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July 28, 2004
Pentecost Sunday
The Spirit of Freedom
Delivered May 30, 2004
by Pastor Werner De Jong
Text: Romans 8:1-17
Main Idea: God sends his Holy Spirit as a gift to believers in Jesus Christ, in order to free them from slavery to sin and death, and to enable them to know the joy and power of new life as his children.
Purpose: To encourage the listeners with the good news that God's Spirit can help them in every way to live a pleasing life before God. To challenge the listeners to depend on the Holy Spirit for the strength needed to live as Christians, and to listen to the Spirit for guidance.
Introduction: You may have heard on the news this week the story of several people who tried to climb Mount Everest. In one climbing party, four people died, including three Japanese citizens. Unfortunately, it is not unusual to hear such accounts. The fierce mountain, known for its savage storms that materialize without warning, has claimed many lives. Why then do adventurers still want to climb it? Because they are drawn to the challenge of scaling the world's greatest peak. There is something within the human spirit that rises to a challenge. In the same week that the four mountaineers perished, a Sherpa guide broke the world record by scaling Everest in a little over eight hours.
We all set challenges for ourselves. Some of us like to hurtle down mountains on bicycles; others prefer the much more serene challenge of seeing how many bird species we can identify. Some of us undertake ambitious home renovation or building projects (and I admire you for it!); others find it a challenge to do simple repairs, but still we try! Some of us undertake the challenge of earning a living from the land; others, who wish we had green thumbs, are happy if we can make a simple garden grow. Regardless, we are drawn to challenges, for when we achieve them, it leaves us with satisfying feelings of accomplishment. As a general rule, the greater the challenge, the more satisfaction we derive from it.
The Greatest Challenge: What is the greatest challenge you can think of? Is it assailing Mount Everest? Is it trekking to the North Pole? Is it finding a way to descend to the deepest part of the ocean, where no one has yet gone? By no means! These absolutely pale in comparison to the greatest challenge life has to offer. I do not hesitate to suggest to you this morning that there is no greater challenge than living the Christian life, that is, a life of steadfast obedience to God, a life of holiness and love which is pleasing to God. For the Christian life asks everything of us, it demands that we come to Jesus, and die. For our Lord has said to us: "Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:27). Following Jesus is a journey which lasts a lifetime, a rigorous journey which asks everything of us, a journey that every day calls us to die to our selfish tendencies. The Christian life is a road we do not travel as masters who have slaves to carry us on their shoulders and to meet our every need; rather, it is a path we tread upon as slaves or servants of the Most High God, who are commanded to obey God by serving others. The Christian life asks us to love our enemies, to forgive those who hurt us, to give sacrificially of our time and resources, to resist every manner of temptation (including temptations to accumulate, temptations to pornography, temptations to say a biting, retaliatory word), to suffer whatever is necessary in order to bring others healing and hope, to always seek first the kingdom of God. Any who have sincerely made the effort to climb the mountain of daily faithfulness in Christian living know that the challenge makes ascending Mount Everest look like a molehill.
How are you doing with this challenge? Are you succeeding? Has its enormity captivated your spirit and gripped your imagination to the extent that nothing else seems to matter, and everything else pales in comparison, like those adventurers who eat and drink and sleep Mount Everest? That is surely what God hopes for us. The God who created us made us in such a way that we are stirred by a challenge. The God who created us gave us no greater challenge than the challenge of following in the footsteps of his Son. God is delighted when his people say with the apostle Paul, "to me, living is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). God is overjoyed when people say, "I will embrace the challenge! I will live and die for the One who lived and died for me!"
When failure strikes: Challenge is necessary to life; without it we cannot grow as people. But a problem arises when a challenge is too great. Deep inside we may want to do all God asks of us, but are we able to do it? Or have various failures along the way dampened our enthusiasm and passion for seeking complete commitment to the way of Christ? We may wish we could be like the apostle Paul, but too many times we run smack into our own weaknesses and shortcomings, and it hurts, it hurts to let God down and to let others down and to let ourselves down. Have you ever felt that way? Repeated failures can be so discouraging, even to the point that we despair of ever being able to please God.
Paul in Romans 7: I do not do the good I want: What do we do then? Is there any message of hope for us? Is there any good news for Christians who are frustrated by their own inability to meet the daily challenge of dying to self and living for Christ? That is the very question that the apostle Paul seeks to answer in our text from Romans 8. We will see that it is full of good news for this very situation. But first I want to draw your attention to Romans 7. For in the latter half of Romans 7 the great apostle Paul himself confesses the terrible frustration that he experienced in striving to obey God. Listen to his anguished words: "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate....I can will what is right, but I cannot do it....Wretched man that I am (vv. 15, 18, 24). Many sincere Christians have read these verses and found them to be strangely comforting, I know I have, for it reassures us that we are not alone. And that's good, that's one of the values of opening up and sharing our lives with one another. For we have many common struggles. Everyone in the church benefits when we have the courage to be real with one another. Then we feel less alone, and then we are able to help each other.
