Most everyone scrimps and saves for retirement. This is done in different ways. Some people have money automatically taken from their paychecks. Others invest in the stock market. Then there are those who don’t believe in long-term investments or the stock market, so they simply stash money away into a savings account.
No matter how much money a person saves away, there is no certainty it will always be there. This uncertainty can cause a great deal of anxiety and worry. As Christians we need not to worry about the future. We have a security system far greater than any that this world can offer. WE HAVE SPIRIT-SECURITY. This security is ours all through life. 1) We Have Protection. 2) We Have Identity.
1) We Have Protection
It’s been said that an alarming percentage of our population is without any sort of benefits. Whether its extra money for retirement funds or something as important as simple health insurance, many people are without protection. That’s true of us all spiritually. We need protection. We need a benefits plan that offers complete protection and coverage. We need the ultimate death benefit.
Paul reminds us that we are subject to the cruelty of death. As sinners, we are mortal, death-oriented. Sin is the reason we must face death in our lives. Even while we live we are subject to death. Our present bodies are subject to weakness, sickness, pain, and aging. They have defects and deformities. Many of us wear glasses, hearing aids, artificial limbs, or pacemakers. Many people depend on medicine to keep their fragile bodies alive. Some day death will claim our mortal bodies and hold us in the ground.
We need protection, but there’s no way we can afford good coverage. That’s where the apostle’s words are so comforting to us: “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”
We have protection and coverage from the effects of sin and death. We are covered in Christ through the Spirit. His suffering and death has paid for our spiritual death benefits plan. Because Christ died we will live. We have a new life in Christ Jesus, which is given by the Holy Spirit. The ultimate goal of this new life is the resurrection of our mortal bodies from death to new, eternal life in Christ.
The Spirit already gives this new life in Christ to us. He has worked faith in our hearts. We believe in Christ and resolve to live for him right now. This is God’s way of assuring us that he has paid for our benefits package. We have a death benefits package in Christ. We benefit from his death. His death on the cross has secured life for us in heaven.
The Holy Spirit is proof that the price for our security has been paid. We have complete coverage in the Spirit. Paul explains this: “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”
Our sinful minds can often deceive us. We often try to convince ourselves that we have no spiritual security, so we might as well live life for the moment. “Don’t be concerned about the future”, our sinful heart says, “life for today! After all, you don’t really think that God could offer you anything better than this world can, do you?”
So we try to cancel the Spirit’s security policy, and go through life without any protection. The result is that we sin against our own bodies. We hurt ourselves. Now-a-days people will sin against their own bodies in an attempt to find security, since they have rejected God. There is a warning here, and it doesn’t just apply to marriage. The warning is this: we cannot turn away from God, refuse his protecting love, and expect to have his blessings. It doesn’t matter what it is – marital unfaithfulness, drunkenness, stealing, lying, hatred, slander, or gossip – to continue to live in these ways is to live in self-delusion. Paul says we fool ourselves if we think we can live in sin without the Spirit’s security.
That’s why we need the Holy Spirit. Where the Spirit dwells, his power dwells and he puts to death the “misdeeds of the body.” The Holy Spirit actually slays these evil acts and desires. He does this with his Word. God’s Word shows us our sins. We see that we are utterly corrupt and sinful. We can’t live for God our one another. When we look at ourselves, we see that we’re unprotected. We have no basis for security. The Holy Spirit slays all evil thoughts and actions by leading us to repentance. The simple words, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner” are a powerful weapon. Those words cut down sin, lead us to trust in Christ alone, and reveal that we have forgiveness in his name. We have the Spirit’s security.
2) We Have Identity
The Holy Spirit leads us to know that we are God’s children. Even though we are sinners who struggle against temptation, God loves us. We are his own. We have identity. God knows who we are. We’re not just a number to him. We are all registered with the social security system and have been issued a specific number, so that the government can identify us. That’s all the government really wants to know about you and me. Somewhere in a drawer or file cabinet, you probably have information on your financial status. It may simply be a checking/savings account, or it could be a detailed stock portfolio. The information within those few documents is all that most people have concerning your life. Your life boiled down to a single piece of paper – that’s all we are in the eyes of the world.
Not so with God. We have true identity in God’s eyes. The apostle Paul reaffirms this for us: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” We don’t have to worry about the future. There’s no need for uncertainty to plague us. Remember what Paul says, “And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father”. By the Spirit, we are able to cry to our Father in heaven. Just consider the comfort that is. A lot of people think they have to somehow please God. They see God as some demanding taskmaster. And so they worry and fret, “Can I ever do enough? Do I have spiritual security?” We have Spirit-security. The Spirit of God leads us to know that we can come to him and call him “Abba, Father, Daddy.”
I recall a fellow-pastor telling me a very personal story. He had gotten a late-night phone call. The voice on the other end quivered with emotion. A little girl, his granddaughter, was in an ambulance, rushing to the hospital, alone, without her parents. She was miles away from him and that phone call made this grandpa feel even farther away. He remembered how he felt so helpless, so powerless; so powerless to do anything except pray. And pray he did. Those words winged heavenward and never stopped. They appealed to our heavenly Father’s grace and goodness. God heard those words as he always does. The little child’s life was spared. She recovered. A few days later that pastor knew it when he picked up the phone and heard a tiny, tender voice say, “Papa.”
“Papa,” she said, a term of endearment. How close that grandfather felt to her that night, his own flesh and blood. How much closer that grandpa is to his granddaughter in baptism. Through the water and the word they are forever linked to the grace and greatness of God. We, too, enjoy that same bond by the Spirit. We are members of God’s family. We have identity and status. We are his children.
“Abba Father, my dearest Father”, we pray and sometimes we are so overwhelmed to realize the powerful, privileged promise we are unleashing. God is our Father. His Son, Jesus, has taught us to trust him. Thanks to Jesus’ death and resurrection, God promises forgiveness and eternal life – the ultimate benefits package. All this is ours through the Spirit who gives us faith to believe –the ultimate security. There’s no need for us to worry about losing these benefits. God promises that his blessings are ours through faith. We have complete access to his benefits package because we are his children. As God’s children we can enjoy his protection in the present and well as in the future.
Recently, you may have looked at your savings account or your stock portfolio and had reason for alarm. Perhaps you feel uncertain about your future. You may be worried you won’t have enough money to retire on. All those concerns grip us with fear. As far as we’re concerned there’s no sense of security and we feel hopeless. Again the words of our text help us: “Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
A rich uncle dies and distant relatives scurry to hear the reading of the will, hoping they will have a part in the inheritance. We may cringe as we picture such a scene, yet that is exactly what he apostle Paul is describing here – inheritance. He tells us that we are part of a divine will. Christ, our Brother, took on flesh and blood to secure an eternal inheritance for us. The will has been read. It was read and recorded when Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is finished!” Sins have been paid. Salvation is secure.
Some may mock or ridicule us. People may call you foolish for believing in Christ, as if to say, “You’re invested in that stock?” That’s part of sharing in Jesus’ suffering. But we know more. We know the glory to come. That’s our true inheritance, and it will never end. We can expect “big returns.” Our Lord will return to take us home, and then creation will return to the full glory God intended – free from sin and death.
We have a spiritual security system that far out-performs any other. Social Security, 401ks, IRAs – all those investment plans are intended to provide for this life only. The Holy Spirit reassures us that we have complete protection and coverage now and forever. We have the perfect IRA – Individual Redemption Account purchased by Christ on the cross and given to us by the Holy Spirit. Amen.
