Romans 8:12-17

Title: Consider Your Title

Quote from Packer in last week’s sermon:

“Slaves follow the example of Christ through obedience submission.  All believers are called to share Christ’s humiliation and sufferings in this age, in order to be exalted and glorified with Him in the next.” (Rom. 8:17)

I.  Speak Softly and Carry a Big Bible?

v12 “therefore” I believe this “therefore” is a direct reference to 12b “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.”

because of the reference in both cases to the flesh.  

In v. 11b he calls it “mortal bodies” and then in 12 he calls it “flesh.”  Paul’s point is this: You owe your flesh nothing, you owe the Spirit of God everything.

In fact, Paul says that when we accept the spirit we put to death the ways of our flesh.  It is this path, by the Spirit, which leads to eternal life, whereas the path of the flesh leads to death and destruction.

Application Question: Why have so many of us, who have the Spirit, and have put to death the ways of our flesh, feel as though we owe our flesh something?

Why do we speak softly of our faith, in order to not offend or shock anyone?  (I think Jesus’ entire ministry was based on shocking and offending people’s understanding of God.)

Why do we allow ourselves to chuckle at an inappropriate joke or remark so that we don’t appear to be too “square” or “uncool” as Christians?  (Christ told us to cut off our hand if it caused us to sin, not to massage it.)

Why do we let our guard down when around friends and family and slip back into our old routines because, “They know me and love me and know what I’m really about?”  (Jesus said if you do not hate your mother and father for His name’s sake you could not be His disciple.)

II.  The Adoption

V14/15(read)

This like last week, is another qualifying verse from Paul.  What he essentially tells us here is that if one is led by the Spirit of God, that person is a son of God.  We see that sonship issue further discussed in v15 as Paul uses the term “Spirit of Adoption.”  

J.I. Packer makes this observation: The cry of the believer, “Abba, Father!” indicates how vividly union with Christ was realized in the experience of the New Testament Church.  The cry is an expression of an assured awareness of sonship.  

In other words, there is something special to the fact that Paul says, as adopted sons and daughters we have the ability to cry out to God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, in the same language that Christ himself used to address His heavenly father.

Does this blow your mind as much as it does mine?

We tend to think of our spiritual adoption as an act of charity on God’s behalf. 

I remember a life long friend of mine telling me about his mother.  This friend grew up in a very poor rural area of Ohio and a lot of the families on his street were broken families.  Crime was everywhere, and parents disregarded their children.  All except for my friend’s mother.  She not only cared for, fed, looked after, and (this is key) disciplined her own two boys, but also, all the boys and girls in the neighborhood.

Many times my friend’s father had the opportunity to move out of this neighborhood, to a better neighborhood, and bigger house, with less crime, but each time he approached his wife, she vehemently told him, “God has us on this street for a reason.  These kids have no one.  Therefore, we are not moving.”

And they didn’t.  For years they lived well below their means.  And these children became young adults, graduated from High School, some just barely, but had my friend’s mom been there, they would not have graduated at all. They all grew up, got jobs, and got out of that neighborhood.

If my friend’s mother had not treated these kids like they were he own, they would have had no chance to survive.

Friends, we are the same way.  If our father left us alone, we’d be doomed to our own sin and demise.  Yet he didn’t just take us in.  He loved us with the same effectual love that brought his own son back to life after it was surrendered on the cross at Calvary.

We are not God’s charity case.  He has no desire to move off of our street.  We are his children, because that’s the way he sees it, even if we don’t.

III.  The Consequence

V17 (read)

Paul then takes it one step further, and his conclusion is both awe inspiring and completely humbling.  The father that has taken us in, and has loved, as he loved his own blood son, Jesus, is not just a neighbor down the street.  He is the king.  And if we are his children, we are “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.”

We are royalty.

We have no business acting like fools.

I tell young women all the time: You are the daughter of King, you should expect the men that court and date you to treat you as such.  I tell young men: You are the son of a King, you represent the kingdom in everything you do.  Do not take that lightly.

I want to leave you this morning with a word of encouragement.  And not fluffy “rah rah yeah Jesus” encouragement.  Rather, what the thought I want to close with this morning is deep, moving theological truth that is a potent motivator for us to continue on the straight and narrow.

We are joined with Christ.  He was the one who introduced us to the King.  He is the link between the kingdom and our lives.  We suffer with Christ, we suffer like Christ in the here and now, that we may be glorified with Christ when the Kingdom comes.