Belonging to Christ

 June 11 2023

Romans 8:1-11

         It is a difficult reality for me to realize that we have only a few more weeks together as Canton South Church of the Nazarene. As your pastor, I have had the wonderful pleasure to watch over you for almost the past five years. I hope that you have found that I have always put Jesus, his life, death and resurrection, always front and center, in all that I have done in our life together. So, as I thought about what my final words to you should be it should come as no surprise that my hope is that, beyond this time we have had together, you will stay close to Jesus. I say this because in my years as a Christian I have witnessed countless people who for one reason or another, simply walked away from their life in the church and, despite what some may say, you simply cannot stay close to Jesus without spending time with those who love him too. I have watched too often the fire of a person’s first love for Jesus go cold because of circumstances inside or outside of the church. I want more for you than that. Stay close to Jesus.

         If our closing caught you off guard, I have to say that it has done the same to me as well. I was working on a summer long series on the book of Romans and it is really hard to get all of that into three messages. So, as I thought of my last words to you and the book of Romans, I couldn’t help but to be drawn to the eighth chapter of Romans because it is one of the most powerful chapters in what is one of the most profound books of the Bible. The message found throughout this eighth chapter is Paul pleading to his church, and to us, to stay close to Jesus. Think of the very last line of this chapter, where Paul states that he is certain that there is nothing that, “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So, if God, out of his great love for us, has done everything necessary so that we can be certain that he is always close with us, doesn’t it just make sense that we should do everything we can do to stay close to God? This is the thought that we have to hold on to us we begin looking at this eighth chapter of Romans. 

         As we consider studies on the book of Romans, you quite logically think that they should begin with chapter one, that just kind of makes sense doesn’t it? Well, as I looked for another study on Romans, I came across one called, “Reading Romans Backwards”, by Scot McKnight. That’s a title that just makes you wonder what this guy is up to, doesn’t it?! Yet, his take on Romans does seem to make sense. You see, it is in the fourteenth chapter of Romans that we find out the real reason for Paul writing his letter in the first place. Paul, more often than not, writes his letters to his churches because of some problem that has crept into the life of the church. And this is what we also find as we read this letter to the church at Rome for in the fourteenth chapter we find that the members of this church had problems eating together. The Jewish followers of Jesus refused to eat meat because it may have been offered to idols, and the Gentile believers felt that idols are nothing at all to worry about so pass the roast beef. The problem that happened then is the Gentile believers began to look down their noses at their Jewish brothers and sisters because of their perceived weak faith. The issue was that these Gentile believers were judging their brothers and sisters in Christ and holding them up to contempt. In effect, they were saying that there were two kinds of Christians that were eating together, the superior Gentile Christians and those Jewish brothers and sisters who haven’t quite caught up to the level of Gentile excellence.

         For us, so many years later, this issue about judging people in churches might sound a little trivial. I mean, doesn’t judging people happen in every church? I mean, really, doesn’t everyone, including followers of Jesus, have these two lists stating who is, “us”, and who is, “them”, and the perfectly good reasons why each person is on that list? Sure we do, so what’s the big deal? The big deal is that all of the profound teachings that we find in this book of Romans are all there precisely to deal with this issue of judging others. Think about how profound it is that a problem with a group of less than fifty people, a problem involving the judging of others, this is what the God who rules over all of the universe is concerned with, this is the issue that God, through all he has done through the death and resurrection of Jesus and now through the Holy Spirit is focused on eliminating from our lives. When you know this, then how really trivial is our judging of others?

