Romans 7:21-8:4, April 2/3, The Self and the Cross

Transcription

1 1 Series: The Cross of Christ Rev. Jamie Sipsma Romans 7:21-8:4, April 2/3, 2011 The Self and the Cross What does it mean to be a Christian? One way to answer that is that it means the cross completely changes the trajectory of your life, and by consequence, how you see yourself. The cross completely reshapes our self-image, but self-image is a pretty tricky thing. Reese Witherspoon, one of the most successful actresses in the world, had this to say about herself: I don't watch any movie I'm in. It's horrifying. I'll just focus on something stupid like, "I hate my laugh. Why did I smile?" Sometimes I look at myself and think, "Dude, I have the biggest, goofiest smile on earth." When she really wants to feel bad, she'll Google herself. She says, Only in very dark moments, moments of pure self-loathing, do I type my name into Google. You never read anything positive; you always go straight to where they say something nasty about you. You're fat, you're ugly, you're tired, you're worthless, you don't have a career anymore. It's just an affirmation of every horrible feeling about yourself. i What about you? What shapes your self-image? This morning we are looking at what Christ on the cross says about who we are. We are going to look at this in two sections: the necessity of finding our identity in the cross, and then, secondly, what we see from the vantage point of the cross. I. The Necessity of Finding Our Identity in The Cross First, why is it necessary for me to find my identity through Christ s work on the cross? If I don t find my identity in Christ, I will find it in something else. Your identity has to come from something, and whatever that is, that becomes your center. We are tempted to take our roles and have them be our identity but our role and our identity should be two different things. Listen to what Soren Kierkegaard says in his book, The Sickness Unto Death, about finding identity in the wrong place: In fact, what is called the secular mentality is those, so to speak, who mortgage themselves to the world. They use their talents to amass wealth,

2 2 they carry on enterprises, perhaps even making a name for themselves, but themselves they have not become. Spiritually speaking, they have no self. No self with which they could venture everything, no self before God however self-seeking they are otherwise. ii Soren Kierkegaard This is what he s saying if you don t find your identity in Christ you will find it in something else. You mortgage yourself to something to your career, to you marriage, to your family. Not necessarily bad things, but when they become your center, your purpose, without them you are nothing; you become sold to it mortgaged to that thing instead of being found in God. And here s where it really hits us: we can still mortgage ourselves out even in the midst of being very religious, striving to maintain morality, and judiciously keeping all the rules. But underneath it all, an identity can be forged that is not based on God, but on something else. If God is not your center, something else will be your center, and that is where you find your identity. By consequence, if your center isn t God, and that other thing which forms your identity is lost, YOU invariably become lost. If the thing that you center your life upon goes away, how will you then define yourself? This is true of ALL people, both Christians and non-christians: the fact is people have to find some thing career, romance, family, kids, marriage, school, friends and that becomes their god in a sense. And the thing is, that anything besides God that is turned into a god, is no help in the storms of life. Why? Because when the storms of life shipwreck you, those things sink with you rather than save you. Let s say you re a talented musician and your life is performing and playing music. What happens if you are in a car accident and your hands are permanently maimed? Now we need to be clear: no matter who you are, storms beat you down, they throw you off course and they soak you to the bone. Nobody just sails through storms. Nobody endures them unscathed. But if it s that one thing that gives your life meaning and it s the ultimate thing, it s your core, your center, your reason for breathing, it cannot and will not help you in the storm. Kierkegaard goes on to say that any person who tries to manufacture one s own identity without God is like a king without a country. iii Where is your identity? Does your sense of self come from the cross or somewhere else? Do your responsibilities of this world inherently and ultimately define you or do you look to what Paul said from our scripture reading in Romans 8 better identify you: For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. Romans 8:14 Or maybe Galatians 3:

3 3 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Galatians 3:26-27 Or maybe John 1: Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12 Or 2 Corinthians 5: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 Do you see? Scripture shows that when we find our identity in Jesus Christ on the cross we are known as children of God! We are known as his family. That s why we need to find our ultimate identity in what Christ did for us on the cross. It s the one thing in existence that can never be taken away. It s the only thing that can stand up to the storms of life and make no mistake: the storms of life do come. Are you holding on to that which won t sink? Finding your identity through the cross of Christ is the only reliable vantage point from which to view the truth about yourself. So we have to ask: what, then, is it that the cross says about me? The cross tells us many things about God, the world and so on, but what does it say about me? Two things and they come at me at the same time: First, Jesus Christ on the cross means there s something seriously wrong with me, and it s more serious than I ever thought or else it wouldn t take the death of the Son of God to deal with it. But also when I look up at the cross, I also see that there is something profoundly valuable about me. How do you know how valuable somebody or something is? It all comes down to what someone is willing to pay for it. So when I look at the cross, I see these tandem truths: something more wrong with me than I ever thought, and something is more valuable about me than I ever imagined. Let s take a look at the first. Something is seriously wrong.

