Introduction

One of the greatest forms of persecution that you and I will face in America is to live for Christ in the marketplace. I’m a small business owner. I was talking with one of my vendors this week and to my knowledge, he is not a believer, but he does deliver on his promises. We were discussing the deceitful and cut-throat practices that are common is today’s marketplace.

He was frustrated with one of his competitors. This man was known in his industry for cutting corners that would save money, but that would also put people’s lives in danger. After completing a major project that is prone to a catastrophic failure, he was being investigated by local officials. Before the investigation gained any ground, this man underbid a number of jobs, collected the deposits and skipped town. In total, he is accused with taking over $30,000 from local business owners without delivering a single product.

I have come to expect that kind of behavior from business people in the world who are slaves of sin. Cutting corners, cheating on taxes, and taking advantage of customers are all common practices of those who are doing business in the flesh.

What my vendor didn’t know is that I personally knew this man. He claimed to be a believer and he and his family attended a solid, Bible teaching church. Yet he was doing business like those who are unsaved. I believe that this man fell prey to the satanic scheme mentioned in today’s short passage. He believed that the way of the flesh still had something to offer him. The old ways of making decisions will be tempting to return to and today’s passage reminds us that –for a believer – nothing good remains in the way of the flesh.

#1 God calls us to practically demonstrate that we are no longer living according to the flesh.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

Although this businessman I mentioned was claiming to be a child of God, he was still paying dividends to the flesh. He believed (a lie of the flesh) that he would be happy if he had some money in his pocket that he did not work for.

Proverbs 20:17 – Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.

The Spirit has something better for this man and for you and me. You and I will often be tempted to go back to the old ways that seemed to work in the past in order to get us ahead in life. The marketplace will often reward those who are clever and crafty and cut-throat in their business practices. But for the believer, these small financial gains are not so sweet anymore, but they are more like a mouthful of gravel.

The Christian life is not something that is only lived out in the mind on a philosophical level. Christian living is intensely practical.

It requires a constant cutting away of the old ways of living.
It requires making some tough decisions that are righteous but possibly very costly.
It requires the courage to do the right thing in the marketplace and to fully trust God’s sovereignty for the outcome of those decisions.
Sometimes the “way to do business” is the wrong way to live as a believer. When those two areas come into conflict with each other, we have a tough choice to make. Are we going to cut out the things of the world or are we going to cut out the things of the Spirit. Cutting away sin in the real world is an important part of the Christian life.

In Romans 8:1-11, Paul has presented us with an explanation of some of the resources we have available to us in our new Spirit-empowered life. There is no doubt that in our Christian life we will still struggle with sin. We will be tempted constantly to return to the old, fleshly ways of doing things. While you and I are on this earth, we will be constantly cutting out sin, because these bodies of our are still fallen and broken. Paul says in Romans 7:17 that “sin still dwells” in him. . In Romans 7:20 he says it sometimes causes him to do what he does not want to do as a child of God.

But the good news of Romans 8 is that we are not put into a war against sin without any weapons or without any defensive measures. We are given the most powerful power in the universe. That power in the Holy Spirit. He not only is with us, but it says that he dwells inside of us. Romans 8:9-11 says,

“9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

We have been given a new, supernatural life through the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Today’s passage is part of the answer to this question: how does a Spirit-indwelt person respond to what God has done for them? Romans 8:12 is the beginning of the answer to that important question. Verse 12 says:

“12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.”

The use of words in verse 12 is very important. It does not says ‘we are not debtors to the flesh.’ What does it say? Look carefully: It says “we are debtors,” then it says, “not to the flesh.” What Paul is communicating is that we are in debt to something, but that something is not the flesh.

Admittedly, verse 12 paints a strange picture. Have you ever thought about having a debt to your flesh before? A believer would probably readily admit that they have a debt to Jesus. We often sing in church the song that says, “Jesus paid it all. All to HIM I owe,” but here Paul suggests that we may be tempted to act as if we owe something to our flesh.

