LIVING IN THE SPIRIT Part 3
“On Your Mark. Get Set. Go! Into the World.
Romans 8:12-25
If ever there was a person who understood how difficult life could be it was the Apostle Paul. Listen to his testimony recorded in 2 Corinthians 11 from the Message.
I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. 24I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, 25beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. 26In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. 27I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.
28And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches.
32Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of [the] King {Aretas} posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? 33I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.
Truly Paul was a man who lived his life on the run. Life was difficult for Paul but life is hard for some of us right now. Perhaps we have not been in prison or beaten within a inch of our life but we are familiar with the cruelties of life. We know sickness. We know what it means to see our body or the body of a loved one lose its vitality.
Some of us understand what it is like to work long hours and yet the paycheck and bills do not seem to meet. We have watched our children or others dear to us make wrong choices and have felt their pain. Some of us have lost loved ones and still find ourselves reaching out to them in the still of the night.
Words not stones wound us. Depression, not a soldiers whip becomes the scourge across our back. Conflict, loneliness, cruelty, prejudice: all these try to shipwreck our spirits.
Life is hard. Perhaps we have asked the age old question, "If life is a bowl full of cherries why do I feel like the pits?" How do we keep going?
How did Paul overcome the injustices of life and keep his faith? The answer? He sought to live each day in the Spirit." In the 8th chapter of Romans Paul reminds us of what the Holy Spirit can do in us if we seek to live life in the spirit.
I. (V. 12-17) Living in the Spirit builds a relationship between us an God.
When we accept Jesus into our life the relationship we have with God changes.
--No longer are we simply a part of God’s creation; along with trees, birds, etc
--We are not just “saved" from our sin
--we are now the children of God
I have a friend who shared something with me that has really spoken to me. I have his permission to use it.
My friend has a copy of a photograph that was taken when he was just a little boy maybe 5 or 6 years old. In the photo are all his aunts and uncles and there were a bunch of them. All the cousins were crowded in close for the picture. An there in the front row where his grandmother and grandfather. An sort of standing up in his grandfathers lap was my friend. It is a special family keepsake. But there is more to the story.
My friend was adopted and the things that occurred prior to the photograph being taken sort of went over his head at the time. Now keep in mind this occurred 60 or more years ago. All of the grandchildren were crowding in to get into the picture, trying to find the right place when a couple of the aunts sent my friend away. He was not to be included, “after all he was adopted.”
As the picture was about to be taken grandma elbowed grandfather and indicated my friend. Grandpa instantly stopped everything, got up from his seat and went and picked up “his grandson,” and the photograph was taken. Grandpa had spoken, “This is my grandson and that was that.”
When we accept Christ, God says, “This is my child and that is that.”
--Look at verses 15b-17
--Abba Father
--v.17 Paul says we are heirs of God and Joint heirs with Jesus
--This means we are “Kids of the Kings” “Heirs of the creator of the Universe (Abba...Daddy)
---Dr. Gehring (Ps. 50:10) "My father owns the cattle of a thousand hills"
---Poster: "I am Somebody cause God doesn’t make junk."
Paul could face the pressures of life because the Holy Spirit reminded him that he was a child of God! (say: kid of the King)
But it really does not stop here. It is not just about being God’s child or having our name in the will. Paul understood that living life in the Spirit has to do with relationship.
In their devotional guide, Experiencing God Day-By-Day, Henry and Richard Blackaby ask the question, “Are you satisfied with merely knowing the acts of God or do you also want to know His ways? This is a question that requires an answer and the answer that we give determines the depth and stability of our relationship with God.
If I say the words, “If you build it, he will come,” what comes to mind? That’s right the movie , Field of Dreams starring Kevin Costner. It’s the story of Ray Kinsella and how he longs for a restored relationship with his father who had long sense passed away. He dreams of being able to once again toss a baseball with his dad, just one more time. A mysterious voice tells him, “if you plow under your field of corn and build a baseball diamond your father will come.” Many of your recall the story. It is a story about relationship.
An article in the October 2005 issue of Reader Digest quotes psychologist David Powell "There’s a 95% tear factor when a group of men watch Field of Dreams... Sports is the archetypal bond between men and their fathers, and for most men the most primitive, important relationship in their lives is with their dads."
Visitors still go to the Field of Dreams 17 years latter (1989 movie). Why? It stirrs up the passion for relationship.
There is a desire within the child of God for more than have a name. It is a longing for a relationship with God.
Allow me to read you a quote from Tony Campolo’s book, How to be Pentecostal without Speaking in Tongues.
(pg. 67-68)
Our relationship with God is deepened by hanging out with God: through worship, through prayer and spending time with God.
Paul understood that when we live in the Spirit, we discover what it means to be child of God and will grow in our relationship with him.
II. (V. 18-23) Paul could keep going in the face of difficulty because as he lived life in the Spirit God he grew in his relationship with God, gave him an urgent new mission. You see, as we spend time with God, we begin to see the world and the people around us in a whole new light.
1. Notice how Paul described the world...
---v. 19 "waits with eager longing"
---v. 20 "subject to futility” (frustration)
---v. 21 "bondage to decay"
---v. 22 "groaning in labor pains"
If left to its own devises the world would destroy itself.
2. The Holy Spirit reminded him that he was called to a greater ministry than sitting around feeling sorrow for himself. At least he had Jesus. As least he had the Holy Spirit. He had his relationship with God! What did those with out Jesus have? "Gloom, despair and agony and NO HOPE!
3. The Holy Spirit reminded him of Great Commission, "Go! Into the World."
--make a difference: address the needs around you
--share Jesus
We cannot share what we do not have. If nothing goes into us; nothing can come out of us.
