It’s a Pleasure
Opening Prayer
Father, thank You for sending Jesus to remove from me the requirement of keeping Your holy law.
Read Romans 8:1–8
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law 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, 4 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.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
New International Version (NIV)
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Reflect
“No condemnation now I dread; Jesus and all in him is mine!” (Charles Wesley, 1707–1788).
In chapter 7 Paul stated that the Law is “holy, righteous and good… [and] spiritual” (Rom. 7:12,14). This it must be, because it reveals the character of Israel’s redeeming
God and his expectations of his people. However, in a context of “the flesh” (or “sinful nature,” TNIV)—life lived independent of God—it is too weak (3) to empower us to live lives that please God (8). The inevitable consequence is condemnation: condemned before God and often by our own conscience. Fallen human beings are ultimately powerless; they cannot submit to God’s Law (7). However moral some people may be, even genuinely wanting to do what is right (Rom. 7:19), a life lived apart from God is ultimately hostile to God (7).
However, God has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves (3). By “sending his own Son” (3) to live his life in perfect submission to God—fulfilling the Law’s just requirement (4)—and to die our death, judging sin “in human flesh” (3, TNIV), he broke the dominating power of sin, bearing our condemnation and setting us free (2), so that we may have peace with God (Rom. 5:1). He died our death so that we may have life with peace (6). Our hostility to God is turned into a desire to please God, and God’s hostility toward us is placated.
We are now “in Christ Jesus” (1). Our location has changed from the realm of the flesh to the realm of the Spirit. We are still capable of sinning (verse 4 is about what Christ has done for us, not what we do as a consequence), but we have been freed to live lives pleasing to God and have been given a desire to please God. We may now walk by the Spirit (5), even if our feet sometimes stumble. The Christian’s confidence with God stems from this act of God’s grace.
Apply
Think about how long the list would be if God counted up each of our transgressions and added up all the fractions. Psalm 130:3 puts it succinctly: “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?”
Closing prayer
Lord, as I reflect with wonder on all You have done for me, show me how I can best please You today and every day.
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