Romans 8:1-11- The Indwelling

Romans 8:1-11

We are now officially halfway through the book of Romans. Paul has thus far teased us with his theology bringing us to a certain point in his way of understanding the state of human beings and then starting over and bringing us to the same point using slightly different logic. Everything he has been saying thus far in the book brings us to the “therefore” her at the beginning of chapter 8. Paul has been slowing teaching us what it means to live by faith and how it is that we on our own can not live the way we were created to live but that it is faith alone which brings us into relationship with God and allows us to live right, good lives, which reflect the love of God in this world. Paul has shown us that we can not earn God’s favor, that we can never be “good enough” but that God’s love and God’s favor is given freely to all those who choose to accept God’s love.

Then in chapter seven he commiserated with us over the struggle we all have with sin in our lives, how even when we are trying to do the things of God, sin is there. Even when were doing everything within our power to move in Godly ways, we find that sin is at hand. Even as Christians we are continually at war with ourselves, with the sin that dwells deep within that moves us in ways that we do not wish to go.
Before I move on, I thought I should share something with you, which may or may not come as a surprise to you, the divisions between chapters in the Bible are all artificial, the original writers did not put them there. Paul did not put a division between the last sentence in chapter 7 and the first verse in chapter 8. They were put there later so that, no matter what translation or language from which we read, we are all able to generally find the same spot in our Biblical texts. Paul did not put a break between chapters 7 and chapter 8, he just kept on going it was all part of the same thought. There was not even a pause between last week’s verses and this week’s verses in Paul’s writings. So I many ways the division between last week’s sermon and this week’s sermon is just as arbitrary. Just as Paul has continued to build from one thought to the next in spite of the chapter divisions, that were put in later on so we can all be on the same page, so to speak, I am building from sermon to sermon, because I am building on Paul, and what he has been saying.

So as we look at this passage we should see it all in light of that last few lines in chapter 7 toward the end of last week’s passage Paul said, ". . . Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" The text moves from thanking God for the fact that Jesus Christ rescues us from the struggle against sin that we all face as Christians and then telling us that we are either Slaves to God, or slaves of sin, and then moves to “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (and I could seriously stop there and preach 40 minutes just on that line alone)

Although sin is at work within us making our best efforts at living right and good live fail, we are set free from the law of sin and evil in our lives! There is no condemnation not because God over looks the struggle that Christians face with their “fleshy” selves but because, Thanks be to God we are rescued from this body, given over to sin and death, by Christ Jesus. God has done what the law, weakened by OUR sinfulness, could not do, which is rescue us from ourselves! God rescues us from our own sin, from the sin that dwells deep within us, moves us, motivates us and drives us in directions that are far from God and far from the people we were created to be.

Quick side note: When Paul speaks of the “flesh” here in this passage he is not trying to tell us that our bodies are evil or in and of themselves somehow contrary to God. He is not trying to tell us that all things material, physical things are evil and only spiritual, immaterial things are good and holy. For Paul the body in and of itself is neutral, physical things in and of themselves are neutral. They were all created to be good, but due to sin and evil and its workings in this world all things can be used in ways that are contrary to what they were created to be. When we live contrary to the ways God created us to live and are living lives ruled by sin and sin’s selfishness then we are living lives of the “flesh” as Paul uses the word here. So our bodies and this physical world are not necessarily used in “fleshy” ways but when they are moved and powered by sin they can be used and lived according to the flesh, as Paul would put it.

The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, has set us free, rescued us, from this struggle, from this battle with ourselves, from the battle that all us have, even as Christians, with the sin that dwells deep with in us. We first need to remember, nothing that we can do, not even our faith can change the sin that dwells with in us. There is only one thing can change the sin that dwells deep with in each and every one of us; there is only one thing can rescue us from the battle that we fight with ourselves, and the sin that constantly pulls us in directions that we do not desire to go; only the Spirit, the Spirit of God, dwelling deep within, removing that deep dwelling sin and replacing it; living within us in sin’s stead, moving us, changing us, purifying us, making us clean from the inside out! holy!

Those that live according to the Spirit set their mind on the Spirit. We cannot live life “according to the Spirit”, that is living in ways that wholly glorify God; ways that reflect God’s goodness and greatness to the world around us, on our own. Our minds must be set on the Spirit, we must allow the Spirit to live within us, we must allow the spirit to have full reign in our lives, we cannot hold anything back for ourselves, because in that one little piece the deep dwelling sin will flourish and prosper – we cannot live according to the Spirit unless our minds are set on the Spirit. We cannot because WE are unable to do these things ourselves, only the Spirit can do them; we can only do them when the Spirit is working these, Godly Life, miracles within us. We cannot will ourselves to be changed. We cannot move ourselves wholly and completely in the ways of God. Our faith is not enough to change us fully and completely. The spirit must be within, the Spirit must be allowed to move in and keep house, to sweep out all that is impure and unholy and replace it with the holy and, pure things of God.

