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Where Do We Rest?
Pastor Josh VanLeeuwen, PODCAST 11-6-16
Where Do We Rest? (Secure in Christ)
(Romans 7:21-8:2, 31-35, 37-39)
These are troubled times. Police officers are gunned down in their patrol cars. Churches are vandalized and set on fire. Christians in other countries are tortured and beheaded. There is violence against women. Violence against children. Violence everywhere. And we are in the most contentious election season weâve ever known, caught up in demeaning and derogatory language setting party against party, friend against friend. Whether candidate A or B wins next week, will the world descend into chaos and anarchy? Are terrorists planning another major attack on our country, or maybe even an invasion? Will our communities ever feel safe again? How did Godâs creation ever get to this state, and where can we find rest and security in the midst of all this madness and suffering?
And then thereâs that little voice in our heads reminding us that we are incomplete, inadequate, incompetent. It tells us weâre frauds, weâre terrible parents, friends, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. When we do wrong it berates us, and when we do right it mocks us. It makes us anxious and self-conscious. What will other people think, it asks us, if you do or say whatâs in your head? Be careful. Donât rock the boat. Try to be indispensable at work so you donât lose your job. Make people like you so you have friends. Put on that happy/funny/confident mask so you can get along and fit in. Deny who you are so you can be part of the crowd. Be anybody but yourself! No wonder we live in a state of perpetual unease. No wonder we feel insecure and restless.
Paul was no stranger to the violence and degradation of this fallen world: he had experienced much of it personally. He had also fought that internal battle between the mind and the body, and often the wrong side had won. âWhen I want to do good,â he wrote, âevil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in Godâs law; 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. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?â Imagine the voice in his head, reminding him how many times he had failed. How often must he have looked at the world and grieved at its fallen state. Where could a man as stricken by violence and despair as Paul find rest and security?
He has the answer: âThanks be to Godâthrough Jesus Christ our Lord!â And he reassures us that âthere is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of lifeâ sets us free from the law of sin and death. âIf God is for us, who can be against us? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.â Nothing can separate us from the love of God through Jesus! Not fear, or violence, or pain, or suffering. Not politics, or terrorism, or danger, or death. Not even that voice in our heads that wants us to believe that we are unlovable by anyone, let alone our Creator and Redeemer. We are secure in Christ, secure in his love, mercy, and grace. And nothing can take that away from us.
Click here to listen
http://www.westview.org/wp-content/uploads/PODCAST2016/FindRest/11-6-16podcast.mp3 | Open Player in New Window
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By Westview Church Waukee Iowa RCAPastor Josh VanLeeuwen, PODCAST 11-6-16
Where Do We Rest? (Secure in Christ)
(Romans 7:21-8:2, 31-35, 37-39)
These are troubled times. Police officers are gunned down in their patrol cars. Churches are vandalized and set on fire. Christians in other countries are tortured and beheaded. There is violence against women. Violence against children. Violence everywhere. And we are in the most contentious election season weâve ever known, caught up in demeaning and derogatory language setting party against party, friend against friend. Whether candidate A or B wins next week, will the world descend into chaos and anarchy? Are terrorists planning another major attack on our country, or maybe even an invasion? Will our communities ever feel safe again? How did Godâs creation ever get to this state, and where can we find rest and security in the midst of all this madness and suffering?
And then thereâs that little voice in our heads reminding us that we are incomplete, inadequate, incompetent. It tells us weâre frauds, weâre terrible parents, friends, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. When we do wrong it berates us, and when we do right it mocks us. It makes us anxious and self-conscious. What will other people think, it asks us, if you do or say whatâs in your head? Be careful. Donât rock the boat. Try to be indispensable at work so you donât lose your job. Make people like you so you have friends. Put on that happy/funny/confident mask so you can get along and fit in. Deny who you are so you can be part of the crowd. Be anybody but yourself! No wonder we live in a state of perpetual unease. No wonder we feel insecure and restless.
Paul was no stranger to the violence and degradation of this fallen world: he had experienced much of it personally. He had also fought that internal battle between the mind and the body, and often the wrong side had won. âWhen I want to do good,â he wrote, âevil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in Godâs law; 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. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?â Imagine the voice in his head, reminding him how many times he had failed. How often must he have looked at the world and grieved at its fallen state. Where could a man as stricken by violence and despair as Paul find rest and security?
He has the answer: âThanks be to Godâthrough Jesus Christ our Lord!â And he reassures us that âthere is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of lifeâ sets us free from the law of sin and death. âIf God is for us, who can be against us? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.â Nothing can separate us from the love of God through Jesus! Not fear, or violence, or pain, or suffering. Not politics, or terrorism, or danger, or death. Not even that voice in our heads that wants us to believe that we are unlovable by anyone, let alone our Creator and Redeemer. We are secure in Christ, secure in his love, mercy, and grace. And nothing can take that away from us.
Click here to listen
http://www.westview.org/wp-content/uploads/PODCAST2016/FindRest/11-6-16podcast.mp3 | Open Player in New Window