As followers of Jesus we are citizens of two worlds, flesh and spirit. When we speak of the flesh, we speak of “the law of sin and death” (vs. 2). When we speak of spirit, we speak of “the law of the Spirit of life” (vs. 2). In Jesus we are under no obligation to live condemned by the works of our own brokenness and sin. In fact, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (vs. 1).
A condemnation free life! Does this not sound wonderful and amazing, almost incomprehensible, too good to be true? That’s why when we speak of the things of God we speak of grace and mercy and love. Sin brings destruction and death. Grace brings wholeness and life. It gets even better. Paul writes, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (vs. 11).
In the flesh, we can live indwelled by God. We are a resurrection people, right now, today, in our very world. That’s why Sundays are not a part of Lent. Sundays are in Lent but not of Lent. Sundays are about the resurrected life of Jesus and the resurrection life He brings to us Monday through Saturday. We are not victims in this world. We are victors. We overcome in His overcoming.
In Romans 8: 35-39, Paul speaks of “tribulation…distress…persecution… famine… nakedness…peril…sword,” and says of them, “in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” He says, “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
What if God could come into the stuff of our lives and work in us, out of the creative capacities of His infinite and sovereign imagination, until we could become something beautiful for God? What if our humanity could actually be a vessel of the glory of God? The resurrection of Jesus says this is exactly what happens. We do not have to live in the chains of sin. We are invited to live in the freedom that is in Christ. We are invited to embrace the grace of God that has come to us, and then live in that grace, a grace that is for this world and for the next.
Join me in this great affirmation by Henry J. Zelley, from 1896. He wrote,
Then forward still - Tis Jehovah’s will
Tho’ the billows dash and spray.
With a conquering tread we will push ahead;
He’ll roll the sea away.
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