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A Sermon given by Rev Dr Chris Kent at both Morning Services at Christ Church Lye on Sunday 9th May 2010

6th Sunday of Easter (Year C) – Life in the Spirit

Romans 8: 1 – 5 John 14: 23 - 29

After one of the most memorable campaigns of recent times, the General Election is over, and we have elected a new parliament. As I had to write this sermon before the election, I didn’t know the outcome. However, whatever will be the complexion of the government that emerges, I believe that there is in the nation a sense, on the one hand, of a fresh start and on the other, of an apprehensiveness about how the new government will cope with the many challenges that face us in the months ahead. So, let’s pray for the new government, the new parliament – and for our newly-elected local councillors – that we may be governed in the way God wants…

On a more profound level, similar mixed feelings must surely be felt by us as we reflect on what it means to be a Christian in today’s turbulent world: maybe feeling secure at one level, but apprehensive about our ability to live out our faith in practice… So, I think that Romans is an appropriate guide for us at this time…

Romans and Hebrews have been called the two foundational letters of the New Testament. Romans, in particular, has been an enormous influence on the lives and faith of many of the key people in the history of the church – people like Augustine of Hippo in the 5th century, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and the 20th century theological giant, Karl Barth. Its message is equally vital to us in the 21st century.

Today, we are restarting the series on Romans we began in 2006, and broke off having reached the end of chapter 7. As this will be history to you, let me briefly recap the flow of Paul’s argument thus far, and remind you of where we left off…

The central theme of Romans is the gospel: why all humanity needs it, what the good news is, and what the gospel implies for Christians and for Christian living… So, in the first three chapters, Paul shows how the whole of humanity has fallen short of the standards of righteousness demanded by a holy God; he lists a series of sinful activities and attitudes, arising from ignoring God and seeking autonomy, that have placed the Gentile world under his judgment. Even the Jews are guilty of the same sins; the law has seemingly been powerless in making them righteous in God’s eyes. If humanity is not to fall totally under the wrath of God, it will need help to achieve the righteousness God requires… From chapter 3 verse 21 to the end of chapter 5, Paul introduces the good news, that God has provided that help through Jesus: redemption from the consequences of sin and human rebellion has been made available freely by God’s grace through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Faith in him, the sort of faith exercised by Abraham, is the means of accessing that redemption, being declared by God to be justified, and receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit and of eternal life. Then, beginning with chapter 6, Paul begins to explore what it means for the Christian to live this new life of faith, in which God offers us freedom from the power of sin and from dependence on keeping the law… Despite this freedom, living the life of faith is not straightforward for Paul: in chapter 7, he admits to there being a conflict within him, between what he knows to be good and wants to do, and what he actually finds himself doing. He knows the theory, but he still can’t do the practice. He can “talk the talk”, but he can’t “walk the walk” without falling flat on his face… So the chapter ends with Paul looking for rescue from his inner turmoil, and finding that that rescue is at hand… through Jesus…

And so we come to chapter 8. Here, Paul reveals what must be one of the best-kept secrets of the Christian faith, if the way we often try to live life in our own strength is anything to go by… We know how God wants us to live, but we are all too aware of what a mess we make of living that way. Christians with a tendency to feel guilty then go away and spend much of their time trying to make amends to God by doing self-inflicted penance. Other Christians may instead lapse into indifferent fatalism… But these are examples of the sort of struggle Paul refers to in chapter 7, and miss out a vital ingredient of our new life in Christ: the Holy Spirit is present and active in the life of the believer. In John’s gospel, chapters 14 to 16, Jesus promised his followers that he would send the Holy Spirit – the Counsellor, the empowerer, if you like – to be with and in us for ever. This Spirit will not only reassure us of God’s presence and promises, but will supply us with the power to live consistent Christian lives… Let me try to explain things another way: Trying to live life as I so often do is like driving a beaten-up old car with a worn-out, under-powered engine… Sooner or later, the car breaks down and needs to be scrapped or repaired… However, help is at hand: an amazing mechanic arrives and does a complete rebuild, at his own expense, with no charge to me… But he doesn’t just present me with the same car repaired; it’s a brand new model, with no scratches and dents… and it has a completely new power unit – the most powerful and reliable engine in the world. That’s the Holy Spirit, and that’s how it is with our lives when we follow Jesus… if only we remember that. This is what makes Christianity different from other faiths.

The first five verses of chapter 8 explain the process of empowering the Christian to lead life in the Spirit… In verse 1, Paul clears the decks of the old way of trying to serve God’s requirements, with the reassurance that, “… there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…” This isn’t just another way of saying that God has pronounced us to be “justified”, as in a court; this is the practical consequence of his verdict: The word used here for “condemnation” probably means the punishment following sentence. So the Christian should not go on doing penance for the sin from which we are pardoned. We are no longer “banged up” in a spiritual jail having to keep rules and rituals in order to atone for our sins; we are free to lead the life to which Jesus calls us – life in the Spirit. This is essentially what verse 2 says, I believe: “… through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” “Law” here probably means “principle”, so the life of the Christian is defined not as one of keeping a set of rules, which is most likely the popular impression of what Christianity is all about, but about following the prompting of the Holy Spirit who lives in us and frees us to be more fully human… This is not dry theology, this is truly good news!!

