MPC 16th May 2004.Romans 8:1-17 - "Community Spirit"
Maurie Cropper MPC 16th May 2004.
Last Friday, Tasmanian-born Mary Donaldson became Crown Princess Mary of Denmark. There she was, Mary Donaldson from Hobart, looking as beautiful as any bride. And the groom, Crown Prince Frederik, the future King of Denmark. Their wedding was witnessed by dignitaries from around the world, including our own Governor-General, and a global TV audience of millions. All watching on as the Prince married the apple of his eye.
To celebrate I went out and had an apple danish.
We've heard a lot in the past week about how Mary marrying a Prince will change her from a 'commoner' to a Crown Princess. Well, Mary walked up the aisle as a commoner, and walked down as royalty.
Ever since their engagement was announced in October last year, Mary has been learning to be a 'royal'. First of all Mary's been having lessons to learn the Danish language, including lessons on understanding the nuances of the language. Which all sounds pretty difficult. She's been having lessons in elocution and deportment that are particularly unique for someone who's royalty. Knowing when to shake someone's hand, or because of cultural issues, when not to! Some people are born into royalty, others are made for it. Mary has had to take on a whole new way of life.
While some things will remain the same for Mary, like her birthplace will always be Hobart, Tasmania, and she's still the daughter of John and Henrietta Donaldson, and the sister of Jane, Patricia and John. But lots of things have changed and will continue to change. In fact, in a recent interview Mary said that in life the only thing that remains constant is change.
Mary certainly comes across as a very confident person. A person who's now totally committed to her new husband, her new family, her new country, and her new role as the Royal Crown Princess of Denmark. In fact Mary is quoted as saying: "If I wasn't capable of taking on that role wouldn't be here. I'm committed to love, to marriage, to the man of my life, and to my new role." Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, is now the very committed Crown Princess Mary.
Which brings us to today's bible talk on our MPC commitment regarding the Holy Spirit.
From the outset, it's important for us to note that like all of our Core Commitments, this commitment is there to promote the Good News of Jesus. It helps to identify what we're on about at MPC.
The wording of this Core Commitment was carefully chosen to identify and to emphasise our commitment to being a church family that's committed to building up God's church.
I say that, because there are those who want to give more focus onto the the role of the Holy Spirit into the life of the individual, rather than to the church as a community.
Things, like God's Spirit giving someone the ability of speaking in a manner that isn't recognisable as the common language. This special way of speaking is referred to in the Bible as "speaking in tongues".
The subject comes up in Paul's letter to the Corinthian church, where the issue has got out of control. He says he's not against tongues. In fact he can speak in tongues better than all of them put together.
It's a matter of what's appropriate. Having a conversation with God using the gift he's given you is okay. But it's not okay for everyone to be speaking in, as Paul puts it, 10,00 tongues at the same time. It has to be interpreted.
Here's what he says in 1 Corinthians 14. From verse 18. "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue."
Paul goes on to say,verse 22 "Tongues are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers". He follows this up in verse 23 with a warning. "... if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand, or some unbelievers come in, won't they say that you are out of your mind?"
And in verses 26-28 he says that if it's spoken in public it has to be interpreted. Otherwise "the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God."
Tongues can be a very divisive issue. It can divide a church. It can even divide families. One of my sisters used to introduce me as her Christian half-brother. Changed in the head, but not in the heart. All over the issue of speaking in tongues.
But let's get back to our Core commitment. And to help the flow of my talk, I have changed the draft copy to read the following way. It's there at the bottom of the talk hand-out.
"We are committed to setting our minds on what his Spirit desires, developing the fruits of God's Spirit, and seeking the gifts of the Spirit that are good for building up the church." (Romans 8:5; 1 Corinthians 14:12; Galatians 5:22-26).
Like all of our other Core Commitments, this one helps to describe something about us as a church family. It helps to define what we're on about. And where we are heading as a community of God's people.
All of our Core Commitments describe and define something about Mitchelton Presbtyerian Church. There's also an accountability element to each one of them. Which should help us to keep on track.
