By Didi Bacon

Resurrection Power Running Through My Veins?

I recently read the story of a young woman named Bonnie and her husband who were fully indoctrinated and committed to white supremacist beliefs. (Erika Hayasaki, “Secret Life of the Professor Who Lives with Nazis” Narratively. 11-7-18)

In a domestic dispute, a relative shot their daughter. At the hospital, two black doctors saved her life. This changed Bonnie and her husband, who then “tried to retrain their minds, free themselves of racist views.” They even went so far as to move to a nearby area with numerous African American and Latino families.

Things became undone one day when Bonnie realized she had received the wrong food order after going through a local drive-thru restaurant. The clerk refused to correct the order when she went inside. All the workers were Hispanic and didn’t speak English well. Bonnie became enraged, swore at the clerk, told her to get out of her country, exclaimed “white power” and left displaying the Nazi salute.

After that eruption, Bonnie collapsed in her car outside of the restaurant, crying, asking herself why she did that. Why had she reverted to a state of hate that she had been trying to push away? 

Transformation is not easy. It requires heart work. Heart work is the hardest work. It is something that we cannot do on our own. We need help from others, and most of all, we need help from God.

This past Sunday, we began a sermon series that is good news for those who need the heart work that brings transformation from the old ways of death to the new ways of life.

One of my Bible college professors said that when we sin, it brings double trouble. The first trouble is that sin makes you guilty. Guilty, speaking in the legal sense. When you break God’s law you deserve the penalty of death. The second trouble is depravity. It is a sin sickness that infects your life now with corruption, pain, suffering and death. The second trouble of sin is the powerlessness to do what is right. 

Thanks be to God that He provides a double cure for the double trouble. God so loved the world that He sent His Son to die for our sins. He paid the price of your guilt so that you might be set free of the penalty. That is grace. You access this grace by faith. When you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the forgiver and leader of your life. The first part of the double cure neutralizes the first trouble of sin.

Depravity or sin-sickness is neutralized by the work of Holy Spirit. At your acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior you are promised that God’s Spirit will enter your life and set you free from the power of sin. In talking about this second part of the double cure Paul says…

“But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” Romans 8:10-11 (NIV)

If the Holy Spirit is in you, then the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is also at work in you. You have resurrection power running through your veins! That resource allows you to be set free from the old patterns of living taken on when you lived sin-sick.

Paul says it this way:

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16 (NIV)

What does “walk by the Spirit” mean? If you see your life as a journey through time, it is one step at a time of living minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, month by month, year by year. Walking with the Spirit is living your life in harmony with the Spirit of God. It is like a being in a three legged race with God where you have to orientate your life to the leadership of God’s Spirit.

Walking by the Spirit is not running ahead in arrogance and it is not lagging behind in disobedience.

Running ahead in arrogance is doing things in your way by your own strength. It is saying “I’ve got this. I don’t need you Lord”. It is living without consulting the will of the Holy Spirit as you journey through life. 

Lagging behind in disobedience is saying no to what God tells you. It is choosing to disobey God’s Word. It is giving yourself to believe that you have a better approach to life than God.

Walking by the Spirit is a process. The theological word is sanctification. It is a process that takes time and training. It is a process that Paul said is identified by the fruit of the Spirit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22–23 (NIV)

If you want to know if you are living the abundant life that God gives, if you want to know if you are walking in the Spirit, then ask yourself, “Do I see the fruit of the Spirit? Am I more loving, joyful, forbearing, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self controlled today than I was yesterday?”

Over the next few weeks, we are going to learn how to walk in the Spirit. We are going to see how walking by the Holy Spirit is how God does his transformational heart work. I would love for you to join us.

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25 (NIV)