Civil Wars, Pusillanimity, and the Potential for Better

Civil Wars, Pusillanimity, and the Potential for Better Romans 7:14-25; 8: 9-13 September 15, 2013 Travis Collins Let s not try to change the world. At least for a while. How bout it? Can we agree that for a couple of months we won t try to change the world? Instead, let s work on us. Let s pray for the world, certainly. But instead of mediating Middle East peace talks and solving the global economic woes, let s work on us. Instead of changing the world let s work on personal change. To encourage that, for the next few weeks we are going to talk about seven sins the Christian family has long called deadly the seven deadly sins. Pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, greed, and lust. This idea of seven deadly sins goes back fifteen hundred years to the leader of an Egyptian monastery the place where monks lived in the desert a man named Evagrius. Living in close community with other men who had withdrawn from society to know and love God more fully they recognized the fundamental nature of seven sins in particular. Evagrius had eight on his list, but over the years the list got edited and soon there were seven. But why these particular seven? Why not include murder, rape, injustice, and other more hideous sins? These are called deadly because ancient church leaders recognized the fundamental nature of these sins. These are root sins. Gregory the Great, in the 6th century, called these seven leaders of wicked armies. He said these seven are the generals, with other sins being their foot soldiers. Other sins, even more heinous ones, can be traced back to anger, pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, greed and/or lust, said our Christian forefathers. Furthermore, these seven are common to us all. I could rail against Al Qiada, the mafia or the KKK and we d all nod in affirmation and go have a nice lunch. But when we talk about things like envy, greed, gluttony and lust, we all can identify (even if it s painful). Now to our text In Romans 7 the Apostle Paul becomes surprisingly transparent. This unrivaled theologian. This peerless missionary. This one who ultimately died in a Roman prison because of his faith looks very much like you and me, doesn t he? I want to do better but find myself failing time and time again, he says. It s an ongoing struggle to do right and be holy. His clay feet look a lot like ours, don t they? In order to understand Paul s struggle, and thus our own, we have to understand our Human Natures. (Not nature, but natures. ) 1

First, the sinful nature. We all are born with this nature. (Twice in this morning s text Paul calls it a sinful nature. ) An innate and overwhelming tendency to do the wrong thing. It s much like alcoholism. Every time an alcoholic holds a glass or a bottle, he or she has a split second in which he or she can decide to drink or not to drink. But it s not as simple as a choice. The disease of alcoholism means that person has a ferocious compulsion to drink. It s like that for all of us. We are not robots; we have a choice. But our sinful nature gives us an overwhelming tendency to make the wrong choice. It s our nature! There is an old fable about a scorpion and a turtle. One day a scorpion wanted to cross a pond but couldn t swim. He found a turtle and asked if he could ride the turtle s back across the pond. The turtle answered, Are you kidding? You ll sting me while I m swimming and I ll drown! The scorpion laughed and said, Now that wouldn t make sense. If I were to sting you while we are in the middle of the pond and you were to drown, I d drown, too! Now where is the logic in that? You ve got a point there, said the turtle. There would be no logic in that. Hop on. The scorpion climbed on top of the turtle, and the turtle began to swim. Halfway across the pond, though, the scorpion carefully aimed his powerful stinger just beyond the turtle s hard shell and stung the turtle with all he had. Poisoned by the sting of the scorpion, the turtle began to sink... with the scorpion, of course, still on his back. Before they went under the turtle questioned the scorpion, You said there is no logic in your stinging me. So why did you do it? It has nothing to do with logic, said the scorpion as both went under. It s just my nature! There is no logic in a lot of things we do. We shake our heads almost in disbelief at some of our wrong choices. But logic has nothing to do with it. It s just our nature. Furthermore, everybody has an internal sense of right and wrong. Everybody has a conscience (with the exception of those known as sociopaths and psychopaths). Everyone, wherever he or she is on a spiritual journey, has a sense of rightness and wrongness a moral and ethical compass that at least points in the right direction. Without that our world would be lawless, anarchy. Maybe you ve seen depictions of this as a mini-angel on one shoulder trying to counter the influence of a mini-devil on the other shoulder. That mini-angel is the conscience, and the debate between these two little fictitious beings is common to all humans. And so everyone debates within himself or herself whether or not to take the right path or the wrong, maybe even multiple times a day. 2

Then, when a person experiences conversion, new birth...receives a new nature, a spiritual nature For the person who has experienced a spiritual conversion, for the person who has experienced the transformation so dramatic Jesus called it a new birth, this matter of the internal struggle, or Civil War, takes on a deeper and more powerful meaning. The person who has decided to follow Jesus has not only a conscience, but the very Spirit of God living in him or her. In Romans 8 it says clearly that if you are in Christ the Spirit of God lives in you, invites you to a higher plane of living, and empowers you to live that life! The presence of the Spirit of God in someone is much more powerful than the conscience. In 2 Peter Chapter One God says that through Jesus He has made us participants in the divine nature. That doesn t mean we ve become little gods, but there is a divine spark in us, a mysterious, divine pull toward what is good and right and holy. It s a new, spiritual nature. So here s the good news. In this Civil War within us, we can do well. I titled this series, We can do better than that. And we can. We have the capacity for greatness. Did you wonder why I used the word pusillanimity in the title of today s sermon? I wasn t showing off; I didn t even know how to use that word before this week. But in study this week I found that Thomas Acquinas, in the 13 th century, wrote about the vice of pusillanimity. That means, at least according to Acquinas, smallness of soul. Acquinas warned against this vice, for he said that small souls shrink from the challenge of growth. Pusillanimous people focus on our own puny-ness, focus on our human weakness and view failure as virtually inevitable. We don t realize or, at least, remember that God s grace equips us for greatness. Yes, God made you for greatness. Greatness of character. Greatness of heart. Greatness of soul. Maybe these two verses will be our theme verses for this series: We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37) His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, (2 Peter 1:3). We can be better. Don t give up on yourself. Don t assume you are destined to wallow in the muck of deadly sins. Spiritual, moral and ethical failure are not inevitable. You can be better! So how? Let s go back to Romans 7. In this honest, vulnerable, confessional text, we find that resolve, willpower, isn t enough. Self-discipline is critical; it s just not enough. There is no shortcut around the need for self-control. But we cannot grit our teeth and discipline our way into ultimate victory in this spiritual civil war. The Answer? Feed that spiritual potential within you. 3