Living life this way is life and peace; life, because sin is death, plain and simple. Life, because living a life of sin is living a half-life, a shadow life, living but a dim reflection of the life you were created to live, a broken mess of the life that you could live and were meant to live. Peace, because only then the battle that we have with ourselves due to the sin, that dwells deep within each of us, is over. The sin is removed, swept out, eradicated, completely and absolutely demolished by the Spirit. Through the Spirit of God we are able to do what we are unable to otherwise do. Live the way we were created to live, meant to live, live the way we truly desire to live, free of selfishness and sin, free of serving ourselves and our own desires, free to live lives of love, receiving God’s love freely and giving that love in return.

Paul tells us that "But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit." He a way he is saying this to remind us to who we are. Paul is speaking, the Church of Rome, which was one of the larger and more established churches in the early church. He is not preaching in the marketplace in a pagan city, speaking to people outside the Church, who have little understanding of who Jesus is and the call the love of God has on our lives. Paul is speaking to Christians, to people who know and have faith in Jesus Christ; Paul is speaking to people Just. Like. Us. He is not speaking to people who don’t know who Jesus is, he is speaking to the people of the Church, (us). He is reminding them (and us) who we are. We are not of the flesh, no we are of the Spirit. That is, as the people, who make up the Church we should not simply be people of faith; we should not be people who are fleshy, being controlled by the sin that dwells within, we should be people of the Spirit who are controlled by the Spirit of the Lord God who is Jesus Christ. This is who God is calling us all to be, this is who God is calling the Church to be, because this is who we really are, and if we are not then, they are not living the lives of the people who follow Jesus Christ, as people who accept, live and reflect the love of God in this world, we are not living lives of the people of the Church! The Spirit living with in should be changes us, remakes us, recreates us, to be people that live, breath and reflect God, God’s holiness and God’s righteousness, in all that we say, in all that we do, in every crook and cranny of our lives (this is exciting stuff people!)

Being dead to sin is POSSIBLE because the Spirit dwells within. The Spirit within is what allows us to be righteous. The Spirit within makes it possible to live lives that are dead to sin and the havoc and destruction that sin can bring to our lives. It is possible to live HOLY lives that are not bound by the struggle and the battle with sin that that rages within. We do not have to do what we do not want to do. Sin does not have to be at hand even when we are trying to do good. But it means giving it all up, laying it all on the line, making your self fully God’s. It means allowing God’s Spirit to take up residency within your life. It means giving God control of every part of your being, every part of your life, every part of every thing that you do, today, tomorrow, and for always; giving up your hopes, your dreams; giving up control and allowing the Spirit, the love of God to have control. It means trusting God implicitly in all things, at all times, with everything; everything that you can think of and everything that is beyond your thinking, with everything that you know and everything you don’t know. It means giving up, surrendering the battle.

This is about stopping fighting a battle that cannot be won, and allowing Jesus Christ to win the battle for you. It is not your battle to win! Who will rescue me form this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! It is a battle that can only be won by Jesus Christ himself, and the results of that battle can only come to fruition in our lives through the work of the Spirit. This is about living the way that God is calling us to live; this is about being the people of God that we can be, being the people of God that we should be. This is about giving God everything, absolutely everything, even the things we feel entitled to, even the things that we don’t want to let go of, even the things that we wish we could hide from him. Giving God everything, allowing Christ to win the battle with the deep dwelling sin and allowing the Spirit to live there instead, allowing the Spirit to remake us, reshape us recreated us into holy, Godly people, from the inside out.
It is about ALLOWING God to do it all, about giving up, throwing in the towel, acknowledge that we are helpless and weak (like Paul told us we were in chapter five) and allowing God to move in our lives in ways that we have never allowed him to move before. Give it up, resign the battle, wave the white flag and let God have the control that you have been fighting for.

We are rescued (saved it you will) by Jesus Christ, through his life, death and resurrection. We are rescued because the Spirit of the one who lived, died and rose again dwells within us. We are able to have the love of God with in us, moving us and motivating us instead of sin. We are saved from living the life that is described in the first part of the chapter 7. This is the life that we begin to live as believers but God has something better for us. God does not desire for us to live that way.

THERE IS A BETTER WAY TO LIVE. We do not have to live in that kind of constant struggle with sin. There is a rescuer. There is a redeemer, a savior. There is life in the Spirit. There is life with the person of Jesus Christ living with in us, changing us, remaking us, from the inside out, into the people he wants us to be. The battle with sin is not our battle to fight. It is a battle that Christ rescues us from. The wonderful thing about Holy living is that it is a life lived purposefully, passively. A life lived in such a way that we allow the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ to live in us and through us. We give him our hopes, our dreams, our futures and allow him to move us in the ways that he desires us to move. It is freedom from the battle because we lay down arms and surrender to the only one who can win this battle, for it is a battle that is already won.