Dean Inserra

What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? (Romans 6:1 HCSB)

Great question. It is what some use to justify living a lifestyle that is contrary to Scripture, and it is also the reason why the Mother Hen gets uneasy about grace-focused messages.

How does Paul answer this? Does he say to the person who wants to live a life of sin, “here are some stricter guidelines for you.” Do he tell the Mother Hen, “you’re right. We need to preach the rules and regulations more often.”

Paul took the opposite approach. He gave them more and more gospel. Read the following verses after the question is asked and be astonished. I hope this message still astonishes you.

Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life. For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:2-14 HCSB)

Mother Hens, people need to go deeper into the gospel story. Trust the gospel. If we can trust God to save, we can also trust him to sustain.

Today Dean and our Connections Director, Lee Ellzey, fill you in on all things City Church related:

This Sunday, we hold our next Ownership Class at 1:30 p.m. in the warehouse. Register to let us know you’ll be there (and childcare is provided) at citychurchtallahassee.com

Just 9 Sundays until Easter!

–thedocrob

When talking about the saving grace of God, one will usually have to deal with the uneasiness of what I like to call a “mother hen.” Mother hens are on our team, and certainly believe the gospel. They would defend it and probably have been through more Bible studies than anyone you know. In my experience, the hens are usually MEN who were raised in conservative Churches and avoided what their Churches would look at as “the big sins.” That usually just means they don’t drink alcohol and married as virgins. In the South, that means you are a serious believer, apparently.

The idea that the grace of God truly is the unmerited favor extended to us by the Lord is affirmed by the mother hen, but he/she get uneasy with it and thinks you need to add a little more to the story. If we are too heavy on grace, people might think it is okay to get drunk and have sex. When avoiding these things are the goal…preaching the rules is expected.

In the book of Romans, Paul wrote a long and richest description of our tragic position as sinner and our solution through Christ, by the grace of God. This book of the Bible, especially, shapes our understanding of God’s saving work today.

Here is some of the flow of Romans:

And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. Although they know full well God’s just sentence-that those who practice such things deserve to die-they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32 HCSB)

There is no favoritism with God.
All those who sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all those who sinned under the law will be judged by the law. (Romans 2:11, 12 HCSB)

as it is written:

There is no one righteous, not even one.

There is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away;

all alike have become useless.

There is no one who does what is good,

not even one.

For no one will be justified in His sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin [comes] through the law.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:10-12, 20, 23 HCSB)

They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. [God presented Him] to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:24-26 HCSB)

But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness.

Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:5, 22-25 HCSB)

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1, 2 HCSB)

But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, [then how] much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:8-12 HCSB)

Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is life-giving justification for everyone. For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:17-21 HCSB)

Yes! Amen! Says the mother hen. But make sure you have some balance in that message. Make sure you tell them they have to follow the rules too. Don’t you think this message will produce people who “get saved” and then walk out of the door and go live however they want?

In Romans 6:1 Paul is basically saying, I had a feeling I was going to get asked about that…

Why does grace make people so nervous? Why does the “mother hen” come out in so many believers when the gospel is explained? You know those mother hens. The ones who just can’t handle a message of grace. They want some “yea…but,” inserted into the message out of their alleged concern for others. They want to make sure you included some rules, regulations, and extra parameters that others just need to know.

The mother hen certainly would claim to believe Ephesians 2:8-9.

“For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift- not from works, so that no one can boast.”

Mama hen would leave the Church (rightfully so) if the Pastor preached something contrary to that message. Mama hen gets nervous, however, unless you make sure to include verse 10: “For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”

Obviously verse 10 is IN THE BIBLE and is therefore essential to understanding God’s will for the believer, but there is a reason why it falls in the exact place it does in the text. Paul structures many of his writings around answering the concerns of the mother hen.

I will be explaining this idea all week on this site. Hopefully it will bring some clear gospel understanding to all of us.

Tomorrow we will look at the ultimate mother hen concern: What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? (Romans 6:1 HCSB)

I preach the gospel to myself because:

5. It is the answer.

The gospel story now shapes my understanding of everything in life. My marriage, finances, understanding of forgiveness, parenting, difficulties in life, successes…all of life, is understood by what I believe about the creation, fall, redemption and renewal of all things.

I need more of the gospel to help me understand this life.

A few Sundays ago I had someone walk out and say to me, “you preach the same thing every week!” I replied with a quick “thanks for noticing!”

If you ever notice anything different, please call me out when you seem me.

Now brothers, I want to clarify for you the gospel I proclaimed to you; you received it and have taken your stand on it. You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you-unless you believed for no purpose. For I passed on to you as most important what I also received:

but some have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:1-6 HCSB)