Latest / Beyond the Sermon / I Want to Do What is Right, But I Can't: Sermon

Transcript

I Want to Do What is Right, But I Can't: Sermon · Beyond the Sermon

0:05
You're listening to Beyond the Sermon, the podcast of First
0:08
Methodist Church in Collingswood, NJ.
0:10
On our podcast, the goal is not just to share our sermons, but
0:14
to go beyond the sermon and talk about what we're learning and
0:16
what God is doing in US and in our community.
0:19
The sermon you're about to listen to comes from our Spring
0:21
Mixtape 2025 Non Series Sermon Series.
0:26
Rather than a series, this will be a collection of sermons based
0:28
on what God is leading us to preach on this spring.
0:31
You can find more information about our church at
0:33
fumccollingswood.org. Thanks for listening.
0:42
This morning's scripture comes from Romans Chapter 7.
0:48
So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and
0:51
good. The trouble is with me, for I am
0:54
all too human, a slave to sin. I don't really understand
0:59
myself, for what I want to do is right, but I don't do it.
1:04
Instead I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am
1:08
doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.
1:13
So I am not the one doing wrong. It is sin living in me that does
1:18
it. And I know that nothing good
1:21
lives in me that is in my sinful nature.
1:25
I do to do. I want to do what is right.
1:28
Sorry, but I can't. I want to do what is good, but I
1:32
don't. I don't want to do what is
1:35
wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don't want to
1:39
do, I'm not really the one doing wrong.
1:42
It is sin living in me that does it.
1:45
I have discovered this principle of life that when I want to do
1:50
what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
1:54
I love God's law with all my heart, but there is another
1:57
power within me that is at war with my mind.
2:01
This power makes me a slave to the sin that I that is still
2:06
within me. Oh what a miserable person,
2:10
miserable person I am who will free me from this life that is
2:14
dominated by sin and death. This is the word of God for the
2:18
people of God. Incredible.
2:24
He was trying to do what was right, and sometimes doing what
2:30
is right, doing what is good, can be hard.
2:33
All right. Scott talked last week a little
2:37
bit about the hard choices, picking between two hard things
2:42
where one you canmore passively enter into, it's easier to walk
2:47
that path, but it has tough consequences where if you were
2:52
trying to intentionally do the good that way, it may be hard to
2:56
actually do it. But we know that it is right and
2:59
it is most beneficial and good in the end.
3:03
And so we see this wrestling in the Scripture this morning of
3:08
the desire to do what is good. And yet our actions are the
3:12
opposite, right? And I don't think this is only a
3:16
problem within the church. I believe this is really a
3:19
reflection on the human condition, right?
3:22
People outside of the world, we, whatever we believe to be good
3:26
is what we hopefully strive for. Whether we believe what God says
3:30
is good and evil or what he says is right and wrong is correct.
3:35
And so if you were to ask someone out on the streets what
3:38
they believe a perfect person would do, how they would live,
3:41
what all of the good actions, the right actions in each and
3:45
every scenario would be, I'm sure they could come up with an
3:48
answer. And if you followed up by asking
3:51
them if they have always done what is good and what is right,
3:56
they would probably tell you that they haven't if they were
3:59
honest and if they were extremely prideful in that
4:02
moment, as we none of us are immune to pride, we can start to
4:06
come up with the excuses as to why in that situation we didn't
4:11
do what we just said earlier was the right thing to do.
4:14
But, you know, contacts and things change what is right and
4:19
wrong out in the world. And so when Paul is speaking to
4:23
the audience here in Romans, the one of the popular ideologies,
4:28
the popular philosophy of the time is Stoicism.
4:31
And Stoicism believes that the more knowledge you have of what
4:35
is good and evil will lead you into doing the good.
4:41
The knowledge will directly affect your actions.
4:46
And I think Paul is not only speaking against that, but in my
4:49
limited experience, that isn't always the case.
