A Yielded Life

Have you had any trouble with sin this week? “No,” you say? You are also a bit arrogant then because you know very well that you’ve had trouble with sin. As a matter of fact, if you say you haven’t had trouble with sin, that is proof that you have had trouble with it.
I John 1:8 says if we say we are without sin, we make God a liar! If we are saved, God has delivered us from sin by His grace. But we still live in human, fleshly bodies and that is what causes us problems with sin.

If we are Christians, then inwardly we are cured of the sin dilemma. But we have choices to make everyday in a world that is ruled by sin. In Romans 6:11-23, the Apostle Paul shows us that God did not come into our lives to improve us. He came in to replace us! And that happens only when we live a yielded life:

“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” – Romans 6:13

What does that mean? Too often we read a passage of Scripture and we believe it simply because it’s God’s Word, but we haven’t a clue what it really means. Right? Well, when we realize that in our human, fleshly bodies (which are dying) lives the inordinate flesh that seeks to influence us to sin, we make a choice not to allow that and that’s called salvation. That’s step-one. Paul is telling us that we need now to consider the members of our bodies: hands, feet, eyes, whatever you want to call a member of your fleshly body. Paul calls it a body of sin. And we’re told not to yield it anymore as an instrument of unrighteousness.

Sometimes we forget what the word “yield” means. It’s not just traffic terminology. It comes from two Greek words. One word means “alongside,” and the other word means “to place yourself.” The picture Paul is drawing here is amazing! Paul is saying, “Don’t keep putting yourself in a position where you can be overpowered by the flesh. It’s just waiting for you to do that. Don’t keep yielding yourself. Don’t keep putting yourself “alongside” that kind of thing. (That thing could be pornography, gossip, unwholesome entertainment, non-Christian friends who negatively influence us, alcohol, television, you –fill-in-the-blank _______.) Instead of yielding ourselves to that, instead of accommodating the flesh, Paul says accommodate God: Yield yourselves to God. That’s how he replaces us. And that word “yield” is aorist active imperative. That means that grammatically it is a command! The aorist tense means DO IT! Just do it. If you’re saved – you need to train your senses to line up under Christ. Accommodate yourself to Christ. Put yourself where you can be influenced by the Sprit of God and not by the flesh. What does that mean for you this next week? -

Pastor Mark