10-03-10 Married To Who?

We return this morning
     to our study of the 6th chapter of Romans,
           and return, too,
                 to a passage in which Paul plunges into what is certainly
                       the most critical and potentially defeating area of conflict
                             many Christians ever face.

He deals with the principles
     governing the Christian's relationship to sin,
           and especially those principles
                 that provide the foundation
                       for true freedom from sin in our lives.

We saw last week,

      as we entered this 6th chapter of Romans,

            that Paul uses Romans 6, 7, and 8
                 to share with us

                        the 4 major changes God brings about in our lives
                             as a result of the grace
                                   He has poured out upon us through Christ.

At the end of chapter 5
     we heard Paul telling us
           that through Christ God has now made it possible for His grace
                 to bring about true righteousness within us,
                       resulting in our eternal life with Him.

Then, having given us that overview,
     he goes on to share with us
           the 4 changes that take place
                 in every believer's life
                       as a result of the grace of God.

And just so we don't forget,

I want to remind us
that these are not changes that should take place in the Christian's life,

                  they are changes that have already taken place
                       in the life of every believer.

They are changes that God Himself
     sovereignly accomplishes
           in each of our lives
                 at the time we come to Christ.

Most of us have no idea

       any of these changes have taken place.

And, in fact, most of us continue living out our relationship with God

      just as if these changes have not taken place,
           and because of that
                 we also continue living under many of the same sin weaknesses and addictions
                       that dominated our lives
                             prior to our submission to the King.

But Paul wants us to know the truth.

And just to get our minds back into this study,

      let me list all four of those changes for us
           before we return to the text
                 and look more closely at the second one on the list.

When we come to Christ,

      He makes 4 remarkable changes in us
           and in our relationship to Him.

1. He changes our true identity.
2. He changes our relationship to the moral law of God.
3. He changes our relationship to sin.
4. He changes our relationship to Christ Himself.

If you were with us last week

      you will remember that Paul then begins this 6th chapter
           by describing the first of those 4 changes.

He says,
Rom. 6:6-7"... knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin."

We seldom allow ourselves to think correctly about ourselves as Christians.

Because we so often continue to focus on the negatives we see within ourselves,

      and because we continue to wrestle with unresolved questions and struggles in many areas of our lives,
           it is sometimes easy for us to also fail to accept the reality
                 of the massive changes that have clearly taken place within us through Christ.

At the top of that list of changes

      is the hunger God has created within us
           for a life that honors our Lord.

That hunger exists

      for only one reason -

            because we have already been recreated by God
                 at the spirit level of our being.

Maybe just a few examples

      will help us better relate to what I want us to see here.

What are you doing here, anyway?

I mean, really...

      for most of you

            this is a very precious day away from your work routine.

There are a thousand neglected duties

      or exciting hobbies

            that you could be investing this precious time in.

And yet...

      and yet most of you choose to invest

            nearly half of nearly every Sunday
                 to do whatever it is we do here.

Most of the people in our nation

      and, in fact in our world,

            would rather do anything other than be here.

Some of you here

      can easily remember the time
           when you could never have imagined yourself going to church,
                 much less enjoying it.

And yet here you are,

      and glad of it.

Why?

Because something deep within you

      has been changed by God Himself.

And how about your relationship to the Bible?

There was a time in your life

      when the easiest way for someone to lose your interest and attention

            was for them to start quoting from the Bible.

And yet now you find that something deep inside you drinks from the Word.

Passages take on a life,

      and a power,

            and an authority,

                  giving you hope and encouragement in a way you've never experienced before.

Why is that?

And that new sensitivity you now have

      to all sorts of things you never even noticed before -

            certain types of evil,

                  and the sufferings of those around you,

                        and your concern over troubled relationships that never bothered you before -
                             where does that all come from?

It is not because I weekly yell and scream at you about your sins,

      trying to work up
           some sort of emotional guilt feelings in you.

It comes from that new heart,

      that new spirit,
           that new YOU God has already created at the core of your being.

And even though our practical performance

      has not changed nearly as much as we would like,
           when we step back and look honestly
                 at the type of things our spirit once longed for,

                        and the type of things we long for now,
                             we can see the truth of what Paul is saying -

Rom. 6:6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him...

Something huge within us has died and been recreated.

This isn't the whole answer, of course,

      but it is the beginning,
           the first step in God's reconstructive program within us -
bringing us to the place

      where we can see ourselves at the spirit level
           as the new creations we have become in Christ.

Now, from this point Paul then moves on

      to the remaining 3 changes
           that bring about practical freedom from sin in our lives.

They are

      the change in our relationship to the moral law of God,

            the change in our relationship to sin,

                  and the change in our relationship to Christ Himself.