4:54
For those that are Collingswood locals, you may be aware that
4:59
alongside Knights Park, there is a road you can drive under the
5:05
PATCO and it leads to the Methodist homes over there,
5:09
right? The senior citizen homes.
5:11
Does anyone know what that spot is used for regularly?
5:17
No, Oh my gosh, I've only been here two years.
5:19
I'm a real Collingswoodian. I don't know what you call
5:22
yourselves. That's the smoking spot for all
5:25
of the medical professionals at the Senior citizen home.
5:30
Rain or shine, they're under the bridge.
5:31
It's right off the property. So they're allowed to do it
5:34
right and, and through nursing school and visitation and all of
5:37
that stuff at hospitals. I'm always baffled at the amount
5:40
of nurses that are right on the edge of the hospital property
5:43
taking their smoke break. And so the knowledge of good and
5:48
what is right doesn't always lead us to the action.
5:53
And we see here in our Scripture this morning that even someone
5:57
that trusts in God about what is right versus wrong is unable to
6:02
do so. Right in verse 22 says, I love
6:06
God's law with all my heart, but there's another power within me
6:11
that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to
6:15
the sin that is still within me, and I've personally struggled
6:20
with this throughout my walk of faith.
6:23
So I'm not going to confess confess all of my sins this
6:25
morning. One of them is my road rage.
6:30
I did a driving job for many, many years where I was driving 4
6:34
to 600 miles every single week. And in that time, I encountered
6:38
the best of drivers and the worst of drivers.
6:41
And whenever they endangered myself or slowed me down from
6:46
getting to my destination, I had some choice words that weren't
6:51
always Christian curse words. And when I told this to Marie in
6:56
the office the other day, she was like, this wasn't recently,
7:00
right? You're a pastor.
7:01
And I was like, it was, it was a handful of years ago before I
7:05
was ever in ministry. And during this time, I knew
7:09
even though I was by myself, this is not what God wanted me
7:12
to do, not the words he wanted me to say, not the heart posture
7:15
that he wanted me to have in this situation.
7:18
And so I tried to work on it myself, right?
7:21
I came up with phrases which which many people that walk with
7:26
me know. These phrases first I came up
7:30
with was screaming, lovingly screaming, Jesus loves you and
7:36
I'm trying. That's what got me through for a
7:40
few months. And then like many things that
7:42
we say, even within the faith, it just becomes a habit and we
7:45
no longer think of the words we're actually saying.
7:48
And so then I had to change it once again.
7:51
And it turned into Jesus died for you and I should be willing.
7:56
And this one comes in handy for anyone that frustrates you at
8:00
any time. I highly recommend it.
8:02
But the phrase itself does not necessarily change the heart or
8:07
the action every single time. And so this once again became
8:11
habitual. And I would try again and I
8:14
would fall short. I would try again and I would
8:16
fall short. I was trying to pick myself up
8:19
by my own bootstraps, right? Are we all familiar with this
8:22
phrase? Hope so.
8:24
And our culture, right? Have you ever tried to do so?
8:28
It is physically impossible to pick yourself up by your
8:32
bootstraps. I do not know why we use that
8:34
phrase. It does not get across the point
8:37
in which people are normally trying to get across anyway.
8:41
We try nonetheless. How many of you can relate to a
8:47
season of your life in which you were aware of a sin, something
8:52
that was wrong, and you tried by your own power to stop doing
8:56
that thing, and you found yourself in that same cycle of
9:00
trying again and falling short and trying again?
9:03
All of us. We have a few perfect people in
9:06
the back. God bless.
9:09
If we are to believe that this is Paul's experience as a
9:14
believer in Jesus Christ, after he's filled with the Holy
9:18
Spirit, then we should anticipate this being our
9:22
reality and our struggle until we are home in glory.
9:27
But this morning I'm going to propose an alternate after I
9:32
pray. Would you join me, Lord?
9:37
I ask that in this time you would speak.
