Children of God, Led by the Spirit

Wonderful. Right. Before I get going, a quiz. Okay, so these numbers up on the screen,

! I just want to set myself up. You're allowed to confer if you want to. See if you can work

! out what they are and what ties them together. Okay, so just now you're allowed to phone a

friend or whatever you need to do. Anyone want to tell me what the first one is? A hundred

over 75. Blood pressure. Okay, well done. I'll tell you a little bit more about that in a

minute. How about eight hours? Sleep. Sleep. Well done. Good. 2,000. Yeah, so adult male

having 2,000 calories per day. A female is supposed to be 1,800 or something like that. Okay,

two minutes. Very good, James. And two times a day as well, may I add. Plus flossing, I

suppose. Two minutes twice a day. Teeth cleaning. How about 10,000? Steps. Excellent. 22. Anyone

know what this one is? Sorry? So that is your, is a body mass index figure. Don't ask me how

you work that out. How about five a day? Fruit and veg. And of course they say it shouldn't

be five. It should be about 20 or something like that. Anyway, these, any, any ideas what

tie those together? Health. Health, yes. They are sort of optimal targets, aren't they? That

you get set. And I know some of them are in different bands and depending on your age and

all the rest of it. Okay, be honest. When you see something like that, your optimal targets,

how do you feel? Some of you are feeling great. Others of you are going, oh man, no, no. There's

a mix, isn't there, between a sort of pride, yeah, nailing it, woo, and guilt. A little bit

of kind of like, oh, if only. And now, of course, not only do we have the figures, but we have

the technology to support the keeping of those targets. Let's have the picture up, Martin.

That'd be great. How many of you have one of these or other manufacturers are available?

Yeah? Okay, so a smartwatch with an activity tracker. You know, those little loops, if you're

unfamiliar with this, they go around and as you hit your targets for steps or sleep or what

are the other ones, distance. And they even buzz, don't they, when you've met those targets or when

you're supposed to have a movement break every half an hour or whatever it is. So you have this sort

of external force trying to help you reach your optimal performance, right? I often wonder what

would happen for some people if you took them away. It's an interesting thought. Okay, thank you.

We can take that picture off the screen. Otherwise, we'll all be wondering what our step counts are for

the rest of the day. But are we all in agreement that targets, when it comes to health and things

like that, are good? You know, we're given these guidelines for better health. And I think the word

that we put next to it sometimes is, these are things we should be doing. And sometimes it's that

sense of should, that sense of obligation, which can make us feel a bit defeated at times.

And for those who are particularly intent on reaching those targets, it's almost like we can

kind of get slightly addicted to them, slightly enslaved to watching that circle meet at the end.

And it's often accompanied, isn't it, by this fear that if we don't reach that target, our well-being

will in some way suffer. Or, as it has been said in my household, if you don't brush your teeth,

your teeth will fall out. Or, slightly more subtle but still just as fear-mongering, it's okay,

you only need to brush the teeth you want to keep.

How many of you have been parented like that? How many of us still parent like that?

Ooh, I don't want to go there. That's just an example, right? Folks, that feeling of being

fear-driven, guilt and anxiety induced, when you've got those targets you know you should

meet. For many people, when it comes to their moral or spiritual life,

that's often the effect the church has on them. Okay? So for someone who is struggling to hit the

spiritual and moral optimal targets, church can feel like the last place you want to go.

You know, if you feel bad, come to church and you'll feel worse. I wonder if that's been your

experience or perhaps that's perception a family member or a friend of yours has about church.

It's all about meeting targets that make us sometimes feel worse when we don't hit them.

And today we're going to be exploring a little bit why is it that some people feel like that?

And I have to say, very often, it's the people who make out they are living the optimal spiritual and

moral life that cause those around them to feel worse rather than better. There's something about

religious pride which is really off-putting. And even worse, hypocrisy. Because they just cover

things up that they can't admit to themselves perhaps, or particularly to others, where they're

missing the mark. And it leads to people, particularly I had to say, people who are employed to talk about

Christian things, often walking around like sort of empty shells, speaking the right stuff, but inside

they're empty. And in fact, Jesus called such characters whitewashed tombs. Look good on the

outside, but inside they're full of death. It's empty. Why am I telling you all this? Why have we started off

this quiz? Because actually, this parallels quite closely what is happening in the book of Romans

that we are exploring together. This letter to the Christians in Rome, as we've already heard, is a

it's quite a long, continuous, logical argument. And she's trying to make several points, but they're all

very cohesive into one. And if you remember, if you've been with us, don't worry if you haven't,

I'll try and catch us up. Paul wants us to consider, particularly today, how there are two powers

at work within us. Okay? Those of you who are with us, or you might know the book of Romans,

will remember a few weeks ago, we looked at how Paul speaks of one of these powers being that of

godlessness and wickedness, which is taking us away from God. It distorts our minds and our morals.

