A, The Fifth Sunday in Lent - Romans 8:6-11 "To Live in Grace"
The political polarisation between progressivism and
conservatism is driven by our human spirit, a lust for self-righteousness, in
opposition to the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that not only calls God’s
children to be justified by grace, but to actually live in that grace. Rather than treat the Lutheran catch cry of
being “justified by grace” like a magic pill, only to continue living in
unrepentant sin as we appease every whim of the human spirit.
It seems being conservative or progressive has become a
licence in justifying “my” personal opinions and feelings to negate the
opposition. But who are we really
opposing? Being conservative or
progressive are both positions of the flesh, opposed to being
Christ-centred. Humanity is expert in
progressing and conserving its idols to glorify itself and its pleasures.
And you are human too!
How have you been building your kingdom?
It matters not whether it’s a progressive or conservative kingdom. The reality is these kingdoms are kingdoms of
death, because they’re centred on the flesh—humanity’s flesh, and your
individual flesh!
It’s evident today that the fragility of humanity hangs in
the balance. We seem to have not learnt
much post-Covid! Humanity appears
paralysed by its idolatry in building its kingdoms of death. A house of cards
teetering on interest rates, fuel prices, and somewhere I can charge my dying
ego-phone.
Unfortunately, the church today is not the lighthouse for
Christ that it should be! Progressive
and conservative opinion now veils the light of God. It’s a distorted death lens that you and I
have been lured into believing is necessary for faith. But it’s not faith in God, rather faith in my
opinions of God. Opposed to God’s
heartfelt desire to save you, human opinions and heartfelt desires see only
death.
It matters not what kind or how many biscuits you bake for
God! Instead, it depends on your
reception of God’s word, his holy law and holy gospel, not to form your opinion
but to cleanse you of them, and nourish you with the holy heavenly food that
God knows you need. God does not need
your bites of half-baked human wrath and grace, that lead those who cook them
to death, and those forced to eat the cook’s ego-biscuits, to death as
well. What God needs are receptive
people who feed on his word.
Saint Paul, “a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an
apostle set apart for the gospel of God” (Roman 1:1 ESV) did not function as an
apostle or as a disciple by the power of his opinion. Instead, he was called and set apart by the
Holy Spirit and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul was made receptive to the will of God so
that he was forgiven and fed by God’s holy word of law and gospel.
God calls you into this receptivity as well! Like Paul, all Christians are called into
being conduits through which God’s holiness flows. We are not in charge of this! Rather, this is the work of the Holy
Spirit. When we usurp the Holy Spirit in
his work, individually or collectively, once again we become polarised and
paralysed by our opinions and desires.
Like watchmen in the night, humanity peers into the
darkness of society, straining to see with the blindness of its opinions. At some stage one has to be honest with
oneself and repent of their opinions and the deadly darkness into which they
look in hopelessness. It’s then and only
then by the work of the Holy Spirit through God’s word of law that we plead for
his mercy!
We learn in the law, “If you, O Lord, should mark
iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that
you may be feared.” (Psalm 130:3–4 ESV) Left to our opinions and feelings, we quickly
realise the paralysis of our position before God and the need for him to raise
up the bones of our bodies and breathe new life into our corpses.
Paul first reminds us, “For to set the mind on the flesh is
death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 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. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:6–8
ESV)
This is the reality of God’s law! As the hymn states, the law of God “dooms to
death when we transgress” (LHS 270:1)
In the second verse we’re fed what the darkness of the mind
seeks to hide about the truth of God’s law, “Its light of holiness imparts the
knowledge of our sinful hearts, that we may see our lost estate and seek
deliverance ere too late.” (LHS 270:2)
Later on, in the last verse of that hymn we hear, “We flee
for refuge, Lord, to you, who from the curse hast set us free, and humbly
worship at your throne, Saved by your grace through faith alone.” (LHS
270:6)
How does one plead for God’s mercy and flee to him for
refuge in our fleshy reality? And what
is “my” reassurance of salvation? That I
am saved? That I am being saved? And, that finally I will be saved from the
conservation and progression of my sinfulness that is the death of my flesh?
Paul continues, “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. But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of
righteousness. 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.” (Romans 8:9–11 ESV)
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ,
lives within you despite your flesh being dead because of sin—your “human
being” and its “being human” in what you continue to sinfully do! The law not only keeps humanity’s moral
compass calibrated, but it also keeps our sinful nature in check. But because of Christ’s righteousness and
because of the sacrifice of his blood at the cross, which was, is, and
continues to be the cross on which we were meant to die, we flee back to his
cross in repentance. It is only the Holy
Spirit that can do that within you!
The Christian life is one of putting to death all deeds
that progress or conserve our human spirit over against the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God continues God’s grace
within us by growing faith to allow God’s holy word of law and gospel to flow
through us in our daily lives. This is
an ongoing process of being saved by grace through faith alone.
The Holy Spirit feeds us with law and gospel, to correct
and to comfort, so we know we live in “a daily grace event” of being fed and
forgiven, to grow and desire more and more the holy food of God that gives
peace and salvation. The Holy Spirit
wills you to continually open God’s word.
In it alone, we hear of God’s severity and kindness, where we find holy
correction and comfort!
Paul reminds us of this reality, saying, “Note then the
kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but
God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you
too will be cut off.” (Romans 11:22 ESV)
And again, “But now that you have been set free from sin
and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and
its end, eternal life.” (Romans 6:22
ESV)
God’s grace is not a pill-popping exercise that allows us
to set and forget the will of God and the ongoing sanctification of our sinful
flesh, which leads us to finally being made holy in our earthly death and
resurrection into the bosom of our heavenly Father.
God sets you free from political polarisation and personal paralysis,
regardless of it being progressive or conservative! Those ways are dead ways
when the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus Christ are worked within by the
Holy Spirit so that you are not only saved by grace through faith, but live in
that grace and faith by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear heavenly Father, thankyou that you feed me with law
and gospel. Help me with your Holy
Spirit to eat, digest, and grow in the faith afforded by the Holy Spirit
within, so that I might daily die to self and allow all my sinful ways to be
nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour. May I be a holy conduit through which you
work in the lives of those you have prepared in advance for me to encounter.
Amen.
