“A Child of Promise”

Scripture: Romans 9:1-9

For the past three weeks, we have considered Paul’s message to the Church from Romans 8. It is a powerful letter that is filled with encouragement and hope – it’s about God’s conquest of the sin that is rampant in our lives; it’s about being freed from the clutches of earth and welcomed into the embrace of Heaven; it’s about the spiritual power contained in the Godly relationship that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ.
And as I considered how I was going to follow that message, I read ahead into the next chapter, and discovered that it outlines, to a great extent, what Salvation must come to mean for us. It addresses some issues of Israel’s history, but more importantly, it answers some of the nagging questions that many of us have regarding the Lord’s intent and plan.

Some parents had a great idea for their son’s special birthday gift one year. They ordered a kit for a tree house from a mail order catalogue. As the mother and father began to assemble the pieces, they discovered to their dismay that while they had received the plans for a tree house, they had been sent the materials for a sailboat.
A letter of complaint to the company brought this apologetic reply: “While we regret the inconvenience this mistake must have caused you, it is nothing compared to that of the man who is out on a lake somewhere trying to sail your tree house.”
--From Richard Northrup, Phoenix, Arizona

For many of us, God’s plans sometimes feel as though he has erred in this same way – that he has called us to salvation but sent the instructions for an entirely different project! But in Romans 9, Paul assures us that there is no error and there is no mistake.

Read Romans 9:1-5

Why would the truth in Christ cause the evangelist so much pain? While he doesn’t actually state the reason, it can be assumed that it is because the people of Israel were not only deaf to the good news, they weren’t believing anything that they did hear. While Chapter 8 was about the glory that God has offered to us, this chapter is about the anguish that he, and by extension the Church, should feel over those who still don’t know that glory. He even suggests that his agony over Israel’s refusal to accept Christ is so great that he would even offer himself up as a substitute for their condemnation.
Now let’s think about this for a moment. I’m fairly certain that Paul completely understood that this would never work – after all, that’s exactly what Jesus had already done, and even Paul has suggested in Romans 5:8-11 that this was Christ’s purpose and not ours. So what is he saying? I believe that it is, first of all, an expression of his passion that all should come to the Lord for salvation, and second, that his love for Israel is so great that he would even trade his salvation for their condemnation. Now that is an exceptional love! But Paul knows very well that it can only be a personal and individual commitment to Christ that brings his glory to our lives, and his heartfelt offer is just as genuine as is his pain over their loss.

He lists all that God has given them as a sign of his grace and passion, but still they have turned away. But is this list the exclusive “property” of Israel? They certainly thought so, but now Paul is telling them (and us!) that while these gifts of God have not gone away, Israel has forfeited their rights to them. Think about each one:
- Israel had been the chosen of God, but since they had refused to accept his way, now others are being “adopted” into God’s family.
- Divine glory had been leading and empowering and blessing Israel exclusively for a thousand years, but now that glory was being granted to others who would, in Israel’s place, be far more faithful.
- The covenants that God had laid down for Abraham (Genesis 17:1-8) and Moses (Exodus 19:3-6) and David (2 Samuel 7:8-16) and, in general, to all of Israel, had been broken, and even though God had acted in a mighty way to restore them through Jesus, the people had refused to accept him. Now these covenants were passing to others.
- God had given the people his law for living a righteous life, but for all these years, Israel had been adding to them, and reinterpreting them, and redefining them, and even perverting them until they had become meaningless. Now those laws had been overturned through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and we now live by his new commandment – “as I have loved you, love one another.” (John 13:31-35). But Israel was stuck to the old ways, and were ignoring the new.
- Worship and sacrifice had previously been confined to the temple. It was about how and what you did that brought honor to the Lord, but that was never sufficient. Now worship would be in the spirit and the divine truth of God, and not in a singular place. (John 4:21-24)
- God’s promise of a relationship with Israel was being taken for granted, and they were showing the Lord absolutely no honor or praise. Relationship would no longer be in the age old promises, but in a new one based in mutual acceptance and love.
Israel had even been granted ancestry with Emmanuel – they had become blood relatives with God in the Flesh, but that wasn’t even enough for the people. While they should have been rejoicing and praising God for his goodness, they completely rejected him and his gift of a righteous life.

