AN UNPREACHED SERMON (177)
Between leaving school and starting university, I worked for a short time in Goldbergs, the first of the Glasgow department stores established by Abraham Goldberg in 1908. It was there I first met a Christian man in charge of the carpet department. George knew I was a young Christian eager to grow in the faith. His advice was to read Romans 8 every day. Although I have not kept strictly to his suggestion, I have returned to the chapter many times over the years with great benefit.
Among Christians of all persuasions there is universal agreement that the greatest letter Paul ever wrote was the book of Romans. It has been well described as “The Magna Carta of Christianity”. Chapter after chapter sets down in glorious detail all the essential truths of the Christian faith. And if that’s true of the whole letter, the 8th chapter is the highwater mark. Reading through Romans is like moving through a breath-taking landscape and suddenly coming upon a magnificent peak. Or, like listening to a wonderful symphony with Romans 8 being the crescendo towards which every previous note and movement was building.
Thinking about the application of the resurrection of Christ recently led me to have another look at Romans 8:5-11, the verses that speak about resurrection life in the Spirit. New life is mentioned often in this whole chapter with its closely tied-in focus on the resurrection. Christ’s rising from the grave is more than a historical event to be believed and a universal faith to be proclaimed; it is a spiritual life to be lived, none of which is possible without the Holy Spirit.
THE HOLY SPIRIT RAISED JESUS FROM DEATH (v11).
The events of the garden tomb shape and determine all we believe as Christians.
• His resurrection is the pledge of ours
• His resurrection is the pattern of ours
Because He rose, we can be certain that one day the same will happen to us. Death is not the end and annihilation of conscious existence is not signalled by our final breath. Because of what happened to Him, there is hope for us. That’s a promise and pledge.
What is not so readily understood, however, is that He sets the pattern. “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies by His Spirit”.
It was this proclamation of Christ being raised that had a profound effect on the Roman Empire and has done so throughout the world ever since. Interestingly, ancient Greek philosophy and modern-day secular thinking both look upon the body as a handicap. Many take the view that the body can be ignored or abused. Christian faith sees things differently; body and soul are both important to God. Even though the two are torn apart at death, the Holy Spirit still rests upon the body in guardianship, keeping watch until the day of resurrection.
As Scottish Catechism Answer 37 has it: “The souls of believers at their death are made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves until the resurrection”.
THE SAME SPIRIT THAT RAISED CHRIST LIVES IN YOU (v9).
It is the Holy Spirit who makes us Christians (8:9) by indwelling us. He makes His home within us as the Owner-occupier. Our human spirits even now have within them the undying life of God. The moment we turn to Christ in repentance and faith at conversion we are “sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 1:13). His stamp of ownership is indelibly marked upon us.
THE SPIRIT WILL GIVE LIFE TO OUR MORTAL BODY (v11).
God’s concern is not just for our souls and minds. He has a plan for our bodies too. And the key to what He designs is by looking at what happened to the body of Jesus. Even though our bodies, ravaged by sin are subject to deterioration, decay, disease and death, there is to be a final transformation process to give us new bodies fit for the new environment in which we will be living for all eternity. That process starts now, more than survives the onslaught of death and is perfected in heaven.
I once visited a woman in hospital suffering from severe dementia. She hadn’t a clue who I was or where she was. The conversation went round in circles and was very repetitive. At the end I prayed with her, quoting Psalm 121, which she repeated with me word for word and finished off with a resounding amen. It was a clear example of “though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Unaware of her own identity or mine, she was still fully alive to her identity in Christ.
ALL THIS BY THE PRESENCE OF HIS SPIRIT WITHIN US (v11).
All three Persons of the Trinity are at work in our lives. The Father has adopted us into His family, the Son has redeemed us, and the Spirit is even now transforming us. Because the Spirit of the living God dwells within you, you can no more be kept in your tomb than the risen Christ could be confined in His. What was done by the Father for His only begotten Son, will be done for all His adopted sons and daughters who are in Christ.
It is this resurrection truth that gives to every Spirit-filled believer a sense of newness of life in the here and now and provides us with solid assurance of life eternal. More than that, it provides adequate resources for living in the present. Here’s v11 again, only this time from the New Living translation. Savour every word and be glad you are part of an Easter people. “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as He raised Christ from the dead, He will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you”.
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