So, what does Jesus have to do with this process of empowerment? If the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life makes the difference, and gives life “the wow factor”, can’t I tap into this power wherever there’s a “spiritual outlet”? After all, there’s a lot of interest in the “spiritual” in our society, and there are plenty of opportunities for buying into spiritual matters in different religions, both old and new. That sounds a very enlightened attitude to take; but it’s mistaken for two reasons: firstly, the source of the power Paul is talking about isn’t a vague spiritual “life-force”, it’s the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. As the Trinity cannot be divided; the presence of one person of the Trinity means the presence of all three (see John 14), so Jesus has to be in the formula… The second reason why we cannot look just anywhere in the “spiritual market-place” is the matter of sin and its hold on us.

In verses 3 and 4 of Romans 13, Paul explains the link, and how Jesus has dealt with the problem. The problem is that, within me, there is a moral struggle, with two influences fighting each other, trying to take me in opposite directions. As Paul explained about his own experiences in chapter 7, the Holy Spirit is working with my renewed spirit to live the way God wants. But fighting against that are my old instincts and desires, the things that drove me before I invited Jesus into my life, what Paul calls “the flesh” – translated as “the sinful nature” in the NIV Bible. When I became a Christian, I received a spiritual “makeover” inside, with the Holy Spirit’s presence to lead, empower and motivate. But I am not a robot; I still have freedom to choose the old ways; the old instincts remain – defeated but not destroyed. Trying to keep new laws won’t overcome the attraction of the old ways: So, Paul writes in verse 3, that the law, the principle of keeping the rules, is powerless to help me; the law is “weakened by the sinful nature”. What’s more, I carry in my history an enormous deficit – a huge debt that makes our national debt look smaller than the price of a cup of tea – the deficit of accumulated sin, which needs to be made right before God can take up residence… There are no targets for reducing my debt by so much within so many years; the whole lot has to go, now!

That is impossible for me, or any human being, to do, even in a million years. But, the good news is that Jesus has done for humanity what we couldn’t do for ourselves. Verses 3 and 4 tell us that Jesus came to earth “in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering”. What that means is that Jesus became fully human – “the Word became flesh” – with the same physical and psychological processes within him as we have in us, experiencing the same instinctive pressures and human needs. But, unlike us, he overcame all the temptations that hit him. He lived the perfect life on our behalf, and took that perfect, sinless life to the cross for us, as a sin offering to heal the rift between a sinful humanity and a holy God. He kept the moral law perfectly, for us. As verse 4 puts it, he fully met “the righteous requirements of the law”. And if my life is united with his, those “righteous requirements” have become fully met in me, through the life of Jesus in me. That life gives me a new heart and puts a new spirit – the Holy Spirit – within me. It fulfils the promise God made in Ezekiel chapter 36 that he would give his people a new heart and a new spirit.

This is my attempt to explain Paul’s description of the process that empowers us to live life in the Spirit, and how Jesus is the key to making it happen… The remaining verse and a bit of today’s Bible reading shows the result this should produce in our lives and outlook… The “righteous requirements of the law” Paul mentions in verse 4 are summed up in chapter 13 as, “Love your neighbour as yourself”. This love isn’t just a feeling, it involves action. And so the life of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit in me do two things that enable me to obey that law: firstly this life of Jesus changes the foundation and principles of my whole being. I no longer live subject to my old outlook and instincts – what Paul calls “the sinful nature” or “the flesh”. I have a new life in me that operates in a different way, under a different principle: life “according to the Spirit”. The second thing this life of Jesus in me does is to change my will and outlook, so that I actually want what God wants. That’s basically what verse 5 means: my will is now attuned to God’s will, so that I actually want to do God’s will. My mind is “set on what the Spirit desires”, just as God promised in Jeremiah chapter 31, that he would put his law in his people’s inward parts… which is where it belongs.

Sounds too good to be true? Well, to be honest, it does; and if I’m honest with myself, I have to admit that too often I live “according to my sinful nature”. But what Romans 8 tells me is that failure to do God’s will isn’t inevitable; indeed, it’s no longer even normal, or natural, for the presence of the Holy Spirit has made doing God’s will the normal, “natural” thing to do; because it’s consistent with my new life in the Spirit. I don’t have to give in; the Holy Spirit and I in partnership can win through! As Barak Obama and Bob the Builder have said, “Yes, we can!” Paul expands on this in the remainder of chapter 8…

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