We have seen in the previous chapter that we are freed from sin not because of the law but because of God’s grace. Moreover, so far in this book, we have seen in depth about the importance and principle of the blood of Jesus in a slave’s life and how it becomes our only righteousness. It is to a certain extent easy for us to understand that the blood of Jesus is the one and only answer for our sins and when we first met Jesus, it was quite easy to believe and experience it. However, what most Christians are not aware of or do not ‘sign up’ for, is the cross of Jesus. Plenty of gospel is being preached on the easy solution the blood of Jesus offers us and how the blood is the ticket to heaven, but rarely it is preached about having to ‘take up our cross daily’. The cross of Jesus seems to us like an ancient story which is now just a historic distant fact. Little have we realized that the blood of Jesus is not valid without the cross. We are able to accept the blood of Jesus as a present day truth applicable to our lives but we consider the cross as a bygone biblical story. The basic problem we have or the root cause of many our struggles is that we do not value and do not understand the significance and the practicality of the cross. The blood and the cross will never function without the other.
We all have started our Christian journeys and believe that the blood cleanses our sins but we do not have an answer as to why if we have been redeemed and saved by Jesus, we are still sinning. Most of our struggle is, we find our love for the world unchanged or even getting worse or a force present inside us that is still actively producing sin.
We try as we have seen till now, with all possible efforts to overcome this, but we fail and condemn ourselves in our guilt. This is because we do not know that our inner man, i.e., our sinful nature is still alive and no matter how much ever we believe in the blood of Jesus or in our efforts to overpower it, it is not sufficient to deal with this inner force.
Romans 7:18-20 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
So what is the remedy? The answer for our sinful nature or flesh, is it having to die on the cross.
Galatians 5:24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Our dying or crucifying our flesh on the cross of Jesus is the only deliverance for our sinful inner man. It needs to die in order for us to rise again as a new creation. If the blood of Jesus is His life, how can His life become ours unless we suffer, die, be buried and raised up with Him? This seems quite confusing and complicated. Indeed, all of us were on the cross 2000 years ago with Jesus. It does not mean that this truth was long ago accomplished and it will magically be applicable to us at present, rather it is something we need to live as our daily practical life and this is Christian life. Some of us have heard about ‘crucifying our flesh’ but are perplexed as to how to do it. It is not something that we can consciously ‘do’.
Hence, in this chapter we will delve into the details pertaining to this concept and how God works this out in our Christian journey.
We will begin with Romans 6:16 as our key verse for this.
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
We would like to discuss again a few key words to understand this verse and the connection to the 14th verse better. To begin with, let us understand what it is to obey.
OBEY
We have already discussed the concept of obedience in the 4th chapter but here we will discuss in detail obedience pertaining to a slave’s practical life. Paul says obedience leads to righteousness. Many of us think that doing whatever God says without doubt and question is obedience. If so, demons, the wind and the waves obey Jesus but that does not make them either righteous or ‘children of obedience’. We always associate obedience with the deeds but obedience in fact is a function of our hearts. Many of us wonder why Satan still torments us or evil spirits have not left us. This is because we do not know what obedience means. Let us begin with a few examples to make this concept easy. We trust that money is the only source that can put food on the table and we panic and try to borrow money when we run short of it. But Jesus says “without me you can do nothing” and “man shall not live by bread alone.” We say we do not worship idols but in simple instances like this we do not realize that money or our knowledge is our idol. A couple had called us to pray for their son who was showing hyperactive behavior and had been diagnosed with probable autism. We asked them why the boy needed prayer and the parents were quite distressed because the boy had a disorder. Why had these parents panicked? Because they did not realize that each one’s race is different as ordained by God.
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
Each person’s life is unique. Jesus never healed two blind men alike. He had a different process for each one. If autism is the way, the race that is kept for the child, we are unable to accept it because the world says otherwise. Based on a few children analyzed, some characters are termed as normal and some that do not fit into the majority or human standards and analysis are termed as ‘autistic’ by science and this is what we believe. We fail to see hyperactivity as ‘normal’ in the sight of God and are unable to apply the following commandment in this situation.
Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
We are unable to rejoice in what God has given us but always look for something more or something else because as long as something does not fit into our expectation we do not accept it as the will of God or as perfect. For example, if a child is interested in football, he is forced to learn mathematics or physics and when he does not excel, we brand him as dull and break his confidence. We need to analyze if we are helping someone run his/ her race or serving as a hindrance. So, obedience is giving into God’s will and putting our will to rest. What is God’s will?