No wonder Paul’s heart was breaking – Israel had been given every opportunity to truly be God’s people, and their shallow faith betrayed them.

Read Romans 9:6-9

How many times do we hear folks ask “Why has God done this?” or “Why has God let me down?” or “Why has God allowed this to happen? Is he out to torment me?” Their implication is that God has somehow failed to keep some promise to the person, but Paul would have them know that God’s word has never and will never fail us! And this is where all too many people feel that God is two-faced. They claim the promises (as they want to understand them), but feel that God’s actions contradict them.
Paul now lists several examples that we don’t like to think about – they are seen as God’s selective choices for salvation. Even though the covenant made with Abraham would seem to say that all of his descendants would be honored and blessed, it would only be those who came through Isaac and Jacob who would be the “chosen” of God. Not Ishmael’s line, not Esau’s line, not Lot’s line, not any of the rest – only Jacob’s. Paul’s statement that “not all who are descended from Israel are Israel” and just “because they are his descendants they [not] all Abraham’s children.” initially doesn’t seem to make much sense. But his point is that only those who are faithful to the covenants can be seen as true members of the family, and the rest are the “black sheep” of Israel.
Remember the story of Jacob in Laban’s employ when he caused the best sheep and goats of the flock to be speckled and striped? They were the original “black sheep” – they were considered undesirable, outcasts, of far lesser value, and Laban allowed Jacob to take them as payment for his service.
“White sheep” were normally the chosen, and the “black” were rejected. But now Paul tells us what the true test will be – that it isn’t those who the world thinks are the best and most desirable, but those who God will find favor with. It isn’t those who would be seen as the “natural” choice, but those who are the “children of the promise”. It isn’t the people who have the lineage to claim the inheritance of God, but those who keep the covenants.

So who are we? Where do we fit in? Are we the ones who everyone would normally place in the “natural selection” group? Those who have been in the church all their lives, those who have served on the most committees, those who have attended all the Bible studies and other obvious activities? Or are we those who have quietly worked behind the scenes without recognition, those who routinely have shared their faith with others, those who have never sought any glory for themselves, but who have lived their life in God’s covenant and in his promise?

Paul’s heart was breaking because the people of Israel were still trying to do it the old and fruitless way. He wanted them to be “children of the promise” – God’s promise, God’s way, and not by their own. And that is his hope for us.

Take up God’s promise that is brought to us through faith in Christ Jesus. There is no other way possible.

“Conquest Over the World”

Scripture: Romans 8:26-39

For the past two weeks, we have been working our way through Romans 8, considering the power of God, in comparison to the power of earth. And we have come to know that God’s power leads us into glory, while the power of earth can only fail us at every turn, and will bury us in our sinful nature.

In today’s text, the power of God in Christ Jesus comes alive in us and proves its conquest over the power of sinful earth. And not just to destroy the presence of sin in our lives, but to be the power that sustains us, to be the power that revives us, to be the power that makes us whole, to be the power that unites us to Almighty God Himself!

Read Romans 8:26-30

And the power for our life in faith comes through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that it is the Holy Spirit who will teach us and remind us of all that the Lord had taught (John 14:26), that this same Spirit of Truth would be the testament of Jesus (John 15:26), and that the Spirit would come to us after Jesus had left (John 16:7). The Spirit is not only the power of God for our lives, he is the power that is within us. He knows our greatest pain, he knows the thoughts of our minds and the desires of our hearts, he prays for us, and works for the good of those who give their lives to the Lord.
And if you tend to get hung up on the word “predestined”, read again the first few words of verse 29 – “those God foreknew he also predestined”. The Father knows those who Jesus knows, and Jesus knows those who know him (John 10:1-5). And it is only when God knows us that we are conformed in the image of Christ, justified in salvation and glorified to eternity.
But what is “conformity to the likeness of Jesus” all about? It certainly isn’t something to take lightly! Consider for a moment, what the nature of Jesus is for us. Jesus is about surrendering glory in exchange for humility. Jesus is about putting God’s truth far ahead of human understanding. Jesus is about suffering in himself for the betterment of others. Jesus is about doing God’s will, no matter what that may have meant to his humanity. And when we are conformed, or perhaps “re-formed” to his likeness, we surrender to the same objectives, the same authority, the same Divine needs that the Lord did.
It’s all about God and what he is doing in and through us. It is the Spirit of God who knows us completely, and not us who know all about him; it is the Spirit who conforms us to Christ, and not by our will; it is the Spirit who leads us, and not us who determines the plan and direction; it is the Spirit who strengthens us, and our own abilities and courage have nothing to do with it.
It’s all about God, and all for us.

