We will not spend a great deal of time on chapter 6 of Romans for the lesson is obvious, i.e., if you want to belong to Christ you must give up a life of sin. This is why the people, who love and embrace a life of sin, are the ones who are most outspoken in their condemnation of Christianity, and of those who try to uphold moral standards. The two sides are natural enemies. Paul makes a strong contrast in this chapter between sin and righteousness. It is not the kind of sermon that is
being preached today by the "feel-good-and-get-rich" religion that is so popular in some of today's mega-churches. Paul says you can't have it both ways. You will either love righteousness, or you will love sin. If we fulfill our animal desires, we may feel good, enjoy ourselves, and even get rich, but we will not get righteousness unless we pursue it, and that takes a lot of disciplining of my animal self, and its desires.
It is interesting to note that Paul says, in verse 19, "I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves." In the next chapter he is to say that he identifies with our human weakness, and realizes the difficulty of living up to righteousness. However, this is no excuse for espousing sin as a way of life. Just because we are weak humans, it does not mean that following our animal desires is the right way to live. At the close of this chapter Paul says, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Note that we earn death, but life has to be given by God. That is why we must have faith in Him, and in the sacrifice of His Son. We cannot earn life. This is the very quality that is lacking in those who disdain Christianity, and want to eliminate all things relating to God from our world. Lacking faith, they must turn to their hedonistic passions for any meaning to their lives.
The prophets of old were not politically correct, nor are the true prophets of today. The old prophets preached repentance, which says, "Reject the lure of earthly temptations, and make God your guide." They rejected Jesus Christ because He would not promise them an earthly kingdom, and power and riches. His message of "love not the world, nor the things of the world", and "seek ye first the kingdom, and its righteousness", were not what they wanted to hear. Why are we surprised today when even churches, in order to appeal to the masses, endorse immoral behavior, and promise that accepting their religion will make you rich and happy in this world?
I have never feared atheists and agnostics. I have never felt threatened by pagans and anti-Christians. However, I find it more than a little disturbing that many of our religious leaders, and whole congregations of people who call themselves Christians, are beginning to condone and uphold immoral practices which are antithetic to everything the Bible teaches.
The non-believers never paid any attention to the word "sin", but when masses of religious people change the very definition of it, and refuse to accept the Bible as the authority on the subject, it is cause for serious concern.
If you take the Bible as your authority, and respect God's word as the standard for moral living, you are not going to be popular in this current society. If Christian people, in order to appear loving and tolerant, back away from the Biblical strong condemnation of sin and worldly living, they will do more harm to themselves, and the cause of Christ, than all the atheists in the world.
