

Jesus our Lord” (23).

I note a few things about God’s version of freedom:

  1. Freedom is a gift to be received not a restriction to be cast off.

Freedom has already been gifted to you

“You, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of

 righteousness” (18)

  1. This freedom of God does not come from within me. Freedom is not me exercising my desires and goals and needs without restriction but receiving God’s goals and dreams for me and willingly complying with him because he and his goals are good!
  2. But, freedom is still a battle to be lived in. Paul identifies the truth of our situation.

We want to do our own thing and ‘be free’ from all restrictions, and yet, we long for support, help, love, forgiveness from others and we need hope that only God can bring.

And to be clear, Paul is saying that freedom can only come via free obedience, accountability, taking responsibility for ourselves and others.

According to Paul, humans are never not under obligation to something. We are always obligated to others and to many things. So, freedom is not being cut loose from all obligations and accountability but living within them.

Paul can even say,

Cursed be the day I was born!

 May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! (Jeremiah 20:14-18)

The question is not whether you will follow something (or someone); whether you are obliged to serve someone or something, but what (or who) you will follow; who or what are you obliged to serve.

I cut to Bob Dylan’s famous song:

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You might be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

Paul is urging we serve the Lord. And in serving/being accountable to/living in his will and ways given in his Word Paul of course knows that means choosing not to be accountable to (slaves to) unrighteousness, that is, doing whatever you want regardless of the consequences to others, because that in the end will kill you. We are not that smart, powerful, good or strong to take that burden.

He asks: Will you willingly place yourself in accountability to God’s righteousness revealed in the cross and rising of Jesus. Jesus lived a life fully accountable to the Father and died a death fully accountable to the Father – and all for our freedom from the old ways of death. We now live in his freedom hard won for us.

Our freedom is now not living for ourselves but living in service to the Lord Jesus as we serve others.

Freedom comes from Jesus’ giving up his, pouring out his forgiveness now, that enables mastery over myself and all my desires and needs.

The Lord is inviting us to consider that the choice we all have today is not whether to be obedient or free, but rather how we be freely obedient.

And how do we live obediently free? By living in three places:

1) Baptism, the place where God names us as God’s own children.

“… all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)

We have been granted resurrection above all the dark and death and sin and wrong. We have inherited God as Abba – Father – close, intimate and helpful.

2)  Christian community, the company of believers who are also baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection who gather to remember and rehearse the promises of God and encourage each other in lives of righteousness.

Notice everything he says about freedom here is never singular ‘I/you’ but communal ‘us/we’?

“… all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)

Friends, the people around you here are your instruments of living free and full in the Lord! This gathering in freedom powers our freedom.

3) Prayer in the Holy Spirit, which draws us more closely into relationship with God and neighbour and serves to remind us that we are, indeed, God’s own children.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.  And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:14-17).

Friends, this is freedom – living gladly obedient and in snyc with the Lord Jesus and his words, his will and his ways.

Freedom is not living without the restrictions of God or others, it is embracing God’s ways and will with others everyday.

My freedom is with you, not apart from you.

My freedom does not come from my feelings or failing or achievements in life, but Jesus’ achievements for me every day for all of life.

In Luther’s crystal clear words,

A Christian is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone.

(Luther: On the Freedom of the Christian)

Yes, free person in Jesus

… 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. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

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