Romans 8:6-11.                 Living death or life???                                    2/4/17

⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

All three readings this morning are dealing with the issue of death and life. All three turn our worldly view of death on its head. In connection with God there is certainty of life in the face of death. There is hope and a future where there is death, when and where God determines. At the same time if we turn our backs on God and what he has to say, then he assures us that death in all its severity will be there for us both in this life and in eternity. So here we have a message that we surely will want to hear and ponder over. Here is a message that is absolutely vital for each one of us.

Now here we need to again remind ourselves why death is here in the first place. Many today, would suggest that it is just part of life in this evolutionary world. However again God’s Word is quite clear that God created this world perfectly. It was very good. Also we were created to live in a close personal, loving and obedient relationship with the Almighty God himself.

Sadly, humanity has chosen to disobey God, and to try and be god ourselves. We want to live by and for ourselves and what we think is right and good. God told us right from the beginning that if we do that we will die. Even though God made everything good he gave us the free will to be in relationship with him. He didn’t make us robots. Unfortunately, we have disobeyed him and now suffer the consequences.

Thankfully God did not leave us in that predicament, but has provided a way out. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into our world to take the punishment for our sin on himself, so that forgiveness of sins, life and salvation could be extended freely to each and every one of us.

But now the question is, do we want this salvation and life, and a restored relationship with God or not? Do we want this life in the face of death, or do we want to continue to live with death, here and in eternity? This is the challenging question for us today. We would like to think that we would, and have, said yes to this; but do we really want to take seriously the implications of this? Too often we want the life, but not the relationship with God.

This is the issue that God here addresses in this reading from Romans. And as we look around us in our society and even in the church we have many who a governed by the thinking of the world around about them. So death is the basis of their lives. They are forever chasing ‘life’ but finding and ending up with death. Very sad indeed.

Now when this reading speaks of flesh it means living with a worldly view of life which is centre simply on what me, myself and I want and what our world around considers is good. This puts us right back into the Garden of Eden and the Fall. God said do not do ….. and we choose to do that very thing, because we think it is good.

We read here from God’s Word: The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Can we not see this at work around us today: There are many in this country and in the media who are ‘hell bent’ on getting rid of Christianity and the God who stands behind it. Many Christians in this country today are being hounded out of their positions because they hold to what God and his Word says.

As a result, we have it reported that many Christians are more afraid of speaking out and standing up for their Christian values than in years gone by. More and more we are seeing Christians downplaying their connection to Jesus Christ and instead focussing on ethical and moral values that are less contentious. The further we are going the worse it is getting.

We also read that those whose minds are governed by the world do not submit to God’s law, nor can they do so. So we see today this huge effort to bring into our society those things that God tells us we should not do because they are not good. Here we only need to think of homosexuality, pornography, abortion, drugs, and many other things. The results are, lives that are trapped in death.

Sadly, even in the church we are seeing more and more an acceptance of things that God has clearly prohibited. We a changing and ignoring Scripture so that we can follow the worldly view around about us. The law is considered obsolete, because we do not want to submit to it. As in the paper presented for discussion this afternoon, there is a real disregard for a right and proper approach to God’s Word, so that it can be made to seem that God is quite okay with the move toward women pastors in our church.

But let us take note of what God’s Word says here. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. So when we follow the world and its thinking we are clearly told that God is not pleased. When people disregard his Word and disregard Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. God is not pleased.

Yes, God is a loving God, but he is also a God who looks to us to seek to submit ourselves to his law. We are not free to do as we please, when God has clearly stated that we are not do these things. Clearly he is not our Lord if we are not prepared to listen to and follow him.

Even when others outside the church who are in the realm of the flesh, are doing good thing, we are told they cannot please God. Again this is God speaking, even if we might like to think that they are good people. In God’s sight if we are not doing what we are doing in response to Jesus Christ and what he has done for us, then it is not pleasing to God.

However, we are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. When God’s Spirit lives in us our focus is in a completely different direction. We belong to Christ and so we look to him and follow him. At our baptism we have been joined to him and his death and resurrection for us.

We have God’s promise that his Spirit entered our lives at our baptism and has ever since then sought to help us to live according to God and his Word. He has entered our lives and points and leads to Jesus Christ. He has been actively trying to help us to live in a close personal relationship with our Lord. So with him our lives are focussed in a completely different direction to the world around about us.

The danger of course is that we turn our backs on this Spirit and do not allow him to do all of this for us. All too easily we can listen to the lies of the evil one and so once again be governed by the flesh. We can again turn to the idol of me, myself and I and so once again be overwhelmed by death.

So here again then The Spirit again is at work in our lives turning us again to Jesus Christ. He reminds us again that we have been baptised into Jesus’ death and resurrection. He tells us that Jesus is there in us so that we can again have and live in this new life that he has won for us.

And if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. Yes, we will still have our sufferings and death in this life; but when Christ lives in us we still have life. We have been assured that we are righteous, that is right with God, because he has forgiven us and assured us of life and salvation, through his death and resurrection. We have been thereby raised to new life.

 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. So we have there the certainty that with Christ living in us we have life even though we die. We too will be raised again to share eternity with him in heaven. There to live in a perfect relationship with him forever.

So with that we can now look to Jesus Christ and the cross and get on with life with confidence and certainty. We have his Spirit with us constantly reminding of the life that Jesus has made possible for us in the midst of the sin and death that we bring on ourselves. So we no longer need to be governed by the flesh and the death that comes with it. With Christ in us we have life in all of its fullness.

We can now submit ourselves to God’s law, knowing that it is good and right. What we have in the Bible can be relied upon with confidence. We can once more fully accept that everything written in the Bible is God’s inspired, inerrant and written word to us. Christ and his Word in us can be relied on with certainty.

So we can move forward boldly, placing our lives and our death in his hands. With him as Lord in our lives we know that all will work out for good. His Spirit will raise our mortal bodies, to be like his in glory. Will be able to live in a close personal relationship with him in heaven forever.

To him then be all glory and honour, now and always. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish