Homily                                                                                                         Pastor Dan Neary

Righteousness Imparted: New Power for Worship
(Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 12-14)

 

We’re on the home stretch with Romans, now on the eighth sermon of our 13-week series in the book of Romans… By Faith Alone.

 

Our key verse comes from 1:17, let’s read aloud together.

 

The outline we’re using is pretty straightforward.

 

 

I know there has some confusion regarding these two words that have really become to key to our understanding of Romans: Imputed and Imparted. If you listen to the sermons that are posted on the Web you’ll even hear that Christian and I have mixed these two words up…

 

It is important that we get the distinction.
If we think in theological terms,

 

Imputed righteousness is justification.
It is right-standing before God. A new position, not earned on the basis of our merit… but credited to us as righteousness because of what Christ has done on our behalf.

 

Imparted righteousness is sanctification.
It is freedom from sin. It is holy living.

 

If we think of it in personal terms… or more specifically in terms of what person of the Godhead is involved:

 

Imputed righteousness is all about Jesus. It is about what Christ has done for us. Sent by the Father, to glorify the Father… filled with the Spirit and then to send the Spirit, imputed righteousness is all about Jesus.

 

Imparted righteousness is all about the Holy Spirit. God with us and in us… working out our salvation. Giving us freedom from sin, strengthening us day by day. Giving us power to worship God with obedience. Imparted righteousness is all about the Holy Spirit.

 

So… just one more review

 

 

 

Last week, Christian brought us to this critical point in Romans 8. Imparted Righteousness: New Power.

 

He began to make the case for the unmistakable importance of the Holy Spirit in this Christian life.

 

Scholars point to this passage in Romans 8 as a sort of climax, or apex to the entire book.

 

One writer wrote:

 

This section… climaxes the… argument, and one can scarcely miss the crucial role played by the Holy Spirit. Even though it is never said in quite this way, the Spirit is the experiential, life-giving linchpin to everything that has been argued to this point. The coming of the Spirit means the end of the time of the Law (we serve God in newness of Spirit, not in the oldness of mere “letter”); the Spirit makes both Jew and Gentile God’s children and thus heirs together of God’s final glory; at the same time the Spirit makes possible the righteousness with the Law, weakened through sin and the flesh, could no; and finally the Spirit is the eschatological down payment, the first-fruits, of the future, including the final resurrection and glorification of the present mortal body.
(Fee, God’s Empowering Presence, 516)

 

Christian did a great job underscoring the importance of the Spirit. I especially liked the way he emphasized the importance of the Trinity. He made a great point regarding how various Christians, even various religions, pick and choose members of the Trinity.

 

For some the Holy Spirit just seems too mysterious or mystical.

For others they just can’t risk the potentially socially embarrassing behavior.

So they adopt a theology that minimizes the third person in the Godhead.

Somewhere along the line they heard Pneumatology (the study of the Holy Spirit) and misunderstood it to be Pneumaechtomy (the removal of the Holy Spirit).

 

I agree with Christian, there are plenty of practical bi-nitarians in the Church… but I think there are some who have erred along the same lines. They have a Trinity, but in actuality they have a different Trinity.
Father – yes

Son – yes , and

Holy Bible

 

Obviously, I need to be careful here.

  1. I hope it is plain to you that we are clearly in favor of the Bible.
    We read aloud the creed that affirms the importance of the Scripture.
  2. The Bible is God’s Word. Inspired by the Holy Spirit with the power to change our lives.
  3. But the Bible is not a separate member of the Godhead.

 

I think we sometimes make the wrong observation. The Law, the old way that led only to death, was superceded… many seem to think that the Law was superceded by the New Testament.

 

We were rescued from the old law that was written on the tablets and then filled-out in the Pentateuch and the Prophets. The old law, the old words, didn’t cut it… so new words were given:
The New Testament.

 

That sounds right… almost right… well, really there isn’t any basis for that.

 

The Scripture, throughout the New Testament and here in Romans 8, indicates that the Law was indeed superceded. Not by more words, but by the Spirit.

 

“through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.[1]”  Romans 8:2

 

We didn’t trade one rule book
for another rule book.

What good would another rule book be?
God didn’t just give us a new set of rules and say, “here, let’s see how you do this time.”

 

Truth is… the same holy God has the same requirements for righteousness…
but now the Spirit has been given. The very God whose holiness exposes our wickedness is now resident in us.

 

Not just given once, like the Commandments on Sinai, but with us, in us, renewing us day by day. Through the Holy Spirit, God is renewing individual believers and building His church.

 

To be sure, the Spirit is not the chief matter; but neither is he the least… Paul’s Trinitarian presuppositions stand out everywhere. God is the prime mover, the principal actor in all things. God has brought about this salvation, this new people for His name, through the death and resurrection of His own Son. And God has brought all of it to realization through the gift of his Holy Spirit, who is also the Spirit of His Son. .
(Fee, God’s Empowering Presence, 517)

 

Why would we ever want to minimize the power and work of the Holy Spirit?

 

I think there is a series in our future… a Holy Spirit series… something along the lines of “God’s Empowering Presence.”

