Sermon videos

Sin: Slavery and Freedom

This mornings lectionary reading is, Romans chapter 7 verses 15 to 25a. In the NIV, an often used translation, these verses read:
“I do not understand what I do.
For what I want to do … I do not do,
but what I hate …I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do,
I agree that the law is good.
As it is,
it is no longer I myself who do it,
but it is sin living in me.
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me,
that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good,
but I cannot carry it out.
For I do not do the good I want to do,
but the evil I do not want to do –
this I keep on doing.
Now …if I do what I do not want to do,
it is no longer I who do it,
but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work:
although I want to do good,
evil is right there with me.
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
but I see another law at work in me,
waging war against the law of my mind
and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
What a wretched man I am!
Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

On April 5th, 1968, the day after the assassination of the American Civil Rights Leader and pastor, Rev. Martin Luther King Jnr, Jane Elliot, a primary school teacher in Randall, Iowa, USA designed an exercise to give her 3rd grade all white students an experience of what it was like to live with racism. She divided the class based on eye colour – blue eyed and brown eyed, making sure the brown eyed were identified with arm bands. She managed to convince the children that blue eyed children were better than brown eyed ones with a higher intelligence and learning ability. She also treated the blue eyed children as special and favoured. She then observed that the children who believed they were superior became arrogant and bossy and otherwise unpleasant to their classmates. Also the work of these children improved to the extent that they completed mathematical and reading tasks that had seemed outside of their ability before. In contrast the brown eyed children became timid, socially isolated, scored more poorly on tests and struggled with academic tasks they had previously had no problems with. And her experiment shows very clearly how strongly people are affected by what they believe about themselves, particularly when the opinion is reinforced by a trusted authority figure. Our self- image, the identity we attribute to ourselves, affects how we live our lives on a daily basis.

So this morning I want to ask, how would you describe your life as a Christian? Would you call yourself a sinner or a saint or something in between? How did this mornings Romans reading relate to your experience of being a Christian?

You see I ask these questions because theologians debate the meaning of these verses from Romans and the confusion arises around how in that reading, and in a few of the preceding verses, Paul uses the first person “I” rather than we or they. In English particularly it reads like Paul is talking about himself.

And the theological arguments basically fall into two camps:
The autobiographical view which concludes Paul is talking about his own struggle with sin as a Christian
The dramatic impersonation view which concludes that Paul is not using standard present tense but a well known Greek form of argument, something we today would call a dramatic monologue, to portray how someone else feels about the realities of living under the Old Testament Law.

So the question is which is it? How are we to know? How can we find out?

Firstly we can ask how the church has historically understood this passage.
The earliest church fathers, like Origen a 3rd century native Greek speaker, took the dramatic impersonation view. Paul was dramatising what it was like to live under the law.
The idea that it was Christian Paul speaking of himself appears to have begun to take hold in the 5th century in response to heresies promoting the idea that any person can live a sinless life.
And in the 16th C, the church reformers, particularly Martin Luther and Calvin, promoted the understanding that this passage was a picture of the Christian’s daily battle with sin. So that understanding has spread through Protestant denominations.
And today it is still not hard to find Christians who believe this type of struggle against sin is a normal part of Christian life.
On a number of occasions, when I have tried to encourage Christians I knew, with the knowledge that Jesus righteousness and holiness lives in them, I have received the response, “But you don’t know just how sinful I am!” So I ask if Jesus lives in them and they say “Yes.” And when I ask them if they are saying their sin is more powerful than Jesus forgiveness and righteousness, they don’t know how to respond.
So I was not surprised that in preparation for this sermon, and looking for an on-line copy of the Common Lectionary Readings, the first copy I found listed this passage under the heading: “The struggle of the sinner-saint” implying it is talking about the Christian life. An odd title choice given Scripture itself only ever refers to Christians as saints.
Similarly, in a well known commentary on the book of Romans by Cranfield, he states that the distress reflected in these Romans 7 verses is characteristic of Christian existence and the mark of a mature Christian is how clearly they see and mourn the extent of their captivity to sin. In other words he uses the lens of Christian experience to justify his stance that Paul is talking about the normal Christian life.