Sometimes Christians act on a belief that something in the world of unholiness and unrighteousness and ungodliness might still have something good or helpful or useful to offer them. To expose the utter absurdity of this belief, we must first consider all that Romans 8 tells us that we gained at the moment of our salvation. When you are I were saved, we were not just told to behave better. We were empowered by God in a supernatural way to live for God. Here’s how:

God removed all the condemnation you and I deserved for our sin and placed it on his own Son, Jesus
God liberated you and me from the vicious circle of sin and death. He gave us new life in Christ and He put you and I under the new arrangement of power and Life – namely the Holy Spirit’s power and eternal life brought “to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you…”
Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, God’s law in now being fulfilled in us when previously it just condemned us
He is giving you and I an increasing Christ-like mentality that results in even more life and more peace
Think of all the sweetest moments you’ve had in life so far. Where does your source of real happiness come from? Does it come as a result of your clever, cutthroat sin or as the result of the work of the Holy Spirit in you? I would suggest that anything you and I have that is truly good has come from the Lord – not from our sin! My flesh has caused me nothing but trouble. I don’t owe it a thing.

#2 The flesh is the cause of our greatest miseries.

I came across the old Living Bible paraphrased version of this passage and I thought that it was helpful in underscoring the misery caused by our flesh. Verse 13 in the (Old) Living Bible is put this way:

“12 So, dear brothers, you have no obligations whatever to your old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do.”

What I like about the Living Bible’s paraphrase of that passage is that it highlights the reality that your sinful desires are not passive. They are begging you to give in. They are pleading with you to feed their desires. Sin is constantly making a case in your mind that its ways are better than God’s ways. Sin is even trying to convince you that you’ll be miserable without it. You could compare the sin that remains in you and me to a young woman in a bad dating relationship. Consider this situation:

A young woman begins dating a man. He’s well dressed and drives a great car. At first, he is extravagant in his gifts and takes her to all the best places. No expense is spared and for a while, he shows her a really good time. The good times come to an end one day when she discovers his true source of income. He turns out to be a heroine dealer. So she confronts him about his illegal trade and he responds violently. He curses at her and belittles her and hits her in the face.

Does she owe him anything? Could that young man demand that woman’s affection because he showed her a good time for a couple of evenings? No… good riddance, right! She doesn’t owe him a thing. He showed his true colors and he proved that he was deceitful, selfish and violent.

Let’s say another young man takes up an interest in her. He enriches her life immeasurably. Everything he adds to her life is worthy and joyful. She could marry a man like that! The first man only brought with him empty promises. The second man offered her a life worth living. She owes nothing to the first man, but the second man has earned her affections.

In the same way, you and I are not in debt to the flesh. It may have offered some good times at first, but when we uncovered sin’s real nature, it was exposed to be deceitful, self-serving and violent.

The flesh still makes it demands on us, though. It will say things like:

If you don’t get your way at work, just walk out. You’ll show them.
If that person doesn’t apologize to you, then let them have it
If your wife doesn’t let you follow after all your dreams, then just leave her.
If the inspector doesn’t approve your shoddy work, then take everybody’s deposits and skip town. You’ll show them!
Our flesh will try to convince us that if we don’t do things it’s way that we’ll never find happiness. Our flesh, with its demands and expectations and requirements threatens us with misery if we don’t comply with its wishes. So we are tempted to comply. We are lured into thinking that the flesh has something worthwhile to offer and we forget the misery it really causes.

If you are believer, you owe nothing to the flesh. It has done nothing in the past but let you down time and time again. The Spirit, however, has offered to you and me everything good. He has deeply enriched our lives. Nothing the Holy Spirit adds to our lives proves unworthy. He brings joy and peace and meaning and purpose to us. Everything the Spirit brings is precious beyond calculation. He has truly won our affections.

#3 The spirit brings us value beyond description.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

If you and I are not a debtor to the flesh than who are we a debtor to? Everything in verses 1-11 would indicate that we don’t owe the flesh a single thing, but we owe Jesus everything! So how could we possibly pay Jesus back for all he’s done for us?

