Who's in Charge Here?
Who's in Charge Here? Paul cries with us in Romans 8:1-10 as we peer into our inner beings and wonder why we want to do what is right but don't always do it, and we don't want to do what is wrong but sometimes do it anyway. March 2, 2008.
The superintendent steps into the cafeteria and gets plastered with a piece of bologna accompanied by some mayonnaise and screaming students in a food fight. You pick up your car at the shop and the cashier insists you owe an additional $340 for extra work that needed to be done. The Stevenson family visits grandma in the nursing home and they all gag from of the horrific odor in her room, a few trays of half eaten meals and various pills clutter the nightstand, and she’s still in her pajamas which are severely soiled and haven’t been changed in days. In each of these scenarios someone needs to demand Who’s in Charge Here?
Situations gone wrong require an accountable authority to make it right, or at least to answer some tough questions. The buck always stops somewhere. Or does it? The superintendent expects that the principal is in charge but the district just passed a resolution that the cafeteria is under the authority of the kitchen staff; however, the kitchen staff hadn’t read the memo. The cashier says that when you signed your car out you were approving any necessary repairs and, in the opinion of the service manager (who is out to lunch), they were necessary. The nursing home administrator informs the Stevensons that grandma has refused help the last two days and they had already called her other son to tell him this. Out-of-control circumstances become even worse when there is confusion about who is in charge.
The Bible echoes that concern about each of us here today. In our lives as Christians two opposing forces – beings, actually – are always jockeying for the driver’s seat in everything we decide and do. Much like the classic presentation of a person’s conscience divided between the little, white-winged angel with halo on one shoulder and the little, red and black devil with pitchfork in hand on the other shoulder, each of us encounters the influence of two beings, or natures: the sinful self (also called the Old Adam or sinful flesh) and the spiritual self (also called the New Man or spirit with a small “s”). Their constant tug-of-war pulls hard one way and then reverses the other way a moment later in a spiritual schizophrenia that makes us cry out Who’s in Charge Here?
The condemnation of God
The greatest of God’s people have struggled with these two natures, including Moses, David, Peter, certainly Joseph and the disciples of Jesus as we witnessed in the Scripture lessons today … and even a man who was instructed individually by Jesus himself and chosen by God to write the Holy Scriptures – the apostle Paul. His closing thought in Romans 7 states, “When I want to do good, evil is right there with me … what a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me” (Romans 7:21,24)? Who’s in Charge Here? Paul cries with us as we peer into our inner beings and wonder why we want to do what is right but don’t always do it, and we don’t want to do what is wrong but sometimes do it anyway. The very first truth God wants us to know is not an order to behave but a promise to believe, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Do you see the biggest word in that statement? It has three letters: N-O-W. “Now” there is not any condemnation coming your way. “Now,” even as you struggle with your sinful nature … “now,” even as you still sin every day against God and others … “now,” even as you are dealing with doubt about your faith or disappointment in God … there is no God angrily making your life miserable or cursing you with bad karma or punishing you for a sin or ignoring you with a cold shoulder. How can that be?
“Because through Christ Jesus the control of the Holy Spirit, who gives life, set [you] free from the control of sin that brings death.” The word “law” in this verse means “principle” or “the way it always works,” so I’ve substituted the word “control.” If sin is in control and a person has allowed sin to take possession of his or her attitudes and actions, it only results in spiritual death. Spiritual death is when a person’s mode of existence is disconnected from the life and vitality that God promises in his gracious blessings. Ultimately that means hell, but right now for a person controlled by sin and unbelief that means no forgiveness, no prayers heard by God, no pleasing God when that person does something good. That’s death. But not for you. Because, for believers, instead of sin being in control the Holy Spirit is in control, breathing miraculous, spiritual life with the same divine power that created the world and raised Jesus from the dead. The Holy Spirit created faith in you at your baptism. The Holy Spirit creates forgiveness in you when you confess your sins. The Holy Spirit creates peace in you when you bring your concerns to God in prayer. The Holy Spirit creates a framework for your decisions through God’s Word. The Holy Spirit creates 100% confidence and certainty that you will live eternally in heaven after you die. That’s life!
