2/18/21 - THE WAGES or THE GIFT? You Choose.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”Romans‬ ‭6:23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A wage is something you earn, a gift is something you receive. The contrasting nature of those words evokes a different response in our minds and hearts.

When Adam sinned in the garden, what was once a gift became a burden and a chore. The joy of serving was replaced with thorns, thistles, barrenness and labor. Singing and worshiping was replaced with sweat and tears. Wages. It matters not how much of it you earn, what you are required to do to earn it comes at a cost for you, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, even if you “enjoy” whatever it is that you do to earn a living. Adam’s sin has robbed us of the joy that once came from serving “working.” The sin of disobedience is still paying a high wage today, that wage is both spiritual and physical death.

Enters the Second Adam, with the promise of a gift. A Gift that while He doesn’t give us a vacation from physical laboring, offers us a way to get through it with joy, His joy. He begins by offering us refreshing for our souls. The part of us that is wearied and weighted down by the cares of this world. A way to get out from under the yoke and bondage of sin. Sin’s wage was a debt we owed and couldn’t pay.

Just like credit card companies promising the freedom to spend money that’s not yours, sin gets you deeper in debt to its attractiveness and before you know it, like the credit card, it’s costing you more than your ability to pay. I’ve seen people open their wallets to a display of debt/death. They had made the decision to accept every offer they were given, but reality hits, the money wasn’t free it’s time to pay up. Satan, like the credit card companies, made an offer, we have a choice of life or death, the impending wage or the gift. The subtleties of the enemy is no match for the Gift, but the decision to choose wisely is still ours.

This was the Lord’s offer to mankind prior to the fall.

“The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2:15-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The offer of wages or gift was evident in that moment. We all know what happened in Genesis 3, they chose the wages of death. But picking up where I left off with The Second Adam Jesus, the offer of the gift of God was reintroduced. In John chapter 1 we read.

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”John‬ ‭1:29‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Notice it didn’t say sins but sin singular. But in that one act of rebellion and disobedience lurked every other evil work.

Then Jesus following up with His own offer

said these life changing words.

“Then Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I Am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-30‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Ladies and gentlemen, sin is both a yoke and a burden. The longer we remain in its clutches the harder it gets to leave. It promises that tomorrow will be different, but the dark hole gets darker. Jesus came to remove the penalty by taking upon Himself sin and all its counterparts. On the cross, He became inflicted by every disease and sickness known to man, every perverted act of sin we could ever commit, our sin wage was so disgusting that it disfigured and marred Him. Isaiah said He was unrecognizable.

“But many were amazed when they saw Him. His face was so disfigured He seemed hardly human, and from His appearance, one would scarcely know He was a man.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭52:14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

That’s what our sin did to Him. But He willingly submitted to the wages, so that through His suffering we may receive the gift freely given us by God the Father through Him. If someone offered to pay off all your debt, how would you react? What would your response be? Well guess what? Someone did! At a great price. In the natural we’d be ecstatic, and that offer was temporal, this offer is eternal. Why then are we so ungrateful? Because we forget that we’re not the gift, He is. We can easily get back into debt naturally and most of us have. But what God did in Christ can never be nullified. This Gift of God, when received, has been living up to its promise for centuries and generations.

The Gift of God produces in us unspeakable joy. We work at our careers as unto the Lord, we may be tired physically but renewed and refreshed inwardly because of His indwelling presence. We’re not wearied in doing well, because we wear His yoke, we don’t see the glass half empty but half full. We’re viewing life through different lenses. We have the Spirit of wisdom, knowledge and understanding. We’re fervent in prayer, not lacking in zeal for the Lord. We submit to God in all things, we love what He loves and hate what He hates. We don’t abuse the Gift, we cherish and submit to Him and His Word. The exchange is unimaginable. Who could have dreamed that a Holy God would love and care for sinners so deeply and selflessly?

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave His One and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.” John‬ ‭3:16-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus Himself and then delivered to us by those who heard Him speak?” ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭2:3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Why wouldn’t we want to accept the Gift? And if we have, why would we treat it as common, something to lay aside when it doesn’t fit our narrative and pick up when faced with the wages of sin. Some church folks only turn to the Gift whenever there’s a problem. Then they criticize those of us who are enjoying the benefits of the Gift. Someone asked me what do I say to those who have lost their jobs and can’t feed their families and are Christians. My answer. “I don’t know them or their situation, but I know my God.” He’s always faithful, His Word is trustworthy and I’ve never known Him to fail, EVER! We need to believe no matter what. I have no control over how the problem comes, but I determine how it plays out. I can choose the path of a victim or a victor. That’s what happens when I embrace the Gift of life through Jesus Christ.

Don’t ever judge God by what people are going through. If they have accepted the free Gift, God may use you as His hands to meet their need. Money doesn’t fall from the sky. We are His body. Whatever God allows is always for a greater purpose. Take your eyes off the problem/wage and place it on the Gift, Jesus Christ. Most of the apostle Paul’s letters of encouragement were written from prison, yet he displayed great faith why? He had not only received the Gift, he was living it. We have not fully embraced the reality of what all is included in the great exchange. Or we’re living the double minded life. And that too comes with a wage.

“But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” James‬ ‭1:6-8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I repeat: Don’t ever judge the grace and goodness of God by people’s circumstances. You don’t have God’s vantage point. We see the outside God sees the heart. And don’t be quick to jump in and fix their problems either, God may just be disciplining them as sons. Most of the wages we earned can be traced back to sin in our lives. But if we’ll do what the apostle John says, we’ll discover that He’s faithful and just to forgive us. The word just is from the root word justice, He not only tries us He vindicates us as well. 1 John 1:9

“Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:1-2, 13, 22‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I would like to encourage you to read the entire chapter of Romans 6. I have chosen specific verses to tie into this message but you’ll be best served by reading all of it. People of God, we have been given a Superb Gift. Why would we choose to live for sins’ pittance any longer? It’s no different than saying I choose sickness over health, poverty over prosperity, chaos over peace. Sin is not to be toyed with, sin is to be exposed and embarrassed before it embarrasses you! One act of sin can destroy a decade of good works and your legacy. It’s a wage with a hefty price tag. Choose the Gift of life! Jesus paid it ALL!

“Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

Written by permission of the Holy Spirit

W. Tennant