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A warm heart set free
A. Introduction. Let me read to you from the journal of John Wesley concerning the Aldersgate. The entry of May 14th, 1738..”In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was descending the change, which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation: And an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death “. Bishop Nolan Hannon in his book 'Understanding the Methodist Church' comments on the aftermath of this experience, 'From that time on John Wesley was a man full of power and of the Holy Spirit. His intellectual faculties were greatly kindled, his spiritual wisdom grew, and his energy knew no bounds. Soon he began to travel and to preach and to organize into societies, or bands, all who were converted. A vast and growing spiritual movement took place under his leadership. England soon began to ring with the Methodist revival.' And where revolution and chaos came to continental Europe as seen in the French revolution, historians are in agreement that England was spared the anguish because of the Methodist revival.
What a tremendous witness to the power of the resurrection. Through the heart warming experience of one man in a tiny street called Aldersgate, God caused a movement which changed the face of the world. And the secret, it was a heart set on fire by God's word from the book of Romans. Today in our meditations let us go back to the book of Romans and let us once again be reminded of the power of a life set free for God. Our portion of scripture is found in Romans 8: 1-17.
B. Freedom as a dimension of empowering Our portion of scripture can be divided into three seed concepts concerning empowering of God's people. The first of these seed concept found in Romans 8: 1-8 is the concept of freedom. Let us now look at this section and see how freedom empowers God's children. Verse I begins with the word. ‘Therefore’. Therefore is a word that speaks of the result of something that has gone on before. And here Paul refers to the earlier arguments regarding his teaching on salvation. A man comes to the Lord and by placing his life with Christ he has become a new creature. A man born into a new creation justified in God's sight and joined to Him in grace. So as Paul says if we have come to know Christ and has believed in Him, and has taken upon ourselves the blood of sacrifice. . therefore there is no condemnation (verse I). The word condemnation here has the meaning of one who is no more under penal servitude. One who is no longer serving a sentence. This means that there is no reason for those of us who have come to Christ to go on serving the sentence of punishment as though, in the words of F .F. Bruce, 'as though they had never been pardoned ad never been liberated from the prison house of sin. If such is the case. . Therefore. . It is Christ Jesus who has by the law of the Spirit of life set me free. Here is the key word...freedom. We are truly free from every besetting and crippling happening in our lives. For John Wesley, as he began meditating on the words of Romans, he finally realized that he was free. He was free indeed. Therein lies his power.
Paul in the next few verses spells out the nature of this freedom. What are we free from? What is it that frees us so that we can live a life of hope and power? A life of abundance and fruitfulness. Well, Paul tells us right from the beginning in verse 2 that we are free from the power of sin and the power of death. Let us take each of these in turn.
a. Freedom from the power of sin The power of Sin. What is this power of Sin? Well verses 5 to 8 explain what is involved in the power of sin. We can summarize the power of sin as the power that operates binding men and women in two areas. There is the bondage that comes from our fleshly desires and the bondage that comes through the fleshly mind.
i. The bondage of fleshly desires What is this bondage through our fleshly desires? In verse 5. . We read. . Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what nature desires or as the KJV translates 'for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. . What is this mind set on fleshly desires that so enslaves us? We get a good summary of this in I John 2: 15-17 where John speaks of the cravings of sinful man as the cravings or the lusting after of the things that pleases the eyes, and the boastings of what he has and does, or as the older translation puts it, it is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.
Who has not been in the grip of the desires of the fleshly desires or as the NIV puts it, natural desires. Who has not been in its grip and not been tormented by its feelings of emptiness and the wanting of more? As the book of Proverbs says it is the torment of the unfilled and unsatisfied soul. It is like the leech that says give, give and they are never satisfied. It is the grave and fire and the desert land which never says enough (proverbs 30: 15 and 16). It is the tormented soul of a man who cries out in anguish, '0 I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:19 and 24). May the Lord deliver us from this bondage of desire.
ii. The bondage of the fleshly or sinful mind There is another dimension of the law or power of sin that Paul tells us that there is freedom. This is the bondage that comes through having a fleshly mind or a sinful mind. Verse 7 reads as fOUoW8...the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Here the mind that is sinful is hostile to God and the things of God. It is in a state of constant rebellion against all that God in Christ has commanded. A commentator puts it like this, 'The carnal mind is a mind hostile to God, ~ the divine ideals for humanity. It is self-centred and at war with God. Living in the world of self as supreme, it cannot please God.' Yes, the man who is in the bondage of a fleshly mind cannot help but be hostile and in rebellion to God. Even if it wanted to do otherwise, he cannot help himself
There are these two dimensions that Paul tells us that we can be free from. There is the bondage of the sinful desires and there is the bondage of the sinful mind. Both bring with them wretchedness and torment. Praise be to God that we now need not be in continuing servitude against these powers. We are actually free. We can walk out of the prison that surrounds us because the doors have been blown open. We are as free as any man. While the ways remains and there is the prison feeling watch, the gates are open. If only we would but walk through.
