A New Way: The Spirit of Christ

I remember becoming a father…

Holding this tiny, new baby in my arms…

It was a new reality for me…

Mingled with excitement, love & joy as I held her for the first time…

That new reality hit home…

“I am now a father…not sure I’m ready…instruction manual…someone tell me what to do.”  

It was a NEW REALITY…I did not feel equipped for.

As followers of the crucified & risen Jesus Christ…our life is very similar to that.

We just finished Easter…remembering Jesus death & resurrection.

HOW on earth are we to live out this new reality?

Are we prepared/equipped for it?

Do we have the instruction manual?

What does it look like for us to live as…followers of Jesus?

We may say: “I believe in what Jesus has done for me…but I don’t always see it making a difference in my life.

I don’t see it impacting the struggles I have.

I know His death & resurrection have secured my future…but what difference does it make in my here and now?” 

Still others say: “Thank You Jesus for what You have done…I’ll take it from here…

I’ll do my best to live a life that honours You & pleases You, thanks You for what You have done…trying to do it on their own…Instead of being empowered & equipped by Christ & His Spirit

To understand this NEW WAY to live…we’ll do a Hop-Skip-Jump study thru Romans 5-8.

We have been using Romans as our guide.  Today, we will begin in Romans 5.

It will be a broad overview of what it looks like to live out the reality of the Christian life.

To understand what that REALITY looks like…it all begins when we put our faith & trust in Jesus

When I held my daughter I said “I know I am now a father…I don’t know what it entails…

I knew I wasn’t equipped…but I knew it was a REALITY…there was a BEFORE & AFTER

Romans 5:1-5 What IS TRUE of us NOW…in Jesus…

Romans 5:6-11 What WAS TRUE of us BEFORE…we became a follower of Jesus.

This is important for us to understand… 

Because so often we still live…as if what was true of us before Christ …is still true of us now

Romans 5 helps us…to know what is TRUE of us now in Christ…and what WAS true of us before. 

Then we will look very practically how to live it out in Romans 6…use passages in Romans 7-8

Let’s start below the line.

1. What WAS TRUE of Us BEFORE We Became a Follower of Jesus Christ…Romans 5:6-11

Romans 5:6  “For while we were still WEAK, at the right time Christ died for the UNGODLY.”

BEFORE Christ…

“weak”…powerless to do anything about our relationship with God…couldn’t fix it.

“ungodly”…it simply means we are not like God…sin makes us unlike God…

So we are ungodly….and powerless to do anything about our position…

So…God intervenes…sends Jesus to die. 

(Note: emphasis on death of Christ….what God did for us)

Romans 5:8  “…but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

BELOW the line….so we were weak…ungodly…sinners…and What did God do?

He sent Christ to die for us. To intervene for us. 

When did He do that? When we were still sinners.

WHY did He do that? To show His love for us.

Romans 5:9 “Since therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the WRATH OF GOD.”

Again note: the emphasis on the death of Christ…God intervenes on our behalf.

“Justtified” = given a right standing…and “saved from the wrath of God.”

Something else that reminds us we are below the line…the wrath of God directed toward us

v.9 note: tenses of salvation….we were saved…that we are being saved…and we will be saved.

There is an already but not yet tension that we live out in the Christian life.

Something happened to us in the past…we have been justified by His blood…

But we are still waiting for our full redemption…when we will be glorified with Christ.

So it is important to KNOW:

“The past determines our future…the future informs our present.”

What Christ has done for us in the past (cross & resurrection & ascension)…

So He could send the Spirit to be with us…something happened in the past determines our future

But then knowing what our future has… instructs how we live in the PRESENT

It instructs us…it motivates us how we live in the here and now.

Romans 5:10 “For if while we were enemies were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we  are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.”

We were enemies…true of us below the line…reconciled to God by the death of His Son…

And again he emphasizes the death of Jesus…on our behalf.

A CHART may helps us understand what God has done….and what was true of us. [CHART]

You know what it doesn’t say?

“As you started to get your act together…doing good works on His behalf…then He sent Christ to die.”

ABSOLUTELY NO!

While you were powerless to do anything about it…still sinners, enemies of God…

Christ died for the ungodly…Christ died for us…by the death of His Son! 

3x he tells us what is true of us…and 3x he tells us what God’s response was.

So in Romans 5:6-11 we see what was TRUE of us…BEFORE…(below the line)

This WAS true of us before we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and what He did on our behalf.

Sometimes we may still live as if it was STILL true…

But WE MUST understand what is the reality in your life…to understand that we look at Romans 5:1

2. What IS TRUE of Us NOW…in Christ Jesus…Romans 5:1-5

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Justified…we have been declared to be in right standing…

Peace with God…relational peace with Him

Romans 5:2 “Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Romans 5:3 “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings…

FULL Stop! We rejoice in our suffering? Can’t we put suffering below the line? 

