Who R U?- UKNOWN Series Part 1

Who R U?

First off- a Creation of God-
The Bible begins with the story of creation. There are a lot of debates about why. In some ways, I think Scripture begins with creation so that we can know that we are not accidents. There is a strain of thought in our world that attributes everything to chance and circumstance. Let me ask you a question this morning. How would it feel to simply be an accident of biology? Some of us may be here as the surprise kid, the last in a line of births. You may have once been told “You were an accident.” The unplanned kid. The fly in the ointment. Human beings are not the flies in the cosmic ointment. We were created by God.
In fact, the Bible calls us “the crown of creation.” (Psalm 8)
A king wrote that he was knit together by God in his mother’s womb. (Psalm 139) You were no mistake or chance occurrence. You were made by God.

You are also fallen- a person who misses the mark v 1-8

As Paul begins to write in Ch 8 we see that all is not right in creation. Humans are not perfect. They are capable of some pretty awful things. In both small and large cases, humans do not act as God acts. We are like a funhouse mirror. We are a distorted reflection of God. We are capable of great things, but we cheapen our greatness, our crown, our creator with our actions. We are guilty of violating God’s standards, rules, laws. These violations, failures are what the Bible calls sin. Now the word for sin is hamartano and it literally means to miss the mark or to stray from the path.

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 says a person is controlled by one of 2 natures or mindsets- either the mindset of the Spirit or the mindset of sin. We know we are controlled by this nature when live for our own self pleasure no matter what the consequences to others, when we think that our own righteousness and goodness is good enough for God, and when we are hostile to God’s truth as He reveals it to us.
8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
The worst part of this entire state is the last statement in verse 8. We cannot please God. What an awful position. I know many of us are thinking that we can live our lives in such a way to make up for the past and secure the future. But Paul writes that this is impossible. That’s a huge obstacle to overcome. We cannot undo our time of serving our sinful nature as we realize what we have done is wrong.
Thankfully you are also redeemable. V9-27

Now when the Bible talks about redemption it is not talking about a coupon or a rain check. It’s another kind of redeemed. It’s the prisoner locked in a tower who is in desperate need of rescue. Redemption is the act of God’s Son replacing you in the midst of your imprisonment. Jesus takes the punishment for the sins of your past.

Look at the picture that Paul paints of redemption. First we are under a different kind of control. We seek to serve a new master and follow a new way.
V9- You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

Second, we become awakened to a new life. We realize there is more to life than survival. V10-11- But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Third we have a new parentage. We can call God our Father. We are not an accident. We know the history of our lives begins and ends with God. V12-16- 12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Fourth, we have a place to go to have a hearing (17), to get relief(19), and to be healed and cleansed (20-21). V17-27- 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
Finally more than anything we realize we are loved. V28-39 (NLT)

28 And we know that God causes everything to work together* for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And he gave them right standing with himself, and he promised them his glory.[1]
31 What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?
33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? 36 (Even the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”*) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. 39 Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[2]

g Or adoption
*
Romans 8:28
Some manuscripts read And we know that everything works together.
[1]Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 . Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill.
*
Romans 8:36
Ps 44:22.
[2]Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 . Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill.