Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
One of the many things I learned from my parents was what a wage was. Starting the Summer before 7th grade, I worked at the Dairy Queen (which my parents owned). When I arrived for work, I ‘clocked in’ - I got my time card out of a slot and put it in a slot and it was time-stamped. I did it again when I left. At the end of the week my mother calculated how much I had worked and paid me accordingly. I had earned that money.
Fortunately, that was not the only money or goods that changed hands between my parents and me! When Christmas came, for example, no time cards were consulted! I never confused the check from work with the presents under the tree. One I had worked for, earned. The other (since my parents were tremendously generous) I could never have earned!
Paul wrote that all people have sinned. It is a universal truth. From the meanest person you can imagine to the nicest one you know, all have sinned. (Sin is a violation of God’s law.) In that respect, they, we, have all ‘clocked in.’ When accounts are settled we will get what we have earned, our wages. And they are death. It’s not a happy thought. And it’s a little ironic. In this case our wages are what we have earned, but we will be the ones paying.
But I am so thankful there is a comma in today’s verse! God knew that we were doomed by our own actions. He knew that we were sinners and a price was to be paid. He could never just pretend it didn’t happen. That’s what we might often do. But God is a God of justice and He cannot be untrue to His own nature. The wages of sin is death and they will be paid. That’s why He sent Jesus. Jesus lived a sinless life. He’s the only One Who ever did! He earned no wages through sin - He owed no death. Yet He willingly took the penalty for our sin on the cross. That’s why He came. That’s why He died. We had a debt we could not pay and He paid a debt He did not owe!
We have sinned. We can never make up for it. There is absolutely nothing we can do to balance the books. People try. They think if they do enough good things it will outweigh the bad. It won’t. The wages of sin is death. No amount of good deeds will suffice.
But remember I mentioned Christmas? There were gifts under the tree with my name on them. But I had to unwrap them; claim them, in a way, for my own. Jesus offers a gift - salvation. It has your name on it. But you have to accept it. And that gift is so tremendous! With God’s gift in hand you can forget all about wages!
Blessings,
Pastor Russ
