Slice Penny blessed us by preaching on Romans 8.1-17 this Sunday. In case you missed it, here is the podcast episode I recorded with Slice earlier this summer:
Romans 8.1-17
Before I begin, I would be remiss not to first thank God for the grace and mercy that allows me to be here today. To thank Jason for his generosity and inclusivity that has allowed me to be here today. My wife for her patience and long -suffering that has allowed me to be here today. And of course all of you for the hospitality and the love that's been shown since we got here this morning. Would you pray with me?
Gracious God, we give you thanks, for we know that all good things come from you. And Lord, you have blessed us with so many good things. But this morning we are particularly grateful for the gift of life, the gift of health, the gift of your word, and the gift of being able to worship you here now. So God, I would ask that the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts would be pleasing in your sight for you are our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.
Well, it is hard to believe that I am here, here in this sophisticated church, filled with sophisticated people who are accustomed to hearing sophisticated sermons preached by your sophisticated pastor.
When Jason offered me this opportunity, I was filled with excitement and gratitude. But those euphoric feelings were fleeting and quickly replaced by feelings of unworthiness and nervousness. These feelings were augmented about a month back when I texted Jason to ask him if there was a specific passage or theme or topic that he wanted me to preach on.
And I did not hear back.
As I waited somewhat patiently to get a reply from one of the busiest and smartest people that you could find in my phone contacts, I heard from my best friend, Ricky Goldsmith. Ricky has been in prison for 22 years for a murder he did not commit.
Since 2018, we have been working tirelessly to prove Ricky's innocence and to help him find the freedom he desires and deserves. Ricky is undoubtedly the most faithful Christian I've ever met in my life. But as one would expect, his time in prison has proven to be a constant test of his faith.
Two years ago, Ricky lost his beloved mother after a valiant fight with cancer. On Easter Sunday this year, Ricky received word that both his younger brother and his son were each arrested on Easter morning for separate crimes. Three weeks ago, as I was preparing to head to my final Sunday at the church where I served as an intern this past summer,
I received a collect call from Ricky. Immediately, I knew that something was not right. His voice lacked the power and the joy that I have grown accustomed to hearing. He told me that he had just gotten word that his son, who had continued to get into trouble, now had a bounty on his head as a result of his criminal actions.
Ricky sounded afraid, but Ricky told me he was angry. He went on to explain that he did not want to feel angry anymore as it served to remind him of who he was and how he was before giving his life to Christ. Now I am no psychologist and don't presume to speak like one, but I do imagine the feelings of guilt for not being home to help raise his son and to try to keep him out of trouble caused Ricky to feel this unwanted anger. As I fumbled to find words to say, I was somewhat relieved to hear that automated voice announce, you have one minute remaining.
Thankfully for me, God did for me what I could not do myself and God spoke to Ricky. That night, Ricky had a dream where a voice said to him, read Romans chapter eight, verses one through 16.
When he woke up, he said he thanked God for the dream and read the passage on his knees by his bunk. The phrases, there is no condemnation and Christ Jesus has set you free, brought comfort to his heart and tears to his eyes. It is hard to think of a more comforting statement for an inmate to hear from God than in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation.
A few days after this, I heard from Jason who told me about the sermon series that y 'all have been doing this summer. He explained to me that the assigned text for this Sunday for me to preach on was Romans, chapter eight, verses one through 17.
I was rendered speechless, something my wife can attest seldom happens to me.
And some may call it odd, some may call it a coincidence, but I call it God just being God. This God who loves us so much that not only would this God offer us reconciliation through Christ Jesus, but this God would remind us of this fact through scripture and even through dreams in a prison cell.
a God who insists that in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation. In prison, I met many men who had spent more time living in captivity than in freedom. I met many men who would never be released from prison, and I even met two men who were heading to death row. I quickly learned that prison was a dark
place in every meaning of the word. We were taught to always remember and to never forget that as inmates, we were all guilty, which meant we all deserved the cruel and unusual punishment that was administered day in and day out. Many of my fellow inmates had been taught on the streets that God wanted nothing to do with them or their sinful ways.
Based on this experience, coupled with their experience in prison, they were convinced that God definitely did not want anything to do with them. Their lives would be forever defined by condemnation, punishment, and captivity. This was the story that was told in the prison until one day when I heard Ricky minister.
to a struggling inmate. Ricky, a man who at that time had served 18 years for a murder he did not commit, was speaking to our fellow inmate named Eddie about freedom and forgiveness. Eddie had just become eligible to vote about 10 months prior to him being condemned to 40 years in prison. As expected, the weight of his sin and the consequences they carried weighed heavy on his young heart. The road ahead of him seemed so dark and endless that not even a flicker of light at the end was visible to his young tear -filled eyes. The future he had once hoped for had been replaced by a past he regretted and remained shackled to. As the young man rambled on to Ricky about how he would never be
free and how his life was over. Ricky interrupted him and said, don't you know that Jesus sets prisoners free? Don't you know that he may not tear down these walls or open up these doors? He may not grab your hand and walk you through that barbed wire covered fence, but Jesus will do something even better than that. He will take those chains off your heart. He will wash away the sins of your past and he will give you a future. Jesus will set you free.
