Started In Righteousness ...
Finished To Service?

Romans 5:19-6:6

The title of this sermon can have two meanings, based on how you define the word finished. This word can be defined, “To end”, or it can mean “To complete”. In the average Church today, regardless of denomination, 20% of the regular attendees perform 80% of the functions necessary to the survival of that Church. One fifth of the congregation, therefore, are finished or completed, ready to serve their Lord. The other 80% who refuse to serve are finished, that is, at an end to their service. Why this disparity?

As I said before, this is a common problem, and much more common today than in years past:

Romans 5:19-21 “For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

From the very beginning, from Adam’s fall in the Garden, man has tried to be “good” on his own. When Adam sinned his first action was not to confess his fault to God, but to quickly try and cover up his sins with fig leaves (Genesis 3:7). Man has been trying to do this very thing from the beginning, to cover up rather than to own up. When Our Father saw how man would react to sin in his life, how man would, independent of reason, seek to overcome that sin on his own, the Father established the Law. The Law served one purpose and one purpose only: It acted as a spotlight, clearly showing mankind their failure when compared to the purity of the Godhead. This is what Paul meant in Romans 5:20 when he said, “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound.” With this bright light on our Sins it became impossible to ignore them, impossible to believe that we could measure up to God’s righteousness. It was only when we recognized our failures could we admit our helplessness, and accept that free Grace of the Cross, the Grace that Jesus so dearly paid for.

Hence started in righteousness, we became, by our faith in the Free Gift, a peculiar people, as stated in:

Titus 2:13-14 “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

Yet, as stated before, only 20% of the local Church perform 80% of the works within the Church. There is, indeed, a gap between what we believe and what we, as a people, do. When the Church was first founded Satan used persecution, trials, and murder to try and undermine the Faith. His actions did little but increase the bond between Christians, drive them to their local Churches in droves. The persecution that was intended to destroy, in fact, allowed for the expansion of the Message of Christ. So Satan’s next tactic was to use peace and emotional experiences to lull the Church away from effective service. As he backed away from actively and openly attacking the Church, believers became comfortable in coming to Church. As long as they were not being attacked, as long as they could peaceably assemble for Worship services, they ceased from their labors for God. It is this lull that has taken 80% of our people, this lull that has stalled four-fifths of the Church today.

We must never forget that the purpose of the Church is to make Saints from Sinners. Paul the Apostle recognized this fact in nearly every epistle that He wrote.

1. In the introduction to 1 Corinthians 1:2, “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

2. In the introduction to 2 Corinthians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:”

3. In the introduction to Ephesians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: “

4. In the introduction to Phillipians 1:1, “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”

If we, as the Church of Jesus Christ, are to grow rather than stall, to serve rather than be served, we must begin to understand, just as the first century Church understood, that our calling into Salvation is not the end of our work for God. We are called to be Saints, called to Grow, called to Serve and Minister to one another.

Saint-making is a work indeed, a work that requires cooperation between the individual believer and the Father. The work of Christ in you which was started by Grace will not be finished by the Law. One group of believers, seeing that the Church was being lulled into inactivity by peace, started the false doctrine that you can lose your salvation if you do not behave as a Christian ought. This is, indeed, false doctrine straight from the pits of Hell. What Christ bought for us by sacrifice we need not pay for. If I force you into Christian activity by false doctrine, and you do it for fear of losing your salvation, then your work is useless to God. You see, God looks at the motives behind the action, not the action itself, to determine it’s validity. As Jesus said:

Matthew 6:1-4 "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”

Another group, the Pentecostals, saw the inactivity of the Church and decided to displace it with emotionalism and sensationalism. In so doing they disregard spiritual growth for selfish catharsis, while holding Christianity up to open ridicule in the world today. There is a better way.

Saint-making is a difficult job, a cooperative job between God and man. In fact the Greek word for Saint, Hagios, means “To be set apart for service to God”. In Romans 6:6 we see that Saint-making is potential, not certain:

Romans 6:6 “ Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

How then are we to become separated, Saints for God, effectively serving Him? Our Father, in Grace, has provided several tools to help us cooperatively reach this goal with Him. Three of these tools are:

Just as storm clouds obscure the sun and prevent it from shining on the earth, so sin in the life of the believer forms a barrier between himself and the Father. If one of you were to stand up and read from a novel while I was trying to preach it would cause confusion. Some members would be straining to hear the novel, while most (I hope) to hear the sermon. Both factions would gain little from the encounter because attention would be divided. When the believer introduces sin to his life he divides his attention between the sin and The Father. The longer the sin remains, the greater it distracts.

