Getting to the Heart of the Matter - 2

Romans 5:156-6:14

INTRO: The nature of holes is that they tend to get filled

eg. Hole in your yard

eg. closet under the stairs

eg. empty garage

Hole in the gospel will tend to get filled

-Moralism

-Mysticism

-Activism…get to work serving, working for the kingdom

-Biblicism…filled my head with bible knowledge

vss filled with Christ

BACKFILLING THE GOSPEL HOLE

HEART CLARITY

Root & Fruit Principle

-difficult circs/annoying people may prompt words, actions, feelings attitudes, but they are not the root cause

-sin flow from the root of the heart

Sin beneath the sin

-the issue goes deeper than what I see manifested outwardly

-why am I struggling with

self-pity, envy, fear, anxiety, anger, unforgiveness, control, demandingess, over-spending, over-eating, over-working

-What is my heart treasuring, desiring, worshipping that is so important that I find myself stuck in these patterns

Heart clarity…we need more than directions/how tos/methods

…we need a Redeemer who can rescue my heart

GOSPEL IDENTITY

Every am when you wake up you are living out your answer to “who am I”

-by nature we are meaning makers…make meaning out of life, specifically our lives

-the most basic question our meaning making asks is “who am I”

Where do you draw you sense of identity?

Your most essential/basic identity is answered in this question

TO WHOM ARE YOU UNITED? UNITED TO WHOM?

God only sees 2 types of people in the world…based on who you are united with that represents you before God

Rom. 5:18-20 “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (5:15-20)

UNION WITH ADAM

Adam..appointed by God as our representative in the Garden…his/Eve’s choices would have consequences for the entire human race

-in a highly individualized western culture, we have a hard time accepting this representation stuff

-however, traditional cultures understand representation

Because of our solidarity with Adam

All Sinned

Rom. 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”

Adam’s sin had consequences for all humanity to come

we inherit Adam’s legal guilt/condemnation before God

Rom. 5:18 “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.”

2. we inherit Adam’s corruption (affects our very nature/heart

Rom. 5:19 “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

HOW?

Gen. 3:6 “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

-Delicious, Delightful, Desirable

-the essence of evil....A/E desired the fruit more than they desired God

-this heart delight/desire is the control center that motivates every thought, emotion, reaction, decision

-the steering will of all people’s being

HOW CAN YOU BE CHANGED AT YOUR ESSENTIAL CORE

Your life must be united with another representative…Jesus

UNION WITH CHRIST

Paul’s theme in Rom. 6:1-11… highlight terms that reflect our connection with Christ

REPRESENTATIVE UNION (Rom. 5)

Addresses the issue of our GUILT/CONDEMNATION BEFORE GOD

Rom 5:16 “And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.” (5:18, 19)

-justification is a courtroom term…to be acquitted, declared innocent of all charges

-not acquired by our good record but as a free gift to those whose record deserves judgement

-by faith we are united with Christ’s active obedience/perfect sinless life on our behalf

Rom. 3:21-22 “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:”

VITAL UNION (Romans 6)

Addresses the Issue of our corrupt, twisted heart

You are united with Christ’s death/r’n

listen to this theme as I read the passage…all the ways our union with Christ’s life, death, r’n is expressed

You are united so completely with Jesus’ death & r’n that you are no longer the person you once were…you have died, been buried and raised with Jesus into newness of life

Who are you in vital union with Christ?\

Brought to life

Rom 6:4 “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Rom. 6:13 “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”

Where you were once dead, enslaved, mastered…all that has changed

-Dead to sin (6:2, 11)

-No longer slaves to sin (6:6, 14)

-set free from sin (6:7)

Something definitive has happened to sin’s mastery of your heart

-it is still present

-still has power to influence you

-but it is no longer your dictator, the law that dominates your heart

If you really live into your vital union with Christ by faith you will never see grace

-as an excuse for sin

Rom. 6:1-2 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

-nor will you see yourself has helpless trapped, hopelessly victimized in patterns of sin

But this is not my experience....I feel entrapped, overrun, victimized

Instead of finding your identity in your experience…find it in the truth of the gospel that you know (3x…6:3, 6, 9)

Rom. 6:11 “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

“logizomai”…logic, careful consideration

-math problem, step by step

-English paper: thesis, proposition, arguments

-thesis paper: careful/thorough research, analyzing/cataloging, distilling, crafting

-Remodeling kitchen: integration, cabinets, counter tops, backsplash, hardware, flooring

Point: It takes intentionality, purpose to live into the truth of your union with Christ and to live it out into your life

eg. Spiderman

-he had to learn how to live out his new DNA

eg. Abolition of slavery: after the war former slaves were free but the struggled to live into their freedom

-see their old master coming…cower inside

-see a group of white men…fear of being taken and sold agaain

They had to consider/logic/think deliberately…no, I am a free woman/man

This is the real you…your essential identity…the wellspring of life…the person you see in the mirror

LIVING INTO YOUR UNION WITH CHRIST BY FAITH

Rom. 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.””

Faith in your UNION WITH CHIRST’S R’NESS (Representative)

freedom to see into my heart…the sin beneath the sin

Freedom from SELF-CONDEMNATION

Freedom from SELF-JUSTIFICATION

“Many of us are confident we will be justified on teh last day, acquitted before God through the death of Jesus. But what about j’n today and tomorrow? Are you still trying to prove yourself?

-a hole in our gospel will leave us with the stress/anxiety of trying to prove ourselves

Without grace, we view life as a contract between us and God. We do good and in return God blesses.

-when things go well we’re filled with pride

-when things go badly we blame ourselves (guilt, shame) or we blame God (bitterness)

if we do not live into our justification…when we fail, God will beat us up

Faith in you UNION WITH CHRIST’S DEATH & R’N (Vital)

CONCLUSION:

EG. ST. Lucia Parrot

we have to train our hearts to live into/out of our GOSPEL IDENTITY

Rom. 6:17 “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,”

Standard of teaching?

-how to’s, directions, road map

-What Christ has done for us and who we are in hime

POINT: SIN OVERCOMES US NOT SO MUCH FROM LACK OF WILL POWER, BUT FOR LACK OF REFLECTING & REJOICING IN WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST

FRUIT & ROOT PRINCIPLE: The roots of your life/the nature of your heart is transformed

-you become a fruit-bearing tree for the glory and honor of God