Spiritual Solutions

We Fight by the Spirit

Romans 8:12–13 ESV

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Paul has been discussing the victory or triumph that we have in Christ over the law, sin and death… This victorious life is a life is a life lived by the Spirit - no longer lived according to the flesh… AND here Paul is further describing the work of the SPIRIT, remember - we are set free from this body of sin and death, and that is happening in real time… if we are in Christ, we have the Spirit in us, and if the Spirit is in us… we will FIGHT by the SPIRIT...

First he reminds us that we are under no obligation to the flesh.. WE ARE NOT DEBTORS to the life of sin.. living “according to the flesh.” Remember where that got us… following broken patterns with broken desires getting broken results… and living as enemies to GOD… in fact - to continue living that way is death...

NOT physical death for he has already mentioned that believers too will face physical death - this is the second death - a transcendent death… the judgement of GOD.

LIVING by the SPIRIT is a life of warfare! CHRISTIAN - you are in a fight… Paul knows that while we are free from the POWER sin - the PROBLEM of sin remains… SO HE SAYS - if by the Spirit you PUT TO DEATH the deeds of the body… thats violent! AND IF you do this you will LIVE...

The born again, spirit filled, disciple of Christ will live this kind of life - not free from sin and temptation - but AT WAR with it…

The problem is that most of us are living lives of artificial peace - ignoring the fight and pretending to be neutral or isolated… LIKE the USA in the late 1930s.. When Germany was invading its European neighbors and we were content to stay out of it - but Dec 7, 1941 changed that! Dec 8th, our nation was awake, united, committed and boldly and earnestly declared WAR!

MAYBE you need to have a Pearl Harbor awakening! Wether you acknowledge it or not YOU ARE AT WAR!

NOW - how do we fight? This isn’t a physical war as it were… so what is our strategy? Romans 6:12-13...

WE fight with Spiritual Weapons…

We think of 2 Cor 10, or Eph 6 and the armor of God… the only offensive weapon is the SWORD of the Spirit - the Word of God! Empowered by the Spirit, we are to use the WORD, the promises of GOD, to confront temptation and Sin and guide us in truth and holiness… Can you imagine a soldier on the battlefield… waking up one day and just packing up and moving forward without his weapon? Or going to battle without training, without being familiar with his rifle? You are in a fight… are you prepared, are you armed???

WE fight with FAITH...

Look to Rom 8:18… Paul knew of the glory to come, the life, the promises, the inheritance that was His in CHRIST and He believed - believing he knew that the fleeting, temporary, deceitful, joys promised by sin and the “suffering” found in denying them is not worth comparing with His future hope…

When we are tempted, when desires rise up and lust pulls at our hearts we must exercise faith and believe that our good Father desires whats best for us and we fight!

WE fight with PRAYER...

We believe in the power of prayer! Jesus believed in the power of prayer… Do we? Do we pray like we are in a fox hole? In fact, after mentioning the armor of GOd - Paul calls on the Ephesians to pray - “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance…

WE fight with HELP…

The old strategy of dividing and conquering works here too… When we are divided we are easily defeated.. When we are together we are strong.. I know there are a few OT stories of mighty warriors taking on enemies by themselves… BUT THAT IS NOT YOU! or me!! We are united by faith and are united in warfare… LIKE PAUL who called on the EPHESIANS to pray for him, are we asking for prayer? For help?

WE HAVE THE SPIRIT AND WHILE WE WAIT THE RETURN OF OUR LORD, WE ARE BEHIND ENEMY LINES - WORSE STILL OUR OLD ENEMY IS STILL PRESENT AND HARASING US - BUT WE FIGHT WITH THE SPIRIT… AND WE HAVE HOPE FROM OUR FATHER!

We’re Sons by the Spirit

Romans 8:14 ESV

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Contextually this language throws our minds back to chapter 1.. Jesus declared the Son of God by His resurrection — reminding us again of the life that is ours in Him… but there is a bigger idea here! God had called Israel into a special relationship with Him in the Exodus, establishing a covenant with them and calling them his SONS… his children.. But over and over they disobeyed, rebelled and rejected him… So finally he rejected them...

