3 July 2005

Winning the war within us

Romans 7:13-25

A guy working at a grocery store tells an interesting story. He writes, "Cash, check or charge?" I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase. As she fumbled for her wallet I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse.

Do you always carry your TV remote? I asked.

No, she replied. But my husband refused to come shopping with me, so I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him."

You know? There are some people in the world that do not ask, "what is the most evil thing I can do to so and so." I actually think that there are very few people in the world who intentionally want to do harm to others. Totally the opposite, I think there are many people in the world that actually think about blessing people.

Having said that however, we know that evil does exist in the world and that even well intentioned people hurt others. There is a lot of imperfection in the world. Let me give you a few examples of some of the things that seem wrong in the world. For example, "why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? Why are there Braille signs on drive-up ATMs?

I'm joking of course. However, these questions remind me about our tendency to look at the mistakes in the world, but not in us. We don't often see our selves as evil, though we know there is bad in us. Pastor Edward F. Markquat talks about our tendency to do evil in spite of our best intentions. He writes,

"Bill started dating a nice girl by the name of Cheri. They had been going steady now for six months and they would go and park in his car in some nice secluded spot. They would turn on the radio, turn off the ignition, began kissing and then making out more intensely. Bill was a Christian and he wanted to do what was right. He knew that he did not want to go past a certain line. He knew it was wrong. He knew the possible devastation and the nasty consequences for everybody. He knew he should not do it but there was something inside of him that pulled him past the line of what he thought was the proper boundaries. He knew that there could be devastating consequences but he still went ahead and did it anyhow.

Years went by. Bill got married. In fact, Bill married Cheri. The two of them got married and they had been married now for fifteen years. Love had begun to wane between Bill and Cheri. They no longer felt like they used to. Now, Bill wanted to love Cheri. Honest to God. He really wanted to love her. He wanted to love her with the same love that he had years ago. But there was something inside of him that got in the way when he wanted to say, 'I love you, Honey.' There was something that got in the way of him saying those loving words to a woman who wanted to hear those loving words from him. He wanted to do what was right by her, but the good that he wanted to do, he could not do because of something inside that got in the way. And Bill did not want to be drawn to that other woman that he kept watching out of the corner of his eye. He knew it was wrong, but he kept on letting himself be attracted to her."

Pastor Edwards continues,

"Now, we all recognize the patterns within Bill. Bill is you. Bill is me. When the Bible says 'that which I want to do, I do not do; and that which I don't want to do, is precisely what I end up doing.' We all know how true this is. The exact script may very with each of us, but the stories of our lives are closely similar. Wasn't it said in some comic strip, 'We met the enemy and the enemy is us.' Or another author said that we have a civil war going on inside of us. Not a war going on between two different nations but a war within our inner person."

I think Pastor Edwards has described well what Paul wanted to say to us in his letter to the Romans. Paul clearly states two times, "For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate... For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do." (7:15, 19).

As you recall, Paul was explaining to the believers in Rome the place of the Law in relationship to Jesus Christ. To Paul, the "Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good" (7:12). However, there are some limitations to the Law. According to Paul the Law served to highlight sin. "If it had not been for the Law, I would not have known sin," writes Paul (7:7). However, Sin (capital "S"), this evil force that operates in the world, used the Law to entice people. As you recall two weeks ago I spoke about Paul's understanding of Sin. Sin (capital "S") is an evil force that can enslave us. John E. Toews writes, "The Law in whole and in part reflects the character of God. It is the opposite of Sin. The problem is that Sin is able to use it against its nature... The good, which is the law, unmakes Sin and gives it clearly defined boundaries. The result is that the law works death, because people are pulled across the boundaries by Sin."

So, if we know Sin because of the Law, why have the Law? This begs the question: are we enslaved to Sin thanks to the Law? Are all the problems we have with Sin, the result of the Law? Paul has already said "absolutely not." The Law is holy and it is good. The problem has been that Sin (capital "S"), has used it for evil.

However, we, who are in Christ, are freed from the power of Sin. We are not its slaves anymore. Jesus has freed us from its dirty dominion. We are free. We are no longer slaves to it. "We know that our old self was crucified with him [Jesus Christ] so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin," writes Paul (6:6).

