Romans 8:1-11
Because of the heat and humidity [the real feel the morning of this sermon was 82º at 10:30am], this is going to be another shorter sermon. What I have been thinking about this week is our reading from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, the eighth chapter, verses one and two: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
This is one of the most important parts of the Christian message. If I had to put these two verses into plain English, here is how I would say them, ‘There is no condemnation, there is no disapproval, for anyone who belongs to Christ Jesus. For the way of Jesus Christ led by the Spirit of God frees you from the way of sin and death.”
There is a lot of good news in this message for each of us. First, the no condemnation part. There is no condemnation, there is no disapproval, there is no judgement and verdict of guilty, for those who belong to Jesus Christ. Here is what this means: hard as it might be to believe, God is not angry with you. You might feel that God should be angry with you and maybe there is a good reason for that feeling, but the Christian message is that God is not angry with you and ready to fly off the handle. There is no condemnation, there is no disapproval, there is not judgement of guilty for those who are in Christ Jesus.
This good news that there is no condemnation, that God is not angry with you does mean that there are not consequences for our actions. Think of the kid and the hot stove. If I put my hand on a hot stove, I’m going to get burned no matter how many prayers I say, hymns I sing, or good works that I do. It’s going to burn. In a similar way, if I lie, or am greedy, or am lustful, or full or wrath and angry, or take and consume way more food and things than I need because I’m gluttenous, there are consequences to that. That’s where the Christian message of repentance comes in. God calls us to turn away from those things – that’s what repentance means, to turn around and go in a different direction – and God offers forgiveness. But it’s like touching a hot stove, even if you turn around and never do it again the burn will still happen and it might leave a scar.
We also should say something about God and anger. I believe with all of my heart, mind, and soul that God is not angry with anyone. But I don’t think that means that God doesn’t get angry over things. It’s like the no condemnation does not mean no consequences thing. I think plenty of things anger God – abuse, violence, greed, when the powerful exploit and take advantage of others, especially the vulnerable, when humans abuse and destroy God’s good creation – all of those things violate God’s laws and there are consequences to them. God doesn’t want them to happen and I have to believe God will do something about them to set the world right. The gospel message, the way of Jesus, invites us to turn from those things when we’ve taken part in them and go in a different direction and make amends and repair the damage as we can.
The second part of the Christian message here delivered by Paul is the message of freedom. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” One image to understand this goes like this: life under the way of sin and death for all of us is like living and working in a dreary, dim, smoke-filled room. Picture yourself in that kind of place. You can’t see well, everyone’s coughing, it feels claustrophobic, and it makes you sick. That’s an image to describe the spiritual reality of sin and death. The Christian message is that a new power, a new force, help is coming. The Spirit of life in Jesus Christ is like a strong wind and sunshine that clears the air and brings light. You can finally breath and see, your lungs heal, and you are free from the dark, smoke filled room. It’s an image that describes the spiritual reality that Jesus Christ, in his life, death, and resurrection, frees us from the brutal way of sin and death.
That is why we keep saying the Christian message is good message. It’s a message of freedom for the captive in the dark, smoke filled room; liberty for the oppressed who are stuck there; forgiveness for the sinner; relief for the tired and weary. If a church isn’t talking about good news and instead focuses on bad news or distracting news, we’re missing the point. The Christian message is good news that God gives us freedom, liberty, forgiveness, and relief. It’s not so that we can do or say whatever we want or feel religious. God does these things for us because God loves us and God wants us to grow and mature and be close to him.
Going back to the hot stove image, Christian freedom helps us to not even want to touch the hot stove. Christian freedom is realizing you don’t want to ever go back to the dark, smoke filled room and its ways of sin and death, because life on the outside with the clean air and sunshine, the way of life in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, is so much better.
Amen.