03 6th Sunday in Epiphany Romans 8
St. Paul writes, “I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is God’s power to save everyone who believes, Jews first and Greeks as well. God’s approval is revealed in this Good News. This Approval begins and ends with faith as Scripture says, “The person who has God’s approval will live by faith.” That last line is a quote from the prophet Habakkuk. The person who has God’s approval will live by faith. That is the way we live our lives, is influenced by who and what we are. This is good for tonight’s theme, because tonight we are taking some time to talk about and to think about total commitment, and what that is, and what that has to do with our faith.
A young boy, of no more than five years old, was fed up with his mother. He was sick and tired of her bossing him around and telling him what to do. This was a travesty. After all he was five. I mean he was practically an adult. Believing himself to be the most important thing in his mother’s life he decided to teach her a little lesson.
“I’m running away.” He announced. It was the perfect plan, because he imagined that his mother, would be so overcome with grief at the thought of him gone, that she would beg him to stay, and change her tyrannical ways. “run away?” She would gasp. “Surely you can’t be serious.” And he would say, “of course I’m serious, and don’t call me Shirley.” Then there would be much begging and crying and protesting. And finally he would relieve his mother of her burden and decide to stay.
This is how he imagined the events to unfold. However, that is not quite how it happened. Instead his mother, with great wisdom and love, and without flinching simply said, “OK. I’ll help you pack.”
Our young boy is faced with a decision here. Does he live underneath his mother’s roof and her rules and regulations, or does he live out on his own, with no rules and no regulations? This question is along the lines of what St. Paul is talking about in our lesson for this evening. We just heard that those who have God’s approval will live by faith. Then Paul goes on to show that there is no one who lives the life that God demands. There is no one who is perfect and without sin. There is no one who perfectly keeps God’s standards. And the result of this is separation from God and death.
In chapter seven, Paul laments how he knows what the right thing to do is, and yet he often doesn’t find himself doing it. In fact, he often finds himself doing just the opposite. Can you relate to that? Do you know that feeling? Hold on to that for a moment. How does it feel? What do you think about that? Now, listen to the first verses of chapter 8.
“So those who are believers in Christ Jesus can no longer be condemned. The standards of the Spirit, who gives life through Christ Jesus, have set you free from the standards of sin and death. It is impossible to do what God’s standards demand because of the weakness our human nature has. But God sent his Son to have a human nature as sinners have and to pay for sin. That way God condemned sin in our corrupt nature. Therefore, we, who do not live by our corrupt nature, but by our spiritual nature, are able to meet God’s standards.
You see we find ourselves living in the midst of a daily struggle, for we are at the same time, both saint and sinner. And it is in reference to struggle that Paul is writing here. The struggle to live the way that God wants us to live against living the way that our sinful nature wants us to live. Our five year old friend did not want to live life the way his mother wanted him to, and instead he chose to live life his own way.
Now we don’t always choose the right way. How easy is it to be selfish, to seek our own interest, our own good, and to do what we want to do? How many times have you had a chance to serve God or others, and instead chose to serve yourself? It is something that is all to easy to do. Especially if when we what the right thing to do, and we choose not to do it. Well, that is kind of a bummer isn’t it? It is that struggle, it is living in the midst of that tension that these words of Paul bring so much comfort. For indeed it is impossible for us to live up to God’s standards. But God didn’t just leave us to our own devices. He sent Jesus to pay for our sins. And he did. He paid for your sis and for my sins. Therefore we do not live by that sinful nature, but by God’s Spirit. It is pretty cool. Living life in God’s Spirit means that we are not under the control of our sinful nature. That means we are not at the mercy of our sinful nature, we don’t have to sin. We can withstand the temptation, because we have the spirit of God to help us.
And because we have this spirit, we are God’s children. We are his own dear sons and daughters. The language that is used here is adoption language. We are his own children with all the “legal” rights that come with it. This is amazing. Even though we don’t deserve to be his children, we are, for the sake of Jesus. And with that we are given the power to live life the way he would have us live it. When we fail to do this, there is forgiveness. And strength. It is really awesome. It is by his Spirit, then that we cry out, Abba. Father.
