Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
–Romans 6:16
As Christians, we sometimes think that we are free agents, free to do whatever we want to do. That is not true. In Romans 6, Paul explained a sobering truth that most Christians are unaware of. He said in verse 16, “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” All of us serve someone. We either serve God or we serve Satan. We are either slaves to righteousness or we are slaves to unrighteousness. And get this: we get to choose our master. We get to choose whether we are going to be slaves to righteousness or slaves to unrighteousness.
Let’s say that you were hunting for a new job, and you had narrowed it down to two employers. Before you made your decision, you would want to know the wage that each employer offered. You would want to know about the benefits and the vacation policy. You would probably investigate the character of the two employers themselves. And based on all of that, you would choose which employer you were going to serve.
In the same way, Paul was saying we get to choose who our employer will be. Do we want to work for God, or do we want to work for Satan? Do we want to serve righteousness or unrighteousness? Consider the wages and the benefits that each one offers. Paul wrote in verses 21-22, “Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.” Then he continued, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 23). Many of us learned that verse when we were children, and we use it in the context of evangelism. But Paul was not writing to non-Christians; he was talking to Christians who were falling back into sin. And he was saying, “Remember what your life was like back when Satan was your master. The ultimate result of sin is death and destruction.” That is true for us as well. Choosing pride over humility destroys our relationships. Choosing adultery over fidelity destroys our marriages. Choosing gluttony over self-control destroys our bodies. Choosing laziness over diligence and perseverance destroys our dreams. The end result of sin, of serving Satan, is the death and destruction of everything important to you. And yet when you disobey God, you are choosing Satan to be your master. Obedience to God protects us from the bitter wages of disobedience.
