Romans Chapter 7 verse 4 – Chapter 8 verse 4

Romans Chapter 7 verse 4 – Chapter 8 verse 4

Next Sunday is Advent Sunday and we shall be taking a break from our series of talks on Paul’s letter to the Romans. I realise from conversations that some people have enjoyed our series and found it very useful – taking home and working through the study questions to help them even more. Others apparently have not; so there’s next Sunday to look forward to!                       

But especially perhaps for those who have not, who still question why Joe and I bother to explain Paul’s letter and to show why it is so relevant for everyone today, albeit almost some 2000 years after it was written, I would like to begin this morning by telling you about two men, some years ago now, with whom I had two very different conversations.                                                                      

The first explained to me that it was through reading Romans, and chapters 7 and 8 in particular, that he came to what he described as ‘a real faith and effective discipleship’. He told me that he had been a regular churchgoer for a number of years, believed Christianity and the claims of Jesus Christ to be true, but had found it almost impossible – depressingly so at times – to be His disciple in any way that made much of a difference either to his life or to the lives of those around him. He attended church to be forgiven, to take communion, to be reminded of Jesus and of his call to discipleship, and to enjoy the fellowship. 

But he had found it such hard going – trying to be the person he knew Jesus was calling him to be: and all this despite the fact, as he acknowledged, that he was very well regarded by other people. It was not, he said, until he had understood what St. Paul was explaining in these chapters, that he realised what he had failed to appreciate and why he was finding being a Christian so difficult. Let me turn to the other man.                                                                                   

This chap had been a fairly regular churchgoer until he was made unemployed, when he stopped attending. I went to see him and got quite a shock. Being an Anglican – even an Anglican vicar – I don’t like to pry into other people’s spiritual lives but I am always ready to listen and to advise if I am asked. He told me that he had stopped coming because God had let him down. He had come to church fairly regularly; he had tried to live by the rules; he had done nothing wrong: but then God had allowed him to be made unemployed. 

This was not fair he said; God could not be trusted to look after him. Now it was blindingly obvious to me, and I said as much to him, that he was treating God as a kind of insurance policy. He did not disagree. It was all rather like when you go on line for an insurance policy, you don’t actually speak to anyone, there’s no personal relationship involved: you fill in your details, you pay up, you’re insured. Actually this chap had not really played any part in the life of the church family; he had not volunteered nor made any financial contribution even though he knew that this church only survives through people’s help and donations. 

Three months later he got a job, a far better job; but he did not come back to church. When I asked him if he thought that God had had a hand in the whole process, he said ‘no’ and that he had got the job by his own efforts and talent. I would like you to bear these two men in mind as we turn to our passage this morning.                                                                                     

Now in order to understand clearly what Paul is saying here and its relevance for us today, we need to appreciate who the recipients of the letter were. They were largely Jews in Rome who had come to believe that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. Their problem, then, was what to do with the Law that God had given to Moses in order that they might know what it was God expected of them in their behaviour and dealings with Him and with one another. 

What, they were asking, is the place of the Law in Christianity if Christ has brought in a new era, a new covenant? This Law is mentioned in every one of the first fourteen verses and thirty-five times in the whole passage. To the Jews the Law was very precious indeed (see Psalms 19 and 119 for example); it told them how to live: but because no human being can ever succeed in obeying the Law, it cannot be the way of salvation, of getting right with God and being reconciled to Him. 

The only way this can be done, by the grace of God, is through faith in Jesus Christ. But the question remains: once reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ, how do we come to terms with and indeed overcome the sinfulness within each of us in order that we can grow to maturity in faith and become effective disciples? However much we want to ‘do good’ v19 and ‘delight in God’s law’ v22, the reality of our nature v14 makes us do the opposite? V15 ‘I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.’ 

And what the sincere and well-intentioned Christian discovers is what we might call the ‘law of human nature’ v21 ‘So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand’ and v23 ‘but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.’                                                             

This is exactly what keeps us from becoming the people we want to be; fallen human nature. Even if a person is not a Christian and has devised his or her own moral code from a smorgasboard of religions and philosophies, the same holds true: people do not live up to even their own moral codes. For Christians, we simply cannot become the effective disciples we are called to be and, I hope, long to be..... unless we allow God, once again, to come to our aid.      

