Question of the Day: Happy Sabbath! What does "Happy Sabbath" mean to you?
This is a difficult chapter and we are going to tackle the entire chapter. So let's dive in.
Read: Romans 7: 1-6
Released From the Law, Bound to Christ
7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. 3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh,[a] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Continue Reading: Romans 7:7-25
The Law and Sin
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[b] 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[d] a slave to the law of sin.
I would like for us to read the first part of this section in the message bible.
It reads: 7 But I can hear you say, “If the law code was as bad as all that, it’s no better than sin itself.” That’s certainly not true. The law code had a perfectly legitimate function. Without its clear guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork. Apart from the succinct, surgical command, “You shall not covet,” I could have dressed covetousness up to look like a virtue and ruined my life with it.
8-12 Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me. Without all the paraphernalia of the law code, sin looked pretty dull and lifeless, and I went along without paying much attention to it. But once sin got its hands on the law code and decked itself out in all that finery, I was fooled, and fell for it. The very command that was supposed to guide me into life was cleverly used to trip me up, throwing me headlong. So sin was plenty alive, and I was stone dead. But the law code itself is God’s good and common sense, each command sane and holy counsel.
There is no way to slice it, this passage can be confusing. What is it trying to say? What life application is there for us?
1. Is it possible to be so focused on right and wrong, that we loose site of Jesus?
2. Have you ever rebelled at doing something just because someone tells you you should? Can rebellion get in our way?
3. Have you ever been consumed with being right and let that get in the way of relationships, or even your relationship with God?
4. Is it possible that Satan takes the very guidelines for our growth and happiness and uses them to keep us from it all?
READ: Romans 7:13 in the message.
13 I can already hear your next question: “Does that mean I can’t even trust what is good [that is, the law]? Is good just as dangerous as evil?” No again! Sin simply did what sin is so famous for doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally destroy me. By hiding within God’s good commandment, sin did far more mischief than it could ever have accomplished on its own.
READ: Romans 7:14-25
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[d] a slave to the law of sin.
I have to admit this whole section is my hearts cry! How about you?
Most of you know this past seven months Chris and I have been on a journey to get healthy. Many people have been surprised when they hear how much weight we have lost in just seven months. The truth is that when we started working on what we put in our mouths, but we have been working on this for a long long long time. I personally have spent a life time living these verses when it comes to my health. Why? Before you are quick to answer that for me, let me share. Many years ago I decided that I wasn't any more going to pretend that I could go through the motions and do what needed to be done to drop the weight unless I first spent some quality time with Jesus and let him work on the heart. There were hurts, stubbornness, rebellion, rejection, loss, and loneliness that needed healing first. Oh I could have lost the weight, many times, but all the heart reasons why I had gotten there in the first place would still be there. So I just kept eating as I was, and sitting and resting in Jesus. Now before you get all up in arms about that idea, let me finish. Jesus always heals!!!! Jesus doesn't leave us alone. It isn't possible to sit with Jesus and not be changed! But we must be kind with each other and realize that if we worry so much about the fat that surrounds the bones and muscle on our friends and acquaintances, we miss the real issue. I had some friends who wanted to constantly "help" me know what I should be doing in my life. Yet those who really helped me weren't the ones who were focusing on the fat but the ones who kept directing back to the feet of Jesus. So for years, (yes years!) I let Jesus do the work. He isn't done with me but He did finally get me to the place where when He asked that I start changing what I put in my mouth I was ready. Can we be brave enough to trust that Jesus is powerful enough to make the changes He wants in others? Can we be brave enough to sit at the feet of Jesus? Are you brave enough to let go of trying so hard and surrender to His power and strength? Are you willing to trust that in the journey He will lead you to transformation from the inside out? If you do, you won't end up with a fit outer shell that is full of holes and pain inside. He will heal your hurts, soften your heart and then carry you through the process of learning to serve Him with your mind, body and soul.
Let me make one thing clear, I'm not fixed, I'm a work in progress. I am on a journey, a journey that starts by sitting at the feet of Jesus, surrendering it all to Him and letting Him tell me when to get up, take up my bed and walk! Will you join me?
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