In Tasmania , when my mother grew up, you had to pass a spelling exam to progress to high school. Despite being an avid reader my mother was always a very poor speller and she failed the exam. Her father who was the primary school principal, wrote to the head of the education department to explain that she never would be able to spell and she should not be kept in primary school because of that failure. She was allowed to progress to high school but she never forgot that failure and always believed the lie she was not a very clever person. As a result her expectations of herself and her children were quite small. It became a frame of mind that coloured the rest of her life. Yet after her death one of her friends commented to my sister that my mother was the smartest person she had ever known.

Similarly, the problem with adopting the understanding that this passage is a description of Paul’s life as a Christian, is that it can give rise to defeatist Christianity where people believe that persistent defeat in overcoming sin is normal. This creates feelings of powerlessness which colour their self-image and make them doubt their acceptability to God.

So before we decide what understanding of this passage we will adopt, we need to dig further and ask, what light do the verses and chapters surrounding this passage give? How does this passage fit into the rest of Romans and indeed the rest of Paul’s writings? Is this typical of the language Paul uses to describe Christian life?

And if we look at the 14 verses preceding todays reading we find that Paul refers to the OT law and God’s commands 21 times. So all commentators, including Cranfield, conclude that in the first half of chapter 7 Paul is referring to the living under the Old Testament Law given to Israel by God. And the main theme is the inability of the law to empower people to live a righteous life.
And interestingly, the verses in our reading are similarly all about an inability to live a righteous life.

So in the surrounding chapters and the rest of Paul’s writing does he describe Christians as wretched people, slaves to sin in whom no goodness lives?

Let me answer that by quoting some selections:
In Romans 6 we read: “Could it be any clearer that our former [pre-Christian] identity is now and forever deprived of its power? For we were co-crucified with [Jesus] to dismantle the stronghold of sin within us, so that we would not continue to live one moment longer submitted to sin’s power.” (Rom 6:6)“now God’s perfect righteousness holds power over you as his loving servants.” (Rom 6:18b) “now ….- you are brought deeper into the experience of true holiness that ends with eternal life!”” (Rom 6:22)

And in Romans 8 we read:“So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One.” (Romans 8:1) “when the Spirit of Christ empowers your life, you are not dominated by the flesh but by the Spirit. (Rom. 8:9a). “you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” encoding you into the family of God. … “You are God’s Beloved child.” …Since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that He is and has.” (Rom. 8:15-17)
“He called us to himself and transferred his perfect righteousness to everyone He called.” (Rom. 8:30a)
I can remember the first time I heard that we are credited with all the good things that Jesus has done. I was truly shocked and went home and searched the Bible to check it was true. I realised I had this image of God having this big blackboard on which He recorded all my sins. And when I confessed sins and asked for forgiveness He would erase them from the board. So there was always the suspicion that I had missed some and the feeling that I would only make it into heaven by the skin of my teeth. But now I know that, because of what Jesus has done, not only does that blackboard never record my sins but it is full of descriptions of what Jesus has done that have been credited to me and I am as welcome in God’s Personal Presence as Jesus is. And the same is true for you!

And Paul’s other letters confirm this picture:
In Col 2:11 we read “Through our union with [Jesus} we have experienced circumcision of heart. All of the guilt and power of sin has been cut away and is now extinct because of what Christ …has accomplished for us.”
And in Eph. 4:24 Paul encourages us to “be transformed as you embrace the glorious Christ-within as your new life and live in union with Him! For God has re-created you all over again in His perfect righteousness and you now belong to Him in the realm of true holiness.
And in Col 2:9-10a we read the amazing statement: “For [Jesus] is the complete fullness of deity living in human form. And our own completeness is now found in him. We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness overflows with us.”

