The New Way of the Spirit
A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson
September 9, 2018
at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia
Romans 7: 1-6
Isaiah 43: 16-21
Let us pray,
Help us to see despite our eyes
Help us to think outside of our minds
Help us to be more than our lives
For your eyes show the way
Your mind knows the truth
Your being is the life.
Amen.
So in continuing with Paul and his letter to
the romans, he is still, come chapter 7, discussing the difference between life
of faith in grace and life under the law, which has been his theme in one way
or another, for a few chapters. He has been reasonably trying to the show the
connected nature of grace and the law, showing how faith has been present since
the beginning, how sin has also been present, and how they both predate the
law. . . so he is in a sense trying to show how its all connected, on the same
plain, parallel, in line, dare I say Kosher. . . maybe not.
But today he is out to claim something, that
he must claim, because he has had an encounter with the risen Jesus, so
everything is not the same, the world he lives in is not the old world, the
life he lives in not the old life, he has changed, and therefore he must
acknowledge exactly that, change. Here he begins to show the newness, of how
faith and grace truly work, differently
from the law, and of course right in line with the themes of the last two
weeks, these changes are of life and death. . . Let’s look, Romans 7: 1-6
7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for
I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone
only as long as that person lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is
bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is
released from the law that binds her to him. 3 So
then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still
alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is
released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
4 So, my
brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of
Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from
the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we
were in the realm of the flesh,[a] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in
us, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we
have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the
Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Look at this example of marriage that he uses
here, which is one with significance in the Bible,
So many times the relationship of the Lord to
the nation of Israel was likened to a marriage, with Israel proving to be the
faithless wife
But now the married ones, are individuals, not
the nation, he is appealing to brothers
and sisters, and he shows how marriage is till death, and one cannot be
faithless after death, at least in the marriage sense. . . if a husband dies
she is released from the law. . . she can marry another man. . .
Brothers and sisters you have died to the law,
through the body of Christ. . . and now are raised from the dead in order to
bear fruit for God. . . interesting wedding connotation there. . . be fruitful
and multiply, the purpose of families and marriage. . .
so there is a new marriage, to Christ rather
than the law, remember last week we talked about being set free to follow, one
step further, now set free to be joined to Christ in a relationship akin to
marriage,
in its faithfulness, devotion, care,
longevity, life giving, fruit bearing. . .
Bearing fruit for life, now having before born
fruit for death. . .
But it’s the last line I want to focus on
verse 6
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been
released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and
not in the old way of the written code.
He even starts it with contradiction, “fruit
for death” ends last phrase, and then “but now”
ON the other hand “Now”, all has changed, and
now “now”
By dying to what once bound us.. . . we have
been released from the law. . . we’ve heard that before, but he is stating
again. . .
But now, here it is, “We serve in the new way
of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”
Ok here is the crux. . . here is the change
put into focus. . . Spirit vs. Written Code
New Way vs. Old Way
What is the difference between living to a
written code and living in the new way of the Spirit?
I once gave a sermon in Gordonsville called
“Rules would be Easier”
We all know how to live by rules
There is comfort in rules
Black and white
Thou shalt not bear false witness, kill,
covet, commit adultery, etc.
Strict Policies, Codes, stay off the grass, we
have many rules. . . I noticed in the kitchen here we still have posted a rule
forbidding dancing in the church, one might wonder what King David would think
of such things. . . But rules make sense to us
They tell us we cannot do these things, stay
away from those things, and then check
them off, each day at the end of each day, whew I’m good, today was a good day
They are rules we can all follow together, too,
they make life simpler, depend on others following the rules, we can measure
ourselves against each other, know how we are doing, have quantifiable data to
help us know we are on track. We can all color inside the lines, stay in our
lanes,
We can sing in harmony together, in time, in
sync, perfect. . . you can hear pharaoh saying in 10 commandments, so let it be
written, so let it be done. . .
Probably one of the most famous examples of
someone living to a list in the secular world is Ben Franklin as described in
his autobiography. . . he studies virtue and comes up with a list of 13 rules
that he will try to live by. . . he has varying success, and as a scientist he
can measure it. . . but he comes to the following conclusion. . .
"In
reality there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as
Pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it
as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and
then peep out and show itself. You will see it perhaps in this History. For
even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably
be proud of my Humility.”"
This is the trouble with list following, it leads to sin and death, most
notably through pride, or sometimes
we call it assurance, we know we’re
set, so we find and deem ourselves “done”, ready to rest, ready to take a
break, ready to look askance at others, maybe judge a little, gossip a little,
measure ourselves a hair above someone else. . . it happens, but. . .
Rules, laws, codes, it all makes sense to us.
. . but this other, what is this life in the spirit?
I mentioned that other sermon, let me give you
a bit of it:in it I call the opposite of the law, love, similar to life in the
Spirit maybe. . .
Not breaking laws is easy compared to living by
love. Living by Love is hard, nigh impossible apart from the grace of God
because love is really never done. When in love does the word enough exist? It
doesn't. . . Enough is not in love's vocabulary. Neither is done, finished,
even death. Love does not ever end. Law lets you look at yourself each day,
checking your status, checking off your checklist. Love requires you
to look outside of yourself, to the other. Love is harder because though there
is only one you, there are tons of others whom you can give love. Maybe you
could say that following the 200+ laws of the Old Testament would be difficult.
It would be difficult to keep track of them all for sure. It would certainly be
a long checklist to fill out every night, or on each Sabbath, or at each Year
of Jubilee, or even to be held to account to at the final Judgment day, but all
of that time would be time spent accounting for yourself, caring for yourself,
making sure that you are squared away, but Jesus forgives us, grants us grace,
and instead commands us simply to love. . . Would we prefer the
rules? Do we make new rules to prefer? (interesting question huh?)