For a believer to sin is not inconceivable. In fact, we all sin, in varying degrees, and in different ways. We sin actively, that is, we commit an action that God told us not to commit. This can be anything from a wandering eye to vicious gossip behind another Christian’s back. We can tell a lie, or tell less than the whole truth, which is a lie. We also sin by inactivity, that is, we were told to do something by God, and refused to do so. Sin is a bad thing in the life of the Christian, harmful once committed, deadly if left unchecked.

Our response to sin must always be consistent: When we fall into sin, at the moment we recognize that failure, we must cease and desist. Next, we must confess that Sin to God. Confess is the Greek HOMOLOGEIA, and literally means “To say the same thing about”. At the point of recognizing our sin we must tell the Father, “Lord, I recognize my sin. I am sorry, I realize that this was contrary to your will for me. Forgive me, Lord, and restore me to service”.

When King David sinned with Bathsheba, committing adultery, and had her husband Uriah murdered, it took the Prophet Nathan to open his eyes to his sin. When confronted David prayed:

Psalm 51:1-10 "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. "

In confession of sin we recognize that our sin, even if it is against someone else, in reality is an offense to the Father. It is He who is offended by the action, He who is driven away from communion with us. We need to admit to the sin, recognize it’s existence, and ask for His forgiveness. All lines of communication between ourselves and the Father will then be open.

God handed down one Word to mankind, and that word is contained in His Holy Bible. This Word contains all the wisdom of God to furnish us, if we apply it’s precepts, to effectively serve Our Lord in this evil world.

Rarely a day goes by that we, as people, do not watch television, read the newspaper, eat, sleep, play, work, pursue a hobby, or follow some form of exercise for better health. Somewhere in the midst of every day we also need to make time to read and study God’s Word. Imagine going six days without eating and, finally, trying to eat a big meal on the seventh day. After that day ends, starve yourself again for six days until the next seventh day. Sound foolish? Well it is. But many Christians do just that with their Bible. Paul, in writing the Corinthians, stated:

1 Corinthians 3:1-2 ”And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.”

When we first come to Christ we are but babies, spiritually alive yet immature, and desperately need sustenance in order to grow. The sustenance that God provided to the believer is the Word of God. Our applied knowledge of it’s teachings helps us to grow spiritually strong, able to fight back against the onslaughts of Satan and the World. Paul told the Ephesians:

Ephesians 6:13-17 “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:”

Our protective helmet is salvation, but our weapon against Satan is our familiarity with the Word of God. When Jesus was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness every response that He made to that old Slanderer was “It is written”. Jesus used the Scriptures applied knowledge to protect Himself from falling into Satan’s traps. We must make time to consistently study our Bibles so that we can do the same.

Our Father went to an inordinant amount of trouble to develop a personal relationship between us and Himself. Why One who is pure, holy, and just, would want a relationship with this weakened frame of humanity I do not know. Yet He desires that relationship.

Prayer is a natural part of our relationship with God. We as believers shouldn’t just pray when we’re in trouble, or when we’re about to eat: we should be in prayer, communion with our Father, at all times. When we have needs, yes, we should pray. He stands by, earnestly desiring to grant all viable requests to His children. We should also be in prayer, as Paul said, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “ Pray without ceasing.”

This doesn’t mean that I am walking around all the time, babbling under my breath ignoring all else. It does mean that I must, at all times, be in a prayerful attitude, ready to talk to my Father at a moment’s notice. I must realize that He is attentively watching my life, tending our relationship, waiting for me to talk to Him about anything and everything. This personal relationship in prayer is what distinguishes Christianity from the cultic around us.

But be forewarned: Unconfessed sin and Biblical illiteracy negatively impacts the prayer life of the believer.

1 Peter 3:12-13 “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?”

If you would have your prayers be heard by God, you must use the first two tools we discussed, confession of sin and study of His Word.

If you have not accepted Christ as Savior, you’re off the beaten path, totally lost and without direction. You are lost in a hopeless situation without His peace. Jesus said:

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

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