5th Sunday after Pentecost
July 13, 2014
Romans
8:1-11
Working Title: (Not) Damned If You Do and (Not) Damned If You Don’t
“There
is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Last week we read in Romans about how we do not
understand our own actions. We do not do
the good we know we ought to do. The bad
things we know we shouldn’t do are what we end up doing. This is the human condition: we are sinful. And because of our sin we deserve
condemnation and death. However, Jesus
Christ rescues us from death. We are
free from condemnation, not because we do everything right, but because Jesus
died instead of us and defeated death once and for all by rising again. “There is therefore now no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus.”
So,
let’s take that a step further: “There is now no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus…,” therefore, let us not
condemn ourselves, either. If God
doesn’t condemn us, who are we to condemn ourselves? We can all relate to last week’s passage
about doing things we shouldn’t have done and not doing things that we should
have done. We all sin and fall short of
the glory of God. However, God does not condemn us for our sins. Holds us accountable, yes. Consequences, yes. But not condemned. Paul wrote this so that his readers could “stop
contemplating their sorry state and behold their Lord Jesus Christ, for whose
sake God raises the dead to a new life and declares, ‘There is therefore now no
death sentence.’”[1] If you are in Christ, all things are made
new.[2] You are dead to sin and alive to Christ,[3]
which means confess your sins, accept forgiveness and whatever repercussions
there may be from your sin, and then praise God that you have a new life in
Christ. God does not condemn you. It was interesting, “condemnation” is a
pretty harsh word, and in looking up other bible translations of this verse, I
only came across only two out of about ten that did not use the word
“condemnation.” The Common English
Version states that “If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won’t be punished.” No condemnation; no punishment. And Eugene Peterson’s The Message says that you “…no longer have to live under a
continuous, low-lying black cloud.” If
you are in Christ, you no longer have to live under a black cloud that never
goes away. God doesn’t place you under
that cloud. You don’t have to place
yourself under a black cloud, either.
Now,
reflecting back on what’s happened is ok and probably pretty healthy. It’s good to understand what has happened and
why. I don’t believe in ignoring the
past. There was a New York Times article
that came out last year about ten years of research on nostalgia.[4] Traditionally, it was thought that if you
were nostalgic or dwelling on the past, then you were depressed. It turns out that that’s not necessarily
true. Nostalgia also gives you a sense
of your roots, of self-continuity, and hope for the future. Don’t look at the past through rose-colored
glasses and don’t stay dwelling there, but remembering what happened helps you
to understand who you are today and can give you strength to go forward. The good news is that we can use our past failings
as a foundation for our ongoing spiritual growth.[5] No, let me rephrase that. God
can use our past failings to draw us closer to him. He does not condemn us. Neither do we need to condemn ourselves. His power is made perfect in our weakness,[6] if
we will turn those weaknesses over to him.
So, let’s allow some room for grace. Grace for yourself and grace for others. Unconditional love. Before seminary I served for about a year in
Nicaragua with a non-profit mission agency.[7] My theme word for that year was “grace.” Living in another culture is not always easy
and it can be quite easy to criticize other ways of doing things. Why can’t they have air conditioning? Why can’t the buses run on time? Why can’t they do things like we do them in
the U.S.?? And each time I’d start to
feel critical of my host culture, the word “Grace!” would mentally shout itself
in my head. Grace! Just because it’s a different way of doing
things does not make it a worse way to do them.
This is how this culture works and to not just survive in it but thrive,
I had to accept it how it was. No, not
all parts of it are healthy, but neither are all parts of American
culture. However, if I was going to live
and serve with Nicaraguans, I had to allow them, and myself, some grace.
The
thing about Christianity is that we do believe in redemption. Our God is making all things new. And that includes us: we do believe that people can change. I’m not sure that’s a common belief in our
society today. We seem pretty jaded that
once someone steals, they will always be a thief, or once someone lies, you can
never trust them again. But that’s not
what God says. Who you have been in the
past, or even who you are today, does not
have to be who you are in the future.
Reputations change. Businesses
and entertainers hire people to rebrand their image and it’s not always a
superficial rebranding, either.
Sometimes the culture of the business changes. There was a restaurant near us in Raleigh,
North Carolina, that was run by a family from New Jersey and it was not doing
well. To turn things around, they
brought in Jon Taffer, from Spike TV’s show, “Bar Rescue,” to do a
makeover. Jon changed the theme to
center around moonshine and the Prohibition Era, which is what gave rise to
NASCAR, a sport my husband and I never got into, but very popular in North
Carolina, nonetheless. The family from
New Jersey embraced the new theme, learned all they could about moonshine,
adapted to their surrounding culture, and the Moon Runners’ Saloon is now doing a thriving business.[8]
People
can and do change. Allow them and
yourself some grace. Allow them and yourself
some hope. Allow them and yourself the
space to change. Accept what’s happened
and move on. Tomorrow is a new day and
we can only guess what it’ll bring. We just
know the future is in God’s hands.
Finally,
we do this work together. “There is no condemnation for those [plural] who are in Christ Jesus.”
You are never in Christ Jesus by yourself. You cannot be a Christian by yourself nor are
there are self-made Christians. As a
Christian you are part of the body of Christ, the Church, the community of
faith. In your membership vows you
promised to faithfully participate in the ministries of the church by your
prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness.[9] When we all share in the work, when we each
share our gifts of time, talent, and treasure, then the body of Christ is
acting as it should. I’ve heard (or
overheard) a couple comments about how someone’s hoping I will turn this church
around. Unh-unh. To borrow from the first Star Wars movie, I
am not Obi Wan Kenobi and you are not Princess Leia. I am not your only hope. At best, I am a sign of hope, and that is as
long as I point to the One who is hope. I
am not going to be the savior of this church.
My family is not going to be the savior of this church. That job’s already been taken by Jesus
Christ. He alone is the Savior, and if
we are willing to follow his lead together,
not condemning ourselves or each other, allowing each other and ourselves
grace, and working together, then I suspect we just might catch a glimpse of
God’s vision for this church and be able to move toward that vision and become
what he wants us to become.
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