Because in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. Victory over sin has proven to be a battle that we as humans cannot achieve. The Bible, especially the Old Testament, is filled with examples of this. But our own lives also serve as examples of this. Here, the paradoxical nature of Jesus' power is put on display. Jesus's arrest was intended to lead to defeat, but has proven to lead to victory. The cross was meant to represent death, but has come to mean everlasting life. The blood of Christ, thought to symbolize the end of his life, has proven to symbolize God's offering a new life for us. Jesus bore the
sins of the world, which meant that in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. This is the good news, the gospel. But this good news is not always easy news. It's so radical that it can be hard for us to believe. After my arrest, but before my condemnation, I mean, sentencing, I struggled greatly with guilt. Of course, I felt guilty for my crimes, but what I really struggled with were my spiritual transgressions. You see, I was baptized and reared in the church, and I'd been taught right from wrong. But I had become a liar, a cheater, a manipulator, a deceiver, and more. I had become the very person I swore I would never become.
Amidst all this pain, I hit rock bottom. I felt as hopeless as I did helpless. I felt as unworthy as I did unlovable. I felt as defeated as I did drained. Thankfully for me, my parents got me back in the church where God wasted no time in grabbing my attention. Similar to John Wesley,
I felt my heart strangely warmed. And as a result, I rededicated my life to Jesus. I began volunteering in the soup kitchen at our church, and I was even attending Bible studies with the men's group every Sunday morning before worship. But despite my efforts to do and to feel better each day, I struggled to make it through the day.
The weight of the guilt for my sins continued to press down on me, making it hard to find peace even through good deeds and spiritual endeavors. No matter how much I tried to atone, the burden seemed to grow heavier, leaving me feeling trapped in a cycle of shame and regret. My mom, although not formally trained as one, has acted as a plain -spoken theologian in my life.
for as long as I can remember. One day, my mom looked me dead in the eyes and asked me, do you think I have forgiven you for what you've done?
With a crack in my voice, I replied, yes.
She then asked, more importantly, do you think God has forgiven you for what you've done?
With a tear in my eye, I replied yes.
Finally she asked me, do you forgive yourself for what you've done?
With tears rolling down my cheeks. I said no.
Without missing a beat, my mom said, so you know better than God? Wait, what? No, I was taking it back. What is she talking about? Of course not. I would never say that. I would never presume to know better than God. Well, you might not have verbally said that slice, but if you refuse to forgive yourself, then you are saying that you know better than God because God has made it clear.
In Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation.
While this was far from easy for me to hear, it has proven to be one of the most liberating experiences in my life. Perhaps that is the good news that St. Paul has for us here today. That no matter who you are, what you have done or what you are doing, in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. To paraphrase Brandon Lake,
Our sin is deep, but God's grace is deeper. Our shame is wide, but Christ's arms are wider. Our guilt is great, but God's love is greater still.
What a comforting reassurance that death is no more because Christ is Lord. Many people, even those of us called Christians, struggle with carrying the weight of the guilt. And as a result, we condemn ourselves. Paul himself wrestled with this and his struggle is well documented.
You may remember Romans 7 verses 15 through 19 from a few weeks ago. I do not understand my own actions, Paul writes, for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
For I know that nothing good dwells within me that is in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.
We cannot forget that Paul penned these words after his personal encounter with Jesus. Surely if St. Paul struggled with lingering sin and the guilt that it caused, we would be fools to expect immunity for ourselves. Paul was far from a stranger to sin and even self -identified as the chief sinner.
He went from church enemy number one to the embodiment of God's grace and redemptive power through Jesus Christ.
So how did Paul deal with this guilt? Well, he remembered that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners, which proves God's love towards us.
As your pastor once said in the book, Preaching Romans, Christ didn't die to make nice people nicer. Christ died so that ungodly cretins might become a new creation. Rather than sending us into eternal condemnation, God makes us new creations through Jesus. Paul penned this letter to the Romans by first describing sin.
and then describing justification. He did not describe his personal struggles with sin until after he reminded them that Christ had defeated sin and offered them the opportunity to become new people. God's infinite wisdom is put on masterful display here by God's using Paul to lead the early Christian movement. None of us fine folks here today at Annandale UMC can imagine how guilty Paul must have felt to be a sinner saved by grace, who knew Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, who loved God, who wanted to honor God, but who continued to struggle with sin and the guilt and the shame that it caused him can we? Forgiveness is hard and we Christians are not immune from this. Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is the person you see in the mirror. I struggled with this just this past week. My mom had been telling me for quite some time that she had something she wanted to give me to read. She explained that after my arrest,
She chronicled my life leading up to my arrest per my attorney's instruction.
This letter described how much I had changed. It included details of how I had become a slave to sin. Reading this letter was the hardest thing that I've ever had
While I know my mom never intended for the letter to do this, reading this letter overwhelmed me with the guilt of my sins and the shame of all my mistakes. Simply put, I felt condemned. I couldn't help but ask God why. Why now?
Why did I get this letter this week? This is the week that I am supposed to preach your word. I'm gonna travel, I'm gonna head to Virginia and preach on Romans 8, 1 through 17. And some may call it odd, some may call it a coincidence, but I call it God just being God. Because it was as if God leaned down and whispered into my ear, in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation.
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