4 4 The Bible teaches that there is a principle of radical evil in us much more than we ever really want to believe, because it was so serious that it took the Son of God coming into this world in order to deal with it. Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God s law; but I see the law of sin at work within me. Romans 7:21b-22, 23b The Bible says there is evil right there with us sin is at work in us. Now we have to look at this carefully, but don t fall prey to the temptation to look at this and say whatever this is just antiquated fanaticism. Don t minimize this or chalk it up to a guy who was just out there. Paul was one of the most scholarly, educated, and intellectually savvy writers of the Bible, respected in his time by both Christian and non-christian alike for his mind and ability. He was given exclusive access to Jewish leaders and Roman Kings. This wasn t some old kook who just wasn t the sharpest knife in the drawer; it s very likely he was the sharpest, so if we dismiss this as hyperbole, we do so at our risk. The interpretive key to understanding a lot of what Paul says is that he uses the word law in two different ways. Sometimes he uses it to mean a code of conduct, but sometimes he uses the word law to mean a principle or force. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. Romans 7:21 Here, the word law means principle or force. In other words, there is a principal of evil that is in our nature. Our culture does not like this point of view. Ordinarily, when our society views human nature, it likes to focus on the good and not the bad. We ve seen time and again in our culture where the posture toward human nature takes this tone: that if we really work hard and try to be nicer, more resilient people, we can make the world a better place. In 1985 USA for Africa recorded a wildly popular song where all the proceeds went to raise funds for Africa. I m sure you ve heard the song: We Are the World. No doubt many of remember some the lyrics: we are the world, we are the children, we are the one to make a brighter day so let s start giving. One of the reasons the song was so popular was because so many musicians were involved with the project. One of those musicians involved was Bob Dylan. Afterwards, he told the press he was very uncomfortable singing a song like that: WE are the world/we are the children/we are the one to make a brighter day/so let s start giving/there s a choice we re making/we re saving our own lives. So somebody asked him, why were you so uncomfortable singing that song? And his answer was, Because songs can t save the world and man cannot save himself. So today we look to Bob Dylan to echo the truth of scripture because he got it right.

5 5 The Bible says Christ came because there was a problem, we can t save ourselves, and we are far worse off that we thought. In the early twentieth century, there was a philosophy that was pervasive throughout Western Europe that was based on Rousseau s view of the innate goodness of human nature, which questioned the sinfulness of humanity, which basically said, we are for the most part, all pretty good people. World War II shattered this illusion. Tim Keller, in his book, Counterfeit Gods, cites Beatrice Webb, whom many consider the architect of the British modern welfare state when she wrote this about her disillusionment regarding the supposed goodness of human nature : Somewhere in my diary 1890? I wrote I have staked all on the essential goodness of human nature [Now thirty-five years later I realize] how permanent are the evil impulses and instincts of man how little you can count on changing some of these for instance the appeal of wealth and power by any change in the [social] machinery. No amount of knowledge or science will be of any avail unless we can curb the bad impulse. iv Beatrice Webb We know this is true in our day as well. You believe in the essential goodness in human nature? Watch the news. Any news. Your mind will be changed. Debbie Downer is a name of a fictional Saturday Night Live character portrayed by actress Rachel Dratch. The character's name is a slang phrase, which refers to someone who frequently adds bad news and negative feelings to a gathering, thus bringing down the mood of everyone around them. Debbie Downer would usually appear at social gatherings and interrupt the conversation to voice negative opinions and pronouncements. This seems like a Debbie Downer moment, doesn t it? But when we look at this truth that something is seriously wrong, we can see something else. If we really look rather than glance at this reality we can see that this perspective is the only hopeful view. In other words I won t agree with you that this is a Debbie Downer because of what Paul says in these verses: What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24-25 II. What We See From the Vantage Point of The Cross When we see ourselves from the vantage point of the cross, we see something is seriously wrong with us, but we also see this:

6 6 Something is profoundly valuable. Something is profoundly valuable about us more than we could ever imagine. It s officially known as the T206 Honus Wagner baseball card and it the rarest and most expensive baseball card in the world. Produced by the American Tobacco Company from , there are only 57 known cards. In 2007, a near-mint-condition Wagner card sold for $2.8 million, the highest price ever for a baseball card. Last year one of the Wagner cards was bequeathed to an Order of Roman Catholic Nuns in Baltimore. When they sold it at auction, it sold for $112,000 more than expected. Sister Virginia Muller, the former treasurer of the order who was entrusted with the card said, "We may not have known who Honus Wagner was before this, but his name is blessed to us now." v The question is this: what is something worth? How do you determine value? And the answer is whatever anybody is willing to pay for it. Now that s not entirely true, because any particular individual might not be a good assessor of the value of something. Do you think the nuns were qualified to assess the value of the Honus Wagner card? Who is qualified to tell you how much you re worth? Archbishop William Temple puts it this way: My worth is what I am worth to God; and that is a marvelous great deal, for Christ died for me. vi Look what God was willing to pay to get you. 1 Peter puts it this way: For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 1 Peter 1:18-19a How much are you worth? Infinity! If I had an apple up here and it were the last apple in the world, what would be its worth? We couldn t even calculate it. Romans 8 tells us that when you become a Christian, the Spirit of God comes into your life and takes these two truths of something wrong and something valuable in me and applies it. We just saw how the cross shows us our sin and makes us humble, but it also shows us that we are sons and it makes us bold. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. Romans 8:14-15a