John 6:40 “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
The will of God is for us to trust Jesus so that we may have His life. We need to understand that the life of each one of us is not the same as that of anyone else; hence, only Jesus can be our referral point. So, when we submit to God’s will, the process to destroy our flesh is initiated by Him. No man is devoid of flesh; the difference is, as long as we submit to the will of God, i.e., to be in His kingdom and to be His slave, He is in control of our souls and keeps leading the blind in the ways they do not know. If we make a choice to leave Him and His Kingdom, then the things of the world become our joy and He gives our souls into destruction. The soul is controlled by our five senses. The five senses keep feeding ideas and information to the soul in order for life to be comfortable. If our soul is controlled by these five senses, then lust dominates us. On the other hand, if it is controlled by Jesus the Christ, then His blood and life keep it alive and it is able to do what pleases Him. Once we surrender our souls into the hands of Jesus, then the process of purification begins, wherein He starts healing our souls and this is grace that we discussed above. So, ultimately obedience is nothing but submitting ourselves to the process of Jesus’s grace; it is an attitude of our minds and hearts.
While we are in this painful process of obedience and grace, we need to know certain principles or guidelines to endure it, so that we do not murmur, are not clueless or become discouraged. This can be better understood from Hebrews 12:1-11. Each verse explains why and how we need to endure this process of grace through obedience. We will meditate these verses in detail below.
Hebrews 12:1-11 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Let us see the explanation of the above passage:
God has given us numerous witnesses and the entire scripture is full of it to prove that He is the King and we are His slaves i.e., we belong to Him. This should be our constant reminder in our race, which is the process of salvation. Though Jesus is the King of all Kings, for the sake of God’s will, He became nothing from being everything and endured the worst form of shame and suffering on the cross.
Philippians 2:6,7 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of bondservant (slave), and coming in the likeness of men.
Jesus was in the image of God, but gave up the status of equality with God and took the form of a slave and the image of man. Lucifer wanted to exalt himself to be like God but Jesus who is God, made Himself of no reputation. This is the example we need to follow in our submission into the hands of Jesus and this is our inspiration when we look unto Jesus. We judge Lucifer but often forget that we ourselves desire and strive for greater and better things in life to put us in a better position than we are. Jesus took upon Himself all the blasphemy, shame, disgrace and chose to ignore it for the sake of His father’s will. In contrast, we often find ourselves working for a good name and reputation and hurting when it is damaged. Jesus never promised us a good reputation. He said in Matthew 5:11 that if we need to be in the Kingdom of God, we will be reviled, persecuted and falsely accused. Following Jesus means taking our cross and following Him daily. His cross was shame, disgrace, brokenness and suffering. When Jesus the Christ, the holiest and righteous one who knew no sin took all the shame, ridicule and disgrace from sinners, how much are we willing to suffer for His sake and our salvation? When we face such a situation, we become weary, exhausted and lose heart. This just indicates that we are trying to endure this process in our flesh and are not rooted in Him, due to which, after a point of time we give up. This situation is common in many of us who seek deliverance. There are a few who stand strong and determined that no matter what the suffering, they decide to keep their focus on Jesus and keep Him supreme than the shame and suffering. The way God delivers them is beyond description. Whereas, many others become discouraged with the time and pain of the process and give up and alas, lose the joy of the Kingdom of God. If Jesus Himself endured His cross, who better than Him can be a role model for us to endure ours?
Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Like Israel if we refuse to wait on the Lord and murmur instead, then we are destroyed in the wilderness. Peter says that Jesus obeyed His father until death, death on the cross. The commitment expected from us by Jesus is nothing short of this. Note the word in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 4, ‘resisted to bloodshed’. We need to be firm in our commitment to this process to the point of shedding our blood. Many of us expect ready-made comfortable solutions from Jesus once the commitment is made. In fact many of us were coaxed into following Christianity because Jesus was portrayed as one who grants all our wishes. But the scripture says otherwise. Salvation does not come without a commitment to obey God at the cost of our very lives.
Continuing further onto the 5th verse of Hebrews chapter 12, Paul introduces a new word in this process of obedience: ‘chastening’. ‘Chastening’ means “to correct by punishment or suffering, to discipline, to purify.” Many of us are not able to digest or attribute this character to Jesus. We think Jesus is full of love, so life will be easy and we can never come to terms with the fact that He Himself will make us suffer or punish us. Instead, He clearly asks us not to dislike this chastening or in other words, He asks us to love being chastened by Him. He says that He chastens and scourges (means of punishing that causes great trouble and suffering) only those He loves.
