Each of us this morning represents untapped potential. We believe, unless we are feeling extremely down, that we can change and improve over the next year. We believe we have the potential for better health, more strength, and greater endurance. We think that we could be a better husband or wife or parent or friend or Christian or employee or employer. Not only do we believe we can improve, everyday we are confronted with areas in our life where we could improve, want to improve, or may even feel we must improve.
The birth of a child points to promise and potential. Loving parents desire to see their child reach his or her potential. Dylan’s story of miraculous recovery and his parent’s decision to have him baptized along with their desire to see him grow up to be a devoted follower of Jesus speaks of promise and potential.
Couples who have a child have accepted the challenge of helping that child develop her/his potential. Cyndi and I quickly discovered there are no formulas which a parent can use to enable their child to reach his or her potential. Actually, there are no measurements that can precisely determine a child’s potential. What every loving parent knows is that they want to see their child become all he or she can become.
Cyndi and I soon realized helping our children unlock their potential is challenging. We read plenty of books, listened to and observed others and had more than one discussion – sometimes heated – about the task of parenting. We did not always agree on the “how” but we did agree on the “what” that we wanted to see in our children. The description of Jesus’ development in Luke 2: 52 reflected our desires for our children. We read: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.”
Luke 2: 52 points to four areas of potential in a child and in our own lives as well: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Although it is possible to talk individually about these four areas, they overlap and are closely linked.
Romans 8: 1-17 points to our spiritual potential. These few verses represent the promise and the description for we can unleash our spiritual potential. Our spiritual potential flows from the privilege of experiencing the presence of God’s Holy Spirit within us. His Spirit living within us makes all the difference in the world.
The context of Romans 8 tells us that when it comes to spiritual potential, there is both bad news and good news.
The first part of the book of Romans emphasises the bad news. All of us have failed. In popular terms you could say, “Our spirituality went south.” We blew it! God showed us what he expected. He established the performance standards and we failed the test.
If you have ever failed a big test you know what it is like to receive poor results. Paul put it this way in Romans 3: 20, “Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”
After Paul declares the bad news he shares the good news. God is not finished with us. He provides another way to experience spirituality. The new way takes into account our failure to perform in a satisfactory way. Yet the new way does not give up on God’s demand that we meet his standards for living a life that reflects his character.
Think of it this way . . . Suppose everyone in the province of Ontario had to take a driver’s test tomorrow -- and everyone failed. No one was able to drive in a way that met the standards. (On some days you may think that everyone on the road, except you of course, probably would fail or never should have passed his or her driver’s exam.) If everyone failed, can you imagine the result?
Yet the powers that be said, “We are not changing our standards. The performance standards we expect from drivers is what is required if our roads are going to be safe.” No matter how hard one tried, no matter how much one studied and practised, still no one passed the test.
When it comes to the righteousness of God, his standards and our spiritual potential, that scenario describes where we stand. All of us have failed. Yet God is saying that if a person wants to experience life as it was meant to be – if one wants to live in relationship with God—then you must meet God’s standards.
So what is a person to do? At this point, there is nothing. We simply don’t have what it takes. But God intervened. This is the good news. Going back to the idea of a driver’s test, Jesus took the drivers test for us. We failed but he succeeded. Jesus, the divine Son of God, passed the test. He got his driving license and he demonstrated what good driving looks like.
God says to us, “I know you can’t pass the test but Jesus passed the test for you. Because Jesus passed the test, I will give you your driver’s license not because you can drive but because of Jesus.”
How do we receive the driver’s licence? The bible uses the word faith. It looks like this. We come to God and we say, “Father I failed to pass the test but I have heard that Jesus passed the test for me and if I ask you, you will give me a driver’s licence.” God responds, “Okay. Here is your licence.” Belief in what Jesus did for us gets us our licence, not our own ability to drive. That is what the last verses of Romans 3 and the first part of chapter 4 is talking about when it tells the story of Abraham and righteousness and faith.
At this point some of you may be saying. “Belief gets you a driver’s licence but can you drive? How will the roads be a safer place if people believe but still cannot drive?” The obvious answer is that the roads will not be a safer place if people still can’t drive.
Yet there are some within the Christian tradition who think all you have to do is get your driver’s licence. Who cares how you drive as long as you are legal? They say, “I’ve got my licence, I can do what I want now. No one is going to take my licence away, so I will do as I please.”
Paul anticipates this question in Romans 6: He writes: “What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” Using the analogy, shall we go on driving like a person who can’t pass a drivers test because Jesus passed the test for me? Paul says: “No way!” When you received your driver’s licence something happened in you. There was a change. You became linked with Jesus. You died to your old way of driving. You now will begin to drive like he does. But how?
Romans 8 tells us we can become good drivers and explains how. Look to verse 4. Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves “in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature (flesh) but according to the Spirit.” This is the second part of Paul’s good news. When you believed God for your licence, he did more than just give you a licence. He made a qualitative difference in you as a driver. That difference is His Spirit living in you. God sent his Spirit to live within you to enable you to do what you could not do before. A transformation has and is taking place.
Picture yourself driving with your new licence. You are legal but, even more, the Spirit of God is in you. He is with you and is enabling you to drive in a way that you never were able to drive before. Your old driving habits, your old approach to driving, even your whole understanding of driving is changing. You are a different driver. Why you are almost safe!
Yet the path to good driving or in the words of Romans, righteous living, is not automatic. If one is going to become a good driver or live a righteous life, they must recognize bad driving habits. There is a difference between good driving and bad driving. There is a difference between living life in the “flesh” and living life according to the Spirit of God within us.
Listen to these contrasts Romans 8:6: “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”
Paul spells out some of the characteristics of the sinful nature in Galatians 5: 19-21: “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Paul contrasts the life controlled by the sinful nature with life in the spirit in Galatians 5: 22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against such things.”
So after recognizing the difference between good driving and bad driving we need to see that difference within our own lives. Isn’t amazing how we can identify the poor driving habits of another person but be oblivious to or justify our own poor driving?
We also need to recognize our obligation to submit to the Spirit of God within us rather than to the temptation to follow the desires of the sinful nature. We have been empowered by God to drive in harmony with God’s standards. We must choose to do so.
Paul write about it this way: “We have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 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…”
You will live … in that you will experience the fullness of life according to God’s plan for you and you will live forever as a child of God. Think of that as your spiritual potential. God promises a full life with him now and forever as his special adopted child. This is the promise found in Romans 8 “…but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Romans 8:17 completes the thought: “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his suffering in order that we may also share in his glory.”
Whether we are young or old, each one of us represents untapped potential in different ways. Do you understand your spiritual potential? Through his Son, God has made it possible for you to experience life in the Spirit. After empowering us through his Spirit, he calls us to make choices. Notice that Paul says you (not God) must put to death the misdeeds of the body if you want to truly live.
Misdeeds are not only outer actions but also inner attitudes. We have been empowered, if we have come to God in faith asking him for forgiveness. But we must, through that power, put to death old ways of thinking, and reacting. We are called to replace fear, the need to control, anger, bitterness and hurt with trust, submission to God, forgiveness and love.
Are there areas where you are struggling? Are there unresolved issues? Romans 8:1-17 says, “Don’t despair. Instead of despair, act! Realize that you have been empowered through the Spirit and choose to live according to the Spirit.”
An important part of releasing our spiritual potential as children of God is interacting with one another, prayer, confession, and accountability. That is why small groups, Christian fellowship and worship are so vital to growth. But the message of Romans 8 is that you have been set free to live life in the Spirit as God’s special child. Now do it. Experience your spiritual potential through the Spirit of God at work in you.