A sermon by Owen Rogers on the teaching of Paul to the churches he started. I recommend that you read these passages on which this sermon is based:
Romans 8, Galatians 5:16-6:10, Ephesians 6:10-20, Philippians 4:4-9, Colossians 1;1-23
As we discovered in our readings in the Book of Acts, Paul travelled all over the Roman Empire preaching the gospel and starting churches. It was an exciting and dangerous mission and, in spite of all the difficulties he encountered, he was effective.
But his church planting success created a problem. Often Paul had time only to preach the very basics of the Good News before his enemies ran him out of town. How could he keep these communities of new beleivers going in the right direction after he’d gone? Most of them were living in pagan cities full of idolatory and immorality.
Obviously he prayed. He also wrote letters. Letters full of teaching, advice, correction and encouragement. This week’s readings are extracts from five of paul’s letters – letters to the churches in Rome, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi and Colosse. I hope you’ve read the five readings because Bev read extracts from three of them but I will deal with key aspects of all five.
Romans 8 reminds us that a Spirit-controlled life is the greatest life of all. Paul finished chapter 7 saying, “Jesus Christ acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.”
In verses 1-4 of chapter 8, Paul explains that Jesus frees us from that difficulty because, when he became one of us, Jesus Christ overcame sin and death and then gave us a new Spirit (8:1-4). And Paul reminds us that either we are controlled by our sinful nature, or by the Holy Spirit (8:5-17). This is one or the other – it’s “either-or”; not “both-and” – and it’s a choice we make once and then all the time. This is a real choice that we can make because we have been freed from the control of our human (sinful) nature. Not only is it a choice we can make, it is a choice we must make.
To choose Christ as our Saviour is to choose Christ as our Lord. He is more than Saviour and Lord he is our Saviour-Lord. He is the Lord who saves us. He saves us to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, and we have an obligation to live under that control (8:9,12), to live by what the Spirit desires (8:5)
Being controlled by the Spirit doesn’t mean life will always be easy or successful, but God will use everything, even bad things, for your ultimate good if you belong to him (8:28). You can be sure God loves you and is in charge of your life. With the Spirit leading you, you are on top of the world!
Galatians 5:16–6:10
In this passage we have two lists. One list is of things that hinder our development like weeds choke out the plants in the garden. This list of sins sounds like a plot summary for many current films and tv programmes. The sins in the list are not to be taken lightly, for sin has serious consequeces. As Paul says over and over again, sin leads to death. Deal with it, get rid of it, avoid it, stay away from it. I have a farden full of weeds and I’m waiting for the ground to dry enough so that I can pull them out. We don’t have to wait for good weather to pull the weeds from our lives. Do it now. The sooner the better.
The other list is of the fruits of the Spirit – the character qualities that we want to cultivate. These are the good things that we expect to be showing more and more in our lives and in every Christian’s life.
This is the choice Paul wrote of in Romans 8. But removing the “weeds” and cultivating the “fruit” in our lives is tough work, so Paul suggests two sources of help.
The first is fellow believers (6:1-5); Christian friends who can help restore the broken parts of our lives (6:1-5) and help motivate us to keep on track (Heb.10:24,25).
The second is the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us to “live by the Spirit” (5:16), to be “led by the Spirit” (5:18) and to “keep in step with the Spirit” (5:25).
With these helpers, we can learn to recognize and remove the “weeds” (5:19-21) from our lives and at the same time, cultivate the “fruit” (5:22-23) of the Spirit and so develop a godly character.
In Ephesians 6:10–20 we have a description of the armour of God.
Weeds grow in our lives because of our human natures, but there is also a spirit who wants those weeds to grow. We’re engaged in battle and it is a spiritual battle against Satan and his forces (6:11-12). The devil is real; he opposes God and he is scheming against God’s children (6:11-12). There’s a war on and war is for keeps. That’s why we need secure protection and powerful weapons.
Beware of Satan’s schemes: drugs, the occult, greed, pride, etc. They’re listed in Galatians 5 (among other places). Everything that is not of God’s Spirit will draw us away from God and godliness.
No need to get freaked by this because we have the defenses we need to resist Satan’s schemes. Truth, righteousness, the Gospel, faith, salvation, God’s Word and prayer (6:14-18) are the weapons God has given us to survive in the spiritual battle. Use them with God’s power (6:10). know what you have to fight with and how to use your weapons. Practice at every opportunity – and there are plenty of opportunities. We know to expect temptation (1 Peter 5:8) so we can be prepared to use God’s defenses to deal with it and win the battle.
This passage also reminds us that the best defense against evil is a good offense.
Philippians 4:4–9 tells us more about going on the offensive.
What I’ve said so far may be sounding like real hard work but Paul is reminding us here that we can have peace even in the midst of life’s problems. How does Paul say to do that?
It requires three conscious decisions.
The first is the decision to rejoice whether you feel like it or not (4:4). The focus of our rejoicing is the Lord, not our circumstances
The second decision is to pray (4:6). Give your worries to God (4:6) (1 Peter 5:7). If I wake in the middle of the night I can find it hard to get back to sleep. I have found the easiest/best way to get back to sleep is to pray. Are you worried? Shape your worries into prayers.
The third is to focus on positive things (4:8). When we’re overwhelmed with the negative, it helps to remember God’s goodness. Recall God’s goodness (4:8) and focus your mind on what is good and uplifting (4:8)
And trust God’s presence. Paul assures us here that the God of peace will be with you (4:9). In fact, God is never far, no matter the situation (Matthew 14:22-33).
Rejoice, pray, focus on the positive.
Colossians 1:1–23
The point of all of this is for us to be becoming like Jesus. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the image of the invisible God (1:15). We can’t see God and we have difficulty relating to an infinite, invisible spirit. However we can relate to one who is visible and human like ourselves – even allowing for the fact that he is also God. To know what God is like, look at Jesus. Nothing in God is lacking in Jesus (1:19). Jesus is God visible.
Jesus is the Creator. According to Genesis 1 and John 1:3 He’s the one who created it all.
Jesus is the Sustainer. It says here that He holds all things together (1:17). In Jesus, all “things”, all knowledge makes sense. He sustains me and you; he keeps us going.
Jesus is the Head of the Church. He is the supreme ruler of all things (1:18). He is our Lord, the One to whom we refer and the One to whom we are accountable.
Jesus is the Reconciler. He’s reconciled us to God (1:20) and to each other (Ephesians 2:13,14)
It is right for us to give Jesus our God thanks and praise. Up at Unitec I frequently meet people who know very little or nothing at all about Jesus Christ and Christian faith. So I’ve been thinking about things that make Christians distinct from people of other faiths. One of those distinctions is that Christians sing for joy. We sing for the joy of knowing God and knowing his care for us. We sing joyfully of the wonderful transformation he makes in our lives.
Conclusion
So, praise Jesus for who he is and for all that he’s done for you. He has freed us from all that held us back and he’s given us a new lease on life. He enables us to live victorious lives that bring him honour. He does this by working things out for our good and by helping us remove the weeds and cultivate the good fruit of his Spirit. He gives us the power to evercome the evil one. Because of that we rejoice and sing.
We have every reason and every means to rejoice in Christ our King.