Read Romans 8:31-39

In business, we hear the term “stakeholder”. A stakeholder is a person or group who has an investment, a primary interest, in a project or effort, and therefore, gets to make the guiding decisions. In general, there can be only one, or a very few at most, if the effort is to remain in the original focus. If the number of “stakeholders” becomes too great, the focus will be lost.
In the issue of faith, there is only one stakeholder (or maybe three, depending on how you look at it!), and that is God. The problem in life is that all too many people want to see themselves as stakeholders, right along with the Almighty. And when that happen, the focus gets all cloudy. The truth is that we are the recipients of the salvation effort, not the ones who have made it possible through their investment. God, and God alone, has invested himself in us, and we have given nothing to the process!
The Lord has invested his all in the effort to win us for eternal life, and his is the only vision, the only decision, that matters. We have given nothing of value to the effort, and therefore we have no say in how it all will play out. And personally, we should all be very happy with that arrangement! Ours is not a perfect and decisive life – we stumble, we fall, we get covered in mud and muck and slime, we make poor decisions and take wrong turns, and the probability that we could ever gain heaven on our own is absolutely ZERO!
But God is All Mighty! All Knowing! All Perfect! All Wise! All Conquering! He doesn’t make mistakes! He doesn’t make U-turns! And he has already put everything in place that we might know salvation, and all that we have to do is accept Jesus as the source of new and everlasting life!

Samuel Shaw, a 17th century English pastor, wrote:
Happiness, heaven itself, is nothing but a perfect conformity, a cheerful and eternal compliance of all powers of the soul with the will of God.
--Samuel Shaw, 1699

Conformity in Christ is about our compliance, by faith, to the Lord, which, in itself, leads to a life in the will of God. And what do we get in this will of God? Nothing less than the unshakable, inseparable, indescribable, victorious and eternal love of God in Jesus Christ. NOTHING can ever separate us from this incredible relationship with God that has been made possible by the glorious life of Jesus. The power of God is never about condemnation – it is about renewal, it is about casting aside the deficient and being clothed in the perfect, it is about being made and remade in the best possible way. It is all about God, and it is all for us.

(At this point in the service, an invitation for a healing service was offered – that folks could come for themselves or someone else, that they could come alone or with a friend, that they could come for healing in body, spirit, faith, relationship, or any other issue that is troubling them.)

“New Life in a New Family”

Scripture: Romans 8:12-25

So what is Romans 8 really all about? It’s about the inadequacy of the law to bring life into our mortal existence. It’s about living life in the Spirit of God, and setting the worldly nature behind us. It’s about discovering the glory – the true and blessed gift of God – in all that we do and think and say. It’s about denying the ridicule and embarrassment and shame that the world would force upon us, and claiming the total joy and peace that the promise of Jesus Christ brings. It’s about being welcomed back into the family of God, and no longer being reconciled to the fact that the world is the best that we ever hope for. But is God’s family any better than the one we have in the world?

Picture this:
On an Iowa roadside, an old man chats with a pregnant runaway. For the girl, family is a prison, a place to be broken out of.
The old man tells her that he used to give each of his kids a stick and say, “You break that.” Of course they could. Then he'd tell them to tie some sticks in a bundle and try to break that. And they couldn't.
Then he said, “That bundle - that's family.”
The next morning, the old man wakes up to find the girl gone, with the hint that she'll be returning home. On the ground is a bundle of sticks with a bow tied around it.
-Scene from David Lynch's movie The Straight Story, cited by Richard Corliss in A Grand Quest, Time, October 25, 1999, 120.

The “bundle” of sticks - the family of God - is tied together by the power of the Holy Spirit, and it will never break. Today, we consider the power of this family.