Just as God sent Jesus to give his life so that whoever believes in him and in his paying the penalty for our sinfulness may be forgiven, acquitted, and reconciled to God, so God offers His Spirit to us inorder that we may overcome the reality of sin that is part of our human nature. It as we ‘walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit’ v4 that we are able with God’s power to overcome what v14 Paul calls ‘the slavery of sin’.

If I can return for a moment to the first chap I mentioned at the beginning. What he realised, having read and understood this passage, was that he had quite simply not accepted God’s second gift of grace - His Spirit, into his life to help him overcome the sinfulness with which, like all of us, he was struggling and which was not only preventing him from enjoying effective discipleship but also depressing him. 

He loved God, he knew God’s commandments to be the blueprint for healthy human beings and healthy communities: as such he had been ‘born again’ in his outlook on life: but he had continued to try to keep God’s commandments without God’s help, which is why he had continued to struggle in keeping them and in being an effective Christian. ‘I wasn’t even a good Christian let alone an effective one’, he told me. 

‘These verses of Romans’, he said, ‘hit me with such power and clarity: they explained perfectly why I was finding it all such a struggle. I simply wasn’t letting God into my life to enable me to do what I couldn’t do on my own. I hadn’t realised just how much the Christian life really is a partnership.’ Or as somebody else once said, ‘We can be Christian enough to delight in God’s Law, yet not Christian enough to obey it. We make the mistake of looking to the Law, instead of to the Spirit, as the way to holiness or sanctification.’ 

We have to learn – and it really can only be through personal experience – that left to ourselves in our fallenness we cannot keep God’s Law, however much we agree with it and delight in it. It is only by allowing God’s Spirit to work in us and through us that we shall be able to become, bit by bit, not only more law-abiding Christians but more effective ones. The distinction Paul has in mind here is the two covenants, the old and the new: the one written externally by Moses on stone tablets; the other written by the Holy Spirit on our hearts. Does this mean we are free to discard the old Law and do whatever we like? Not at all! 

We have been freed from sin for serving the One whose service is perfect freedom: and we discover this freedom to be perfect because He loves us more than we can conceive of or imagine. And anyway, the motive for our service and the means of our service have changed. The motive has changed because if we have been ‘born again’, that is to say, we have humbly accepted our need to be saved from sin and reconciled to God, and have put our faith in Christ, we are no longer trying to convince or impress God, others, or ourselves with our ability to keep God’s Law, or to be seen as ‘good’ people; we simply want to express our love for having been saved and reconciled. 

Also, the means of the service which expresses our love is that we do so in cooperation or partnership with God’s second gracious gift, His Holy Spirit. The Christian life is serving the risen Christ in the power of the Spirit. This passage, I freely admit, is full of difficult ideas: but take as the starting point for our understanding of them what God has done for us and given us in Jesus and in His Holy Spirit, and it will begin to make sense – especially if we start to put it into practise ourselves. 

In verses 7 – 13 Paul shows – admittedly complexly for modern Westerners! - that the Law is good: but in verses 14 – 25 he shows how it is weak in that it cannot make us holy or effective as Christians. Romans chapter 7 is the preparation and groundwork that is needed so that in chapter 8 Paul can go on to describe what we must call ‘the normal Christian life’, that is, life as intended, promised, and offered to every Christian. But it is a gift; and gifts have to be received and opened or acted upon. What the whole of this passage describes is the very real conflict within those who have not yet welcomed God’s Holy Spirit into their lives and begun to be lead by Him. 

They are people who show signs of new birth – in, for example, their love for the Church and for the bible, and in their concern for, their ‘good neighbourliness’ towards, others: yet their religion is still law, not Gospel; flesh not Spirit; the ‘oldness’ of slavery to rules and traditions, not the ‘newness’ of freedom in Christ through the indwelling Spirit. 

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, so let us walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit: let us be not Old Testament Christians but New. It really is all about opening our hearts to the One who has already shown us the extent of his wonderful love for us.

