Team Players - Rom 8:12-17

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This week Seth Hanson preaches from Romans 8:12-17 on being part of the family of God. Because of what Christ has done (Rom 8:1-3), and the Spirit He has given (Rom 8:4-5), we live in response by killing our sin, crying to our Heavenly Daddy, and celebrating our heirship.

1. What do you think is the best part about being in the family of God?

This is an introductory sharing question to get people talking and set a warm atmosphere for discussion.

2. Read Rom 8:12-17 and discuss the following:

a. What is the flesh? What does it mean to be indebted to it?

Seth defines the flesh this way: “At its base, our flesh is our rebellion, insubordination, and hostility toward God. It is our deep desire to be in charge of our own life, and to make God subject to us.”

To be indebted to the flesh means to be under its control, a slave to sin, living in defeat.

b. What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? How does that relate to the idea of the Spirit being a coach?

Verse 14’s “led by the Spirit” refers back to verse 13’s “by the Spirit put to death.” Seth uses the metaphor of the Spirit as a Coach, who drafts us onto His team and turns us into players who are worthy of that team. But the best part of this metaphor is that it is incomplete: whereas a human coach can inspire and motivate and train from the outside of a person, the Spirit actually lives within us to do these things!

Those who have the Spirit as their Coach are “led by the Spirit” and have His work in their lives to put to death the deeds of the flesh.

c. What’s the difference between a scaredy-cat and a cry-baby?

Verse 15 says we don’t have to fall back into fear, but can cry by the Spirit to our Daddy, God. A “scaredy-cat” and a “cry-baby” in this sense both know that they can’t handle what comes their way. But a “scaredy-cat” falls back into old patterns of sin and fear, while a “cry-baby” calls out to God the Father by the Spirit, confident that He will respond.

d. As an heir of God, what do you inherit?

Seth said, “Heirship is a position that gives rights of inheritance, and in light of our heirship with Jesus, we have been given salvation, eternity with our greatest treasure, Jesus, and glorification (a new body and heart and mind unaffected by sin).”

3. What’s the significance of the word “Abba” (Rom 8:15)? Is this a difficult concept for you to embrace? Why is it so important that we embrace it?

The term Abba conveys intimacy with and child-like dependence upon God as our Heavenly Dad: “a sovereign King who is also our unfailing, authoritative, warm, intimate, and perfectly loving Father.”

For some of us, our earthly dads disillusioned us from the hope of finding these ideals of warmth, intimacy, and love in a father. Yet it is this very hope that God is reviving in us by the Spirit: although no earthly father can perfectly fulfill our desires for this kind of father, God Himself is the real Father for whom we have been longing.

4. English Puritan minister John Owen wrote, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

a. Even though God wants us to kill our sin, He understands that we’ll struggle with sin for the rest of our earthly lives (1 John 1:8; Rom 7:18-20). So what do you think it means to kill our sin?

John Owen, 1616-1683, was an extremely influential theologian. His treatise “On the Mortification of Sin in Believers” was written in 1656 and is one of his best-loved works. A modern-day conceptual outline of this work was created by Robert H. Thune in 2009, and is available online here. If you have time, I recommend reading this 12-page summary of Owen’s work, as it is particularly relevant to this sermon topic and I have found it to be an excellent, faith-building, and life-giving resource.

That said, Owen’s thoughts on this question are helpful in understanding what it means and what it doesn’t mean to kill our sin. Here is a brief summary, taken from the conceptual outline.

Killing our sin is NOT:

• To utterly kill it, root it out, and destroy it. That will only occur at Christ’s return.
• To stop doing it outwardly. This is not evidence of a new, holy heart but of a new, cunning heart.
• To have a quiet, sedate nature. That could just be a personality trait that looks more holy.
• To divert it. Trading worldliness for pride and self-righteousness is just giving up one form of sin for another.
• To experience occasional conquests against it. We work hard against sin for a time because of shameful or painful consequences, but then neglect it and it comes back.

Killing our sin, according to Owen, consists in three things:

• Habitually weakening it.
• Constantly fighting and contending against it.
• Finding victory in this: that sin does not stop you from doing your duty or keep you from resting in Christ’s peace.