This Core Commitment assumes that we have already been changed by God's Spirit. He's already begun a work in us. He's convicted us to put aside our past claim to be the boss of our life. To stop doing things our way without any regard for God's claim on our life or for any regard to what impact our rebelliousness against Him is having on those around us.
It assumes that we who have taken it a commitment have accepted God as our real Boss. That we're committed to taking our cues from him on how to live our lives as 'followers of his Son'. And that our old ways and our old beliefs are now rejected by us... seen for what they are... lies to deceive us. Lies from Satan the prince of lies, who no longer has any control over us. And is himself condemned.
And all this because of Jesus, who puts being "changed by the Spirit" like this: John 16:8 "When he [the Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement. In regard to sin, because men do not believe in me. In regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer. And in regard to judgement, because the prince of this world now stands condemned."
So when we come to Romans chapter 8, our Core Commitment refers to being controlled by God's Spirit.
Over the centuries Romans 8 has proved to be a chapter of great encouragement to Christians. It contains some of the clearest teachings on the subjects of assurance, victory and hope.
In chapter 7 of Romans, Paul often spoke in the first person singular and gives a description of one who loves the law of God, and longs to do it, but is forced by a power stronger than himself to do the things he detests. As a man, in Adam, he was subject to to the conditions of a mortal life and the tyranny of darkness. As a man, in Christ, he had passed through darkness to the kingdom of light. He longed to live a life in keeping with the light. A longing that comes to a crescendo when he exclaims in verse 7:24 "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!" And while Paul no longer felt the weight of defeat because of the victory in Christ, it's now in chapter 8 that the Holy Spirit's presence brings confidence, assurance, and even a sense of victory from the stranglehold of darkness for the Christian.
As long as Christians seek to live in two worlds, carrying on the fight in their own strength, they're facing a losing battle.
Paul says it's a matter of choice for the Christian. You have to make up your mind which camp you're in.
Mary Donaldson had to make up her mind about a whole number of things. Including the difficult decision of giving up her Australian citizenship. She couldn't simply sit on the fence. She couldn't live in two worlds. She had to chose one over the other.
For us as Christians we have to choose light over darkness. We have to chose whether we're going to play around in areas of our minds where we keep God's Spirit at arm's length. Where darkness rules, where sin prevails and which is hostile to God. Or whether we're going to allow our minds to be controlled by God's Spirit, and enjoy the light, life, and peace of God's Spirit.
Part of our Core Commitment sums it up really well. It's comes from this passage. You'll recognise it as I begin reading Romans 8 verse 5.
Follow along with me in your Bibles. Verse 5 and following.
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God.
Certainly the warfare between the two natures goes on, but under the control of God's Spirit, the old nature is compelled to go away.
Glance down to verse 12 and beyond, you'll see that Paul says we have an obligation to live by the Spirit, because, verse 14, "those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Living by the Spirit is an obligation of God's people and it also identifies us as God's people! And as His people, verse 15, we are free from fear, verse 16, we are His children, and verse 17, we are co-heirs with Christ.
Being controlled by God's Spirit is the only obedient, if not sensible thing to do!
And this isn't simply a New Testament teaching.
The prophet Ezekiel had this to say. It's clearly a comment on what God intended for those who have made up their minds to no longer rebel against God, but instead, to place their trust in Him. Ezekiel 36:26:
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
So if God has His Spirit in us... let's take a look at what does it looks like to live according to God's Spirit.
To begin with, there's no doubt about it, that the distinguishing characteristic of the true Christian which sets him or her apart from unbelievers, is the indwelling of God's Spirit – the Holy Spirit.
Here at MPC we acknowledge that on the one hand, living according to God's Spirit involves taking personal responsibility, both for the way we think and the way we behave.
Yet on the other hand, we are part of a community. As part of this community we are committed to doing all we can to build up the church.
So lets check them out by first turning to 1 Corinthians 14.