In the verses that follow

      we are going to hear Paul tell us

that through the grace of God
we have been freed from the law,

                  we have died to sin,
                       and we have been joined to Christ.

Taken as a whole,

      and presented in a single statement,

            this whole section of Romans,

                  describing the way in which God shatters the power of sin in the believer's life,

                        tells us that this work is accomplished within us

                              by God creating a new heart within us,

                                    freeing us from the law,
                                         and joining us to Christ

                                                resulting in our dying to the power of sin in our lives.

Now, what I just did there,

      taking those 4 concepts

            and reducing them down into a little

                  four-phrase doctrinal liturgy,

                        is a dangerous thing for me to do.

It’s dangerous because it suggests that

      these life-changing transformations

            that God has already accomplished in our lives

                  can be grasped,

                        and integrated into our lives

                              by memorizing the concepts intellectually.

And that simply is not true.

If it was,
     all of you here this morning
           could memorize this section of the notes
                 and find yourselves living sin-free from this day forward.

But I have risked doing what I've just done

      because I want us to see
           that all 4 of these concepts,

                  all 4 of these changes
                       are deeply inter-related.

They are not 4 marbles,

      they’re marble cake.

These are not 4 unrelated changes or principles,

      they are 4 truths that intertwine
           and flow together into one united whole.

One of the mistakes I believe I have made

      as I have attempted to teach these concepts in the past

            is that I have attempted to teach them
                 in isolation from one another.

I have taught extensively

      about our being freed from the law,
           but I think I have sometimes failed to complete the picture.

We are not just freed from the law,
     we are freed from the law
           so that we can be joined to Christ.

Let me read at least part of this passage for us,

      and then we'll see if we can find some handles

             that will help us get a better hold on it.

Paul writes:
Rom. 6:14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.

In verse 17 Paul continues:
Rom. 6:17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
Rom. 6:18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Rom. 6:22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

OK, in these verses

      Paul outlines those next three changes
           that have already taken place in our lives.

1. We are no longer under the moral law of God.
2. We have died to or been freed from sin.
3. We have been joined to God Himself.

But those concepts

      simply do not register with our minds

            when we read them.

They come across as meaningless Bible words

      that seem to have no connection with our real world.

So the next thing Paul does

      is to take all three of those concepts
           and meld them together
                 into a remarkable illustration.

He goes on to say:
Rom. 7:1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?
Rom. 7:2 For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.
Rom. 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.
Rom. 7:5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
Rom. 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

And those of you who have read The Grace Exchange

      are familiar with my paraphrasing of this illustration.

 Picture a young lady who has been married only a few months.

She entered this marriage relationship with stars in her eyes

      and great hopes for her future.

Unfortunately, she didn’t know her husband well when they married,

      and she soon realizes this is no match made in heaven.

Her husband is a perfectionist with the highest possible standards.

He knows exactly how he wants his home to operate,

      and he’ll settle for nothing less.

Before he leaves for work each morning,

      he hands his wife a list of duties he expects her to perform during the day.

The list includes exact details concerning how she should clean the house,

       how she should handle each article of laundry,

            when she should have dinner ready,

                  and what he wants on the menu.

When he returns home from work,

      the first thing he does is go over each detail on the list

            to make certain she’s accomplished it correctly.

He never offers a word of praise and,

      when she fails to perform perfectly,

            he’s quick to point out where she messed up

                  and demand that she get it right the next time.

This nightmare marriage continues for several years.

The wife grows to despise and resent her husband

      and to dread each new day she’s forced to live under his unbending control.

She knows she can’t measure up to his demands,

      and yet she can’t escape his rule.

Then one day her husband dies and a short while later the young lady remarries.

This time, however, she marries a very different type of man.

Her new husband loves her deeply and rejoices in his bride.

His one goal in life is to provide the kind of partnership

      that allows his wife to grow and develop in every way possible

            so that she can know true fulfillment in life.

When they part in the morning,

      he doesn’t give her a list of duties to perform to his specifications.

He simply wraps his arms around her and gives her a big hug.

He tells her he will miss her while they’re apart

       and can't wait to see her again.

When some project she’s attempted doesn’t turn out well,

      and he suddenly sees the fear in her eyes as she anticipates his anger or condemnation,

            he puts his arms around her and says,

"My love, listen to me.

      I didn’t marry you for what you could do.

            I married you because I love you.

                  You are my greatest joy in life, and I couldn’t be more pleased with you as my mate."

 Gradually, as this frightened, fearful young lady

      responds to her new husband's loving care and protection,

            she finds herself growing in her desire to please him and to be

                  the best marriage partner she can be.

Now, through this remarkable word picture given to us by Paul,

      He takes these 3 crucial changes

            that God has already performed in our lives

                  and he shows us how they relate to one another.