As we go about killing our sin, we must remember that it is the Spirit’s work in us, not work in our own strength. And we do it from a place of rest in the finished work of Jesus (Rom 8:1-2) and the great love of the Father in Christ (Rom 8:37-39).

b. Why even bother struggling? Why not just give up (see Rom 6)?

Our struggle against sin can seem hopeless, but there are many reasons to keep struggling:

• Because sin itself is bad:

o God hates sin.

o Sin hardens our hearts and keeps us from enjoying God.

o Sin keeps us from serving God and others in important ways.

o Sin hurts ourselves and others.

• Because we have ultimate hope:

o God will be faithful to complete what He started in us (Phil 1:6)

o God will glorify us (Rom 8:30) at the coming of Christ (1 Pet 1:4-9,13)

• Because we have hope right now:

o We have been set free from slavery to sin (Rom 6)

o The Spirit works in us to kill sin (Phil 2:12-13; Rom 8:13)

o God loves us and accepts us because of Christ’s righteousness, not because of what we have done, are doing, or will do (2 Cor 5:21; Eph 1:3-14; Phil 3:9).

c. How does sin kill us?

Seth described the destructiveness of sin this way: “…sin separates us from the ultimate joy of knowing God perfectly. All of our sin, all of our brokenness hinders our ability to see Jesus for who he is. Jesus wants us to be full of joy, complete and eternal joy. Our sin gets in the way of that. And last, sin is more deadly than ebola. It is more destructive than any form of cancer. It rips apart lives and relationships at deeper levels than any sickness.”

5. Discuss the following quote from the sermon: “The Spirit is not a tool that we wield, rather a person who wields us.” How does the Spirit wield us to kill our sin? What’s our role?

Seth described 4 things that the Spirit does and 4 things that we do in killing our sin. The Spirit wields us this way:

• The Spirit empowers a deep sorrow for our sin (Zech 12:10).
• The Spirit works intimately within us to understand the complete work of Christ and his love in making us children of God (Rom 8:16; Eph 3:14-19).
• The Spirit bears witness that Christ bears the weight of our sin (Rom 8:1-2; Heb 10:16-18)
• The Spirit empowers our killing of sin (1 Pet 1:2; Ezek 36:27; 1 Thess 5:12-24)

Our role is to:

• Understand God’s hatred of sin, and grow in our hatred of sin (Prov 6:16-19; Rom 7:21-24).
• See Jesus as the ultimate and most satisfying reward (Phil 3:8).
• Wield not the Spirit, but the Spirit’s weapon: the Bible (Eph 6:14-17).
• Starve sin (1 Cor 10:13-14).

 

Break into gender groups to discuss the following:

6. Which unhealthy/unbiblical feelings do you have when you keep sinning in the same way?

a. Check all that apply.

• Ashamed
• Disconnected from God
• Dirty
• Justified
• Blaming others
• Need to run away
• Unaccepted and unloved by God
• Unaccepted and unloved by God’s people
• I have to make it up to God
• I have to do better for God to approve of me/love me/be close to me
• Hopeless
• It’s not a big deal
• Other: ____________

b. Read Romans 8:1,37-39 and 1 John 2:1-2. How do these verses help you resolve those feelings? What would be healthy, biblical feelings when we sin?

Healthy, biblical responses to sin are godly sorrow that leads to repentance (2 Cor 7:10), confession and acceptance of God’s forgiveness (1 John 1:9), trust in Jesus’ advocacy on our behalf (1 John 2:1-2) confidence in God’s love for us no matter what we’ve done (Rom 8:1,37-39), and confidence in God’s work in us to change us into His image (Rom 8:28-30).

7. Spend time in prayer, thanking the Lord for the Spirit’s work in our lives, and His love that frees us from our sin.

As the leader, you may see that it is appropriate to encourage your group to confession in an atmosphere of confidentiality and love. You could ask: Is there a sin that you keep going back to? Do you need our help? Do you need to speak it out loud (James 5:16)?