Read Romans 8:12-17

“Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ”. Here is one of the major differences in how the words “heir” and “inheritance” and understood. For the world, you become an “heir” to an estate through a legal process called probate. The court decision is based on the judge’s interpretation of the deceased person’s will, and may or may not be in line with the person’s actual intent. Inheritance occurs when the estate holder dies, with the estate then passing to the person’s designated and living survivors.
“Inheritance” for the family of God is a bit different, in that it is granted 1) when the heir “dies” to the world and is born again in Christ, 2) while the estate holder – God – is living in eternity, and 3) in a way that never detracts from nor diminishes the inheritance of any of the other heirs!

In the world, the basis for inheritance is a legal document called a will, but in the family of God, is a promise – a relationship - that we have come to know as a “covenant”. Wills can be changed, but covenants never change. Wills can have errors and omissions and loop-holes, but covenants say exactly what they mean, are never wrong, and leave no room for contesting the gift.

And this is what I believe Paul is trying to tell us in his discussion of “living in the sinful nature” versus “living in the Spirit”. When we live under the law, sin is free to find all kinds of loop holes and exceptions, but when we live in the Spirit, there are no loop holes, and even if there were, we would never have any desire to look for them! When we live in the sinful nature, the family may quibble over every little aspect of the inheritance, but when we truly live in the Spirit, the family must experience a sense of unity and harmony and common purpose.

And why the difference? Because the human family of God is called to live as the heavenly family lives. As we read through the gospels, Jesus’ teaching is consistent and constant – all teachings and all commandments are for all people, and the eternal reward will also be the same for all who are in Christ. Remember the parable of the Workers of the Harvest? Workers were called to work for the Master at various times during the day, but when the day ended, every worker received the same compensation, regardless of who they were or how long they had been working. (Matthew 20:1-16) The world constantly talks about equality – but maybe they should stop talking for a while and listen to Jesus for a change. His is true equality!

Paul’s point is that we have chosen the sinful nature, but our true obligation is to the way of God in Christ Jesus.

Read Romans 8:18-21

The trials of this life can’t even begin to compare to the glory that is awaiting us in the next. This is a similar thought to those in Romans 5:3-5, in which Paul says that we “rejoice in our sufferings”. And why should we rejoice? Because as Christians, we are in Christ, and in Christ, the new life is already in us and working through us. Unfortunately, as Paul says, this new life has yet to be revealed. But God’s glory is already ours in his promise, in his covenant, in his Spirit, and no matter what may come our way, we still have an overwhelming reason to rejoice.
And that reason is? It is the great expectation of the day when the family of God will be revealed for all of creation to see! That is ALL of creation, not just the human component. And why would the planets and the stars and the trees and the birds and the animals care? The truth is that they are buried in rot and decay, just as we are, and Paul says that even the non-human aspects of creation will be freed from its bondage to death, just as the family of God will be.
Oh, the rest of creation may not realize that it is decaying, and it may not understand what freedom from that sentence means for them, but one day it all will! Isaiah 65:17 tells us that the Lord will make both the heavens and the earth new, and Isaiah 66:22 tells us that this new creation will last as long as the Creator will (that’s eternally, you know!). But all of creation won’t understand God in the same way as those who are saved in Christ will – it will simply be “brought into the glorious freedom” that is ours. Because of the salvation that we have received, the new creation will also be blessed in the Lord’s sight.