Everywhere outside Romans 7 that we look in Paul’s writings we see normal Christians described as freed from the record and bondage to sin. Not only that but they are described as filled with Jesus and His righteousness, living a godly life empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit.
In other words everything else Paul writes about being a Christian directly contradicts the picture given in our reading from Romans 7.

Last but not least, we could also ask, what did Jesus teach we should expect of the Christian life?
In Matthew 11:28-30 TPT “Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. ..you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.””
Then in John 8:36 TPT, Jesus said “So if the Son [of God] sets you free from sin then become a true son and be unquestionably free!”
And in John 17:21-22 Jesus said to God “I pray for them all to be joined together as one, even as you and I, Father, are joined together as one. I pray for them to become one with us … For the very glory you have given to me I have given them.”

For these reasons there are theologians who conclude that all of Romans 7, including today’s reading, is talking about life under the Old Testament Law and the verses using “I” are simply a dramatic dialogue device that Paul used to emphasise the powerlessness of the law to create right action. And I agree with them.

I once had the privilege of teaching a Christian woman, struggling with alcoholism, how to have conversations with Jesus and she grasped it with joy. The next time I saw her she was even more joyful. She had been shopping and had not stopped in the local pub for a drink. She said every other time she had tried to walk past the pub she ended up inside drinking. And no matter how much time she had spent confessing this sin nothing had changed. But this time she was conscious of and focussed on Jesus’ presence with her. As she got near to the pub she asked Jesus what she should do. He said, just keep walking. So she did. And she walked right past it with Jesus.
It is not our efforts but Jesus Presence that sets us free from sin to follow Him.

So, what then do we need to learn from todays Romans reading?
Simply that if this passage ever describes how you feel about your Christian life then you are really missing out on many of the wonderful blessings available to you through Jesus. And the answer lies in Jesus not in studying your sins.

How then can we change direction? How can we become the victorious Christians Paul speaks about?
I would suggest as a community and as individuals we need to act like the passages about Jesus victory over sin and death and his gift of eternal life are true and real now, in us, because they are! And that means we can simply relax and rest in all Jesus has done for us.
It means we can say to Jesus, I am going to stop looking at or for sin in my life and trust that You have erased all record of it. Instead I will simply follow Your Presence in me. And I will trust that Your overflowing Presence in me is powerful enough to direct my thoughts and actions so I live Your right ways. And if my choices take me in the wrong direction I am going to trust that you will let me know and empower me to change and go Your way. I will be honest with myself and you about what I cannot do and trust that You will do the work in and for me. And He will. We can see Him doing exactly that in the book of Acts and it is certainly what He has done for me. It sounds like a great get out of jail free card because it is! God knows we can’t do it but He can, so we actually need to stop trying and trust Him to do it.

One of the other things I love to do is just occasionally pause, even briefly, to welcome Jesus Presence in me, welcome His love, His holiness, His faith, His righteousness, His peace, His purity, indeed the fullness of His glory in me! I even find it a great thing to rest in when going to sleep.

And if our thoughts and feelings take us to a place where we start to feel powerless and controlled by sin like this passage from Romans 7 describes, we can recognise we are actually being lied to. In this case I like respond with the truth, saying, thank you Jesus that your death on the cross has erased all record of my sin and Your Presence and Your righteousness fill me to overflowing! And in my mind, picture Jesus presence in and around me.

