September 4
2011 Reading: Romans 8
Theme: The gospel in Romans
These studies in Romans
are not so much a commentary, as an attempt to follow through
Paul’s words in 2
Timothy 3.14 and 15. He writes to Timothy ‘But as for you, continue
in what you have learned and have become convinced
of........... the holy Scriptures,
which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in
Christ Jesus.’ The sermons
in this series both recognise the deep convictions of the gospel, and
rather than being
comprehensive try to
expound those central verses in Romans which ‘make us wise for salvation
through faith in
Christ Jesus.’
Julie Burchill is a
free lance journalist who writes occasionally for some of the big Sunday
newspapers. A couple of years back she wrote of how her life had changed since she
became a Christian. She writes.......
this is not some "I-was-lost-and-now-I'm-found" sob story. I don't
have a spiritual bone in my body, I am just religious. I believe quite
straightforwardly. But over the past twenty years, almost without me knowing
it, the Christian part of life has become the most important. Once, of course,
I was a teenage atheist; but I grew up. I stopped being an atheist, in my 20s.
But it was only when my parents died, within a year of each other that I became
religious. I stood in the same church
twice in two years and while all around me wept, I was filled with the absolute
certainty that they were on their way to a better place.”
How interesting to hear of one woman who does follow Jesus Christ, and her thoughts on living life as a Christian. If we take look for a moment at the wider picture in the letter to the Romans....... the central problem of the human race is the gap, a gulf between God, who is Holy and Just and Righteous, and ourselves, because of our sin.......... Romans 3.23 everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence. As far as the New Testament is concerned, this is the key problem of human life. We are cut off from God...... adrift, because of sin.
That’s our situation, that’s
our condition. But a change in our situation, in our condition has come
about....... and it has come from God Himself........... Listen to these
glorious words in Romans 5.8 ! while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
while
we were yet sinners, far from God.........
Christ died for us..........here is the gospel, the rock, the
foundation, of the glory of the gospel ......... ! God
has done something about our situation ! Christ took
up our sin at the Cross, He stood in our place, He took our judgment on
Himself, He has taken the consequences of our sin on Himself........ God has
worked out, fixed, settled, restored the whole situation, so that we can come
to Him
Strange, isn’t it, how long it
takes us to grasp what has happened, how long it takes for us to understand........... When Paul preached this, not everybody
understood...... or grasped what the message is..... you’ll
remember the kinds of question that some of Paul’s hearers asked........ Now,
of course, speaking public squares, open streets, there were often objections
put by people in the crowd, but we learn from Romans 6 that serious questions came from those who
were actually in the Church at
There were some, in the
congregation, who asked - Paul, if the gospel says all our sin has been laid on
Jesus, if we really are freed from sin and guilt, then we are in the clear,
acquitted - does that mean we can just keep on sinning ?
How does Paul answer this ? Well, we heard from Julie Burchill when she became a Christian, sometime in her early twenties......... at what point did you or I become Christian ? begin to live following Christ ? Paul takes us right back to our baptism in Romans 6.......... Now, of course, he is speaking to men and women who were baptised as adults.... but the same is true for those who were baptised as children....... Don’t you realise, says Paul, that when you were baptised at that day, that hour, when you were baptised, you stepped into another pattern of life, ........ you stepped through a door into a new life in Christ......... in which we are die with Him to sin, rise to new life....
Paul says in Romans 6.11: The
Lord Jesus has died to sin and now lives to God........ so,
count yourselves dead to sin, and alive to God ! There’s the new pattern of
life...... your pattern of life........
It started the day we were baptised............ !
A new pattern of life........ now the
question is how are we supposed to follow this pattern ? What does the
letter to the Romans say ? Is it ‘a matter of trying
to be a Christian every day’ ? a supreme effort every day ? Well,
actually, ........
we are given the pattern of life - dying to sin and rising to new life.......
but we are also given the power............ to live this
way...........
The letter to the Romans has
been leading up to this........ we
know the pattern of life to follow - dying to sin and rising to new life in
Jesus, says Romans 6 and we are given the
power to do this, says Romans 8.
What power ?
Romans 8 tells us: the power of the Spirit......... The
Spirit of Jesus Christ works in us. And as He does we die to the old human self,
with its drives and its disorder and begin to live deeper in the life of Jesus,
through His Spirit. The pattern of dying to sin, and living life in Christ takes
place through the power of the Holy Spirit.
But yes, there is conflict in
our Christian life. Paul writes: For the
sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary
to the sinful nature. They are in
conflict with each other.
But as the Spirit works we do die to the old human life, with its drives and its lusts and we do begin to live deeper in the life of Jesus, through the power of His Spirit.
All this is set out very clearly in the letter to the Galatians:
Here’s the old human self............
What the sinful nature produces is obvious: immorality,
impurity, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits
of anger, selfishness, dissension, envy; drunkenness and the like.
those who live like this will not inherit the
Here’s life in the Spirit.........
…. the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
As sinful men and women, we
are sometimes weighed down by the darker side of our human nature. But, says Paul, since we live by the
Spirit, let us keep in step with the
Spirit.
Or to put it another way........
the Spirit of the living Jesus Christ is at work within us to bring us life.
But throughout our lives the life of Jesus is at work within us, the Spirit of the living Jesus Christ is at work within us, renewing us down to the very deepest roots of life.
Jesus gives us Himself. Opening
our hearts, and deepening our minds, deepening and enrichening
our faith, making us holy, filling us with love for others, teaching and
guiding us. Bringing us closer to God. Making us new.
If you look at the gospels you will see Jesus living to God, living for others, in gentleness, living always in the Spirit. But – and here is the glorious wonder,
Paul says in Galatians 4.20 “now.......God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts” So that we share the life of Jesus Christ each one of us as believers. and because the life of Jesus is at work in us by the Spirit we are no longer dominated by, steered by our sinful nature. There is another source of life at work in us, the life of Jesus Christ himself. Through Him the fruit of the Spirit grows within us...........love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Yes, we are all too often conscious of our own failure, our own weakness, the sinfulness that distorts all that our life might have been, we are ready to despair at our own emptiness, our dryness, our lack of understanding, our sinfulness - but we know this - where the true source of life is – it is in Jesus Christ….. we look to Jesus Christ, we know that His life is at work within us, and out of His life springs the fruits of the Spirit, His Spirit, And the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Here, I am certain is our deep and lasting hope........