Rev. Steven S. Billings
Lent 5
Sermon
3-9-2007
Romans 8:1-11
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. 5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
The Law cannot help you. So stop thinking that maybe if you lived a life more in keeping with the Law of God everything would be fine. Everything would not be fine. Your body is dead because of sin (v. 10). And the Law is too weak (v. 3) to do anything about it.
Why in the world do we look to ourselves for the solutions to our problems? We think: "If I just tried harder, did more, gave more, prayed more, paid more, went to church more, read the Bible more, told others about Jesus more - and on and on and on - maybe God would love me more or somehow reward me for my good behavior. Maybe then I'd have an easier and more productive life."
But listen, when you start to focus on yourself and the things you can do, you lose sight of the only One who can truly help you, and, like Peter, you find yourself neck-deep in the water you were just standing on a minute ago. You find yourself living according to your sinful nature, not according to the Spirit (v. 4). You've set your mind on the things of the flesh, and this does not bring you life! (v. 6). Because the sinful mind is hostile toward God; it does not submit to the God's law, nor can it do so (v. 7).
Now, you might think: "If my desire is to serve and please God, why is that called 'living according to the sinful nature?" Because serving and pleasing God isn't about following a list of rules and regulations; it's about faith and trust. If you focus on yourself and how well you follow the rules, your trust is really in you, not in God. When you find security in the things you do you are in the flesh and not in the Spirit. And you can forget about pleasing God. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (v. 8).
If you want to fulfill the Law of God you have to have the right attitude. And the Law will never give you the right attitude. The Law always accuses. It creates fear. It drives us to our knees. It does not give us the proper motivation for keeping the Law.
God doesn't want you to keep the Law out of fear. Fear of retribution, fear of punishment, fear of condemnation – these are not proper motives for keeping the Law. In fact, they make any attempt to keep the Law of God null and void. Friends, the Law does one thing: It makes you crave the Gospel. It shows you your need for a Savior. And when you turn your faith toward Him, and depend on Him alone,then you find the Law of God fulfilled for you. Because He did it. He did it perfectly. And He did it for you.
Now you begin to walk on water. You begin to walk in the Spirit because your eyes are fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. There is now no condemnation for you, not because you've done anything worthy of salvation, but because you are in Christ Jesus! (v. 1) To be "in" Christ Jesus means to trust in His work, not yours. It means to put your faith in Him, not in yourself. It means to acknowledge your lack of anything that could earn God's favor and to see in Christ how perfectly that favor has already been won and given to you by His grace.
Jesus took on our sinful nature and allowed it to be nailed to the cross in payment for our sins. He condemned sin in His own body so that the requirements of the Law would be fulfilled in us (v. 3-4). His work; His accomplishment; our benefit.
But when we expect to be able to fulfill the Law's demands under on our own, it's like telling Christ: "Give me back my sin and let me pay for it. Let me bear my own cross." Have you ever seen a little one who wants to carry his own glass of milk to the table? You just know he's going to spill it. But he insists on carrying it himself. You've seen the tears when the milk is spilled, haven't you.
How many times have you spilled the milk? How many times have you taken it upon yourself to live the kind of life you think God would have you live, only to come up short? How many commitments have you made that you just couldn't live up to? How many times have you failed? Like that little child, we look at the milk on the floor – or all over the table, on in everyone's lap, because we seldom make our mistakes in private! – we look at that spilled milk, that failure, that all-too-tangible manifestation of our inability to keep the Law of God, and we weep. Sometimes bitterly.
Awash in shame and disgrace, we weep from the pain of offending God and hurting those we love. We weep because we've been confronted with the deeply painful reality that we cannot do it on our own. We are slapped dead in the face with the hard, cold truth that we are incapable of doing what we so desperately wish we could - to be our own Savior, to be self-sufficient, dependant on no one but ourselves.
It's a tough lesson to learn, a a lesson that most of us have to re-learn over and over again. Perhaps the greatest argument against living according to the sinful nature is that it simply doesn't work; it doesn't get us what we hope it will, despite how strongly the devil tries to convince us that it can.
So, the Law can't help you. But what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit (v. 3-4).
Now, what does it mean to live according to the Spirit? Well, what is the work of the Holy Spirit? How does Luther explain the third article of the Creed? "I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one true faith." To walk according to the Spirit is to place our faith and trust in the work of the Holy Spirit, who brings us to faith and keeps us in the faith. It means to live in the love and forgiveness of God, who for Jesus' sake forgives our stumbling, bumbling and failing. It means to walk according to His grace and mercy, not only to be quick to repent when we fall, but quick to take His hand as He lifts us up again.
But we struggle with this, don't we. And not only with our own sin. We seem surprised and shocked when a fellow Christian sins. Why should we be? To be surprised and stunned when we sin would be like me being surprised and stunned that I didn't win a hundred-yard dash! That's foolish. We're human. We live in sinful human flesh in a world corrupted by sin. The devil is always nipping at our heels, taunting us, tempting us, tricking us into sin. Brothers and sisters, let me say it bluntly: You will sin. You can't avoid it. Oh, please do try! God wants us to try. But don't try because you want to earn favor with God. Don't try so that you can pat yourself on the back. Try simply because He loves you and you love Him. Try because His Spirit dwells within you and you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit (v. 9). Try because Christ is in you, and though your body is dead because of sin, your spirit is alive because of His righteousness (v. 10).
And when you fail, when you fall into temptation and sin, don't wallow in self-pity, as though your salvation depends on you. Turn in faith to the Lord, your light and your salvation, the stronghold of your life, who in the day of trouble will keep you safe in His dwelling, who will hide you in the shelter of His tabernacle and set you high upon a rock (Ps. 27:1, 5, 6). Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death (v. 2). There is no condemnation for you now, for you are in Christ Jesus (v. 1). Thanks be to God! In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
