Keys To Life Series July 18, 2004
Romans 8:1-17
Life by the Spirit
This summer we are doing a series called “Keys to Life.” Jesus gives us life through his death and resurrection on the cross, and he promises that life will be an abundant life. We engage that abundant life by following Jesus’ ways.
The problem is that it is not always easy to follow his ways. The scripture says that it is impossible to do this on our own – our hearts always lead us a stray. It might not be that we are drawn to every kind of sin that lead to death, or even the most “spectacular” sins, but each one of us is prone to stray from God’s ways in our own way.
The problem is not that God’s ways are too hard – they lead to life! The problem is that our hearts are too hard. God’s solution to the problem is a heart transplant.
Heart Transplant (1-4)
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful humanity to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in our sinful nature, 4in 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.
Trying to follow God’s ways on our own will never put us in right relationship with God, because we can’t do it. So God sent Jesus to live among us and die for us to pay the price for our sin, so we stand before God as pure people as if we had never sinned! But not only that but he changes our heart so that we now have the power to follow God’s ways!
Ezekiel prophesied this great thing that God has done:
24 " ’For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36)
Jeremiah describes it this way in Chapter 31
33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD .
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ’Know the LORD ,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD .
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
Nicky Gumbal say that this switch is like going hiking. When you start out, you have your lunch in your pack on your back, and it weighs you down, but when you stop and eat it it is no longer a weight on your back, but fuel in your belly. In the same way, God has taken his law that was a weight on our backs and put it on our hearts so it is no longer a weight, but fuel for holiness. This is what happened when God Gave us the Holy Spirit. The law used to be a weight on our backs, but now the Spirit of God resides within us and he has written the Law of God on our hearts, so that it is no longer a weight, but a power within us to do the will of God. There is this beautiful thing that the Spirit does for us – he make us desire to do God’s will and then he empowers us to do it!
Paul in his letter to the Philippians says it this way: “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (2: 13)
He gives us more than a heart Transplant, he transforms our mind
Transformed Mind
5Those 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. 6The mind of sinful man[5] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind[6] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
We have three things at work within us in this passage. The old law that we are helpless to fulfill because of the second thing, the sinful nature, and then there is the Spirit who helps us fulfill the law in an amazingly round about way.
This story illustrates it so well… You night know the movie “Mr. Holland’s Opus.” It’s the story of a musician who really just wants to be a composer. Rather grudgingly, he takes a job teaching music at the local high school, supposing it will give him time to write music while providing an income for he and his wife.
One of his students is a very serious red-headed girl who plays the clarinet terribly, even though she practices constantly. As Mr. Holland works with her to try to help, he learns that she is the youngest in a family where everyone excels – except her. Because she has tried so hard and failed, she considers herself a failure, too.
One day she comes into the music classroom and tells Mr. Holland that she’s going to give it up and if he knows anyone who wants her clarinet, he can give it to them.
As she walks away, Holland asks her, “Is it any fun?” With a shrug, she answers, “I wanted it to be.”
“You know what we’ve been doing wrong, Miss Lang? We’ve been playing the notes on the page.”
Confused, the girl asks, “Well what else is there is to play?”
“There’s a lot more to music than notes on a page. Playing music is supposed to be fun. It’s about heart. It’s about feelings and moving people and something beautiful and being alive and it’s not about notes on a page. I could teach you notes on a page. I can’t teach you that other stuff.”
He takes away her music and tells her to try it. She tries a time or two, each time coming to a point where her clarinet squawks and squeaks, and she starts to kick herself for her failure.
“What do you like best about yourself?” he asks.
With a shy smile she says, “My hair – my dad says it reminds him of a sunset.”
“Play the sunset.”
And she closes her eyes, and she begins to play – really play, not just the notes, but the music. She is so amazed when she does the hard part perfectly that her eyes pop open and she stops. Mr. Holland shares her amazement and says, “Don’t stop!”
And so, on she plays: eyes closed, head beginning to sway with the rhythm of it. And we know that this time, it’s fun.
…
What the Spirit does for us is what Mr. Holland does for that girl. Doing God’s will is supposed to bring us Joy and life, but when we have a minds set on the law of God and are watching ourselves, by ourselves so that we don’t trip up, we usually end up tripping up. The Spirit takes our mind of the law and puts it on the one who wrote the law, - 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. – We remember that he loves our red hair, and the obedience comes naturally.