         As we begin to look at this eighth chapter of Romans then, we have to hold on to this fact that these words were being spoken to these very people who are judging each other, each group thinking that there is something quite inferior with the other. When you understand that this is the situation within the church at Rome then it changes how we hear the first words of this eighth chapter, “ There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” Previously,  I always thought this verse was nothing more than the good news for we are told that we who are in Christ Jesus never have to fear being found condemned by God. And this is very much true, but, what if, Paul is saying to his audience that therefore now there should be no condemning of one another among those who are found in Christ Jesus? If this is what Paul is saying then we have to figure out just what has happened so that there should no longer be any judging of one another in the body of Christ. When we look at the verses that are found at the end of the seventh chapter of Romans, we find Paul speaking of how it is impossible for any of us to do anything good on our own. As Paul says there, “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out”.  It was the sin that lived within Paul that was doing in him the very opposite of the good that he wanted to do. As Paul continues, he was no more than a captive to the law of sin that lived in him. The question then for Paul was, “Who will  deliver him, set him free, from his body of death? The answer, is, of course, Jesus. He is who has set us free from a body enslaved to sin because of the weakness of our bodies that simply cannot do anything else but sin. And since we have been set free from being at the mercy of our sinful flesh then, Paul says, there should be no condemnation, no judging of one another, for those who now live through Jesus. What Paul is implying here is that this judging of one another, this is an action of our flesh, our sinful flesh, which we are supposed to have been saved from, delivered out of by Jesus. You see, we are no longer to be people who are enslaved to the sinful actions of our flesh because we have been set free through the law of the Spirit. Now, when Paul here speaks of the law of the Spirit he is speaking to the ways that the Spirit acts and it is these actions of the Spirit that are the very way of the life of liberty. So, it is the Spirit living and acting in us, this is how we have been set free from the law of sin and death. So, God has done what the law desired to bring about, the good that we know to do, the very good that our flesh just could not do.

So, now we have been given a way to have a life beyond our failure and death through the Holy Spirit. This has come about because God, as Paul explains, has, “…sent his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh to be an offering for sin, condemning sin in the flesh…” Here then is the judgment that should be focused upon, the judgment cast upon our sin through the sending of the Son. Yes, our sin was judged to be worthy of death yet this is not where God would leave us because he went further because he gave his Son as an offering for sin. You see, what is important for God is that we might have a life with him beyond this death that we deserve.This being with us is so critical for God that in order for us to have life with him, God was willing to give his own Son, have him take upon himself a human life so that he could represent us all and offer himself as the one who would bear the consequences of our sin, all so that we might have a life with God beyond the death that we deserve. Yes, God did condemn and does condemn the sin that happens through the weakness of our flesh but this is not where God leaves us, judged without mercy; no, God offered himself and joined us in our death so that we might be able to join him in his life. It is not hard to begin to figure out what Paul calls, ‘the law of the Spirit of life”, because this is what has been seen in the life and death of Jesus who was willing to offer his life because a life together with us was worth giving his life to make such a life possible. So, if God was willing to give the life of his Son so that we might have a life with him beyond our condemnation, are you beginning to see the implications for us whenever we are tempted to judge others, condemn them, set them apart as not being worthy of being part of our life? In the light of Jesus we are forced to ask ourselves just what is the most important thing, our judgment of a person, or, our life together with that person? This choosing a life together with others instead of choosing a life separate from them because of our judgment this is what is the right choice that we are to make because this is what God judges as being the right way to live, the way of life that his law spelled out. To live as God intends then, is to live by the Spirit, to have a life captured by what the love of God has done for us, giving us a life beyond our righteous judgment through his offering of himself. In the Spirit then we yield ourselves to God and offer ourselves fully committed to seeking unity with others, even those who we could judge as not being worthy of sharing life with.

         So, yes, there is now no condemning and judging of others for those in Christ Jesus, and this means us. Paul here aligns with what we all know is found in John 3:16 where we hear that, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” We all probably know these words but the words that follow these in the third chapter of John are just as important because Jesus adds, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” As I read this I am reminded of something that has been on a lot of Facebook pages lately which is a quote by David Huskins who wrote, “If God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn it, I doubt he sent you.” There is a lot to think about in this brief statement especially in light of what Jesus says here in this third chapter of John. I believe that when Jesus says that a person is condemned when they do not believe in the name of the only Son of God that this means that a person has missed the mark when they do not trust the ways of Jesus, the very acts which reflect his unchanging characteristics that are his very name. The way of Jesus, his unchanging character, is to do whatever it takes to have a life with us, even if it meant giving his life in order to do so. So, to believe in Jesus is to trust that we should do everything we can to have a life together with people even if it means we need to give our life to make it happen. Knowing this, we have to seriously ask ourselves do we really trust that this is the right way to live? Or better yet, does our life reflect that this way of Jesus is the true way we are living because faith is just words unless you are willing to act on the truth you believe in.

