Sermon for 2nd Sunday after Pentecost--June 26th, 2011

“Under New Management” (Romans 7:1-13)

1.             Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this morning comes to us today from Romans chapter 7.  Specifically from Romans 7:4 which says, “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him Who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”  It’s entitled, “Under New Management,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.             At Christmas we sang about the birth of our Lord Jesus and celebrated the fact that He’s our Prince of Peace. But, now we see in our Gospel reading from Matthew 10 that Jesus our Prince of Peace proclaims that He hasn’t come to bring peace but a sword. Christians through the ages and in all places know what it means to follow Christ and to know rejection even by one's own family members. Like their Master they may find themselves bearing a cross, a cross of rejection, a cross of death. Life is found only in Christ. To cling to life in this world, to place our trust in the dead life of our sin is to lose the only real life there is in Jesus Christ. The Scriptures read in church, the sermon preached, the hymns sung---all proclaim this life in Jesus Christ. Those who hear us proclaim this new life in Christ actually hear Him and hear His Word of peace and forgiveness.  And as we live this new life in Jesus we begin to realize that we’re under new management, no longer ruled by the devil, but by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
3.             Some time or another most of us have dined in a restaurant that has changed ownership and is now “Under New Management.”  With the new management comes a new attitude, new menu, new and different service.  The decorations in the restaurant may even have changed.  The old restaurant is hardly recognizable.  So it is with our lives in Christ.  God makes us into new people who live by grace and “have died to the law through the body of Christ.”  In essence, we’re new people who live under new management.  The old godless person is hardly recognizable.   God is now in control.  Galatians 2:20 says, “²⁰I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. “
4.             We were born in sin as sinful flesh.  Ephesians 2:1 & 2 says, “¹And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”  Our Old Adam is totally sinful.  He wants to disobey God.  He’s an enemy of God.  Within each one of us is a spiritual battle.  The management that we live under will determine where we will spend eternity.  We are either on the devil’s side or we’re on the side of our Lord Jesus Christ.  There’s no middle ground.  Depending on whose side that we’re on will either give us great joy or complete sadness in our daily living.  Do we live in victory or in defeat?
5.             That’s why the Holy Spirit gives us new understanding of ourselves and the spiritual battle going on inside us between our Old Man and the New Man. Titus 3:5–7 says, “⁵he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” By our baptisms and the hearing of God’s Word we are under new management.  The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts.
6.             But, what is the nature of a person under God’s management?  Our text from Romans 7:4 says that we belong to God and are to bear fruit for Him.  Ephesians 4:24 tells us that as new people we are, “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”  This righteousness is not our own doing for we didn’t make ourselves holy or righteous.  We are holy and righteous because we are forgiven for our sins through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.  The restaurant changed to a new management through a financial transaction.  God’s people are placed “Under New Management” through Jesus’ blood, suffering, and death.
7.             When there are two completely different beings (one good and one bad) inside the same place, next to each other, there will be trouble because one is perfect and the other one evil.  We experience constant battles.  Our New Management is seen as we put down the Old Man and put on the New Man, by keeping in step with the Spirit, by living by the Spirit.  The Apostle Paul tells us, in Galatians 5:16, “I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”  And in Galatians 5:25, he tells us “Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit.”  That is the gospel way we will be able to live under our New Management.
8.             What are the actions and deeds of the new person under this New Management?  Let us ask ourselves if we have real love for God and for others.  Do we show kindness and goodness to others regardless of whether they are first kind and good to us?  Are we gentle in the way we speak to and treat others?  Do we have self-control in our daily habits?  Are we sharing the Gospel with others?  Are we generous in our gifts to God through our church?
9.             Unfortunately, within the Church there are Christians who gratify the desires of the sinful flesh, rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts and lives.  Some of these people we may call “haters.”  A “hater” is an outspoken and active critic, an opponent who harbors hostility, animosity and ill-will toward a public person.  We can easily find “haters” in the newspaper, on the TV, and the radio, or at our local gas station.  But, sadly the “haters” are sweeping through the church as well.  In the past, most church leaders have had a “patiently endure” approach to such haters.  But lately, an increasing number of Pastors have taken to pulpits and blogs, videos and tweets, to denounce and dismiss their detractors.  Denominational leaders have also begun condemning those who unduly criticize ministers. 
10.             As Francis Schaeffer, a great defender of the Christian faith, observed toward the end of his life, being a “hater” has almost become a matter of personal privilege:  “We rush in, being very, very pleased, it would seem at times, to find other men’s mistakes.  We build ourselves up by tearing other men down...we love the smell of blood, the smell of the arena, the smell of the bullfight...”  We may be pleased, but when we act like this as Pastors and laypeople we’re not being Christian and we’re not bearing fruit for Christ.  When we act this way we are under the management and control of the devil, the prince of the power of the air.
11.             Lest there be any doubt, spewing hate and dissension, and slander is sin.  Being openly divisive is sin.  Tearing down rather than building up is sin.  Refusing to practice Matthew 18:15 is sin.  And remember Pastors are susceptible to this as well.  Refusing to properly honor leadership in the church is a sin.  And it’s doing enormous damage to the cause of Christ.  When outsiders look at us they may say, “I don’t want to be a member of that church, all they do is fight with one another.”  “Doesn’t the Bible say that Christians are to love one another, even their enemies, why is it then that they are so quick to fight and hurt one another?”
12.             There’s no excuse for a hater.  There are times when it needs to be forcefully confronted for the sake of the witness of the church.  But since so many of the “haters” in our world - whether in sports or politics, business or ministry - seem tied to their pride, let’s meet their hate with humility.
13.             This is why as Christians when we’re “Under New Management,” we surrender any pretense of self-sufficiency and pride.  As His children, we stand in total need of God for all we have and all we are, and He abundantly provides for both our spiritual and physical needs.  God knows each of us by name and seeks fellowship with each of us through Jesus.  In spite of our poor choices and our continual disobedience, He still loves us and holds us in the palm of His hand.  We were dead in our transgressions and sin…but “God, Who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4).   We now live as His forgiven and redeemed people.
14.             God gives us His grace and power through His Word which is the food He provides to strengthen the New Man.  He provides the strength to bear the fruit of faith, the good works that we do.  God’s love, grace, and mercy shown on the Cross compel us to serve Him by serving others.  May God grant that we will serve our Creator faithfully as people Under His New Management, knowing that we have victory over the old self, for Jesus sake!  Amen.