I.
More than any other New Testament writer, Paul speaks to the sins of Christians, his own sins being top of mind.
Paul writes in Romans 7:21:
“So I find it to be a law that, when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.”
Whether it is by ticking off the Ten Commandments and seeing which ones you haven’t lived up to lately, or by taking a step back and looking at the church as whole and seeing how she has fallen short — perhaps by failing to maintain her doctrine, discipline, and worship, or to pass the faith along to the next generation — one thing is certain: Christians fall short of living the lives they should.
II.
Paul continues his treatment of what it means to follow Christ “in the Spirit” from Romans 8:1-11.
As we saw last week, for Paul, that means we don’t have to be holy, we get to be holy.
Paul’s key point today is that death (or what he sometimes calls “the flesh”) cannot please God. Paul writes in Romans 8:6, “To set the mind on the flesh is death.”
By contrast, he continues to spell out what it means to be “in Christ Jesus” and to follow the “law of the Spirit of life.” He says in Romans 8:5:
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”
Keep in mind that Paul is speaking to the Roman Christians. He is speaking to believers, so he can tell them in all truthfulness, “you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit.”
But there are obvious implications for the unbeliever as well. Paul is not afraid to spell them out: “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”1
Paul challenges a casual assumption that many people make (and, indeed, that many preachers allow them to make) that simply by being you you belong to God.
This is an example of the church falling short in her teaching ministry.
Such an assumption is not found in Scripture. In fact, Paul says the exact opposite.
What Paul does say in Romans 8:11 is, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies.”
Death cannot please God, but that did not stop God from giving us back our lives by sending His Son Jesus Christ to make us pleasing to Him again.
Paul ends today by referring to “[God’s] Spirit that dwells in you.”
If God’s Spirit dwells in us, how could we not be pleasing to God?
III.
One thing that does not please God is when Christians continue to fear Him. When fear grips the heart of a Christian it is because he has not fully grasped what Christ has done for him.
Paul begins today’s lesson with a thrilling declaration that should give us all confidence. He writes, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”2
But I suspect Paul’s words do not thrill everyone because not everyone is in Christ.
A running theme in Paul’s letter to the Romans is: do we love the law or do we fear the law?
One way we show that we are afraid of the law is by our continued attempts to deal with sin on our own. Nearly everything we do to cover up one mistake leads to another mistake and, eventually, to a rejection of God’s law entirely.
Instead, Paul tells us, Christ must deal with sin. Paul tells us that God has “condemned sin in the flesh.”3
IV.
In other words, God condemned His own Son, in the flesh, on the cross, instead of us.
Paul writes that God:
“By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.”
What this means is that our flesh was nailed to the cross, but not our spirit.
Paul continues:
“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
Do you want peace? Then set your mind on the cross. Understand the penalty for sin that was paid in full there. Take all your fear and realize that Someone has taken it away.
There can be no condemnation for those who are in Christ because He has been raised from the dead. Condemnation is a thing of the past.
However, what Paul writes is only for those who are in Christ. For those who refuse Christ, condemnation remains a clear and present danger.
V.
For those of us who are in Christ, now we must work out the implications of living in Christ.
Yet two dangers we face are escapism and conforming to the world.
Escapism replaces the Spirit’s power with spiritual piety. This occurs when believers concern themselves only with what pertains to the day-to-day life of the church and their own souls. It can become insular. Politically, it is ineffective.
Conformity allows the world to disciple the church rather than the church to disciple the world. This occurs when Christians do not gate-keep the church’s membership and allow non-believers to assume leadership. Eventually these false shepherds will devour the flock.
However, a Christian always has power to avoid these errors because he is Spiritual. He walks according to God’s Spirit. Those who walk with God wield real power.
By wielding this power, Christians can and ought to bring God’s law of life to bear in all the venues in which they live and work. This will transform their lives and their work into a calling from God. Amen.
Preached on July 16, 2023 at St. Peter’s Lithgow, Millbrook, New York.
Proper 10 - Year A
Romans 8:1-11
Questions for reflection and discussion:
1. More than any other New Testament writer, Paul speaks to the ____________ of Christians.
2. How do individual Christians fall short of their calling?
3. How does the Church fall short of her calling?
4. ____________ cannot please God.
5. According to Paul, Christians are not in the flesh, but are in the ____________.
6. What casual assumption do many people make?
7. One thing that does not please God is when Christians continue to ____________ Him.
8. A running theme in Paul’s letter to the Romans is: do we love the ____________ or do we fear the ____________.
9. One way we show that we are afraid of the law is by our continued attempts to deal with sin ____________.
10. Instead, Paul tells that Christ dealt with sin. Paul tells us that God has “____________ sin in the flesh.”
11. For believers, ____________ is a thing of the past. For non-believers it remains a clear and present danger.
12. Name two dangers Christians face in working out the implications of living in Christ.
Parents and Grandparents, you are responsible to apply God’s Word to your children’s lives. Here is some help. Young Children – draw a picture about something you hear during the sermon. Explain your picture(s) to your parents or the minister after church. Older Children – Do one or more of the following: 1) Count how many times “flesh” or “death” is mentioned. 2) Discuss with your parents what it means to wield power.
(1) sins; (2) by breaking the Ten Commandments; (3) by not maintaining her doctrine, discipline, and worship, and by not transmitting the Christian faith to the next generation; (4) death, the flesh; (5) Spirit; (6) that simply by being alive they belong to God; (7) fear; (8) law; (9) on our own; (10) condemned; (11) condemnation; (12) escapism and conforming to the world