English Standard Version Chapter 32

19  “The LORD saw it and spurned them,

because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

20  And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;

I will see what their end will be,

for they are a perverse generation,

children in whom is no faithfulness.

WE continued as rebellious SONS until the faithful SON came and took our place - CHRIST - and its by our faith union with Him we are counted as faithful SONS - accepted and loved in Him…

I want you to remember Romans 3:9-18.. BUT now, we are children.. obedient - righteous children by the SPIRIT… Paul describes our spiritual adoption also in

Galatians 4:4–7 ESV

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

CHILDREN NOT SLAVES! Again the slavery imagery was rich for the Romans… where we were slaves to our sin we are now free to love and serve the LORD by the Spirit… We have been adopted - although not originally a part of the family, we are now accepted and are entitled to all the rights, benefits and blessings that family provide — especially access to our FATHER!

WE CRY ABBA - FATHER… some have noted that this Aramaic phrase would have been what Jesus prayed as he was grieving in the Garden… It is an intimate term for father… And here it is referenced as if spoken in a prayer!

A calling out, a prayer of dependence and of affection. It is a prayer based on a close, familial relationship - an assumed familiarity and privilege.. THIS IS A PRAYER NOT BASED IN FEAR as a slave, but based in LOVE as a child! We are invited by GOD to come to him - not anytime we want.. .but at all times… for he loves to provide good gifts for His children…

JESUS reminded us, if you know how to give good gifts to your children, HOW MUCH MORE will your FATHER who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

THIS IS BELONGING… mankind was created in a family/covenant relationship with GOD and it was broken and lost because of our sin… we all feel it… we feel the brokeness… the loss… the lonliness… we long for connection and community. IN CHRIST we have THE COMMUNITY we were made for… we experience it now albeit imperfect… but in Christ we are reunited with our GOD as His children, united to a faith family of love, mercy and grace… and if we are children we are heirs… IF…

WE PERSEVERE BY THE SPIRIT

Romans 8:17 ESV

and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

We are fellow heirs.. inheriting all the spiritual blessings… inheriting the renewed and regained creation being made whole, perfect… complete… IF… yes it is conditional… IF we suffer with him…

THIS is the basic word for suffering and this gives us another solid example to help us manage our expectations, our ambitions… We should expect our lives to be lives of suffering… but what kind of suffering? Are we all expected to face severe persecution in our lives? I don’t think so… I certainly haven’t faced it…I think the suffering he is talking about here is the fighting against sin that characterizes much of our lives.

The SPIRIT leads us in this fight and empowers us… yet we still have to do the work - to choose the better - to deny ourselves… We fall back, fall down… struggle and suffer in our spiritual warfare - but we persevere! We do not loose hope, abandon truth… FOR THERE IS NO WHERE ELSE TO GO…

NOW this can raise questions for some - for many of us… wondering, questioning our salvation and whether or not we have actually been born again… I really like the Westminster Confession of Faith’s answer to this:

IN Speaking to the certainty we can have of our salvation it says:

This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope;4 but an infallible assurance of faith, founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation,5 the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made,6 the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God:7 which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption.8

There is first the divine truth that grounds our certainty… but beyond that there is an inner experience of the witness of the Spirit - .16 - and our our being lead to wage war on sin is part of this inward evidence of the graces unto which these promises (of salvation) are made.

When you are confronted with the reality of your sin and your Spirit motivated response is genuine grief leading to repentance in Christ it is evidence that you have the Spirit, that you are in Christ and are a child of God...

HOWEVER.. there is a worldly grief… while the God given moral compass within us is disturbed by sin and wrongdoing - we can twist this into REGRET instead of REPENTANCE… this is what Judas did… We can regret making the mistake, regret getting caught.. regret hurting others or regret ruining opportunities… but that is not godly repentance...

Repentance is a change in attitude and action from sin towards obedience to God. It is a gut wrenching agreement with God on the nature of our sin and an owning of guilt that leads to a fervent repudiation of our sin and a sincere turning toward GOD and towards obedience… And our lives as CHRISTIANS are lives of FIGHTING SIN - involving repentance… suffering...

BELOVED… is this you?