Text: Romans 7:15-25a
INI
I won’t go
into details about what I did that prompted my father to say this to me, but
this is what he said. “Life is about making choices and you have to live with
consequences.”
We all live with
unintended outcomes. We take action but it doesn’t come out as planned, or
there is some consequence you had not foreseen.
Try as we might,
we do not get the things we hope to get by our actions.
Even when we try
our hardest.
Even when our
hearts are in (what we think is) the right place.
This leads to
the blame game. You know how that is played. It goes back a long time – all
that finger pointing and drama. Think if Adam talking to God, after the
Disaster in the Garden.
“The WOMEN – who YOU MADE! – gave it to me.”
We have a
problem with our neighbor, and our neighbor has a problem with us.
But what if this
was just a symptom of our real problem.
We have a
problem with God, and God has a problem with us.
Paul would agree
with that. Paul says it like this…
For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but i see in my
members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the
law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that i am! Who will rescue
me from this body of death?
Paul was Pharisee.
They get a bad rap.
Paul was trained
to observe and respect to the law. Yet he has to confess – to say the truth.
The law is holy,
righteous, good and spiritual.
But Paul knows
that he is none of these things. He was unspiritual and a rebellious slave.
The very
existence of the law exposes him as a sinner.
What is it about
a law that seems to invite us to break it?
Kids who just
have to look in the closet when dad said “don’t look.”
speed limits.
Paul’s diagnosis
is not unique. Paul’s dilemma is the dilemma of thoughtful people across
cultures and ages.
In other words –
don’t need the bible to tells us this.
+++
It would be bad
enough if I was the only one my foolish and sin-touched choices
touch. But of course it is not.
The law says
buckle you seatbelt. I want to say, “I am free! If I choose to not
do this or that it is no one’s business but my own. I won’t hurt anyone but
myself.”
But – the police
officer and the EMT will have nightmares.
The expense of
the medical care.
My neighbor
takes the fall out – and often the full impact – of my lawless ways.
So I do the best
I can – try my hardest – and still things do not turnout in a way that I can
hold up to God and say – “here you go God! Look at this! Everything
else I touch is needs your forgiveness. But this one thing I got right all on
my own. This does not need to be forgiven!
And that is when
the really blame starts.
“Your troubles are
with God! And death is the result!”
Because the one
thing we can never do is fear, love and trust God above everything else.
+++
It is Paul’s
prognosis that is good news!
“but thanks to
be God, through Jesus Christ!”
This is the
power of the gospel.
It is news, not
advice.
It is not a new
code, but a new relationship. Those who trust in Jesus find a new freedom in a
new outcome.
We are not under
blame from God.
So we can stop
blaming ourselves and our neighbor.
When we are
accused of breaking the law we can live in the confidence that the only one who
is able to pass judgment on our lives has declared us free.
And because we
have the only freedom there is – the freedom of child of God in Christ – we are
free to build new relationships that put the well-being of the community first.
This is the
freedom to be servants of God and servants of my neighbor.
I’ve thought
for many years about this reality. What do we do if don’t need to do anything?
Maybe the best
is to be helpful. “How can I help your people today?” That means we have to
listen, to understand and to act.
Pray that
prayer every day. “God, show me how I can help others today.” Then watch what
happens.
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