Read Romans 8:22-25

Remember that Christmas so long ago, or maybe it was a special birthday, when you were eagerly expecting that new bicycle or some other gift that you “just had to have”! I mentioned a bicycle, only because that was the one great gift that I had waited for as a young boy. I can’t say that I was exactly “groaning” while I waited for Christmas day to arrive, but it was close. And the day came, adorned with that bike sitting next to the Christmas tree in our living room. As I remember, it was a fairly mild Christmas, and as soon as I was allowed to, I had that bike out on the driveway giving it a test ride. And the bike would serve me well, even after I got my drivers’ license.
And the anticipation in the waiting, and the joy I had in receiving of that bicycle, can’t even begin to compare to what that long awaited day of Christ’s return brings to us. The groaning is universal – Paul compares it to the anticipation of the birth of a child. While mothers can understand that feeling perfectly, it’s an analogy that men can’t fully grasp. But I remember the anticipation over Nathan’s birth. Those last couple of months were memorable, to say the least. We hadn’t experienced them with Chris, as he had arrived 8 weeks early, but Nathan was full term and full drama. Every trip to the Doctor brought new questions – how is the baby doing, how big is he going to be, when will he arrive – well, you know the thoughts. Then there was the evening when Diane decided to take a bath, and made the water a little too warm. When she stood up and exited the tube, she promptly fainted dead away on the bathroom floor! Scared me half to death! And then there was that morning at 3:30 AM when she decided that the time had come, and off we went to the hospital. The delivery went very smoothly, and a few hours later, I traveled to a different hospital to begin radiation treatments for cancer. It was a long couple of months.

And the coming day of Jesus will be far more wonderful and has a far greater anticipation associated with it than the birth of our children. And the reason is that it will be our welcome, our redemption, our salvation, our newness in Christ that will be realized, not just in the arrival of another human being, and certainly not as the gift of a new bike. We can wonder what our Christmas gift will be, we can imagine what our new son or daughter will be like, but we can never actually know the fullness of joy in Jesus until the “great” day arrives.
The day of Christ is nothing less. We can imagine what it will be like standing face to face with the Lord, and we can expect what it will be like to praise Almighty God with the heavenly chorus and the entire Church, but our thoughts still can’t even come close to the experience itself.
And Paul tells us that we must wait patiently until that day. And we say “Yeah – right!” But maybe his point is that there is still a lot to do right here – to bring praises to the Lord, to bring other people to the Lord, to continue to study his ways and his call - and he wants us to live in today, and not to get to focused on tomorrow. At least, not yet!

So put your hope and trust and tomorrow in the Lord, and may your new life in his new family be lived to the fullest. He has an incredible life for us right here.

“Freedom for the Living!”

Scripture: Romans 8:1-11

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom yet [condemn] agitation are [people] who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder or lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.
--19th-century abolitionist Frederick Douglass, address on West India Emancipation, August 4, 1857

This quote by Frederick Douglass shows us that he knew very well that freedom is never “free”, that it never just falls into our lap! We have just celebrated the anniversary of our nation’s declaration of independence from England. But freedom wouldn’t just happen. It would require 7 bloody years of conflict – families would be broken apart, property would be seized or destroyed, lives would be lost and a very great cost would be exacted by both our fledgling nation and the British Empire.
And the freedom that comes from our Christian salvation isn’t much different. When we come to Christ in faith, there is a terrible conflict between the life we had been living and the one we have been called to live. Even though we may have been living a very “good” life, it can never be good enough to please the Lord. And as we approach that new life in Christ, there is always at least some fear and guilt over the things we did in the old one. What is God going to do about our sinful life? Will we be punished? How bad will it get before it can get better?
But we soon discover that all our fears were groundless, and even though this entire chapter is about the struggle between life and death, we need to know that the character and nature of God will prevail every time.

Read Romans 8:1-4

The first 2 verses hold two vital truths – first, that in Christ, there is no disapproval, and second, there are two laws in battle over our lives – that of the Spirit and that of sin; that of life and that of death.

Let’s consider the second truth first – the conflict between the two laws. Paul tells us that it is the law of sin and death that convicts us, and that we are all under this law. We can do nothing to clear our name, there is no sense trying to plea bargain, and without Christ’s redemption, the verdict is a foregone and incontestable conclusion. GUILTY!
But when we give it all over to Jesus, the Law of the Spirit of Life comes to bear. And where there is Life, death cannot exist; where there is forgiveness, there are no charges; and where there are no charges, there can be no trial. And the result is Freedom for our souls!