And it's this, it's a universal human condition. That's what he's keen to tell us. And it's almost

like a virus that we carry that eventually leads to spiritual and physical death. And Paul calls this

power the power of the flesh. Or sometimes that is translated in our English Bibles as the sinful nature.

Now, it's really important we don't understand that Paul is saying that our flesh, our bodies,

are kind of bad. That is the thoughts of some sort of religious philosophies. It's not that he's trying

to say that. But there is a power, he's saying, that is in work in us that opposes the life that God

wants for us. And he's very serious about that. And he, as we saw, describes the sort of downward spiral

that comes as we live that out unchecked, and we become both complicit in it and victims of it.

And it's all a big mess. But as Paul writes on, as we go through the chapters, he introduces another

power, if you like, a power that God has introduced to his people to try and help them understand

how they must live in order to be a people who are fit to have the holy presence of God

live among them. And that power is the law. The law. And when we say the law, it was introduced to the

people of Israel on Mount Sinai, if you remember, it's the Ten Commandments and all that. In fact,

there's 600-odd guidelines that make up the Hebraic law, that outline for God's people their optimal

targets. Yeah? Particularly in the realm of spiritual, moral, and social matters.

And by the time we get to Romans chapter 7, Paul is saying, look, this law is good, and it is holy.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

But when it is introduced to those who are under the power of the flesh, who live in their minds and

their hearts by the sinful nature, all that the introduction of that law does is make them

realize that they're missing the mark. For example, says Paul, if you say to someone,

do not covet, i.e., don't desire other people's stuff, and you start thinking about it, you'll

suddenly realize just how much coveting you do. Or if you say, do not give false testimony, that means

don't lie or exaggerate to put yourself in a better light. Ooh, just how often do I do that?

So that good law, it's good, and it's holy, that is intended to bring life, it produces some kind of

death in us. Guilt, fear, anxiety. Because, Paul says, the power of the flesh, the sinful nature,

is like in opposition to that good law.

And so those, says Paul, who know God's good law,

yet are weighed down by the power of the flesh, they live in this agonizing tension. He puts it

like this, for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. I do not do the

good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not

want to do, it's no longer I who do it, but it's sin living in me that does it. So there's this

agonizing tension that even if we agree in our minds that God is, and his laws are good,

that isn't enough power to help us meet that target. Because that other power that is working

in us is pulling us downwards, it's waging war, if you like, against that good desire. And so willpower

is not enough for us to reach God's optimal targets. And so by the end of chapter 7, verse 22,

Paul writes, for in my inner being I delight in God's law, but I see another law or power at work

in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work

within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

Wretched. It's a horrible situation to be in. Perhaps you can feel some of that tension.

I myself, in my mind, am a slave to God's law, but in my sinful nature, a slave to the law of sin.

Do you see this enslavement that's at work, these powers or laws that are at work in the human heart?

Do you see this? Do you feel the tension? Do you just get a sense of that?

Maybe that's even from your own experience, or you can imagine what it is for those who are in that mindset.

Well, let's allow God to release that tension for us.

I'm going to read. What I'm going to do this morning is simply take us through those verses that Cheryl read for us

and just try and help you unpack the logic of it, because it's all in there.

It's such rich, amazing stuff.

I'm going to read just a couple of verses each and then just spend a little bit of time making sure we understand it

and can get it into our heads and into our hearts.

So Paul says, after telling us that about this entrapment that we're in,

this enslavement to sin and enslavement to the law, he says,

therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

So what Paul calls here the law of the Spirit who gives life, so the word of the Spirit,

it sets us free from feeling condemned, from guilt before God,

because it frees us, first of all, from the power of sin and death that we've been trapped in.

And he goes on,

for what the law, that good law given to God's people, was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,

God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.

And so he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us,

who do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

So again, what those guidelines for optimal performance did not have the power to do,

Jesus, through his death and resurrection, are able to achieve.

And what happens is this transaction.

Jesus' track record, his perfect life, his perfect submission to God, his sacrifice,

his track record becomes ours.

