Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2005 : March 6, 2005
Enjoy the Trip
Lent 4
I just read an interesting story about Carlos Mora, a computer specialist from Holden, Massachusetts. He owns an SUV. He commutes three hours a day, spends all kinds of time driving his teenage kids all over town, and basically has no time to relax. So can you guess where he goes when he wants to relax? Right back to his SUV, which has a GPS navigational system, a Sony PlayStation and a built-in PC -- plus a DVD player with surround sound. He has everything he needs right in his SUV.
Now I don't consider myself to be too old yet, but even I can remember the days when riding in a car was sometimes boring. Did any of you ever go on a big road trip with your parents when you were younger, maybe on an extended vacation somewhere? My family still talks about the great 5-week vacation out west. We had one van with eight people packed in like sardines. To be honest, I don't know how we survived without PlayStations and built-in DVD players. Instead, we played games like 20 Questions, I Spy and the Alphabet game. And whenever that got tedious and any of the kids would say, "I'm bored," can you guess what my parents told them to do? "Look outside and enjoy the scenery." Easier said than done when you're going through Kansas.
Like Jesus, the Apostle Paul was a master at comparing the Christian's life to everyday things, like a race or getting ready for battle. This morning we're going to look at it from the viewpoint of your car or SUV as you're traveling down the highway on a family vacation. Paul has one very encouraging word of advice: Enjoy the Trip.
First, Paul tells us that the only way to enjoy the trip is to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. That's an important bit of advice for us because it's very easy to let your trip be controlled by all kinds of other things instead of the Spirit. For instance, back when a car's life expectancy was 70,000 miles (or 90,000 if it was Japanese), you could almost be assured that your car would break down on a long trip. To this day, I can vividly remember driving along Highway 41 just south of Appleton. We were on our way back from a camping trip, with the pop-up camper hooked up to the van. And all of a sudden we dropped from 60 miles an hour to 40. I thought we had hit something -- until I saw the axle from our camper, with the wheels still on it, pass us on the highway. That was something totally unexpected and really out of our control.
As Christians, things come up in our lives that are beyond our control also. We might run into tragedies like we talked about last Sunday. We might have to make a job decision that will influence the rest of our lives. We might be presented with an opportunity to show what we're really made of as Christians, like helping someone who is less physically or spiritually blessed than we have been.
How do we react in those situations? It depends on who we are at the moment. You see, as Christians, at any given time, we are basically made up of two parts: a Dr. Jekyll and a Mr. Hyde. We can react to situations in life from our Christian side (Dr. Jekyll), or we can react to things from our sinner side (Mr. Hyde). Paul describes the sinner side in verses 6 and 7. What does he say? "The mind of sinful man is death...; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so." That's the Mr. Hyde part of us, and each of has it. In fact, whether a person is Christian or not, if you are on this earth, you have this. This is who we are by nature. But the scary thing is when that part of us controls us. Verse 8 sums it up well: "Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God." In one word, can you tell me what we call people who are controlled by the sinful nature? Unbelievers, right? In Hebrews, the Bible says the same thing: "Without faith it is impossible to please God." And that lack of faith shows itself. How will an unbeliever, someone controlled by the sinful nature, react to a tragedy? They might blame God for it. They might say, "Well if this is how things happen, I may as well live however I want." They might even doubt if God is real. If someone controlled by the sinful nature has to make a career choice, what kinds of things will they be concerned about? The good of their family? Sure, unbelievers are concerned about their families. But they will also be thinking other things like, "What will make me the most money?" Will they be thinking about how this new job conflicts with God's will? No -- why would they? Pleasing God is not even on their radar screen. If that person controlled by the sinful nature sees someone less fortunate than himself, what will he do? He might give to the poor. He might go out of his way to visit someone in a nursing home. But even then, it's not because he thinks God wants him to do it. He does it because it will help someone or he will feel good about it, but pleasing God isn't part of it, unless he's trying to earn God's favor.
