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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click
here. Joseph
Slife, lay speaker July
17, 2011 I
don't know if you have
ever thought about this
or not, but every day,
you are becoming more
and more like the kind
of person you are going
to be when you are
old. If
you have bitterness at
30 or 40, you're
probably going to be
even more bitter at 70
or 80. If you're lack
graciousness now, you're
probably not going to be
more gracious later. If
you're self-centered
now, you probably won't
get any less
self-centered as you go
along - unless something
happens to change
you. Are
you the kind of person
God wants you to be? Is
it too late to
change? That's
what I want to talk with
you about today - as we
look at some key
passages in the Book of
Romans. First, let's
pray: First,
let me say a word about
this sermon title. Those
of you who follow
politics will probably
note that I adapted this
from a political
campaign of a few years
ago. But
this is not a political
sermon. It's a spiritual
sermon - a sermon that
focuses on a key
biblical teaching, a
teaching we have
particularly emphasized
in the Methodist
movement. I
want to begin in Romans
5 at verse 12. This not
my main text, but it's
important context. The
Apostle Paul is writing
to the believers in the
church at Rome and he is
presenting a bad news /
good news situation
— and here is what
he says, talking about
Adam, the first
man: That's
the bad news. Sin and
death. It started with
Adam, and we're all
infected with it and
affected by it.
But
Paul has good news in
Romans 5:17: What
Paul is doing in this
section of the letter to
the Romans is building a
line of argument about
not what gospel is but
about what the gospel
means — to you and
to me, to anyone who
commits to being a
follower of
Jesus. And
he makes this contrast:
Adam's trespass —
that is, his sin —
brought spiritual death
to the entire human
race. But the act of
righteousness, meaning
Christ's death and
resurrection, takes us
from death to
life. Jesus
Christ is the Gateway
from death into life. He
is the way out of the
condition of spiritual
death. But
then what? In Romans 6,
Paul begins to explain
the personal
implications of what
Jesus has done. And this
touches on the question
I began with: "What kind
of person are you
becoming?" Starting
at chapter 6, verse 1
— if you have your
Bibles you may want to
turn there. Follow
carefully the flow of
his argument — at
the end of chapter 5, he
has just mentioned that
sin abounded in the
world, but God's grace
abounded so much more.
Now, chapter
6: If
we have been united
with him like this in
his death, we will
certainly also be
united with him in
his resurrection. For
we know that our old
self was crucified
with him so that the
body of sin might be
done away with
[or "rendered
powerless'], that
we should no longer
be slaves to sin
— because anyone
who has died has been
freed from
sin. Now
if we died with
Christ, we believe
that we will also
live with him. For we
know that since
Christ was raised
from the dead, he
cannot die again;
death no longer has
mastery over him. The
death he died, he
died to sin once for
all; but the life he
lives, he lives to
God. In
the same way, count
yourselves dead to
sin but alive to God
in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let
sin reign in your
mortal body so that
you obey its evil
desires. Do not offer
the parts of your
body to sin, as
instruments of
wickedness, but
rather offer
yourselves to God, as
those who have been
brought from death to
life; and offer the
parts of your body to
him as instruments of
righteousness. And
then Romans
6:14: Now,
let's go back and walk
though this passage a
more slowly. Verse 2:
"We died to sin," he
says. And then he says
in verse 4 that in our
baptism, "We were buried
with
[Jesus]…[and]
just as Christ was
raised from the
dead…we too may
live a new
life." The
Amplified Bible —
which tries to bring out
the fullness of the
meaning of the original
Greek — renders the
latter part of verse 4
this way: So
here's what Paul is
saying in Romans 5 and
6. Through Adam came
death, but through
Christ comes life —
and not just life
meaning that you get to
go to heaven when you
die, but a new type of
life altogether here and
now, a life in which our
very habits of behavior
are changed by the power
of God. Wow.
Is that really
possible? Notice
that I didn't say that
we change ourselves. We
don't just pull
ourselves up by our
bootstraps and resolve
to do better. I said we
are changed by the power
of God — the power
that can alter who we
are on the inside, the
power that change what
motivates us, change
what we think about,
refocus how we spend our
money and what we do
with our time — the
power that enables us to
habitually live and
behave in newness of
life. How
does that
work? Paul
says here in verse 2
that in Christ, we died
to sin. In fact, he says
in chapter 6, verse 6
that our old self was
crucified with Christ
— and in verse 8,
he says flat out that we
"died with Christ" (past
tense). We were executed
with Christ. What
that means is that Jesus
Christ not only died for
us — that is to
say, in our place,
taking the punishment we
deserved for our sin
— but he also died
as us, representing
something in us that
needed to
die. What
needed to die? Well,
what does Paul say?
Verse 6: Our "old self"
was crucified with him.
Why? Paul tell
us: I
suspect that most of us
have never thought about
being dead as good news
- but this is good news,
because in that death of
the "old self," God put
to death in you and me
what our Methodist
founder John Wesley
called the "evil nature"
that we
inherited. What
kind of person are you?
