Sermon Text: Romans
8:1-11
Title: Flesh
and Spirit.
I. As slaves
to flesh we cannot please GOD.
II. As slaves
to righteousness we can please GOD.
THROUGH CHRIST
JESUS’ RIGHTEOUSNESS EARNED THROUGH HIS PERFECT LIFE AND HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS
– WE ARE MADE HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS AND PLEASING GOD.
In the name of the Father and the Son + and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and from our
LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The sermon text for this Sunday, is taken from the
Epistle lesson just read, I would read again these verses…
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. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds
on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to
set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the
flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it
cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are
not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if
Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. 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.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I.
Those who are in
the flesh cannot please GOD.
Did you hear that? Did you hear what St. Paul just
said? Let me read it once more.
Those who are in
the flesh cannot please GOD.
Well – there it is. The Law in all of its pain and
suffering and wretchedness and death.
Are you in the flesh? If you are then you cannot please
GOD. Don’t get mad at me – I didn’t say it. Well – yes I did. Let me rephrase
that – St. Paul said it. Well – no – that’s not exactly right either. Let me
try one more time. GOD said it.
Need proof? Take stock in your life. Ever put yourself
before the LORD? Ever put yourself before your neighbor? Who is your neighbor? Everyone!
And just like some survey that you take from the mail or online – if you
answered yes to either of these questions you have now moved to the front of
the line. Go ahead and have a seat over there by the down escalator – the one
marked in big, bold letters – HELL!
You might ask when you had done such things.
Answer? All the time! Gossiping – check. Saying hateful
things – check. Sex before marriage – check. Divorced – check. Not going to
church – check. Not respecting your parents – check. Drinking too much,
smoking, eating too much, taking things that aren’t yours, lie, cheating – all checks.
I know there are a bunch in there that I can claim as mine – and if you're
honest with yourself – so can you.
Sounds like flesh to me. How about you? Ready to concede?
Ready to give up and admit that this awful picture is you? Unfortunately – it doesn’t
matter if you are ready or willing or able to admit to these sins. They are
yours as assuredly is your name and social security number. GOD cannot be
fooled. GOD cannot be tricked. GOD cannot be hidden from. And now St. Paul
tells us that He cannot be pleased – not by us.
We throw ourselves down in front of the LORD and cry with
St. Paul…
Wretched man that I
am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
St. Paul says this back in chapter 7, but we are now in
chapter 8 – and it is here that St. Paul begins to answer that question.
In Latin there is a very famous saying – one that St.
Paul speaks of here. The phrase is
"simul iustus et peccator." You have heard me say this before it
means, “simultaneously saint and sinner.” That is what we are here on this
earth saint and sinner. That is what
Paul is saying when he says that his mind serves the law of God, but his flesh
serves the law of sin. The sinner in the saint is just enough to make us
realize that we indeed cannot please GOD.
II.
And then there is the therefore
of our text – that part of our text from chapter 8 that answers the question in
chapter 7 – who can save me? Paul says that he knows how to escape this body of
death and that is through the life,
death and resurrection of this man called Jesus the Christ. Through Jesus we
have been set free. We no longer suffer the bondage, the chains, the sting of
sin, death and the devil. The Holy Spirit here is working in you and me through
the Word and through His mysteries we call the Sacraments – through Baptism and
through Holy Communion. Namely the work that goes on here at St. Paul [and Resurrection]Lutheran
Church in Dewberry, Indiana.
This Word and these mysteries – these Sacraments are
applied to each and every one of you each Sunday. And when one says, “I don’t
need to be in church on Sunday,” it is this answer that we give. We tell them
that the forgiveness of sins earned by Christ on the cross is at church in the
Word rightly preached and the Sacraments rightly administered. We are battered and dirtied, cut and
bleeding, weary and worn out, from the six days spent in the world. We are in
need of the first aid of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We need the ointment of healing that is the
forgiveness of sins, and this forgiveness is applied to us through the Holy
Spirit’s work in the Word and in Baptism, in His very Body and Blood.
How does this happen here each Sunday? How is it that sins are forgiven? St. Paul writes…
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.
What is Paul saying?
He is saying that our sinful flesh cannot possibly keep the law, and so
God has stepped in and taken care of that gap. He’s saying as sinners it is
impossible for us to keep one iota of the law. Even in this smallest part we
are forever short of fulfilling that law.
But by sending His own Son into the world – into our
flesh – Jesus was able to live as one of us – in the flesh and without sin – therefore
fulfilling the law perfectly – even the iota! So if the wages of sin is death,
then the opposite must be true – the wages of righteousness is life! So Jesus doesn’t have to die, but die He does
– not for Himself – but for you and for me.
This is what causes others to stumble when it comes to
Christianity. How can the death of one
man accomplish so much? It is in the fact that He should NOT have died, but
went the way of the Cross anyway. The wages of righteousness is life! And so
there is life in Christ. He is raised
from the dead. HE IS LIFE!
So how is His righteousness applied to us? Can you guess? It’s what we’ve been talking
about for fifteen minutes or so. Here’s a hint – it’s in that triangle we keep
talking about here on Sundays – His Word and the Font and the Altar. Right here
in tiny little Dewberry [and mission plant Resurrection] lie the keys to the Kingdom in such simple things as
these. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus is generously made a part of
us through the hearing of His Word to create in us through the Holy Spirit
faith. It is made a part of us through
that Word combined with water in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism to wash away our
sins. It is joined to us in that Word
combined with the bread and the wine, the very Body and Blood of Christ – in
the Sacrament of the Altar. All done for the forgiveness of our sins.
Yes, we are made into saints through these wonderful
blessings given us by our heavenly Father. We are still, at the same time,
sinners. We still stray from the path. But
thanks be to God that what has been applied to us through Word and Sacraments
is greater than our sin, so that we who call Jesus Savior can be forgiven over
and over again. This is the miracle we have in the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. Praise be His name forever and ever.
Amen.
The peace of God – which surpasses all understanding – will
guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ Soli Deo Gloria +
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