Category: Living in the Spirit

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:5-11 (day five)

“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God;”
Paul makes it clear where the struggle and battle between the flesh and the Spirit are first waged-  in the mind. Our thoughts are an on-ramp to holiness or destruction. Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.”  Later in Romans 12 “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  Tim Keller sheds more light on this.  “The mind is not neutral ground and cannot love one preoccupation without rejecting the other.”  This why Paul calls the mind set on the flesh, an enemy of God. Can you think of anything worse than being an enemy of God?  So we must set our minds on the Spirit (become focused and preoccupied with the things that preoccupy the Spirit). Let us constantly ask the Spirit to teach and lead us to discover and understand the Spirit’s priorities, principles, and practices.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:5-11 (day four)

I worked for a summer at DFW Airport for Eastern Airlines.  I never tired of watching the planes take off.  Working on the baggage crew, I knew how much weight we loaded on the planes.  Add to that the fuel, the passengers and the actual weight of the aircraft…there was significant weight to lift.  Every time I would watch a jumbo 747 lumber down the runway, I would say, “It will never fly!”  Gravity was always at work but the thrust of the engines was a greater force…it always lifted off.  (Thanks to Dr. Wayne Barber for the analogy.)

The law of sin is always at work in our lives.  It can seem to be overwhelming and strong at times.  When we are in Christ, the Holy Spirit is a greater force in our lives than the gravity of sin.  The Holy Spirit supersedes the power of sin and death.  No longer are we confined by the law of sin, but, in Christ, we live for eternity under the power of a new law…the law of the Spirit.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:5-11 (day three)

“…life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Later in Romans, Paul will say that one of the most spiritual things you can do is to move your body in ways that serve others and stand with them: a hand opening in generosity, an ear listening to stories of suffering, a voice lifting in solidarity with those who face oppression. The Lord said that if you want to find a person’s heart, follow the treasure. Paul relates a similar sentiment: If you want to take an honest look at what you’re devoted to, notice what you do with your body. The Holy Spirit is exhaling onto your body the ability to move like Jesus in the world.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:5-11 (day two) For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. vs. 5

In the next verse Paul will go on to describe a life lived in the Spirit is evidenced by abundant life and peace. If this were the only time that Paul spoke about a Spirit-filled life, it would be enough, but in his letter to the church in Galatia he provides further evidence of someone whose mind is set on the Spirit. He says that their life will be filled with things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control (Gal. 5:22-23). There is no law against such things. How cool is that? Stop and take stock of your walk with Christ right now. Can you sense those spiritual fruit in your life? Are other thoughts or actions crowding out the ability for you to walk with a Spirit-filled focus? God has promised us these things as another barometer of our faith journey. Continue to ask for the Spirit to remove all other things that take away from His perfect plan for you.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:1-4 (day seven)

“Therefore there is now no condemnation”

When I talk with our young people about reading scripture, I tell them anytime there is a “therefore” in scripture, we must ask “what is the ‘therefore’ there for?” This will help us understand the context surrounding this verse, and therefore, understand the passage at hand more clearly.

What is this “therefore” there for? Paul is pointing us back to three things that he has covered thus far in Romans. One, the passage immediately prior to this in 7:23-25 where there is an exclamation of victory “through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Which also connects us secondly to 7:6 where Paul first outlines for us that we are released from the old law to “serve in newness of the Spirit.” Lastly and more broadly, it points us back to chapters 3-5 where Paul in detail explains salvation in Christ.

Therefore, entering into chapter 8, we can read the next several verses with a foreknowledge of the argument to be laid out. We are free in Christ Jesus because of the work He has done on the cross and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:1-4 (day six)

The law turned us into rebels, or rather the power of sin did, taking advantage of the law. The law made it personal. No longer were we committing moral wrongs arbitrarily, we were willfully sinning against a personal and holy God. So overrun by the power of sin, we were as good as dead; walking corpses.

And the law could do nothing about it. Left to the law, shackled by the power of sin, we are nothing but dead rebels.

So, God did what the law could not do, He sent His own Son.

“I am the resurrection and the life,” he said.

“Come out of that grave,” he said.

And the dead rebels breathed and rejoiced.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:1-4 (day five) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
The work of the Holy Spirit is integral in salvation.  In this week’s Re:Verse passage, Paul lays out 2 aspects of this work. First, we are saved from the penalty of sin. No condemnation and Freedom from the law of sin and death. Second, we are saved from the power of sin. Life in the Spirit brings righteousness. Sin’s effect and influence are in direct opposition and conflict with the Spirit. The Sprit brings the opportunity and capability to glorify God through our living “in the Spirit”. The Spirit’s power is greater.

Thank God for His work and provision through the Holy Spirit to save us.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:1-4 (day three)

“…that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us…”

The Pharisees’ use of the law as a tool for building a society was – well, just stop right there. The law is not a tool for anything. It is not something one uses. It is itself the mind of God in written form. The human person will be transformed by it, and when that occurs, no one will ever have to worry that such a person will become like the Pharisees. Such a person – and only such a person – will never die. That is what the law’s “requirement” is all about. Transformation is required for a person to live forever. The Holy Spirit came a-howling gale across the society that the Pharisees built. It leveled everything – except that which was transformed by the One who fulfilled the law.