The context of chapters 12 to 14 is all about the church's understanding and use of spiritual gifts. As I mentioned earlier, and Paul makes this point very clear in the first part of chapter 12, that spiritual gifts – as numerous as they are, ALL COME FROM THE ONE SPIRIT. THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
Yet in their eagerness for spiritual gifts, individuals are inappropriately pushing their own spiritual gift barrow. Be it the gift of prophecy, or miraculous powers, or tongues.
They're obviously pushing and shoving each other around. Instead of lovingly working at building up the church.
So Paul says, and you can pick it up in verse 12 "...Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church."
And that's our aim here at MPC. We want people to use the gifts that God has given them. We want everyone to be eager to excel in the use of their gifts. And like Paul, we want those gifts, our gifts, to be used.
Yet they are always to be used, not as a self-promotion or to judge another Christian. As Paul says, they're always to build up God's church. And in our case, here at Mitchelton and further afield.
A selfish use of gifts is both unloving and divisive.
Friends of ours were part of a church. They valued being part of a group that met regularly. They went to a bible study together. They socialised together. As a group they watched each other's kids mingle and grow up together.
Tragically, and quite out of the blue, one of the guys in the group, who was married with children, was diagnosed with what I remember as inoperable cancer. Believing in the gifts of faith and healing the group decided to meet regularly for prayer.
And this is where our friends became unstuck.
There was a decision made that for anyone to be part of that particular prayer group, they had to claim that God would... without any doubt, heal their mutual friend. They had to claim the gift of faith. They believed that anything but absolute faith by the total group, would jeopardise the healing of their friend.
Our friends believed that God could heal. But they wanted to pray, trusting in God's power to heal, yet at the same time acknowledging that it be according to God's sovereign will. In other words, they were not wanting their friend to die, but they weren't prepared to quantify their faith. They simply placed their trust in God.
Our friends were not allowed to join that prayer group. It was an experience that didn't help them to hang in being part of a church. And to the best of my knowledge, they no longer go to church anywhere.
You could say, that they're divided from the church.
So let's look at a church that's "developing the fruits of God's Spirit".
For this we turn to Galatians 5.
It turns out that 'developing these fruits' isn't simple... or easy.
And that's seen with Paul first setting the scene with some bad news.
In verses 19-21 he gives us a list of what the sinful nature looks like. And what a church will experience if it's not working hard at 'developing the fruits of God's Spirit'.
Among the list is things like "sexual immorality, hatred, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions... and the like".
It's a gross list of things that have often divided churches.
Then Paul gives the good news.
In verse 22 to 26 he lists off the things that are recognisable in those who are led by the Spirit of God. The things that are quoted in our Core Commitment as 'the fruits of the Spirit'.
Galatians 5:22 "... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."
There you have it! Those are the 'fruits of the Spirit' that we are committed to developing at MPC, so as to build up the church here in Mitchelton. A nice little cluster of nine virtues. At first glance it sounds simple enough. Take off those. Put on these.
But Paul's borrowing of the image of the crucifixion means it's not at all a simple matter. Verse 24 "...Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires."
I think it can be said that he's referring to Jesus' words: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me". (Mk. 8:34)
Paul seems to be taking it to its logical and serious conclusion. We must not only take up our cross and walk with it, but actually take our old self-centred nature, with all its sinful passions and desires, and nail it to our cross!
Nail it, never draw the nails, and leave our old sinful nature there to die!
And in verses 19 to 21 Paul's given us a pretty comprehensive list to go by.
And I reckon that is just a list of headings that will cover just about everything in our sinful nature.
And if we're truthful with ourselves we'll know what it is we have to nail to the cross! So when we've finished nailing, we're to never turn back and try ripping them off our cross.
Led by the Spirit, we're to purposefully walk with God's Spirit... in the right direction. Away from sin.
So if you've been challenged today to nail some old nature stuff to the cross, then do so, and see it as a new beginning. And together, as a church family let's continue on with promoting the Good News of Jesus. Let's go on with the work of "developing the fruits of God's Spirit, setting our minds on what His Spirit desires, and seeking the gifts of the Spirit that are good for building up the church".