You see Christianity is not just about being good, or about being made to be good in God’s eyes through Jesus’ death. Our faith is about a deep abiding relationship with God. Our being made good is necessary for the beginning of the relationship, and our becoming good is a product of that relationship, but what it is all about is the relationship!
As Evangelical Christians we have a great emphasis on the salvation event in our lives and in personal holiness or faithfulness these are both of great importance and are key to our relationship with God, but they are not the relationship. If you asked me how my relationship with Pam is and I answered, “well I made my vows to her 15 years ago and I don’t sleep around on her.” You might think that I’ve got a strange definition of relationship. But isn’t this the way we think about or relationship with God – I gave my life to him 15 years ago and I’ve been faith, basically behaving myself ever since. Now if I never made the vows to Pam, or if I were unfaithful to her, our ability to have a relationship would be severely hampered, but these things are a foundation for the relationship, not the relationship. In the same way, the salvation event and our faithfulness are foundational to our relationship with God, but they are not the relationship. Now if you asked me how my relationship is with Pam today, I’d likely answer that she’s away in Cyprus with a friend, but she called the other day and they are having a great time, that these days when I look at my watch, I add 7 hours and try to imagine what she is doing, I’d say that I’m joining her on Friday with some more friends and I am so looking forward to spending a week with just her and some of our best friends. – now that should tell you a bit more.
The Spirit Brings Life to Spirit and Body
9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And 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.
Paul is saying that the spirit no only looks after the Law, but also our tendency to be controlled by our old, sinful nature. If you are a Christian, you have the Spirit within you, it cannot be any other way. He brings to life that new life that follows God’s ways and his heart, and let die the old sinful nature.
You may remember me telling the story of the Christian native elder who described the spiritual battle within to a younger brother in this way: “It is like there are two dogs fighting in me, one for good and the other for evil.” That young man asked “which dog wins?” The old man replied “the one I feed.”
The Spirit reminds us to feed the good dog and to let the bad one die.
And just incase we get confused into thinking that the battle is between a spiritual me and the physical me, Paul remind us that The Spirit will also raise our physical bodies up to new life.
We Belong to God
12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For 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, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.[7] And by him we cry, "Abba,[8] Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now 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.
There are things that I will do and things that I won’t do based on my marriage relationship with Pam. It is not because I am hen-pecked or have an unhealthy need to please her, no these things are now based on who I am – I am a husband and a father, and it speaks to my behavior. In the same way Paul reminds us who we are – we are Children of God! – The Spirit remind us of this, so we can even call him Abba – Papa! This adoption relationship of love must speak to our behavior – if it doesn’t, there is no relationship at all. What the Spirit does is constantly remind us that we are in relationship with God and draw us deeper into that relationship, good behavior should naturally follow, based not on a lifeless sense of duty, but on a life-giving relationship.
How to live by the Spirit – Practical pointers
Be continually filled
- laying on of hands & prayer – George Verver – “I’ve been filled with the Spirit, but I leak!”
- Think of the filling of the spirit as his reign filling every area of our lives, rather than water filling up a glass
Scripture
- The Scriptures are Spirit breathed – read them, not like the old law that is a weight, but read them to find God, your adopted father.
- As you read, let the Spirit speak to you.
- I can’t really play the piano, but I took lessons as a kid and I can read music well enough to plunk out a tune to remind myself of how a forgotten tune goes. Read scripture in that way, to quicken the Spirit within you, to remind you of the songs that he sings for you.
Prayer Paths to God
- Create well warn paths to God in prayer
- Let the paths that lead to sin grow over – Aunt Jakie’s method of quitting smoking
- Praying in the Spirit – Tongues, Paul & John “I was in the Spirit…” P 171
- Worship
Action – Following the Spirit means doing what he says – most of our stories of “following the lead of the Spirit” are stories of feeling led to do something weird or extreme, and then God working through it (we don’t often hear the failure stories. This is not the main way the Spirit leads – mostly he leads us to pray, to minister in love, into greater holiness, compassion, justice & love.
Live in the Spirit – live in the presence of the father – this is where you will find life!