b. Freedom from the power of death The other dimension of this freedom is the freedom from the law of death. Here Paul speaks of the death that is the consequence of sin... Verse 23 in Chapter 6...For the wages of sin is death. It is the death that is signified by eternal punishment and the lake of fire. While all men die (physical death) not all men will die the second death. Hence Jude 12 and Revelation 2: 11 speak of the second death as ones who will be with the angels that are kept in darkness and bound in everlasting chains. As a scholar puts it, 'apart from Christ, death is the supreme enemy, the symbol of our alienation from God, and the ultimate horror’. Praise be to God that Christ has come to give us freedom from the second death. The death of the spirit, of alienation from God.
Hence when John Wesley heard this freedom he rejoiced. He rejoiced that he had freedom from sin. Freedom from the bondage of fleshly desires and freedom from the fleshly mind. He also rejoiced that he had now freedom even from death itself It is no wonder that he came away strangely warmed with the deep assurance that Christ indeed had taken away his sins and saved him from the law of death. What about us. Do we have that conviction as we read the scriptures this morning that Christ indeed has given us freedom from all those things that so cling upon ourselves. Those desires and attitudes that tie us down and make us powerless. Break free. . Walk out from the dungeons of the mind and heart and be like free men.
C. Fettering by the Holy Spirit The second aspect to empowering that Paul writes for us in the portion of scripture is found in verses 9 to 11. While Paul talks of freedom from verse 1 to 8, Paul now speaks of being fettered by the Holy Spirit. To be fettered is an old English word that means being in chains. The picture is more like an animal on a leash. Hence to be fettered is to be controlled. What an interesting idea to be included with power. While freedom empowers, fettering or being controlled by the Holy Spirit empowers. Paul speaks in verses 9 to 11 of the nature of this control. Let me read the relevant portions. Verse 9. However are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And again in verse 11. . And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who lives.
a. Fettering by someone We are not fettered by some idea or something but by someone. This is the clue. Being empowered by being fettered can only be possible if it is done through someone. his not anyone. It is someone whose name is the Holy Spirit. Hence in this passage, Paul reminds the Roman Christians, that the Holy Spirit must power us in order that we can be empowered by Him. It is only by allowing the resurrected Christ to come within us that we can be empowered.
b. Fettered by the power of the resurrected Christ There is another dimension to the teaching of empowering through being fettered by the Spirit. Let me draw your attention to Philippians 3:10 and 11. Let me read these verses. . I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering becoming like him in his death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Here in these verses Paul speaks of resurrection power, that is the power that resides in the Spirit of the resurrected Christ. One needs to grasp the significance of this. If we allow the Holy Spirit to take full control of our lives, and invite Him to come into our selves not barring Him from every comer and facet of our lives, and seriously considering all that He wants us to do, then we are partaking of the power that made Christ to rise from the dead! Think of it. If we allow the Holy Spirit to take full control then we are empowered by the power that resurrected Jesus from the dead.
William Carey one of the very early missionary to East India lost all his manuscripts in a fire which destroyed 20 years of hard labor. Yet he started the work all over again and finished it. During his stay in India, he had to nurse an increasingly sick wife amidst heavy burdens of the mission station. At the end of his life, the work that Carey accomplished would take at least three lifetimes of ordinary men to complete. Now that is power for you. In our day and age when empowering usually is meant by the power to perform miracles, William Carey stands as a testimony to what the Holy Spirit can do to a man's life for the salvation of many. Empowering is not just to do the miraculous but is the empowering to carry on against resistance and opposition. It is the empowering to do the work of the ministry and the mundane that is the lot of many of us. Wesley was also a plodder, but he plodded on with the empowering of the Spirit and did a wondrous work.
Perhaps some of us are looking for the manifestation of the Spirit's power in the wrong place. What the Lord wants to give to us may be the staying power, the power of stickability; the power of doing the mundane over and over again until it is done. If that is so, ask for that power to be better men, better fathers and mothers, better husband’s etc.
