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Knowing the Rules, Feeling the Gap · The Holy Pause

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SPEAKER_00: A reading from scripture, Romans chapter 7, verse 7.
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SPEAKER_00: So what are we going to say?
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SPEAKER_00: That the law is sin?
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SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
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SPEAKER_00: But I wouldn't have known sin except through the law.
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SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't have known the desire for what others have if the law had not said,
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SPEAKER_00: don't desire what others have.
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SPEAKER_00: But sin seized the opportunity and used this commandment to produce all kinds of desire in me.
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SPEAKER_00: Sin is dead without the law.
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SPEAKER_00: I used to be alive without the law,
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SPEAKER_00: but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
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SPEAKER_00: So the commandment that was intended to give life brought death.
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SPEAKER_00: Sin seized the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and killed me.
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SPEAKER_00: The law itself is holy and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
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SPEAKER_00: Oh boy.
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SPEAKER_00: Paul, we have to remember, is writing a letter.
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SPEAKER_00: And in that letter Paul reveals parts of himself to the people who are reading it.
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SPEAKER_00: This is not a theological treatise meant to be turned into a textbook
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SPEAKER_00: but instead something like a friend talking to you on the phone.
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SPEAKER_00: And in that context sometimes he uses metaphors which can be a little tricky
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SPEAKER_00: without understanding the relationship of the people involved in the conversation.
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SPEAKER_00: So we have to go back and understand a little bit about Paul.
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SPEAKER_00: Paul was A Jewish citizen of Rome.
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SPEAKER_00: He was a Jewish Roman citizen.
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SPEAKER_00: And so he was held in two parallel tracks of responsibility.
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SPEAKER_00: When he was 13,
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SPEAKER_00: he would have bar mitzvahed and become a son of the covenant,
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SPEAKER_00: which means he was therefore responsible for upholding the laws that come
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SPEAKER_00: with becoming a full fledged member of a Jewish faith tradition.
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SPEAKER_00: Which means that he would have been bound at 13 by the law.
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SPEAKER_00: Before that Paul was saying that he was innocent.
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SPEAKER_00: That he didn't have to follow the rules and so he just didn't pay attention to them.
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SPEAKER_00: Because he was not bound by the limitations of the law.
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SPEAKER_00: He just did whatever he felt like doing and that felt like he was alive.
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SPEAKER_00: Because he could do whatever he wanted.
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SPEAKER_00: Because he wasn't held responsible for the rules.
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SPEAKER_00: But when he became 13,
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SPEAKER_00: he began to learn all of the covenant promises that God had made to his family,
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SPEAKER_00: but also that he was making to God.
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SPEAKER_00: After all, that's what the Ten Commandments are.
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SPEAKER_00: It's a series of promises made between God and God's people,
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SPEAKER_00: that God would be their God and they would be God's people,
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SPEAKER_00: and this is what their relationship would look like.
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SPEAKER_00: So Paul is saying here that when he became responsible
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SPEAKER_00: for holding up his covenant commitments,
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SPEAKER_00: that is when he became most aware of the ways that he wasn't living up to them.
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SPEAKER_00: That it wasn't until he knew the rules that he understood exactly how far he was
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SPEAKER_00: from fulfilling them.
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SPEAKER_00: You know how they say innocence is no excuse?
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SPEAKER_00: Just because you don't know the rule is there doesn't mean that you're not breaking the rule.
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SPEAKER_00: Just because you can't see the speed limit sign doesn't mean the cop won't pull you
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SPEAKER_00: over for speeding.
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SPEAKER_00: This is the same thing here.
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SPEAKER_00: Paul is saying that when we become aware of the rules,
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SPEAKER_00: when we become aware of our responsibilities,
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SPEAKER_00: when we become aware of the covenant promises that God has made to us and us
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SPEAKER_00: in return to God,
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SPEAKER_00: that is when we could become most aware of how our sin is leading us away
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SPEAKER_00: from those promises.
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SPEAKER_00: That when we know that God is our God and God wants us to be his people,
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SPEAKER_00: that is when we are most dead.
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SPEAKER_00: Because it's then that we realize how far away we are from meeting those expectations.
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SPEAKER_00: And man, do I hate to not meet expectations.
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SPEAKER_00: So Paul is naming here for us that reality.
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SPEAKER_00: That sin is most alive for us,
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SPEAKER_00: most present for us in those moments where we are not living up
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SPEAKER_00: to our responsibilities.
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SPEAKER_00: Maybe the first step is just acknowledging that.
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SPEAKER_00: So I invite you today to consider what rules live most rent-free in your mind.
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SPEAKER_00: What are the rules of God which you are noticing as being more present
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SPEAKER_00: in your life today than maybe normally?
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SPEAKER_00: What expectations are you aware of today?
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SPEAKER_00: And what is your response to them?
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SPEAKER_00: In noticing those expectations and those promises and those rules,
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SPEAKER_00: Do you notice them because you're fulfilling them or because you're falling short
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SPEAKER_00: of them?
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SPEAKER_00: Join me in prayer.
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SPEAKER_00: God, today we ask for you to make us aware.
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SPEAKER_00: Help us to have the courage to name the ways that we are falling short,
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SPEAKER_00: not to be afraid of them,
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SPEAKER_00: but to own them,
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SPEAKER_00: to acknowledge them, To remember the ways that we are falling short.
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SPEAKER_00: Help us to see with that grace the possibilities that come in the morning.
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SPEAKER_00: The ways that we can make different promises in the morning.
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SPEAKER_00: Help us not to be ashamed, but empowered by that acknowledgement of our reality.
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SPEAKER_00: Amen.
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