The world is in a mess! America is in a mess! This state is in a mess! This city is in a mess! Life is in a mess! Families are in a mess! My neighbors are in a mess! The people on the job are in a mess! My friends are in a mess! Uh ... my family is in a mess. Uh ... my life is in a mess.
THE question: when people want to get "out of my mess," what do we tell them? When I want to get "out of my mess," what do I do? Do I suggest religion? Have you taken an honest look at religion lately? Do I suggest the church? Have you taken an honest look at the church lately? If every Christian who struggled with a mess [silently or with loud sobs; secretly or openly; privately or publicly] dropped off the scene, church buildings would be empty.
What is God's answer? Is His answer the "good news of try harder"? "Try harder" is "good news"? It is not good news to the person who used the "try harder" approach to difficult, gut wrenching, agonizing, guilt drenching, enslaving problems. "Try harder" may make better athletes, but it will not rescue people from "their mess."
Did Jesus say to all those who labored and were burdened, "Come to me and try harder" [Matthew 11:28-30]? Did Paul say that all things work together for good to those who try harder [Romans 8:28]? Did John say that God is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we try harder [1 John 1:9]? Did Peter say that we purified our souls if we tried harder [1 Peter 1:22]?
To make "try harder" the answer to "fixing messes" is to place faith in us. We are the answer. The answer is within the person. The answer is in human ability, or human knowledge, or human strength, or human determination, or human resolve. The answer is in the human will, not in the will of God. Christianity becomes more and more humanistic as the emphasis on human ability grows and the focus on God fades.
Ultimately, "try harder" always fails. It depresses. It devastates. It morally bankrupts. It crushes. It creates despair. But the church loves it! We love it because the only thing trying harder requires is faith in self! We love it because "I am the answer!" We love it because we can create a Christless Christianity and a Godless salvation! We fear trusting anything but self.
To be a servant, you must have a master. To be a good servant, you must trust your master.
Read Romans 7:7 - 8:4.
[Suggestion to the teacher: it is very easy to stray from Paul's focus and point. Paul did not condone irresponsible attitudes and behavior. He did not give people a reason to evade responsibility by blaming evil: "It's not my fault! I wanted to do good! Evil made me do it!" That is neither the context of Paul's lesson nor Paul's point. He was talking to the person who believed one could defeat evil by achieving personal goodness through physically obeying laws. He was declaring that the "try harder to do it right" religious approach to godliness ends in moral bankruptcy and godless despair.
The point is simple: the human of himself or herself cannot defeat the evil within himself or herself. Without Christ, we are no match for Satan. When I try to make myself "good" through my own achievements and accomplishments, the harder I try the more clearly I see the evil within me. Aside from forgiveness in Christ, I cannot be pure.
To focus your class members on Paul's point, have each of them privately call to awareness the most significant weakness they each have. This is a personal weakness that each person despises about himself or herself. It is something he or she would love to destroy. Ask how many times they tried to destroy it. Ask if their attempts to destroy this weakness demonstrated just how powerful and controlling their despised weakness could be. This is the kind of struggle Paul addressed.]
Begin by noting the obvious in 7:7-14.
(1) The problem is not created by God's law; the problem is created by sin [evil]. (2) Sin [evil] and the law are not the same thing. (3) The law came from God, but sin [evil] used the law. How? by educating us! (4) Understanding what to rebel against is essential for rebellion to occur. (5) Rebellion brought sin [evil] to life, and rebellion killed us. Evil uses deceit to motivate us to rebel. However, when we rebel against God we destroy ourselves.
In his prechristian existence, he did not understand himself. He did not understand why he behaved as he did. The behavior he yearned to practice, he did not do. The behaviors he despised in himself, he practiced.
The behaviors he despised verified that his behavior was bad or evil. For example, if his bad attitudes [jealousy, greed, envy] directed his behavior, he despised behaving like a jealous, greedy, or envious person. If the emotions he despised [lust, arrogance, pride] controlled his behavior, he despised behaving like a lustful, arrogant, or pride filled person. The fact that he despised behaving as a person whose actions [privately or publicly] were determined by such attitudes or emotions confirmed the law was correct. The law condemned such attitudes and emotions as evil. Within himself he knew they were evil.