Romans 6 verses 1 to 11

Romans 6 verses 1 to 11

So we continue with our look at Paul’s letter to the Romans and as Campbell explained when he preached on Romans Chapter 5 - there is a world of difference in God’s eyes between a Christian - someone who is in Christ  – and someone who isn’t yet a Christian – someone who is still in Adam.

Although we might all look the same on the outside – an amazing spiritual transformation has taken place in the lives of those who have been born again –and this is what today’s passage from Romans is fundamentally about.

I was trying to think of an analogy to compare with this transformation and the best I could come up with is a caterpillar changing into a butterfly – but even this doesn’t really do it justice.

In order to understand this transformation we need to start by appreciating our spiritual condition as children of Adam - before we become Christians – our caterpillar-like state if you will.

According to the bible, before we become Christians – although God loves us - spiritually speaking we are in a very bad way. We find ourselves alienated from God – separated and cut off from relationship with him – by our sinfulness.

So in spiritual terms – before we become Christians – even though we may be nice people – we are all tainted by sin and actually therefore unclean in God’s eyes.

As the prophet Isaiah puts it – all of us have become like one who is unclean.

Furthermore because our sin hurts other people and offends God we are deserving of God’s judgement.

And even worse, before we make our peace with God and cease rebellion against Him, - Paul says in the previous chapter of Romans that we are actually enemies of God.

So - in our caterpillar-like spiritual state –we are cut off from God, unclean, unforgiven, deserving of judgement, and enemies of God.

But of course as Paul has been explaining to us over the previous couple of chapters of Romans – God doesn’t want to leave us in this sorry state.

Because He loves us - and because we are of great value in His eyes - He came in the person of Jesus to reconcile us to Himself – to put us right with Him and to deal with the consequences of our sin and rebellion.

And in these verses from Romans we get an insight into how - through the cross - God made it possible for us to change from poor bedraggled sinners into his beloved children.

And He did this in a surprising way. As Paul tells us here in verse 6 - He did it by crucifying our old selves - the unclean, unforgiven people we used to be –– with Christ.

Our old selves - were put to death with Christ on the cross so that we could be re-born as new people – people no longer enslaved by sin – verse 6.

So if you’re a Christian here today – spiritually speaking - you really are a new creation. As Paul says in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians; if anyone is in Christ, HE IS a new creation; the old has gone, and the new has come.

At the moment you came to believe in Jesus, your old self died - and you were born again as a new person in God’s eyes.

As Paul says in his letter to the Colossians - you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

And of course this is what the symbolism of baptism is all about. In baptism - the old person you used to be – the sinner enslaved by sin – is symbolically buried and laid to rest in the water – and the new creation – the new you - who has been freed from slavery to sin - emerges from the water to start their new life in Christ.

So if you have been born again – you may look the same on the outside – but within, an amazing spiritual transformation has taken place in your life.

You have been re-born as a child of God. You are no longer a sinner in God’s eyes but a saint. And you have a new nature – Christ in you – the nature to be Christ like.

You are in dwelt by the Holy Spirit - the spirit of Jesus.

You have been saved from God’s wrath and you have crossed over from death to life.

You have been made clean by the blood of Jesus and God now sees you as righteous – made right with him.

Your sin has been atoned for by Jesus and you have been set free from the law of sin and death.

As Paul explains in today’s passage – you have been incorporated into Christ’s death and resurrection. You have been united with Christ in his death and you will certainly also be united with Christ in his resurrection – verse 5.

And because you died with Christ, you will also one day live with him in heaven – verse 8.

Some of you have heard me mention a great bible teacher called Roger Price whose teaching was a tremendous help to me when I was a younger.

He identified 37 different things that happen to a person when they become a Christian – 37 things which accompany salvation – and I have a photocopy with a summary of these things which I’ve put at the back of the church.

So, our transition from a sinful caterpillar into a saintly butterfly is achieved for us by Christ’s death and resurrection. And we as Christians were involved in that death and resurrection.

To use my analogy - the old sinful caterpillars we used to be were crucified with Christ – and then buried with him by baptism – verse 3; and in the same way that Jesus was raised from the dead - we were reborn as beautiful Christian butterflies and raised to new life with him – verse 4.

