All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back again into fear, but you have received the the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified in him. (Romans 7:14-17, ESV)
Two Spirits
"The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit." Here is one of the clearest pictures of the "still, small voice" Elijah and many other friends of God have detected. Through the agency of our own spirit, God speaks. He speaks to us
through us. In this passage, Paul identifies the Spirit of adoption as the one who speaks through our own spirit of our dear place in God's hands and heart.
In contrast there is another spirit at work. Another voice has spoken to us through our self-absorbed flesh, the systems that support this pride all around in the world, and the being that pushes and orchestrates it all - Satan. The voice is the voice of slavery that pulls each person toward fear. Many live is fear due to the slavery they sense. The spirit of slavery may very well be the Devil himself and his work, which Jesus came to destroy. He came to destroy the bondage to sin and the spirit that accompanies it.
Bondage to sin is accomplished by being "weakened by the flesh." Our determination to live life without God and by the power of our natural abilities makes us unable to live a life pleasing to God or even ourselves. We fail miserably. We suffer deeply, knowing we cannot manage our lives, but we blame God for making a life unmanageable. We find some comfort in building up our pride through various deeds and distractions. We also find God's presence in his words, his works, and his ways only fills us with fear leading to loathing or indifference. Such is the way of the flesh. It brings a spirit of slavery that leads to a hateful fear of God or an indifference to God.
The freedom of the children of God stand in contrast to this life. Freedom from sin is accomplished through the power of the cross. Fundamentally this means that we accept the futility of the work of our flesh and actively put such works to death. We learn to dispose of our natural abilities as avenues for our success and savlation. This is the suffering and death of the cross in our lives. The cross also points to resurrection. A new life which begins immediately. This new life is one not lived by our own means and in our own way, but under the instruction of Christ and empowered by his Spirit. Just as we used to find comfort and pleasure in satisfying our desires, we now find comfort and pleasure in satisfying God's desires. Instead of serving our desires and allowing God to get the leftovers of our efforts, we serve God's desires and allow our own desires to get the leftovers. Instead of fearing God's presence, we find ourselves fearing and suffering sin and its consequences in our lives and in the lives around us.
The Spirit bears witness to this life within us through the cry of "Father" that breaks out from our hearts for God. The Spirit uses our spirit as the voice for this cry. Another witness to our adoption is that we suffer with Christ. We suffer in the presence of sin instead of seeking it out. We seek God out instead of just suffering his presence. The thoughts and feelings associated with this love for God as Father and with the suffering of sin against him is the testimony of the Spirit through our spirits pointing to the new life in us.
Knock It Down or Cover It Up
There are two primary forms of religion that operate under the spirit of slavery. Both lead to self-righteousness. One form manages sin by speaking against it and feeling bad about it. The other manages sin by trying to cover it up with certain good deeds or rituals. Sin does not die in either religion, but ends up leading people away from Christ and his gospel and leading to further disappointment and corruption.
In both of these types of religion, sin is managed instead of destroyed. The efforts to knock sin down or cover it up must be maintained. When the will of the person or group is weakened and slackened, the sin resurfaces. Religion then becomes the managment of such sin and the ways to maintain control. This is not the teaching of Jesus nor the way of the Spirit.
Sin can only be destroyed through forgiveness. Forgiveness is only received through the peace of a re-established relationship. Forgiveness found through peace with God demonstrated and established through Christ at the cross makes such a relationship possible. Both God's complete love for sinners and God's absolute rejection of sin are evidenced through Jesus' work on the cross. We are forgiven, kept alive by his love, and scrubbed clean by his anger at evil. Forgiveness is accomplished for the purpose of relationship. Without the relationship, forgiveness has no meaning.
Sin management methods are ways of seeking forgiveness without relationship. It seeks to make God happy without actually seeking him out. It seeks to be right with God without actually being right with God. Sin cannot be condemned or covered away, though. God must take it from us manually, from our hands into his, for destruction. Christ came to take our sin from our very own hands and breath his Spirit into our very own breaths. Sin will only die in this "face to face" encounter with God in Christ. There is nothing automatic about it. Whether fast or slow, such freedom must come directly to a person through an encounter with God.