In our quest for the empowering of the Holy Spirit let us not forget that when the Holy Spirit is invited into our lives, He comes with fire, to burn out the dross that cripples us from a fruitful and abundant life. When the Holy Spirit comes, He will light up the dark corners of our souls and expose those things that we want to keep hidden forever. When the Holy Spirit comes He will break the power of cancelled sin and he will break the power of bondages. When the Holy Spirit comes, he will possess us for God and give us all the fruits of Himself. joy, peace, patience, kindness, and gentleness. So with power come the dangers of transparency, of nakedness in the face of God. And yet, we must allow Him full access if we are to attain the full sonship of God.
c. How do we allow ourselves to be fettered? Let me dwell briefly on how we can allow the Holy Spirit to take full control to fetter us. The answer to this is submission of our wills and hearts to Him for total control or fettering. It begins with the desire within us for that fettering. And it must go on to asking or prayer to Him to come. It is a simple thing to do. We pray that he will take control. And soon thoughts will bubble up from deep within our sub-conscious of the areas of our lives that needs his cleansing. Confess immediately and invite Him to continue this cleansing. Do not hold back. Continue this until there is no more. Then take the full measure of his provision of forgiveness and thank Him. Pray to God also for His help to help us forgive ourselves. Remember only when we come repenting and confessing and by faith appropriating his work of cleansing and salvation can we begin to partake of the power of the resurrected Christ. Indeed the fettering of the Spirit brings tremendous benefits. The man wholly fettered by His Spirit has a life of joy and peace.
It is no wonder that John Wesley could find the time and energy to do what he has done. Picture this...one frail man riding on a horse, traveling a circuit speaking to crowds of peasants, mine workers and seamstresses. Yet in his bands and in the organism that he built, the power of the resurrected Christ continues to go forth to those who are willing to be possessed by Him.
D. Family as an important factor in empowering Finally, the third aspect of empowering is found in the verses from 12 to 17. We can summarize this portion of scripture as the empowering because we belong to the family. Hence not only is one empowered to live an abundant life because one has freedom from sin and death, and not only is one empowered because he is fettered by the Holy Spirit but one is also empowered because he is part of the Family. Here Paul writes in verse 15...For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father. In verse 16...The Spirit himself testifies with our spirits that we are God's children. Now if we are children then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.
Here we have the last picture of empowering. This is the clue to Wesley's heart being strangely warmed. It is a heart warmed because he realizes that he is at last in God's family. In his own words, 'I have exchanged the faith of a servant for the faith of a son'. This is the root of his power. . sonship. People who belong to a family have the power of selfhood because they have a known identity. People belonging to a family has the authority of the family. There is power in God's family.
a. The mark of adoption Paul here writes of the spirit of God possessing us to the point that now we bear the mark of all true children of God. The mark of the Spirit of Christ. There are two dimensions to this mark. The first is that of the mark of adoption. It is by this mark that we can cry Abba or Father. Only those who have His spirit can say with full authority, 'our Father in heaven.' It is only those who have the mark of adoption can claim sonship and hence power. There is power in God's family. Mark this. There is power in God's family.
b. The mark of the father The second dimension of family is that not only have we been adopted but that we are expected to show the characteristics of the Father who has adopted us. As F.F. Bruce puts it 'In the first century AD an adopted son was a son deliberately chosen by his adoptive father to perpetuate his name and inherit his estate; he was no whit inferior in status to a son born in the ordinary course of nature, and might well enjoy the father's affection fully and reproduce the father's character more worthily.' Are we like that? Are producing fruits that show that God is indeed Abba Father. Is our life showing characteristics that single us out of the many as His children? May the Lord challenge us to live lives worthy of His name?
If we are Family, then we are heirs of all that he has. He has opened all the storehouses and treasures and gifts for our use. If we lack anything we need but ask. Do we need wisdom? Ask and you shall receive. Family. Wesley knew in his heart he was family. And this propelled him forward to share the family goods to all that would receive him. Are we also gripped by this tremendous truth of family?
Let us look at the empowering through the family and apply it to our lives. Perhaps at this juncture, some of us here may not have known Jesus enough to want to come into his family. Let me invite you now. The Lord calls you to take up the gift of sonship by asking the Holy Spirit to come into your lives. Let us pause for a moment and let this invitation hit home. We have our Pastor to whom you can talk to if you desire a deeper involvement with Him. As those of us who has received Him with all our heart, let us be challenged this morning that the Christian life we are living now is only perhaps a fraction of the blessings that the Lord wants you to have. Let us desire deep within us for that deeper relationship with Him. let us be found hungering and thirsting after His word. Let us be found desiring for deeper prayer.
Let me draw our meditation to a close. Christ empowers us through giving us freedom from sin and death. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! We are no more under the curse of death but under the grace from God. He seeks to control us through the giving of His spirit and the resurrection power of the risen Christ. Hallelujah, praise the Lord for this resurrection power. And finally he seeks to induct us into His family wherein he can minister to us in his loving arms. Would you care to claim your inheritance? |