9:44
Your spirit would speak, whether it be through my words, through
9:48
Your word that I recite, or directly to the hearts of people
9:52
in here. I ask that you would get myself
9:57
aside and that the words from my mouth would be faithful to what
10:01
You have for Your people this morning.
10:04
We love you and we praise you in Jesus name, Amen.
10:09
It would be nice if he sent us a helper for things, right?
10:14
This morning. I will propose that Paul is not
10:17
talking about his personal, not talking about his personal
10:21
experience at the time he is writing it, though he says a lot
10:25
of I and me statements right even within one verse on 18 and
10:29
says, and I know that nothing good lives in me that is in my
10:35
sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but
10:39
I can't. And on and on and on.
10:44
And there's there's something that may help us understand this
10:47
from a little trick I learned in Mexico while impersonating
10:52
crying babies, because in church and in homes and stuff, there's
10:57
always those kids. They didn't get hurt, nothing
10:59
really happened. They're just crying for the sake
11:01
of crying. And so I got really good at
11:04
copying their facial expressions and when in an appropriate
11:07
environment, mimicking the sounds of their cries.
11:10
And usually they would look at me very confused as to why this
11:14
grown man is doing these things. And then I believe they're
11:18
reflecting. Is that how I look right now?
11:20
And then they stop and then I'm left alone looking ridiculous.
11:24
And so now that I've boys of my own, I do this at home.
11:28
Our youngest, Jack, when he's at the dinner table, if there isn't
11:31
food directly in front of him, he's crying.
11:34
That's how I know he's my son. And so I will mock him to try
11:38
and pass through the time. And now our oldest, Theo, joins
11:42
in the mockery and he loves to go.
11:46
And then he'll cracks himself up from doing the crying sound.
11:49
And sometimes he does it when Jack's not even crying.
11:52
He's just entertaining himself. But he'll learn comedic timing
11:56
as he gets older. But I've gotten really good at
12:00
these impressions. And so if you would indulge me,
12:03
I insist that it will help us better understand where Paul's
12:07
coming from. I'm going to ask you close your
12:09
eyes and see if you can tell who I'm impersonating.
12:13
And if I see any eyes open, I'm just going to hold us here.
12:16
There you go. I'm stubborn like that.
12:18
The Lord's working on me. So here's the impression.
12:22
I want my toy car from Jack. Jack has my toy car.
12:28
Oh, new toy car. You can open your eyes.
12:32
Who do we think that is? Rebecca.
12:35
You are so close. No, it's not my wife Rebecca.
12:38
That is Theo, and so by me sharing right from his
12:45
perspective, acting as if though I am Theo, it's able to show us
12:49
a little bit more about not only who Theo is, but also about his
12:54
demographic, right Toddlers, emotional roller coaster, highs
12:59
of highs, lows of lows, moment to moment.
13:01
And it's based off nothing that makes sense, but this is
13:05
something that we can learn by trying to see from their point
13:11
of view, see from their experience.
13:14
And so I believe that Paul is either sharing about his
13:18
personal experience pre Jesus, pre experiencing Jesus and being
13:23
filled with the Holy Spirit, or the general Jewish experience of
13:27
loving the law and not being able to fulfill it.
13:33
Because that's what we see right in in Chapter 7 talking about
13:36
someone that loves the law and they try to do what is right,
13:39
but they can't. We even have the psalmist in 119
13:43
sharing the sentiment saying, oh, how I love your law.
13:47
I meditate on it all day long. And so why isn't Paul talking
13:54
about his experience after being filled with the Holy Spirit and
14:00
after encountering Jesus? Well, neither Jesus or the
14:03
Spirit are mentioned in the text that we have, which is fine.
14:08
They don't have to be mentioned in every single scripture.
14:11
And yet they are mentioned a lot in the surrounding texts of the
14:15
same message Paul is trying to get across in chapter 6, earlier
14:20
in Chapter 7, and even in chapter 8.