7 7 Whenever Paul says that all Christians are sons and have received a spirit of sonship, he was not being insensitive by not using masculine language. We have to look at the context: when he says in Christ, all Christians are sons, he was writing in a time in which women were oppressed, when sons got the wealth and inheritance in a family and daughters did not. So when Paul comes in and says every Christian: slave or free, male or female, is a son of God, he was saying something radically egalitarian. He was saying there is no difference, no matter who you are; you are an heir as if you were the son of the King. That s how valuable we ALL are. We have to see that so that we don t dismiss the richness of what he is saying. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. Romans 8:14-15a (another word for sonship is adoption) Notice that when we are led by the Spirit of God we are told specifically that it is not a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear. That sentence in Romans 8 unlocks the truth of who we are in Christ. When Paul says that when you become a Christian, and the Holy Spirit enters your life, God will not push you forward with fear. Now, the Holy Spirit will convict us of ways we can change our lives and become more like Christ the Spirit s job is to motivate us to transformation, but not through fear. How does the Spirit move us to change without using fear? It comes to us and says, Look at the cross. Look at what Jesus did for you in love. Lead this kind of life, because he loves you. If you are operating your life out of a spirit of fear you are not living how scripture says you can. So if God doesn t give us a spirit of fear, what does he give us? A spirit of sonship or adoption. Paul was being very specific here. In the Roman world adoption meant a child was adopted not because of performance, but because of the legal action of the parent. And once the adoption happened, what was affected was not a change in nature. Adoption isn t a change in nature; it s a change in status. It was an admission into rights and privileges and powers that beforehand weren t there. When you believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord, and you see that your legal status has been cosmically changed and we see that we have been given privilege and rights and access, we can live, not out of a spirit of fear but a spirit of joy. So what is this right that we have when our status changes? We are given access. Look at the end of verse 15: And by him we cry Abba, Father. Romans 8:15b The word Abba is Aramaic, it s not Greek. Romans was written in Greek, but Paul preserves the word Abba from the Aramaic that was the language of Israel, the language of Jesus. He preserves it for this reason: shock and awe. Here is Paul saying that we can go to God the creator of the entire universe and

8 8 say Abba, which is the familiar word for father, which literally means, daddy. Paul says that when you become a Christian you can go before the all-powerful, God-only wise and say, daddy and people were amazed at this. There is no greater concept than God the creator of the universe as your daddy, your father. It s talking here about unbelievable access. And Paul doesn t say we whisper Abba, Father, but we can CRY it! A loud elemental cry out of deep emotion. That s what the spirit of God shows us. We don t need to operate out of a spirit of fear. Why? Because we have been given access. Do you see it? We have a heavenly Father who will always let you bother him. It s hard to get an audience with the president of the United States, but I bet his daughter can say, Daddy, can you give me boost so I can wash my hands? I can t reach the faucet. What if you met with the president and you said, Mr. President, could you give me a boost? What would be rude and inappropriate for anyone else to say is normal behavior for the child of a person in that position, and the Bible says we have the right to do that. In Luke 11, when Jesus is teaching about prayer he uses a Greek word in verse eight that says we should literally pray shamelessly (anaideia) because God is your father, to whom you have access. Why are you given such access? Because you are more valuable than you know. How valuable are you? When you look up at the cross you can see what God was willing to pay to get you into his family. Do you see there is something seriously wrong with us, more than we know? Do you see there is something infinitely valuable in us? And because there is more wrong with us than we know and we are more valuable than we can imagine, Christ went to the cross, so that we could have access to our Father. That is why we come to this table today. We have the opportunity to say Lord God I know I am more flawed than I will ever know, but through your death on the cross you have assessed that I am more valuable than I could ever imagine. The price you paid is so huge I could never calculate it. So now we come before you, to be in community with you and each other. i The Week Magazine ( ). ii Soren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death (Princeton University Press, 1980), p. 35. iii Ibid., p. 69. iv Margaret I. Cole, ed. Beatrice Webb s Diaries, (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1956), p. 65. v vi William Temple, Citizen and Churchman, p. 74.