What kind of person are
you becoming? Is there
change you can believe
in? Did
you know that we are
born into this world as
people who are
self-seeking, not
God-seeking? We go
through life seeking
ways to satisfy us. That
self-seeking manifests
itself in different ways
with different people,
often in relation to
upbringing or
environment — but
all of us have that same
orientation. It
is something we
inherited from Adam. It
is the thing that
masters us — until
we are mastered by
something
greater. In
verse 14, Paul lays it
out for us: Because of
what Jesus has done, sin
shall no longer be your
master. When you come to
Christ, you get a new
master — and that
master is
righteousness. A
master, of course, is
one you obey. So as
people who have
professed faith in Jesus
Christ, we no longer
obey sin but
righteousness. That is
change we can really
believe in. Now,
that would make a nice
tidy sermon if I stopped
there. But if I have
deal with something
else. Because there is
Romans chapter 7, which
some people think talks
about how we can't
change. That we don't
change. That the kind of
self-seeking sinful
people you and I are by
nature is what we will
always be. Let's
look at that. Chapter 7.
Let's start at verse 14.
And, of course, this is
the same Paul who wrote
chapters 5 and
6. Here's
what he says:
The
law he is talking about
here, of course, is the
Old Testament law —
specifically, the Ten
Commandments, given by
the hand of God Himself.
The law is
spiritual. But
Paul says that he is an
unspiritual man, a slave
to sin. He looks at the
law and says, "Y'know,
that law is great. It is
tells me all this stuff
to do and not do, and I
agree with all of it.
But I can't keep it. It
tells me not to covet,
but I covet anyway. It
tells me not to have any
other gods but God
alone, but I find myself
putting my affection on
and my hope in other
things. It tells me not
to bear false testimony,
but I find myself
lying." And
as he wrestles with this
problem — and
remember the context
here: Paul is making an
overall argument about
how we dead to sin but
alive to God — as
he wrestles through this
problem, he comes to a
realization. Look
at verse 18 of chapter 7
— he says this: "I
know that nothing good
lives in me, that is, in
my sinful nature. For I
have the desire to what
it good, but I cannot
carry it out." Then in
verse 20, "Now, if I do
what I do not want to
do, it is no longer I
who do it, but it is sin
living in me that does
it." Now,
let's back up and
consider the big
picture. In this letter,
Paul is writing to the
church at Rome, not to
explain the objective
gospel but the
subjective gospel. Not
what the gospel says,
but what it means to
people like you and
me. What's
the difference? The
objective gospel is what
Paul describes in 1
Corinthians 15 when he
says: "Christ died for
our sins according to
the Scriptures,
[and] he was
buried, [and] he
was raised on the third
day." Those are the
facts — the facts
of what
happened. But
here in Romans, Paul is
dealing with the
question: What do these
facts mean to you and
me? How do they make a
difference in our
day-to-day
life? Paul
is giving us a
dissertation about how
the grace of God that
comes to us through the
person and work of Jesus
Christ is so much
greater than the sinful
nature we have inherited
from Adam. And
he is putting his
argument in practical
terms. He is telling the
Romans that because of
what Christ has done,
they not only have
forgiveness, they also
have a power working in
them that can change
them, that can empower
them to, as it says in
Romans 6,
"…[habitually]
live and behave in
newness of
life." So
here in chapter 7 he is
talking about struggling
against this "sinful
nature" — or, as
some translations put
it, "the flesh." In
verses 22 and 23, he
says this: "[I]n
my inner being I delight
in God's law; but I see
another law [or
principle] at work
in the members of my
body, waging war against
the law of my mind and
making me a prisoner of
the law of sin at work
within my
members." This
is agony — and Paul
must have known that
there were people in the
church at Rome
struggling with this
very thing. They want to
obey God, but sin keeps
engaging them in a
wrestling
match. Now,
wait a minute. In
chapter 6, didn't he
say, "Sin shall not be
your master"? Sin
doesn't have any power
over you anymore? Sin
isn't your master,
righteousness
is? And
yet, here in chapter 7,
we have Paul describing
— in first person
singular — this
battle with
sin. It's
tooth and nail.
Sometimes righteousness
is winning, sometimes
sin in winning. One
moment Paul is
delighting in the law of
God, the next minute he
is breaking that very
law. Righteousness is
pulling Paul one way,
sin is pulling him
another. And
he cries out for help,
in verse 24: Good
question, Paul. Who
indeed? Again,
let's go back to his
overall argument. When
Christ died, you died.
Your old self — the
thing in you that seeks
self and opposes God -
was put to death on the
cross, so that what? "So
that the body of sin
might be rendered
powerless." "Who
will rescue me?" Paul
answers his own question
in chapter 7, verse 25:
"Thanks be to God —
through Jesus Christ our
Lord!" And in the NIV,
there's an exclamation
point. "Who
will rescue me?