And lastly I want to share with you my favourite type of prayer in which you allow the Holy Spirit to use your imagination to experience scripture.
So make yourselves comfortable and close your eyes.
Jesus is here, as He promised He would be.
Jesus is here, right now
Jesus is here
Perhaps you have a favourite picture of Him
Think what He would be like if you could actually see Him
See His hands and feet, the marks of love are there
Welcome Him
Worship Him
Jesus is here
Jesus is here
Jesus is here right now
Jesus is saying, “My child I love you.
Not as the world loves with conditions and strings attached
But as God loves me I love you
Deeply, unconditionally and eternally
I love being part of you
Living in you
Giving you all that I am and have
It was for the joy of being with you that I went to the cross
Knowing we were one
Knowing I could die with you and for you
And break the hold of sin and death over you
Erasing all record of your sin
Then rise with you to the powerful new life
That God planned for both of us
Hold my hand Beloved
See how My Presence
The fullness of who I am
Fills you to overflowing
My Holiness
My righteousness
My purity
My peace
My love
The fullness of My glory
They are all yours
Flowing in you till you are overflowing with them
Rest in me Beloved
In all I have done for you
Rejoice in me
And all we are together
You are God’s Beloved child
And in you He is WELL pleased.

Be Transformed

Ezekiel 36:22-24, 25-27 TPT 
“Therefore, say to the people of Israel what I, Lord Yahweh, say: ‘I will not take action for your sake, people of Israel, but for the sake of the honour of my holy name, which you have caused to be slandered among the nations wherever you have gone. I am going to magnify the holiness of my great name, which you have greatly dishonoured before the eyes of foreign nations. And when I magnify my holiness in you before their eyes, the nations will know that I am Yahweh. I, Lord Yahweh, have spoken.’ I will sprinkle purifying water over you, and you will be cleansed from all the filth of your past. I will wash you clean from the defilement of worshiping false gods. I will graciously give you a new, tender heart and put a new, willing spirit inside you. I will remove your hard heart of stone and give you an obedient, responsive heart instead. I will put my Holy Spirit in you to empower you to keep my laws and to live by them.”

I want you to imagine that just yesterday you got married and you were now having breakfast with your new spouse. And as you finish you say to your new spouse “I am actually finding being with you too intimidating, too scary. Could you please give me book with a summary of your life up to now, your future plans and a list of your expectations of what a spouse of yours should do and be. It should have everything you think I need to know to be your spouse. And if you could post it to my minister’s house he will give it to me. Then we can go our separate ways now because then I will have all I need to know to act as your spouse.”

Can you imagine anyone saying that? Can you imagine a distance marriage relationship like that? Does that not seem crazy?

After God had freed the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, He led them to Mount Sinai. And there the elders of Israel recommitted the nation to follow God. Then God told them through Moses that He was coming to meet with them personally so they could hear Him speaking to Moses.

But when it came to the actual event, the people were so terrified by God’s Presence they said to Moses; “”You speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:19 NRSVUE) 

The upshot of this was that Israel remained at a distance and God dictated the Old Testament Law to Moses. Israel then committed to following the law.

And if you read the history of Israel in the Old Testament you can see this distanced relationship worked about as well as you might expect. 

Hence in Ezekiel 36:22 God told Israel they had slandered His Name in the way they lived.

And the prophet Isaiah said: “This is what the Lord says about these people: “They come near to me with hollow words and honour me superficially with their lips; all the while their hearts run far away from me! Their worship is nothing more than man-made rules.” Isaiah 29:13 TPT

But, before we are tempted to get critical of Israel, you should know that since the reformation of the Christian church in the mid 17th Century, much of the church has adopted and taught Cessationist theology. This teaching says, that now that Scripture is complete, all the supernatural expressions of God’s Personal Presence, like prophets, apostles, miracles, visions, speaking in tongues, and God speaking personally to people, have ceased. Now, most churches effectively teach that reading the Bible is the only way we can have a relationship with God. 

Hence, shortly after I became a Christian, when I asked one of my youth group leaders, “What happens next? How do you live the Christian life?” He answered, “You read the Bible and do what it says.” And I replied, “That’s it?” And he answered, “Yes”.

I knew my sins had been forgiven by God through Jesus death on the cross, because my church taught that, but living the Christian life was presented as obeying rules set down in the Bible, rules like the 10 Commandments, or women should not speak in Church. 

