The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:1-10
1. Free from the fear of condemnation.
2.
Free to focus on the promises of God.
Almost every year around Christmastime I watch the old classic movie, “It’s a Wonderful
Life.” In that movie the main character,
George Bailey, is a hard working and honest family man, who through no fault of
his own is confronted with the likelihood of financial ruin and scandal.
In the wake of it all he alienates himself from his beloved wife and children.
In despondency he is about to commit
suicide when at the last second, through the intervention of his guardian angel,
he is brought to see how wonderful life is.
My favorite part of the movies is where George comes to the realization that his
life is filled with great blessings that dare not be thrown away.
Of course in typical
1.
The Apostle Paul appreciated, as well as anybody, the struggles of the human mind. In the chapter that precedes our text,
Paul describes the agonizing struggle that went on in his mind.
Paul recites how the good that he wants to do is not what he does, but instead
the evil he doesn’t want to do is what he ends up doing.
To sum up this terrible struggle he cries out: “What
a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (
The devil and the sinful world around us work tirelessly with our sinful nature to sow seeds of doubt and guilt in our minds. The opinion of the world is that if we live a good life we’ll be good enough to go to heaven, and so we are encouraged to rely on our own works for salvation. The devil, on the other hand, constantly reminds us of our sins and shortcomings in order to weigh our minds down with guilt. He tries to convince us that because of the weight of our sins God could never forgive us, unless of course we do something to deserve His forgiveness. If the devil can’t kill us with a massive guilt-trip, he’ll try to kill us with the pride of self-righteousness. One way or the other his goal is to destroy us.
Paul shatters the constant drumbeat of the devil’s accusations with this wonderful
declaration: “There is now no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit
of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”
The law of sin and death is what Paul says is at work in the members
of his body, making him a prisoner of that law and waging war against the law of
his mind. The law of sin and death
is powerful and as long as we remain in this world we will struggle against it. However, the law of the Spirit of life,
which is at work in our minds, is even more powerful.
It reassures us that there is no longer any condemnation for us and it leads
us to say with Paul, “Thanks be to God—through
Jesus Christ our Lord!” (
Paul explains how this is possible. He says, “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” Many people misunderstand the purpose of God’s law. They think they can obey the commandments and be good enough to make God happy—if you follow the rules then you’ll be acceptable to God. In theory, that’s true. If it were possible for us to perfectly obey God’s law we could earn salvation. But, being sinful by nature makes it impossible for us to obey God’s law. Miraculously, however, what God’s law requires from us has been fully satisfied by the One whom God sent into our world to be a sin offering for us.
You’ve heard it said that God hates the sin, but loves the sinner.
Well, according to His justice God hates both the sin and the one who commits
sin. According to God’s justice He
must condemn sinful mankind to hell.
And that is exactly what God has done.
Paul writes, “And so he [God]
condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law
might be fully met….” At first
glance this sounds pretty harsh, and yet, this passage is an amazing gospel passage. It’s good news, not bad news.
God condemned sin in sinful man, but you and I are not the “sinful
man” referred to here—Jesus is.
Paul tells us elsewhere, “God made him who had
no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians
2.
Consider what a great blessing it is to have a Spirit-filled mind.
As those who have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit’s working through the
word of God, you and I have faith in God and, therefore, we can appreciate the promises
God has made. Promises like these:
“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give
you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).
Or, “Trust in the LORD with all your
heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Or these that Jesus made: “In
my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am
going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2) and again
Jesus says, “I tell
you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life” (John
Additionally, Paul contrasts those who have the Spirit of God with those who do
not. He writes: “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.” He
says, “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. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the
sinful nature cannot please God.”
The sinful mind seeks after sinful pleasures in the hopes that those pleasures will
make life better. That of course is
a lie, but it’s a lie that’s often believed.
Our sinful nature tries to convince us to relinquish control of our lives to the
old Adam. In times of financial difficulty
the old Adam says, “Just cheat a little bit on your taxes, no one will ever know.” If you’re having difficulty selling
a house, the old Adam will say, “Just bury a statue of
Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit controlling our minds and guiding our lives and guarding us from spiritual gullibility. Paul says, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.” As long as we live in this world the struggle between our spirit and our old Adam will continue. That’s why it is so important for us to encourage the new man within us by all the means that God has placed at our disposal. God has given us the means of grace—the gospel in word and sacrament—all for the purpose of strengthening us and equipping us for that endless battle that comes at us day after day from within us and from outside of us.
In the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the last scene is one of the happiest ever. After he’s come to realize the true worth of his life, George Bailey’s friends and relatives come to his house and with their gifts help to bail out his business and rescue his reputation. Their outpouring of love solidifies George’s opinion that he has a wonderful life. You and I have a much greater reason for believing that we have a wonderful life. We have a God who has taken hold of us and by His Spirit has given us spiritual wisdom and understanding. He has made us alive and filled us with joy and peace. God has also placed us among fellow believers in whom His Spirit is also working. When you are tempted to let your mind run wild with fear and doubts, calm your fears and squelch your doubts with the good news that Jesus has redeemed you and He will keep every promise He’s made to you. Amen.