7th Sunday after Pentecost [Pr. 8] June 29, 2008 “Series “A”
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, you sent your Son, Jesus the Christ, into our world that he might reveal you Word for our lives, and through his death on the cross, redeem us from sin and death. Through the power of your Holy Spirit, open our hearts and minds to his redeeming grace, that we might receive his Word with thanksgiving, and strive to live our lives accordingly. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
I’ve chosen as my text for this morning, our second lesson from Paul’s letter to the Romans, and in particular, verses 12 and 13. Listen again to what Paul says: “Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.” End quote.
The point Paul is making in this sixth chapter is that through our baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection, we have been redeemed from sin, set free from the law, and given new life as children of God’s kingdom. However, apparently there were some Christians to whom Paul addressed this letter that misinterpreted his teaching about Christian freedom. This text for this morning is Paul’s response to those who viewed their redemption from sin as a license to do whatever they wanted.
On the last day of confir-camp, our theme for the day was “In, not of the world.” Our devotions and worship for the week centered on various themes of discipleship – what it means to be a Christian in today’s world. It was my responsibility to preach and conduct worship on Friday, and so I would like to share with you some of my message from that day, as I believe it relates to this text, and because I feel that we need to emphasize this aspect of our faith more vigorously.
I think we all know what it means to be “in” the world – to be a part of God’s creation here on earth. Genesis tells us that in the beginning, God created the universe, and this planet we call earth. God brought into being all the plants and the trees, the animals and fish, the air and sky and rain.
If we think about the world – the earth on which we live – it is quite a sophisticated, ecological system, where all things seem to work together in order to sustain life. We need the earth’s water to drink and hydrate our bodies. We need the food the earth produces to nourish and sustain life. We need the oxygen in the air to breath, and the plants and trees to convert the carbon dioxide we exhale back into oxygen.
In fact, you might say that we are bound to the earth! We are so much a part of God’s created order here on earth, that when we travel into space, and leave this planet, we need to package up these elements of the earth and take them with us, in order to sustain our life. To say
that we are in the world, is truly an understatement. We are bound to the earth for our very life.
I also believe that being in the world entails and requires other systems to sustain our life as we live in community with one another. We need political or governmental systems to establish laws and norms to set boundaries on our behavior, so that we can live together as a peaceful society. We need economic systems to enable individuals to acquire the things we need to sustain our life, such as food, clothing and shelter.
To live in the world requires everybody working together for the good of the community, to sustain and enhance our lives. And as I read the Scriptures, I believe that God supports this concept of communal life.
But there is also sin in the world in which we live, which manifests itself in many ways which distorts and perverts these essential systems which God ordained to sustain his creation. We have heard a lot lately, about how our pollution of the earth may be changing our ecological system, raising concerns that the earth may be diminished in its ability to support future generations. And we all know that sins of greed and power have had their impact on governmental and economic systems, distorting them for personal gain.
Walter Brueggemann, in his book, Mandate to Difference, An Invitation to the Contemporary Church, points out that today’s Christians have failed to understand what it means to be a disciple of Christ in our world. He suggests that we place far more faith in the individualistic norms of our world, of our society, that we have failed to grasp the idea, that to be a disciple of Christ means to live our lives as children of God’s kingdom. In essence, Brueggemann is echoing these words of Paul from this morning’s text.
For example, Brueggemann states: “Jesus has come that we may have an abundant life. His feeding narratives attest that the generosity of God is assured wherever Jesus rules in the earth, and we count on that generosity. And that means, does it not, that our common practices of greed, of the pursuit of consumer goods, of the frantic effort to acquire more, are both inappropriate and unnecessary.
Our society hungers always for more… more cosmetics, more cars, more beer, more sex, more security, more money, more power, more oil… whatever. This hunger for more is a true sign that we do not trust the goodness of God to supply all of our needs; we do not trust that the generous rule of Jesus who has ascended to the right hand of God, is in power. But we are Jesus people, and therefore, we are pledged and empowered to act differently, differently in the neighborhood, differently in the economy, and differently in the world.” End quote.
As persons who have been called to be disciples of Christ through our baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection, we must grow to understand that our redemption calls us to continue to be Christ’s voice in our world, as citizens of God’s Kingdom, which is not of this world.
Paul is right! Through our baptism and faith in Christ, God does redeem us from sin, set us free from the law, and gives us new life as heirs of his heavenly kingdom. And through our baptism, we are also empowered by God’s Spirit to grow in faith, that we might use our time, our talents, and our earthly possessions in a way that will witness to others that we have this redeemed relationship with God.
Listen again to what Paul says: Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present [yourselves] to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present [yourselves] to God as instruments of righteousness.”
To be sure, this is not easy to do. The lure of temptation is very strong. As Brueggemann states, “Our society hungers always for more: more cars, more beer, more sex, more money, more power, etc.” But as disciples of Christ, we are not left to our own resources, to live our lives as children of God’s kingdom, to live not of the world. We have the power of God’s Spirit, working in and through the church to support and inform us in our struggle against sin, and to help us to conform our lives to Christ, as his disciples.
This morning, Curt and Kristy are about to present their son, Cole, to receive the sacrament of baptism, in which he will be redeemed from sin, set free from the law, and be given new life as a child of God’s kingdom. It is a joyous event to celebrate, and we rejoice with them.
Yet as the years pass, and Cole grows in years, it is only through the power of God’s Spirit, working in and through his parents and family, and in and through the church, that Cole will come to realize what this day truly means to him. And it is only through the power of God’s Spirit, working in and through the church, that Cole will be empowered to live in but not of the world.
Amen.
