Sermon 8th November 2009
Today, our Associate Vicar, John Itumu, preaches based on the reading from Romans 7:14-25
Inner Conflict
I call this passage the tongue twister passage because in the NIV Paul mentions the word ‘do’ at least 20 times in 8 verses.
Just what is he trying to communicate? It appears he is in knot of some sort. One could almost sense an Aaaargh!!
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...as it is it is no longer I myself who do it, but sin living in me..
I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the eviI I do not want to do this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it...
A young woman was involved in a motor accident which left her paralyzed from the neck down. She was rushed to hospital where her family and friends, including her young nephews had already gathered. As she lay on the trolley waiting to go in for an Xray, she suddenly noticed that the sheet covering her had slipped leaving her bare chest half exposed and her lower body almost totally exposed. In her modesty she wanted to desperately pull the sheet up – she tried - the arms could not obey; not even the legs.
She knew in her mind exactly what she wanted to do, but could not.
This perhaps should help us start to get into grips with the tug of war that Paul describes in this passage. It is being in a situation where you are telling your body what you want done, and the body not doing it.
Have you ever found yourself in such a situation? Paul rightfully recognises that there is a war within, a conflict, a struggle!
A day like today, Remembrance day, and more so at our later service in the evening when we remember our loved ones who have died, we are likely to be bombarded with memories of hurt and failure; the missed opportunities with those who are now gone, but didn’t etc
It might be that we remember sadly 2009 New Year’s resolutions broken before end of February.
Or it might be things you have been procrastinating about – may be you have no more will power to get on with them much as you would like to...
Only You knows your heart and the struggles there in!
But Paul goes even further. It is one thing realizing that our body won’t do what we tell it to, but it’s quite another thing realizing that our body is readily obedient to something else!
This is Paul’s frustration in verse 19
For I do not do the good I want to do, but the eviI I do not want to do this I keep on doing.
But just who was this man, Paul?
Former Pharisee – whose righteousness according to the law, and in his own words was ‘faultless’. He was a hybrid of the religious system of his days. However since his encounter with Jesus Christ his life had been transformed – so great a transformation that he likened his old life to garbage, refuse; KJV goes as far as describing it as dung
That is how stark a difference an encounter with Christ brings about. But this man of high credentials has a submission to make – first for himself and the people of his day - and secondly for us.
Firstly then, the contemporaries of Paul would have been pious Jews living under the authority of the law – The Torah or Mosaic Law. They had inherited and highly refined this law to ensure that they pleased God in all that they did. They took it seriously. eg the Pharisees, the sect to which Paul belonged prior to his conversion had even worked out that a Sabbath day’s journey was 2000 cubits. All done in good faith to ensure God was not offended.
They diligently studied and knew by heart scriptures like:
Psalm 1:2
Blessed are those who delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night. They are like streams planted by the streams of water...
Psalm 19:8
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul...
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart...
However the Old Testament bears witness to the inability of their ancestors to keep the law that they so much loved. And due to their disobedience God used various prophets to warn them about the impending disaster of captivity to Babylon and which eventually happened.
But God, recognising this futility in trying to be good made a promise to the prophet Ezekiel while prophesying about Israel’s restoration back to their land:
Ezk 36:26ffd
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you... I will put my Spirit in you...
Something new was to happen to them, their hearts, that would somehow make it less burdensome to be ‘good’. It was called the Spirit. We read from the gospels about Jesus preparing his disciples for this spectacular phenomenon – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost after his ascension.
Paul writes this letter to the Romans after the promised Spirit has been poured; after Pentecost. And this is what he seems to be saying to them:
Friends, enough is enough – there should be no more of the defeat and humiliation that we suffer by being rigorous about obeying the law to please God. I have walked that road friends – and trust me, a former top Pharisee, it doesn’t get you anywhere.
When we try to live by the law instead of the gospel of grace, the gospel of the risen Christ;
when we try to live by the flesh instead of the spirit, the Spirit that was poured to us on Pentecost;
then we set ourselves to fail.
The law tells us what to be, but it cannot help us to deliver.
Just think for a moment about how many times we contravene the law; think also about the many who constantly re-offend. Knowing the law and the repercussions of breaking it isn’t a sure safeguard against breaking it.
I, Paul, know this very well...
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...
I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the eviI I do not want to do this I keep on doing.
I wonder if you can identify with any of these statement or similar ones...
