Rom. 8 [Part 1]

[Back from another stint in the hospital, hopefully, the last for quite awhile.]

Rom. 8:15-17

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

What a glorious chapter is Rom. 8! God has done so much for us.

• No condemnation-because of Jesus Christ
• The law of the Spirit of life has set us free in Christ from the law of sin and death. 
• God has done what the law [weak and fleshly] couldn't do.
•  God sent Jesus to condemn sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us allowing us to walk by the Spirit. 

What more could we want? We are free in Christ. He took our place and met the requirements of the law concerning out sins. As a result of all Jesus has made possible, what should we do? What should be our desire our response?

• To live for the flesh is to set our minds on the flesh, but to live for the Spirit is to set our minds on the Spirit. What a straightforward thought! Where is our mind set? What pops into our minds immediately when we wake up?
• Part of this mind-set is remembering that a mind set on the flesh is hostile to God. Why would we choose to be hostile to God after all Jesus has made possible for us? Those who are in the flesh cannot please God! How strong is that! That includes any admixture of flesh and spirit that we concoct.
• We are born anew in Christ. We have the Spirit of the resurrected Christ dwelling in us!
• If we have the Spirit of Christ [and I do] then, and even though are body is dead because of sin, the Spirit dwells within us because of His righteousness. If it were our own righteousness, we would crash and burn. Nothing good dwells in us apart from Jesus Christ and His Spirit. 
• If the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, He who resurrected Christ will also resurrect us. Wow! He will give eternal life to our mortal bodies.

So then what is the conclusion to this heavy teaching? 

• We are not debtors to the flesh. If we live to the flesh, we will die.
• If by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of our body, then we will live.
• Those who are led by the Spirit are the Sons of God.
• We have been freed from the spirit of slavery and have embraced the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba Father. We have been transformed from the choke-hold of our flesh to become sons with a close and intimate relationship with the Father.
• The Spirit bears witness with us that all this is true. We are sons, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ.
• Provided we suffer with Him in order that we may be glorified with Him.  This little clause at the end of the verse always grabs our attention, What is our attitude toward suffering? Do we embrace it as part and parcel of being a son.

Father,

So much teaching here. Help my mind to embrace it all, to live as You would have me live, and to embrace suffering as a good gift from You.

In Jesus name,

Amen