As for understanding most of the Bible or finding a relationship with God through it, I remained in the dark as to how to do that. There was so much that happened in the Bible that I never saw happening in church and so much that happened in my life for which the Bible seemed to have no answers. By the time I was in my mid thirties I was feeling my worship and my relationship with God had become simply a set of man-made rules. I felt very distant from God and was unhappy with that but could not see a way forward.

That was when God came to me in church and told me He wanted me to go to Bible College. I had no doubt it was Him because I recognised His Presence and I had not ever had the slightest thought of going to Bible college. I had trained as a scientist and that was where I expected to stay. So much so, that I thought I could obey God and yet get out of going to college by being honest with the college principal about where my spiritual life was at. I went to see her and told her how God had told me to come and then explained that I did not read my Bible or pray, except when I had to at Bible study group. I found those occupations to be of no use. And I expected her to tell me come back when I had sorted myself out. But instead she just smiled and said, “We can deal with that.” So I began a Bachelor of Theology. 

One of the first subjects I did was the basics of sermon preparation and our first assignment was to write down the preparatory information we needed for a sermon on Ezekiel chapter 37. And one of the first things we were told to do was read the chapters that went before and after it so I did. 

And in Ezekiel 36 (TPT) as I read verses 25-26: “I will graciously give you a new, tender heart and put a new, willing spirit inside you. I will remove your hard heart of stone and give you an obedient, responsive heart instead. I will put my Holy Spirit in you to empower you to keep my laws and to live by them,” those words were lit up in my mind as though they were displayed in Neon Lights. And I recognised God was making a personal offer to me of a new heart and a new spirit, joined to His Spirit. I knew my heart had hardened to God but recognised that this was the next step I had been looking for for 20 years. So I immediately said, “YES PLEASE!”

So, you might say, what does it actually mean? How does it happen?

The first thing that stands out in this passage is that it is ALL about what God is going to do. God is saying:

I AM going to cleanse you from all sin

I AM going to remove your old hardened heart and give you a new tender responsive heart

I AM going to put a new willing spirit inside you

I AM going to put My Holy Spirit in you to empower you to live as my holy people.

God is saying He will recreate His people from the inside out in a four part process: cleansing from sin, the gift of a new tender heart, the gift of a new responsive spirit and the gift of His Spirit living in us.

Now, if you have spent any time in a Christian church you have probably heard a lot about how Jesus death on the cross has cleansed and freed us from our sin and that is part of what the water baptism we practice represents. “For he  [Christ] died for us, sacrificing himself to make us holy and pure, cleansing us through the showering of the pure water of the Word of God.” Ephesians 5:25b-26 TPT

And this is where I was in terms of understanding when I was told to just read the Bible and do what it says. 

But if that is where we stop how do we become more like Jesus and have an intimate relationship with God? Does the responsibility for change rely solely on my willpower and my understanding of what the Bible teaches? Has Jesus saved me only so I can go on floundering about trying not to sin just like I did before I was a Christian?

Thankfully that is not where God stops in this passage. Just like a telemarketing add, God is promising more, much more than cleansing from sin.

Now when the Bible uses the word heart, it does not mean just our emotions. The word translated as heart is a word that is the name for the seat of the will, everything that goes into our decision making and actions. So it covers thinking, understanding, learning, experience and emotions, the core of who we are as humans. And God knows our hearts become hardened to Him, damaged through our actions and the actions of others which hurt us. 

So as well as cleansing from sin, He is offering to give us a brand new undamaged heart that is responsive to Him. A heart that is free to love God and others just like Jesus did.

Then He is offering to give us a new spiritual self that is also responsive to Him. 

It is an offer to remake us from the inside, to restore the image of God in us that has been broken by sin. 