The mother of our five-year old friend, in her great wisdom found the heaviest suitcase that she could find. It was a huge purple monster of a case, the boy could have fit himself in it. He was beside himself as his mom packed clothes and toys and filled that thing to the top. He was scared to death. She was calling his bluff, and yet he was stubborn enough to try to call her’s. And so as she closed the suitcase, his teddy bear sticking out of the top, she smiled at him. She carried it down to the front door, and opened the door for her son. “Don’t forget to write.” She said to him. Stunned. He picked up his suitcase and began to walk down the front steps. “It’s Ok. He told himself. Any minuet she is going to come running after me and beg me to come back home. All I have to do is keep going.”
Sometimes it is hard to keep going. And not just because the things we are doing are the wrong things to be doing. Sometimes it is hard to keep going because we are suffering for doing the right things. Have you ever experienced something like that? You do the right thing, no matter how hard it is to do, and yet you suffer for it. Have you ever suffered for being a Christian, for bearing the name of Jesus? Have you ever been in a situation where you were looked down upon for being a believer? It can be very difficult.
Now we don’t have to face persecution for our faith, like some of our brothers and sisters do in other parts of the world. I don’t want us to take for granted how good we have it. But the fact of the matter is sometimes it can be quite difficult to be a Christian. And that is where the words of Paul take us next.
I consider our present sufferings to be insignificant compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us. In other words, hang in there. It will be well worth it. These are words of encouragement, to remain faithful, even in the midst of persecution, and suffering. When it is hard to keep going and you want to give up, keep going. The trials and turmoil that we face in this world will pale in comparison to the glory that will be revealed in the next.
The way this is described is as groaning. Just as a woman in childbirth groans. I don’t want to touch that one too much. But you get the idea. It is a painful ordeal, but in the end it is worth it. The joy you feel afterwards makes the pain seem to be not a big deal.
What are we waiting for? We are waiting for our bodies to be free from sin. We have been freed in the sense that we are no longer under the control of sin. But our bodies still have the corruption of sin in them. They get old, and sick, and they die. This causes us pain and suffering and grief. And so we wait for that day when the sin will be removed from our bodies as well, and those bodies will live with Jesus on a new earth. They will live with him forever, there will be no more pain or suffering, or sickness or death. This is our hope. We don’t have it yet, but we know that it will come, and so we hope for it, and in that hope we find great strength and comfort.
Not only is this a great hope, but we know that the Spirit himself offers up prayers on our behalf. So for those moments when we are weary and tired and just can’t seem to go on anymore, the Spirit offers up prayers for us. And we find help in our weakness.
In these things we find the strength we need to live life the way God would have us live it. These things take a total commitment on our behalf. They take a conscious effort from us, and a lot of hard work. They require that we daily drown that old sinful creature that lives in us with apology and a change in the way we think and act. But we can totally commit, because we have a God who totally committed himself to us first.
As our friend was struggling with his suitcase he got to the neighbor’s driveway. They were backing out at the time. “Finally,” he thought, “some one who will have some pity on me.” “What ya doing CJ?” they asked. “I’m running away from home.” I said. “Well, be sure to send us a post-card when you get there.” I was beside myself. I couldn’t believe it. At that moment I gave up, and I went home. After that experience, I had a new appreciation for my mom and her love for me. Even if I had to deal with her rules and regulations. They were for my best interest, even if they weren’t in the best interest of my fun.
Now living life in a way that is pleasing to God is a bit different than trying to live life in a way that is pleasing to my mom. But the principles are similar. My mom would not have let me really run away. At least I don’t think she would have. And in the same way, our God will not let anything separate us from him.
No matter how bad things get, or how hard they are, we know that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Jesus. That doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen, and it doesn’t mean that when the bad things happen that it won’t be painful, but what it does mean is that nothing, will be able to separate us from our God and his love shown to us in Jesus. Not even death can separate us from our God. There is no power in all the world that is able to do this. Why? Because you and I have a God who is committed to us. Totally and completely one hundred percent committed to you and to me. That is how great his love is for us.
Where we learned earlier that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, here we learn that Christ himself also intercedes for us. We have the one who has the highest position in all of heaven praying for us. Because he lives, we know that we will also live, and we will live with him forever. It is a great source of hope and strength.
The season of Lent is a time of reflection on our need for a savior. During this season take comfort in our God who became a human being, who suffered and die, and more importantly was raised again to life. Because through him we have life. And Because he is committed to us. Nothing can ever separate us from his love for us. God bless you, now and always. Amen.