14:22
And so since I know you all didn't come here just to get
14:26
Jesus time for one hour this morning, but you want it
14:28
throughout the week, please go and read chapters 6 through 8
14:31
later this week. I'm sure it will bless you,
14:34
especially since 8:00 is a lot of people's favorite chapter in
14:37
all of scripture. Anyway, if we go back to Chapter
14:42
7 where it says that I love God's law with all my heart, it
14:46
continues with but there is another power within me that is
14:52
at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to
14:56
the sin that is still within me. And this contradicts scripture
15:01
that we see earlier in Chapter 7.
15:03
Starting in verse 5. When we were controlled by our
15:07
old nature, sinful desires were at work within us and the law
15:12
aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful
15:16
deeds resulting in death. But now we have been released
15:22
from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its
15:26
power. Now we can serve God, not in the
15:30
old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of
15:35
living in the Spirit. We go back to verse 17.
15:41
It says as it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but
15:46
it is sin living in me. Well, how does that line up with
15:52
chapter 6, verse 6? For we know that our old self
15:56
was crucified with him, so that the body ruled by sin might be
16:01
done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
16:09
Verse 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me,
16:14
that it is my sinful nature, for I have the desire to do what is
16:18
good, but I cannot carry it out. Chapter 8.
16:22
Starting. Verse 12 Therefore, brothers and
16:25
sisters, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh to
16:30
live according to it. For if you live according to the
16:33
flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the
16:40
misdeeds of the body, you will live.
16:45
Last one. To get my point across, Paul
16:48
answers his own question at the end of this chapter.
16:51
In verse 24. It says what a wretched man I am
16:55
who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death.
17:01
The very next verse. Thanks be to God who delivers me
17:06
through Jesus Christ our Lord. And even continues to elaborate
17:10
on that in chapter 8, the very next verse.
17:14
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong in Christ
17:18
Jesus. And because you belong to Him,
17:21
the power of the life giving Spirit has freed you from the
17:25
power of sin that leads to death.
17:29
The Law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness
17:33
of our sinful nature. So God did what the Law could
17:36
not do. He sent His Son in a body like
17:40
the bodies we sinners have, and in that body God declared an end
17:45
to sins control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice
17:49
for our sins. He did this so that the just
17:52
requirement of the Law would be fully satisfied for us.
17:57
That's us. Who are we?
18:00
We are those who no longer follow our sinful nature but
18:06
instead follow the Spirit. I don't think I'm far off with
18:12
my conclusion that Paul is talking about his previous
18:15
experience as a Jew or even the Jewish experience.
18:19
Excuse me. Especially since using the style
18:21
of writing and speaking was common in the Old Testament.
18:26
Speaking of yourself as the person you are referencing.
18:29
It's even common in today's Jewish culture I have with me.
18:35
Hagadah I believe is how it's pronounced.
18:37
For those that don't know, during Passover when they
18:41
celebrate it, they have a guide to help go through the
18:45
traditions and the ceremonies and the words that people will
18:48
repeat to one another and in in one of the sections.
18:52
And this is common throughout, but you'll see a theme that says
18:56
we used to be slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but Hashem our God
19:01
reached out his strong arm and took us out from there.
19:06
If God had not saved us from Egypt, all of us, even our
19:11
children and grandchildren would still be slaves to Pharaoh.
19:16
They don't say our ancestors over and over again.
19:20
They put themselves in the place of the people.
19:24
There's this covenantal connection to help further where
19:29
we are to be today. And so I'm thinking, great,
19:33
Jeremy, you've convinced us, you're welcome.
19:37
But how do we do the right thing, right?
19:40
We want to do the right thing. And I think that may be the
19:42
first question that pops up in our mind, but I think it's also
19:46
where we started, right? We desire to do the right thing.
19:52
And we need to remember that God set the Israelites free before
19:57
they received the commandments. They didn't need to follow the
20:00
commandments to be set free. And yet, after being set free by
20:05
God, he showed them what a life of true freedom looked like.
