685 Slaves of Righteousness - Romans 6:18

Yesterday. I asked if you've ever been a slave or considered yourself a slave. We're still talking about slavery today. Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. Each day, we try and help one another going to our workplaces and see ourselves as ministers who make a difference in our work. And today I want to continue that process. Yesterday we started reading some passages in Roman six, and today I want to read Romans 6:17-18. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. "But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching, to which you were committed. And having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness."

Paul's talking about our identity here. We act out of our identity. In our past, because of who we are, we trained ourselves to listen to someone and do what they said. Often we did that for our jobs or for our workplaces, but it didn't really change who we were. The way we figure out how to do things, though, becomes who we are. And we almost become slaves of ourselves, or saves of this process of making decisions without God, through the way that we train ourselves to make a living in the world. We figure out work often outside of the context of our faith, that's what I did. Today, I want to talk a little bit more about the alternative, which is to become a slave to righteousness.

It's to actually remind ourselves every day as we go to work who we work for. Here I am. When we say that prayer, we punch ourselves in, we put ourselves on the clock and we say, Jesus, here I am today. I want to work for you. Would you please put me to work in the world? This conversation with Jesus helps us remember that we're slaves to righteousness. We're committed to work for him. And when we do that, he puts us to work in the world. He uses us in the lives of our coworkers or customers, or our vendors. He will give you ideas and prompt you with ways that you can minister to other people.

And I know ministry doesn't sound like one of those fun things. But it is. We get some joy when we walk with Jesus at work. When you see Jesus on the weekends, you go to a worship service often as a Christ follower because you know that you've received some joy from celebrating and worshiping God. When we do what he says, we worship him in our world and that worship becomes part of our daily life.

We get to experience joy of being part of God's work in our own world, and we see that. A slave of righteousness is someone who's committed to remembering that I work for Jesus. This slave is, I don't even know which Greek word this really is here, I'm not looking at a Greek translation today, but often slaves were people who were just indentured servants. They work for a living, and this is what this is. I'm a slave to righteousness. I want to be somebody who's committed to Jesus Christ to doing what he wants so that he shows up in the world. Other people see him and they enjoy life following him.

That's my job as a marketplace Christian and a Christ follower. And today I want to challenge us. Let's take a look at our life and say, okay Jesus, here I am, for the next hour, whatever I do in my job, I want to do that for you. How would you put me to work? What would you have me do in the lives of someone else? While I was doing my quiet time this morning, I was reminded of three or four friends, and so I sent them each a note. Maybe you need to send a note or a text to a friend today who comes to mind while we're talking about this right now.

Becoming a slave to righteousness means we work for Jesus and that's our opportunity. We can work for him today, regardless of our job situation, regardless of our employment status, we can work for him and watch him make a difference in the lives of the people that we meet.

Thank you for being a marketplace minister, consider joining us, a community of people who want to follow Jesus more everyday at work. Join us at https://community.Followerofone.org.

Thanks very much.

Yesterday. I asked if you've ever been a slave or considered yourself a slave. We're still talking about slavery today. Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. Each day, we try and help one another going to our workplaces and see ourselves as ministers who make a difference in our work. And today I want to continue that process. Yesterday we started reading some passages in Roman six, and today I want to read Romans 6:17-18. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. "But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching, to which you were committed. And having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness."

Paul's talking about our identity here. We act out of our identity. In our past, because of who we are, we trained ourselves to listen to someone and do what they said. Often we did that for our jobs or for our workplaces, but it didn't really change who we were. The way we figure out how to do things, though, becomes who we are. And we almost become slaves of ourselves, or saves of this process of making decisions without God, through the way that we train ourselves to make a living in the world. We figure out work often outside of the context of our faith, that's what I did. Today, I want to talk a little bit more about the alternative, which is to become a slave to righteousness.

It's to actually remind ourselves every day as we go to work who we work for. Here I am. When we say that prayer, we punch ourselves in, we put ourselves on the clock and we say, Jesus, here I am today. I want to work for you. Would you please put me to work in the world? This conversation with Jesus helps us remember that we're slaves to righteousness. We're committed to work for him. And when we do that, he puts us to work in the world. He uses us in the lives of our coworkers or customers, or our vendors. He will give you ideas and prompt you with ways that you can minister to other people.

And I know ministry doesn't sound like one of those fun things. But it is. We get some joy when we walk with Jesus at work. When you see Jesus on the weekends, you go to a worship service often as a Christ follower because you know that you've received some joy from celebrating and worshiping God. When we do what he says, we worship him in our world and that worship becomes part of our daily life.

We get to experience joy of being part of God's work in our own world, and we see that. A slave of righteousness is someone who's committed to remembering that I work for Jesus. This slave is, I don't even know which Greek word this really is here, I'm not looking at a Greek translation today, but often slaves were people who were just indentured servants. They work for a living, and this is what this is. I'm a slave to righteousness. I want to be somebody who's committed to Jesus Christ to doing what he wants so that he shows up in the world. Other people see him and they enjoy life following him.

That's my job as a marketplace Christian and a Christ follower. And today I want to challenge us. Let's take a look at our life and say, okay Jesus, here I am, for the next hour, whatever I do in my job, I want to do that for you. How would you put me to work? What would you have me do in the lives of someone else? While I was doing my quiet time this morning, I was reminded of three or four friends, and so I sent them each a note. Maybe you need to send a note or a text to a friend today who comes to mind while we're talking about this right now.

Becoming a slave to righteousness means we work for Jesus and that's our opportunity. We can work for him today, regardless of our job situation, regardless of our employment status, we can work for him and watch him make a difference in the lives of the people that we meet.

Thank you for being a marketplace minister, consider joining us, a community of people who want to follow Jesus more everyday at work. Join us at https://community.Followerofone.org.

Thanks very much.