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Jan 05, 2020

First in Freedom

First in Freedom

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Elevator Pitch: The Good News in One Chapter, Romans 8

Keywords: church, gospel, romans, paul, romans 8, elevator pitch, main idea

The theology of the gospel is an endless source of books, papers, dissertations, and blog posts. But isn’t there a simplicity to the gospel that can both be easily conveyed to the unfamiliar, and yet also readily rediscovered by those for whom it’s perhaps become too familiar, like a song you haven’t heard in a long while? If so, where might you look? Many have found the eighth chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome as the simplest and strongest summary of the gospel. Think of it as the proverbial “elevator pitch”—the main idea designed to capture your attention. 2020 may offer us the opportunity to make plain the gospel in simplest terms; Romans 8 may prepare us for it. But the year ahead may also find us most in need of hearing again the essence of what first captured us.

Order of Worship

Pre Service: Romans 8:11
Call to Worship: Psalm 118:1-5
Sermon Title: First in Freedom
Old Testament Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34
Central Text: Romans 8:1-4
Benediction
Post-Service Text: Galatians 5:13

01.05.2020 Sermon Notes

Illustrations

Forrest Gump - Start All Over

Green Mile - Helped it

Readings & Scripture

Pre-Service: Romans 8:11
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Call to Worship: Psalm 118:1-5
LEADER: Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
PEOPLE: Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
LEADER: Let the house of Aaron say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
PEOPLE: Let those who fear the LORD say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
LEADER: Out of my distress I called on the LORD;.
ALL: the LORD answered me and set me free.

Old Testament Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Central Text: Romans 8:1-4
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Benediction:
LEADER: the LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

PEOPLE: Amen

Post-Service Text: Galatians 5:13
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Related Scripture

  • Ezekiel 36:26-27
  • John 1:14
  • 2 Corinthians 3:5,6
  • 2 Corinthians 5:21
  • Galatians 5:16, 25
  • Philippians 2:7

Discussion Questions & Applications

  1. Ever remember being grounded? What was it for? What was it like to be “sprung”? Now deeper: ever been (or are presently) sideways with someone--estranged, that is? If the estrangement mercifully ended and you are restored, what was it like? What did it take?
  2. How might the condemnation spoken of here be like estrangement? If there’s now no condemnation, why might there have been previously? Why was the condemnation that meant our estrangement inevitable (cf. Brad Owen’s helpful sermon from last Sunday)
  3. What brought that condemnation/estrangement to an end? What part did the Law play in that? What part did you play in it?
  4. What does Paul say is the purpose behind setting us free from the condemnation?
  5. What effect would it have for you to believe deeply in the freedom from this condemnation? in how you think of yourself? In how you regard others who’ve wronged you?

Quotes

  • In order for forgiveness to happen, something has to die. - Brene Brown
  • Law was given that grace might be sought, grace was given that the law might be fulfilled. - Augustine
  • …our corrupt nature needs another kind of medicine than the Law, by which it can arrive at good health so that it can fulfill the Law. - Martin Luther
  • So far from being able to answer for my sins, I cannot even answer for my righteousness. - Bernard of Clairvaux

Sermons/Resources

Books

  • The Whole Christ, a book by Sinclair Ferguson detailing a particular theological controversy in 18th century Scotland which has contemporary relevance for how we think about the Law in light of Jesus

Related Media

InView Media Album - 01.05.2020