By character, we prefer to cover up our sinful nature. If we try to hide our sinful nature, then we are refusing His disciplining and correction and in turn refuse His love. Many of us, when we commit a sin, ask for forgiveness. The motive behind this is we basically beg God to let us go without correction. This is not forgiveness. In the Greek text the original word for ‘forgive’ is ‘aphes’ which means “to send away” “to let go.” So, when we ask God to forgive us, we basically are asking him to “let us go or send us away.” Rather if we pray for mercy and grace, He will ‘forgive us our sins’ i.e., through this process of chastening, he will un-tie the sin from us and send it away from us and bring us to His way and tie us to Himself.
Matthew 6:12 “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
Understand this insightful prayer of Jesus. He clearly says “Forgive us our sins (let our sins go away from us), as we forgive our debtors (as we let go of those who sinned against us).” This is forgiveness, where Jesus divorces us from our sins but not us from Him. He unties our sins from us and unites us with Him. Unfortunately, we Christians have manipulated this prayer as “forgive us” (instead of Him forgiving our sins) and have lost the complete truth.
Luke 18:13 “And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’”
This is the model prayer by a sinner that justified Him. When we ask for grace and mercy, He will forgive us our sins (separate us from our sins) but not us (He will not separate us from Him).
But why do we need this chastening?
Chastening is only for sons. If we despise this chastening from Jesus, we declare that we do not want to be His children. We do not chasten strangers’ children, do we? Correction and discipline are only for the offspring. Jesus wants us to be His children, His heirs and co-heirs in the inheritance. Unless we are perfected into His sonship, we are ineligible to be partakers with Him which is possible only through His grace of chastening. If we want to be exempted from correction and left without disciplining, then we are illegitimate children or in other words children of a harlot. The original Greek Bible uses the term here as ‘bastards’. We hope this needs no further explanation. We accept the human fatherly correction as the norm and rule, but we do not associate the same principle with God who is our supreme Father. Many of us want deliverance, but not chastening. How can one operate without the other? How can the blood operate without the cross?
So then, how can we readily submit for His correction?
Just the way Job did. Many of us have understood Job’s life very differently from the truth. Job, when he had problems, persistently argued and justified his case by explaining how righteous and just he was and that he had to be vindicated. He missed one point that, though his heart was pleasing to God, his righteousness and justification were not God’s righteousness. It was his self-righteousness that he held as standard. To make him understand this, God allowed Satan to enter his life. After a certain time of Job questioning and complaining, Elihu a young man, contradicts Job and explains the unmatchable supremacy of God’s righteousness over his self-righteousness. Elihu speaks unlike the other three friends who actually amidst Job’s suffering, try to accuse him that he is not righteous enough, the very opposite of the lesson that God was trying to teach Job. Finally, God speaks to him from a whirlwind in chapters 38 to 41 in the book of Job, revealing His authority and might as the King! As soon as this realization hits Job, note his reply:
Job 40:3 - 5 Then Job answered the Lord and said: “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”
We simply need to stop our arguments, justification of self-approved holiness and shut our mouths. Till we reach this point, Jesus will not relent. This is how we can readily submit for correction.
Our human fathers can correct us only to a certain point in life. But our heavenly Father is careful about our souls till the very end, till our death. Therefore Christian life is suffering through chastening, that brings peace, purification and salvation of the soul, till the very end. If we submit to this process of grace, then we are under the experience of salvation leading us to the unshakable rights to be His children, the ultimate honor and privilege anyone could have. If we resist this, then we are not in God’s Kingdom and forego the privilege.
Romans 8:17 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.
Jesus knows that His chastening and purging is not joyful but painful and distressing to begin with. Consider a person who starts training as an amateur for any arduous physical activity. He/ she suffers at the beginning. But once it becomes a habit, nothing beats the comfort it could give and he/ she feels incomplete and lost without it. It is no more a suffering but a way of life. Likewise, once we are trained in this process of obedience, this becomes our way of life. Unless and otherwise we are under this process of grace through obedience, the righteousness of Jesus the Christ can never be inherited by us. In other words, we never become Christians or have peace, joy and rest. If we ever dedicated our lives to Jesus, or prayed for the will of God to be done, then whether we are aware or not, this is the process He takes us through and this is Christian life! We hope now you understand what Paul means by “presenting yourselves as slaves to obedience that leads to righteousness.” In addition to these principles, it is also important to know that the devil uses his ploys to get us to slide off this track that we run. He persuades us to give up. We often become restless and lose patience in this process and often want to question God “how long?” He will constantly use every means to convince us that we are good enough Christians and do not need this chastening. But, instead of listening to this voice, if we only ask Jesus for His blood i.e., His Life and constantly submit ourselves into His hands to be corrected and disciplined in order to be rid of the things that are against His word in our lives, then He will take control and lead us according to:
Isaiah 42:16 “I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them.”