         Paul, here at the beginning of this eighth chapter of Romans is asking his audience, which has this reputation for passing judgment on each other, just which way do they really want to live, by the flesh or by the Spirit? When Paul talks about life according to the flesh, he is speaking about a life lived under the constant fear and anxiety of death. This is a life that tries to find some relief from this nagging anxiety and worry through the storing up of treasures. It is a life which takes pride in what one has because this is a way to tell ourselves just how great we are yet all the while knowing, deep down, that we are never greater than death which comes to everybody. And this way of life affects how we live with others because we search for those who can add to our treasury and we guard ourselves from those who we feel might take what secures us. So, the life of the flesh is a life that becomes focused on itself, on allowing in to this life only those who could be assets to ones cause; everyone else is judged, pushed aside as those who just didn’t make the grade. And Paul flat out states what he has already stated in the seventh chapter, that such a life with a mindset fueled by fear, loss, anxiety and worry is a life that is no life at all, a life where death has won because it is death which is really calling the shots.

         Fortunately for us, Jesus has given us a life beyond our condemnation because he desires a life with us, a life where the mind, our thoughts, are focused on the Spirit. Paul tells us that to set our minds on the Spirit is life and peace. This phrase, “…life and peace”, seems to be an echo of a verse Paul knew from the second chapter of the prophet of Malachi where God, speaking of the Leviticus priests said, “My covenant with him was one of life and peace and I gave it to them. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.” A life where the mind is set on the Spirit, then, is one that thinks of themselves as being priests to God. When the Spirit overwhelms ones thoughts then the greatest concern becomes life above everything else and peace, which is a life together with all people no matter how different from us they might be. As a priest who seeks life they are to be people who are focused on offering and sacrifice, the giving of ones life for this is the way of Jesus. Instead of being driven by the fear of death, those who are priests fear only God. They are in awe of the name of God, amazed by his faithful, steadfast love which when enfleshed by our life became a life willing to offer itself for us. In the light of such a mighty act of God all other fears fall away and in their place is found our faith.

         Now, here is the very big difference between these two very different ways of life, the one where the mind is set on the flesh or the life where the mind is set on the Spirit, and that is that the mind set on the flesh can not please God. The reason for this is that a life that has its mind set on the flesh, these are people who are enemies of God because in their flesh they simply cannot live a life that is ordered by the ways of God. Now, after Paul points out the difference between a life where the mind is set on the flesh and a life where the mind is set on the Spirit, he then turns to his audience, and looks at them and says but you, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. “Am I right,?’, Paul seems to ask because he has had to bring up these two ways of life on account that there is a whole lot of judging going on, and if they are going around pointing fingers one really has to wonder just what their minds are set on, the flesh or the Spirit. So, Paul reminds them that they are people who are in the Spirit, remember? The question they had to answer is did the Spirit of God live among them? Here I believe Paul is asking them, is the life of the Spirit, the life where each know themselves as priests, those who offer themselves for the good of all because of their awe of God, is this the life you see as you gather around the table? And here is why this is so important, because if such a  life in the Spirit is not found, then Paul goes on to tell us, you cannot really say that you belong to Jesus. Here, Paul speaks to my concern for us, that we might discover, at some point, that we no longer belong to Jesus. I want us all to remain close to God, that all of us can say that, yes, we do belong to Jesus. So, please, listen to what Paul teaches us, judging others is a sure way of not being found on the side of Jesus. So, let’s ask ourselves, does the Spirit dwell among us? Maybe it is time for us to get rid of those lists we have of who we count as “us” and who we count as “them” and instead let us get busy seeking life and peace with everyone. Amen!