God Isn’t Disappointed in You | Romans 8:1-17 | Crossroads Daily

he's a good father. He's not the father who's like, I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. You know, he's the father who's like, I'm not mad, I'm not disappointed. My heart breaks with you. Like my heart breaks for you. This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people, just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. Hey, I'm Chuck. I'm Jamie. I'm Josh. I'm Alex. Romans 8. So thick, so meaty, we're going to break it up. I don't think we're going to get it all in one conversation. Boy, talk about freeing words. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Man, it's like, talk about the release that we need. Talk about the like, deep breath that we can take knowing that that is true. And so, again, we talked about, we got to be real. So like when you hear condemnation, like where have you experienced that? Where have you participated in that? Like what does that bring up for all of us in terms of memories of condemnation? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is not, I'm sure I have experienced condemnation, but what is fresh on my brain is just the condemnation I have shown other people who share my faith, other Christians in the body. So we call the body of believers, the body. And I have condemned many members in the body of Christ because I didn't agree with them theologically or politically. And I have treated them as less than myself. It is easier for me to love someone. It's like hating your own body. That's what it is. I've treated people who don't know Jesus, could care less about Jesus, better than I have people in my own body. And that is fresh in my brain right now. And I feel a level of conviction over that, and have for a long time, and have for a long time. Yeah, that's good. I just want to, I mean, you used two words. I think it's really important to differentiate those, right? Talking about condemnation, you talked about the end of conviction. I think it's important to clarify, right? Condemnation is never, never, never, never, never, never a tool of the Lord. It's not. It's the evil one that condemns. It's broken humans like me that condemn, right? But there is conviction. And conviction is, the way I think about it is, condemnation always pulls me further away from God. Conviction can be painful, but it pulls me toward God. Here's a place in your life that I want to heal, or I want you to see, you know? I need you to make amends to this. But it's always this pulling toward versus condemnation always pulls. Think about when you condemn another person, you're doing this.

Certainly not doing this whenever there's condemnation. Conviction is always an invitation. Always an invitation. And it's not always comfortable, but it is always an invitation. This might be stupid. I kind of think of it as two different light sources. Condemnation is like the flashlight being shined in your face that you're like, there's a separation here, right? And then conviction feels more like when a light is turned on in the room, but it has one of those dimmer switches. And it's like brought up so your eyes can adjust. And you're like, there's a comfort in there, even if there's a pain of like, oh, I'm waking up and now I'm aware of this. What comes next? Where I feel like you're in the dark and then the flashlight shine in your eyes and you're like, okay, I do feel the shame. I'm in the spotlight. It just makes me think of that. That's good. I love that. The two lights. That's a great way to think about those two things. I think growing up in the church, I had a fear of condemnation. And you said something, Chuck, you said, we get to breathe knowing that that's true, that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. I think maybe I knew that, but I didn't believe it. I think that I thought that if I sinned or if I did something wrong that was outside of what I thought Jesus wanted for my life, then it would be like him shining a flashlight on me and being like, you did the thing wrong. And then that would wreck my life. And so I held certain things really, really close, things like I didn't cuss and things like, well, my friends in high school are drinking and I'm better than them because I don't drink alcohol. And all of those were also a version of sin in my life. if things like my virginity, and then because I placed my identity in being the good girl, a night in college when alcohol was involved and I had fallen in with the wrong crowd, and in one night my virginity was gone, it crumbled me. Like it absolutely wrecked me, because I don't think that I believed that there was no condemnation.

I think that I thought, well I messed up, it's over for me now. And I wish, even though I grew up knowing that this was true, but I don't know if I believed it. I'll get the soapbox again. I think that is what you received from the church. Yeah, I agree. It is a distorted gospel. Could have been, yeah. It is a, maybe not intentionally, but the way we receive the gospel and understand it is I perform well, then Jesus dies for me. Sure. Yeah. Wow. Jesus dies for me regardless of what I do. And there's, again, that invitation, that conviction that brings you in. So there is grace upon grace, but I don't think we deliver it as the church well enough. But once I learned that, and I knew that, and I got to go through that process, I experienced so much grace in that. And there were even people in my life who I thought, oh, they're gonna be so mad. My parents will be so disappointed in me. They didn't raise me this way or whatever. And that's not how they responded at all.