So, if we are not slaves to Sin (capital "S"), why do we continue to sin? Paul has given us two answers. The first answer is that we have failed to recognize our freedom from Sin. We act as if we are still slaves to Sin. Paul writes, "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus," (6:11). In other words, we must recognize our freedom, consider our selves free. We no longer have to serve Sin, our former master. We can now serve God. We can spend our efforts and our time working in God's Kingdom, for his honor and glory.

The second answer that Paul gives us has to do with our flesh. There is an enemy in us, wanting to destroy the good in us. Sin (capital "S"), has discovered our weak spots, our unguarded territory, our flesh. Paul writes, "For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (7:22-24).

So, we Christians are free people. Free from the captivity of Sin. We are no longer slaves to the ruler of this world. Sin is no longer our master. Our new Master is Jesus Christ. He is our Savior, our Lord and our King. We do not have to do the things that our former Master wanted us to do. We are free to work on the things of God. We are free to work for the Kingdom of God.

However, we have a conflict. This conflict is not with the world. The conflict is within us. We have a flesh. We carry with us an imperfect body that is imperfect, not because it does not look like magazine models. It is imperfect, because it cannot overcome its own desires. We constantly struggle between trying to do the good we want to do, and the evil we do not want to do. Yet we struggle free from the captivity of Sin (capital "S"), meaning Sin can not kill us. We struggle, yet we will not die an eternal death. We are what Martin Luther called, "simil Justus epecator;" both saints and sinners.

Yet we have hope. Paul asked, "Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (7:25a). It is Jesus Christ, the Great Author of Life, who has freed us from the jaws of Death. It is Jesus Christ, the Beginning and the End, who has freed us from the evil empire of Sin. And it will be Jesus Christ, the resurrected Messiah, who will free us from our selves. Paul writes in chapter 8, "For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (8:3-4).

Just like we are free from Death, because Jesus defeated death, and just like we are free from Sin, because Jesus defeated Sin, we are free from our own flesh, because Jesus has defeated Death and Sin in the flesh. "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," writes Paul (8:11). Our weak imperfect fleshly bodies have competition. Within us we have a war, a war that Jesus has won. The Spirit of God that dwells in us can begin to change us and give us hope.

It is possible for teenagers to be celibate until marriage. I know it is possible. I know it happens. The power of the Spirit of God can help us.

It is possible to rekindle the love we once had for our spouse. It is possible to say those loving words again, "I love you, Honey." It is possible to change our behavior and start anew. It is possible to have a happy marriage after a crisis.

It is possible for people to grow and to change. It is possible to be transformed by God. It is possible to defeat our fleshly desires. God loves us too much, to let us be run and be ruined by our flesh. God loves us too much, to allow us to stay in our own sad situation. Did God free us from Sin and Death to allow us to be ruined by our own flesh? NO! He has given us the power to defeat our own unhealthy desires. The Spirit of God that dwells in us is strong enough to change us and make us new.

To the Ephesians Paul writes, "you are taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph 4:22-24).

To the Corinthians he wrote, "From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view, even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Cor. 5:16-17).

I do not believe many people ask themselves, "what is the most evil thing I can do for so and so." On the contrary, I believe that the majority of people of the world do not want to hurt others. Many, in fact, would like to bless people. However, I do believe that many times the good we want to do, we do not do, and the evil we wish not to do is what we do. I believe, those in Christ, those freed from the captivity of Sin, continue to struggle. But, thanks be to God that through Jesus Christ we have the Spirit of God in us. Thanks be to God that we are not left alone to be me consumed by our unhealthy fleshly desires. Thanks be to God that He has the power to change and transformed us.

Let us therefore, stop acting as if we continue to be slaves to Sin. Let us continually be reminded, "we are free." "Sin is no longer our master. Our Master, our King, our Lord is Jesus Christ."

Let us therefore, allow the Spirit of God to transform us. Let us allow the Spirit of God to change us. Let us allow the Spirit of God to make us new. Let us defeat our unhealthy desires with the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us think of the things above. Let us seek the things of God. Let us be transformed into the likeness and the full stature of our true Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.