Howdy. Have you ever had an obligation that you
wanted to get out of? Maybe you had plans with
somebody, maybe you had committed to attend something,
and by the time the day arrived, all you wanted
to do was just to stay home. And your solution
was something like, what if I call them and just
let them know that I died? Now, my sister was
hanging out with me earlier this week. And I
asked her if she wanted to go see The Hunchback
of Notre Dame. Not the Disney movie, but the
actual musical performance, which apparently
makes all the difference in the world because
the ending of the musical is very depressing.
It is not the happy ending, just warning you
in case you're going. But while we were driving,
she kept saying, are you sure you want to do
this? What if we just stayed home and watched
TV? We could watch some British crime dramas,
which is my sister's solution to everything.
But she has this habit of wanting to stay home
even when she already has plans. While I'm the
extrovert between us, she's the introvert, which
is funny because I'm the socially awkward one.
And she'll oftentimes say things that make me
shake my head. Because she'll just say, what
if we just stayed home and pretended that we
were dead and now if you were dead would you
have to go to a party well would you have to
drive across town would you have to keep your
social obligations no and if you did that would
be creepy so obviously she's not actually wishing
that she were dead she's joking because this
would end her obligations Once someone is dead,
people stop expecting you to show up. And this
is actually what Paul is getting at in Romans
seven. Because he starts with something that
everyone understands. Death changes the relationship.
He uses the example of marriage. And if a husband
dies, his wife is no longer bound to him by that
covenant. The relationship has changed. And Paul
says something very astonishing. Likewise, my
brothers, you also have died to the law through
the body of Christ, so that you may belong to
another, to him who has been raised from the
dead. And notice what Paul does not say. He doesn't
say that we escaped the law. He doesn't say that
God lowered his standards. He doesn't say that
sin stopped mattering. He says we died. And this
changes everything. If the law requires death
for those who have broken it, and Jesus has taken
all the punishment upon himself, then what is
there left for the law to do to us? It's like
we are dead to it. It's condemnation no longer
has the final word over us. Jesus, true God and
true man, took upon himself sins that he had
never committed. He bore our guilt. He received
our condemnation. The punishment has been carried
out. The law, its debt, has been paid. So there's
nothing left for the law to hold over our heads.
Paul's point was not about the marriage. Paul's
point was about belonging. We have died to one
relationship being bound to the law so that we
might belong to another. by the Spirit to Jesus
Christ. His point is not so that we can be independent,
but so we can simply, not so we simply do the
things that we want, but rather to belong to
Christ. Now I made a mistake when starting this
sermon when I was writing it because I did so
when I was hungry. So every metaphor in here
is about food. So you're just going to have to
accept that. We've got great food at the picnic
today, but you'll have to get through this in
order to get to it. But you see, I was thinking
about Thanksgiving when I was reading through
the passage and about how every family has traditions.
And sometimes a person may decide that they want
to be the Monica of the group and put place cards
to show where everybody should be sitting for
Thanksgiving meals. And they may decide that
this aunt and this uncle should not sit next
to each other because they've been having a fight
for the last month. And they decide that this
cousin and this in -law should not sit next to
each other because they dated once. It was East
Texas, just go with it. Every group though, you
end up realizing that sometimes people assign
the seats and sometimes people do not because
who actually does that? But nobody has to wonder
though whether or not they belong at the table
because they see that their name is written.
The relationship, it's not that it's mandated,
it's a relationship though of love and cornbread
stuffing which I think is much the same. That's
what Paul is describing. In Christ, your place
has already been prepared because He loves you.
In Christ, you don't spend the meal wondering
if your name will be on a place card. You belong
because the host invited you. And that changes
the whole atmosphere of the meal. Now, here's
where people, though, struggle with God's Word,
because they will oftentimes see the condemnation
of the law. and that ends up sticking for them.
They hear what God commands and the first instinct
is almost always to push back on it. Whenever
someone tells us what to do, our nature is to
respond often in one of three ways. First, maybe
we just rebel against it. We're just like, I'm
gonna do the exact opposite of whatever it is
just to prove that I can. I can do whatever I
want and you cannot stop me. That's one option.
Second, maybe we just decide to reject it altogether.