Right, right. You know, like I got to experience what was actually true of Jesus in this. Yes, that is so, that's so powerful. And in my own experience, similarly, I would say I was like 24, 25 when all of my sexual crap just kind of came out. And as I think about the grace I received from that moment, from my fiancee, now wife, but wasn't married yet, to people that were discipling me and mentoring me, I've said it this way. I don't know if I got saved at the age of eight or at the age of 25. That's right. But what I know is I know what grace felt like at the age of 25. Like, that's how profound that experience is of having that lived out in community, is it's literally salvific in its effect in our lives. If that makes sense. That's right. Yeah, yeah. This is, Paul's saying this because it's true. He's also revealing something about God's character. What does this reveal about the character of God that Paul can so confidently say, that despite the sin condition, the sin disease, there is no, what does that say about God's character? That he's good and he desires good for us. He's not the white bearded man in the sky

with the sledgehammer waiting, you know? He is good and his desire is good for me. His desire is relationship. Under his terms and his conditions. Yes. His terms and his, and it's good. It is good. He's a good father. Like he, he's not the father who's like, I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed, you know? He's the father who's like, I'm not mad, I'm not disappointed, my heart breaks with you. Like, my heart breaks for you, like come to me. Yeah, I have to remind myself of that. I have never sinned and God has been surprised. Yeah. And I don't even mean like. It's like a jump start. Right, right, right. I don't even mean like surprised because God knows the future. I don't even mean that. He knows my heart. He knows humans, like it's not surprise. Doesn't mean that he's not inviting me to mourn, but like God's not sitting, oh, what? I can't believe it. Oh my God, give me a moment Chuck. I gotta process what you just did.

Like, no, no. And so he's ready to woo. Yes. Because he's not surprised, you know? Yeah. And to that end, there is fallout from our sin. Absolutely. There is fallout, but that invitation of conviction invites us in to address it. That's right. Conviction doesn't mean there's a lack of consequences. That's right. Not at all. But you're also not in it alone. That's right. That's good, yes. That's right. That's so good. So much in this chapter. We haven't even talked on the Holy Spirit, but here's what I would say real quick. Like, just talk about maybe an experience you've had recently where you would say, the Holy Spirit was real to me in this way. And we'll just maybe share a couple of those as we close. I got into a very public disagreement with my mother. Like, it felt like straight up attack on my character. If you watch this, sorry, I'm sharing it out with everyone. But there was this thing of like, it happened, and then it made everything weird,

but then we had to talk about it, like, can't. And so when I brought it up to her, there was just this peace. And like, I knew for a fact that if me from like five days earlier was having the conversation, then I had like my own arms to bring to the table to like fire back. But I just felt this presence of like, this is your mom. I bless you with her. How do you honor her in this conversation? And I feel very strongly that that was only the Holy Spirit. And so now we can go through the things that are like triggering her and the things that she's frustrated with. And I can just listen and even see her perspective. And that was just five days before she had no perspective as far as I was concerned. And I just, I think that's totally like a surrenderedness of like, that felt like condemnation when I was going through it the first time, and then walking through it the second time, it felt like a reconciliation. That would be. Like a sweet conviction too. What I hear in you is a conviction, again, not a shameful, oh man, here's why I miss my mom's perspective, but the invitation. Yes. To see it a different way

and therefore be able to engage her a different way. That's great. So like I was having a quiet time, which whenever I hear someone say I had my quiet time, I just want to throw up in my hands. Out of your mouth, you don't want to produce it. I was spending time, I was spending time just trying to focus my attention on the Lord. And I was overwhelmed by the grace of Jesus out of nowhere. Like so much so that it crumpled me to the floor. I was actually sitting outside, so it crumpled me to the stairs. And I was just overcome, not by like the list of all the bad things I've done, though that is there, but just the fact that in my life, grace upon grace upon grace has existed. And it in the best way ruined me, just broke me. And I wasn't praying for it, I wasn't asking for it. I was just in the moment and available and the Holy Spirit was like, okay, here's a gift for you today. Yeah. And it just drew me again. It didn't send me to that conviction place, Josh, you're bad.

It sent me to this grace upon grace, Jesus, you love me and you adore me. And you're here for me. Praise God. It was incredible. Yeah. I mean, I feel like that's one of the things I love about the Holy Spirit is there's these deep overwhelming moments that the Holy Spirit, where he can convict and change and overwhelm you. And then there's like the little things, like my example was, I gossiped about someone the other day and felt I think was the Holy Spirit later on when I was in my car of, I don't like that you said that about that person in that way, that wasn't honoring. And I actually texted the person who I was talking with and I said, hey, I did not speak about this person in an honoring way. And I want to apologize and repent of that. And that just, that wasn't great. And that was really good for me. And I think that's the conviction and the help of the Holy Spirit. Yeah. That's right.

Yes. Paul says it this way. As we close, he says, for to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. The Holy Spirit makes for, brings to mind, invites us into those things that make for life and peace. So I bless you. I bless you with life and peace by the power of the Holy Spirit today.