I will never have a drink again,
I will never speak that way again to them...
Except that you realise in a short while that – you have done it!
I can’t blame Paul for writing the way he does and repeatedly using the word ‘do’. It is all tangled and messy, a bit like my Christmas tree lights here. There is a war within us...
Paul reminds us that we cannot rely on the law to sort our lives out. What we need to do is exercise some honesty and admit this very typical human trait: that there still exists a twisted and self-centred nature in us that is sinful. This nature brings about a conflict between desire and performance. The law cannot help. Only the power of the Spirit of God can turn things round.
And I think that Paul is reminding us of this:
when our religion is reduced to only a Sunday ritualistic attendance to church;
when our religion is defined by being busy with church matters and being slaves to rules and regulations;
if we fail to embrace and receive the freedom, the liberty and newness of life that Jesus Christ won for us on the cross;
we set ourselves for failure.
We may be alive but still bound hand and foot, a bit like Lazarus when he was brought back to life by Jesus but still tightly bound, hands and feet and mouth. Jesus promises life, and life to the full. John 10:10
But thanks be to God, who delivers us, who rescues us from this wretchedness, through Jesus Christ our Lord!
And that is the deal. Admitting our wretchedness, our inability to sort our hearts out is the start of an adventure with God. God doesn’t intrude forcibly to force us to be his follower and friend. We possess a free will to accept his friendship or reject it.
Jesus himself says, Mark 2:17
It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners...
Many people do not turn to God because they are in denial about the true condition of their heart
Many people in our generation will not ask for forgiveness from God because they disagree that sin exists in them
But all this boils down to each of us as individuals. We know the battle that rages inside and it is for this that Jesus came; to sort that tangle. He came with an offer to hold the hand of everyone who will dare try him - along life’s journey; to end the strife, the tangle and make life really worth living. He is the prince of peace and He invites all to a life of faith and adventure. When the going gets very tough, he is right there with you. My experience is that God’s presence in our lives makes us tough enough for life.
We accept this invitation by saying; Lord God, I cannot help myself. Please come to my aid and deliver me. Take away my pride, create a clean heart in me, a heart that trusts you and puts you before everything I do. That is the good news I bring to you today. Amen.
Inner Conflict
I call this passage the tongue twister passage because in the NIV Paul mentions the word ‘do’ at least 20 times in 8 verses.
Just what is he trying to communicate? It appears he is in knot of some sort. One could almost sense an Aaaargh!!
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...as it is it is no longer I myself who do it, but sin living in me..
I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the eviI I do not want to do this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it...
A young woman was involved in a motor accident which left her paralyzed from the neck down. She was rushed to hospital where her family and friends, including her young nephews had already gathered. As she lay on the trolley waiting to go in for an Xray, she suddenly noticed that the sheet covering her had slipped leaving her bare chest half exposed and her lower body almost totally exposed. In her modesty she wanted to desperately pull the sheet up – she tried - the arms could not obey; not even the legs.
She knew in her mind exactly what she wanted to do, but could not.
This perhaps should help us start to get into grips with the tug of war that Paul describes in this passage. It is being in a situation where you are telling your body what you want done, and the body not doing it.
Have you ever found yourself in such a situation? Paul rightfully recognises that there is a war within, a conflict, a struggle!
A day like today, Remembrance day, and more so at our later service in the evening when we remember our loved ones who have died, we are likely to be bombarded with memories of hurt and failure; the missed opportunities with those who are now gone, but didn’t etc
It might be that we remember sadly 2009 New Year’s resolutions broken before end of February.
Or it might be things you have been procrastinating about – may be you have no more will power to get on with them much as you would like to...
Only You knows your heart and the struggles there in!
But Paul goes even further. It is one thing realizing that our body won’t do what we tell it to, but it’s quite another thing realizing that our body is readily obedient to something else!
This is Paul’s frustration in verse 19
For I do not do the good I want to do, but the eviI I do not want to do this I keep on doing.
But just who was this man, Paul?
Former Pharisee – whose righteousness according to the law, and in his own words was ‘faultless’. He was a hybrid of the religious system of his days. However since his encounter with Jesus Christ his life had been transformed – so great a transformation that he likened his old life to garbage, refuse; KJV goes as far as describing it as dung
That is how stark a difference an encounter with Christ brings about. But this man of high credentials has a submission to make – first for himself and the people of his day - and secondly for us.
