Christ The King Free Lutheran

Sermon for Trinity 7. The Scripture readings are Genesis 2:7-17; Romans 6:19-23; and Mark 8:1-9.When we understand Ro. 6:23 apart from its context – especially the phrase, “the wages of sin is death” – we most often take it to mean that when we sin, the check we cash or the payment we get is death. In other words, we do sinful works and get paid with death. Now, I want to be clear. This interpretation is true, but it can lead to some serious and dangerous drawbacks. It can feed the false notion that some sins aren’t as bad as others. “Well, I only did this little sin, so I won’t get paid as much death as that other guy who did that big sin.”What Paul is saying here, in this context, is that sin isn’t just the works we do; instead, sin is the master, the employer, the boss who pays with the currency of death. Talk about a bad economy. Sinners live in the worst economy where the only employer is sin, and sin pays with death. Sin is your employer, your boss, your master, and even your owner.“But now you have bee