The Benefits of Being Christians
A Five Part Sermon Series From Romans 8
Part II: "An Indwelling Companion"
By Dave Redick
If, every time he came to the Northwest, the President of the United States, whether he was a Democrat or a Republican, stayed at your house, you would be quite a celebrity. You would feel special. That's nothing though, compared to this statement: "the Spirit of God dwells in you." The third person in the Godhead, to whom the Bible ascribes full deity - lives in you (if you are a Christian).That's remarkable. That makes you somebody important.
(Read Romans 8:5-17)
How many of you could tell me the benefits that your life insurance policy pays if you suddenly die in a car wreck? How about your auto insurance policy? What is the maximum dollar amount it will pay if you are in an accident and someone sues you? How about the benefits of your health insurance policy? Most of us would probably have to say we just are not up on those details of our lives (though there is probably an exception or two among us!) We went over such things back when we bought the policy, then put it in a safe place and put it out of our minds.
That same thing can happen us as Christians. We have magnificent benefits that come to us because we are God's children, yet, often, we are ignorant of them. Like the person who buys an insurance policy, brings it home and tosses it into a drawer, having never read it's provisions and benefits, we are in the dark.
Last Sunday I began a mini series that I am calling "The Benefits of Being Christians." There are at least five major benefits mentioned in Romans 8 that you need to know about and understand. Here they are again for you to see all at once:
"Five Benefits of Being Christians" --- (1) No Condemnation (2) An Indwelling Companion (3) Hope That Is Worth A Wait (4) Connections (5) God For Us
We will look at the second benefit in this message: "An Indwelling Companion." That Companion is mentioned in verse 9 of this chapter: "However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you."
What a remarkable thing: "the Spirit of God Dwells in you!"
If, every time he came to the Northwest, the President of the United States, whether he was a Democrat or a Republican, stayed at your house, you would be quite a celebrity. You would feel special. That's nothing though, compared to this statement: "the Spirit of God dwells in you." The third person in the Godhead, to whom the Bible ascribes full deity - lives in you (if you are a Christian).That's remarkable. That makes you somebody important.
A number of other passages teach this. Galatians 4:6 says, "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts..." 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" So the Spirit of God actually lives in the Christian's body.
Aside, now, from the remarkable aspect of it, what are some of the benefits of God's Spirit living in us? That is the question I want to ask this passage. The first thing that becomes evident in studying these verses is this:
I. He Defines The Direction of Our Lives.
(Read v.5)
Did you notice that there are only two directions you can go in these verses? You may go "according to the flesh" or "according to the Spirit." There is no third option. Everyone who is alive is living in one direction or the other.
There is a great ridge of mountains in North America that extends from Alaska in the United States, southward along the crest of the Rocky Mountains, into Mexico and then Central America along the Great Sierra Madre. This immense ridge of mountains is referred to as the Continental Divide. Besides its remarkable size and length, this ridge of mountains divides the North American Continent into two great watersheds. Theoretically, if you poured a cup of water down the western slope of the Rockies and that water didn't evaporate or otherwise become impeded, it would ultimately become a part of the Pacific ocean. Likewise, on the eastern slope, the cup of water would become a part of the Atlantic. All the rivers on the western side run west and those on the eastern side run east.
There is likewise a great divide running down through the middle of mankind. It is the divide of the flesh and the spirit. When you set your course according to the flesh, you ultimately arrive in the sea of death. When you set your course according to the Spirit, you ultimately arrive in the sea of life and peace. Every one of us is headed in one direction or the other. Paul put it this way in verses 5 & 6:
(Read v. 6)
It is those who are "according to the Spirit" who have the Spirit living in them. Paul says the way you recognize this is their by considering their mind-set. Those who are according to the Spirit "set their minds on...the things of the Spirit." In the original language those words "set their minds" are one word. According to Strong's Lexicon it means "to be mentally disposed...earnestly in a certain direction."
Though I have never been out of this country, I have been told that if, as an American, you drive across our southern boarder into Tijuana, Mexico, you may get stuck in traffic. In this condition, you become the target of hundreds of Mexican vendors who walk the streets hocking their wares. Recognizing you as a "rich" American and perhaps an easy target, they come up to your car and plead with you to buy what they have to sell. I talked to a fellow last week who did get stuck in traffic that way. Before they arrived he had carefully instructed his wife (who had never been there before) not to look out the window at the vendors, but just to look straight ahead and ignore them. I guess her curiosity finally got the best of her though, because before he could do anything to stop it, she was out of the car and surrounded by about 35 peddlers, all shouting for her attention. He had to go rescue her.