20:11
And they, at this time, as they're walking through the
20:14
desert after being set free, still had the mindset of slaves
20:19
and even yearn to go back into slavery at some points because
20:22
it's what they knew, it's what was comfortable, it's what they
20:25
expected. And I think it's important that
20:28
we have a shift in how we view this passage because we tend to
20:34
wrestle with and focus on the do's and don'ts instead of who's
20:39
we are and who is there to help us. 18 says, For all who are led
20:47
by the Spirit of God are children of God.
20:52
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful
20:55
slaves. Instead, you received God's
20:58
Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.
21:03
We are no longer slaves, but set free.
21:07
Amen. And so the children of God,
21:11
what's the attribute about them, right?
21:13
They are led by the Spirit. And as believers, we have the
21:20
Holy Spirit, but we don't always let it lead us.
21:23
And this made me think back. Things always come back to
21:27
Mexico. I'm off the food tangent from
21:29
last week. And in Mexico, my grandmother,
21:35
my sweet abuelita, had a room called the bodega and she grew
21:41
up in poverty. And I don't know if anyone has a
21:43
similar experience or know someone with a similar
21:46
experience. But after growing up and gaining
21:50
more financial stability and being able to buy nicer things,
21:55
she never let go of any of those nicer things.
21:58
You just keep them and keep them and keep them.
22:00
And so that's what the bodega was for, is she would store all
22:03
the things that someday we'll use them.
22:06
And the only time we go back to the bodega is to put more things
22:09
in the bodega, right? And so she collected 6 various
22:15
China sets of plates and dishware.
22:19
And you know, China is the holy set, right?
22:23
It's not your everyday stuff. It's separate, put apart.
22:26
And so that's what she did. She put it apart.
22:28
And you want to know how many times she used those six sets of
22:31
China 0? And so though we have it, we may
22:36
not be using it for one reason or another.
22:39
Maybe we've just gotten so used to our regular everyday plates.
22:45
And so if we think back again to chapter 8, when we need to shift
22:52
our mindset and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, it says those
22:57
who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful
23:00
things, but those who are controlled by the Spirit think
23:06
about things that please the Spirit, controlled by the
23:10
Spirit. That means if it's in control,
23:13
guess who isn't? We are.
23:17
And who doesn't love to feel in control?
23:22
We do, right? And so we need to remember in
23:25
the Lord's Prayer, not our wills, but His be done.
23:30
That's step one. Release control to the Holy
23:33
Spirit. And Step 2, it doesn't say to do
23:37
what pleases the Spirit. What does it say in the text?
23:41
We need to think about what pleases the Spirit, and So what
23:47
pleases the Spirit. You know, the Holy Spirit being
23:50
God and part of the Trinity. I believe the Holy Spirit is
23:53
probably pleased by the same things that please the Father
23:56
and the Son. And Jesus sums up the most
24:00
important of all the do's and don'ts that the Jews are
24:04
wrestling with all of these years.
24:05
And we've probably been wrestling within our own walks.
24:09
Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.
24:12
Love your neighbor as yourself. And I'm certain that the Spirit
24:16
is pleased by the same. And the Scripture calls us to
24:20
think about the things that please the Spirit that's loving
24:25
God with all that we are and loving our neighbors.
24:28
And praise be to God that we are no longer slaves to sin, but
24:32
free in Christ. And so if we look at how
24:35
Scripture teaches us to use our new found freedom, I think we'll
24:40
find some similarities. First.
24:42
Peter 216 Live as the people who are free, not using your freedom
24:48
as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God,
24:53
loving God with all our heart, my soul and strength.
24:57
Galatians 513 For you have been called to live in freedom, my
25:02
brothers and sisters, but don't use your freedom to satisfy your
25:06
sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to
25:10
serve one another in love, loving your neighbors, right.
25:17
And I think it's so important that last phrasing, serve one
25:20
another in love because I think a lot of times big C church, our
25:24
church, my life or like, yeah, we're supposed to serve.
25:28
That's the action. That's the do good.
