Pre-Launch Bible Study: Romans 8:5-11

Good evening! We are continuing with our summer Bible study in Romans 8, and tonight we’ll be looking at verses 5-11. If you don’t have a Bible, you can lift up your hand, and someone from our team will bring you one, and you’re also welcome to keep it as our gift to you.

Speaking of our team, it takes one to start a new church. We’ll be hosting other Interest Meetings and inviting people throughout the summer, but if you would like to know more about being part of our Core Team, which is a 1 year commitment to help us see Restoration Community Church get started, you can speak with me after the Bible study tonight or send an email to rob@restorationmandeville.com.

ILLUSTRATION: ACL tear in Tulane women’s basketball; proper diagnosis is required for proper treatment; we’ll see the beauty of Jesus in proportion to how much we see we need Jesus (so we’re going to explore our need and his provision in our text tonight)

Let’s start by reading our passage for the night:

Romans 8:5–11 ESV

⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Just like our first week when we began in verse 1, the Apostle Paul gives us lots of linking words to help make sense of his theological argument from one section to the next. Right at the start of verse 5, we see the word “For,” pointing to the cause or the reason behind what came before it. Another word we could use in it’s place would be because.

So, what is Paul connecting? Well, there’s plenty in the preceding verses, but his train of thought begins all the way back in verse 3, and the reason we know this is because Paul starts to use the same word for “flesh” in verse 3 that he uses for his description in verse 5. Verse 3 says,

Romans 8:3 ESV

³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

Whether we look at this verse, or we back up all the way to Romans 7:17-18, Paul draws a parallel between our “flesh” with what the Bible calls sin, or what is in rebellion against God’s character and rule (if you want more on how we defined sin, you can go back and watch our first lesson on our website). And throughout Paul’s argument in this first section of Romans 8, he’s made it clear that sin is something that brings forth death.

But why? Why does sin against God result in death? Well, look back at how Paul describes God’s Spirit in verse 2: “the Spirit of life.” So then the argument is pretty simple. The God of the Bible is described as the creator of all things. In Acts 17:28, Paul quotes the Old Testament to say that, in God, “we live and move and have our being.” So, it would make sense that choosing to remove yourself from a God who is the creator and sustainer of all things would mean removing yourself from the source of life.

So—and just finishing our recap of what we covered last time—our flesh is pre-disposed toward looking for ways to make ourselves king over our lives rather than honor God as king. And that sin that is contrary to the character and will of a good God separates us from the author of life, which results in death and decay and suffering. That describes the world we live in (and just to remind you, the Apostle Paul doesn’t see himself as greater than everyone else; he uses the back half of Romans 7 to vulnerably share his own struggle with his flesh even as a Christian.

But then Romans 8:1 enters the picture. God has made a way for those of us that are spiritually dead in our rebellion against God to be set free from the law of sin and death: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Verses 3 and 4 go on to elaborate how God the Father sent his Son, Jesus, in the flesh both as fully God and fully man to do two things: (v. 3) condemn the weight of sin, which he did by paying the penalty of sin on the cross and then conquering death in his resurrection, and secondly, (v. 4) he fulfilled the righteous requirement of God’s character (which is where we get “the law”), transferring his righteousness to us.

Now, that’s a long recap of where we’ve been. I said the “For” in verse 5, leading into verse 6, reveals the cause or the reason for verse 3. That “For” is answering why it was necessary that Jesus came and died for our sin and in our place? Why can’t we just earn God’s forgiveness and increasingly become better, more righteous people? How does verse 5 answer that?

Romans 8:5 ESV

⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

Paul says that to “live according to the flesh”, or to live under own authority rather than submitting to God’s authority) means that we are setting our minds (and that word “mind” speaks more deeply to our heart, our will, and our desires)—living according to the flesh means we are setting our deep desires on the flesh—on sinful things; on things that are contrary to the law of God, contrary to the character and will of God. And because Paul equates sin with our “flesh”, we know that sin is both a problem for every person (we’re all flesh) and it’s our default state.

So, it would make sense, if our hearts and minds are not focused on and desiring the things of God, we will not live trying to follow God. That’s the argument of the beginning of verse 5: We all do what we desire (e.g., diets). And when we desire our flesh and to be the own king of our lives (which again, is our default), our lives will look accordingly.

