Introduction
For those of us who are “in Christ,” we can choose to live a life marked by victory or by injury. I have the pictures of three different men who all pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The first man is rookie relief pitcher Eddie Oropesa. Eddie lasted just one year with the Diamondbacks. Statistically in that year, he was one of the poorest performing pitchers in the history of Major League baseball.
Next is the current Diamondback starting pitcher Archie Bradley who made news in April of this year when he was struck in the face and seriously injured by a 115 mile per hour line drive off the bat of Carlos Gonzalez.
The third picture (the ‘Big Unit’) Randy Johnson. This year, Randy Johnson was voted into the baseball Hall of Fame with a whopping 303 career victories and 4,875 strikeouts.
All three of these men have something in common: Whether they played well or played poorly or got injured in the game, all three men are major league pitchers. The biggest difference between these three men lies in how they played the game. This morning I’d like to use these three examples from the baseball field to describe three different types of believers.
Todays’ passage has direct application to three different kinds of Christians:
One who is a rookie on the team (someone just beginning the battle against sin. They are progressing and working hard)
One who is injured (they’ve put themselves in a wrestling match between their sin and the Holy Spirit. The struggle has placed them on the sidelines) and
One who is living victoriously. (Someone who is allowing the Holy Spirit to perform His sin-killing ministry).
Today I want to discuss what it means to be on the team, how Christians get injured and what it takes to live victoriously.
#1 You’re on the team: realize who you are in Christ.
Starting in verse 11, today’s passage reads like this:
“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.
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”
This morning we are going to be talking about facts that relate to the “Sons of God.” Paul is talking to those who are on the team. Those who are Sons of God have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. They count themselves among those who are no longer living not “according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (v.4) You can tell when somebody is living according to the Spirit, because they are actively engaged in a war against sin. Warring against sin is what the Spirit does.
Sometimes, people who are rookies in the Christian walk feel like the Lord is pretty far away. They feel like Jesus is somewhere in heaven, but we’re way down here and there is this vast expanse that separates the Lord from his followers. They feel like they can try to reach out to the Lord in prayer, but those words have to cover a great expanse. Jesus might hear them or he might not.
The far off picture of Christ is not the reality we read about in the scripture nor is it the experience of those who are mature in the faith and living victoriously.
Those who are “in Christ” are engaged in a vital, living relationship with the very Son of God. They are partakers in His life. In 2 Peter 1:3-4, Peter explains these vital truths about all people on the Lords team. He says, “3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
A “partaker” (koinōnos) is a person who is a partner, an associate or a companion. Partners, associates and companions are by nature very close by. Jesus does not remain at a long distance for those on his team. The Bible says that Jesus is so close that we are in Him and that Christ is in us. 1 Corinthians 1:30 says, “30 And because of him
It is exciting that everybody who is on God’s team is there because God placed them there. We didn’t get there by our own doing. It is because of God’s work in our lives that we are “in Christ Jesus.” God united us with Him. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul describes the church as “appointed” by God and “arranged” by God (v. 18, 28).
Here is one place my Major league illustration breaks down. When we are appointed to a team in this world, we are usually placed there on the basis of our merit. It’s not like that in God’s family. God appointed you and I to be there. It was not on the basis of our merit at all. In fact, it was in spite of it. We are unworthy to be there. You and I didn’t do anything to earn a spot in God’s Kingdom and there is nothing we can do to lose our spot there either. It’s all God’s doing.
It is important to understand the nature of our salvation so that we don’t misunderstand what Paul is trying to say here. In Romans 8:13, it says, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Verse 13 is not a formula for how we might earn salvation. Verse 13 is more of a prescription for how a Christian lives victoriously. It’s like a coach’s pep talk:
It is like a coach says to his rookie baseball player, “if you continue to train like you are playing high school ball, you are going to get killed out there. You’re no high school athlete. You’re in the major leagues now! You better shape up!”
In the same way, Paul is saying to the believer, “if you continue to live according to the flesh, Satan will destroy you out there. You’re gunna die! That’s not who you are. You are a child of God now. You better shape up!”
I’m convinced this passage is written for believers because Jesus never expects unbelievers to clean up the sin in their lives before they turn to Him. He never demands that someone “gets right with God” before they are saved. If anything, the Bible makes it pretty clear that a person is without Christ is a slave to their sin. They are perishing because of it and unable to help themselves.
To the non-believer, Jesus extends a compassionate invitation. He invites them to come to Him – just as they are. In Matthew 11:28-30 he says to the non-believer, “ 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
But to those of us who claim to love Jesus and who strive to follow after Him, both Jesus and Paul instruct us to take drastic measures in dealing with our sin. The scriptural demand to put our sin to death is only issued to those who already believe in Jesus. So the message this morning is largely geared toward believers.
The instruction to be continually killing off sin on our lives underscores two underlying truths about the Christian life.