The second word we would like to explain from verse 16 of Romans 6 is:
PRESENT YOURSELVES / SUBMIT
In many instances above, we spoke about submitting into the hands of Jesus. James speaks about submitting as well in His letter to the churches. We have seen how we need to endure submission through obedience so far, but what happens during our submission? How does this bring about righteousness? In order to understand better, let us meditate 1st Corinthians chapter 3 verses 10-15. We will go through this verse by verse.
1 Corinthians 3:10,11 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
All of us are eager to build our spiritual lives according to our strength, capabilities and talents. But we need to remember that the foundation can be only one, i.e., Jesus the Christ. Consider Barabas who was freed in the place of Jesus and the two thieves who were punished on the cross. Barabas lost the grace and was let go free to continue to lead his life in the world without any suffering. Instead, the two thieves through punishment found grace but consider how both of them used this grace. The first thief asked to be delivered like all of us do. So, what was wrong with that? The first thief wanted to be out of the chastening. He wanted to forego the cross and tried to use Jesus to deliver himself from the cross. He basically abused God by confessing that He did not know what he needed. But the second thief used the cross for his salvation. On the cross he submitted to the will of God and preferred the Kingdom of God over deliverance. The question is, in our attempt to build our spiritual life, how are we using the opportunity given to us? Are we using Jesus for our deliverance or to be in His Kingdom? If we prefer not to lose the glorious opportunity to be in God’s Kingdom and be His slaves and children, then we are on the way to salvation.
1 Corinthians 3:12,13 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.
In order to build our spiritual life, we sacrifice many of our valued possessions on the altar of Jesus. Whatever we consider as gold or silver, we try to sacrifice, for e.g. money, talents, habits and often our very lives. We often say that we have committed our lives to Jesus and His work or will. Many of us do not understand the magnitude of the resolution we make. Just because we have given our lives to Him, it does not mean that our house will be built on the foundation magically. Rather, once we submit our lives, the fire will test, critically appraise the character and the worth of the submission. While being tested by the fire, either our sacrifice will survive the fire or will be destroyed. What will be spared? This fire from God will spare only the things that we have inherited from Jesus. Whatever is in the image of God or whatever is from the creator Himself will survive the test. Every thought, wish, desire or habit we have inherited without Jesus will be burnt by the fire. Submission is in our choosing this process than choosing a way out for a comfortable but lost life. This entire process is grace or in other words we can call it as ‘baptism by fire’.
1 Peter 1:7 That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Job 23:10 But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
Many of us think that speaking in tongues or having an experience close to the day of Pentecost is what qualifies as ‘anointing by fire’. It is nothing but acknowledging that He is the God who purifies us and that we come forth as gold once tested and therefore submitting to it.
1 Corinthians 3:14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
If our submission on the altar survives, then we are like the wise man who built his house upon the rock. So, basically in submission we are preferring to give whatever we have inherited from the system of this world or in other words, whatever we inherited by missing Jesus the Christ to be burnt on His altar and this is what makes us His slaves. This is abandoning of our souls into His hands. If we do not abandon our souls to be tested by the fire in the day of grace, ultimately we have to do it on the day of judgment into the eternal fire where it will no more be testing but destruction. We need to decide whether we are going to present ourselves and prefer this process in the days of grace or suffer eternally.
What is the reward if our submission survives the testing?
Mark 10:29,30 Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, 30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time – houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life.”(1)
It is interesting to note the words ‘hundredfold and with persecutions’. What does this mean? It does not mean that He will give us hundredfold of the material blessings we lost i.e., replace one house with hundred houses. If we sacrifice ourselves as slaves on the altar choosing Him being our Lord and King as more important than any material blessing, then He exposes, burns and destroys all the ungodly things which are in contradiction to His word and blood. This refinement leads to our transformation without any shadow of darkness because all the things that turn us away from Him will be destroyed by the fire. This pure refined gold is hundredfold blessing because the blessing itself is Jesus the Christ being our life and His love being poured into our hearts and nothing else can supersede this. There could be no greater blessing than God Himself who is love, becoming our life. This in turn should not become our pride and pave way for us to be lured back into the world. This blessing, if at any point gives us pride in our strength or confidence, He gives a thorn to constantly remind us that we need to depend on Him and puts us through the process again. This is called hundredfold blessing with persecution. The persecution is to remind us of our inability and to depend on Him and one that will keep us from deviating off the track we need to run upon.
2 Corinthians 12:7 - 9 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelation, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Considering this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Note that the messenger of Satan was given to Paul for chastening by God Himself!
We can further understand the importance of submission through Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac on the altar.
When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only precious son, the very promise itself, it makes no sense because God Himself promised Abraham a son (Abraham never asked for a child), named the promised child as Isaac even before he was conceived, made it very clear that Isaac was the covenant and not Ishmae