Who will rescue
you? God will
— and he will do it
through Jesus Christ,
who gave his life so
that you might have new
life in him. Here's
the summary of all of
what Paul says in Romans
7 - he gives it to us in
verse 25: "So then, I
myself in my mind am a
slave to God's law, but
in the sinful nature a
slave to the law of
sin." That's
the condition he
describes. He is a slave
to two masters. And then
comes Romans 8. Here are
the first five verses:
(Romans
8:1-5). A
clarification: the
law is good, given by
the hand of God Himself.
It is spiritual. But
even though the law can
tell us what to do and
what not to do, it
bestows no power for
carrying it out. In this
sense, it is "weakened"
by our sinful
nature. Those
who live according to
the sinful nature
have their minds set
on what that nature
desires; but those
who live in
accordance with the
Spirit have their
minds set on what the
Spirit desires.
Do
you see the point Paul
is making? Yes, in your
mind, as one who has
professed faith in Jesus
Christ, you are a slave
to God's law — in
other words, you believe
that God's law is good
and should be obeyed.
But your sinful nature,
your "old self," your
"flesh" says, "Oh no you
don't. I want to satisfy
me." And
Paul tells us this:
"Don't you see, my
friends. God has made
provision for this. In
Christ, you are set free
from the law of sin and
death! The body of sin
has been rendered
powerless! You are no
longer controlled by the
sinful nature. Instead,
you are controlled by
the Spirit of the living
God." (Rom.
8:9). Paul
is talking about
radical, fundamental
change in who we are
— and who we are
becoming. He is talking
about a change we can
believe in. This
is why the Bible can
say, as it does it
Ephesians 4, "Don't let
any unwholesome talk
come out of your mouth"
and to "get rid of all
bitterness" and "every
form of malice." It is
why Scripture can say to
us in Ephesians 5 that
among the people of God
there should not be
"even a hint of sexual
immorality or any kind
of impurity or of
greed." It
is why we are
instructed, "Be holy in
all you do." (1 Peter
1:5) Now,
you may say: "If all
this is so, if the "old
self" has been crucified
with Christ, if I can be
holy in all I do, why
doesn't it see that
way? Let
me suggest two
possibilities. What does
the Bible tell us about
the devil? That he is a
deceiver. And Satan
often will tempt you
along the lines of your
"old self." He makes you
believe that you haven't
changed, that God hasn't
changed you at all. He
makes you believe change
is
impossible. If
you struggled with lust
before you came to
Christ, Satan may tempt
you in that area, trying
to get you to react the
way you were so used to
reacting before you gave
your life to
God. If,
in your "old self" you
struggled with feelings
of inferiority and
condemnation, Satan may
try to get you to feel
sorry for yourself over
all sorts of slights and
perceived slights so
that — instead of
guiding your life by the
truth of God's Word,
which says that you are
loved and accepted and
that he very Son of God
gave His life for you -
you may begin to tread
those old familiar paths
of self-pity. If
your "old self" was big
on "self righteousness,"
Satan may tempt you to
trust once again in your
own works, rather than
trusting in the
sustaining grace of God
and the all-sufficient
sacrifice of Christ on
the cross. The
point is: Satan, who the
Bible tells us is a
master of disguise, can
masquerade as your "old
self." He wants you get
your eye off God's
promise about victory
over sin and self and
instead spend your time
wrestling the way Paul
describes in Romans
chapter 7. So
that's one reason you
may struggle with sin.
The second reason is
that maybe you've never
really believed that
God's power can change
you. You've never
appropriated the truth
of Romans for
yourself. God
has made the provision.
The Bible says "his
divine power has given
us everything we need
for life and godliness."
That's in 2 Peter,
chapter 1. The
question is: will you
receive what the God who
loves you offers
you? How
do you do that? You do
it by faith. You believe
this to be so because
God has declared it to
be so. And you live
accordingly — day
by day, moment by
moment, seeking His
grace and power to
habitually live and
behave in newness of
life. What
kind of person are you
becoming? If you will
set your mind on what
Paul has taught here
about the death of the
"old self," the
powerlessness of the
body of sin, that sin is
no longer your master,
that you are not
condemned, and that you
have been set free by
the Spirit of life, you
can by a different
person. This
is mid-July. Less than a
month ago was the first
full day of summer. That
means we have passed
what is known as the
summer solstice. With
each passing day, the
amount of daylight is
getting a little bit
shorter. That's
a good metaphor for
life, isn't it? All of
us have passed our
"summer solstice." Our
days are growing
shorter. For many of us,
there a fewer days ahead
than there are
behind. How
will we live them? By
self-seeking or by
God-seeking? Living
according to the sinful
nature — or
according to the Spirit
of life? What
kind of person are you
— going to be?
Today, tomorrow, and for
as many days as you have
left on this
Earth. Hear
the good news:
"[T]through
Jesus Christ, the law of
the Spirit of life
[has] set
[you] free form
the law of sin and
death, in order that the
righteous requirements
of the law might be
fully met in us, who do
not live according to
the sinful nature, but
according to the
Spirit." That,
my friends, is change
you can believe
in. |
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