Feel more dead after live

Feeling More Dead than Alive?
Romans 8:1-10 Rev. Michael J. Petri Lent 04


Sometimes we feel more dead than alive, but there is an explanation and a solution

Grace, peace and mercy from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
One of my favorite stories, which I often tell, is about a 94-year old woman who was asked her philosophy of life. She said, “I believe you should live life to the fullest. Even at 94, I have four boyfriends.
“I begin each day with Will Power, then I go for a walk with Arthur Ritis. I usually return home with Charlie Horse and spend the evening with Ben Gay.” Now, how can a woman joke so much about her aches and pains? She’s physically miserable, and yet she seems to enjoy life! I know people ¼ her age who act as if they were more dead than alive.
Despite this woman’s problems, she sees every day as a festival. Do you? Many of us have much more to live for than she, but we seem to enjoy it less. By contrast, Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Is it full for you or are you just existing?
During this season of Lent, as we focus on different ways that we share in Christ’s suffering, we want to include this area for there is a way in which we suffer that makes us feel more alive. That sounds crazy at first. People try desperately to avoid discomfort because it is assumed that you cannot suffer and still enjoy life. Yet those who continually steer away from life’s rough spots often find themselves – despite their efforts – feeling more dead than alive.
In the next few moments, let’s look at the secret that Paul teaches in Ro­mans Chapter 8. If you feel more dead than alive, if you feel that the harder you reach the less you get, then look with me at a whole other way of approaching life. It is not a way that avoids pain but climbs on top of it. As we study it, we will explore why we feel the way we do, how we can feel differently, and what a new life will feel like.

Why We Feel the Way We Do
Because of A “Rules” Mentality
To begin with, we should ask ourselves why we feel the way we do. I am talking as a person who gets frustrated, as someone who plays by the rules and yet feels like he gets the short end. The key to this problem is found in the word: “rules.” As long as we live only by the rules, we live in danger of breaking them, and the condemnation that brings on us. By contrast, Paul tells us
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Je­sus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Paul is not saying we should ignore all rules, but they should no longer control our life. He calls God’s rules “the law of sin and death” because that is what God’s laws deal with. If we act only by a bunch of “do’s” and “don’ts,” we live with the constant reminder of our failure, and that is not really living at all.
Which Many Prefer
Still, many people choose this, being motivated not by the joy of heaven but the fear of hell. Every act is calculated to avoid punishment. What a depressing life, doing things in order not to be punished. And the sad part is, we are bound to fail, because our very nature is sinful. Paul rejects this whole approach even as he points to a better way. He says,
3 … what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sin­ful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.
Life will be empty as long as we are only guided by a bunch of rules. Paul would rather see us hold our lives up to Christ instead.
But Which Christ Changes
How can Christ change our life? By destroying the negative!
3b … he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous re­quirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Jesus destroyed sin by keeping God’s law perfectly. He overcame all the dreadful things that we fear. And when Jesus comes to live in your life by faith, he brings that victory into you. Now we have something new to look at. Instead of focusing on God’s threats in the law, we can gaze upon Jesus and see God’s love and acceptance which he offers through His perfect and sinless Son.

How We Can Feel Differently
Point
This brings us to our second point. If Jesus shows us another side of God, how can he change the way we feel about life? Perhaps we can best understand by thinking of a camera: Point, focus, and shoot. The first thing we do with a camera is point it, or as Paul would say, we “set our minds.” Comparing our old life to our new way, Paul says,
5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
Paul is telling us to turn around and focus on something new. Turn away from God’s anger as we see it in the law and focus on God’s love as we see it in Jesus. Set your minds on what the Spirit desires, and you’ll find that the Spirit desires each of us to believe in, and follow, Jesus!
Focus
The sense of this advice is that the more we think about such things, the more they take over our minds. Think back to the camera example. Your camera may be able to do all sorts of things: zoom in or out, take a wide-angle shot or narrow one. But it is the subject which controls the camera. If the subject is far away, your camera will zoom in. In the same way, looking at Jesus changes the focus of our minds. Paul says,
6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
If you focus on Jesus and meditate on how he lived for you, died for you and rose again to give your new life, you will begin to get caught up not in God’s threats and condemnation, but in the joy of knowing Christ’s life and peace.
Shoot
Still, a camera is only useful if you push the trigger! That’s commit­ment! God wants the same commitment from us, though many will not make it. They want to feel alive, but they don’t want to let go of sin. Paul warns,
7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
People who will not let go of sin cannot please God, no matter how carefully they play by the rules. On the other hand, anyone who surrenders to Christ but putting faith in him, however sinful one is, receives God’s life and peace!

What that New Life Will Feel Like
When Our Sense of Control Changes
We’ve seen that to really feel alive, we must go beyond a mentality that simply counts the rules and surrender our lives to the care of Jesus Christ. That’s when we will begin to feel truly alive, whether we are nine or ninety! But what will that new life feel like? For one thing, the Christian finds that he is controlled by something far greater than their fearful and sinful nature. Paul says,
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.
Our whole sense of control changes. We become controlled not by a desire to run from the bad but to run toward the good. We serve God not because we are afraid of going to hell, but because we are truly attracted to Christ and his life.
When Our Sense of Belonging Changes
In the process, another joy becomes unveiled. We are not alone. Christ is not only controlling us, he is with us. The world may reject our witness and even persecute us, but we are no longer guided by the desire to avoid such things. We can withstand all the world’s scorn for we have Christ. Paul says,
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
We, by contrast, do have the Spirit of Christ, and for that reason, we are not alone. We belong to him, not to the world. It is his opinion that matters, not our neighbor’s. We are set free from the tyranny of our peers; we are free to be different and unconventional, for our only desire is to celebrate our friendship with Jesus!
When Our Source of Life Changes
As a result of this new freedom, we find that life takes on a whole new brightness. Jesus has set us free from everything else, and that freedom just gets bigger until we no longer even feel like slaves to our bodies. Paul concludes:
10 … if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. [1]
Nothing can take away the freedom we have found in Christ. Not age, not prosperity, not the loss of health or friend. Christ has liberated us completely. And for what? To start feeling more alive than dead. Amen.

[1]The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.