Firstly then, the contemporaries of Paul would have been pious Jews living under the authority of the law – The Torah or Mosaic Law. They had inherited and highly refined this law to ensure that they pleased God in all that they did. They took it seriously. eg the Pharisees, the sect to which Paul belonged prior to his conversion had even worked out that a Sabbath day’s journey was 2000 cubits. All done in good faith to ensure God was not offended.
They diligently studied and knew by heart scriptures like:
Psalm 1:2
Blessed are those who delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night. They are like streams planted by the streams of water...
Psalm 19:8
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul...
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart...
However the Old Testament bears witness to the inability of their ancestors to keep the law that they so much loved. And due to their disobedience God used various prophets to warn them about the impending disaster of captivity to Babylon and which eventually happened.
But God, recognising this futility in trying to be good made a promise to the prophet Ezekiel while prophesying about Israel’s restoration back to their land:
Ezk 36:26ffd
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you... I will put my Spirit in you...
Something new was to happen to them, their hearts, that would somehow make it less burdensome to be ‘good’. It was called the Spirit. We read from the gospels about Jesus preparing his disciples for this spectacular phenomenon – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost after his ascension.
Paul writes this letter to the Romans after the promised Spirit has been poured; after Pentecost. And this is what he seems to be saying to them:
Friends, enough is enough – there should be no more of the defeat and humiliation that we suffer by being rigorous about obeying the law to please God. I have walked that road friends – and trust me, a former top Pharisee, it doesn’t get you anywhere.
When we try to live by the law instead of the gospel of grace, the gospel of the risen Christ;
when we try to live by the flesh instead of the spirit, the Spirit that was poured to us on Pentecost;
then we set ourselves to fail.
The law tells us what to be, but it cannot help us to deliver.
Just think for a moment about how many times we contravene the law; think also about the many who constantly re-offend. Knowing the law and the repercussions of breaking it isn’t a sure safeguard against breaking it.
I, Paul, know this very well...
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...
I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the eviI I do not want to do this I keep on doing.
I wonder if you can identify with any of these statement or similar ones...
I will never have a drink again,
I will never speak that way again to them...
Except that you realise in a short while that – you have done it!
I can’t blame Paul for writing the way he does and repeatedly using the word ‘do’. It is all tangled and messy, a bit like my Christmas tree lights here. There is a war within us...
Paul reminds us that we cannot rely on the law to sort our lives out. What we need to do is exercise some honesty and admit this very typical human trait: that there still exists a twisted and self-centred nature in us that is sinful. This nature brings about a conflict between desire and performance. The law cannot help. Only the power of the Spirit of God can turn things round.
And I think that Paul is reminding us of this:
when our religion is reduced to only a Sunday ritualistic attendance to church;
when our religion is defined by being busy with church matters and being slaves to rules and regulations;
if we fail to embrace and receive the freedom, the liberty and newness of life that Jesus Christ won for us on the cross;
we set ourselves for failure.
We may be alive but still bound hand and foot, a bit like Lazarus when he was brought back to life by Jesus but still tightly bound, hands and feet and mouth. Jesus promises life, and life to the full. John 10:10
But thanks be to God, who delivers us, who rescues us from this wretchedness, through Jesus Christ our Lord!
And that is the deal. Admitting our wretchedness, our inability to sort our hearts out is the start of an adventure with God. God doesn’t intrude forcibly to force us to be his follower and friend. We possess a free will to accept his friendship or reject it.
Jesus himself says, Mark 2:17
It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners...
Many people do not turn to God because they are in denial about the true condition of their heart
Many people in our generation will not ask for forgiveness from God because they disagree that sin exists in them
But all this boils down to each of us as individuals. We know the battle that rages inside and it is for this that Jesus came; to sort that tangle. He came with an offer to hold the hand of everyone who will dare try him - along life’s journey; to end the strife, the tangle and make life really worth living. He is the prince of peace and He invites all to a life of faith and adventure. When the going gets very tough, he is right there with you. My experience is that God’s presence in our lives makes us tough enough for life.
We accept this invitation by saying; Lord God, I cannot help myself. Please come to my aid and deliver me. Take away my pride, create a clean heart in me, a heart that trusts you and puts you before everything I do. That is the good news I bring to you today. Amen.
posted by Parish Administrator at 12:35 pm
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