Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text for this meditation is written in the 7th Chapter of St Paul’s letter to the Romans: Verses 14 – 25a:
14 For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin.[a] 15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17 But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23 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. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
According to Guinness World Book of Records, the Bible is the best-selling book of all time, with an estimated 5 billion copies sold and distributed.
The publishers across the world are down on market share. Electronic media is tearing the heart out of their industry, and yet the print version of the Bible is still selling at record rates. Market research is required as a matter of urgency and so we imagine a scenario where they appoint a ‘high roller’ market research company to conduct a poll. After hours of conferencing on their proposed strategy, they deduct that the only way to avoid clouding the issue with theological, ideological and emotional opinion, there needed to be only one question asked in the poll. “Why did God give us the Bible?”
How do you think most people would answer that question? Well some statistics that I have able to glean, and other responses I relate from experience: The ‘don’t really know’ group said “The Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man”: ….. The there were the ones who said “God gave us the Bible because the Bible is a God Inspired Book through which God speaks to us, but it is old and much of it cannot be taken literally”: ……The most popular answer was: “God gave us the Bible to show us how to live.”
So many people believe that the Bible is a “Code of Conduct’ that provides us with guidelines on how to live life as a good person”. This observation is endorsed by the belief that if we put in a good faith effort to keep God’s do’s and don’ts, God will make us healthy, wealthy, and wise and, when we die, He will let us into heaven. To summarise there are less than 35% of people who accept the Bible as God’s inspired Word handed down to all people that we may attain forgiveness, salvation and eternal life with Him. In the main the general consensus is that the Bible is a book of rules to teach us how to live out a good and acceptable life.
You know, the sad and frustrating fact is that the Bible actually teaches the exact opposite. John 3:16 does NOT say, “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son to show us how to live.” NO! Instead it says, [John 3:16] “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Over and over and over again, the Bible clearly states that salvation is a free gift of God that comes to us as the Holy Spirit works faith in us so that we believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Our own good works have nothing to do with our salvation. In fact the prophet Isaiah tells us that [Isaiah 64:6] “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment”.
The Bible is very clear on this point. Each week, many faithful preachers emphasise this point as they follow Christ’s instructions to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus name. How then do people get the idea that our good works actually contribute to our salvation in some way?
One problem is our own human nature. Generally speaking, the majority of humans have a sense of guilt driven accountability that says if we break something then we need to fix it. This is all very good when we break the living room lamp. We can either fix the living room lamp or replace it. On the other hand, Adam and Eve broke the universe when they ate of the forbidden fruit in Eden. They corrupted the universe with sin. Humanity simply does not have what it takes to put the universe right again no matter how hard we try. In fact, the harder we try, the worse things become. Only God working through Jesus Christ can set things right again.
In reality, another reason that the general public has varying ideas about Biblical salvation is a result of historical doctrine developed within the Christian community itself. As a result of the Reformation which commenced in 1521 when Dr Martin Luther disputed the doctrine of the Papal hierarchy as not being in line with the Holy Scriptures as written in their truth and purity, Luther was excommunicated from the church. Those that followed Luther were called ‘Protestors’ which was later became ‘protestants’. Among the protestors were a number of eminent theologians who thought that Luther did not go far enough, and so from people such as Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, John Wesley, John Knox, and John Smyth and others came the doctrine that forms the foundational beliefs of the variance of denominations we see in our society today.
Among these denominational groups (*), there are some who have adapted and ardently teach the theological doctrine called “Entire Sanctification”. Here is how one of these groups describes this teaching in its literature. “Entire Sanctification is a state of perfect love, righteousness and true holiness which every regenerate believer may obtain by being delivered from the power of sin, by loving God with all the heart, soul, mind and strength, and by loving one's neighbour as one's self. Through faith in Jesus Christ this gracious gift may be received in this life both gradually and instantaneously, and should be sought earnestly by every child of God.” [i] To put it more simply, Entire Sanctification teaches that a Christian, by their own efforts, can achieve sinless perfection here on this earth and that every Christian should try to do just that. As a result, a visitor to one of these groups will probably hear more about Christian perfection than about the gift of forgiveness that Jesus earned for us on the cross.
The Apostle Paul has a very different take on the life of a Christian. In today’s Epistle Reading from his letter to the Romans, we hear Paul say such things as, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. What Paul describes is a battle and no kind of perfection at all.
