Week 3 Spirit-led

What we VALUE – Spirit-led Romans 8:1-17 Rev’d Chris Johnson This morning we come to the third in our series on the Values in Vision 26, Spirit led. What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? One idea out there is that God has a perfect plan for your life and if you pray hard and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you he will show you -who you are going to marry, -what career path you should follow, -where you are going to live and -who your friends should be. I have to say that this is not a spirituality I find in the Bible. Romans 8:5 says “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.” The word flesh is a Biblical term which simply means ‘self-focus’ and here it is contrasted starkly with a Holy Spirit focus. The spirituality of the Bible is not on ‘the self’ finding God's perfect plan for your life. The spirituality of the Bible is having one's mind set on what the Spirit desires, which means focusing on the Kingdom of God. So the better question to ask is, ‘How can I lay my life down to serve the Kingdom, rather than how can the Kingdom of God meet my needs?’ There is a lovely by-product when we do set our minds on the Spirit and the Kingdom of God, and that is God does meet our needs, but it is not always [and in fact usually isn't] the way we would have set things up. So to be led by the Spirit is to take our minds off what the flesh desires, that is what the self is focused on, and to set our minds on what the Spirit desires. And we need to do that as individual Christian disciples and we need to do that as the Christian Church. Romans 8 gives us a great template for understanding what it means to be led by the Spirit. I want to look at this passage in three parts. Each part builds on the previous one and gives us a deeper and deeper insight into the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life - what it means to be led by the Spirit. 1. 2. 3. The first part is v’s 1-4 and deals with condemnation. The second part is v’s 5-13 and looks at what it means to reject life in the flesh in order to embrace life in the Spirit. The third part is v’s 14 to 17 and is about the Holy Spirit leading us into an understanding of God as Father and us as his precious children. There have been many acts of kindness since my mother died in January and I want to thank you again for that. One of those acts was some beautiful roses that Ray and Di Albrecht gave me from their garden. Ray said the roses are called Father's love. There were three tiny red roses that looked at first is if they were meant to be miniature roses. But Ray assured me they would develop and blossom. Well they certainly did. In the ensuing days they just got bigger and bigger and in the end were lovely full size red roses. 1 This passage could be likened to a rosebud gradually opening until it comes into full bloom - a magnificent rose. -The basic idea is set out in v’s 1-4, this is the bud. -The theme is developed and we grow in understanding through verses 5 to 13. This is the flower getting wider and fuller. -Then in the last paragraph verses 14 to 17 the full bloom of what it means to call God, Abba Father. And the Spirit testifying with our spirit that we are the children of God. What a magnificent passage of scripture is Romans 8 - so full of the fragrant aroma of the Gospel. So what does it mean to be led by the Spirit? The first thing to understand is that there is, no condemnation v1. This verse really only makes sense if you have understood what Paul has already said in Chapters 1 to 7. It really only makes sense if you have first taken time to carefully consider the seriousness of sin and the reality of God's judgement. The second half of v3 gives a very brief summary of what’s gone before, “God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.” This of course is talking about the cross. Jesus was the sin offering on the cross. He took the condemnation we deserve so that we can be forgiven and set free. It's only because Jesus has paid the price, been the sin offering, that Paul can say in v1 “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That is the work of the cross which is set out in so much more detail in the previous 7 chapters. However Paul now wants to tie in the work of the Spirit to what Jesus did on the cross. There is no condemnation because of the cross, but secondly there is no condemnation because v2, “the law of the Spirit who gives life has set us free from the law of sin and death.” The law was meant to bring life and if we had been obedient to it, it would have brought us life. But when sin entered into the world the law became a curse for us. You see it shows up our wrongdoing. So we have to find a new way to life. -And that new way is the law of the Spirit. -The new way is walking with the Spirit. -It is about being led by the Spirit. And all of this is built on what Jesus did on the cross so that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We are set free from the condemnation of God's law and now live according to the Spirit. Imagine a forest which is a beautiful pristine part of God's creation. But then it gets overgrown with a noxious weed and this weed is a parasite which is sucking the life out of all the plants. God doesn't like what is happening to his creation so he sends a fire through that forest to burn the noxious weed and get rid of it. Following the fire God sends a gentle breeze that brings the rain clouds, so that from the blackened trees new green shoots start to appear. The wind brings seedlings and new plants appear. The forest starts to regenerate. Well we could liken the forest fire to the cross. It’s on the cross the fire of God's judgement fell on sin. God himself bears the judgement on the noxious weed of sin engulfing humanity. That's your sin and my sin, friends. But after the fire of judgement comes the wind of the Spirit and the refreshing water of life Jesus promised in John 4, that would be like a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The Spirit brings refreshment and new life. 2 So why is there no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? The apostle Paul gives two reasons here. 1. Jesus is the sin offering on the cross. 