Lesson 2 Ready To Rumble Romans 8: 5-17 Written by Warren Weeks Central Question How open are we to the Spirit s help in overcoming the sin in our life? Introduction I enjoyed watching cartoons growing up and one of the themes I remember in many of them was good versus evil, much like the above drawing. The main character always has a choice to make. On one shoulder sits a little character dressed like an angel. On the other shoulder is another character dressed like the devil. Each one is trying to influence the decision. Usually one wins over the other and the story continues. It is that way in life as well as we are influenced to make decisions each and every day. Paul describes this in these verses from Romans 8. The Spirit gives us life while our flesh wants to bring us down and lead to death. The cartoon described above usually ends with everything turning out fine but life is not like that. The decisions you and I make do have consequences and sometimes those consequences are eternal. In this lesson, we will take a look at the battle of a life controlled by the flesh versus a life controlled by the Spirit. Are you Ready to Rumble? Sin Controlled Mind Romans 8:5-8 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God s laws, and it never will. 8 That s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. Romans 8:5-8 (NLT) Paul begins talking about this battle that goes on between the flesh and the Spirit back in chapter 7 of Romans. I have discovered this principle of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. Romans 7:21-25. Paul wrestles with the fact that he wants to do what is right but always seems to fail. The pull of sin in his life is always present. Take a look at the chart below and let s compare the two opposing forces here.
Sinful Nature Thinks about sinful things Letting it control your mind leads to death It is always hostile to God It never obeyed God s laws and never will Can never please God Obligated to live according to the flesh Controlled by the Spirit Thinks about things that please the Spirit If the Spirit controls your mind it leads to life and peace Those led by the Spirit are God s sons Spirit reminds us we are God s children Paul begins in verse 5 by asking us a basic question, what do you think about? Does your mind think about sinful things because it is controlled by the sinful nature? Or does your mind think about the things of the Spirit? It gets down to what are we going to fill our minds with. Going back to the cartoon at the beginning, which little person sitting on our shoulders are we going to listen to and let influence us? All of these are very important questions because our choices have consequences. Letting our sinful nature control our mind leads to death while letting the Spirit control our mind leads to life and peace. (v.6) What are the sinful nature influences in our lives? What is Paul talking about when he uses the term sinful nature? Tom Wright explains this concept of the sinful nature or flesh as used in some Bible translations. When Paul uses the words sinful nature he does not intend us simply to think of the physical world, in our normal sense, as opposed to the non-physical. He has other language for that. The word we translate as sinful nature refers to people or things who share the corruptibility and mortality of the world, and often enough and certainly here, the rebellion of the world. Sinful nature is a negative term. For Paul, as a Jew, the created order, the physical world was good in itself. Only its wrong use, and its corruption and defacing, are bad. Sinful nature highlights that wrong use, that corruption and decay. Paul, in Galatians 5:19-21, lists some of what happens when we follow the sinful nature. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. While some of those things even sound bad, some of them
sound fun. That is part of the struggle. Each of us has a sinful nature and the things that we desire are different for each of us. The things I struggle with will not be the same necessarily for you. Yet, we all struggle. Verse 6 tells us that the mind controlled by the sinful nature leads to death. While the sins listed above could eventually lead to your physical death, Paul is talking about our eternal death separated from God forever. The sinful nature leads to nowhere. It always ends in death. It can never please God. (v. 8) because our sin always separates us from God. Points to Ponder What are some of the things that you still struggle to overcome? What does the term sinful nature mean to you? Spirit Controlled Mind Romans 8:9-14 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. 12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Romans 8:9-14 (NLT) It is interesting that the sins listed earlier and the other ones we could add all begin in the mind. That seems to be the key. If we can control our mind, then it will help us control the sin in our life. Paul explains this again in Romans 12:2. Don t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. What can we do? We no longer have to listen to the flesh, but instead we can now listen to the Spirit. If our mind controls us, then what we put into our mind is important. So what should we be thinking about with our mind? Before we go there, let s ask ourselves about the Spirit. The Spirit of God is always inside each believer (v. 9). William Newell writes, Here the great mark of a true Christian is, that the Spirit of God dwells in him. If he is indwelt by the Spirit of God, he is not in flesh, but instead an entirely different kind of being, in Spirit. The Spirit becomes now the element in which the believer lives, like water to the fish, or air to the bird, vital, supplying, protecting. (Romans Verse-by-Verse) We do not always understand how the Spirit is speaking to us. The first test is whether what we want to do is evil or not. The second test could be to ask ourselves whether what we want to do pleases God or not. These questions are not exclusive to understand the Spirit s leading in every situation of life but a good start and can eliminate many of our sins. So here is what to think about. If what we are thinking of doing is not evil and pleases God, we are at least on the right path. The results of the Spirit controlled mind are found in Galatians 5: 22-23, But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Maybe we should think about these things. Sounds good to me. Points to Ponder How could the two questions help us in keeping away from sin, Is it evil? and does it please God? What fruit of the Spirit is expressed in your life? Close Relationship Romans 8:15-17 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, Abba, Father. 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Romans 8:15-17 (NLT) The sinful nature mind leads to death. The Spirit controlled mind leads to life. Paul, in verses 15-17, tells us that the Spirit controlled life leads to a closer relationship with Christ. Remember earlier where we said some of the sins listed looked like fun? We can feel like we are missing out on something because we choose to follow Christ. We don t always see the consequences. Following the Spirit is not like obeying a master while we are the slave. Instead it is our desire to please a loving Father. Since we are His children, we also share in His glory. Sharing in God s glory also has a price tag that we will have to share in His suffering. We didn t want to hear that but it s true. Point to Ponder Why is controlling your mind, key to avoiding sin? Conclusion The reason the Christian life is a struggle is due to this constant battle between the sinful nature and the Spirit. Robert Mounce said, The lower nature does not automatically fade away when a person comes to Christ. The need to put to death the evil practices of the body is ongoing. What we put into our mind is important because it influences us and our decisions. We have to choose who we will follow and who we will listen to. The consequences to our choices are clear from these verses in Romans 8. We have to be willing to engage in this battle. A Christian life that does not involve putting to death that which drags us down into the world of the sinful nature is not worthy of the name. (Tom Wright) The sinful nature never goes away. Now though as a Christian, we have the Spirit s help to fight the battle each day and win with a power greater than
our self. We can face the temptations each day with a strength greater than our own. We need to be Ready to Rumble!