But it's just as important to realize the source of this struggle, which is Paul's main point in this section. "I cannot keep God's law, I cannot please and obey God," Paul wrote, "because of sin that dwells within me, because of the weakness of my flesh." Paul writes a lot about the flesh in Romans. John Wenger in his Herald Press commentary summarizes very well what Paul means by the flesh. "The flesh," he writes, " is human nature at its worst! It is self-centred, self-willed, touchy, proud, concerned with creaturely comfort, pleasure-loving, longing for recognition and praise, delighting in that which is carnal. It resists the holy will and law of God" (A Lay Guide to Romans, p. 91). In other words the flesh is the sinful nature which, as Paul writes in Romans 6, came into the world through the sin of Adam, and spread to all people.
It is absolutely essential for us to realize that we are in a struggle against this sinful nature. This is why we may find ourselves desiring one thing, yearning to free ourselves of a bad habit, for example, or hurtful behaviour, like a quick temper or a biting tongue, but repeating the same pattern of behaviour over and over again. Paul put it like this: "I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me" (Romans 7:22-23, NLT). We have to come to the place where we know that about ourselves, where we realize that in the flesh we cannot obey God, for sin is stronger than we are. The sinful nature is the cause of our failure. It is a cruel master which enslaves us and humiliates us.
In the last few weeks we've probably all seen pictures or at least heard about the terrible abuses that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The occupying authorities shamed and humiliated the detainees that were kept there, and the detainees were powerless to do anything about it. That is what sin is, it is an occupying authority that has invaded not just a country, but all members of the human race. It shames and humiliates us, it imprisons us from the inside out and prevents us from freely obeying God. It is a power stronger than we are, and as Paul writes, the penalty for those who cannot escape its clutches is eternal misery, spiritual death, separation from God. If that is the case, how can we even then begin to think about meeting the great challenge of living a faithful, radically obedient, holy, loving life of sacrificial, suffering service that is pleasing to God? No wonder Paul exclaimed: "Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
No Condemnation in Christ Jesus: But thank God the story doesn't end there. If Paul wanted his readers, the Christians in Rome, to be aware of the desperate situation created by the strangling power of indwelling sin, he only did so in order to share with them the tremendous good news that there is a way out of the mess. There is hope! When Joanne and I spent a summer in Holland serving with Operation Mobilization we wore lapel pins with a simple message printed on them in Dutch: "Er is hoop," there is hope. Paul cuts to the heart of that hope when he concludes the testimony of his own struggle: "Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Above everything else Paul wants his readers to realize that he was saved from this situation by God's redeeming love. Jesus had rescued him, and he says to us, Jesus can rescue you too. Despite Paul's repeated failures, it was his testimony that God still loved him. God loved him so much that he offered him a way out of the desperate situation. It happened when he placed his trust in God's Son, in Jesus Christ, who came in order to destroy the control that sin has over us. Then Jesus demolished the prison house, and set him free. That is God's great desire, to set people free. Jesus made that possible by receiving the penalty for our sin in his own body. Our holy God chooses to condemn sin, and who are we to quibble with that? But he chose to condemn it in the body of his Son. This is why Paul is able to joyfully proclaim, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (8:1).
We all need to hear those words again and again. When we, like Paul, let God down, and do not live up to the challenge God places before us, it doesn't mean that God is finished with us or has rejected us. No, for God condemns no one who receives the gift of his Son. We may stumble, we may fall, but through our faith in Christ God forgives us seventy times seven! That is why he asks us to do the same. That is the heart of the gospel, receiving grace from God, and the call of the gospel is to pass the same grace on to others.
Life in the Spirit: But it is obeying this call that is so difficult. For God calls us beyond forgiveness to obedience. The good news is that we are surrounded by grace and redeeming love. But it is that very experience of love that makes us want to rise up and meet the challenge of the obedient Christian life to which God calls us. But how can we do it? Our sins are forgiven, yes, but we still struggle with the sinful nature. How then can we live faithful Christian lives? We still haven't answered our original question–is there any good news for Christians who are frustrated by their own seeming inability to meet the daily challenge of dying to self and living for Christ? In order to answer that we have to cross the literary border between Romans 7 and Romans 8. When you cross that border it's like walking from a desert into a rainforest. For in Romans 8 there is no further talk of defeat. The conflict still goes on, but Paul now talks enthusiastically about a new ability to rise above the power of indwelling sin. How is that possible? Through God's gift of the Holy Spirit to every believer.
