Christians and the law: bondage or delight?

Romans 7:1-25

July 19, 1998

OUTLINE:

Series: The Christian's four freedoms -- four important consequences of Jesus' death:

  1. Freedom from the PENALTY of sin. (Romans 5)
  2. Freedom from the POWER of sin (Romans 6)
  3. Freedom from the TYRANNY of the law (Romans 7)
  4. Freedom to call God Father (Romans 8)
What does it mean to be free from the tyranny of the law? Why do we need freedom from something that we are supposed to delight in?

  1. The law diagnoses sin, but cannot cure the sinner. (7:7-13)
  2. The law defines holiness, but cannot make us holy. (7:14-23)
  3. The law is not the problem; sin is the problem. (7:12)
  4. Freedom from the law means joyfully fulfilling the law in a new way. How? (7:5-6; 8:3-4)
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My problem


I have this problem I want to share with you. I have a problem with lists. To-do lists, fix-it lists. You know the kind. In fact, I have this whole pile of lists up on my desk. And now that Carol and I are thinking of buying a house, the problem is getting worse, because I now have to deal with a whole new category of really serious lists.

Now my problem is this: I know that lists are good. Organized people use lists. Efficient people use lists. I am sure that organized and efficient pastors are constantly making lists. So making lists must be a good thing. But when I actually try to make use of lists a strange thing happens to me. When I write down a list of things that are really important, I suddenly want to do anything except what is on the list. If the list says to write letters, I want nothing more than to make a cup of coffie and read a good Bible commentary. But if the list says, "study," I have this terrible urge to make phone calls or check my email.

So if lists are good, then why do they make me so miserable? They just leave me feeling guilty. I know that making lists is a mark of good organization and diligence. I want to be diligent. But lists just seem to make my problems worse. I want to do everything on my lists, but I don't seem to be able to do it. I have good intentions, I just can't seem to carry them out. It's as if there was hiddent within me a "list-hater" who pops out and keeps me from doing what I want to do.

What a wretched man I am! Who can save me from this miserable condition?

Paul's problem in Romans 7


Does this sound familiar? My problem with lists -- only slightly exaggerated -- is very similar to Paul's problem in Romans 7. Just as I have a list problem, Paul has a law problem. The difference is a matter of scope: I have a problem with my little lists; Paul has a problem with God's big lists.

Read Romans 7:1-25 [p. 1116]

Paul's problem is this: He knows, and we know, that God's law is good. Old Testament writers get positively ecstactic when when they write about the law. Consider Psalm 19: 7-10. Here we see that God's law is supposed to be refreshing, a joy, more precious than gold, sweeter than honey.

But if we are supposed to love the law, delight in the law -- if it is supposed to be sweeter than honey for us, then what is up with Paul? He seems to know that we are supposed to like the law, but he doesn't act very happy. In fact he has almost nothing good to say about the law. [e.g. 3:19-20 -- It condemns the sinner, it cannot produce righteousness; 4:15 -- It brings wrath]

Now in chapter 7, Paul tells us that Christians are free from the law; in fact, that we are dead to the law. [Vs. 4: You also died to the law; vs. 6: We have been released from the law] This is an astounding statement for a Jewish writer to make. For a man like Paul who has been educated as a Rabbi to talk about being free from the law, or dying to the law, is utterly stupendous.

Why should we die to something that is supposed to be good -- that is supposed to be life to us? Why do we need to be free from something that we are supposed to delight in -- that is supposed to be sweeter than honey to us?


1. The law can only condemn


That's the problem. To begin to find a solution to the problem, let's do an exercise together, going back to my problem with lists.

Here's the exercise: Imagine that you are planning for this coming week.

You want it to be a great week spiritually, so before you plan anything else, you draw up a spiritual to-do list. Here is what it might look like:

It's getting long, so lets stop there. Now, let's say that you draw up this list, and you actually manage to DO everything on this list. At the end of the day you're feeling pretty good about yourself, so you decide you'll give God a little bonus present -- an extra Bible reading to end the day. You open your Bible, and let's say you turn to Romans 12, starting at verse 9. And you read . . .

Suddenly your earlier list looks a bit meagre.

The problem? You'll never satisfy a spiritual to-do list. No matter how much you write down, there will always be more you should be doing. The list will never be complete.

All that the list can possibly do is leave you feeling indadequate and miserable. Even ordinary lists -- like fix-it lists -- can only condemn us. Who of you homeowners ever comes to the end of the things that you should do around your house? All that lists do is remind us of our indequacy and our limitations.

It's the same with God's law. We can never satisfy it. All that it can do is condemn us. The law is like a doctor who is great a diagnosing illness, but has no medicine. So you go to the doctor and he says, "Ah, yes, I know exactly what is wrong with you. You are very, very ill. Just a matter of time really. Sorry there's nothing I can do. Next patient."

This is exactly what Paul says in verse 10: We go to the law expecting life -- we only get a death sentence.

