08-28-22 “Life, like theater, is a battle between good and evil”

Scripture                                                Romans 7:14 – 8:4

Two natures dwell within my breast; The one is foul, the other blest.

The new I love; the old I hate. The one I feed will dominate.

Romans 7:14-25
          We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
          21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!
          So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
 
THE MESSAGE SAYS IT BETTER
Romans 7:14-25
          I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself — after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. 15 What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. 16 So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.
          17 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! 18 I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. 19 I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. 20 My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
          21 It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. 22 I truly delight in God's commands, 23 but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
          24 I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
          25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.
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          Why I love the theater = conflict between good and evil acted out as a reflection of the world in which we live and of the world which lives in us.

Going to Hamilton tonight.

Hamilton and Aaron Burr, Their impassioned conflict throughout the play hinges on choosing “how” critical changes should be made. Hamilton is a tireless revolutionary, constantly advocating for bold change based on his strict, unwavering principles. His adversary, Burr, is patient and methodical, advocating instead for incremental change with constant concern for public opinion.
Hamilton and Burr come into conflict with each other or other characters because of their opposing motivations. Burr wonders why his career is stalling while Hamilton rises;  it’s because Burr is missing the key ingredient–something to fight for beyond himself. In the end, Hamilton dies for his beliefs while Burr survives.

          Burr shoots Hamilton in a duel which ultimately causes his death. That was an obvious physical – external battle. The internal battle had to do with the conflicts between these two over many years and Burr’s disdain over some things Hamilton had said about him.
 
          It is interesting to note that this dual battleground – the external and internal shows itself in theater in another way.

          Classical (external) Acting vs Method (internal) Acting (HOW TO CRY)
 
          As I considered the fact that we are all involved in two wars simultaneously our entire lives – the wars that rage on in the world around us and the war that rages on within us, I grabbed the first Bible I marked up a lot when I was a new Christian and purposely chose to open to any page and read whatever was underlined. God chose the page I would turn to.
          John 16:8-11
 "And when he has come he will convince the world of its sin, and of the availability of God's goodness, and of deliverance from judgment. The world's sin is unbelief in me; there is righteousness available because I go to the Father and you shall see me no more; there is deliverance from judgment because the prince of this world has already been judged.
          John 16:31-33
"Do you finally believe this?" Jesus asked. "But the time is coming-in fact, it is here-when you will be scattered, each one returning to his own home, leaving me alone. Yet I will not be alone, for the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you will have peace of heart and mind. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows; but cheer up, for I have overcome the world."
          John 17:3-4
And this is the way to have eternal life-by knowing you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth!
 
          Let’s consider the very first battle we know something about. It was taking place externally as well as internally at the same time. It was a battle fought in a real place, in real-time, with real people while simultaneously, the battle raged on internally among those who were fighting.
          It took place in the garden of Eden under the shade of a fruit tree and the battle was between a serpent and the first two humans, Adam and Eve. The internal battle was being fought within Adam and Eve. In fact, a wonderful musical has dramatized the biblical story to show the conflict between parents and children (ie between God and Adam and Eve, then God and Noah and his children, hence between God and all humanity). It takes a twist on the biblical story when Eve keeps asking why she can’t eat from the apple tree until she finally does it and then tries getting Adam to eat of it by offering various dishes made from apples. He chooses not to eat because the Father told them not to.
          Eve is banished from the garden – life as they have known it where the Father has been with them since the beginning. Adam now has a battle within – he can stay in this paradise home or choose to eat the apple and also be banished but be able to live with the other love of his life – Eve – he chooses the latter.
          Act 2 ends with Noah’s children longing to get back home to paradise where they can be with the Father.
 
          And it is that same Holy Spirit that allows us to get up from our fallen state.
ILLUSTRATION
Growing up in New England I played ice hockey until I went off to college.  As a 12 year old, I played ice hockey for the first time with my father was my coach.  During one particular game I was skating up ice with the hockey puck when one of my opponents cracked his stick over the top of my head.  I was knocked down to the ice dazed and disoriented.  Some of my team mates gathered around me, while my father hurried over to where I was laying. It was his words at that moment that have stayed with me all these years. He did not ask me if I was alright. Instead, as my father knelt over me, he said, "They'll clap if you get up."  
APPLICATION
So remember, no matter what life throws at you, no matter how many times you stumble and fall, "they will clap if you get up."  Remember, there will be joy in Heaven every time you get back up from a fall. Heaven rejoices more over someone getting up than over those who never stumble.  What we need to remember is that we do not have to stay under the power of sin.  By the grace of God we can rise. And when we do, heaven is there cheering for us!
Luke 15:7     I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
 
          The Skin of our teeth is theater that shows the battle between good and evil more than any other.

 

Romans 8:1-4
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For 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. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 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.