In that case, unless you "set your mind" to ignoring the distractions, you succumb to the peddlers. In much the same way, those who are according to the Spirit are those who "set their minds" on the things of the Spirit. The tense in the original language is present, meaning "to continually set your mind." Does that describe you and me? I hope so.
So the Spirit defines the focus and, therefore, the direction of our lives.
The spirit also
II. He Ends Our Hostility Toward God.
A scorpion, being a very poor swimmer, once asked a turtle to carry him on its back across the river. "Are you crazy?" exclaimed the turtle. "You'll sting me while I'm swimming and I'll drown!" "My dear turtle," laughed the scorpion, "If I were to sting you, you would drown and I'd go down with you. Now where is the logic in that?" "You're right," answered the turtle, "Hop on." The scorpion climbed aboard and halfway across the river gave the turtle a mighty sting. As they both sank to the bottom, the turtle, resigned to his fate, said, "Do you mind if I ask you something? You said there is no logic in your stinging me. Why did you do it?" "It has nothing to do with logic," the drowning scorpion replied. "It's just my nature."
The scorpion is naturally hostile toward others. It's just his nature. The same is true of people. In their natural condition, they are hostile toward God.
(Read v. 7-8)
The scorpion cannot change his nature and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. They do not subject themselves to the law of God. They are "not even able to do so" according to Paul in verse 7. The Holy Spirit, however, living in the believer, changes that basic nature. To use the apt description of Paul, here, He changes the nature which is "hostile toward God" into on that is characterized by "life and peace." You see, true Christianity is more than just a moral code. It is living, active, supernatural relationship with the God who gave it.
Ludwig Nommensen, a pioneer missionary to the Batak people of Indonesia, spent two years living with them and studying their traditions. At the end of that time the chief asked him if the Christian faith differed from Batak traditions. "We, too, have laws that say we must not steal, not take our neighbor's wife, nor bear false witness," the chief said. The missionary answered, "My Master gives the power to keep His laws." The chief was startled. "Can you teach my people that?" "God can give them that power if they ask for it and listen to His word." So for six months Nommensen taught the Batak about the power of God. At the end of that time the chief said, "Stay. Your law is better than ours. Ours tells us what we ought to do. Your God says, ‘Come, I will walk with you and give you strength to do the good thing.'"
The Spirit of God, living in us, does what we cannot do. He ends the hostility toward God and, for the first time, we are able to subject ourselves to the law of God.
The third benefit of the Holy Spirit living in us is this:
III. He Will Make Us Alive in the Resurrection.
(Read v. 11)
How does resurrection work? I don't have a clue. How can God take someone who is dead and make him alive again? I don't know. I just know what this verse says, that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead after His crucifixion will one day raise every Christian in the same manner.
Those words "give life" there in verse 11 translate the Greek word zoapoieo. Zoa means "life" and poieo means to give or to impart. I think the interesting thing about that is the zoa part. We derive our English word "zoo" from it. A zoo is a place that is full of living things. Zoology (also derived from this word) is the study of living things. In the Genesis account of Creation, God spoke and suddenly the earth was teeming with living things. In a similar way, one day God is going to speak and this whole place is going to be teeming with the living, resurrected bodies of every living person who has ever been on this planet! But that is good news only for those who have lived according to the Spirit.
John said elsewhere, in John 5:28-29: "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment." That is tremendous news for Christians, but it is bad news for others.
People sometimes look at death as an escape from the troubles of this life. ("Well, at least they're in a better place now," people say.) Are they? It really depends. This is one of the misguided motivations for suicide. Jack Kevorkian thinks he is doing people a great favor in helping them die, but is he? John says that, unless those people belong to God, they're going to be resurrected for judgement. After that, it's the lake of fire. There is no way to get away from it except to receive God's Spirit so that this resurrection is a resurrection of life and not judgement.
Roger Garcia was a teenager with incurable cancer. Knowing his time was short, he determined to spend it sharing his faith in Christ with others. His testimony was so effective that one of his friends was overheard telling another, "He talks like he's going to live forever!" If Roger has the Holy Spirit in Him, he is going to live forever!
We're talking about benefits of having the Holy Spirit in us.