And the death of our old selves frees us, as the later verses of today’s reading tell us.

It frees us to start new lives with Christ. It frees us from the law of sin and death. It frees us from condemnation and judgement. It frees us from our bondage to sin. It frees us from our fear of death and it frees us to become servants of the living God.

And understanding that we have died is central to understanding our new identities as children of God. Although we may look the same in the mirror, in spiritual terms we have completely changed.

We are now holy and redeemed. We have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the God’s kingdom.

We are now God’s beloved children and we have become clean in His eyes – so we can approach him with confidence.

We are no longer under condemnation – because when we died – we died to the law. And we no longer need to fear judgement because Jesus has already been judged and punished in our place.

Do you start to get the picture? Paul says a bit later in Romans chapter 12, that we are to be transformed – or transfigured – by the renewing of our minds.

As we start to take on board who we are in Christ – and start to see ourselves as God sees us – it will change our whole outlook on life – and we can start to live in the freedom that God intends for us.

This is why Jesus said; “if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

And as we get to know the truth it can have a great healing effect on our lives. For instance before we became Christians we may have felt unloved and suffered with feelings of unworthiness or low self esteem.

But as Christians we can know that we are holy and dearly loved and that we are of great worth in God’s eyes. In fact we were valuable enough in God’s eyes to be worth dying for.

There was a lady at my previous church who had very low self esteem – and she went to a Church weekend at a Christian retreat called Ashburnham – which some of you will know.

During this retreat God gave this lady a vision of how He saw her. And seeing herself through God’s eyes – she saw that she was beautiful and radiant and holy and loved.

She saw that she was precious and of great value in His eyes. And she saw also that she radiated light. His light shone out of her. What she saw amazed her and transformed her view of herself.

And if you’re a Christian that is how God sees you. Although you sin and get things wrong you are no longer a sinner. You’re a saint – someone who belongs to the family and Kingdom of God. And as such, in God’s eyes you are amazing and precious – of great value.

And because God has made us new people at great cost - there is an onus on us to live holy lives – both out of love and gratitude to God – and also so that others can see something of the light and life of Christ shining out of us.

And this is Paul’s point in the latter verses of today’s reading. He says for instance in verses 12 and 13 – that we should not let sin exercise dominion in our mortal bodies and use our bodies as instruments of wickedness.

Rather we should present ourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and offer Him our bodies as instruments of righteousness.

We should offer God the use of our eyes to see those people He wants us to love and reach out to; our hands to pray for and lay on people in Jesus name; our mouths to tell people that Jesus loves them; and our feet to walk where He tells us.

God has made us new - but more than anything He wants us now to reach out in His name to those around us so that they too can be reconciled to Him – and so that He can make them new as well.

And this is the good news for you sitting here today – if you haven’t yet been reconciled to God – if spiritually speaking you’re still a caterpillar.

More than anything God wants you to come to Him and allow Him to make you new, to make you His child.

Most of you will know the story of the prodigal son which is my favourite parable.

The son who has left home and squandered his inheritance on wild living – finds himself looking after pigs. Pigs were unclean to Jews so this was just about the worst job anyone could have.

So in this story we have a person who symbolically is cut off from God and unclean, whose clothing is soiled by sin.

But the son makes up his mind that even if it means being a servant he wants to return to His father’s house – so he sets out for home.

And His Father who has been keeping an eye out for him ever since he left home, sees him from far off and goes running to meet him and to welcome him home.

And He embraces him and puts a clean robe on him and a ring on his finger and holds a party for his return.

Spiritually speaking God takes off his dirty old garment - and clothes Him in a clean white robe and the ring He gives him is a sign of belonging to His family.

And that is what God wants to do for you this morning. If you don’t yet know Him - if you haven’t yet been reconciled to Him – He wants to embrace you as His child and welcome you into his family. He wants to make you clean and to offer you a new start in life.

Sometimes I close with a prayer as an opportunity for people to make their peace with God.

But this morning I think that God wants to meet with people at the communion rail.

If you’re a Christian, He wants you to walk to the communion rail in the knowledge that you are His child, that you are holy and redeemed and precious in His sight.

