Welsh scientists studying change in the marine environment off the coast of Iceland by examining variations in the shells of mollusks from the area seabed discovered a clam which proved to be the worlds oldest living animal on record. By counting the clam’s annual growth rings, they determined it to be 405 to 410 years old which smashes previous records for the world’s oldest animal; also a clam at 220 years. But get this: In order to measure the clam’s age, marine biologists had to cut it open, and killed it in the process.  I doubt any of them intended to or took pride in the fact that in studying the animal they wound up killing it.  As one of the researchers put it, “For our work it was a bonus, but it wasn’t good for this particular animal.”  No kidding.  I would think the scientist would have taken great care to preserve the ancient animals life and perhaps they did, but isn’t that always the way, we wind up doing the very thing we intend not to do? 

           That is the struggle Paul is dealing with in the passage of scripture we read a few moments ago.  Paul is owning up to the struggle within his life as he seeks to live out his faith and follow the way of Christ and time and again discovers that he knows the right things to do, and he knows the things not to do but when it comes to putting his knowledge to practice he fails miserably.  Who of us hasn’t been there?  I know I have and I try really hard to do the right thing but too often I fail. I don’t know about you but I have even found myself doing what I think is the right thing only to find out later it wasn’t.  Thanks be to Paul then for offering himself to budding Christians in Rome and to us as an example of our common experience. Why do we do what we don’t want to do, and — the corollary question — why don’t we do the good that we want to do?  Paul’s answer to this question is sin. In Paul’s experience, sin invades the lives of us all and it is more than a bad deed, evil action or wrong decision.  Sin he says dwells deep within him, deep with in us and afflicts our every move.

          Again I think we can all relate to Paul’s inner struggle. Sin is what causes us to gossip with our friends when we know we shouldn’t, to cheat on school assignments against our better judgment, to waste time on the job when we don’t want to, to do things we are ashamed of even as we are doing them, to mislead our customers for a buck, to lust after our coworkers, to abuse drugs and alcohol, to snap at friends and loved ones, to covet wealth and material possessions, to turn a blind eye to the needs of others — all this and more, when we know full well what course of action we should take — but don’t.  So with Paul, we agree: “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do”

          Worse yet, our best intentions are often thwarted by our sinfulness. Sin would seem to play a corrupting role in every deed we do. We do a good deed, and hope we’ll be rewarded for it. We work hard, and end up becoming workaholics. We make a sacrifice for someone else, and feel selfish pride about our selfless act.  The pervasiveness of sin has worked its way in to everything. The schoolroom and the boardroom, the home and the office, in business and politics, in communities and nations.
Sin is all over. Not to say that everything we do is completely sinful, but that every dimension of our life — personal, community, national, global — is tainted by Sin. Psychiatrist and best-selling author Scott Peck puts it this way. “I think we’ve got things wrong,” he says in an interview with Christianity Today (February 2005). “The predominant view in our culture is that this is a naturally good world that has somehow been contaminated by evil. It’s much more likely, I think, that this is a naturally evil world that has mysteriously been contaminated by goodness.”  I think that is a view that is consistent with what Paul is trying to say and is consistent with our Reformed heritage.  Bottom line we are no good and not even good intentions can rescue us.

           So what is the point to all of this?  Is Paul’s intent to make us feel worse about ourselves than we already do?  No I don’t think so.  Rather than have us beat ourselves up over our inability to find an escape route that does not lead back into captivity to sin, Paul is instead offering himself as a warning to all who feel personal zeal is the key to unlocking sin’s hold over us. Our rescue lies not in more zealous effort, but with “God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  More education, more money, more discipline, more time, more second chances. None of this will rescue us.  Jesus Christ is our only Rescuer. Costly for him, because he died in the “rescue” process, but that’s what makes it grace.

          It is not up to us to save ourselves for only Christ can do that, and Christ has done that.  Having been redeemed it is now up to us to live as though this were true. No point clinging to an old resentment. No point refusing to forgive. No point cheating, lusting, fighting, carping, harping, stealing, lying — any of these things. It’s not who we are as those who have already been redeemed! Does this mean we become perfect? Not quite. We’re forgiven, not flawless.  Paul knows that there is always a war going on between the flesh and the spirit.

           Six-year-old Brandon decided one Saturday morning to fix his parents pancakes. He found a big bowl and spoon, pulled a chair to the counter, opened the cupboard and pulled out the heavy flour canister, spilling it on the floor.  He scooped some of the flour into the bowl with his hands, mixed in most of a cup of milk and added some sugar, leaving a floury trail on the floor which by now had a few tracks left by his kitten.  Brandon was covered with flour and getting frustrated. He wanted this to be something very good for Mom and Dad, but it was getting very bad. He didn’t know what to do next, whether to put it all into the oven or on the stove and he didn’t know how the stove worked! Suddenly he saw his kitten licking from the bowl of mix and reached to push her away, knocking the egg carton to the floor. Frantically he tried to clean up this monumental mess but slipped on the eggs, getting his pajamas white and sticky. Just then he saw Dad standing at the door. Big crocodile tears welled up in Brandon’s eyes. All he’d wanted to do was something good, but he’d made a terrible mess. He was sure a scolding was coming, maybe even a spanking. But his father just watched him.  Then, walking through the mess, he picked up his crying son, hugged him and loved him, getting his own pajamas white and sticky in the process!

           I share this story by an unknown author because I believe it exemplifies not only what Paul is talking about in the passage we read but it also illustrates how God deals with us. We try to do something good in life, but it turns into a mess. Our marriage gets all sticky, or we insult a friend, or we can’t stand our job, or our health goes sour.  Sometimes we just stand there in tears because we can’t think of anything else to do. That’s when God picks us up and loves us and forgives us, even though it means God has to get messy too.  But just because we might mess up, we can’t stop trying to “make pancakes” for God or for others. Sooner or later we’ll get it right, well mostly right any way…
            Being a Christian is not about being perfect it is about being redeemed by the one who is perfect in every way.  Being a Christian is not about always doing the right thing, though we try, it is however about following in the footsteps of the one who has saved us, and falling short time after time, but each time getting up, allowing God to dust us off, and trying again.  Being a Christian is not about being perfect, it is about being perfected by the one who loved us enough to enter the messiness of our lives and clean us up for no other reason than because imperfect as we are God loves us.  Indeed let us live as if these things were true.  Let us rejoice in what God has done for us and give thanks.  Let us live as if this were true by showing it to others.  Amen.