“For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” Here the word “law” means “God’s requirements.” No human has kept God’s requirements perfectly, so the law has no power to help anyone get right with God. However, there is a way to know that you and God are good, and God made it happen without your help! God sent his own Son who became fully human to fully experience your spiritual death as a sacrificial offering. God “condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us.” Believe that there is now no condemnation for you because Jesus already took care of your condemnation. Believe that God already cursed you when he cursed Jesus on the cross. Then, in your Christian life Who’s in Charge? The condemnation of God, already administered to Jesus. No curse for you, only blessing. No guilt for you, only forgiveness. No death for you, only life. Right now.
Your spiritual self
Then why do I still feel guilty? And why is there still this part of me that I hate – actually, the scary thing is, sometimes I like what this part of me wants, and it makes sense to me what this part me is saying, and I invite this part of me to lead the way and then I sin. Why? If I’m a Christian, why do I keep on sinning and sinning and sinning? Or does that mean I’m not a Christian? Or if I still am a Christian God is really angry with me? One bumper sticker I see once in a while sums it up this way: “Being a Christian doesn’t mean you’re perfect, it means you’re forgiven.” Being perfect means we don’t sin. Being forgiven means God deals with our sins outside of us. The reality is, even when a person becomes a Christian by believing in Jesus, the sinful nature is not converted and remains as a natural, default way of operating. That’s why the Bible sometimes calls it the “sinful flesh” because we can’t just walk away from it like we can’t change our skin color. It’s a natural part of everyone. However, becoming a Christian does mean that there is a second, new nature born in us, given life by the Holy Spirit, so that in the Christian life the two natures are constantly vying for control. The Bible explains, “The sinful nature desires what is contrary to the spiritual nature, and the spiritual nature what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other” (Galatians 5:17). This is not to be taken lightly, because, “the sinful mind is hostile to God … those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”
There’s your tug-of-war between old self and new self. It’s a struggle to please God! “Does the battle within mean we aren’t Christians? Nothing could be farther from the truth! The battle within is evidence that we are Christians. If there were no battle, we could assume the new [self] is dead and faith is gone, since the old [self] no longer has any opposition. But since a battle is going on, we know the new [self] is alive” (Luchterhand, Lyle L. Man, The People’s Bible Teachings, Northwestern Publishing House, Milwaukee, WI, 1998, p. 140). Today’s Bible section in Romans agrees, “Those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” We each have a sinful nature, but it’s not in charge. Our minds, meaning our attitudes, are shaped by the Holy Spirit. “You, however, are not controlled by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you.” Who’s in Charge Here? Not your sinful self, who still pesters you like a pesky fly buzzing around your head, but it’s not in control. Your spiritual self is in control. You can swat your sinful self away at any time.
Christ in you
Here’s what that means for your everyday living – the real “you” is not the old “you” but the new “you.” When you pray, God is listening to the new “you.” When you show love to someone, God is delighted in the new “you.” When you put your offering in the plate, God appreciates the act and attitude of the new “you.” Even though the old “you” might be grumbling the whole time. And just when you think that the new “you” can’t do any more, can’t get over the past, can’t step forward into the future, and the old “you” is dragging you down, then God promises this: “Since Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.” The Greek word beginning this sentence means more than some iffy possibility and offers certainty based on the previous truths. “Christ is in you.” Since that is true, even though your body is powerless and the flesh is weak to fulfill all God’s requirements, your spirit, the new “you,” is alive because Christ, the righteous and resurrected one, is in you. Whatever Jesus Christ has done, you can do because he is part of your believing and behaving. Jesus Christ did more than save you from yourself, he strengthens you beyond yourself to live a new and better life as the new “you.” Who’s in Charge Here? Not fear, not past mistakes, not low self identity. But Christ in you!
Want to be a better person? Spa treatments or self-help web sites or meditational yoga or a life coach may help. But first, just try remembering who you really are, that is, believing who God has already made you to be. Sins already condemned. Spiritual self in control. And Jesus Christ living inside as your partner in Christian living. Want to be a better person? Put the new “you” in charge. Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on March 2, 2008
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