You and I know that everything we have spiritually was given to us by Jesus. Salvation was granted to us by God-given grace by the means of God-given faith in the sacrifice that God alone provided. So when we go to pay back the debt we owe to God, we know that in ourselves we are spiritually bankrupt. It’s like this:

Let’s say I owed James $100. So James came up to me and asked me if I had the money I owe him. I pull out my wallet to show James how broke I am and to explain that I don’t have the money I owe him. BUT… when I open up my wallet, I find this… a $100 bill. I ask, “how did that get in there?” James then says, “Well, I put it in there. It’s yours. I wanted to make sure you could pay back the debt you owed to me, so I gave you everything you needed to pay back your debt.”

I know that if all the spiritual resource I produced in myself were collected in my wallet, my wallet would be empty. But by God’s grace, every time I open up my spiritual inventory, I find it full of spiritual resources. How did they get there? God put them there. Here’s a mind-blowing truth: we pay the debt we owe to Jesus with the resources that Jesus supplies!

Jesus paid the debt for my sins and then Jesus gives me every spiritual resource I need to live fully for Him. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” The Lord will often confront us and ask us to work against our flesh and to work instead according to His Spirit. He’ll say:

If you don’t get your way at work, remember that you are ultimately working for me. Work in a way that honors my holy name
If that person doesn’t apologize to you, forgive them anyway. Remember that I demonstrated my love and forgiveness to you before you even knew to ask for it
If your spouse is standing in the way of your “dreams,” stay committed to them anyway and love your spouse in a sacrificial way like I love you
If the inspector doesn’t approve your work, then redo it with a good attitude. Pay for it out of your pocket if you have to. Trust that I am your source and supply – not your clients.
When the Lord confronts you and I with these kinds of issues, your flesh (and my flesh) will usually object and make a case for its way of doing things. It will scream out, “it’s not fair!” It will try to convince us to take the way of the world. Your job (and my job) is to cut off the flesh and follow the Spirit instead.

Now I can’t do that on my own. That’s why I need to rely on the power of Christ in me. Christ in me will say “yes” to the Lord’s commands and, in His power, I can find the courage to take a difficult step. The Lord has never let me down. He has a perfect track record. I know that I can trust him to take me through every challenge that I face.

Life Application.

What is God asking you to do today?

What kind of courageous step is next in your journey of faith?

Not many of us will ever face death for our faith, but in our culture, we will need to die to ourselves on a regular basis. I began today’s teaching with these words: “One of the greatest forms of persecution that you and I will face in America is to live for Christ in the marketplace.” Are you courageously living for Christ in the real world with your everyday decisions?

Billy Graham recently released a statement that said, “Since we have experienced little religious persecution in this country, it is likely that under pressure many would deny Christ. Those who shout the loudest about their faith may surrender soonest.”

What if the worst persecution you face as a believer is simply to work hard, to be respectful and to be honest in the workplace when other people aren’t?
Could you stand up to that minor level of persecution or will you fold under the pressure to conform to the world?
True discipleship is costly, but following after the empty promises of this broken world is even more costly. We are daily faced with many choices: will we serve the flesh or will we cut off the flesh and serve Jesus instead?

We can choose to give into our own impulses and preferences and accommodate everything this fallen world is telling us to do. But that way has never served us well. It lets us down time and time again.

We don’t owe the flesh anything. But Jesus, we owe him everything.

Teaching Outline

#1 God calls us to practically demonstrate that we are no longer living according to the flesh. – Romans 7:17, 20, 8:9-12, Proverbs 20:17

#2 The flesh is the cause of our greatest miseries. – Romans 8:12

#3 The spirit brings us value beyond description – Romans 8:12, John 14:15

Application

True discipleship is costly, but following after the empty promises of this broken world is even more costly.

“Since we have experienced little religious persecution in this country, it is likely that under pressure many would deny Christ. Those who shout the loudest about their faith may surrender soonest.” – Billy Graham