Choosing a Lord to Serve

Homily for Sunday, June 28, 2026
The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
Romans 6:12-23

Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody” is the opening track of his1979 album, Slow Train Coming.  Some of you (like Richard!) may know the song; here is the first verse followed by the eponymous refrain:

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Yes, indeed, you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

I want to get back to Bob Dylan and “Gotta Serve Somebody,” but first, Paul’s Letter to the Romans, from which we will hear this summer until mid-September.  Paul is thought to have written his letter to the Romans in the year 56 or 57, shortly after the Jews were allowed back into Rome after their expulsion by the emperor Claudius in the year 49.  During the absence of the Jews – which included Jewish followers of Jesus – the gentile followers of Jesus were in charge of Rome’s nascent Christian community.  Paul’s Letter to the Romans contains his response to the conflicts that arose when the Jewish Christians returned home.

Romans can be difficult to understand.  To help set us up for the months ahead, this morning I want to give some context for Romans, including 1) why Romans might be difficult to understand, 2) why Romans might still be pertinent and important to us today, and 3) then I want to say a few words on this morning’s text from chapter 6.  

Paul’s letter to the Romans can be difficult to understand because in many ways Paul’s concerns are not our concerns.  For example, we tend not to be interested in Mosaic Law, but Paul and his audience were very much interested in Mosaic Law.  Also, it is easy for us to see that Judaism and Christianity are two different religions, but to Paul and the Romans, they looked pretty much the same.  Further, we tend not to believe that Jesus’ second coming is imminent, but for Paul and the Romans, Jesus might come any day.  Romans can be difficult to understand because in many ways Paul’s concerns are not our concerns.  But even though Romans can be difficult to understand, for at least two reasons we might wish to work with Paul and to become better acquainted with him. First, Paul is not interested in Jesus in an abstract sense but in Jesus’ significance for us personally.  Paul wants to know how Jesus’ love for us – especially Jesus’ willingness to die for us – makes a concrete difference in our lives. Paul’s own encounter with Jesus was not abstract but personal (see Gal 1:11ff), and Paul assumes that we, too, can have a personal encounter with Jesus.  Second, Paul is concerned with how we Christians are to live our lives in response – given Jesus’ love for us and all that Jesus by his death has accomplished for us, Paul wonders how then will we live our lives?

Which brings us to this morning’s reading from Romans chapter 6.  In the first five chapters of Romans, Paul sets forth multiple things Jesus by his death has done for us.  For example, Paul writes that Jesus by his death has:  

·       Justified us:  “[We] are justified by his grace as a gift…” Paul writes (3:21)

·       Redeemed us:  “...through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…” (3:24)

·       Made atonement for us:  “…whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement” (3:25)

·       Reconciled us:  “We were reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (5:10).

·       In short, by his death Jesus has set us free from sin: “We know that our old self [that] was crucified with him… is freed from sin” (6:6,7).

Given all that God has done for us in Jesus, now in chapter 6 Paul turns his attention to what we might do in response.

For Paul, being set “free” does not mean doing as we please.  For Paul, it is impossible to live without a κύριος, without a “Lord.”  Paul’s question is:  Which Lord will we serve, the powers of sin and death, or Jesus Christ?  “No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness,” Paul urges in this morning’s lesson, “but present yourselves to God... and your members to God as instruments of righteousness.”   Given all that God has done for us in Jesus,what we can do in response, says Paul, is to choose to serve, not the powers of sin and death, but Jesus Christ as our Lord.

Getting back to Bob Dylan…

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Yes, indeed, you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

Choosing the proper Lord, we are much more likely to attain our purpose or “end,” which (suggests Paul) is holiness.  From this morning’s lesson:  “For just as you once presented your members as slaves to… iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.”  By the way, the Greek behind “slave” could also be translated “servant.”  “When you were slaves (or ‘servants’) of sin…” Paul continues in this morning’s lesson, “what advantage did you then get?...  The end of those things is death.  But now that you have been freed from sin and are enslaved or (‘en-servanted’) to God, the advantage you get is sanctification.”  

Sanctification, or holiness, is the end or purpose of our lives.  As Paul will write later in Romans:  “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (12:1).   There is no advantage in serving any other Lord; indeed, says Paul, “The end of those things is death.”  Since – according to Paul and according to Bob Dylan – “we’re gonna have to serve somebody,” we might as well serve Jesus.  Whom to know is eternal life, and in whose service we find perfect freedom.  May God give us the grace to choose Jesus as our Lord.