Naturally, it would make sense if this is true that the opposite would also be true, which Paul mentions at the end of verse 5: “those who love according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” (desiring to see God’s character and his will and his rule guide and shape their life).

It would also make sense, then, that if God is the source of life like Paul has already shared, then to set your mind apart from God and to desire freedom from his rule over your life—whether that’s conscious or sub-conscious for you—that to walk “in the flesh” apart from the God of life results in being apart from life, which is Paul’s conclusion in verse 6:

Romans 8:6 ESV

⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Whether you believe in the God behind this passage or not, the argument from verses 5 and 6 seems logical enough: The course of your life will follow your nature and your desires, whether you want God to be king of our life or you want to be king of your own life. Life is found in the God who gives all life; death is found apart from the God of life.

But I don’t believe Paul’s words here are just logical and reasonable. I think they’re devastating. And that’s mainly because of what he says next. Verses 7-8 bring all this together and paints the clearest picture of our natural condition outside of the saving work of Jesus.

Romans 8:7–8 ESV

⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

How do we know that the mind set on the flesh (set on our own will and apart from the will of God) results in death? Because the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. And what is the evidence that the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God? It doesn’t submit to God’s law (because, in our flesh, we want to create and live by our own law).

Hostile is a strong word. Paul is saying our flesh is not just opposed to God. He’s an enemy to us; he’s offensive to us. Why?

ILLUSTRATION: Think about it… As a parent, I find it fascinating to watch how parents talk about their kids. Macie and I will tell someone that Oliver is perfect, and then in the next sentence say he is crazy. Because it controls most of our energy on a day-to-day basis, you don’t have to have a conversation with either of us for very long before we’ll bring up how bad of a sleeper he’s been in the past, and then we think we’re on the other side only for him to introduce some fresh torment. And if I’m telling that to another parent, they’re probably just thinking of how their child could one-up ours in that area as even a worse sleeper.

A parent will share about the challenges and struggles of raising their kids… but it’s a different story when someone else tries to say those things about your kids. It’s a different story when someone tries to give you negative feedback on how you’re parenting them.

Why is that? Because no one wants another person telling them the thing they place so much of their identity and love and purpose on in life has issues. We don’t just not want that. We hate that. The thought that there’s an area where I’m being a bad parent breaks my heart and makes me feel like I’m not enough. So, when that feedback comes, even if I just suspect it from someone based on their tone or their jokes… all this temptation towards defensiveness starts to rise up within me.

How much more so will we be naturally resistant and hostile when we read that the God of the Bible who looked at his creation in Genesis and said “very good” now looks at you and me and says “very sinful.” We want to think that we are the most qualified person to rule our own lives, and our culture idolizes our autonomy and our free will, so when God says that our way is failing because we’re trying to rule ourselves rather than submitting to him, we push back, rationalize, victimize… whatever we need to do to escape the idea that we are not enough.

And Paul is going to give us relief; he’s going to give us hope… but not before he drives the nail deeper into our false sense of self-suffiency. Read with me again verse 7:

Romans 8:7 ESV

⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

Not only does the mind set on the flesh not submit to God’s law; it cannot. And if you can’t submit to God’s rule and character in your life, then you cannot please God. Which means that nothing you do when your mind is set “on the flesh”, even the morally good things you do in life, are pleasing to God.

(ILLUSTRATION: Giving Oliver a toy truck to play with = good gift; using that toy truck to run up and down Nora’s body = using a good gift for bad because it’s not being used how it was intended)

When a good thing is used for a bad purpose, it’s a bad thing.

I think this begs the question, “Why can’t we? Why can’t we submit to God’s law in our natural state with our minds and desires in the flesh? For that, I want to briefly detour to another of Paul’s letters in the New Testament: 1 Corinthians 2:14-15.

1 Corinthians 2:14–15 ESV

¹⁴ The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he builds on the idea of our condition in the flesh, describing it as the “natural person.” On our own, we cannot submit to God’s law because we can’t understand how it’s better than our own law.

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

The only way we can see the mind and rule of God as better and more desirable than our own is if it is spiritually discerned. But how do we do that? How do we go from being a natural person to a spiritual person if we actually cannot understand the things of God or submit to God’s law on our own? We need something to be done for us. We need to be made into the spiritual person. And this brings us back to Romans 8.

