Today’s Pulse of NewLife is written by guest writer Tammy Choleva. Tammy and her husband John’s family was one of the original families of our church, and they have recently returned to NewLife with their six kids, Trevor, Jeremy, Aaron, Gabriel, John, and Danielle. As I preach through Proverbs on the subject of wisdom this summer, my hope is to use the blog to give voice to many of the more experienced members of our congregation, so that they can share what they have learned through their journey with the Lord.
No Longer a Slave to Sin
“…knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” Romans 6:6 (NKJV)
Back some time ago after I was saved by the grace of God, I was given a revelation of truth. I remember at the time having been disgusted with myself over something I had done. I don’t remember what I had done, but I know it didn’t honor the Lord. I remember telling God I was sorry, but I also remember stopping and pondering (for quite some time) how in the world Jesus could have been sinless. I knew He was sinless because the Bible tells me so; yet, I started to think deeply and wonder how that could have been.
My reason for thinking so deeply and wondering was because I know ME and how difficult it is to always choose to honor the Lord. After all, I have some flaws that are so much a part of me. Just to name two – I am a “worrier,” and to compound this flaw, I am a “venter.” I vent when I worry, and it’s usually not too pretty.
On that particular day, I asked the Lord how – when I struggle daily with sin – how He could have remained sin-free for His whole life on this earth. I even started to think of my kids and how quickly sin seems to roll off their tongues and through their bodies. I especially wondered how Jesus could have remained sin-free during His childhood. I knew Jesus was fully man and fully God when He came to the earth. So, it seemed to me that as fully man, He would have been prone to the same nasty sins to which the rest of us “fully humans” are prone. I wondered how He could possibly have had the strength to resist sin for His entire life.
Now, I knew Jesus didn’t sin because I know the Bible is true; and the Bible says Jesus was the final and perfect sacrifice because He was without sin – He was the unblemished Lamb. I wasn’t questioning the truth; rather, I was just asking God to reveal to me the “how” behind the truth.
In the midst of my deep thought, the Lord revealed to me that “being sinful” does not make a person a human. After all, Adam and Eve were fully human and they were not created with sin. They were, however, created to have free-will… to be able to choose. It was because of Adam’s exercise of his free-will against God that the rest of us “fully humans” have inherited a sin nature through Adam. That is why the rest of us naturally sin. We are slaves to sin because we have inherited a sin nature through Adam.
Regarding Jesus, being born with a sin nature or not being born with a sin nature would not make or break the full humanity of Christ. Rather, being born of a (fully human) woman, Mary, and being born with the ability to exercise free-will did make Jesus fully human. When I realized this truth it started to become clear to me how Jesus could have lived a sin-free life.
First, I realized Jesus did not have to contend with a sinful nature in order to wisely exercise His free-will. Now, when that first level of understanding entered my mind, I thought it must have been easy for Jesus to not sin. He didn’t have to struggle with a sin nature like the rest of us “fully humans.” God quickly nipped that thought in the bud when He reminded me that choosing to always obey God, even without a sin nature to contend with, is not necessarily an easy choice. All I had to do was think back to Adam and Eve. They were not created with a sin nature, yet they still chose to disobey God.
After that level of understanding regarding Jesus’ sin-free life, I came to understand the next level – the way Jesus was able to always choose to obey His Father was by staying in close communion with Him. Jesus always sought the will of His Father. By staying in close communion with His Father, He was strengthened to hear and understand His Father’s will and to obey His Father’s will…always.
It was after those two levels of understanding that I was able to see how this all applies to my own life and my own walk with the Lord. First, when Jesus – the unblemished Lamb – died on the cross and then rose again to live forevermore, He broke the curse of sin. Sin’s curse is two-fold: it is our master, and the wage it pays to its slaves (us) is death. Yet, when Christ died and rose again, He paid the wage of sin – death – on behalf of all of us. Only He could pay that wage on our behalf because He, being without sin, did not deserve to pay that wage. Yet, because He loves us so much, He chose to do that for us.
When we believe Jesus died for us and rose again, and we accept His gift of payment for our sins through His death and resurrection, we receive a gift of grace. We receive the break of the bondage of sin. We are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness. We are no longer bound to our old master – sin. We are now bound to our new master – righteousness through Christ. That is an incredibly freeing revelation. Before giving my life to Christ, I was a slave to sin. Now, even though I must still contend with my sinful nature, I am no longer a slave to that sinful nature. Now, through Christ, I can choose righteousness.
So, how do I choose to turn away from my old sin nature (which is no longer my master) and instead choose righteousness (which is my new master)? I do so by staying in close communion with God. Thankfully, Christ did not leave us alone to accomplish that task. He sent us His Holy Spirit to be our Helper.
What an awesome revelation that is – to no longer be a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness! Thank You, Jesus, for willingly and obediently going to the cross and suffering and dying for us and rising again, so that the curse of sin could be broken!
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