June 11, Trinity Sunday

Lesson: Romans 8.1-17

Sermon Title: Children and Heirs

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. You may have heard this story before, but it bears repeating. In his Book of Laughs, Bennett Cerf tells a story that illustrates what penance can be:

"One cold day at the police court they brought a trembling old man before Fiorello La Guardia, charged with stealing a loaf of bread.

"His family, he said, was starving.

"I've got to punish you,' declared La Guardia. 'The law makes no exception. I can do nothing but sentence you to a fine of $10 dollars.'

  1. This poor man was found guilty and condemned.

  2. Fiorello La Guardia, who would become mayor of New York City found a way to pay the fine.

"But La Guardia was reaching into his pocket as he added, 'Well, here's the $10 dollars to pay your fine. And now I remit the fine.' He tossed a $10 dollar bill into his hat.

"'Furthermore,' he declared, 'I'm going to fine everybody in this courtroom 50 cents for living in a town where a man has to steal bread in order to eat. Mr. Bailiff, collect the fines and give them to this defendant!'

"The hat was passed, and a shocked old man left the courtroom with a stake of $47.50."

  1. This is a wonderful illustration of God's grace revealed in the writings of the Apostle Paul.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. We are like the man who stole a loaf of bread.

    1. We are condemned.

    2. This is the natural condition of a human being well-described by the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:14-24, NRSVA

14For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin.

15I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.

19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.

20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.

22For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

24Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?.

    1. Who will rescue me from this body of death?

    2. Who will rescue from sin.

      1. Sin is the responsible source of our weakness.

      2. Sin is the source of our inability to love.

      3. Sin is the source of our powerlessness.

      4. Sin is the source that denies us the capacity to rescue ourselves.

    3. Sin sneaks up on you and attacks at your most vulnerable moment.

Goodbye Mother (1)

A young man was walking through a supermarket to pick up a few things when he noticed an old lady following him around.

Thinking nothing of it, he ignored her and continued on.

Finally he went to the checkout line, but she got in front of him.

"Pardon me," she said, "I'm sorry if my staring at you has made you feel uncomfortable. It's just that you look just like my son, who just died recently."

"I'm very sorry," replied the young man. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes," she said. "As I'm leaving, can you say, 'Goodbye, Mother'? It would make me feel so much better."

"Sure," answered the young man. As the old woman was leaving, he called out, "Goodbye, Mother!"

As he stepped up to the checkout counter, he saw that his total was $127.50.

"How can that be?" he asked. "I only purchased a few things!"

"Your mother said that you would pay for her," said the clerk.

      1. The young man has been had.

      2. The deception was so subtle that he did not recognize it.

      3. This is the way of sin.

      4. Sin is sneaky and subtle, ready to pounce on the unwary or the unsuspecting.

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  1. We do not have a Fiorello La Guardia sitting as judge ready to throw his $10 into the hat, we have some greater.

    1. Paul, in Romans 7:25 (NRSVA), declares that we can be delivered.

25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

    1. I listened on evening to the Gaither Homecoming broadcast.

      1. George Younce, the bass of the Cathedrals Quartet sang, "This Ole House."

        1. I kinda wish that he was here to sing it for us.

        2. You would be moved and uplifted to hear this 75+ year-old, dying from liver cancer rocket through this song with such sincerity and faith.

      2. Listen to the lyrics.

This Ole House

Composer/songwriter : Stuart Hamblen (whose competing version managed only #26) Publishers : Duchess Music Ltd.) Highest Position : #1. Weeks on chart : 23 Recorded : May 22, 1954

1.
This ole house once knew his children
This ole house once knew his wife
This ole house was home and comfort
As they fought the storms of life
This old house once rang with laughter
This old house heard many shouts
Now he trembles in the darkness
When the lightnin' walks about

[Chorus]

Ain't a-gonna need this house no longer
Ain't a-gonna need this house no more
Ain't got time to fix the shingles
Ain't got time to fix the floor
Ain't got time to oil the hinges
Nor to mend the window-pane
Ain't a-gonna need this house no longer
He's a-gettin' ready to meet the saints

2.
This ole house is a-gettin' shaky
This ole house is a-gettin' old
This ole house lets in the rain
This ole house lets in the cold
Oh his knees are-a gettin' chilly
But he feel no fear or pain
'Cause he sees an angel peekin'
Through a broken window-pane

[Chorus]

3.
This ole house is afraid of thunder
This ole house is afraid of storms
This ole house just groans and trembles
When the night wind flings its arms
This ole house is a-gettin' feeble
This old house is a-needin' paint
Just like him it's tuckered out
But he's a-gettin' ready to meet the saints

[Chorus]

4.
Ain't a-gonna need this house no longer
Ain't a-gonna need this house no more
Ain't got time to fix the shingles
Ain't got time to fix the floor
Ain't got time to oil the hinges
Nor to mend the window-pane
Ain't a-gonna need this house no longer
He's a-gettin' ready to meet the saints

    1. He's getting ready to meet the saints.

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  1. How can he say that and mean it with all his heart and soul?

    1. Now a number of sermons might be offered to help clarify and apply what Paul has written.

    2. You could take the study guide that is in the bulletin and read the notes, then read and answer the questions.

    1. Simply read again the lesson for this morning from Romans 8.1-17.

    2. It is, perhaps, the better option simply to take it a pericope (a small section) at a time.

1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

3For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

6To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

7For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law--indeed it cannot, 8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

10But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

12So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--13for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

    1. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

      1. Sin is the responsible source of our weakness is now overcome by a far-stronger strength..

      2. Sin is the source of our inability to love now gives way to an intense and lasting love.

      3. Sin is the source of our powerlessness, give way to the power of the universe..

      4. Sin is the source that denies us the capacity to rescue ourselves now give way to the exterior and interior rescue provided for us by our divine Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

        1. All three members of the Godhead are active in all that Paul has written.

        2. Deliverance opens the way to transformation.

    2. We are now, then, children and heirs of God.

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CONCLUSION

  1. I've got a mansion just over the hilltop, In that bright land where we'll never grow old, And some day yonder we will never more wander, But walk on streets that are purest gold.

    1. I'm a Child and I'm an Heir, Are you?

    2. How does one get to be both?

  2. One achieves both objectives by choosing sides.

    1. Richard Blake, in "Rolling Down the Aisle," (2) tells a wonderful story to illustrate this conclusion.

Us and Them (3)

My neighbor's son, Robert, seemed young to be an usher at a wedding, but he was quickly coached in wedding protocol. A veteran usher instructed Robert to ask the person he was escorting, "Are you a guest of the bride or groom?" to know where to seat them.

Imagine our surprise when we heard Robert ask, as he graciously offered his arm to the first arrival, "Madam, whose side are you on?"

    1. Choosing the right side makes all the difference!

    2. Whose side are you on?

Amen.

1. The Good, Clean Funnies List [gcfl-info@gcfl.net]

2. Richard Blake, San Luis Obispo, California. "Rolling Down the Aisle," Christian Reader.

3. Church Laughs-HTML [churchlaughs-html@lists.christianitytoday.com]

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