 

But in the few minutes we have remaining today… let’s get practical with the Holy Spirit.

 

Without getting too hung-up in the eternal existence of all three persons of the Godhead… let me make that statement that this is the Age of the Spirit.

 

Standing in the center of time is the cross.
As far as I’m concerned, Jesus stands at the center of time.

 

Before the cross, there is only law.

After the cross, we have the Spirit.

 

So, what does it mean to be in the Age of the Spirit?

 

  1. Scripture
    1. Inspiration
    2. Illumination
  2. Personal Piety
    1. Stay tuned in Romans
  3. Church Life

 

We want to spend some time on this last idea.

How does the Spirit work in the Church…
How does the Spirit work in this Church?

 

What does it mean to be a Pentecostal Church?

 

Sometimes we refer to this Church as the little neo-classical church in the parking lot of the giant Pentecostal Church.

 

I think you know what we mean by that…
we’re not saying that this church is not Pentecostal.

 

Denominationally, this Church, The Chapel at Cedar Park, is an Assemblies of God church, just like that one across the parking lot. Our fundamental doctrines are identical. I’m an ordained Assemblies of God minister; Christian, Laurie and I all have A/G credentials. The Assemblies of God is a self-described Pentecostal Church.

 

Truth is… when we say Pentecostal Church, we’re usually not talking about doctrine.

 

Really… the Christian Church, all of it, is Pentecostal.

This is the Age of the Spirit. The Church universal is filled with the Sprit, led by the Spirit, guided by the Spirit. The Church was born, as recorded in Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost.

 

The Church, historically, biblically (in all ways really), is a Pentecostal Church.

 

But we understand that phrase to have some cultural meaning.
We usually understand Pentecostal Church as something stylistic.

 

Really, that is what distinguishes this church from the giant Pentecostal church across the parking lot. It is in the practice of corporate worship… the style… the preparation.

 

So what about the “gifts of the Spirit” being exercised in the life of this Church?
Our New Testament reading today speaks directly of the various spiritual gifts. We believe these gifts are for the Church today… and most are regularly operational in this Church.

 

It is usually the public use of these gifts that distinguish what is culturally understood to be a Pentecostal Church.

 

Can you see how many of these gifts are a regular part of this Church?

  1. Wisdom: How should we think?
    1. I love it that this one starts the list.
      The Bible promises that when we lack wisdom we should ask for it… and He will give it.
    2. There are many gifts of wisdom to this Church

                                          i.    General

                                        ii.    Specific

                                       iii.    Programmed – Leadership Council

1.     Frohlichs, Bakers, Forbes, Jacobsens, Lindbecks, Nearys

  1. Knowledge: What should we know?
    1. The starting of this church
    2. Specific areas of concern
  2. Faith: What should we believe?
    1. For specific circumstances
    2. Evidenced in testimony
  3. Healing: Demonstrating the Care of God
    1. Nobody has hopped out of a wheelchair
    2. But God is touching and healing bodies in this Church
  4. Miracles: Showing the Power of God
    1. Provision
  5. Prophecy: Communicating the Mind of God
    1. In preaching
    2. In prediction
    3. In proclaiming His will
  6. Discernment
    1. Especially entrusted to your pastors
    2. Judging what is appropriate
  7. Tongues & Interpretation
    1. Not yet… why not?

 

If this still seems sort of spooky to you… you might be asking yourself “couldn’t we just do without this? What is the point really?”

 

It is sort of funny… those of you who have been at this for a while can tell some things about how a person is wired just by how they refer to this third person in the Trinity.

·      Spirit

·      Holy Spirit

·      Holy Ghost

·      HolyGhost

 

So what really is the point…

 

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

 

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
   5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
   6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.[2]

Three keys here

  1. Manifestation - ἀποκάλυψις - [/ ap·ok· al ·oop·sis /]
    1. What was hidden is now revealed – an unveiling
    2. This is an important part of God’s plan to show Himself
    3. A revelation that brings us peace, power, conviction of sin, faith to press on
  2. Common Good
    1. The gifts are given for the good of the whole church.
      They are not for individual enjoyment, but for corporate employment. [3]
    2. God uses members of the Body
      to build up the Body…
      to encourage the Body…
      to advance the Body
    3. If it is for the good of just one, especially if it seems it is good only for the one using the gift, then it is out of order
    4. The context of 1 Corinthians (13) indicates that there was teaching needed along these lines
  3. Each One
    1. The Scripture indicates that each one is used in these gifts given to the Church
    2. You are an important part of this Body
    3. Be a tool in the Master’s hand

                                          i.    Seek the giver, not the gift

                                        ii.    Seek to serve

 

Christian said it last week:

“The Holy Spirit is not merely an idea.”

 

The Holy Spirit, in the life of an individual believer, and in the life of the Church is the most real person of the Godhead.

 

Praise God, three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.


[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version, Ro 8:2. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.

[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version, 1 Co 12:4-7. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.

[3]Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition Commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt., 1 Co 12:1. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1996, c1989.