6-21-2026

“FREED FROM THE “RUT”; FREE TO LIVE

Text: Romans 6:12-23– Pentecost 4

Sunday June 21, 2026

Trinity – Creston

       Grace, mercy, and peace is yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

       Our text for this Fourth Sunday after Pentecost is the Epistle Lesson from Romans 6 that was just proclaimed.

Let Us Pray:  Dearest Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to remind us that you have pulled us out of the “rut” of sin and death, freeing us to serve others with not only temporal needs but eternal needs as well. Amen.

Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ:

Across southern Iowa, you’ll still find dirt roads. I mean true dirt roads—not roads that have gravel, or rock, or some other material on them to make them hardier against the weather, but true dirt roads.

When it rains on those roads, the dirt becomes a muddy mess and makes travel difficult. The first few trucks or tractors that roll down those roads etch deep ruts into the ground. If there’s been enough rain, the ruts can get so deep that any vehicle that falls into those ruts has a hard time getting out.

Woe to the car or truck that ends up in the rut!

Being “stuck in a rut” is such a sour experience that we use the phrase to describe any long-term situation that we get stuck in as we follow the same routine day after day and week after week. Your job, your relationships, your weekend routines can all leave you feeling “stuck in a rut.”

In our Epistle for today, the apostle Paul shows us that we were stuck in the most terrible of ruts: our sin that leads to death. But through the waters of Holy Baptism, Christ Jesus has freed us from that rut and has placed us back on the path of righteousness that leads to eternal life. He wants us to see that

Christ Frees Us to Live in Righteousness.

       I.   Christ has freed you from a rut, in fact, your old master, Sin, to live under him (v 13).

A.  Sin was such a deep rut that it was your master.

1.   Everyone is born sinful; we call it original sin.

2.   Everyone is under the power of sin and cannot free himself or herself from its tyranny.

a.   Some men, when they recognize the lordship of sin over them, try all kinds of ways to free themselves from sin. (Examples such as meditation and self-discipline may be used.)

b.   Despite such efforts, they still feel the pressing call of Sin, their master, and can’t be free of him.

3.   The evidence for this is clearly present in the world. Where there is man, you’ll find all kinds of impurity, lusts, greed, and selfish desires.

a.   Go to anywhere, and you will find sinners who all sin in the same ways.

b.   Isolate a man on a mountaintop or a deserted island, and you’ll find the man is still sinful!

B.  The Good News? Christ has freed you from sin and claimed you as his own.

1.   In Baptism, God joined you to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Paul says you are “those who have been brought from death to life” (v 13).

2.   Sin was put to death with Jesus.

a.   Sin, that wicked master, is drowned in the watery grave of Baptism.

b.   Sin’s power over you was broken as you there received forgiveness of all your sin through the death of Christ upon the cross.

3.   Christ claimed you as his own.

a.   Joined to Jesus, Christ makes himself your loving and gracious master in place of Sin.

b.   By faith, Christ is your Master now.

       II.  As your new Master, Christ has claimed the use of your body for righteousness (vv 12–19). “Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness” (v 13).

A.  At one time you presented your bodies as slaves to sin, and so they were!

1.   When Sin is our master, we sin freely.

a.   We have no qualms about doing evil and wickedness. Our conscience may warn us against the evil we do, but, sadly, we are not at all able to overcome it.

b.   We do what seems and feels right to us.

2.   When Sin is the master, the members of our body are put in the service of sin.

a.   Our hands are used to steal and hurt and harm.

b.   Our feet are used to take us places we ought not be.

c.   Our minds are used to scheme and think ill of our neighbor.

d.   Our tongues are used for slander and for idle and useless and degrading speech.

e.   Our less presentable parts we use in unchastity.

B.  Now you are claimed by Christ, and your bodies belong to him for righteous use.

1.   With Christ as our Master, we resist sin and do righteous deeds.

a.   Paul says, “Let not sin . . . reign in your mortal body” (v 12). Sin still resides in us, seeking to rule us again, but we resist it.

b.   The Spirit of God now works in us to walk in righteousness so that good works and the true love of God and the neighbor are manifest in both our hearts and our lives.

2.   With Christ as our Master, he puts our members into the service of righteousness.

a.   Our hands are used for generosity and relief of our neighbor’s physical needs.

b.   Our feet carry us to worship and to our neighbor’s needs.

c.   Our minds are used to consider good and rejoice in our neighbor.

d.   Our tongues praise God in prayer and song and build up our neighbor, especially with the Gospel.

e.   Even our less presentable parts serve God as in chastity we rejoice being made male or female.

       III. These two masters lead to very different ends: death or life (vv 20–23)!

A.  “The wages of sin is death” (v 23).

1.   The wages of sin is death eternal. We know this well from what we’ve been taught. Sin causes spiritual death in man. It causes man to turn away from the God who is the source of life, cutting ourselves off from the one who gives life.

Sin merits eternal death, that is, eternal condemnation. Cut off from God, our sin earns God’s wrath and condemnation to an eternity in hell.

2.   The wages of sin is death temporal. Too often, we overlook the earthly consequences of sin Paul speaks of in this passage, for sin causes much more than just spiritual and eternal death. It causes death and destruction even in this life.

a.   Sin causes, of course, our physical death. “For as in Adam all die” (1 Cor 15:22).

b.   But sin also causes death and destruction in everything it touches. This appears to be what Paul has in mind, for sin brings death to the members of our bodies so that now they bring death and destruction into the world.

(1) Sin causes the death of good relationships between husbands and wives, pastors and congregations, and friends.

(2) Sin destroys goods and property by theft.

(3) Sin destroys trust when lies are told and reputations are harmed.

(4) Sin kills when we neglect our neighbor’s needs or in anger afflict harm to his body.

B.  “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v 23).

1.   The free gift of God is eternal life. This, too, we know well from our teaching. The blood of Jesus has washed away all our sins and reconciled us with the Father, so that believing in his Son we do not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16).

2.   The free gift of God is life for our members also temporally.

a.   God’s gift of eternal life means resurrection for our bodies on the Last Day, that we might have life as God intended it. “So . . . in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22).

b.   But God’s gift of eternal life also gives life to our members that we might love and serve God and our neighbor temporally. Given the context, Paul clearly has this in mind along with eternal life, for by the gift of eternal life the Holy Spirit already now does enliven the members of our bodies for good works. Those good works bring life into the world.

(1) Where men and women do good works, the Spirit works life in relationships. Hus­bands and wives find their marriages restored and enlivened again and again. Pastors and congregations learn to bear “with one another in love” (Eph 4:2). Friends “serve one another” (Gal 5:13).

(2) Where good works are done, the Spirit works life in the world. With our members slaves to righteousness, he builds up our neighbor as we help “improve and protect his possessions and income,” “speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way,” and “help and support him in every physical need” (Small Catechism, Seventh, Eighth, and Fifth Commandments).

Conclusion: Paul shows us that Christ has freed us from the awful rut of sin and put us back on the path of righteousness. Sin was our master, but Christ has come and claimed us as his own. Now our bodies are used in his service for righteous, not unrighteous, deeds.

Through the righteous deeds of God’s people, the Spirit brings life, builds up, and does good in this world. The road goes ever on for us through life, and the ruts of sin are still there to fall into, but through Jesus Christ our Lord and his gracious Spirit, we will always continue on that road that leads to life eternal. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior...Amen.