“I really don’t want suffering to be a reality in my life.  Can’t we say that suffering WAS true of us?”

FYI…there is no promise in Scripture that that is a reality.

We are not saved from suffering…

We are still going to experience hurts, frustration, worry, fear, pain and brokenness in this world/life…

So suffering actually belongs above the line…

But…if we respond to suffering the right way…

God will continue to do in us what He wants to do in us…

To conform us into the image of His Son…look what he says:

Romans 5:3-5

In those five verses he talks about WHAT IS TRUE of us NOW…in Christ.

if we were to continue to read…for all of Romans…this chart would get really crowded…

Because we would have words like:

Redeemed…Reconciled…Sanctification…Forgiven…all added above the line.

This is just what we have given to us in Romans 5:1-5

So…WHY Is This Important?

It is important because as a follower of Jesus Christ…

We need to KNOW & REMEMBER…this is now what is true of you in Christ.

BELOW…what was once true of you (past tense)

ABOVE…is what is true of you now.

It begins with knowing that that is true and knowing that this is your new reality.

Paul is going to tell us…since that is a reality and we are empowered by Christ…and we are empowered by the Spirit.

3. HOW Can We Live This NEW (LIFE) REALITY?  Romans 6:4, 6, 11

Romans 6:4 “We were buried therefore with Him by baptism unto 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.”

This “newness of life” we are promised is not just future eternal life…but it is newness of life NOW.

Too many Christians are just trudging thru life…waiting to get to heaven…

Struggling with life…with everything that comes our way…instead of living out the life that He has promised.

It begins with WHAT WE KNOW. Romans 6:3, 6, 9 “Don’t you know….we know…need to know.”

One Example of What You Need to KNOW:

Romans 6:6 “We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”

We know that our old self…(below the line) was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin (below the line) might be brought to nothing , so that we may not be enslaved to sin (below the line)

This is what was true of you…you were enslaved to sin…sin was your master and you had no opportunity to respond differently than to give in to sin.

Paul says: “You need to KNOW that reality.” When we know that reality…we come to Romans 6:11

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

This is the very first command of Romans.

For 5+ chapters Paul has not told us what we are to do…just what we are supposed to know. Romans 1-5 

The very first command is something for you to BELIEVE it is true of you.

Let’s look at it together… Romans 6:11

Consider yourself…reckon it…i.e. believe it is true of you…

That you are dead to sin. (below the line) and alive to God (above the line)

Because of all the good deeds you do?  No! You are alive to God because you are in Christ Jesus positionally. 

You are alive to God …and dead to sin.

So many of us in the way we live our lives…we flip it and live our lives as if we are alive to sin and dead to Christ.

Paul would say to that: “May it never be! Why would you live that way?

Here is how PRACTICAL Paul applies it for us.

Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.

sin…you are dead to sin…

When someone or something wants to reign…what does it want to do?

It wants to rule…be in charge…be in control…so think about sin as an entity thing. 

Sin wants to come into your life and reign/rule/control/be in charge

You don’t have to let it because you are dead to sin…no longer enslaved to sin…You are alive to God

Sin does not want to come into your life and…just hang out in the corner.

Sin wants to come in and sit on the throne of your heart and mind and life…to reign & rule in your life.

Too often we use the scapegoat (cop out) excuses: “I am only human…” or “The devil made me.”

I am only human…there is a long history of this or that in my family…the lists goes on.

Sin is the problem…humanity is not the problem. Jesus Christ was fully human and never sinned.

Sin is the problem because…sin wants to rule & reign in our lives. 

Look how practical he get in v.13

Romans 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.”

Let’s break this down a bit.

Do not present the members of your body…parts = hands, eyes, feet mouth, lips, tongue 

Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments for unrighteousness

Sin wants to come in to reign & rule…sin needs the members of our body to do that

Sin has a plan for sin & destruction in your life and the lives of other and it needs your help to do it. 

It needs the members of your body to do it.

But you are dead to sin…you not enslaved to sin…you no longer have to present your members to do what it says…

But instead…you can present your members of your body to God as instruments for righteousness.

Sin has to ask your permission to carry out what it wants to do.

That’s what happens when you are tempted…when tempted to be angry anger lash out with words of hate…sin is saying: Let me use your tongue to say hurtful & awful things…

Sin says: “I want to use your eyes to look at that something that will enflame lust in you

Sin wants to use the members of your body…to carry out its passions

Think about it this way:

ILLUST: Many kinds of instruments in the physical world. (bat, scalpel. hammer, golf club, snips knife…)

Can they be used for GOOD? Used for EVIL?  What makes the difference?