You are I will never come to a place in our lives where we don’t struggle with sin any longer. Outside of Jesus, nobody has lived a life marked by total, moral perfection this side of heaven. The battle with sin will be an ongoing struggle for every believer.
Nobody is able to grow in holiness apart from the power of Christ. It is the power of “Christ in me” that gives me the strength to fight off sin.
None of us is strong enough to kill off sin on our own. NOR… does Jesus ask us to become holy prior to saving us by His grace because we can’t be holy except by His grace and through his power in us. The only way to kill off sin in our lives is through faith in Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The killing off of sin is not a means of salvation but the end result of salvation. The good news of the gospel is not “kill off you sin and then you’ll be accepted by God.” The message of the gospel is “God accepts you on the basis of grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.” Once you and I are placed into the family of God, then we have the power to pursue holiness and the joy of its rewards.
John Owen famously said, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you[1].” While sin cannot drag a believer into Hell, refusing to allow the Holy Spirit to kill off sin can result in serious damage and injury to the believer’s spiritual walk.
#2 Sin can cripple you and render you ineffective.
When you allow sin to come into your life, it can quickly overpower you like a 115 mile an hour line drive to the face. Sin never sleeps. It is relentless.
Sin is out to ruin you and I as badly as it can.
It seeks to drag us as far away from a victorious life as it can.
It seeks to derail our spiritual journey in whatever way it can.
Sin is dangerous. You and I will never allow the Holy Spirit to deal with sin as dramatically as it needs to be dealt with until we are convinced that sin is our greatest adversary.
Sin’s dangerous nature lies at the heart of the statement, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die.” (Rom. 8:13a) Sin is out to trap you, enslave you and even kill you if it can. Too often we tolerate sins like ungodly anger and materialism and worry in our hearts because we don’t see those things the same way that Jesus does.
It is easy to claim that sin is an awful thing while at the same time assuming that our own personal, minor offenses are little more than slight variations on overly rigid rules. I’ll say things like, “I might drive a couple of miles over the speed limit, but at least I don’t smoke pot.”
I can treat my sins as little more than annoying warts while treating the sins of others as infected, open wounds. Christ doesn’t see it that way. He never sees my little, annoying, wart-like sin as no big deal. He sees every sin as a cancerous spot that requires being cut out before it grows any larger. Sin is dangerous. It is crippling. Let me give you two quick reasons why sin is so dangerous:
-1. Sin deceives us.
Hebrews 3:13 says, “…exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Sin deceives us.
Sin will present itself as something other than what it really is. It is often in disguise. It can look satisfying, but hidden beneath its pleasant exterior is death and destruction. It’s like chocolate covered poison – it tastes great at first, but in the end it will kill you.
Solomon was warning his son about the dark sin of adultery. Listen to his description of this sugar-coated sin… Proverb 5 3-6 says,
“3 For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil,
4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps follow the path to Sheol;
6 she does not ponder the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.
Sin blinds us to the warning of our conscience and then it tries to kill us. It is dangerous and deceitful and desensitizing.
-2. Sin desensitizes us to the Spirit’s leading
Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
If the goal of Christian discipleship is to be “transformed by the renewal of your mind,” so that ultimately you and I look more like Jesus, the opposite of that goal is to be “conformed to this world.” Sin conforms you and I to the world and disables our attempts to do what is good and acceptable and perfect in the sight of God.
Sin divide our hearts. A baseball playing astronaut can’t be whole-heartedly committed to being the world’s greatest pitcher and the world’s greatest astronaut. Trying to do both things will divide his heart and render him ineffective at both.
Spiritually, you and I can’t be seeking both the empty promises and pleasures offered by this fallen world and the authentic promises and pleasures offered by God. Trying to conform to both the world and to the will of God will result in conforming to neither.
I visited a man’s house this week and in his front room he had constructed an interfaith shrine. On this shrine, he had relics from Buddhism, Hinduism and Catholicism all sitting side by side while KLOVE was playing the background. It brought to mind the passage in Joshua 24:15 that says, “choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Serving the false gods of this world doesn’t strengthen our faith. It disintegrates the souls of the unsaved and disfigures the image of God in those who are saved. Choosing conformity to this world over the transformation of the Spirit ultimately makes us less than what God intended for us to be. It renders us crippled and sidelined.
It’s hard to be an effective player when you are laying in a hospital bed or sitting in the dugout.
It is hard to have a life marked by victory when we are always recovering from injury.
So what does it take to keep ourselves from getting repeatedly clobbered by sin? How do we live victoriously for Jesus? A person who is actively engaged in victorious Christian living quickly realize when their actions have turned into sin and are grieving the Holy Spirit. They take immediate action against anything that would try to enslave them in a trap of sin.
#3 Victorious Christians keep their eye on the goal.