And as you take communion you can thank and worship Him for all He has done for you through Jesus.

And if you’re not yet a Christian and you want to be reconciled to God – if you want to come to God and to be richly welcomed into His family, - if you want to be forgiven and made new, - if you want to be clothed with a robe of righteousness – as you walk up the aisle to communion - imagine yourself like the prodigal son - walking home towards God – and then kneel before Him at the communion rail and ask Him to forgive you for rebelling against Him and to make you His child.

In the name of the living God. Amen.

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY 2014 John 15: 12-25 and Ephesians 6: 10-18

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY 2014   John 15: 12-25 and Ephesians 6: 10-18

We are here this morning to give thanks for and to honour those who gave their lives in order that we might have life. It is perhaps too easily forgotten that so many of the freedoms we enjoy today were won at very great cost; freedoms which, even as I speak, are not enjoyed in many countries elsewhere today. So we do indeed have much to give thanks for; and it is right to continue to honour their memory annually as we do. 

But is a once a year memorial the best way in which we can give thanks for and honour what they have done? There is a real danger, is there not, for us to hold our Remembrance Sunday parade and then simply tick it off the list: a job done, a tradition observed, a promise kept; and then to think little or no more about it until the next year.

I do believe that there is a way in which you and I can give thanks for and honour their sacrifice in a far more meaningful and effective way. Not that I would do away with the annual observance: far from it. But what about the rest of the year? 

What could you and I do to show our profound appreciation for the freedom their sacrifices won for us, our parents, children, grandchildren? Surely it would be in how we live our lives now, and for whom we live our lives; in the principles of self-sacrifice rather than self-seeking and in the service of others rather than for self-fulfilment.

It was after all these very principles that characterised the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose words are quoted so often and especially today. ‘Greater love hath no man than this; that he lay down his life for his friends.’ In the face of the many distortions and abuses of that word ‘love’ today by those whose self-love and self-obsession result in the most unloving of consequences, the model given us by the Lord Jesus Christ remains not only the inspiration for our own sacrificial service of others but also the rebuke to self-obsession and the antidote to it. 

I say ‘inspiration’ because, as Jesus warned his disciples, ‘without me you can do nothing’: he is saying in effect that in order to be able to love like him we need his help, his presence, and his power in our lives. The Great Commandments may instruct us to ‘love God’ and to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’; but how many of us find that easy? 

God gave us the commandments in order to live healthy lives as individuals, as families, as communities: but he offers himself, his presence and power in our lives, in order for us to be able to keep them. And at their heart is the life-changing principle of self-sacrifice.

It is as we reflect on the greatest act of self-sacrifice ever – the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of the whole world - and then, in gratitude, make it the principle for our own lives, that we shall not only discover what Jesus described as a ‘fullness of life’ nothing or no-one else can offer, but also more sincerely and effectively honour the sacrifices of those whom we remember today.

For those who call themselves Christians, our Gospel reading from St. John can prove quite uncomfortable reading. Why? Well, because in it Jesus sets out some very clear statements about what it means to be a Christian. In your baptism service either you or your parents and godparents made certain promises regarding your lifetime response to having been rescued by Jesus from darkness to light and from spiritual death to spiritual life. These can be pretty well summed up in a phrase from that Baptism service: ‘fight valiantly under the banner of Christ against the world, the flesh and the Devil, and continue his faithful servant to the end of your life.’

The person who thinks that being a Christian is a bed of roses is sadly and badly mistaken. It is about a calling to battle; and that battle is first with one’s natural Self or ‘flesh’; secondly with the world where the world is opposed to God; and thirdly with the Devil and all spiritual matters that are not of God.

In this passage we are commanded, chosen, and commissioned (appointed) to bring the good news of Christ’s saving love for all, to all, in a world where the commands of Christ are not always welcome. They are not welcome because they speak of the very things that question so much of how the world works.

 Jesus ‘commands’ v12 ‘that we love one another as he has loved us’. The second part of the phrase ought to warn us that such love on our part is impossible without his help. 