It all has to do with whose hands they are in…

In the hands of a skilled athlete, musician, surgeon, chef, craftsman…they can create things that are wonderful & beautiful

In the hands of someone who wants to bring about destruction & death… a lot of harm and awful things have been done in this world…

People have done damage from those kinds of instruments.

Sin says: I need the members of your body as instruments to carry out death and destruction

Every time you are tempted and you give in to that temptation…it is as if you are handing your body over to sin …to say:

“Here you go…use my hands to cause havoc…

Use my tongue to say hurtful words…

Use my feet…

Use my thoughts…

Use my mind, whatever it is.

That’s what sin does when it tempts us.

But we are dead to sin and alive to God…no longer enslaved to sin so we can present the members of our body to God to be used in a way that He wants us to live out in this world that we are in.today

Reflection & Action: 

How do these verses Romans 6:11-14 equip us to overcome temptation?

KNOW…SIN ALWAYS OVER-PROMISES AND UNDER DELIVERS.

You are dead to sin so you do not have to choose to give in…you can present the members of your body to God in righteousness.

But Paul knows that this is a battle…a war…that will continue to rage within us.

Look how he describes the war that he describes that is going on within each of us.

Romans 7:15 Can you relate to this?  I can relate.

Romans 7:18-19

There is a war going on within each of us…a war between God’s Spirit within us and our flesh and the fleshly sinful desires that are still there.

And Paul…as a result of this war…and what is going on inside of him writes:

Romans 7:24-25

Wretched man that I am…He is saying “If I live below the line…as a follower of Jesus I am trying to live on my own strength.”

And that can’t be true of me…wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death

And notice what he says: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord

The same One who saved me…is the One who equips me…

… to live this life that He wants me to live.

Then he goes into 

Romans 8:1

Do you know who condemns you the most? You do.

Paul is saying: If God doesn’t condemn you…because Jesus died for you…why do you condemn yourself?

Why do you allow the enemy to condemn?

Why do you allow others to condemn you?

Then he tells us how we are equipped to live this life and overcome the temptations we face.

Romans 8:5

according to the flesh = below the line…according to the Spirit= above the line

As we READ GOD’S WORD…we understand what the Holy Spirit is wanting to produce in us…and so then we cooperate with the Spirit.

As we OBEY God’s Wordf

As WE PRAY…

As we live a life according to the Spirit…NOT according to our old ways, and our old fleshly self.

In Romans 4-7 there are few references to the Spirit…but in Romans 8 there are 21x the Spirit is who empowers us and equips us to now live this life.

Romans 8:6

flesh is death…(below the line).     life and peace…(above the line)

(BTW…You can do the above the line and below the line exercise just in Romans 8)

You find all kinds of stuff for BELOW the line and all kinds of realities of what the Spirit does & wants to do…ABOVE the line.

We come down to 

Romans 8:23

The first fruits of the spirit…

The work that the Spirit has done and is doing is only the beginning…

Wwe have been reconciled but we haven’t been fully reconciled…we’ve been forgiven we’ve been redeemed, brought into a right relationship…with God but we are yet to be glorified.

We only have the first fruits of the Spirit... 

As a result… we still live in this body of death…

We groan inwardly…as we wait eagerly…

How is that for a description of the Christian life?  I love it!

What are we waiting for? Adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

As followers of Jesus…we need to understand…we have a Heavenly Father… who has adopted us as sons & daughters…and we are invited now to live…in the reality of who He has equipped us to be in that new role and that new reality.

As we do that…we are going to groan inwardly…

Because it is hard…it is difficult…challenges are still going to be there….as we try & walk & keep jin step with the Spirit…we will groan inwardly as we wait eagerly

But the comfort is…we are not…and we never will be…ALONE.

Romans 8:26

He just said that we groan inwardly… as we live out this life.

Now he says that the Spirit groans with us and for us…How comforting is that?

Your groaning…the Holy Spirit is groaning right there along with you.

And not only has He equipped us with His Spirit…look how he ends this chapter.

Romans 8:34

He is with you…He is For YOU! 

He wants you to walk and equipped and walk in this NEW way…in the Spirit just as He has provided for us to do.

How comforting is it that He is there with the Spirit interceding on our behalf!

WRAP UP…

I just threw a lot at you from Romans 5-8. One take away from today’s message?

Are you living your life below the line…or above the line?

or do you understand and recognize the reality of who you are in Christ empowered and equipped by the Spirit to live according to the Spirit for what He has done and what He has provided for you?

Closing song…you’ll see the below the line above the line tension repeated over and over. “Yet not I, but Christ in Me…”

Living below the line…that’s us…our old self… our flesh…our passions,  

But the way we are to live…is Christ in & through us according to His Spirit…equipped by the Spirit…

He is the One who empowers us to live that life He has invited us into.

Let’s stand and sing this song together.