We tell ourselves that the issue, it's not really
important after all. Nobody really cares about
that issue, so I don't need to worry about it
either. Or third, maybe we just justify ourselves.
We convince ourselves that maybe the command
didn't really apply to us, or maybe we're really
not guilty after all. Haven't you noticed? How
often our culture celebrates this way of thinking,
you know, whenever we are being true to ourselves
and following our heart and making sure, you
know, whatever makes us happy. The assumption
is that freedom means doing whatever we feel
like doing at whatever time we feel like doing
it. And I'm gonna give another example. I'm gonna
talk just briefly about Thanksgiving because
our family would go to East Texas for years to
see my memo. I have a grandma on my father's
side. I have a memo on my mother's side. It's
very important to distinguish the two. Every
year, there's that moment while we're driving
where we would wonder, why are we always the
one making this drive? You see, My memo was a
little bit of a hermit, and she hated Houston,
and she mostly wanted to keep to herself and
stay away from our traffic. But we still wanted
to see her. It was a long trip, but sometimes
it felt more like an obligation than a celebration.
Sometimes, though, the problem is not the journey,
because looking back now, after she's gone, we'd
gladly make that trip again, if we could. You
see, the obligation sometimes becomes something
that we wish we could do. Because it's more about
the attitude that we bring to it. The same thing
happens with God's law. When we think someone's
forcing us, we push back. When love changes the
relationship though, obedience begins to look
very different. It's like standing there thinking
about a pumpkin pie. And your memaw says, don't
touch that pie. And all of a sudden, you're starting
to think how much of it you could slice off just
slightly that nobody would notice any of it's
gone. And technically, I only touched the whipped
cream. But you see, the command didn't create
the desire. It just magnified something that
was already there. See, Paul says, but sin seizing
an opportunity through the commandment produced
in me all kinds of covetousness. The problem
is not the command, the problem is the heart
that immediately wants to negotiate. And that's
why Paul is, he says something that sounds confusing.
All right, let's just be honest. Romans is a
little bit hard if you don't take it a little
bit at a time, okay? And he says, apart from
the law, sin lies dead. He doesn't mean sin doesn't
exist without God's law. It's not as if it's
God's fault somehow for making up all these expectations.
He's already spent six chapters explaining that
sin is very much alive. What he means is that
without the law exposing it, we can fool ourselves
into thinking that everything is fine. So then
Paul asks the obvious question. What then shall
we say that the law is sin? By no means. Just
because the law causes us to feel uncomfortable,
just because we sometimes want to push against
it or wish that we could simply ignore it, does
that somehow make the law bad? No. The law just
simply tells us the truth. Now there are certainly
human laws, okay? that they're more a reflection
of what people want than what is actually best.
I mean, that's just, we know that. That's human.
That's normal, okay? Human laws, they're written
by human beings. And human beings, we don't always
get it right. It happens. But God's law is different.
God's law reflects reality that God created.
It shows us how life from God was designed to
work. And that's why Paul says that while we
were living in the flesh, our sinful passions,
they were aroused by the law and were bearing
fruit for death. The law wasn't producing death.
Our sinful hearts and passions were. The law
simply revealed that our hearts are broken and
are yearning for what is wrong. It's a little
like baking cookies. Suppose someone hands you
Memaw's famous chocolate chip cookie recipe,
and you look at it, and you think, I don't really
need this. I know how to make cookies. I've seen
it on TV. And so you start adding stuff, but
you kind of substitute things, and, oh, I think
there should be more flour here, and I don't
think we need that much butter, and I want really
sweet cookies, so I'm going to add twice the
sugar, right? add three eggs instead of one because
you're about to go work out and these are protein
cookies clearly so and heaven forbid you put
the raisins instead of the chocolate chips don't
talk to me now could you do that of course you
could nobody's physically stopping you but cookies
still work a certain way and those protein cookies
yeah that's gonna be terrible but you see the
recipe is not trying to ruin your fun The recipe
is just describing how ingredients turn into
cookies. Ignore it if you want, but the cookies
won't. God's law is like that. It doesn't invent
reality, it reveals it. The law, the issue is
not the law, the issue is us. We're the ones
who want to ignore the recipes. We're the ones
convinced that our own way will somehow turn
out better. And then Paul comes to one of the
more difficult statements. He thought it was
difficult already. I was once alive apart from
the law, but when the commandment came, sin came
alive and I died. Paul is not saying that we
were all perfectly fine until God came along
and started making up rules. That cannot be what
he means because everything in Romans up to this
point has been saying exactly the opposite. He's
speaking rhetorically to say not that we were
spiritually fine before God gave the law, but
about the perception we keep having of it. Before
God's law confronts us, we can imagine we're
doing just fine. We compare ourselves with other
people. You know what? I'm a pretty good person.
