Well, we're back again and hope you're listening to us as well. And in Romans, 8th chapter first verse after Paul has talked about the wretched man that he is that I feel at times he says this there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
no condemnation I mean that's one of those amazing places in scripture that you ought to just camp there and just go wow
yeah
because I can condemn myself easily and we can condemn each other easily. But if I'm in Christ, which I am, that's my identity, there's no no condemnation
because of what he did on the cross.
Yeah.
And he was the perfect sacrifice. When God looks at me, he sees me covered in the blood.
Yeah. And it's and it isn't about me. It's always about what he's did. Because in verse three, it says, "For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. and for sin. And so it's even the fact that I can say I don't face condemnation. It has nothing to do with me. God did it
through sending his son. And that's the difference between being under the law, a written code that actually does condemn me because I can't live up to it.
Yeah.
As opposed to living in the new life of the spirit which has set me free because of what Christ has done. And that's what I love about chapter 8. Paul goes right from talking about the wretched man that he is. Who can set me free? And then the answer comes. It's God through his son Jesus.
In verse five, he says, "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on things of the spirit." And to me, it begs the question, what's my mind set on?
Yeah.
And it's, you know, I know you were gonna say something. You knew I love to interrupt. I love you. I do. today. No, no. Every day, what rotates through my head is what am I obsessed with? What do I set my mind on? And I mean, you know, I my brain, like I think I said maybe last week that I'm like ping pong balls in a dryer. That is such an apt description because I can set my mind on a hundred different things in a split second. Things take me away from God. They do a lot of things.
Yeah. No, I think that there again when he talks about setting our minds on things of the flesh, it's not always those things that we think about that are just flatout evil. It's when my mind and my eyesight is all horizontal
and all I can see are the things around me. the things that preoccupy my time and my mind beyond that which is reasonable so that I'm not looking to towards him for anything. I'm not reaching out I'm not lifting my eyesight above this world to the things of God. you know we've talked about this before but again for all of us the world's not in a great place when I look around and I just see I see the wars that exist. I see the tensions that exist, the hostilities that exist, the just the anger in and the hatred that gets spewed from people's mouths.
Um
it's easy to get over overwhelmed by that, it's easy to find myself either living in fear or living in disgust or whatever else the my mind goes to. But when I look above this world and I set my eyes on what God has said and what he has declared through his son Jesus that's true for me, I'm not sure that I have any right to be afraid.
Crazy thought. When Steven was getting ready to be stoned, I Now, this is like out of left field, right field, center field, wherever you want to call it. The scripture says that there was this look on his face that and I'm kind of butchering that passage, but could it have been the fact that his heart and mind were so set on who he was following and his obedience to the very end that what those people that were stoning him saw was a mind set on Christ? A mind set on righteousness.
Yeah.
A mindset on the things of the spirit. And when I think of a situation like that, I think, you know, I don't think I could ever survive something like that. But let me read to you verses 5 through8 from the message. Again, I've been heavily deeply looking at the message because I think it almost acts like a little commentary. Thank you, Eugene Peterson. So, this is what it says. Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end. Attention to God leads us out into the open into a spacious free life. I want that.
Yeah. And I don't know that there have been moments and maybe that's all that I can hope for. There have been moments where I have felt that kind of freedom, but that freedom is elusive and so again, Paul in Philippians says this. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence in it, anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
So, so again, there is this there is this sense in which my mind, what I think on, what I choose to think on, what I allow myself to think on will controls the way in which I see the world around me and the way in which I choose to live and it's the freedom of the spirit that provides that opportunity. But I have to make the choice as to what I'm going to think about. Which is why there are I can go days and this is just me. I don't listen to the news. I don't because there's nothing if I take those words from Paul in Philippians, there isn't anything in there in the news. And So, I don't I sometimes have to kind of just make the choice to avoid that. Not that I'm pretending like it doesn't exist, but it's where am I going to set my mind? What is it that I'm going to dwell on that then shapes the way I view life?
You know, I've been a Christian for a long time and even though I've walked with the Lord for many, many years, I still experience the struggle and tension of sin.
Well, yeah. And we will for as long we're here on this earth.
And that's where I that's where I go. Again, I'm not I know it theologically is true, but my redemption is not complete yet because I still live in this body of sin
and it will not be complete. And so therefore, going back to what Paul says in Romans, there's the war. There's the war that wages. And I win the war not by I win the war by where I allow my mind to dwell. in the realization of who I am in Christ. We heard a sermon recently at church that talked about our identity. If our identity is in Christ, it frees us. And in the sermon, it was it frees us to serve. I would also say my identity in Christ frees me to live in a new way and a different way of the spirit, which is a choice I have to make.
I think and I'll speak personally that it when I live in the spirit I think the impact of my words and my life are eternal. When I live in the flesh, the impact of my words and my life are eternal also, but not in a good way.
Yeah. Yeah. So, so it's this idea that and later on in the eth chapter, Paul goes into the sense that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed. So, it's still to come. So the kingdom of God that we say Jesus announced when he came to this earth that the kingdom of God is at hand. Why? Because he was there. He was here.
So the kingdom is a kingdom that is here and not and yet it's not there. It's both. And it's because this is going to be realized in its fullest sense. So we talk about shalom. We talk about peace and a shalom and a peace with God which I have Because Paul says there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
But that ultimate shalom will only be achieved when he comes back and creates the new heavens and the new earth.
You know, we all want to live in shalom. We all want to live in peace. even the person who is the most vocal and full of angst wants peace.
And it is offered to us because of what Jesus did on the cross, because the father sent him. And because we're indwelt with the spirit, we don't have to work towards peace. It's already there. We just have to I don't know if this is the right word, access it. It's there. I mean, he peace lives inside of me. That's h
Yeah.
And so it comes back to again, not in my own strength and power, but releasing the power of the spirit of God, the same spirit that raised Christ. from the dead. How do I release that in my everyday life? And what are the choices that are there for me to make to release that power within me to live in a different kind of way? I know when I'm not living like that. And when I say I know it, it's in my relationships more than anything. In my relationship with you
and in my relationship with our kids, our grandkids, people who are friends. I know when I'm not choosing to live in and release the spirit within me in my responses and my reactions and in my words.
You know, we've taken a quick look last week at Romans 7 and another quick look at Romans 8 and we've bounced all over. it's that kind of book. I think these chapters make your head kind of wo. we hope that maybe looking hearing a little bit about Romans, hearing a little bit about our struggle with Romans and with following Christ will entice you in a good way to say, "I want to know more about the word.", we don't know who our audience is. We really don't. We look at each other across the kitchen table and we talk like we do every day, but we don't know those of you that are listening. We don't know where you're at. We don't know if you are pastoring a church, if you are a man out in the work world who is struggling with everything that comes across your desk and through your mind. We don't know. And as we have said over and over again, we're not two old people that think we're experts because I'm personally not old. But we are just
But you're an expert.
No, I'm not an expert. Not at all. I'm not an expert on anything. But I will tell you this. We both love the Lord and want to know how to love him more and want to live more. in step with the spirit. And our desire in these podcasts is that we'll it will not just be words that will encourage you for a second, but that you'll say, I want to look more deeply into God's word. It is it real? Is it true? And that's what we want for you. And we hope that as you join us, maybe once in a while, maybe this is your first time, take the time to look into God's word, to see who he is and what he's done for us. Yeah, no, no better words could say it. So, thank you and we look forward to catching up with you in the future. Thanks for joining us. To learn more about the Struggling Well podcast, visit tandemspirituality. com.