Introduction
Paul is discussing spiritual growth/sanctification/how
to serve God. In 6:14 and 7:6, he describes two different ways we can approach
this: under law/in the oldness of the letter vs. under grace/in the newness of
the Spirit.
Serving God under law, as we saw last week, means
trying to serve God by your own power. What could make more sense than to focus
on God's commandments and try as hard as you can to keep them? But as Paul shares
from his own attempt to serve God this way, it leads to failure. Despite his best
intentions, he experienced the defeat he described in 7:21-23 (read). He learned
what many of us have learned--that this is a blind alley!
But there is another
way. Read 7:24,25a. You can take the counter-intuitive approach--look outside
your own resources to Jesus Christ to set you free from this bondage. This is
serving God under grace/in the newness of the Spirit. In chapter 8, he describes
some very different results (read 8:1-8):
Read 8:2. Although
the "law of sin and death" is more powerful than our moral will-power,
the "law of the Spirit of life" more powerful than the "law of
sin and death." It has the power to liberate us.
Read 8:4. Although
serving God by our own power only results in increased (or at least increased
awareness of) violations of God's moral Law, God's Spirit will gradually fulfill
the requirement of God's Law in us (loving God and loving people).
Read
8:6. Although serving God by our own power only results in failure and defeat
("death"), serving by God's Spirit results in life and peace.
Who
wouldn’t want this? You can have it! The key, according to Paul, is to "walk
according/by to the Spirit." This is what we want to learn how to do over
the next two weeks. Today we'll learn the first of three key elements in walking
by the Spirit.
Walking by the Spirit involves setting your mind on the
things of the Spirit.
What does it mean to walk by the Spirit?
Many
think this is primarily a subjective experience--trying to sense intuitively God's
presence and guidance. Now, there is a subjective dimension involved in
walking by the Spirit, and we will discuss this next week. But this is not what
Paul focuses on here.
Others think this is primarily about behavioral change.
Now, walking according to the Spirit will produce behavioral change. But
if we equate walking by the Spirit with behavioral change, we're back to serving
God under the law.
Re-read 8:5-7. According to Paul, the primary element
in walking according to the Spirit is "setting our minds on the things of
the Spirit." To set your mind on something involves rational reflection,
what you think about and the perspective from which you view the different facets
of your life.
Spiritual growth begins not with our behavior
(what we do) or with our experiences (what we feel)--but with our minds (how we
think). That's why he says 12:2 (read)--behavioral and experiential transformation
flow from mental renewal!!
As we learn to set our minds on what God wants
them set on, the power of the Holy Spirit is unleashed to gradually transform
our characters and behavior ("the requirement of the law fulfilled . . . life")
and also grant us increasing experience of God's peace.
What
are the "things of the Spirit?" Some Christian preachers say the "things
of the Spirit" refer to messages given to us through heavenly voices or visions
or dreams. This is not what Paul means.
Read 1 Cor. 2:12,13.
The "things of the Spirit" are the truths concerning what God has freely
given us through Christ--truths which have been revealed through the apostles
and recorded in their writings. In other words, the "things of the Spirit"
refer primarily to the New Testament teaching on God's grace. That's why
Paul call this serving God "under grace" (6:14). "Setting your
mind on the things of the Spirit" is choosing to look at every major area
of your life in the light of God's grace. The more we learn about what Christ
has given us, and the more we consciously view every area of our lives from this
perspective, the more God's Spirit will transform our lives.
Paul contrasts
this mind-set to a mind-set on the "things of the flesh." This refers
to the perspective we adopt on things apart from and contradictory to God's revealed
grace. This is our mental "default setting"--which is why we must choose
to "set our minds on" God's perspective.
NOTE: This is why we
emphasize biblical content (and especially what it teaches about God's grace)
so much: going to Bible studies, taking courses, discussing scripture with one
another, evaluating your thought-life and the messages coming at you from the
world in light of what God says. And this is why we emphasize New Testament more
than Old Testament--because it teaches God's grace more clearly and fully.
Key
mind-set areas
Let's get practical. Let's think about some of the major
areas of our spiritual lives, and contrast what it looks like to think about them
"according to flesh" versus "according to the Spirit."
YOUR
RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD: How you view God and how you think God views you are the
most foundational and important spiritual things we can think about.