I see that one over there. You know, I'm definitely
better than that one over there. And you know,
God's law then, it shines into our hearts. And
then suddenly all the pride, the envy, the selfishness,
the resentment, the coveting, it's all exposed.
The law didn't create those sins. It revealed
what had been there all along. You see, diagnosis
is not the enemy. The disease is the one of sin.
And that's exactly Paul's point. The law doesn't
create sin. The law diagnoses it and shows us
the truth. And then we see it, and we're dead.
Paul even says the very commandment that promised
life proved to be death to me. Because the commandment
was bad? No, we were. And Paul reaches a conclusion,
so the law is holy, the commandment is holy,
and righteous, and good. Notice how strongly
he even says it. Holy, righteous, good. The law
reflects God's own character, it's not the enemy.
It's like when you left those cookies in the
oven for way too long and all of a sudden the
smoke alarm starts going off and nobody enjoys
hearing it. Especially because somebody may or
may not have burned the cookies. But you see
the smoke alarm is not the danger. It's the fire
on those cookies that is. See the alarm is just
revealing something's wrong. And God's law sounds
the alarm. It tells us the truth and reveals
where the burning truly is. because the problem
was never actually the law. And that's something
we need to make sure we understand. Whenever
Paul says apart from the law, sin lies dead,
he's not saying the consequences disappear just
because we don't know about them. The consequences
of our sin are still there. The law simply uncovers
them. Now the law doesn't make you worse, even
as the law also doesn't make you better. The
law doesn't make us righteous. Just because the
cookie recipe wasn't written down didn't mean
that somehow your cookies came out better, but
also writing the recipe and reading it word for
word doesn't magically make them any better either.
It simply tells you where things could go wrong.
See, the law never makes us righteous. It shows
us where we've wandered away and as uncomfortable
as it is, believe it or not, that's actually
a gift. Because if we never knew what was wrong,
and yet we still keep feeling and knowing the
brokenness, we'd never know that we needed a
Savior for the brokenness. We'd never see where
it truly came from. Because the law can diagnose
it cannot heal. It can expose the wound, but
it cannot bind up. It can tell us the brokenness,
but it cannot make us whole. Because only Christ
can. So where does that leave us? Does Paul just
make us sure we know how hopeless our diagnosis
is? No. He reminds us of what he said at the
beginning of the chapter. You also have died
to the law through the body of Christ, so that
you may belong to another to Him who has been
raised from the dead." That's the Gospel. The
condemnation that the law demands, it's already
happened. It fell upon Christ. The cross was
not ignoring sin. This is not God saying that
there is no such thing. It was God bearing the
sin. And the law did exactly what it was meant
to do. It exposed our sin and drives us to Christ.
But now the law doesn't define us. That's where
we often get confused. Because we still ask ourselves,
have I done enough? Am I a good enough Christian?
And we're often times trying to convince ourselves,
yes I am, because I followed all the things I'm
supposed to be doing today. But you see, we're
asking the law questions that it was never meant
to answer. Because the law can tell you where
you fell short or what might need to happen.