The good news however is that he has promised his help to love to those humble enough to acknowledge their own shortcomings and to accept his wonderful offer. If we are sincere about keeping our Baptism promises, then why do we not receive joyfully all the help we can get in order to fulfil our calling, our mission?

Jesus says too v16 that he has ‘chosen’ us. All of us who respond to his calling and want to obey his commands are in some mysterious way ‘chosen’ by him. From a purely worldly point of view I have to admit that I do sometimes wonder at some of the people he has chosen – including myself! And then I have to remind myself of at least two very good reasons why them: first, he chooses people that he can work with and through, not those who think that they can do it on their own and do not need his help. And, secondly, he chooses people often very different from ourselves in order to remind us that what brings people together in the world can be very different and often the opposite from what binds people together in his kingdom.

Jesus commissions or appoints us v16 to ‘go and bear fruit that will last so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.’ Here Jesus makes clear the purpose of our calling as Christians: essentially it is to bring the good news of Jesus’ truth and love to lives that lack it, in order that they might find new life in him. Most importantly we also learn that it is as we give ourselves to Christ’s service that he gives us ‘whatever you ask in my name’. Here we see how God blesses the principle of self-sacrifice and service – when we are thinking of others and putting the needs of others before our own.

But of course there will be opposition; and Jesus uses some very strong and harsh words to describe the opposition Christians will face if we follow him faithfully. V21 ‘They will do all these things to you on account of my name because they do not know him who sent me.’ You see, the teaching of Jesus has the effect of showing in their true colours the practices and priorities of the world. This is why so often the world ‘hates’ 

Jesus and those whom he has commanded, chosen, and commissioned to share the liberating and life-changing truth about him - because it threatens many of the world’s most cherished deceits and delusions about life, and about how to live it. And of course hatred of the truth and love of the self tend to blind people to any rational and moral argument; so much so that v20 ‘they will persecute you’.

 If we sign up for this calling, if we take this King’s shilling and serve him faithfully, then we shall be in for a battle. So before we decide it makes very good sense to weigh up the pros and cons of choosing either for the world or for Jesus. There has to be a choice because Jesus does not allow us to sit on the fence – there is no place for the fashionable option of doubt – because he says quite clearly that we must be either for him or against him. 

In the military, when faced with a task, especially when fighting against an enemy, the sensible thing to do is to make what is called an ‘Appreciation’. This is a detailed analysis of the situation that you face and the factors to consider. In a battle, whether small or large, you consider the ground over which you are being asked to fight, the strength, resources, and probable tactics of your enemy, your own strength and resources, and other such factors that might influence the outcome. 

I would always recommend this exercise to anyone thinking of becoming a Christian. Which side do you want to be on? It is passages such as this morning’s gospel reading that state very clearly the Christian’s task in the battle that is already being waged. We are called to spiritual warfare and it is as we commit ourselves to the fight against what is wrong in the world and with the world, and what is wrong in ourselves and in others that we best honour the self-sacrifice of those we honour today.

St. Paul knew what it is we are up against: and so when we make our ‘appreciations’ we need to be wise about the opposition we will face if we are to be faithful servants and soldiers of Christ. We need to be honest about our own shortcomings and needs; but above all we need to v10 and 11 ‘put on the whole armour of God and be strong in the strength of his power’; then we shall be equipped and able to live lives that honour those who gave their lives that we might enjoy the kind of freedom they felt was worth fighting for.

I know, as you do, that many lives in past and present earthly conflicts were needlessly wasted: and that is a terrible thing. And often, because we and those in authority who make decisions for us are flawed and fallen, wrong decisions are made, for wrong reasons, and the results are terrible. But that in no way diminishes the sacrifices of those who were sent. 

In the battle against spiritual evil, which often manifests itself in material and human form, the sacrifice is never wasted: the smallest triumph of good over evil is always worth the cost. 

And if ever you are tempted to think otherwise, you have only to turn for a moment and reflect upon the greatest sacrifice of all, a sacrifice made at one and the same time both for the whole world and for you personally; a sacrifice whose efficacy was proved (and in which you and I will one day share completely) when he rose again on Easter day. 

It is the principle of self-sacrifice that is at the heart of any love worth the name and worth honouring.