When the Holy Spirit works faith in us, we join a war. It is war unlike any other war. We do not have to look for the battle. The battle comes to us. We become the battlefield. The war takes place inside of us – in our very soul. The devil, the world, and our old sinful nature are the enemy.
The devil detests God, but he cannot attack God. God is almighty. The devil would lose. So the devil attacks the beloved of God. He expends his every resource to take as many humans to hell as possible. This is the only revenge he can take – a revenge of absolute detestation for God and for all that God loves – especially us.
People who reject Christ do not experience this particular war. The devil has no reason to attack them. They already walk in fear of their spiritual life . As we are told in Matthew 7: Verse 13, they are already on the broad road that leads to destruction. In fact, we could point to people who seem to have no relationship with God whatsoever, but still seem to thrive and prosper. The psalmist expressed frustration over such people. [Psalm 73:3, 5, 12] “For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. 12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches”. What they do not know is that they are experiencing the peace of the spiritual grave. Such are living in a false sense of security with no idea of what waits for them when they leave this world. Why should the forces of evil expend any energy on those who are already destined for destruction? Why not keep them as comfortable as possible while they travel the road to eternal damnation?
The war begins when the Holy Spirit works faith in the heart. The Holy Spirit establishes the faith that receives the gifts of God – forgiveness, life, salvation. At the same time, the Holy Spirit creates a new being in us – a holy child of God – a child who desires the Father’s will. The only problem is that our old sinful nature is still around. In this way, every Christian is divided. There is the holy child of God striving for righteousness and holiness, and there is the old sinful nature constantly trying to turn us back to the broad road that leads to spiritual destruction. In a way, the idea of the evil twin is a reality in the life of every Christian.
I am reminded of the old, classic cartoons that I used to watch as a young fella. Maybe you remember a time when the cartoon character was struggling with its conscience. There would be a miniature version of the character with pitchfork and horns whispering into one ear and another miniature of the character with halo and harp whispering into the other. It’s kind of cute in the cartoon, but it is deadly serious in the real life of the Christian.
Paul’s words in the epistle show us that Christians have an old nature and a new nature that battle in us. He complained that he listened to the old nature all too often. Much to his intense frustration, he sinned on a regular basis.
As Christians, we are each battle fields in the war. We all join in Paul’s lament. We see that we sin much and deserve nothing but punishment both here on earth and forever in eternity. We cry out with Paul: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we receive the answer. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! The answer, as it always is, is Jesus. Jesus is the warrior who defeats sin, death, and the power of the devil. He not only forgives all our sins in order to bring us into His family, but He also forgives the sins of those who are already in His family. In fact, the only people who are outside of His family are those who refuse His forgiveness. There should be no doubt, those on the broad highway, living in sin, facing death and the depths of hades, are loved equally by Jesus and are welcomed into His fellowship of love and forgiveness if they turn to Him in humble repentance.
The holy, sinless life that Jesus led – His innocent suffering and death – His resurrection and the ascension – all these, Jesus did for us. Through His holy life and sinless death, He won forgiveness for us. With that forgiveness comes life and salvation. He has taken all our sin – all our guilt to the cross, including those sins we commit even after we are a child of God.
When Dr Martin Luther railed against the practices of the hierarchy of the Holy catholic church in 1517 (remembering that at that time there was only one universal [catholic] church), he nailed a list of ninety-five scripturally based disputations (called theses) to the church door in Wittenberg. The first of these theses stated that “the life of the Christian is one of continual repentance”. This is Paul’s message to us today; this is the very principal that we, of all Christian denominations, who have been saved by God’s abundant grace, cling to for dear life. We mourn the fact that, even as God’s children, we daily sin much. At the same time we rejoice in the free, abundant and overwhelming forgiveness that we have in Jesus Christ.
The life of the Christian is a battle, but we have the champion who has defeated all our foes, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Amen
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
[i] Article XI of the Evangelical United Brethren EUB Confession of Faith
The Evangelical United Brethren Church was formed in 1946 by the merger of The Church of the United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical Church. In 1968, the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged with the Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church (US).
(*) Certain traditions and denominations teach the possibility of Christian perfection, including the Catholic Church, where it is closely associated with consecrated life. It is also taught in Methodist churches, in which it is usually known as Christian perfection or entire sanctification.[1][2] In traditional Quakerism, it is termed Perfectionism.[3]
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