Earlier this month one of the country’s leading evangelical pastors finally admitted to using drugs and being involved in homosexual relationships. The irony was not only that Ted Haggard was a pastor of a 14,000 member church and president of the National Association of Evangelicals, but that he had been an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage and homosexual behavior. He has been fired from the church and removed from his position with the National Association of Evangelicals. The harm he has done to his family, his church and the reputation of Christians everywhere is beyond calculation. In an open letter to his church he admitted to the betrayal and horrible example he had set. He also admitted to being a “deceiver and a liar” and asked the church’s forgiveness. He knows he can never return to his church. He said, “There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I’ve been warring against it all of my adult life.” These are very difficult days for the Haggard family and we need to be in prayer for them. But their most difficult days are ahead. The problem is that Haggard is not alone in his hypocrisy and moral collapse.
What happens to a person who is a Christian, but has gone over to the dark side? How does a person go from being a person who sincerely loves God and wants to do his will, to being someone who has a secret life that contradicts everything they believe in? Haggard said in his statement, “The public person I was wasn’t a lie; it was just incomplete.” I believe that is probably true. His public persona was truly what he believed and wanted to be. But that public image of who he was had been overtaken by another side of him which was dark and had become uncontrollable. He is in horrible bondage.
The more I know myself over the years, and the more honest I become with myself, the more I realize that I am capable of almost anything, if it were not for the grace of God. I may not go the direction of Ted Haggard, but apart from the gracious keeping power and restraining influence of the Holy Spirit of God I could sink just as far in some other direction. I think if you are honest with yourself you will see that the same thing is true for your life. It certainly was true for the life of the Apostle Paul. He wrote about this frightening part of himself that he had to continually submit to God. He said, “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law 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. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:21-24).
How can we be rescued? I believe the Bible gives us the answer — and it is good news. It is the good news of the Holy Spirit. The first point I want to make this morning is: The Holy Spirit inwardly transforms us. There must be an inner change of heart and life, and this can only take place by the transforming power and presence of the Holy Spirit. All of the other world religions offer a set of moral laws or a new philosophy about life. The other religions of the world offer religious practices or mystical experiences. Only Christianity offers a transformation of who we are at the core of our being. Only Christianity talks about the indwelling experience of the Holy Spirit who cleanses, renews and regenerates us from the inside out. The Psalmist cried out, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Paul tells us how this new heart comes about and how we can have a renewed spirit when he writes: “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:3-7).
The Christian life is not a matter of trying to keep a moral code. If we think that it is, then we will most certainly fail. There must be the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. There must be a spiritual rebirth. If you see the Christian life as merely religious practice, then you have a fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity and you will not be able to follow Christ no matter how hard you try. Paul said this about religious practice: “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation” (Galatians 6:15). If you think that being a Christian is only about good theology, or a proper belief and understanding of the Bible and its doctrine, then you will not be able to live what you believe. You need the added dimension of the transforming inner presence of the Holy Spirit. If you think the Christian life is only about “being saved” and don’t understand the daily and moment by moment surrender to the will of God, living at the feet of Jesus, and living in the presence of the Holy Spirit, then you will not be able to last.
God promised through Ezekiel the prophet: “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19-20). That “new spirit” is the added dimension.
But the Holy Spirit not only inwardly transforms us by changing our hearts. The second point is: The Holy Spirit spiritually empowers us. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit not only makes us new people, he makes us an empowered people. Without the presence of the Holy Spirit there is no power for obedience. But with the Holy Spirit we are not only a new creation, we have the power to live for God which we could never have on our own. Peter said, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4).
Jesus promised, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8). We must surrender and stop trying to operate in our own power and strength. Strength comes from admitting your weakness. The apostle Paul was beset by a weakness that he went to God with over and over. Finally, he surrendered to God and lived with his weakness that he might experience the power of God. He wrote: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). What this calls for is a sense of humility. You stop trying to do this in your own power and you admit your helplessness to God. You turn to him for his power rather than your own. You ask him to fill you and take over your life. You ask him to give you the power to live for him and be the person he has called you to be. Again, this is not about a belief system, a moral code or a particular philosophy about life. This is about being filled and living in the presence of the Holy Spirit. The power comes from that abiding relationship. It comes as you live in continual dependence on the Holy Spirit. It is that dependence and surrender that sets the power free in your life. The Bible says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8:26). The Holy Spirit helps us and actually intercedes for us. This new power comes as you spend time in prayer before God. Jesus said, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Power comes through prayer. Remember that Jesus told the disciples just before their great trial in the garden, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Matthew 26:41). That is exactly what they did, and as they did, they turned from being weak and bumbling disciples to dynamic witnesses to the power of God. The apostle Paul prayed for the converts in Ephesus saying, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:16).
