Sunday sermon: "The War Within"

 Why do Christians struggle with sin? If, as we see in the beginning of Romans 7, we are freed from the control of sin, why do we still do it? This question has perplexed Christians since the very beginning, and we see here at the end of Romans 7 that even the apostle Paul saw this as a struggle.

One easy way to deal with this passage is to say it only applies to those who have not come to Christ. They may want to do the right thing, but can't. This avoids the issue of saying that Christians still sin, but it fails on two fronts. First, all of Romans to this point teaches that without Christ we are dead in sin, helpless, and seek only to fulfill our own desires. Without the saving power of Jesus, we don't want to do good, so we don't have this struggle. The second problem is that it doesn't have an answer to the question raised in this passage, which is why Christians still struggle with sin. If we aren't supposed to struggle with sin, we come to a point of despair as the reality of sin intrudes on our life.

The struggle ensues because there are two principles at war within us. As those who are new creatures in Christ, we have a desire to do what pleases God, and we begin to align ourselves with His will. Still, our old self wants to follow its own desires. We have self-centered habits to break, and the more we mature in our Christian life the more we see in ourselves that needs to be cleansed.

Ironically, it is those who we often extol as the greatest of saints who are most aware of their sin. I would be thrilled to be as mature as the apostle Paul, yet he considered himself to be a "wretched man" when he thought of his sin. Paul understood how serious sin is in God's eyes, and how any sin violates our relationship with God. I believe, contrary to some teachers, that as we grow in our understanding of God's will and in our Christian walk, we will become more conscious of sin, rather than reaching a point where we believe we are sinlessly perfect.

The conclusion of chapter 7 gives us hope: "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" While we may struggle, we do not need to rely on our own strength to overcome the power of sin. It is through Jesus that we conquer sin. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength to resist temptation and to do what we know is right. Part of growing in Christ is learning to become dependent on the Spirit rather than self. As we do that, we gradually find sin's power waning, the desire of our self to seek its own way weakening, and our ability to serve the Lord strengthening. We may still have that struggle within, but through Christ we can find victory more and more.