Who is Your Master?

This week’s series of blog posts have been created from Mark’s notes rather than a transcript of the sermon. This hopefully will give you additional insight into the passage. You can download Mark’s sermon notes below.

Monday February 24’s devotional. “You are slaves of the one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness.” (Romans 6:16, CSB)

Many people believe freedom means living without constraints, doing whatever pleases them. But Scripture presents a different reality: we are all slaves. Mark Penrith preached, “We are all slaves. Slaves of sin. Or slaves of obedience.” True freedom is not found in autonomy but in surrender to Christ.

Paul anticipates an objection in Romans 6:15: “Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not!” Mark explained, “If you think that way, you don’t understand your salvation. If you live that way, you don’t understand salvation.” Grace does not give us a license to sin; it calls us into joyful obedience.

The language Paul uses is striking: slavery. The Greek word doulos means a person owned by a master, bound in complete obedience. “A slave is a person owned. Bound to serve a master with absolute obedience,” Mark said. This is not an optional concept for Christians. We are either slaves to sin, which leads to death, or slaves to righteousness, which leads to life.

Sin presents itself as freedom, but it enslaves. It lures us with false promises of pleasure and autonomy, yet it tightens its grip until we are trapped in shame and destruction. Mark illustrated this reality: “Sin promises us control, but in the end, it controls us. It tells us we can live however we want, but in the end, it leaves us empty, broken, and trapped.” What we think is freedom apart from God is actually bondage to sin.

However, there is another way. Paul reminds believers in Romans 6:17-18: “Thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.” True freedom is found in joyful submission to Christ.

Mark emphasized, “To understand salvation, we must embrace this truth. We are not our own. We are slaves of Christ, called to obedient servitude to Him.” The world resists this idea, but Jesus Himself taught, “If the Son sets you free, you really will be free” (John 8:36, CSB). Freedom is not doing whatever we want; it is living as we were created to live, under the righteous rule of God.

Reflection Questions:

What does it mean to be a slave spiritually?

In what ways do you struggle with sin’s control in your life?

Challenge: Identify one area where sin tempts you and commit it to prayer, seeking to obey God instead.

Prayer:
Father, I confess that I sometimes mistake sin for freedom. Help me to see that true freedom is found in joyful obedience to You. Give me the strength to submit to Christ as my Master and to resist sin’s control. In Jesus’ name, amen.

This devotional content is not penned by the preacher. It is derived from the sermon notes. We aim to provide bite-sized reflections throughout the week for devotion and reflection.