I've done that the wrong way, right?

Our track record becomes his, as it were.

Our sins are identified with him.

He takes them, and they are rightly condemned on the cross with Jesus.

But all that Jesus has done, and all he has fulfilled,

the laws he fulfilled with his perfect life,

and his sacrifice is then transferred, is identified with those who believe in him,

and who have his Spirit in them.

And Paul goes on to describe the difference between these two different mindsets,

that of the flesh and that of those of the Spirit.

I'll read verses 5 to 8.

Those who live according to the flesh have their mind set on what the flesh desires,

but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

The mind governed by the flesh is death,

but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God,

does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

And those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

Do you see how they contrast those two different mindsets,

those thoughts and purposes,

those in the Spirit lead to life and peace,

but those that are in the flesh still,

still want to be ruled by that,

it leads to death.

And it's a case, it seems,

about who we're governed by,

who we allow to govern us.

Verses 9 to 11.

You, however, are not in the realm,

or in the governance,

of the flesh,

but you are in the realm of the Spirit.

If indeed the Spirit of God lives in you,

and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,

they do not belong to Christ.

But if Christ is in you,

then even though your body is subject to death because of sin,

the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you,

he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies

because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Now, usefully, my iPad,

which I'm looking at my notes,

has just crashed.

So let's go on together.

Let's see how much I have lived and prayed this Scripture.

Woo-hoo!

So if we are governed,

and we live in a realm of the flesh,

there's a bit of a challenge here, though.

I don't know if you noticed that.

If indeed you do have the Spirit of Christ,

how do we know that we have the Spirit of Christ?

Well, for that,

we need to just wind back maybe last week.

Emma was preaching on Romans 6.

We need to tie our lives to Jesus.

We need to submit our lives to his ways

and submit to his authority.

We need to die to our old selves

and turn fully

and embrace the gift that he offers us,

his life.

And that is how we receive the Spirit of Christ

because we've made ourselves open,

killing the old self,

opening ourselves to his life.

So that's the answer.

If indeed you have the Spirit of Christ,

that is what we need to look for.

And then this is really where it kicks home

because if we are in the Christ,

in the Spirit of God,

there's these wonderful verses.

I'm going to read verses 14 to...

Just 14 and 15 without notes.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God,

are the children of God.

The Spirit you receive does not make you slaves

so that you live in fear again.

Rather, the Spirit you received

brought about your adoption to sonship.

And by him we cry,

Abba, Father.

So this is like the amazing good news.

So whereas before,

we might be looking to reach those optimal targets,

a bit like a slave or an employee.

Oh, if only I can reach those targets

to earn God's love.

Uh-uh-uh.

If you have the Spirit of God,

you are made children of God.

And that's an entirely different way

of relating to God, isn't it?

And it's this perhaps curious phrase,

the Spirit you received

brought about your adoption to sonship.

Now this is actually quite a sort of technical term

that they've translated like this.

In the Roman world,

of which the original recipients

would have been very familiar,

if you were, say, part of the aristocracy,

you were rich and you had a sort of portfolio,

let's put it that way,

but you had no children,

then one of the practices they would have,

they would find somebody

and they would adopt them,

always a son, it was always a male,

to be their son

so that they would inherit

and carry on your legacy.

This is a well-known practice.

And what's interesting about this

is that to use that phrase,

it's not just men

who could be adopted into this.

It would be women,

it would be the young,

it would be the old,

it would be the widow,

it would be the orphan.

Anyone could become

an adopted son

in God's family

and therefore,

with Christ,

become heirs

with him,

Christ our brother,

and we get kind of

drawn into that family

as we are adopted.

And so,

it's interesting today

that we're thinking about

adoption

and being children of God

and God as our Heavenly Father,

it's Father's Day.

And I just wanted to just pause,

press pause a bit there

because I recognise that for many

that actually the idea of God

as our Father

is a tricky one,

even for our own experience

and even,

I was just talking to someone

before the service,

even those of us

who seek to be fathers,

perhaps because of the lack

of model of father

we've had in our lives

or whatever's happened to us,

it's very difficult

to get hold of this

idea of a perfect father.

And even the concept

of adoption

is riddled with complications here.

Many of you will know

that the Church of England

this week

made a formal apology

for its role

in forced adoption practices

a few decades ago

where rather than,

you know,

keeping mother and child together,

they were complicit

and sometimes actively so

in separating.

So we're in that sort of

downward spiral experience, folks,

of what it means

to be an adopted child.