And finally and most importantly, to seal the deal, to give us a permanent and intimate relationship with Him, and empower us to live His holiness He is offering to put His Holy Spirit in us, just like it is in Jesus. He is offering to seal us into the intimate relationship of the Holy Trinity! You can’t get closer or more empowered than that! This is how God wants to magnify His holiness in us.

And ALL this is His work!

So you might say, what happened next? Was it all done and dusted in the instant I said yes? What difference did it make?

When we went to live in Germany in the 1980s we really had no idea what it would be like, and though Steve had done German at school, I knew no German. It was a steep learning curve in how to live in a foreign country. It had never occurred to me that so many ordinary things in life could be done differently. For example when you rent an apartment there you are literally renting just that space in a building. There is no guarantee that it will contain light bulbs, floor coverings, cupboards or any built in kitchen or bathroom. We were lucky to find one with a kitchen sink, bathroom handbasin and bath. But gradually over time we learnt more of the language and culture and how things worked. And now when we go back there it feels like a second home. 

And learning to live in and use these gifts from God are like that. It is a process of discovering and absorbing God’s culture and God’s way of thinking and doing things.

The most important thing God has taught me since then is how to have conversations with Him and be confident I am hearing His voice. So now I know I can discuss Bible passages with Him and learn directly from Him. And because of this the Bible is no longer a dead book to me but a significant part of God’s communication with me.

Some times God will suggest things that I need to address. In a prayer time one day He told me He wanted me to forgive a person who had hurt me a great deal. I had not even thought about it, was not even aware of the need. And when He said it I replied, “No Way! She should’ve known better; She DID know better. I can’t do that.” And God replied, “I am not asking you to do it in your strength, I am asking you to let me forgive her through you.” And I replied, “OK. You can do that if you want but only if it requires no effort on my part!” And that was where that conversation ended and I thought no more about it. But a few months later I was sitting next to just that person in church when the minister was preaching on how God can restore relationships. And as she preached I felt as if a sword had been run right through the middle of me, releasing something and I knew the work of forgiveness had just been done by God. And not surprisingly it healed my relationship with that person. It also taught me the critical lesson that changing the way I think and act is God’s work and all I have to do is give Him permission to do it. That has been a very real relief and blessing.

So now I know I can ask for that sort of change in advance. For example I once had to confront a church leader about how they had been bullying someone in a public teaching session. And I knew my automatic response would be to just tell them they had been a bully and it was not acceptable. And I knew that that approach was rarely successful. So I asked God for a different approach and what came to mind was how a prophet used stories to confront King David about his adultery and murder. So when I finally spoke to the leader I said I simply wanted to describe how I had seen the meeting unfold. And when I finished she said, “It sounds like you think I was bullying him. No one has ever accused me of that.” “I replied, “That would be one way to describe it.” She then said she would have to think and pray about it and discuss it with the person involved. And we left it at that. There was no anger and nothing else I needed to do or say. And I left amazed and grateful to God at how gentle the process of confrontation could be.

So, yes the Bible is important, a critical tool through which God speaks, as He spoke to me in this passage in Ezekiel, but living as God wants us to, is SO much more than just reading the Bible and following laws. There is a journey God wants to take us on to know Him personally and intimately. To be empowered by Him to live His way. And it is tailored to individual needs so your journey will be different from mine. But it begins with accepting His gifts of cleansing from sin, a new heart and spirit, and His Spirit coming to live in us. His restoration of us from the inside. And then asking Him to teach us how to unpack, understand and live from those astounding gifts. It is our choice and His work. And I can honestly say it is a choice that has blessed me beyond what I ever thought possible. 

The freedom to live in intimate relationship with God and do life His way is an astounding gift of love and grace and it is available to everyone now.

As Paul wrote to the Ephesians 4:24 TPT
“be transformed as you embrace the glorious Christ-within as your new life and live in union with him! For God has re-created you all over again in his perfect righteousness, and you now belong to him in the realm of true holiness.”