Study 24 – Slaves of Righteousness

God has made you a partaker of His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).  He has called you to holiness and you have the capacity to be ‘more than a conqueror’ through Him. He has given you everything you need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). Paul says, ‘Sin shall not be your master’ (Rom. 6:14).  This is not an exhortation; it is a statement of fact.  An incredible transformation happened when God called you out of Adam and into Christ, from one slave owner to another. 

Paul says, ‘You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness’ (Rom. 6:18). Notice what Paul clearly says. You have (past tense) become slaves of righteousness. Whose slave are you? You are no longer a slave of sin. Righteousness is your new owner and master. As it is only natural for righteous people to live righteously, ‘offer the members of your body to (God) as instruments of righteousness’ (Rom. 6:13).

The more you continue to live for God, the more you will discover God’s righteousness working within you.  Then you will find yourself increasingly turning away from sin and moving forward in righteousness and victory. Paul categorically states, ‘walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh’ (Gal. 5:16 NASB). What a wonderful promise.

Sin will make you feel wretched and inconsistent with the righteousness that God is developing in you.  That is why you feel awful when you sin.  Your new master, Righteousness, is prodding you, saying, ‘Hey, slave!  What are you doing?  Get back into line.’  Live in the sphere where you feel most comfortable.  It’s called righteousness.  Tune into your new master and be ‘filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God’ (Phil. 1:11).

To Meditate On

JESUS WILL RETURN FOR A BEAUTIFUL BRIDE.

‘…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless’ (Eph. 5:25-27).

READ Matthew 7:17-18.

Now that you are a new creature in Christ and Christ is in you, what kind of tree are you?

Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God (2 Cor. 7:1).