Today is Pentecost Sunday, a day when we commemorate the giving of this most precious gift to the church, the gift of God himself volunteering to make his home within us. On our own we cannot overcome the power of the flesh, but the God who lives within us can! What a liberating truth! God sees our struggles and he knows our frustrations, and he says, "I am not going to leave them alone in this conflict. Through my Spirit I am going to make my home within them, through my Spirit I am going to pour out my love into their hearts, through my Spirit I am going to reassure them that they are indeed my children." When we see that God's Spirit can enable those in Christ to actually please God, then we are beginning to get into the truth of Romans 8. Listen to verse 2 in the New Living translation: "For the power of the life giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death." Those in whom the Holy Spirit lives are able to obey God from the heart. They are therefore able to meet the great challenge of the Christian life.
Much of Romans 8 is a tremendous affirmation to Christians who know what it is to wrestle hard against sin. Not only does Paul encourage his readers that the Spirit is God's gift to them, who sets them free and lives within them, and empowers them, he also teaches that the Holy Spirit is able to lead them: "all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God" (v.14). The good news doesn't stop there. Later in the chapter Paul writes: "the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words" (v. 26). That's great news for all who take seriously the challenge of the Christian life. The Spirit of God actually prays for us. And that's God's idea, God's design. And remember that this most precious gift is one that endures to the very end of our lives. For as we heard earlier in the reading from John's gospel, Jesus said: "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, who will never leave you." Never. Not even death can separate us from our God who loves us, as Paul also highlights in Romans 8: "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you" (v. 11). Pentecost Sunday reminds us that God pours out upon us gift upon gift upon gift through the gift of the Holy Spirit, whom we in turn receive when we place our faith in the priceless gift of God's Son.
Application: All of this teaches us that there is no such thing as being a child of God through merely human means. Life with God is a gift. And at the same time it teaches us that there is no such thing as walking the Christian life on our own. This too is a gift, for God gives us the Spirit to walk with us. (And one another).
When we put this all together, one primary application emerges. Those who sincerely want to live as our Lord and Saviour lived can only do so by humbly depending upon the Holy Spirit's help. The Christian life simply cannot be lived any other way. To the degree that we ignore the Helper that God has so graciously provided us, to that same degree we will falter in our ability to love our enemies, to forgive those who hurt us, to serve as effective peacemakers, and to bring healing and hope to our communities and to the nations. For any who may be sceptical about this teaching, the clincher to the argument is the fact that Jesus himself didn't begin his public ministry until the Spirit of God descended on him at his baptism. When Peter was telling the Roman centurion Cornelius about Jesus, he said this: "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good..." (Acts 10:38). What is true for the Master is certainly true for the disciples.
There is no such thing as a Christian who doesn't have the Holy Spirit, but there is such a thing as Christians living below their possibility in Christ, which happens when we are not fully yielded and obedient to God's Spirit. Article 3 in our own Mennonite Confession of Faith puts it well: "Scripture urges us to yield to the Spirit, and not to resist or quench the Spirit....By the power of the Holy Spirit, the church teaches, preaches, testifies, heals, loves and suffers, following the example of Jesus its Lord" (Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, article 3).
The God who created us never designed us to function without his help. Trying to live the Christian life without depending on the Spirit is like trying to drive a car with no gas. Or like trying to climb Mount Everest without oxygen. You simply get nowhere. Cars are designed to run on fuel, and Christians are designed to be empowered by the Spirit.
Before we close, there is one last question we must address: what does it mean to depend upon God's Spirit? First and foremost, it will require a humble attitude of prayer. It will mean acknowledging our inadequacy to please God in our own strength. Once we are convinced of that, and it sometimes takes a long time for believers to be convinced of that, but once we see the truth that it requires supernatural power to live a life pleasing to God, then we will gratefully turn to God in prayer, and God will gladly give us all the help we need. If you struggle to be humble, then pray for humility too, for only those who humbly depend upon God can please him. Here too Jesus is our example, for humility was the hallmark of his life on earth. He gladly confessed that he could do nothing on his own, but only what he saw the Father doing.
This leads to our final point. Depending on the Spirit will mean taking time to listing for his leading and guidance, even as Jesus did. And we are most open to hear the Spirit's voice when we are poor in spirit, when we are humble, when we seek to empty ourselves of all that is foreign to the way of the cross, and commit ourselves to a life of love and service to God. The Spirit speaks to us when we meditate on Scripture, when we listen to God's word being proclaimed, when we take time out for solitude and silence. We meet with God's Spirit when we engage in the spiritual disciplines. When we truly hear the Spirit's voice, we never need to be afraid that we will be led astray, for the Holy Spirit is our reliable Sherpa guide who can take us safely up and down any mountain. The Spirit of God is more reliable even than Sherpa guides, for God created the mountains, he created the challenges he places before us, he knows the safe way around every potential pitfall and every danger that threatens us with harm. Those who listen to the Spirit's voice will truly find that God guides them safely on their journey.
Conclusion: The conclusion of the matter is that it absolutely is possible to meet the challenge of the Christian life. We do it by depending on the Holy Spirit for the strength needed to live as Christians, and by listening to the Spirit for guidance. I leave you with another testimony of the apostle Paul, spoken near the end of his life: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing" (2 Timothy 4:7-8).