The evil that lived in him determined his behavior. His will and desire to behave differently did not have the power to defeat permanently the influence of the evil that lived in him.
He realized that of himself, alone, nothing good lived in him. He could wish to be a good person, but of himself, alone, he did not have the power to make himself good.
At the foundation of his struggle was the fact that evil was in control of his life. If all we do to fight the evil within us is use human will power only, evil will inevitably defeat us. We eventually do the thing we struggle against. Alone, using only human strength, we are no match for the evil within us.
No matter how much he wanted to do good (be good), he was not in control. The evil that lived within him was in control. Ironically, the more the person by and of himself alone wants to be good, the more controlling the evil within him becomes. Paul was powerless to destroy evil within himself. Therefore, evil controlled him. The more aware he became of the evil within him, the more controlling that evil became.
In his mind he wanted to be God's person doing God's things as he behaved in a godly manner. Were it just a matter of choice, that would be his choice. However, even though he admired and respected God's law, the law of evil still controlled him. The more he saw the evil within him, the more evident it became that evil decided what his body did.
It reduced him to the attitude of wretchedness. He held himself in contempt for his weakness. He had no respect for himself because he was the slave of the evil that lived in him. He, using nothing but human strength, could not escape from the evil that lived in him. He could not free himself.
The answer or solution came from God, not from himself. Who would set him free? God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God's solution to this struggle is perfect. In this life, in our physical bodies, God does not eliminate the existence of evil. He eliminates the spiritual consequence of evil. Paul felt his wretchedness when he of himself could not destroy the control of evil. His awareness of the evil living in him confirmed the guilt and consequence of his evil. God's solution is perfect because Christ's forgiveness is perfect. We do not experience release from sin and freedom through perfect human behavior, but through perfect divine forgiveness. When forgiveness is perfect, there is nothing to condemn. When we live in Christ, we live in his perfect forgiveness. There is nothing to condemn. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ.
The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set us free. The law that declares that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ frees us. The law that makes those in Christ the temple of the Holy Spirit frees us [see 1 Corinthians 6:19,20].
The law given in the Old Testament could not free us because that law exists to control and work in the physical body. God freed us from evil by allowing His son to come in a physical body and give himself in that physical body as a sin offering for all people. God through His son used the physical to condemn sin. God condemned evil so that evil cannot condemn those in Christ.
The requirements of the law that focused on physical control are fulfilled by people who do not live for the purposes of the physical, but live for the purposes of God in the things of the Spirit [see Galatians 5:22-24].
If "trying hard" is the solution to the enslavement of evil, God had no reason to send Jesus. If the answers are produced exclusively through human effort, human strength, human achievement, human wisdom, human power, and human control, we did not need a savior. We just needed "the formula" to "powerful human behavior" to destroy the evil within us.
The importance of understanding this truth cannot be exaggerated: we of ourselves cannot defeat the evil that lives within us. Those who wish to escape their struggle with addictive behavior and enslaving evils need answers. They do not want to be victims. They do not want to be slaves to the evils that control them. And they know that human will power cannot end their struggle. If "willing" an escape from evil freed a person, they would be free. Just like Paul, the harder they tried to be godly through human resolve, the more aware they became of their evil. "Trying harder" made them realize their wretchedness! It made them more aware of the reality of evil in their lives!
We need answers. Church buildings are filled with people who are afraid to confess, afraid to ask for help, and afraid to admit struggles. The church created the belief that Christians do not have problems and do not need help. Many Christians who struggle with evil either (a) pretend or (b) suffer in silence. Either way, Satan will be victorious in them. What an eternal shame!
Paul knew his wretchedness. But he also knew what God did and does for the person in Christ!
Link to Student Guide Quarter 3, Lesson 1