Teaching Series
Sinners
Wednesday—Slaves

Series: Sinners
Message: Slaves
Preacher: Jessyka Albert
Reflection: Mark Witas
Live Wonder: Jessyka Albert
Live Adventure: Jessyka Albert
Live Purpose: Kyle Smith
Editor: Becky De Oliveira

Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.

Read: Romans 6:15-23 in the English Standard Version (ESV). Note 1–3 insights or questions. 

Reflect: Paul writes, “What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!” (Romans 6:21).

My stepdad smoked like a chimney. It was rare to see him without a cigarette in his mouth. He started smoking at the age of 17, just before he went to prison for the next 18 years of his life. When he was released from prison, he promised my mom that he would quit smoking, but kept doing it anyway. When asked about it, he justified his habit by insisting that there was never any proof that smoking was bad for one’s health. (Any proof one might provide failed to sway his opinion.)

Finally, there came a brief season where he stopped smoking. For five weeks he somehow mustered up the willpower to give up the disgusting habit. And then he was diagnosed with throat cancer.

He received almost free treatment for his cancer, went through radiation therapy at the University of Washington teaching hospital, and was cured. It was toward the end of his therapy that he started smoking again, saying, “See what happens when I quit smoking? I get cancer. If I would have kept on smoking instead of quitting, I never would have gotten the cancer.”

Then he blamed the doctors at the hospital who gave him his radiation treatments for ruining his ability to taste food.

My stepdad was incapable of being ashamed of partaking in a habit that threatened his very life. He couldn’t see that his choices were killing him. At one point, he even questioned why God gave him cancer. He refused to see that his own choices—not God, not doctors, not good health decisions—were leading him toward death.

Part of the key to understanding the hideousness of sin is to have our eyes opened to the hideousness of sin! And to do that, we must fix our gaze on Jesus. As we gaze at His purity and see what sin did to Him on the cross, we start to understand that sin is not to be justified or celebrated. It always leads to suffering and death—even the death of our Savior.

Recalibrate: Have you found yourself “baptizing” your sin to make it more palatable? Are there things in your life that God has been nudging you to give up? If so, have you realized that these things, as innocent as some of them may seem, are holding you back from a fuller life?

Respond: Give God permission today to reveal His agenda for your life. Give Him Lordship over everything and ask Him to bring to mind changes He’d like to see in your life.

Research: Read this blog about four lies we believe about sin.

Mark Witas is the lead pastor at Pacific Union College Church in Angwin, CA. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Mark has served as a youth pastor, Bible teacher, college and academy chaplain, and lead pastor in the United States and Canada for the last 33 years. He has also authored four books: Born Chosen, Live Out Loud, Portals, and Just Jesus.

Some parents have strict rules about eating at the dinner table, specifically about what is eaten. Play a game by asking your child what they think would be the best dinner ever. You will most likely get an answer that is or is pretty close to “ice cream,” “pizza,” or “candy.” Talk to your child about different kinds of foods and how they fuel the body. There are reasons why we have “rules” about making sure we eat plenty of fruits and veggies and drink enough water. God has rules too, rules that make us healthier and happier.

Have you ever played freeze tag before? What are the rules? Play a game of freeze tag with your family or neighbors today. When you get tagged in this game, you have to freeze and stand super still like a statue until someone who is not it tags you and unfreezes you! Paul tells us that sin tagged us and froze us—kind of like in freeze tag. He says that we were “slaves to sin.” But, he says, there is super good news: Jesus tagged us and unfroze us! We are now free!

Have you ever looked really closely at yourself in the mirror first thing in the morning? Don’t. Really though, do not. It is a terrible experience. You suddenly realize that you are not as charming as you thought. At the same time, once you take that good hard look, it usually motivates you to hop in the shower and get ready for the day. Jesus is like a mirror. The closer you pull yourself to Him, the uglier your life of sin starts to be. This is because He is so good that His goodness emphasizes our shortcomings. But here is the good news: Jesus doesn’t leave us to clean ourselves up. He is the shower. He cleanses us and makes us pure. All you have to do is look to Him, and submit yourself to His love. Today I encourage you to look to Jesus. Pick up your Bible, pray, and take a moment to look deep into His eyes.

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