I said earlier that the Pharisees were upset to
have their traditions challenged because their tradition was the source of
their identity, their calling, their connection to God, and their hope. They
couldn't see that a new identity was being established, an new calling was
being spoken, a new and greater connection to God was being formed and a new
hope was being offered. Do we see that new possibility? The identity, calling,
and hope, by following, knowing, and experience a God who is love, loves us,
and commands us to love.
But Paul sees this new identity come to life in his encounter with
Christ. . .
So we are called to a new thing, a new way of
living and seeing life, or maybe it is unseen, for Paul calls it the Life of
the Spirit.
And not only would rules might be easier to
our minds, also it is easier because it is familiar
And this life of the Spirit Paul goes out of
his way to say that it is New, a new life
And new things are difficult
We can stand on the threshold of something
new, and look through to the other side of that open door, and find ourselves
filled with worry and dread
We can analyze every possible in and out and
consequence
There are a lot of complicated things, a lotta
ins a lotta outs, a lotta what have yous, a lotta strands to keep straight in
our heads, and we want to get it all straight before we open that door.
Before we take that step
Because anything new is unknown. And therefore
a leap of faith. . .
And standing in such light, burning in our
face, it is easy to convince ourselves to look back
To tell ourselves that God has always been
with me, doing it that old way, that the old way has always been enough. . . it
is easy to do that. . . we could say that God doesn’t change, so why should I?
And we might be right, God doesn’t change, but
don’t fool yourself about that either, God doesn’t change, but God is alive,
and being alive God is dynamic, and God is constantly creating.
Listen to this amazing passage from Isaiah,
from chapter 43, which the Bible school folks might remember had, the when you
pass through the waters. . .I will be with you. . . at v.2, yes our God is personal
and always there, consistent, I will always
be with you he claims, but then later in the same chapter, hear this, 16-21
This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past,
see I am doing a new thing, now it springs up, do you not perceive it!
God is dynamic, miraculous, and alive,
constantly in motion, cannot be tied down, and we are invited to new life of
the spirit, connected in marriage to this new life that cannot be shackled and
chain. . . sounds dangerous huh? Rules would be easier
We stand at the
threshold of life, and we look back. . .
do we turn to salt?
Everything that we
know and love about God at one point was a new thing
Burning bushes, and parting red seas, the
law itself, safety in the lions den or the fiery furnace, slaying giants,
living in the belly of the whale, being able to pass through the waters and
have God with us. . . all new things at some point, but they have become so
entrenched in our minds. . . they do not seem new.
What about Jesus? Old or New? A story? Or
an alive presence forever connected to your life, pushing away stones, rolling
stones away, dragging you through newly opened doors into new life.
Why is newness so
intimidating? Can’t we get used to doing new things? I’m not so sure.
And I think I may
know why. . .
Look at the poem
in your bulletin: this by Wendell Berry, one of his Sabbath Poems
Up in the blown-down woods
You try to imagine the tornado
Cracking through the trees
While you slept, branches
And birds’ eggs whirling
In the dark.
You can’t do it.
You can imagine the place
As it was, and as it is.
The moment of transformation,
The presence of creation,
Itself
is beyond your reach.
We experience change, but
we cannot see the moment of it clearly. . . we remember how it was and how it
is, but that changing moment is lost in our memory. . . does God want it that
way?
Why?
Does it make each new
thing, a new step of faith?
We are each in the next
few years going to have to do many new things. . .
New initiatives we
haven’t tried before
New roles we haven’t
assumed before
New risks we haven’t
taken before
WE are going to have to
depend on new people we haven’t depended on before
We are going to have to
trust new leaders who have never led before
New leaders are going to
have to accept the responsibility of leadership who have never been responsible
before
But this in itself isn’t
new. . .
Everything we are doing
now at one point was new as well, funny to think it seems like it has always
been. . . We’ve always done it this way?
The truth is no we
haven’t! Most traditions in the church are only 70 some years old. . . many of
them were born in the 50’s, I have an old hymnal from 1910 it is titled, new
hymns for the young. . . you’d be surprised by the “old favorites” in there!
And I hate change. . .
always have. . . have always had that apprehension. . . Blue House. . . Blue
blankey. . . Best day of my life.
Still hate change, still
analyze all the ifs and what have yous, still hesitate at the threshold, still
have changes that I know need to happen, need to happen right now, and I just
cannot make myself do. . . . Sin is strong, so true.
But at the same time I
can look back and see the whirlwind, the broken paradigms, and know that God is
taking me anyway, remember, well you’re coming. . . pulling me outside as I
hang on to the door jam with both arms. . .
And looking back I can
also see those promises, when I’ve passed through the waters. . . he’s always
been there. . . Lord why to I still falter in the face of the open door? Give
me the strength to let go. . .
Paul in his letter to the
Philippians gives us hope in this, where he writes 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry
it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
In a way to glue that message in your heads I want to sing you a little
song. . . nothing like a tune to provide that glue. . .
CHORUS:
G Bm Am7
D7 G
Bm Am7 D7
He
who began a good work in you
G Bm
Am7 D7 B7 E7
He
who began a good work in you
Am7 D7
Will
be faithful to complete it
Am7 D7
He'll
be faithful to complete it
C G
He
who started the work
Am7 D7 G
Bm Am7 D7
Will
be faithful to complete it in you
VERSE:
G Bm
If
the struggle you're facing
Em7
G C
Is
slowly replacing your hope
Am7
With
despair
D C
Or
the process is long
D D7
And
you're losing your song
G
Am7 D7
In
the night
G Bm Em7
You
can be sure that the Lord
G
Has
His hand on you
C
Safe
and secure
Am7
He
will never abandon you
D C
You
are His treasure
D D7 G
Am7 D7
And
He finds His pleasure in you
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