Come Along and Bring Your Tools
Read: Romans 6:1-14
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Many of us have tools we really like. I have a Fluke digital multimeter that I received for Christmas, which is the nicest I’ve ever had. I’ll let you use it — but only if I get to watch. My wife, Hayden, has some favorite Tupperware, and we joke about how serious it is to have temporary possession. My dad was a great collector of tools. I have some of his hand tools and some of his meters for measuring light intensity, the pressurized flow of electrons, and radiation (among other things).
What’s your favorite tool? I’ll bet for many of you, it’s your smartphone. It’s the multi-tool for information. We can be so focused on our phones because they serve us by giving us access to the world. We don’t crave the glowing rectangle itself; instead, we crave the power it gives us to know, to understand, and to connect with others.
In this passage, Paul is writing to people who belong to God – body, mind, soul. Still, we all have a collection of tools that we can use for different tasks: either doing good to honor God and serve others or doing wrong and serving evil.
A multimeter can be used to repair wiring in your house. This is a good and noble purpose. With the right skills, you can find out if wiring is loose or potentially mis-wired. But these meters can be misused. In May 2017, a man in Dade City, Florida was arrested while trying to use one to steal someone else’s car. According to a news report, “When deputies arrived, they found him locked inside the car, trying to start it with a voltage meter. The key was in the car at the time.”
Paul’s wording brings us to tools in this passage: he talks about how we use our physical bodies. It’s your mind, your hands, your words. His word translated “instrument” can also refer to tools or weapons. Paul says, “Do not present your members to sin as [tools] for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as [tools] for righteousness.”
Do you notice that Paul’s warning is about using your tools? Do not present your tools to be used for evil purposes, but instead, present yourselves to God.
Origen, a Christian writer born in 185 AD, wrote: “Note carefully the subtle distinctions which Paul makes here. When he talks about yielding to sin, he does not talk about us but about our members. However, when he talks about yielding to God, it is not our members which he mentions but our very selves. By this he means that we must give our souls and our whole persons to God so that, as we present ourselves before him as godly people and cling to him, we shall be making our members instruments [tools] of righteousness at the same time.”
In a news story from 2024, thieves in New Orleans used an angle grinder (a power tool) to cut open an ATM to get the cash inside. Now imagine if you found out it was YOUR angle grinder that had been used in the crime! It’s as if Paul is saying, “Don’t lend out your tools for bad projects.”
He doesn’t just give that warning; he also gives this command: “Present yourselves…and your tools!” Go, take your tools and get to work. God has given you gifts to be used for serving others; you can honor God by seeking how to best deploy your energy, your mind, and your capabilities to help others know God and to meet their needs.
To paraphrase 1 Corinthians 12, “If the church were full of computer programmers, how would we get any woodworking done?” The way God uses you and your tools is going to look a lot different than the way he uses anyone else and their tools. To determine how God wants to use you, seriously work and pray to discern how God has gifted you, so you are able to discover the good ways you can serve.