According
to the flesh: We naturally assume that God's acceptance and approval of me
is contingent to my performance. We tend to view God primarily as a strict parent/principal/supervisor--ready
to pounce on every mistake we make. This is why we will tend to avoid God--especially
when we think our performance has been poor--or (worse) become dishonest with
ourselves and God.
According to the Spirit: But what does God say?
Read 8:1--God will never condemn me (KJV error). Read 8:15-17--God does not want
me to relate to him as a slave in fear of his rejection, but as a son and heir
who is confident of his love. Read 8:38,39--nothing (including my own sins) can
separate me from God's love. To the extent that we set our minds on this great
truth, we will tend to relate to God more frequently and more honestly. And thanksgiving
will become a big part of our communication with God. In fact, the New Testament
indicates that this is a key feature of the Spirit-empowered life (Eph. 5:18,20).
YOUR
DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES: It is inevitable and proper that we think about our circumstances--where
we work, our state of health, our finances, etc. And because we live in a fallen
world, sometimes these things are quite painful and negative.
According
to the flesh: If we have a legalistic relationship with God, we will tend
to interpret bad circumstances as God's punishment. If we view our happiness and
security as contingent upon our circumstances, we will tend to spend an inordinate
amount of time and energy worrying about them, or trying to change things we can't
change, or blaming our unhappiness on them.
According to the Spirit:
We will feel the impact of negative circumstances, and we will often try to improve
them when possible. But, more fundamentally, we will remember two crucial biblical
truths:
Read 8:18,23-25. My negative circumstances are only
temporary, to be removed in the next life and replaced by glory. When we view
our negative circumstances in this light, God grants us resilience and hope.
Read
8:28,29. God is sovereignly involved even through my negative circumstances for
his glory and my growth. In other words, nothing can prevent God from accomplishing
the most important goal in my life. This frees us from victimhood to thankful,
creative cooperation. Our prayers will change from "Get me out of this!"
to "What do you want me to learn from this?"
YOUR
CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS: Most of us think a lot about the other people in our lives--especially
lovers or spouses, children, parents, friends, work associates, etc.
According
to the flesh: Left to our own perspective, we will tend to believe that we
will be happy when they love us the way we want to be loved. In other words, we
look to these people to give us security, meaning, and identity. But this will
always disappoint us sooner or later, because they are finite and fallen--only
God can provide these things. So we will become disappointed, outraged, try to
manipulate, reject them, etc. After years of this, many get cynical about relationships
and just use people where possible and avoid them otherwise.
According
to the Spirit: As we draw our lives from God and his love for us, we discover
a reliable and inexhaustible source of security, meaning, and identity. On this
basis, we can approach relationships with others in a very different way. We are
grateful to receive love from them--but we don’t have to demand it because
we know God will be there. In fact, we see their love ultimately as an expression
of God's love for us. When they hurt us, we can extend forgiveness--because we're
so aware and appreciative of how much God's forgives us. More importantly, we
begin to be able to give love to others sacrificially and without strings--because
we are secure in God's love, and because we experience the joy of God when we
do so. This other-centered perspective is both a result of spiritual growth and
a cause of further growth.
VIDEO TESTIMONY: Sean
and Rebecca illustrate how relating to God under grace can revolutionize a marriage
relationship.
Before you can walk by the Spirit, you must be indwelt by
the Spirit.
Before we conclude this morning, I need to point out one more
thing that may the most important point for some of you. We've been talking about
walking by the Spirit this morning--but before you can walk by the Spirit,
you must be indwelt by the Spirit.
Read 8:9. Notice that
not everybody is indwelt by the Holy Spirit--only those who belong to Christ.
This is what Jesus himself said in Jn. 7:37,38 (read). We are not born with
God's Spirit--rather, we receive him when we admit our spiritual thirst and personally
believe in/receive Jesus.
So before you can grow spiritually, you must be
born spiritually. Just as a human being cannot grow to maturity until it is born,
so we cannot grow and mature spiritually in our relationship with God until we
are born spiritually by establish a relationship with Christ and receiving his
Spirit.
Am I saying that you cannot experience anything genuinely spiritual
before you receive Christ? No! We normally experience a process of spiritual awakening
("thirst" - gradually becoming aware of our need for God and of Christ's
offer), and we experience a process of growth into spiritual maturity. But the
point that connects these two processes is our decision to receive Christ. Some
of you are at the end of the first process, and are interested in the second process--but
you need to take the step that lies between them.
NEXT: Two
more keys to walking according to the Spirit
Copyright
2000 Gary DeLashmutt