If we stopped at Romans 7 we d think we were destined to a never-ending, never-winning, Civil War. But in Romans 8 Paul offers the answer living by the Spirit! Twice in Romans 8 we read, Don t live by the flesh (your sinful nature), but live by the Spirit! He echoes the same thing in Galatians 5:16, Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. How do we live by, or walk by, the Spirit? Maybe this will help: An old Cherokee man was teaching his grandson about life. A fight is going on inside me, he said to the boy. lt is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One is evil he is angry, envious, greedy, arrogant, self-centered and prideful. The things I don t want to be. The other is good he is joyful, peaceful, loving, hopeful, humble, kind, honest and faithful. All the things I want to be. The same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too. Two wolves fight within you, my grandson. The little boy thought about it for a minute and, sobered by the thought of two wolves battling within him, asked his grandfather, Which wolf will win? The old Cherokee simply replied, The one you feed. There are two natures at war within us. The one we feed will win. We feed our spiritual nature with spiritual disciplines. When you study the Scripture you feed your spiritual nature. When you worship When you fast When you commit to a community of faith, a church and/or a small group, even when it s hard you feed your spiritual nature. When you choose to withdraw from time to time to listen to the Spirit, to meditate, to look within and ask God s Spirit to shine His light on things you d rather not consider about yourself you feed your spiritual nature. But wait! Hold on! In the words of Lee Corso, Not so fast my friend. Here at the onset of this series I have to ask, Have you experienced, and are you experiencing, that transformation so radical Jesus called it a new birth? Have you had that conversion experience in which the Spirit of God comes to live in you? Do you have that new nature that draws you toward that which is right and good and holy? Not just a conscience but a really new nature? You will never be all God created you to be without the Spirit of God in you, transforming your nature, calling you to a higher plane of living and equipping you for that living. Max Lucado re-told the old story of the two princes who were having an argument over whether a gentleman is born or made. One prince said, I believe that through training and discipline anyone can become a gentleman, no matter how crude and unrefined. The other said, I believe a gentleman is a born gentleman. A man is born with the grace, the refinement, culture, and sophistication of a gentleman or he is not. So, their father, the king, gave them a chance to prove their positions. He gave them a week to show him evidence to prove their points. 4

The one who believed that anyone, through training and discipline could become a gentleman, went to a pub where he was surprised to see that his waiter was a cat, a regular old cat, dressed in a tiny uniform, walking on his hind legs carrying the tray in his forepaws. He thought to himself, This is my proof. If a cat can be trained to be a waiter, then any man can be trained to be a gentleman. He bought the cat from the owner of the pub, sure that he had evidence to prove his point. The other brother, however, could not think of a way to support his idea that a gentleman had to be born. To make matters worse, he got word his brother had this cat which apparently would prove that a gentleman could be made. On the morning they were to appear before the king with the proof of their theories the two brothers headed to the palace. The brother who had found the cat who d been trained as a waiter believed he had winning proof that any man could be trained to be a gentleman and was eager to get to the palace. But the other brother, upon learning of the plan to bring the cat to the palace, got an idea. The two brothers walked into their father's presence, each carrying a box. The time had come to prove whether a gentleman is born or made. The brother, who believed that anyone through discipline and training could become a gentleman, removed the cat from his box. Dressed in his little uniform, the cat walked upright holding a tray of chocolates and presented the chocolates to the king. Well, all those present burst into applause. It looked like this prince had offered irrefutable evidence to prove his point that anyone, through training and discipline, could become a gentleman. Then the second son took his box and removed the lid. Out from the box jumped several mice. The mice hit the floor and scrambled around everywhere. And when the cat this cultured feline in a tuxedo saw the mice, he dropped the tray and, leaving his sophistication behind, chased them all over the court. Behaving not like the waiter he d been trained to portray, but, rather, like a cat. And it was apparent: you can dress a cat up in a uniform and train him to carry a tray, but a dressed up cat is still a cat. It s his nature. I would not want to imply that if you are not a follower of Jesus you are a mess, and we Christians have it all together. But I have to be honest with you and true to the Bible and say that if you want to re-script, you need more than self-discipline. You need a new nature. You need for God to do a miraculous work in your life-what Jesus called the new birth. I hope you re open to that. I hope you re willing to say, God, I am ready for this change, this infusion of a new nature. I surrender to your work in me, and I trust my life, here and forever, to Jesus and not my own goodness. And all of us can do and be better than we are. 5