Day 104: How Do We Live in The New Life of the Spirit?
Romans 7:6
But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.
Father God has set us free in Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. He had to do this so that we could become the people that He desires for us to be. In order for us to grow to maturity we need the freedom to do two things: 1) to fail and 2) to choose to follow the good desires of the Spirit. In Christ, the Father gives us freedom to do both.
Yesterday we heard that the power of sin that dwells in our flesh is actually empowered by the Law. We can state this as a principle:
The Law/Principle of Sin and Death: If I try to keep the Law (Legalism, self-salvation) in order to be pleasing to God, the Sin that dwells within me will come alive producing corrupt desires that will lead to sinful actions.
This seems counter-intutive, but even experience teaches that it is true. How many times have you said, “Ok, I am NEVER going to do this again!” only to fail miserably. When we try to live by the “external empowerment of Law” we fail. Thankfully there is another principle that we can follow:
The Law/Principle of the Life-Giving Spirit: If I follow the Spirit He will empower my desire for good which will lead to living in ways that are pleasing to Father God in Christ. He will lead me in the Way shaped by Love.
Consider this:
Romans 8:1-4
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Sin and its power does not define who you are—your core identity. (Remember all that you are in Christ? Sinner is no longer part of your core identity; that is who you used to be.) We still sin. Se still fail. But that does not define who we are. Here in Romans 8:1 Paul says one of the most incredible statements in the whole letter: “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” We are now defined and identified by Father God working in Christ the Son through the Holy Spirit for our transformation. We are no longer defined by our sin. For this reason we are not condemned. God has accepted us and welcomed us into His eternal fellowship. How did this happen?
Romans 8:3
For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
God has sent Jesus to do for us what we could not do for ourselves—to expose and judge sin in order to break it’s power. This is what it means that Jesus “condemned sin in the flesh.” Jesus did this in his death on the Cross. That Jesus came in the “likeness of sinful flesh” means that Jesus was a real human being; He had a physical body just like ours, but He was not corrupted by sin and death as we are. When Jesus was put to death on the Cross at the hands of sinful people for the sins of us all, He exposed sin for what it is—ultimate evil—and condemned it.
Now notice the effect of this: “…so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us…” Two things are interesting about this statement. First, Paul says “THE righteous requirement” (singular, one requirement) not “righteous requirements” (plural, many requirements). What does he mean by this? Later in Romans Paul says this:
Romans 13:8-10
“Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law… Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
When Jesus was asked what is the greatest of the commandments, you will remember that He said it was love of God and love of neighbor (see Mark 12:30-31). All of God’s commandments to us and for us are summed up by love. In fact John tells us that all of Christ’s commands were summed up in trusting Him and loving one another (see 1 John 3:23). Love is the fulfillment of all the Law.
The second thing that is interesting is that Paul says that the requirements of the Law will be “fulfilled” in us; he does not say so that the requirements may be “kept” or “obeyed” or “done” by us—all the normal activities that usually define what we do with the Law. The one requirement is “fulfilled” in us. In other words, the Life Giving Spirit is going to work this out in our lives. As the Spirit does His work in us and we follow Him, the actual things that God’s Law/Instruction requires will be fulfilled—lived out in our lives!
That brings us to the last point: all of this becomes true of us when we “walk/live according to the Spirit.” To “walk” here simply means to live our lives, step by step, minute by minute, following The Spirit as He leads us to follow Christ and love others. That sounds so simple. And it is. If we want to kill the power of sin that lives within us, we follow the Spirit as He guides us to take the focus off ourselves by trusting Christ and loving others. It really is that simple. The reality of this may be hard, but the principle is simple. Consider this:
Galatians 5:6, 13
For in Christ Jesus… the only thing that matters is faith working through love. Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another.
We will pick up right here tomorrow. For now, simply understand that we live/walk in the Spirit by following Him in trusting Christ and loving others.
Give thanks that the Way of following Christ, walking in faith, is not complicated. It may be difficult, but it is not complicated. Ask Father God to help you work these truths out in your own “walk.” Ask Him to bring to mind ways you can begin to live out these truths, today.
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