Over the course of Randy Johnson’s Major League career, he made over $175 million dollars. He earned multiple Cy Young Awards. He earned a position on multiple All Star teams. He was named co-MVP of the 2001 World Series. AND… the list goes on.. Could you imagine a player like that ever saying these words to his coach:
“I don’t think I feel like a Major League ball player today. I’m kinda scared of getting hit by the ball actually. I think today I’m just gonna sit on the sidelines and eat a hot dog instead of playing today.”
Why would he never say those words? He would never say that because Hall of Fame athletes don’t give up. They play with a goal in mind and victory in sight.
Now a professional athlete plays with an earthly victory for their team in view and with the promise of monetary rewards. The believer is playing for something much more important. We live out our lives with eternal rewards hanging in the balance. Being richly rewarded by God for all of eternity is a far better goal than just receiving a fat paycheck or a place in the Hall of Fame.
Listen to what 2 Peter 1:10-11 says about the reward given to those who are diligent in pursuing their God-given calling, “ … “Therefore brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
In other words, those who are in Christ (and who prove that they are in Christ by living out their lives according to the Spirit) will not only be given entrance into the eternal kingdom of heaven. They will be “richly provided” for by the God who is the maker, creator, owner and ruler of all things.
It is not just an entrance, but an abundant (KJV) and triumphant entry into the God’s everlasting Kingdom. When the gates of heaven are opened to let these kind of people in, it is a party of epic proportions!
One of our senior saints passed away this week. Herman Mickley was one of the godliest men I had ever met. When I went to his house this week, one of the things I found was a prayer list that was typed up from our friendship folders. He believed in this church, prayed for me and supported this church from the very beginning and he was a prayer warrior (for you) until his very last day. When Herman stepped through those gates early Monday morning, I wonder what that party was like? I bet it was outrageous as heaven welcomed one of its saints!.
God is not telling us to work really hard in an attempt to earn our salvation. He gave us salvation as a gift. He is telling us to live out our lives to His glory so that we can enjoy riches in His kingdom that last forever!
Jesus said, in Matthew 6:19-21, “19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
If we thought of ourselves more and more as pilgrims of eternity (which is exactly what we are) then our whole outlook on life would be transformed. Paul has stated here in Romans 8:11b to, in essence, keep your eye on your eternal life, your eternal body and your eternal destination. He said, “he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
More directly, the Apostle John says in 1 John 3:3, “3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” The trouble with most believers is that we live too much like those around us who are still enslaved to the world. We quickly forget that we are simply pilgrims and strangers here. Peter says in 1 Peter 2:11, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
We don’t belong here, God’s Word says that we are citizens of heaven so there is no use getting entangled with those who are enemies of the cross. Consider Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 3:17-21, “17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
If we keep our eternal home and the promise of heavenly rewards firmly at the forefront of our minds, think of how different our choices might become. I’m a citizen of heaven. My goal is eternal rewards from my Father. I ultimately belong to God’s household as a prince and a co-heir with Jesus Himself. A human analogy might be helpful to show this truth even more clearly:
Let’s say I’m tempted to do something illegal in my business practice. As I consider the outcome of my choices, I remember that I’m a father. I have a wife and kids who count on me to do the right thing. I don’t want to let them down, nor do I want to bring disgrace on our family name. I’m a Stafford and I want the name of our family to represent something honorable in this community.
OK, so multiply that feeling by an infinite measure and remember that your citizenship is in heaven. Your goal is eternal rewards from my Father. The weight of that truth is meant to hit you like a ton of bricks. The nature of your new citizenship as a believer carries significance beyond measure. Here on earth, you represent the honor and reputation of the family of God. You belong in the eternal Kingdom. You are remaining here for a short while only as a temporary representative.
Life Application
God is calling you and I to allow the Spirit of God to kill off our old lives so that we can live like who we really are – so that we can live like Children of the Most High God. Romans 8:13 is a call to action. Let’s take one last look at it. It says, “13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Do you know about a sin in your life that needs to be put to death?
What is there in your life right now that needs to die so that something new can live?
The modern world makes huge allowances for sinful behavior. Our society’s tolerance level for sin is absolutely off-the-charts! But… children of the King don’t play by the same rule book as the modern world. Sin in our lives can’t somehow be redeemed and transformed into holiness any more than cancer in our body can be treated and turned into medicine.
Both sin and cancer must be cut out.
Neither are your friends.
Both will try to kill you.
Neither can be allowed to live.
The harsh and impatient word, the lustful eye, the greedy hand aren’t to just be suppressed or medicated. The Bible says to allow God’s Spirit to do His work of killing those desires within you. Cut off their life-line. The way forward in living a victorious Christian life is to refuse to let sin to cripple our walk. It is a rugged, take-no-prisoners, determination to stop the indulgence of sin and to pursue righteousness no matter what the cost.
For those of us who are “in Christ,” we can choose to live a life marked by victory or by injury. Which will you choose? A victorious life takes a lot of courage but our incentive is the promise of abundant life and our helper in none other than the mighty Holy Spirit of God Himself
Nice to see this online, Pastor Mark.