Sunday message · Jesus Changes Everything series
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Message Summary
In this message on Romans 8, Lydia, a college track and cross-country runner, explores how the Holy Spirit shapes our everyday decisions. Her coaches say races are made of many small decisions. In a recent 5K, when she grew tired and discouraged near the end, she broke the remaining distance into half-lap pieces, which helped her make better choices and finish well. After nine years of running, her decisions flow from her identity as a runner. Likewise, our daily choices shape our identity, and the Spirit Jesus sent empowers us to make choices that look more like him.
Paul wrote Romans to introduce himself to a mostly Gentile church that included Jewish believers, addressing cultural tensions in how they expressed their faith. Romans 8 opens by declaring that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, and Lydia marvels that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in believers. The word for being led by the Spirit (verse 14) suggests being moved by a compelling force. God foreshadowed this in Ezekiel 36:26, promising a new heart and spirit, and Jeremiah 31:33, promising to write his law on our hearts.
Like children of champion runners born with a head start, believers have the Spirit’s help but must still choose which identity to act on. Paul says we are debtors, not to the flesh; if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, we will live (verses 12–13). Lydia explains the already and not yet: the new age has dawned in Christ, but the old one, though defeated, will not be finally vanquished until he returns, so believers still have a battle to fight. Each small positive decision draws us closer to God, the way a runner’s choices show trust in her coach.
Believers have received a spirit of adoption, crying “Abba, Father.” Like the seal of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 1:13–14, the Spirit marks us as God’s own, as her coach spots his team’s uniforms across the track. Roman adoption canceled previous debts and relationships and defined the new son entirely by his relationship to his father, whose heir he became, and it required witnesses; the Spirit testifies that we are God’s children. Families pass on patterns, good and bad, but believers are adopted into a new family and identity. Jesus already put in the long hours of training at the cross; now we walk out what he has done.
Lydia notes that we already make decisions by identity, as parents or musicians; what if our choices were shaped more by our identity in Christ? God has given us his Spirit and each other. After a workout rep that missed her target time, she began criticizing herself until a sprinter nearby called out encouragement, reminding her who she was, and she hit her remaining times. As Hebrews 10:24 urges, we can spur one another on. She admits she is still working on this, but the more our decisions reflect Christ, the more the world sees a fuller picture of Jesus in us.
Questions about Romans 8
Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” This message marvels that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in believers (Romans 8:11). Because condemnation is gone, the Spirit now empowers our everyday decisions, so that our choices increasingly look like Jesus.
Romans 8:14 says all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. This message notes that the word for led suggests being moved by a compelling force, the fulfillment of God’s promises to give a new heart and spirit (Ezekiel 36:26) and to write His law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). Believers still choose, decision by decision, which identity to act on.
Romans 8:15 says believers did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns them to fear but “the Spirit of adoption to sonship.” This message explains that Roman adoption canceled the son’s previous debts and relationships, defined him entirely by his new father, whose heir he became, and required witnesses. Likewise the Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children (Romans 8:16).
This message uses it for the Christian life between Jesus’ two comings: the new age has already dawned in Christ, but the old one, though defeated, will not be finally vanquished until He returns. That is why believers still have a battle to fight, putting to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit (Romans 8:13), one small decision at a time.