For the unbeliever, whatever choices they make in life, they can't please God. But for the Christian, it's different. Christians actually can please God. But they can also choose not to please God. If you are faced with a tragedy, you have a choice as a Christian -- react to it in a God-pleasing way, or not in a God-pleasing way. It's as simple as that. But doesn't that make you squirm in your seat a little this morning? It certainly makes me feel rotten. Why? Because I can think of plenty of times when I haven't reacted to the things of this life in a God-pleasing way. There have been times I've been faced with tragedy, and I've selfishly thought of myself. When I've made a decision about jobs in my life, I haven't always thought, "Is this going to conflict with my worship of God?" Instead, I've thought only about the amount of money I can make. When God has placed countless opportunities in front of me to help someone who's hurting or lonely or in pain, I've thought that I was too busy with my own problems or work to help them, even (and especially) when my family or friends needed my help. Yes, the sinful side of a Christian wants nothing better than for us to think only about ourselves. And the more we do that, the more we drift further and further away from God and live only for ourselves instead of him. And God tells us that the penalty for such behavior is to be away from God forever -- to be condemned forever.
But listen to what Paul says in verse 1: "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." That is a huge statement. Why can Paul say it? Verse 3 tells us: Because God sent "his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering." God sent his Son. And Jesus looked like any ordinary sinful man, but with one big difference -- he wasn't sinful. So when Jesus gave up his own sinless life on the cross, God condemned sin in him so he wouldn't have to punish us. What love our God had and continues to have for us that he would punish his perfect Son in our place!
And now look at the result in verse 4: "the righteous requirements of the law are fully met in us." When God looks at anyone who believes in Jesus as their Savior, he doesn't see someone who made all kinds of wrong choices and selfish choices in this world. Now all he sees is someone who made every single decision perfectly according to his will. He sees you and me as absolutely perfect because he looks at us and sees Jesus. That's why we can never get sick of Romans 8:1: "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Now there's absolutely no possible way you can be held accountable for your sins through faith in Christ because Jesus paid your account in full when he died for every one of those sins when he shed his blood for you.
Not only is there no condemnation before God, but the result shows itself in our daily lives. The Spirit of Life, the Holy Spirit, now lives in my heart. And instead of sin controlling my life and my actions, the Holy Spirit does. He helps me, he guides me to live my Christian life. And every time I do fall into sin, he directs me to take refuge in the cross of Jesus. That's where I take the Mr. Hyde part of me and nail it to the cross with Jesus, so that all God sees in me now is the Dr. Jekyll side which through faith grabs hold of Jesus' righteousness, the part in me that is created in Christ Jesus to do good works. And knowing that God sees us as good and even perfect, we want to live that way. Our Christian life takes on a whole new perspective. It is now fun to live according to the Holy Spirit as we enjoy the trip of life. Instead of our minds being characterized by sin which leads to death, Paul says, "the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;...if Christ is in you,...your spirit is alive because of righteousness."
Imagine again that you're on a long road trip. Instead of focusing on your PlayStation or DVD player as you're traveling, look out the window. Enjoy the scenery. That's like seeing this world through the eyes of faith, and then making the kind of choices God wants you to make because you're no longer controlled by your sinful nature, but now, as a Christian, you're controlled by the Holy Spirit and so you live according to the Holy Spirit. If a tragedy comes into your life, how would you deal with it? Realize that God is in control. He is working for your good even if you can't see it now. Recognize that he's trying to strengthen your faith and draw you closer to him. And finally, just trust him because of all the other blessings he's already given you, especially the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation. If you have a job opportunity that would conflict with God's will, you will say, "I could make more money with this job, but it would ruin my relationship with my God. So I simply can't take it." Again, you trust in God to provide for you, as he always has in the past. If you have the opportunity to help someone less fortunate than you are, you will go out of your way to help them. And these things won't be burdensome to you because you see this life for what God wants it to be -- your time for coming to see Jesus as your Savior and then to live every day in thankfulness to him because he died for your sins and gave you eternal life and countless other blessings.
Road trips are fun. But don't stay in the van playing with all the things this world has to offer. Enjoy your trip through life by getting out of the van and doing the things the Spirit wants you to do, always giving thanks to the one who made it possible -- Jesus.