Through the grace of God

      our lives have been altered as profoundly

            as if our marriage partner had died

                  and we remarried someone

                        who is the exact opposite of our first marriage partner.

Paul is telling us in this passage

      that every one of us enters this world

            locked under the oppressive authority

                  of the moral law of God.

Even if we don’t have exposure

      to the written Ten Commandments,

            every one of us still has those Commandments etched into our moral core.

That law is the absolute moral tyrant

      under which we must conduct our lives.

It can do only two things -

      it demands obedience from us,

            and it condemns us when we fail.

Like that first husband,

      we hate it,

            we fight against it,

                  we play all sorts of mental games with it,

                        but in the end it is always there,

                              demanding and condemning.

As we've seen,

      the union between that moral law etched into our being,

            and that spirit within us that is in rebellion against God

                  is a disastrous, raging battle

                        that repeatedly drives us into self destructive behavior

                              just to prove to ourselves

                                    that we are in control of our own lives.

Some time ago

      one of the Anchorage TV news programs

            ran an interview with a high school girl,

                  asking her response to the school district's health curriculum supporting

                        sexual abstinence before marriage.

The program was pointing out

      the loss of self-respect,

            the risk of teenage-pregnancy,

                  and the potentially deadly risk of sexually transmitted diseases that always accompanies teens who are sexually active.

When the interviewer asked the student's response to the teaching she said,

      "As soon as they tell you not to do it

            it just makes you want to do it all the more!"

But in this section of Romans

      Paul tells us that God delivers us

            from this horrible trap

                  first of all by creating a new heart within us,

                        and then by replacing the moral law

                              with the Person of Jesus Christ.

The problem we so often encounter

            in our thinking about Christian living

                  is that our concept of Christ is so distorted, so twisted

                        that, by the time we get done dealing with the concept

                              in our minds there is no practical difference between living under the authority of the law

                                    and living under the authority of Christ.

By the time our religious world gets done with the whole thing,

      the only difference is that

            before we came to Christ

                  we lived under a massive block of stone

                        upon which are etched the moral commandments of God,

                              and after we come to Christ

                                    we live under the demanding authority of Christ Himself

who stands towering over us

      with a scowl on His face,

            the stone tablets in one hand,

                  and a megaphone in the other

                        to be sure we can hear Him

                              as He reads the commandments to us.

There is no more critical

      or more intense battle raging in God's creation

            than Satan's battle to separate

                  our understanding of God

                        from the historical Person of Jesus Christ.

As long as Satan can keep us creating

      mental images of our Creator

            that are not consistent with Christ

                  he has won the only battle he needs to win.

Let me state it the other way around.

When God entered into a human body

      and stepped into this physical world

            in the person of Jesus Christ

                  He was saying to all of us,

"This is who your God is.

      This is what I am like.

            To understand Me,

                  and how I relate to you,

                        you need only, and must only

                              look to Jesus Christ."

And of course, Christ Himself

      said it far better than I ever could.

John 10:30 "I and the Father are one."
and again,
John 14:9 ... He who has seen Me has seen the Father...

All of which is to say

      that the only way we will ever begin to appreciate what Paul is saying here in Romans

            is if we will allow ourselves

                  to look closely at who Christ really is

                        and how He really relates to us.

There is a reason why

      nearly one half of the entire New Testament

            is dedicated to 4 historical records

                  of the life of Christ on this earth.

Those four documents

      provide us with the perfect window

            through which we can see our God clearly.

And if, this day, we could interview the Apostle Peter,

      and ask him how Christ brought about

            such profound changes in his life,

                  this is what I believe he would say

                        in response to that question.

"Most of all this man, this Jesus, became my friend,

      a friend who knew me fully and loved me completely just the way I was.

Certainly His friendship produced profound changes in my life.

But they were not changes I attempted to paste on

      in order to be "a good disciple of the great Teacher".

They were changes that gradually infiltrated my life

      the more I relaxed in His unconditional love and acceptance.

 I sometimes think the greatest gift the Master ever gave me

      was His permission to be myself.

It was a gift He gave me most of all

      through all the things I never heard Him say.

I look back over an endless stream of stupid things

      I said and did during the months I spent with Him.

Yet not once did I ever hear Him say,

      "Peter, you're such a fool!",

            or "Peter, you blew it again!",

                  or "Peter, just once would you try thinking before you speak!",

                        or "Peter, I've had it with your endless egotistical stupidity - get out of here!".

Amazingly, he seemed well content to have me forever blundering along at His side,

      knowing the only thing that would transform my life

            was the discovery that even my worst failures would never separate me from my Master's love."

That is what Paul is talking about

      when he tells us we have been freed from the Law

            and joined to Christ.

That is the Christ we have been joined to.

That is our God.

And that is life with Him through the grace He seeks to pour out into our lives.