From Casual Death to Committed Life
Casual death wants your soul. So, how do we go "From Casual Death to Committed Life"? There is nothing casual about God's commitment to you and your life. Romans 6:20-23 shows us that God pays you nothing, but gives you everything. October 10, 2010.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel announced, “Kohler Co. has become the latest large Wisconsin manufacturer seeking to establish a two-tier wage system and make extensive use of ‘flexible’ employees working at lower pay and for much of the time without health benefits … [Kohler] follows similar moves by Harley-Davidson … and by Mercury Marine” (“Kohler seeks two-tier wage system, more use of ‘flexible’ workers,” October 4, 2010). Flexible or seasonal workers are nothing new. In December UPS hires seasonal workers and each summer State Fair uses temporary help. Companies like Kohler, however, have cut jobs and are turning to more-than temporary replacements described as “casuals,” hired in skilled trades from the ranks of unemployed skilled workers.
That can create a problem. The use of casuals not only ends the careers of long-time, faithful employees and can kill the morale of full-time employees who do survive the cuts. It also can create a tentative job situation for the casuals who don’t know how soon they’ll be dismissed and it can create tension in the job environment between fully-salaried employees and casual employees willing to cross the tough union line and take lower pay. Add to that a casual approach of some casual workers perhaps not as committed to their not-as-committed employer, resulting in casual quality. Now, this doesn’t mean workers hired as casuals and companies who use casuals are somehow immoral. But it does mean a scenario where everyone can lose. Call it casual death.
Casual death wants your soul.
Pastor Paul asks us at the beginning of this section of Romans. “Shall we sin because we are … under grace” (Romans 6:15)? One way to answer is a shrug of the shoulders, a smirk on the face, and a, “Sure, why not. I’ll be forgiven anyway. And last time I sinned it’s not like the earth opened up and the fires of hell shot out or anything. And besides, everyone else is doing it.” That’s casual.
That’s the attitude of people who are “slaves to sin … free from righteousness.” Casual Christianity is not under the control of righteousness, not under the control of God or eternal life but under the control of sin, Satan, and death. Okay, maybe we didn’t wake up one day and say, “I’d like to serve Satan today … I’d like to offer my body parts to sin,” but maybe we did not wake up and pray like this: “God, forgive me for serving other masters. For loving them in ways I have not loved you. Set me free from them. Set me free from my sinful lusts, from the lies of Satan, from the dark world of spiritual death. Because of Jesus Christ, who has become my Savior and my Lord, I offer myself – all I am, all I have, all I want, all I can become – to you. Make your right ways and holy desires my master. Make your gracious care, your forgiveness, and your perfect wisdom my master. Save me, O God, from sin to serve you no matter what.”
Take a casual approach to your sock drawer if you want, but do not take a casual approach to God. “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come,” Jesus warns. “So watch yourselves” (Luke 7:1,3). There’s nothing casual about sinning against God. The Bible argues that a casual approach to sin – a ho-hum, care-free, not-a-big-deal-because-I-go-to-church attitude – feels good with sin at first but after we sin we’re ashamed. Loaded with heavy regret. Worse than that, if we’re slaves to the control of sin then we’re slaves to the control of death that snatches our bodies and also our souls away from God forever. Casual death is the master of anyone who thinks that sin is just another casual part of another day. “The wages of sin is death.”
The state of North Dakota hired a consultant who suggested that state employees be compensated based upon how well they meet supervisors’ expectations. Being paid for performance is fine if you’re waiting on tables for tips, but it’s a scary proposition for salaried employees. “Honey, I have some bad news. This morning my supervisor decided to increase my job performance criteria to levels I’m not achieving yet, so even though yesterday I was making $50,000 a year today I’m making 25. Better cancel those new kitchen cabinets, and I guess we can’t send the kids to college.” God’s system of compensation isn’t nearly as subjective or scary. “Now that you have been set free from sin and become slaves to God the benefit you reap is that you live in a holy way, and the final result – eternal life.”
Call it committed life. Getting wages we deserve from God is not a compensation package that any sensible sinner should ever want. The only hope of unworthy servants is to get what we do not deserve. “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus Christ died and has taken sin’s curse for us so it can not ever pay us its deadly wages. Jesus Christ rose and has broken sin’s control over us so it can not ever tell us what to decide or how we should live. Jesus Christ has set us free from sin’s manipulation and scare tactics to serve a new master, a new control of God’s righteousness. We are slaves to God.
When that persistent sin comes near we say, “No!” because God is not casual about that sin or about us conquering it. God is committed to us through Jesus Christ. He is our Lord, and we are committed to him. When somebody sins against us seven times in a day and repents, we forgive him or her because God is not casual about that sinner or our response. God is committed to us through Jesus Christ. He is our Lord, and we are committed to him. When those of you who have asked to become members at Grace are taught that membership is discipleship and the nurturing of your faith is an ongoing process at Grace, it is because God is not casual. God is committed to you through Jesus Christ. He is our Lord, and we are committed to him. “The task is great,” David agrees with us in his prayer, but he knows God is committed, “Everything comes from you” (1 Chronicles 29:1,14).
Everything. That one word tells how committed God is to you. Jesus says that he’ll let you move a tree or mountain if that’s what your faith needs. He’ll stop at nothing. He’s committed to everything now and forever. God gives you this gift so that your gift to him is nothing less. Jesus says, “When you have done everything you were told to do” (Luke 17:10). You can do everything God tells you.
The new TV series, “Undercover Boss,” features CEOs leaving the board room and going undercover to evaluate and improve their own company. Over the course of a week they interact with three or four non-management level workers in different company locations. At the end of the week the CEOs meet with the workers. In the episodes I have watched the CEOs have offered the workers increased wages and promotions, but there was more. The CEOs realized how much people mattered to their company, and that improvement means a lot more than analyzing bar graphs and company profit. The CEOs have offered gifts to these workers like paying for one employee’s trip to see a dying grandmother or sending the daughter of another employee to college. There was nothing casual about the CEOs’ commitment to improving their companies through people, and giving them gifts. There is nothing casual about God’s commitment to you and your life.
He pays you nothing, but gives you everything. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on October 10, 2010
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