What Must I Do?
What Must I Do?
Jesus said, "Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life" (Rev 2:10).
Paul wrote along similar lines... "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day, and not only to me but to all who have loved his appearing" (2Tm 4:7).
Sometimes Christians are required to die for their faith. For most of us, however, we are required only to maintain our faith until we die. This is not such a big ask, when the Lord has been so wonderful to us, and when he helps us every step of the way.
In this lesson we look at Romans chapter eight. This chapter may be divided into six sections. The last verse of each section states the section's main principle in a nutshell. Each of these six principles helps us to have an abundant life in Christ, and to be faithful until death.
If you wanted a mechanic to fix your car, what kind of mechanic would you rather have, a qualified A-grade mechanic or a B-grade back yard operator? If you were going to watch a movie, what would you rather watch, an excellent piece of cinematography well acted and directed, or some trashy B-grade thing that amuses only its eccentric cult following? In the same way, what kind of life do you want to live, an abundant, purposeful, and satisfying life, or a weak and disappointing one? Allow me to show you six principles of A-grade living, and encourage you to develop each of them in your life. Don't be satisfied with B-grade living when, through Jesus Christ and God's Holy Spirit, you can have an A-grade life.
Imagine I offered you a thousand dollars to deliver an important parcel to Alice Springs by midnight. Your first thought would probably be, "What's the best way for me to get to Alice tonight?" You would not, for example, say, "I wonder if they grow tulips in Alice?" You would need to ask the right question, and get the right answer quickly.
To live life abundantly, you must get your asks and your answers right. In the nutshell statement for this section (verse 14), Paul says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God".
Why are you alive in this world? To become a son of God. How can you achieve this? By following the leadership of God's Spirit. There you have the greatest questions you could ever ask, and the answers to them.
The greatest problem in our lives is sin, and the condemnation that it brings upon us. Until we have the answer to that problem, we cannot have an abundant life, because we are condemned to death, being cut off from God's life-giving Spirit. The answer is found in Jesus Christ. "There is no condenmantion to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit" (Rom 8:1).
Now let's summarise the other verses in this section.
Jesus condemned sin in mankind, just as God's law has always done. But Jesus did what the law could not do by itself: Jesus provided an answer to the condemnation. He died for our sins and arose from the dead, that we might have life through forgiveness in Him. Even though we must still endure the death of our physical bodies, that too will be overcome in the end by our resurrection from the dead. Jesus certainly gives us the answers we need!
By yielding to God's Spirit, by accepting and following the answers that Jesus provides, God's Spirit lives in us. So we live, and live abundantly. Otherwise we die and die miserably.
We would all agree, I'm sure, that the right attitude toward life and its problems is of the utmost importance. You may remember the story of the two shoe salesmen who were sent to a tropical island where everybody went barefoot. One salesman came back defeated. "There's no market for shoes on this island --nobody there wears shoes". The other salesman came back successful. "This island is a shoe salesman's paradise. Everybody there needs shoes!" The attitudes made all the difference.
In the nutshell statement of this section (verse 18), Paul states his attitude toward life: "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us."
In the opening verse of this section (verse 15), Paul tells us that we should have no spirit of fear, but the spirit of adoption. He goes on to say that we are heirs to the kingdom of God, and we are children of God. Our sufferings in this life are our sharing in the sufferings of Christ, and if we suffer with him we shall also be glorified with him.
This is the right outlook on life: we are children of our Father, and joint heirs with Christ, who, after he had suffered was glorified. This is a powerful attitude that completely changes the way we live.
Lesson continued...