Romans 7:7-25 - Wrestling With Your Faith Is A Good Thing!

What if I told you that you don’t have to have it all together?  In fact, until we recognize our own angst and wrestle with living out our faith including our frustrations and shortcomings, we’re likely minimizing the power of the Spirit and of grace in our lives. We’re in Romans 7:7-25, the part of the letter where Paul shares his own struggles in the pursuit of Christlike spirituality.

Transcript

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What if I told you that you don't actually have to have it all together? In fact, until we recognize our own angst concerning our faith and truly wrestle with all of that, including our shortcomings and our frustrations, we're likely minimizing the power of the Spirit and of grace in our lives. On that happy note, welcome to Meet Me in the Word. I am genuinely happy that you've joined us today. We're in Romans chapter 7, verses 7 through 25. It's the part of the letter where Paul shares about his own spiritual frustrations as he seeks to be more Christ-like in his spirituality. We're going to jump into this together, but before we do anything else, let's pray. Jesus, thank you for this wonderful day that you've given us. God thank you that in the scriptures we see instructions and we also see examples. God help us to honor and to follow both. We ask this in your name. Amen. All right, Romans chapter seven, verses seven through twenty-five. What shall we say then? Is the loss 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. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. 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. We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do, for what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do, and if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature, for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 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. 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. So I find this law at work. Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me, for in my inner being I delight in God's law, 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. What a wretched man I am, who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death. 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 a slave to the law of sin. Let's go ahead and pause and listen to God. You can pause this podcast if that's helpful for you. All right, let's make some observations here about this passage, just uh so you know, I recognize that this is like a large chunk with a lot going on in it, but I wanted us to work through all of the angst, all of these different things in a single uh sitting, I guess, so to speak, and uh to work our way through that so that we can continue to move on. I know I could have broken it down in into smaller chunks, but I felt like it was helpful for us to take this part of it as as a whole. I've made my observations based on different things that I see popping out in the text along the way. So I'll show you a little bit here what I mean. The first observation uh for me is that the law reveals. In other words, that's its function. What does the law do? Now we know it does more than this, but in this conversation that Paul is having with us, it's uh it's revealing, it's showing us what sin actually is. Verse 7, and I'm jumping in here at different parts here, but verse seven it says, Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law, right? For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, You shall not covet. We see the same idea again here in verse 10. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death, and and so it's it's identifying it. And then in verse 13, again about halfway through, 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. There's a lot in there, and by the way, the way that Paul writes this section, like it's it's almost dizzying. And so if you find yourself when you read this being like, hang on a second, what is he actually saying and why is he saying it in so many different ways, you're not alone in that. And I don't know the reason why he does that, but it's just the way he's communicating, and maybe it kind of reflects just his own, like working stuff out. That's uh very possible. All right, so we know that the law reveals, it identifies what sin is, and and it points it out to us. The second bit, though, is that the law is good. The law is good, and we see that uh pointed out to us at the beginning of verse 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not, right? Okay, and then we see it pop up again here in verse 12, and he says it's plainly here. So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. Absolutely. It's right there for us. And then in verse 13, he continues that thought, did that which is good then become death to me by no means? Right? So the law is good. Now there's frustration that he's expressing in this relationship with the law and how the law interacts with sin and what happens to us, which is kind of where I'm going next. So the law reveals the law is good and sin is predatory. We see this all over the place in this passage. We'll start with verse eight and nine. But sin seizing the opportunity, right, hear that afforded by the commandment, produced in me every time every kind of coveting. Verse nine. Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, and I died. Verse eleven. For sin seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. Verse 17, as it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. Verse twenty. 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. So we just see that the battle isn't here primarily with the law. The law reveals the law is good, but sin uh in its in its nature, uh is something that jumps uh out and as he said twice, seizes opportunity. By the way, real quick, uh in verse 18, and then again at the very end in verse 25, the version that I'm reading from, which is the New International Version, uses the phrase sinful nature. Uh in my sinful nature, it talks about there in both spots, and uh that's really comes from the word for flesh, and they've I'm just acknowledging that they've done some um some theological work there that may or may not be helpful to us, but that's what that's referring to is that wrestling with our flesh, right, rather than with our spirit, and there's a differentiation there. And then finally, I wanted us to to appreciate that spiritual people wrestle. I'm coming back to my opening comments here. If you find yourself wrestling with your own morality, with your battle against temptation and your battles against sin itself, if you find yourself having to struggle with your faith and and and it's not doesn't always go perfectly well, that's probably actually a good sign. It means that you are pursuing Christ and it matters to you. And one of the most encouraging things about this passage, which is admittedly dizzying and all kinds of crazy things, but it's to see the apostle, right? The apostle, the great New Testament writer, to see him lay out for us his own battle with trying to follow rules, with the feelings that that emerged out of deep within himself, and what is he supposed to do with all of that? So just recognizing that spiritual people wrestle. Verses uh 15 through 24 really highlight this. I'm not going to reread all of this, but it's that whole, I do not understand what I do. What I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do. This keeps on going, sort of sort of back and forth. And then later on here, uh verse 21, I find this law at work. Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. In my inner being, I delight in God's law, but then I see this other law at work, this war that wages within me. And that's language that helps me to understand my own personal struggles, my own battles with temptation, my own desire to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. And it really pushes us here into what I'd like us to reflect on for today. But before we do that, I just wanted to make sure that you know that I know that yes, there is hope. And so please tune in next week. Uh we go through Romans 7, and that's part of the the valley, so to speak. There's some darkness there, there's some struggling going on, and then we'll get to Romans chapter 8, and it is just a completely a breath of fresh air that's there waiting for us. So, yes, there is hope. Please tune in next week, but it's okay. It's okay for us to struggle uh through all these uh different things that Paul is is helping us to do. So here's your question to kind of keep with you uh throughout the rest of your day, whatever that might be for you. What is the nature or the specifics of your battle? I believe it's really good to identify it and and to recognize it for what it is. Paul gives us examples and he speaks it about it to us in a general sort of a sense, but each of us are living our own lives. I can't live your life for you, you can't live my life for me. And until we kind of sit down and really sort it out and just go, okay, what what is my battle? And may th maybe there's more than one, I don't know, but but what is the thing that keeps popping up in my life? And am I willing to face that thing, to acknowledge it as something that that is sin-based and needs redemption, and also to recognize that that the rules, including the law, right, the scriptures themselves, and rules that I might make for myself, those things can be guides, those things can be aids, but they will not ultimately bring us to freedom. Freedom comes through the spirit, freedom comes through a deeper understanding of grace and relationship with Jesus. We'll talk more about that next week. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for this amazing day that you've given us. God thank you for your law, thank you for your instructions, and God thank you that there is hope that in you, Jesus, we can have victory. God, while we wrestle, would you be with us? Would you be our strength and our endurance? We ask this in your name. Amen.