April 2, 2011

Christian, You're Free!

4th Sunday in Lent, 4/3/11
Romans 8:1-10


Christian, You’re Free!
I. From sin’s power
II. To live for Christ


Even though we live in a country that prides itself on freedom, we live every day of our lives with a deep longing to be free. We realize that we can’t be free to do whatever we want. For instance, we’re not free to abuse our neighbor, light his house on fire, rob a local bank, or grab whatever catches our eye at the nearest department store. There have to be limits on what people are allowed to do in order for people to live together civilly and safely.

But we still long to be free, don’t we? And if you think about it, it’s not so much the freedom to do something that you crave; it’s the freedom to be without something. If only you could face a day without sinful stress. If only you could wake up in the morning and spend the entire day free from aches and pains. If only you could go to work and experience a day free from disappointment, a day in which all your co-workers and all your business contacts did their work to the best of their ability and completed their work on time and satisfactorily. If only we could end a day without being hounded by the countless tasks we didn’t accomplish. I could go on and on with my list. I’m sure you could add countless things to it. Yes, when we think about it, we long for the freedom of being without the problems we face in life. Do you share that desire with me?

If so, your Savior has some refreshing news for you this morning. The fact that he has made you his own by living and dying for you and has brought you into his saving kingdom through faith in him has turned things completely around for you. Now, I’m not saying that your life is trouble-free. I’m sure you could supply ample evidence to the contrary. But what we long for—freedom—Christ gives us. His words to us through his Apostle Paul announce that freedom to us. Christian, you’re free! But maybe you don’t feel that way. If not, let’s see what he means as we take his words to heart.

Part I.

I spoke to a Dayton Police detective this week and I asked him what percentage of crime in the City of Dayton is due to illegal drug activity. Are you ready for this? He said more than 75%. Think about it. Drug addicts will literally stop at nothing to get their next fix. Theft, robbery, physical violence, murder, prostitution, traffic accidents, homelessness, broken marriages and broken homes are just some of the results of drug addictions. The power of addiction is staggering!

But as great as it is, the power of sin is far greater. Addictions only affect some people. Sin affects all people, every last one. In fact, ever since the fall into sin long ago, the whole world has been under sin’s power. Think about that. Nothing in this world goes absolutely right. There are always problems to face and overcome if possible. And it’s all because of sin.

But that’s not all. The power of sin is potentially eternal. We’re concerned right now over the radiation from Japan’s damaged nuclear power plants. It’s a terrible problem. But given enough time, the source of radiation will eventually break down to the point that it’s no longer a concern. But not sin. Sin condemns eternally. It doesn’t break down. It doesn’t go away. And we’re affected by it. We’re sinners. You talk about a power in your life that you want to be free from!

And that’s precisely our Lord’s good news to you this morning. Listen to the opening words of our text, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” You’ve been set free. There is no more condemnation. As great as they may be, your sins no longer condemn you.

That means the control of sin and death are ended. But wait a minute. We still sin every day and one day we’ll die. We deal with the sins and the deaths of loved ones as well. That’s not what Paul means. He said the control of sin and death. Sin brings death. That’s what God announced to Adam in the Garden of Eden. He didn’t just mean physical death. He included spiritual death—separation from God in hell eternally. That’s what every sinner was facing.

But Christ changed all that. How? Paul says it like this: “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” The law of God couldn’t work perfect obedience in us. So Jesus supplied that perfect obedience for us. And then he offered his perfect life as a sin offering. It was a sacrifice to God for the sins of the world. It was the first, last and only sacrifice necessary for the sins of the world. So now our sins are gone and so is sin’s condemnation. Our God no longer condemns us for our sins. In Christ, we’re free from sin’s power.

Christian, you’re free—free from sin’s condemnation.

And yet guilt is one of the world’s greatest motivators. Look at the things we do as parents for our children because we wouldn’t want the guilt or even the accusation of being a bad parent. And certainly a paycheck motivates us to complete our tasks at work, but guilt is right there with us. We’d feel guilty if we didn’t do this or that. And we decide to help out a friend, not because we want to, but because we’d feel guilty if we didn’t. Guilt, guilt, guilt! Oh, to be free of it!

Christian, you are! First, we need to realize that we don’t measure up to the perfection God demands in any aspect of our lives—not a single one. So let’s stop fooling ourselves by thinking that we do and admit it, confess it! And then hear our Lord’s words to us as often as our guilt arises, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That’s you. You became “in Christ Jesus” at your baptisms. Your gracious God put his name on you and gave you faith in Jesus. Ever since then he has been feeding that faith through his word and the Lord’s Supper. So now, as one of our newer hymns states, there’s “No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.” Your life could be falling apart around you, but everything is right between you and your God. Christian, you’re free, free from sin’s power.

Part II.

Newfound freedom can bring it problems, though. Perhaps the biggest problem ex cons face is life outside of prison. Now that they’re free, what should they do? Some have no clue. All too soon many return to a life of crime.

Christian, you’ve been set free from guilt. So now what?

Well if guilt doesn’t motivate you, what does? A sense of duty or obligation? You have nothing else better to do? Someone else told you to do it? You’re not sure what motivates you, but you do it anyway? That’s my short list of motivators. I’m sure you could add a few more.

But none of those comes close to the power and the purity of the motivation Paul discusses in our text. He writes, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.” And the Holy Spirit does live in you. He has ever since the moment he brought you to faith in Jesus as your Savior. In another place Paul states that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Imagine that! The Holy God has taken up residence within you!

But he’s not just a squatter there. He comes to live in you to empower you. Again, we read Paul’s words, “Those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” The Holy Spirit created a new person within you. That new person loves God and wants to do God’s will. In fact, that new person is empowered by the Holy Spirit to do it. The Holy Spirit fills us with love for Christ.

And there you have the Christian’s motivation for doing what God wants us to do each day of our lives. Love for Christ empowers us to live for Christ. Living for Christ involves what we’re doing right now—hearing his word and worshipping him. It involves what we say and do with our families and what we do to earn a living. It involves helping extended family members and the neighbor who lives across the street. It means being Christ-like with people who are complete strangers. It means serving others and expecting nothing in return. As God’s children, we daily recall that Jesus didn’t come to be served, but to serve, all the way to sacrificing his life for us.

Christian, you’re free—free to live for Christ!

But do you struggle with that? So do I. Why is that? Paul hinted at the reason with these words, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature.” While that’s true because we have the Holy Spirit living in us, it’s also true that we still struggle with the sinful nature. It’s selfish, mean, arrogant, vengeful, suspicious, lustful, lazy, materialistic, lying, and manipulative. In short, it’s the exact opposite of what our God has created us in Christ to be. And we deal with it every moment of every day. The way to overcome it is to realize that these thoughts and feelings and words and actions are flowing from your sinful nature. The holy God forbids them and therefore we need to repent of them. And then to take to heart the God’s gracious good news that, in Christ, there is no condemnation. Jesus took our sins on himself and died for them on the cross. We’re forgiven, restored, made clean and new. And for what purpose? To live for Christ. To serve him as we serve others.

That’s our freedom, Christian friends. We’ve been freed from sin to live for Christ. May God empower you for it and bless you in it! Amen.