But nevertheless,

let's try and clear that fog

so that we understand

what it is

that we are being offered here.

A relationship with God,

not that we've earned.

I know no adopted child

puts out their CV

and says,

please,

no,

they're chosen

and they are drawn

into the family

so that all

of the provision

of that family,

all of the protection

that family

is offered to them.

No conditions.

It's unconditional love

because they don't have

a performance review

every year

to see how well

they're doing.

No,

they are loved

by God's heavenly father,

our heavenly father,

who we can call,

we can cry out,

we can come at any time,

anything on our heart

and cry,

Daddy,

Father,

Abba,

that's the sort of

intimate name,

the father.

and it means

that

we are then

united

because we have

the spirit of Christ

in us

and the spirit of Christ

as it were

interacts with

our own spirit

however healthy

it is

and it means

that he

begins to

form

and shape us

into the family

likeness

and this is an

ongoing process

and rather than

having a sort of

external

smart watch

to buzz

every time we

go up

no,

it's much more

intuitive

guided by the word

of God

but also

getting us in touch

with our own spirit

as it unites

with Christ

to guide us

in life

to help us

make good choices

and because we're not

in an employment

contract

or a slave contract

with God

because we're

children of God

all those things

that look like

could be shoulds

now can become

coulds

and cans

because actually

we have

the spirit of God

who actually

is more powerful

than the power

of sin

and is more power

than just the

optimal targets

of the law

and actually

it has the power

to put to death

some of the sinful

stuff that's in our lives

and all we have to do

to help activate

that power

is call out

Abba Father

help me

and the desire

that grows

not because we

first loved God

but because he

first loved us

it's not that we're

trying to earn

our love with God

no he has brought

us into his family

and we are loved

we are loved

we are loved

and in response

to that

it's a whole

different motivation

to live

Christ-like lives

because we want

to please

our Heavenly Father

and we just want

to show

our appreciation

for what he has done

so that is the

that's the heart

of Paul's argument

if you like here

to show that how

to be led by the Spirit

and to become

children of God

is the ultimate

gift of God

it brings freedom

where there so can

often be fear

it brings relationship

rather than religion

and all those things

completely turn us

inside out

and give us

the hope

both in the future

but also now

of the freedom

of being the children

of God

unashamed

we don't need to

cover up

our faults

and our failings

because we are secure

in knowing that

we are loved

because of what

Jesus has done

because we are

in the family

and there's a whole

load of other

implications

probably many more

if I have my notes

but I'll just

I'll touch on

a few things here

on Thursday

45 of us met

stuck in room 4

because this room

was being otherwise

used

in the sweltering

heat

to discuss

and pray

about what it

meant to be

increasingly inspired

that was brilliant

so thank you so much

for coming

and I know many of you

wanted to come

but couldn't

and some of the

thoughts we were

having were

well what would

our church

community look like

if we were

increasingly

what I call

inspired

which is basically

increasingly led

by the Spirit

of God

increasingly

allowing our

identity

as children

to be first

and foremost

and to be

the driver

in our lives

what would it

look like

and there was

just a few

indications of

people understanding

the freedom

that brings

the conversations

that we might be

having even over

coffee

where we're

willing to be

open

about struggles

about things

that we need

because we're

free to do so

we don't need to

worry about our

appearance

and there was

a sense also

that actually

as we follow

the Spirit

the more we'll

be open to

those who are

different to us

because it's not

about conforming

to a cultural

pattern of

you know

this is what it

means to be a

Christian

in Clevedon

in 2026

no

this offer

of being

children of God

is open to

everyone

and that we

might see

increase amongst

us a great

diversity of people

from all sorts

of different

backgrounds

and that we

would be

attractive to

those

for whom

you know

reaching the

optimal targets

really

without the

grace of God

they'll never

do it

and that's

all of us

isn't it

we're on

11 playing

field

as children

of God

because we're

just reliant

on the Spirit

of God

to do that

and of course

if that is our

hope for us

as a community

to be increasingly

led by the Spirit

the invitation

is there for us

to make that

increasingly so

for ourselves

so I'm going

to end

now

just by giving

us a bit

of space

to think

about

what it

would truly

mean if we

stepped into

our identity

as children

of God

loved

unconditionally

loved

even when

we don't

reach those

optimal

performance

targets

how else

might we

be motivated

if we just

know we are

held

and if the

Spirit of God

the love of God

is increased

in our hearts

tell you what

it would change

the world

Thank you.