What is this thing that needs to happen to us for us to be what Paul refers to as “the spiritual person”?

Romans 8:9 ESV

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

The Spirit of God must dwell in you. And notice the small change Paul makes from verse the start of verse 9 through verse 10:

• 9 = the Spirit of God

• 9 = the Spirit of Christ

• 10 = if Christ is in you

The Father sent the Son take on the death we’ve earned in our fleshly desire to live apart from God. Now, rather than being alienated from God, He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell inside every believer as a seal that keeps us in Christ (which is where this chapter will ultimately get to at it’s climax in a few weeks).

We are changed from the natural person to the spiritual person when God’s Spirit awakens us to the reality and the beauty of Jesus, so that we free repent of walking in the flesh desiring our own rule apart from God and instead trust in Jesus’ work on our behalf as we desire to see his ways be our ways.

And the rest of our verses go on to detail three benefits we have if the Spirit of God dwells in you:

• You belong to Jesus (v. 9)

• You are set free from the law of sin and death (v. 3)

• You are given life and righteousness by God (vv. 10-11)

Application

So, two final points of application from our passage tonight and then we’re done. First, for the non-Christian: Be encouraged!

The burden of Christianity doesn’t require you to change what you do on the outside to be accepted by God. No, the Bible is pretty clear that we can’t do enough to measure up to an infinitely perfect, infinitely holy God.

The good news of the gospel is that you are accepted because of what someone else has done (Jesus), and his work is applied to your life (through the indwelling Holy Spirit).

Of course, that’s the good news. But, in order for the good news to actually be good news, it needs to be in contrast to some kind of bad news. And that’s what we looked at here tonight—what it means to live “according to our flesh”, and attempting to be the own ruler of our lives apart from a God who made us to glorify him.

If you don’t consider  yourself a Christian here this evening, maybe you haven’t decided whether or not you believe Jesus is the Son of God—and we want to create a safe space where you can continue to process then in the context of community—but when you read texts like ours tonight, maybe a first step would just be acknowledging, I don’t know if I believe it’s true, but it would be nice if it was true. It would be nice to have a God who loves us enough to take on our suffering rather than become unjust. It would be nice to have a God who drew near to us even when we were hostile to him. It would be nice to have a God who doesn’t just forgive us but lives within us, strengthening us, giving us purpose in our lives beyond ourselves and a source for joy and peace in any circumstance. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were true?

I want to invite you to keep rolling with us, ask questions, and engage as we walk through the rest of this chapter together this summer. I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and it’s transformed my life.

But then also, a point of application for the Christian (and is fairly similar, just perhaps from a different angle): Don’t fixate on changing your behavior; focus on where you rest your mind. Where you focus your desires.

Too often, we buy the lie that we should understand how forgiven we are by God, how close we are to God, by how righteous we have been living. Or, to put it theologically, we view our justification through the lens of our sanctification, when it should be the other way around.

Think of the Israelites in the book of Exodus. They were enslaved in Egypt, suffering, and without hope. What does God do? Does he come to them and give them the 10 Commandments and say, “Now follow these rules of mine, and I’ll save you and make you my people?”

No, God saves them first. They hadn’t earned it; they didn’t deserve it. And yet, God rescues a people from their slavery, makes them his people, and then as a result of that relationship, he provides them with his law so that they could live follow after him and in line with his rule as their God.

And for those of us that are Christians here tonight, that’s what God has done for you and me. The starting point of our story is not obedience; our text tonight tells us it’s disobedience. So, what makes you think the God that saved you from your slavery to sin and set you free in Jesus and made you his child before you were obediently following him now suddenly gauges the intimacy of your relationship based on how well you obey?

Our righteousness was not our own when we came to Christ (it was his goodness placed upon us). So, our relationship with God will always depend on the one who is for us what we could not be and still cannot be on our own.

How does that connect to our text tonight? Our behavior follows our heart. Don’t buy the lie that you need to try harder because you’ll always put the most effort into the things you care most about. “Those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” (v. 5). The path to a life lived that glorifies God starts with a heart that desires God above everything else. And, so my encouragement for each of us that considers ourselves to be followers of Jesus tonight is that we would study him, pray to him, and seek to know him more and desire him more deeply, asking God to give you eyes to see him more clearly because it’s through that that you’ll see your life and the way you live it more clearly for him as a result.

› Let’s pray.