25:29
So like, let me do the thing that is good and serve those.
25:33
And it's not always with the heart of love.
25:36
And so I hope that we would challenge ourselves as we are
25:39
allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us to keep that in consideration
25:43
as we are loving our neighbors, not solely through actions,
25:48
because we need to desire these things above everything else and
25:52
lean on the Holy Spirit to empower us to do it.
25:55
I think we've grown accustomed with our actions will show our
26:01
love for God or through our actions, you will see our love
26:05
for our neighbors. Instead, we need to focus our
26:08
minds on loving God and with all that we are and focus our minds
26:13
on loving our neighbors and the actions will follow.
26:18
Our physical actions work the same way, right?
26:21
You can't physically start doing stuff if it doesn't stem from
26:25
the brain, right? And so to focus our thoughts
26:29
first and the actions will follow through in regards to
26:33
loving our God and loving our neighbor.
26:36
And sometimes we become so prideful trying to do what's
26:40
right, do what's good, all on our own strength, even if it's
26:44
for God, right? We're trying to do the things
26:46
for God and we leave him out of the equation and how we do it.
26:52
And no matter how good we become of our own strength, if it is
26:57
simply by our own power and not reliant on the Lord, we are
27:02
doing a disservice to the gospel.
27:05
And I think that's maybe a bold statement to make.
27:12
But would we not be empowering the notion that all ways and
27:15
religions are equal? The common world view that
27:19
Christianity just happens to be the route that encouraged us to
27:22
do good in the world. I want you to listen carefully
27:30
and it breaks my heart to say this, but I believe it to be
27:32
very true. If what we accomplish is
27:37
possible without God, then it won't display the holiness of
27:43
God. If non believers are able to
27:50
display the same amount of love, peace, patience, kindness,
28:02
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as
28:08
we do, then I worry that they will never see the power of the
28:13
Holy Spirit working in and through us.
28:19
And I know it doesn't feel great to fall short, right?
28:21
We see that through seven, we want to be able to do the good,
28:25
to do what is right. And there's a there can be a
28:28
shame of our inability to do what is right.
28:32
But I think we need to embrace our weakness, embrace our
28:35
inability to do so. For it is through our weakness
28:40
that God's power can be truly displayed.
28:45
Our final reminder from the scripture, we've already touched
28:48
on it in the beginning of chapter 8 where it says there is
28:52
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because
28:57
through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has
29:01
set you free from the law of sin and death.
29:06
So I think part of this mind shift is not is stopping us from
29:13
living in shame and condemning ourselves or imagining God's
29:17
condemnation constantly over us because of our failed attempts
29:21
to live out the freedom that God has given us.
29:29
And that we need to set our minds on what the Spirit is
29:34
pleased with and lean on the Spirit to empower us to
29:38
accomplish it. Would you join me in prayer?
29:46
Lord our God, our heavenly Father, we ask before your
29:53
throne of grace that you would give us the spirit of wisdom and
29:58
of revelation, that you would open our eyes and our hearts to
30:04
be enlightened by your spirit, that we may know hope, that we
30:09
may know the riches of this glorious inheritance that you've
30:12
given us. May we trust in the immeasurable
30:15
greatness of your power toward us who believe according to the
30:21
working of your great might, that you worked in Christ when
30:25
you raised him from the dead. We ask that Christ would be the
30:29
head over this church, that Christ would be the head of our
30:33
lives, and that Your grace would be all that we need.
30:39
We know that your power works best and weakness, and I ask
30:45
that we would be glad to boast about our weaknesses so that
30:48
your power can work through us. We thank you so much that you
30:54
would ever even consider us to be your children, not because of
31:02
what we've done, but because of who you are.
31:06
You have been faithful time and time again and we ask that we
31:10
would grow in our faith, that we would grow in our love for you,
31:14
that we would grow in our love for our neighbors, so that our
31:19
mind would be set on these things and your spirit would
31:22
empower us to live it out in Jesus name, Amen.