It cannot tell you who you are. Only Christ can
tell you who you are. Because the Christian life
begins with a different question. Not how do
I earn God's love, but since I already belong
to Christ, how does someone who belongs to Jesus
live today? See, one begins with fear, but the
other one starts with belonging. You see, imagine
somebody spent all that afternoon making those
cookies. Imagine they followed the recipe perfectly
or imagine that they didn't. Maybe they did add
too much flour. Maybe they put the cookies too
close together and they blurred into one giant
cookie. I know. Maybe they forgot an ingredient,
like sugar. And if you're trying to enter a baking
competition, probably not a good thing. When
you're bringing the cookies to the family dinner,
well, something beautiful happens. Your family
smiles. Somebody reaches for one anyway. Somebody
says, and it's probably my dad, these are pretty
good. He does that for everything. Someone else
quietly reaches for a second one, and you know
that the cookies were not perfect, but you're
loved. You see, you're family, and you belong
there. Your work done in love is not about expectation,
but it's appreciated because you are a part.
See, maybe next year it probably wouldn't hurt
to follow that recipe a little more closely,
learn a thing or two. The recipe still matters.
It's not that it's wrong, but your place at the
table wasn't determined because of the cookies.
Your place was determined because the family
had already set the chair for you. See, that's
the Gospel. God really does forgive and love
us, period. But it first required sacrifice in
Christ because God's law is holy. So, His commandments,
they're good. They're righteous. They're true.
And the truth is that we've fallen short. Every
one of us still struggles. And every one of us
still needs grace today just as we did the day
we first believed. But thanks be to God, our
identity is no longer trying to justify ourselves.
It's not found in checking off the commandments.
It's not found in convincing others that we're
good people. It is only saying, I belong to Christ.
The one who did fulfill the law. The one who
did bear the condemnation. The one who did rise
again and bring us with Him. The one to whom
we belong. So you don't need to spend your life
trying to prove that you have a seat at that
table and that the cookies are good enough to
be let in. Christ already prepared the place.
So listen to His Word. Walk by His Spirit. Become
more and more like the one who has already called
you his own, because being a Christian is not
about being good enough yourself. It is about
belonging to the one who is good, and then living
the new life that Christ has then given to you.
Because the law tells us what we are in sin,
but Christ tells us who we are in Him. In the
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen. Please rise for prayer. Lord God, as we
come to you today, we know that there are so
many times whenever we are constantly struggling,
and Lord, the times whenever we do not know where
to turn. We ask you, Lord God, that we would
not spend the time asking, how is it that that
I am the one to fix all these things, but rather,
Lord God, that we would say, I trust You, and
Lord, would You lead me each and every day, even
at the times I know I will not do it perfectly,
but I will still try because of love and gratitude.
Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer. Lord God,
we ask that you would bless those who are currently
in need, especially for Carol Osborne, who has
been in care in the hospital. Lord God, for Reverend
Fleischhauer, who has gone through smoke inhalation.
Lord God, that Don's father would be cared for,
and that he'd be able to recover, Lord. Lord
God, for Pastor Pete's son, Nathan, as he has
been going through various heart issues. And
Lord God, for those who have been struggling
with cancer, especially for Sharon and for Stephanie,
and Lord God, that their treatments would be
successful and would go well. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer. And Lord God, for those throughout
the world who struggle in various ways, Lord
God, you know all the things that Venezuela has
been going through. Lord God, there is so much
that has been brought heartache, but Lord God,
especially now in the midst of these earthquakes,
Lord God, we pray for those who are recovering,
those who have yet to be known that they have
survived, that if there would be anyone left
that they would be found, Lord God, for those
who are mourning the losses, that you would comfort
them and that you would provide resources and
support as they go through the task of rebuilding.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. And Lord
God, as we prepare to celebrate the celebration
of our own country, We ask you, Lord God, that
we would do so not as those who claim to have
done everything right, but Lord God, as those
who are grateful for this place in which we live,
and that Lord God, that we can look toward all
the things that we aspire to, and that we would
still try harder tomorrow and the day after to
live those out. For this and for all the things
that you have led us and shown us, Lord God,
for so many things by your word, we thank you
and trust you even as you've taught us how to
pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day
our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the
power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
You may be seated. At this time, we bring our
offerings onto the Lord. The cards that are in
front of you, make sure that it has your email
and phone number so that I can reach out and
get to know you. Sometimes these things fall
through the cracks. Do it again. We're just happy
to make sure that we can reach out to you. And
however that you feel called to, if you feel
called to partner with us in this ministry, we
thank you and we appreciate the opportunity to
serve the Lord alongside you. With that, we bring
our offerings onto the Lord.