Understanding the previous truth is critical in accepting the other. When we give ourselves over to Christ, not only is our guilt wiped away, but so is our condemnation. Acknowledgement of the existence of our sin is still there, but there is no verdict against us. In Zechariah 3:1-5, we find Joshua, the high priest, standing before the Judgment Seat, and Satan is there to accuse him. But we see no evidence what-so-ever of a defiance attorney! The Judge, Jesus himself, sends Satan packing, and then proceeds to have the attending angels remove the priest’s filthy clothes – representing our sin - and dress him from head to foot with the finest attire, which signifies righteousness. No charges are brought, no trial is held – there isn’t even an offer of a “not guilty” verdict! Just the exchange of our sin for God’s holiness. And Joshua doesn’t say a word through the entire exchange.
When we let Jesus destroy our sin, it is both the first and the final act of his redemptive power in our lives.

And the next two verses explain the necessity of the first two – that following the law is insufficient to overcome the condemnation of our sin. It offers hope for deliverance, but it falls far short of its promise. After all, how could sinful people possibly exchange their sinfulness for holiness? We don’t even understand holiness, let alone how to achieve it! Sin can only be overcome by holiness itself, and never by sin.
And so, Jesus came to earth, not in the image of the Divine God but in the image of sinful humanity. And when he gave up his life on Calvary, he took our sin with him. Remember the story of the man with the unclean spirit called “Legion”? Jesus ordered them to leave the man, and they entered the pigs, who then stampeded over a cliff, drowning themselves in the lake. (Mark 5:1-13) That’s what Jesus did to our sin. He took the entirety of human sin into death, and left them there when he returned to life.
The law could not destroy our sin – it could only make us aware of it. Jesus is the only one who can destroy the burden of our failures.

Read Romans 8:5-8

Paul now addresses the reason that a “life in the flesh” and a “life in the Spirit” cannot simultaneously exist in us. Paul tells us that it all comes back to that “you can’t serve two masters” issue. (Matthew 6:24) He says that it all hinges on our ability to focus on only one thing at a time. If our lives are focused on the things of the world, we can only live as the world lives. But when our vision is shifted to the things of heaven, we begin to live in the Spirit. When we live in the decay that is earth, our life will be limited and finite. But when we are in the infinite God, we, too, will know eternity.

These two ways are incompatible and mutually exclusive – either we live in the world or in the Spirit; either we live in decay and death or in eternity; either we live in sin or in salvation – we can’t have it both ways. Paul even goes so far as to say that “the sinful mind is hostile to God.” Sin is antagonistic to God, it’s unreceptive of God, it is adversarial and oppositional and irreconcilable to God. The law puts our focus on sin, but the Spirit places our vision squarely on Jesus and the life that can only come through him. We can only live in one – it’s either the world or the Spirit - we can’t have it both ways. We need to become “Spirit-thinkers”, not “world-thinkers”!

Read Romans 8:9-11

And Paul takes this issue up one more step, which also takes us back to Joshua the high priest in Zechariah – when our life is in Christ, Satan’s plan no longer has any control over us. The phrase “the Spirit of God lives in you” implies more of a conditional change in our lives that it does that God has entered our lives. It’s about a whole new way of living, not just a new hope. Are we trying to satisfy our flesh – our physical needs – or are we looking to strengthen and grow our spirit? It’s about our vision of life.
But remember that living in the Spirit does not mean that we no longer need to be concerned with our physical needs. We still need to eat, we still need water, we still need companionship, we still need air to breath, we still need employment – we still have the need to sustain our human life. But the difference is in the reasons that we nourish our human existence. Do we live to gain the admiration of the world and to improve our position in the sight of others? Or do we live to serve God and to bring praises and glory to him? Again, we can’t do both at the same time.

And we also need to know that sin will never quit knocking at our door! Satan never quit tempting Jesus, and he will never give up on us either. But the life-changing Spirit will help us get through this time. The Spirit of God is power and courage and vision, and he gives us the wherewithal to say “yes” to the things of the Lord, and “no” to the things of earth. He helps us to stay focused on our life in Christ, while recognizing the death that comes from Satan.

And Paul reminds us that the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is the same Spirit that brings new live to our mortal lives. And this life in Christ is not a singular issue – it is all encompassing. It is a new life that fills us even in our humanity; it is a newness that changes our priority from our physical needs to our righteous gifts; it is a regenerative change that reforms us and recreates us and rebirths us as new beings; it is the power that frees us from our finite humanness; and it is the love of God that comes to us by the Passion of Jesus Christ.

And it doesn’t end here! It never ends!