How to Please God

 This morning we come to final answer to Paul’s question regarding why and how the Christian is to live a holy life. Let’s read Rom. 8:1-17 together. From this passage I want you to see two points: The Differences in Flesh and Spirit, and the Devotion to the Spirit.

First, let’s consider the differences in the flesh and the spirit from verses 1-11. Now, I’ve been warning you for the last month or so that we have to pay attention to Paul’s contrast between the life that is lived in the flesh and that which is lived by the Spirit. Every unbeliever is naturally living “in the flesh”, which is to say that they are under the curse of Adam and face the judgment that is to come on all of those who reject God. That life in the flesh has certain pitfalls that we’ve covered through Chapters 6 and 7, but Paul again summarizes them here. So, let’s consider those. First, in verse 3, Paul says that the flesh weakens us so that we are unable to obey the law. Remember, in chapter 7, Paul said that those habits and desires that well up from our bodies, which are still under the curse, pull us away from faithful obedience to God’s law.

Second, in verse 5, it says that those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Again, we’ve heard this before. In chapter 7, verses 21-25, Paul said that his mind has been renewed by the Spirit, but his flesh wants to follow a different law. So now here, those who are given over to those fleshly desires have set their minds on the things of the flesh. In other words, they dwell on those sinful desires that well up from their flesh. They don’t resist them. They focus on them.

Third, in verse 6 we find that the mind that is set on the flesh brings death. This is yet another important contrast that Paul has been working out. Those who are in Adam are characterized by death, while those who are in Christ receive life. The flesh will ultimately die, but the Spirit brings life. And there is a reason why the flesh brings death, which leads me to my last pitfall of the flesh.

In verses 7-8, Paul gives a final condemnation of the mind that is set on the flesh by showing how that corrupt mindset destroys our relationship with God. First, he says that the fleshly mindset is “hostile to God.” The Greek word for “hostile” there is “echthra”, which can also mean “hatred” or “enmity”. It’s important that you understand this, especially if you have never trusted in Jesus Christ. A lot of people think that, because they tolerate the idea of God, or because they are nice to Christians, or even because they go to church from time to time, that they are on God’s side. But, that lack of commitment – that lack of faith in Jesus Christ – is just vailed hatred.

Second, Paul says that the fleshly mindset “does not submit to God’s law, indeed, it cannot.” The person who has not submitted to Christ and is living by the flesh cannot faithfully obey the law from his or her heart. Now, that doesn’t mean that he or she lives an immoral life. There are many people who don’t know Jesus who still live good, moral lives. But, they cannot be obedient to God in a way that is pleasing to him. God tells the nation of Israel, in Isaiah 1:11 that he didn’t want their sacrifices and offerings anymore. That’s strange because he had given very strict rules about giving them. But what God despised was the fact that they gave those sacrifices while their true desires were set against him.

Third, Paul says that the fleshly mindset “cannot please God.” Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. You may think that your good works, your church attendance, your gifts to charity, or your good habits can make your acceptable, but without faith in Christ, you cannot please God.

Next, let’s consider the benefits of living by the Spirit with my second point: The Devotion of the Spirit. In verses 12-17, Paul explores the ways that the Spirit changes us and makes us right with God. First, in verse 12-13 he says that we are debtors to the Spirit. This is a final answer to the question of why the Christian should live a holy life. We should live in holiness because we are no longer under condemnation. We should live in holiness because we have been delivered from death and given eternal life. We are indebted to the work of God in Jesus Christ, and we should live accordingly.

Second, in Christ, our position has changed. In verses 14-15, Paul says that our title has been changed from slave to child. When we first took Harmony in, we took her from a great foster family who had raised her for 3 years. She had been with them so long that she had taken to calling them mommy and daddy. When she first met us, she called us Nathan and Leah. Leah and I struggled over how to help her learn to call us mama and daddy. Should we tell her she had to stop calling her foster parents that and start doing so with us? Should we correct her every time she calls us by our names? We ended up deciding to just start referring to each other as “Mama” and “Daddy. So, when Harmony would come to me and ask, “Where is Leah”, I’d answer with “Mama is in the kitchen.” Or, Leah might say, “Harmony, can you go tell daddy it’s time for supper.” In less than a month, Harmony just started calling us Mama and Daddy and has ever since. That experience was a beautiful lesson to me in just what Paul is saying here. When we come to Christ, God declares us to be his children. There may be times when we are tempted to slide back into slavery and live according to the flesh, but every time we do, God is still there to remind us that we are his children. And, his love is poured out to us through the presence of His Spirit in our lives, so that we learn to cry out “Abba, Father” (Abba is the Hebrew word for “Daddy”). And, Paul says in verse 16 that his Spirit bears witness to us to confirm that we are his children. Though we may forget, or be prone to wander, or fall back into our old ways, God’s Spirit still reminds us that we are his.

Friend, there is no way to please God apart from faith in Jesus Christ. All of your righteousness is as filthy rags without him. Won’t you trust in Christ today and become a child of this merciful God who, by grace, has given his son that you might have eternal life?

Brothers and sisters, there is a real temptation, whenever we fall back into sin, to assume that God no longer loves us or wants us. There is a real temptation to think that we can no longer pray, no longer worship, no longer serve, no longer witness, because we aren’t worthy to be considered a child of God. But, if we have trusted in Jesus Christ, and if God’s Spirit dwells in us as a testimony of who we are, then we are children of God, regardless of how we fill. You may feel unworthy. You may live with the regret of past sins. But you are a child of the king, and he invites you to draw near to him, to call him “Daddy”, to glorify him with your broken life and give faithful praise to him in the way you now live. May we leave ready to live in holiness because we are God’s children.