“True Life, Faithful Life”

Scripture: Romans 8:1-17

Today, we appropriately complete our series on living a life in Jesus, as Wednesday begins our Lenten season. Lent will be a period of preparation to joyfully celebrate Easter in its entirety - from the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus on Calvary, to his glorious resurrection from the tomb of death.

So what kind of life should we already be living as we approach Lent? Over the past few weeks,
We’ve considered the need to place our entire life in the word of God, to let it guide us, and to let it instruct us.
We’ve considered the conflict that exists between the Law of Moses and the Law of God, that while Moses and those who followed him certainly had good intentions, their concept of honoring the Lord fell far short of what the Almighty truly wanted from them (and us!)
We discovered that it isn’t enough to simply receive God’s love and mercy for our sinful ways, but that we are also to show that same kind of love to others.
And last week, we considered the concept that true divine authority can only come through surrender to the servant heart.

But is this enough? Is living a Godly life sufficient to overcome the condemnation that comes to us because of our sin?

Read Romans 8:1-8

There is no longer any condemnation against those who are in Christ Jesus. That is the good news, but the question for today is, what is that “condemnation”, and how is it overturned by being “in Christ Jesus”?
This condemnation is that which will occur at the Final Judgment, and is pronounced because we have sinned against the Law of God. By our own means, there is no escaping the sentence – we are sinful, and how can the sinful ever atone (make good) for the sins that we commit? But God has set a plan in motion that will provide us with a way out – one that isn’t by our means, but by his. Paul tells us that we have been freed from the law of sin and death, which is the penalty for sin, through the coming of Jesus into this world. He came, not as God, but as a sinless Man, and by his offering at Calvary, his sacrifice in death would be sufficient to destroy the death that all of us so richly deserve.

After all, someone had to die for the sentence of sin, and Father God would accept Christ’s sacrifice on behalf of the world. And simply by our accepting this sacrifice in blood, our penalty for sin is exchanged for eternal life.

Now I have no doubt that at least a few of you are wondering “How does that happen? How can that work?” To tell you the truth, I have no idea, and doubt that anyone else knows for certain! But I do know that the Lord has said that it is true, and that is good enough for me. Accepting Christ’s sacrifice, though, is the tough part. It is more than just believing in Jesus as Lord – it means that we are to begin living a life that reflects him, even while we live in this world.

That doesn’t mean, though, that we will ever discover how to live a sinless life – we are still flesh and blood mortals. But by faith in Christ, and by rejecting the ways that the world would have us live and believe, and making the honest commitment to live our life in his way, Christ’s gift of eternal life will be ours.
The problem is that the ways of earth, those ways that we are most familiar with and, quite honestly, most comfortable with, are not God’s ways. Paul tells us that the ways of earth, the ways of sin, can only lead to death, but when we live in the ways of the Spirit of God, we will have eternal life. And we get to choose – will we surrender to the ways of the sinful nature, the ways that earth proclaims, and be caught up in the self-imposed sentence of death – or will we surrender to the ways of Almighty God, and know his living mercy?

Will it be freedom in Christ, or condemnation in the world?

We are told that a “life in the flesh” will never please God – that a life given to freedom in Christ and his way will be the only source of joy for the Lord. This gift of freedom is the Lord’s promise, and without it we can only lose out on the greatest gift of all time.
This is the truth, for if it wasn’t, Jesus’ death on the Cross would be useless and a waste, and God is never wasteful.

Read Romans 9-11

It’s a matter of control, isn’t it – not a forced control, but one that we readily accept. It is by our choice, our free will, as to whether we live under the control of sin, or under the control of the Holy Spirit. Some may wonder why we need to be controlled at all? In Mark 14:38, we find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, warning his disciples to stay awake and pray, that they might not fall into temptation – he tells them that “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

The human nature is, without exception, a weak and waffling characteristic. Our tendency is to submit to the sinful life – without some other influence for our lives, we will always allow sin to control our actions and thoughts. But if our desire is to live within the Spirit of God, we can no longer depend on our own strength and commitment to remain on course. We are in desperate need of God’s Spirit to fill us and to lead us – to provide a sense of control for our life.

Paul tells us that the presence of the Spirit within us is the evidence that we are living a life in Christ – that they are mutually inclusive, and can be no other way. If there is one in our life, there is the other. So what is the evidence of the Spirit’s residence?

It comes when we give up the old ways, and follow the teaching of Jesus. The gospels are full of examples of people giving up their unrighteous living, and beginning to follow the Lord’s ways, as well as those who refuse to change. In Acts 5:1-11, we read of Ananias and his wife Sapphira who sold some property, presumably to help the needy. But they kept a portion of the proceeds for themselves, and when they gave the remainder to the apostles to distribute, the truth came out. Instead of being praised for the gift, they both would be struck dead for the lie they were living.
We need to remember that sin is nothing more than a lie that is being told against God, and the judgment of death is on that lie. But if the Spirit is alive and well within us, the resurrection that lifted Jesus up will also lift us up with him.

Read Romans 8:12-17

Paul begins this section with the words “we have an obligation”. Some translations use the word “debt”, which might be a little clearer. Our debt, our obligation, is to the Lord’s sacrifice on our behalf. Our obligation is to live as the Lord would have us live, and to reject the life that comes from our sinful nature. Paul uses this thought to make two points.

The first is that we are to turn the death that sin brings to us back upon sin itself. When we live in the Spirit, we receive the power to turn death away from our own lives, and to cause sin itself to die within us. As Galatians 2:20 tells us, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Paul says that our sinful nature must die on the same cross that received Jesus – in other words, it is by faith in Christ’s sacrifice, that by the blood that he gave up on Calvary, that our sin can be defeated. For it is when the sinful self dies, that the Christ can take his place and live within us.

Paul’s second point is that we can either be heirs to the world and all that it can give and all that it will receive (which, incidentally, is nothing but condemnation!) or, by faith in Jesus Christ, we can be heirs of God with him and receive all that the Lord has to give to his own. And the only criteria that will be used at the Judgment is whether we have fully accepted Christ as Lord and Savior and Master of our lives.

Gaining eternal life is truly as simple as that – surrender the world’s death and gain God’s Glory. Which would you prefer? Which will you choose?