There is a kind of Christianity today that:
keeps Christ in the past
Keeps God at arms length
There is a kind of preaching too that:
keeps Christ in the past
Keeps God at arms length
There can be even a kind of worship that:
keeps Christ in the past
Keeps God at arms length
A kind of Christianity that distinguishes between:
what we know
what we practice
That because we know so much maybe we don't need to practice it!
Intelligent prayers and high sounding prayers, orthodox doctrine but a religion that fails to “visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction”
Great claims at love for God but little evidence of love for one another
There is a kind of preaching too that:
keeps Christ in the past
Keeps God at arms length and keeps Christ in the past
A preaching that focuses on past event
A preaching that plays to our strengths and ignores our weaknesses
A preaching that patronises us; we are the people and the rest have the problem.
A reaching that leaves us untouched and unchanged
A preaching that sounds that it has simply been repeated / recycled from a generation long past.
There can be even a kind of worship that:
keeps Christ in the past
Keeps God at arms length
A worship that becomes stale, barren, repetitive
There is a gap that is to be bridged
Until that gap is bridged between what I know and what I am I will make no progress for God.
It is not simply that I fail to live out the Christian life in that state but Romans 8 tells me that I am not a Christian!
If I belong to Christ I possess the Spirit of Christ (8:9)
If I possess the Spirit of Christ (8:9) the I am marked by the character of Christ (8:10)
No matter what experience I may claim
No matter what meetings I may have waited behind after
No matter what verse I may have put my name into
If Christ has not left His mark on my character:
If He has not cleaned that filthy tongue
If He has not sweetened that bitter Spirit
If He has not calmed that violent temper
If He has not softened that hard heart
If he has not liberated that imprisoned body
The teaching of Romans 8 is not that I am not living the Christian life as I ought – it is that I am not a Christian at all!
There is an ongoing struggle of course (Rom 7:14-25)
The flesh is still with me
Failure is still experienced, but the Spirit of God must have left His mark on my life.
The Christian life must be marked by the Character of Christ!
We ought to be able to see His character in our life and in the lifes of others.
We ought to see the impact of His Spirit in our life as it is marked by:
Righteousness (8:4)
Peace (8:6)
Life (8:10-12)
Love (12:9,10,12,16; 14:15) – the Romans might not have been able to get their teeth into meat but they were quite happy to get their teeth into one another! The Spirit must give us a love for one another. This is not an optional extra in Christianity! This is Christianity: (John 13:34,35; 15:12,17; 1Co13:13; 1Jo4:7-8,12,20). This is not a bolt on, an extra or an upgrade option. Cf. Rom 8:4 “That the righteousness of the law...” - what is the “righteousness of the law”? Don't ask me, ask the Lord: 'Lord what does it mean to have the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us?
“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Mat 22:36-40)
Hope (8:24; 12:12)
In Romans 8 Paul presents a revolutionary truth to the new converts
Now they are saved – now what?
What do we do now?
What we need is a set of rules and regulations?
What better that the rules and regulations of the OT law?
The apostle is not presenting a religion of his own invention however!
Paul can have confidence that the God who truly saves is the God who truly sanctifies!
His Spirit is sufficient for both!
Paul is not converting, and then controlling by his own power or flesh
Paul is preaching Christ and Him crucified and committing the converts to the all sufficient Grace of God thereafter.
Those saved by the sacrifice of Christ will be sanctified by the Spirit of Christianity
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
(Rom 8:14)
We could turn that into all sorts of things that it isn't!
I was delighted when someone pointed out the context of Rom 8:14 was that of Rom 8:13:
“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” (Rom 8:13)
So being led by the Spirit is simply to mortify sin!
So that kind of puts a charismatic proof cap on the bottle!
But:
That would be a purely negative work of the Spirit! A leading that only mortifies the 'deeds of the body' leaves me 'deid'! This Spirit is the Spirit of Life (8:2)
Consider the true scope of mortifying the deeds of the body; this is actually the scope of Romans so far! All has been a battle against sin:
Sin (chps 1-3)
Salvation (chps 3-5)
Sanctification (chps 6-8)
The Power of the Holy Spirit has:
Freed from the Power of Sin (chp 1) – from those natural powerful desires for food, drink and sex. His Spirit has smashed the gripping grief of sordid sin and has made one and the same time Christ altogether lovely and attractive.
Free from the Place of Self (chp 2)
Free from the Promise of Salvation (chp 2-3) – in Christ alone by Grace alone and through faith alone.
He has led me on through this and on to sanctification:
Spirit filled walk
Spirit filled mind
Spirit filled body
Spirit filled relationship
How?
All by 'mortifying the deeds of the body' (8:13)
Notes from our bible study teaching series of messages preached systematically, verse by verse, through Paul's letter to the Romans. Free to download audio mp3 recordings of this sermon and other sermons are available at the end of this blog and on the website page.
Yours by Grace in Christ
Dr J Stewart Gillespie