1If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won't be punished. 2The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death. 3The Law of Moses cannot do this, because our selfish desires make the Law weak. But God set you free when he sent his own Son to be like us sinners and to be a sacrifice for our sin. God used Christ's body to condemn sin. 4He did this, so that we would do what the Law commands by obeying the Spirit instead of our own desires. 5People who are ruled by their desires think only of themselves. Everyone who is ruled by the Holy Spirit thinks about spiritual things. 6If our minds are ruled by our desires, we will die. But if our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have life and peace. 7Our desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God's laws. 8If we follow our desires, we cannot please God.
9You are no longer ruled by your desires, but by God's Spirit, who lives in you. People who don't have the Spirit of Christ in them don't belong to him. 10But Christ lives in you. So you are alive because God has accepted you, even though your bodies must die because of your sins. 11Yet God raised Jesus to life! God's Spirit now lives in you, and he will raise you to life by his Spirit.
12My dear friends, we must not live to satisfy our desires. 13If you do, you will die. But you will live, if by the help of God's Spirit you say "No" to your desires. 14Only those people who are led by God's Spirit are his children. 15God's Spirit doesn't make us slaves who are afraid of him. Instead, we become his children and call him our Father. [b] 16God's Spirit makes us sure that we are his children. 17His Spirit lets us know that together with Christ we will be given what God has promised. We will also share in the glory of Christ, because we have suffered with him.
So now, Paul tries to wrap up this entire thought. He begins with "If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won't be punished" This is not because God has simply ignored the Law, but because He "used Christ's body to condemn sin". The Law is completely satisfied with us.
If we belong to Christ...
Have you ever wondered how we can "know" we belong to Christ? Well, I'm glad you asked. We have one certain test...The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus. People who don't have the Spirit of Christ in them don't belong to him...But Christ lives in you. So you are alive.
We belong to Christ if the Holy Spirit lives in us.
OK...how do I know the Holy Spirit lives in me? Paul says we can know "if by the help of God's Spirit we say "No" to our desires". This is in stark contrast to people who DO NOT belong to Christ. They "follow their desires...think only of themselves".
This is an interesting dynamic. Saying "NO" to our desires is not synonymous with "obedience" (although the two should eventuallly look alot alike). Saying "NO" to our desires is "agreeing with God" that those desires are unhealthy and sinful.
When we've belonged to Christ for some time it's difficult to remember that everybody doesn't "agree with God" about what is right or wrong. We want to believe it's simply a matter of not knowing better. If we tell them, they will agree. Actually, that's not true. Only the Holy Spirit can get us to agree with God. I know I agree with God...so I know the Holy Spirit has to be in me...it's the only way that can happen. I hope and pray that my life looks like it agrees with God. On the occasions when it doesn't, I'm sure the Holy Spirit will let me know.
And I"ll agree with him...
Live boldly out there today...
No comments:
Post a Comment