2. The Spirit brings a new life and sets us free from the law of sin and death. There is no condemnation. The second part of the passage V’s 5 to 13 spells out the nature of this new life. V’s 5 & 6 summarise it well. “Those who live according to the flesh have their mind set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their mind set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” As I said at the beginning the word flesh is a biblical word which has a much deeper, more significant meaning than the way it is often used in our society. -Flesh can simply mean the body. The body is flesh and blood. It can be as simple as that. -Flesh can also though carry the idea of being carnal or sinful. People talk of the sins of the flesh and often this has a connotation especially of sexual sins. When Paul uses the word flesh in Romans he's not particularly thinking of sexual sins. He's simply thinking of sin, full stop! Which at its most basic level is about asserting the self over God. It’s about rejecting God's authority and saying I'm the one who wants to be in charge. One of the best definitions of sin I know is that sin is a simple little word with “I” at the centre. So life revolves around you, that's it. It’s about putting self ahead of God and ahead of others. Paul is saying here that to be governed by the flesh, by the self, is death. Makes sense doesn't it? To live for yourself cuts you off from God, cuts you off from others. It brings death in relationships now; it will bring eternal death if it is not dealt with at the cross. To be governed by the flesh is death. On the other hand how does Paul describe life in the Spirit? Second part of v6, “but the mind governed by the Spirit is life in peace.” And that makes sense doesn't it? -Those governed by the Spirit have no condemnation, that means peace. -The Holy Spirit brings all sorts of new desires and inclinations - the desire to please God, to worship God, to serve God and in all of that to bless his people. This is the mind governed by the Spirit which is life and peace. Can you see how the mini-rose is getting bigger, starting to send out it's beautiful scent; the wind of the Spirit bringing the aroma of Christ which is life and peace. But my friends there is more! The Rose comes to full bloom in vs 14-17. V14 “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” This is quite remarkable. From being cut off from God because of our rebellion we are now not only forgiven, but given a new status - the children of God. We are not naturally children of God. Jesus is the only true son. We are adopted to become sons and daughters of God only because of Jesus. It is the Spirit who brings about this adoption. It is the Spirit who does this wether we feel it 3 or not. There may be some days when you feel like a BLOB rather than a beloved child of God. That doesn't change your status. However there will be, and indeed should be times when the Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. There should be times when we have this deep sense that God is our heavenly Father and we deeply belong to him. The word ABBA is simply an Aramaic word which means Dad with a strong sense of the intimacy; so more like Daddy. He is our loving heavenly Father. A good illustration of this is that of a good and noble King reigning in his Kingdom. We are his subjects but we have rebelled against him. We are put in prison and stand condemned. But then the King comes out of his beautiful Palace and visits us in the prison and persuades us that there is a better way. He removes our condemnation and doesn't just send us back into the village to get on with our lives; he invites us back to the Palace. He adopts us as his sons and daughters and invites us to sit at his banqueting table. He gives us all the rights and privileges of his one and only Son. In fact v17 says we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. We inherit the Kingdom of God. I'm not sure exactly what that means except there will be fruitful labour for us in the Kingdom of God. There is a proviso Paul says, “if indeed we share in his suffering's in order that we may also share in his glory.” A commitment to Christ and his ministry naturally will mean suffering - maybe not physical persecution but certainly entering into the pain of a fallen humanity. But we enter into that ministry with all it’s struggles as God’s sons and daughters, a status we never deserved; so we have a spring in our step, a joy in our hearts, and the Holy Spirit to keep reassuring us that we are the children of God and our heavenly Father is watching over us. Conclusion So my friends what does it mean to be led by the Spirit? According to Romans 8 it means -Knowing your sins are forgiven because Jesus is the sin offering. And therefore knowing there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. -Secondly being led by the Spirit means rejecting the flesh, which leads to death and having one's mind governed by the Spirit, which leads to life. -Thirdly, being led by the Spirit means knowing you are a child of God and that your loving heavenly Father has made you an heir of his Kingdom. A key value in our Vision 26 is that we might be led by the Spirit. Romans 8 gives substance to this Value. If we as a church are willing to hoist our sails and catch this wind of the Spirit, God will lead us, God will use us beyond our wildest imaginings, God will build his Kingdom even through Noosa Anglican. What is our Vision? We are living to love and proclaim Jesus. Let us do that in the power of the Spirit and being led by the Spirit. 4