The law diagnoses sin, but cannot cure the sinner. Or, to use theological language, the law can only condemn, it can never justify.

2. The law cannot produce holiness


Another thing about lists: Not only do they condemn us, we also tend to use them to deceive ourselves. It works like this for me:

Beginning of the day, and I know I have alot to do. So I set out to write a list. I write down everything that I want to accomplish. It might take me 15 minutes, maybe even half an hour to think through and prioritize everything that I need to do.

And when I have finished I sit back and congratulate myself because I have accomplished so much!

Of course, I haven't really accomplished anything. To make a list is not actually to DO anything! A list just tells me what I SHOULD be doing, but it won't accomplish anything for me. All the lists in the world can't make me more diligent, responsible or effective.

It's the same with God's law: God's law defines holiness, but cannot make us holy. God's law can define goodness, but it has no power to make us good. So the law can't justify, and the law can't produce holiness. All it can do is condemn and remind us of our lack of holiness.

What good is it?

3. The law is not the problem; sin is the problem


Why don't we just chuck it. Why don't we just get rid of the law. Is that what it means to be free from the law, or to die to the law. Is that what Paul means in Romans 7?

Sounds like a good idea. The law just causes problems, get rid of the law, and maybe the problems will go away.

So let's say I try that with all of my to-do lists. I just go up to my office and collect all of my lists and crumple them up and toss them away. No more lists, no more guilt, right?

Wrong. Throwing out my lists would not take care of any of my problems. I would still have all the same obligations. Ignoring my lists would just make my life fall apart faster, and make me more miserable. Try throwing out all of your fix-it lists at home, and watch your house fall apart around you.

Throwing out the list doesn't solve the problem, because the list is not the problem. The list is not the problem; I am the problem.


In the same way, ignoring God's law won't do much good, becausethe law is not the problem; sin is the problem. [see verse 12]

 So freedom from the law does not mean freedom to disobey or to ignore the law.

4. How can we be free from the law?


But if we cannot be free from the law by ignoring it, how can we be free from the law? What does it mean to be dead to the law?

Only by fulfilling it. The only way to be free from the law is by fully and completely fulfilling the demands of the law.

But how?! We've already discovered that it is impossible for me to ever fulfill all of the demands of the law, no matter how hard I try. All of my efforts can never satisfy the laws demands. So how can I possible fulfill the law and thus be free?

There is only one way to fulfill the law:

It works like this: Imagine that you are completely behind in your work. You are so far behind, in fact, that it would take you years to catch up. You have a project list a mile long. It is a completely hopeless situation.

Then one day your boss calls you in. You come before him in fear and trembling. After a few moments of silence, to increase the tension, he looks up and says, "I've noticed that you are rather behind in your work." Oh, he noticed. "And I've decided to do something about it." And you brace yourself, "This is it. It had to come sometime." But the next thing he says comes as a complete surprise. Rather than fire you -- although you fully deserve to be fired -- your boss says, "All your backlogged work -- I'm taking it on myself. I'll do it all. Consider your slate clean."

And he doesn't stop there. He says, "I've decided you need some help. I'm assigning you my most trusted assistant as a helper. He knows exactly what I want, exactly what is important to me. He'll keep the lists from now on. All you need to do is listen to him."

This is exactly what God does for us: Look ahead to chapter 8:3-4

The law could not justify, but Jesus can; the law has no power to make us holy, but the Spirit does.

So freedom from the law means joyfully fulfilling the law in a new way. When we turn to Jesus, there are two ways that we gain power to fulfill the law:

  1. Jesus satisfies the demands of the law, so that we are no longer condemned. He takes on all of the backlogged obligations.

  2. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to live holy lives. He keeps the list for us, and teaches us what God really wants of us.

So freedom from the law means having a new master. It means turning away from serving the law toward serving Jesus -- not in order to escape the law, but in order to fulfill it.

So back to our initial question: Why do we need to be free from the law when it should be a delight? Because the only way that we can possible delight in the law is if we are no longer slaves to it. If we serve Christ, the law can be a delight because we no longer have to fear it. The law becomes a friend, teaching us about our father's ways, rather than a judge who condemns us.

CONCLUSION:


Tragically, many Christians remain miserable because they continue to treat the law as their master rather than Christ. And if we do this we find ourselves in the miserable state that Paul describes in the latter half of chapter 7. This is not the state of a normal, healthy Christian life -- the normal, healthy Christian life is described in chapter 8. No, this is the situation of someone who is trapped by legalism, who is trying to satisfy the law on his own, when he has no power to do so.

Are you miserable and burdened in your Christian life? There is a good chance that you are trying to please God in the OLD way, serving an OLD master, the law, rather than in the new way, taking advantage of the helper that God has given you -- the Holy Spirit -- who can free you from the tyrrany of the law, and teach you to to delight in the law because it reflects the beautiful character of your Father.