IV. He Helps Us Put To Death The Deeds of the Body.
(Read v. 13)
Would those of you who are Christians agree that the Spirit of God has helped you over the years put to death the deeds of the body?
A certain uneducated factory laborer radiated the joy of the Lord. One day a non-Christian co-worker challenged him to attend a lecture by an atheist scholar. The believer went to the meeting and listened intently as the speaker launched a logical and forceful attack upon the Christian faith. On the way home, the skeptic asked this simple man, "Well, what do you think now?" The answer came quickly. "I heard that lecture 25 years too late." Seeing the puzzled look on the other man's face, he continued, "During the last quarter of a century God has done everything in me and for me that this fellow said was impossible. He's given me peace, answered my prayers, and helped me overcome a life that was killing me."
He'll do that for you, too.
Finally, with regard to the benefits that are ours because we have the Holy Spirit living in us.
V. He Bears Witness With Us That We Are Children of God.
(Read v. 16-17)
Notice that these verses state the "what" of the Spirit's witness to us, but they do not state the "how." The "what" they state is that the Holy Spirit bears witness (along with our spirits) of our sonship and our heirship in God's family. Think about that. The Bible says "By the mouth of two or more witnesses, let every fact be confirmed." Here we have the two witnesses confirming our salvation. The Holy Spirit and our spirit. That is a great benefit!
People have jumped to all kinds of conclusions about just "how" the Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. You may have some ideas, too. Does the Holy Spirit make some kind of inner impression on our minds or our feelings that we are God's children? I must confess to you that, though the Holy Spirit of God is free to do whatever He wants in this area, I am a bit skeptical of relying on subjective, inner feelings when it comes to something so important as my salvation. I'm not the only one.
Burton Coffman illustrates the problem very well in his Commentary on Romans:
"This writer still recalls an incident many years ago, in which a man struck himself in the chest and said, ‘I would not give what I feel right here for all the Bibles on earth.' He interpreted that ‘feeling' as the direct testimony of the Holy Spirit to him that he was a redeemed child of God, despite the fact that he was a known sinner in that community, who had never confessed the Lord, had never been baptized, and did not honor a church of any name with his membership!"
Have you ever met anyone like that? Was that the Holy Spirit testifying with his Spirit? I cannot imagine so. We must be careful.
Actually, if you search the Scriptures carefully for other mentions of the phrase "the Spirt bears witness," you'll come up with several passages that imply the "how." The first is in Hebrews 10:15-17:
"And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,‘This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, and upon their mind I will write them,' He then says, ‘And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.'"
That phrase "This is the covenant that I will make with them...etc." is a quote from Jeremiah 31:33ff in the Scriptures. In this case it is the Holy Spirit bearing witness through the Scriptures.
We find this same idea to be true in Acts 20:22-23:
"And now, behold, bound in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me."
You would think that if anyone would have an inner testimony from the Holy Spirit rooted in feelings, it would be Paul. Yet, when you check out the way in which Paul says the Spirit was testifying to him in those cities, you come up with quite another thing.
Just a few verses after Acts 20:22-23, we read these words (in Acts 21:10-11):
"And as we were staying there for some days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, ‘This is what the Holy Spirit says: In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'"
Notice that the manner in which the Spirit testified to Paul was through another inspired prophet of God!
From these two examples, I conclude that there are two ways mentioned in the New Testament by which the Holy Spirit bears witness to our spirit: (1) Through the words of a living prophet of God known to be true and authentic (there are none today) or (2) through the words of the Scriptures, authored by true and authentic prophets and inspired men of previous ages.
Don't be fooled in this area. Remember, it took two witness to give authenticity to something in the Bible. If you're looking to your inner feelings for verification you may, in reality, have only have one witness. Yes, you have your spirit and your feelings, but that sounds very much like the same thing to me. Better to verify something as important as your sonship and heirship with your inner spirit and the Bible!
Conclusion
The really great benefit we have as Christians according to this passage is the Indwelling Companion, the Holy Spirit of God living in us. He defines the direction of our lives, He ends our natural hostility toward God (based on our sinful nature), He will make us alive in the Resurrection, He helps us put to death the deeds of the body, and He bears witness through the Scriptures that we are God's children.
Who would want to be without Him? Certainly not I. I hope not you. The Bible says in Acts 2:38, "Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Have you done that. Do you need to do that?
Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.
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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.