CHRIST CHURCH

Sunday 9 March 2008, 10am

Romans 8:5-11

As we come to this Passion Sunday, the readings are set to prepare us for this coming season when we remember first and foremost all that our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ suffered for us, but also sets before us the promise of that fuller life, that life which will reach its full attainment at our resurrection.

In doing this, in approaching this I would want us this morning to note that we are faced by our Lord, and not by him alone, with a choice. Everywhere the Scriptures set before us a choice. After the crossing of the Jordan, Joshua spoke to the people saying that "this day I set a choice before you. Choose life or choose death" The words of Jesus himself were pregnant with choice. In one of the best known parts of the Gospel, in the Sermon on the Mount, he says, in effect, you must choose whether you serve God, or serve money. No man can serve two masters

So, in this morning's reading from Romans chapter 8, Paul is saying that we live either according to the 'sinful nature', or according to the Spirit.

Paul has been saying that if we try to please God simply by following our natural inclinations, then we are doomed to failure. Look back to verses 14 to 24 of chapter 7, and see just how many times he uses the word 'I'!. No wonder Paul concludes this section with the cry of despair: "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?". And it is that 'I' that is the cause of the trouble. for the 'I' which is born into this world is fundamentally flawed. Not popular teaching today, but a necessary truth if we are to maintain the integrity, the unity and wholeness, of the Gospel, for otherwise we shall never fully value to wonder of that message which lies at the core of true Christianity. It is this which is the "sinful nature" (some translations use the word 'flesh') which lies at the heart of the matter. In our reading this morning Paul has some pretty damning things to say about that nature. "The mind of sinful man", he says, "is death" That mind, that mindset of the sinful nature, is "hostile to God" "It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so". I read in the Evening Post the other day that it is hoped to set up a 'Speakers' Corner' in Newark Market Place' I wonder what sort of reception such a statement would receive there. Hostility perhaps- which would just prove the point!

But here Paul sets before us a different way, the way of the Spirit; the way of the Spirit of God. “The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace” This way does not lead to death, this way is a way of peace simply because it is not hostile to God.. And it is a way which is made possible purely because of Jesus, which is what lies at the back of the first four verses of Romans chapter 8. Because of Jesus’ self-offering on the Cross, the requirements of God’s Law were fully met and the guilt following on failure of keep this Law was borne for us, Startlingly then Paul could open this chapter with the mind-blowing statement, “There is now, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus; those who by spiritual rebirth have been made one with him

Now all this is fairly intensive theology, and I’ve tried to make it, I hope, as painless as possible! There remains one final point here which is implicit in what Paul is saying. Were we to read on into verse 12. there Paul says, “Therefore,,,,we have an obligation-but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. Our obligation as the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is to “

“seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness”. It is possible, and if we’re honest, possible and a sorry reality, to go and live according to our old sinful nature, to seek to please No 1. The truth of the matter is that if we do that we lose our peace, for we are living as God’s enemy.

But that way of living is an anomaly, it’s foolishly, living a lie. If we are Christ’s, then we have his Spirit, and we will be grieving his Spirit. We shall, as I’ve said, lose our peace, The Spirit will never let us be at peace. Paul, writing to Timothy said though that “if we are faithless, he will be faithful, for he cannot deny himself.” The key it, firstly, to return to our Lord Jesus, and then resolutely to set or minds to following the Spirit.

The key to this lies in what Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, where he compares two men.

One listened to Jesus' words but never carried them out. That man was building a house on sand and when the storm came it would be destroyed.

The other not only listened, but put Jesus' words into practice. This is true faith; this is building our house, our life, on rock. Nothing can destroy it.

The choice is yours!!