Free to live and grow!

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

  Hi. I recently went on the Freedom Tour in Boston with my family. I highly recommend it if you get the chance because they have colorful characters who dress up in period clothing and pretend to be a character from that era and tell you about all that took place during the American Revolution in Boston at that time.

What's always enjoyable is to hear the story of the Tea Party, and essentially what it all comes down to is at a certain point, Americans didn't want the colonies, didn't want to live under the law of the King of England because they felt like it was tyranny. And so that sprung the revolution because they wanted to represent themselves.

They wanted to live under a different law. Well, while I was away on vacation, I found myself at times wrestling. It was really fun. I had a great time with my family. We had a lot of connection, but there was also these moments in which I found myself not acting who I want to be and who I am. Maybe at my core, maybe you've had a wrestle like that yourself, in which you desire to live one way, and when you're your peaceful self, you can do that.

But then there are times where things creep in in your life and you're not able to live in the way that you want. Well, that's the topic that I think Paul is handling in Romans seven and eight. In Romans seven, Paul says about himself that he feels this battle inside of himself. That there's this part of him that desires to live by what he calls the law of life, which is in Christ, and that's one of faith and hope and love and peace.

But every time he tries to act that out, he feels this other part of himself pulling him in a D different direction. And that's the spirit of death and sin, and for each of us that exists in our life. How do we know? Well, it's marked by anxiety and depression and complaining and grumbling, grasping. Those are the moments we're not operating out of peace and joy and wholeness.

The moments that we are, that's the spirit of life that he talks about. And so Paul's trying to say this. He's like, the good news for each of us is that in Christ, we are no un no longer under the law. Of sin and death just as America is no under longer under the law of England. Now there will be times where we will still live in the midst of this battle, but the good news in Christ is that we are free.

We are free to learn and to grow because while it might be true that we will still be in this wrestle, we will not live these somehow perfect lives. It doesn't condemn us as Paul says. It's not the final word on our life. And so we're free each day to grow and to mature and choose to live by the life of the spirit versus the life of the law of sin and death.

Now, there's two things that I think are particularly helpful for us when we try to do that, and Paul tells us and teaches us to set our mind, to set our mind on the things of the spirit versus setting our mind on the things of the flesh. Now as a quick side note, Paul's not talking about the idea that the physical is bad because later he says that the spirit will give life to our mortal bodies.

Later in the letter of Romans, he'll talk about the resurrection and the restoration of the physical, so Paul doesn't think that the physical is bad. What he's, the dichotomy that he's talking about is the difference between spirit and flesh. And the flesh is how Paul talks about the part of us that does the thing we don't want to do.

And Paul himself says, Hey, I recognize this inside of me, and who's gonna rescue me? Oh, right. Christ is going to rescue me so I don't have to live there. But his encouragement to us is to set our mind on things of the spirit. And so this is where the importance of certain spiritual practices come in. I think the practice of prayer really can be helpful cuz we can take a moment to give thanks.

Give thanks for the good in our life. Paul, in other places, teaches us to give thanks in all things, in all circumstances. It's not because all circumstances are good, but that by giving thanks, we get to change the what we see. We set our mind on the spirit versus setting our mind on things of sin and death.

And so where have you been setting your mind this week? Give it some thought. Maybe you have been setting your mind in the place that is not helping you, and so just as you might set your watch, choose to set your mind on things that will give you life. Secondly, while there's no condemnation, and we can set our minds on the spirit of life, Paul also tells us that we want to expect renewal.

In verse 11 of chapter eight, he says that the spirit will bring life to our mortal body. I think Paul thinks about it in two ways. One, he thinks about it in a future way, in that the spirit will bring life to the broken world. The spirit will bring life to your body, and mind will be restored, and that the physical world is good and beautiful, and God's entrance in the person of Christ affirms that physical world, that beauty.

But he is also talking about the now in that we, you and I can experience God as we set our mind on things like faith, hope and love. God's spirit will quicken us, will aliven us we'll, take our body and bring it life. And so the good news for you, while you might have had this moment where you felt like you were living under the law, Of sin and death, which manifests as grumbling and complaining and a sense of stuckness.

I can't get out of this. You're not there anymore. In Christ. You've been set free, free to live and to grow and to do that, each day we wanna renew ourselves and through the practice of prayer, set our mind on things of the spirit, on things of love and mercy, and kindness, and goodness, and gentleness and self-control.

And ultimately we want to expect that God's spirit will bring us life, life in our day-to-day, but life upon life, and that the future of this world is not a future of hopelessness, but it's a future of hope in which the goodness and beauty of this world is restored. Hey, I hope you have a great week.

It's been a few weeks since I've shared with you, and so I'm glad to be back. Take care and look forward to seeing you again next week. Bye now.

Kyle Pipes

Kyle is the pastor at Grace Community Church and owns KP Consulting & Coaching.

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