Forgiveness Is Freedom
Those who practice sin managment find such news disconcerting. What if sin is not knocked down? What if we don't do enough to cover it? It seems to them that the world will fall apart. Really sin management is a over-reliance on human ability to get God's work done for him. Behind these methods is the suspicion that if sin is not managed, it will take over, and God will let it. Sin seems to need our attention.
Forgivenss is certainly mentioned, but not really enacted or trusted. People hear about forgiveness, but are not brought into relationship. Instead they are excused from sin and brought to work for the all-to-human endeavors of managing sin and its consequences. In their lives they are taught how they can keep their sin at bay without letting it destroying them. Sins are defined by rules instead of relationships, by what hurts the organization instead what hurts the soul, and by what can be seen and controlled instead of what happens in the hidden parts of one's life. The best they can offer are methods for coping.
In some cases, forgiveness that leads to freedom is called heresy. We
must feel bad about sin. We
must try to cover it up. Statements that oppose these "golden rules" are treated with great suspicion, fear, and anger. The managers of sin management set up their organizations to avoid or even condemn such freedom. We find such places to be filled with rules and rituals concerning church and its leaders with very little about the kingdom of God. The church receives all the attention and and concern and work and it is assumed the kingdom of God will take care of itself.
It turns out that sin does need our attention. It needs our attention to continue. Sin dies without adequate attention. With Jesus, seeking the kingdom of God was the focus of his attention and the church and its leaders would "take care of themselves." A good relationship with God is what matters to Jesus, and sin (both individual and corporate) will take care of itself. The fear of sin and the extensive structures erected to manage it inside and outside of our lives come from slavery to sin - an existence apart from the influence and action of God in human life. The solution lies in the personal reconnection of the human life to God in his words, his works, and his ways in the form of being received as a child and student. God as "Father."
The Keys to Freedom
Abandoning church does not answer these problems. Even "starting over" involves some level of rehabilitation from the
ideas of sin managment that dominates the modern church setting. No matter how big or small, in homes, churches, or coffee houses, young or old, the prevalence of sin management makes its presence felt. Fierce individualism has never been the path forward for followers of Jesus who works to build his church.
It turns out that sin
does need our attention. It needs our attention to continue to exist. Sin dies without adequate attention. So in every age, people have needed to come face to face with God, to turn their attention to him. From the beginning of time, that is what God has sought and developed. Through various mediators and helps, he has sought once again to walk with each person the cool of the day as he did in the Garden long ago. He still works in this way through his church, even if some have forgotten about this invitation. The best reminders are those who will once again walk with God, allowing his presence to teach and keep them, to burn and heal them, to gather and unite them. We give the cold shoulder to sin and our attention to God.
The work of Christ is continued through his church, those who respond to his invitation. The access ("keys") to the kingdom of God continues to be mediated through those who trust in God and his plan to forgive and establish a relationship with each person. The ones with the keys are the ones who have received the blessing of seeing Christ as he is and of hearing his voice as he speaks. Only those with the blessing of such a revelation can hold the keys.
Being physical beings, we need places and times and groups to find such meetings with God. We do not merely approach him abstractly. Churches provide such a meeting ground. They are not the only place or time or group where people can find God, but they do supply his address for those who would seek him. The church is faithful enough to provide those who want to find Christ with encouragement and help and a place to serve. The church is broken enough to provide those who do not want to find Christ with discouragemnt and disappoinment and a place to complain about.
And yet, could Jesus have also meant something in his message for each person? "The time has come for you, Matt. My Father has seen that it is now time for you to make your appearance in human history. He has great plans and great hopes for you." Maybe even his hearers understood the gravity of his pronouncement of the greatness of the coming moments of the Messiah but also heard in this man from Nazareth a compelling invitation: "Your time has come. You belong to God. You belong with me."
