I’m looking forward to my first WLBC Funday. It sounds like a good day.
It’s a day when we give everything away for free. We hope that people will see this as a sign of the kingdom of God.
So, let’s pause a moment and think about our message: “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, NIV)
When Paul wants to illustrate this, he turns to the tenth commandment: you shall not covet. In principle he agreed with this commandment. In practice he couldn’t stop disobeying it, and the more he tried to obey the commandment the worse things got. He has the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Our human race is prone to sin. The news tells us this every day. Our own hearts tell us too, if we are prepared to listen to them. Why do we keep going to war? Why do we hurt each other? Why do we discriminate? Why do we abuse the planet? Why do we approve of people who do these things? Paul’s answer to these questions is that we are in a state called ‘death.’ And a dead person cannot get up on their feet and walk away. It’s not just that we do wrong things; we are help in a prison from which we cannot escape.
Some people may want to object to this. Surely there are good people around? Surely they do make a difference? Well, yes and yes. No doubt some people who live in prison manage a level of freedom that most inmates don’t. But that doesn’t mean that they can break out. Somehow we all end up serving what Paul calls the law of sin.
And the good news? It’s all about the death and resurrection of Jesus and his gift of the Spirit. It’s about us gazing, awestruck, at an empty tomb. It’s about new life bursting out of captivity. It’s about the Spirit stirring so people who can’t pray find things going on at a level they can’t understand. It’s about the creation being in the pangs of childbirth for something that we can barely understand.
For Paul this was practical. He was able to stop coveting.
He discovered that nothing could separate him from the love of Christ. This was eternal life.
Looking forward to the Funday, where I doubt we will discuss these things. But maybe we can give freely with a new understanding of what we are doing.
Let’s walk this road together.
James
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