The third point is: The Holy Spirit liberates us from the bondage of sin. The good news is that we do not have to live under the domination of sin in our lives. We do not have to give in and give up. We do not have to let our lower nature dominate and control us. We do not have to have a secret life that is hidden and shame filled. We can be free. But you cannot entertain temptation and expect to live in freedom. You cannot practice sin and expect that you will not be its slave. The more we allow sin to come into our lives the more we are in bondage to it. To enslave people is part of the nature of sin. Whether we call it addiction or spiritual bondage, the point is that we need to be free — and we can be. It is interesting that our culture talks about freedom as throwing off all moral restraints and the ability to do anything you want. But what happens is that as we begin to do whatever our desires prompt us to do, we soon become enslaved by our desires and cannot break free of them. Whether it is drugs, alcohol, resentment, sexual sin, greed or whatever, we are pulled into a pit from which we find it impossible to escape. The Bible talks of those who try to get other people to loosen up and let go when it says, “They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity — for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him” (2 Peter 2:19). And there are many people who know what it means to be mastered by sin and a slave to it.
There are many people today who are in bondage to things they can no longer control. We hear about them every day. Keith Urban, the Country Music star who is married to Nicole Kidman, checked himself into a rehabilitation treatment center last week for alcohol abuse, and could not appear at the Country Music Association Awards this month. He has it all, but h is life is out of control. Last year Urban won entertainer of the year and best male vocalist. This year he won male vocalist of the year again, but he had to accept the award through a letter written from a rehabilitation center. Interestingly, he sang the best single, “Better Life.”
At one time, Mike Tyson was the most feared heavyweight boxer in the ring. Jon Saraceno interviewed Tyson for USA Today. In the interview, Tyson was honest as he reviewed his life. The article says, “Almost 39, he is anything but at peace. Confused and humiliated after a decadent lifestyle that left him with broken relationships, shattered finances, and a reputation in ruin, the fighter cannot hide his insecurities, stacked as high as his legendary knockouts. ‘I’ll never be happy,’ he says. ‘I believe I’ll die alone. I would want it that way. I’ve been a loner all my life with my secrets and my pain. I’m really lost, but I’m trying to find myself. I’m really a sad, pathetic case.’ The divorced father of six is blunt, gregarious, funny, vulgar, outrageous, sad, angry, bitter, and, at times, introspective about the opportunities he squandered over the last two decades. He discusses his drug use (‘The weed got me’), lack of self-esteem, and sexual addiction. He says, ‘My whole life has been a waste. I’ve been a failure.’”
I would like to say to Mike, “It doesn’t have to be that way. There is freedom available for you. You cannot do it on your own, you are not strong enough, but God can do it as you invite the Holy Spirit into your life and surrender to his control. Liberation comes for those ‘who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit’ (Romans 8:1-4). It is only when we come to the end of our own resources that we find God’s provision.”
John Newton was a man who knew both the bondage of sin and the liberating power of the Holy Spirit. He was nurtured by a devout Christian mother who prayed that her only son would become a preacher. But she died when John was very young, and he became a sailor, after the example of his sea-captain father. He eventually sailed for places where he believed he could “sin freely,” as he put it. He ended up on the western coast of Africa, working for a slave trader who mistreated him, but after more than a year of abuse he managed to escape from the island in 1747. The following year his ship was battered by a severe storm. Newton was reading The Imitation of Christ at the time, and became a Christian. However, he then served as captain of a slave ship for six years. He hated his sin and turned to God for help and deliverance from life that made him as much of a slave as those he had captured. As he surrendered to God’s control, God delivered him from his life of shame. He grew to the place where he became an outspoken opponent of slavery. He became known as the “old converted sea captain.” He began to preach, and also began writing hymns that told the story of his spiritual journey. One day he sat down and wrote the words of the great hymn “Amazing Grace!” which say,
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Near the end of his life, Newton suffered from bad health and failing memory, but he said: “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!” He found liberation from the sin that had bound him for so long — and so can you.
Rodney J. Buchanan
November 12, 2006
Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
