Released and Empowered...

This past week, I was reminded of a story that I heard while in seminary. A pastor from rural Africa, who had never had the opportunity to receive any formal education or training, was given the opportunity to come to America and attend Bible College for one year. All expenses were paid by a generous Christian organization. As the pastor from Africa arrived in America, he met up with the family that he would be staying with. After arriving at their home, the family explained that they would be out of town for a week on vacation, but that he could use their car in order to get to and from the Bible College, which was a short distance from their home.

After spending time away on vacation, the family returned home and asked the pastor how his week was. As they were talking about his first week in America, they asked the pastor if the car was helpful. The pastor responded by saying “not really”. Confused, the family asked what had happened. The pastor then explained “well the car just seemed to be very difficult. I mean it worked well when I was going downhill; and it was o.k. on a level surface, but it was just too difficult to use going uphill”.

The family, now even more confused, asked, “why was it so difficult for the car to go uphill? Was the car stalling? Didn’t it have enough gas?” The pastor responded “I don’t know what you mean by stalling or gas, it was just so hard to push uphill. It just took more energy; it was just too frustrating”. You see, the pastor had never driven a car before. He did not know that he simply needed to put the keys in the ignition, turn the key, and then allow the engine to do the work. The pastor was using the wrong power source to attempt to drive the car.

Here is the question: How many of us attempt to live the Christian life in the same way that the pastor was attempting to drive that car? Maybe you find yourself tired, frustrated, confused, because you are expending all this effort trying to follow Jesus, but you are not getting anywhere. Could it be that you are tired, frustrated, and confused because, just like the pastor in this story, you are using the wrong power source as you attempt to follow Jesus? Could it be that the key to experiencing a growing and maturing relationship is right there before you, but you have failed to access it?

This week, I would like for us to spend our time together looking at the next section of this letter that is recorded for us in our Bibles, called the book of Romans. And it is in this section of this letter that we discover a timeless power source that is necessary to access if we are to live a life that responds to our rescue by becoming more like Christ in our character and conduct. So let’s discover this power source together, beginning in Romans 8:1:

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

The Apostle Paul begins this section of his letter to the members of the church at Rome by revealing the timeless result that Jesus life, death, and resurrection provide to those who place their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel by believing, trusting, and following Jesus a Lord and Leader. There is now no condemnation; we are declared not guilty of having a problem with God as a result of placing our confident trust in God’s transformational activity and intervention through Jesus life, death and resurrection that rescues us from selfishness and sin. In verse 2, Paul provides us the reason why followers of Jesus are no longer condemned as being guilty of having a problem with God as a result of selfishness and sin; “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” But what does that mean?

To understand what Paul is communicating here, we first need to define some terms. When Paul uses the word law here, he is referring to a principle that has taken hold of one’s life and obligates one to live in a way that is focused on following that principle. The Spirit of life that Paul is referring to here is the Holy Spirit and its controlling influence in one’s life. When Paul uses the phrase set free, this phrase, in the language this letter was originally written in, literally means to cause someone to be freed from domination. Sin, as we discovered earlier in this series, is the destructive and evil power of selfishness and rebellion that causes us to do things that hurt God and others. And death, as we have seen throughout this series refers to spiritual and eternal separation from God.

Paul’s point to the members of the church at Rome, and to us here this morning, is that followers of Jesus are no longer condemned as being guilty of having a problem with God because The Holy Spirit and His controlling influence has caused us to be freed from the domination of the evil and destructive power of selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God. We have eternal life in the relationship with God that we were created for as a result of the Holy Spirit’s transformational activity that rescues and releases us from selfishness and rebellion’s domination.

And it is here that we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us a timeless truth about the timeless power source that is necessary for followers of Jesus to access if we are to experience a life that responds to our rescue by becoming more like Christ in Character and conduct. And that timeless truth is this: Our rescue releases us to live in the power of the Holy Spirit.

As followers of Jesus, we are no longer under the domination of selfishness and rebellion; we have been rescued and released by the power of the Holy Spirit to live a life that is empowered by the Holy Spirit. And in Romans 8:1-17, we see the Apostle Paul reveal three different ways that the power of the Holy Spirit empowers us live a life that is released from the domination of selfishness and rebellion and is instead becoming like Christ in character and conduct. We will look at the first way that the Holy Spirit empowers us to live a life that is becoming more like Christ in character and conduct tomorrow.