Pentecost 3 Sermon

This is a sermon preached by Vicar Duncan Sprague on July 3, 2011

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Pentecost 4

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Text: Romans 8:12-17
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Dear friends in Christ,
The Schlueter home was recently invaded by a family of field mice. We at first saw the tell tale signs that they had been present, the trail that they always seem to leave behind them. Then we began to see them. They were hungry. They wanted a snack. So they would make their way out across the kitchen floor in search of something to eat. This of course would not do, so we went to Wal Mart to get some traps. They were set. The mice were caught. Trapped and put to their ultimate demise when upon taking the bait the trap snapped down.
We would like to think ourselves to be smarter than your average field mouse. We are the higher life form, more sophisticated in our thinking, less enslaved to impulses and urges, capable of exercising wisdom and foresight enough to avoid such an end. But there are certainly times that our reality would tell a different story.
Your average mouse trap is fairly simple. There is the trap, the trigger, and the bait. The mouse can clearly see the trap loaded and ready to spring sitting there on the trigger. But the bait is so enticing that he can not resist a nibble.
Often in a strikingly similar way, Satan often lays his temptation/traps for you and me. Satan sets his trap – places the temptation to sin before our eyes. We can see the temptation. It is clearly lying there on God’s stern warning and condemnation. We know that sin damages and kills and destroys. But the bait looks enticing. We approach, sniff, take a nibble… Nothing happens… We take another nibble… Again, nothing seems to happen. Before long we are hooked. We try a bite Snap. Another Christian put to death by an impulse, an urge, a lapse in the supposed wisdom or foresight. How easy it can be.
So what is your bait? Your temptation? What morsel does the Old Evil Foe use to attract you? The Apostle warns us today about the consequences of giving in to these temptations, the consequences of taking this bait. “If you live according to the flesh you will die.” He says. Therefor “Put to death the deeds of the body.” He commands. Elsewhere in Colossians 3 he provides a list of what those temptations, of what those deeds of the flesh might be: “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” “You must put them all away” he commands. “Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
We are easy prey for the Old Evil Foe. He prowls around like a roaring lion. He is looking to devour you. He lays his bait. And if you live according to the flesh you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. And therein lies the key. Putting to death the deeds of the body.
The question is, how is that done? How does the Christian put to death the deeds of the body? What is it that saves and preserves the Christian from sin? From temptation? Sin is deadly. It can kill you. How are you going to survive? Especially when you have about as much good sense as a common field mouse. The Christian needs to mortify his flesh. Put to death the deeds of the body. How does this get done?
The answer is quite simple. The answer is this: It is by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who overcomes sin. It is the Spirit who overcomes death. It is the Spirit who keeps us from the power of the devil. And it is the Spirit who gives to us life. Only by the power of the Spirit can the Christian overcome sin. Only by the power of the Spirit can the Christian death the deeds of the body, and have any hope of avoiding the eternal death of hell. Only by the power of the Spirit can the Christian have the hope of enjoying the eternal bliss of heaven.
From our Lutheran Confessions; The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord puts it like this: (SD II p 52)
Through this means, namely, the preaching and hearing of His Word, God works, and breaks our hearts, and draws man, so that through the preaching of the Law he comes to know his sins and God's wrath, and experiences in his heart true terrors, contrition, and sorrow, and through the preaching and consideration of the holy Gospel concerning the gracious forgiveness of sins in Christ a spark of faith is kindled in him, which accepts the forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake, and comforts itself with the promise of the Gospel, and thus the Holy Spirit (who works all this) is sent into the heart, Gal. 4:6.
Therefore, sin is overcome, temptation is overcome, even death itself is overcome through the Holy Spirit’s work through God’s Word as it is preached and proclaimed. God speaks his law into your heart that condemns your sin and convicts you through to the core so that you are cut to the heart.
We need that Word of Law. Without it we are like dumb mice who come upon a trap set and ready to spring. We see the bait, our urges take over and we ignore the death lurking behind the bait. Think of it this way; in a theater where they show live productions of plays and musicals they have learned to use lighting so that your eye is drawn to the thing they want you to focus upon. The theater is dark except for the spotlight that shines on the actor giving his monologue. Meanwhile, there is all kinds of activity taking place in the background that is shrouded in darkness. Stage hands dressed all in black move props and sets and stage elements all around without anybody noticing. Sin is the same way. The trap is shrouded in the cover of a lie, hidden by darkness. The temptation is set on the trigger and the trap is loaded and ready to spring. Satan masterfully draws your attention, turns the spotlight on that bait that lies there waiting for you. The trap is there. Death is there. But because it is obscured by the darkness of the lies all you see is the temptation.
Let’s suppose the temptation is gossip or slander. We know it is wrong. God’s law clearly commands us to forgive the sins of our neighbor, or else, when we have been sinned against to go to him and be reconciled. And then, when that reconciliation has taken place Christ commands us to overlook or to choose to forget our sin, just as he does with us. But the temptation is there. It is strong. We or someone we know has been sinned against. And immediately the lies begin – a sort of Spiritless pragmatism. It probably goes something like this: “I know gossip is wrong. I won’t do that. But I need to dig a little deeper to find out what actually happened. But I won’t share it.” But then after our investigation, the temptation comes again. And so doe the lies. “I need to share it. Others need to know. Bad things will happen if I don’t.” And so we have justified the sin. The temptation is there. The trap is hidden by the lie. We bite down to get a taste of death.
We need God’s Law. Because God’s laws turns on the lights. At the end of the show when the actors have gone back to their dressing rooms and the guests have left for the evening, when no one is around but the stage hands, all the lights come on. And then you can see. You can see the props, the façade, the sets; that they are fake, not for real, made to look like what they were not. God’s law does that. It shines the light on the lie so that you can see it for what it is. The spot light was trained on the temptation to hide the death that lurked behind it. The houselights come up and you see the trap set and ready to spring. God’s Word, God’s Word of law is truth.
The trouble with the truth is that sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes we like the darkness and we like the lies because they are more comfortable. When the lights come up they sting our eyes. God’s law is like that too. It hurts. It hurts because it condemns. It shows us our sin.
The second use for God’s law is that it is a mirror. It is not very nice to look into the mirror when the image that stares back is a sinner. The picture can be an ugly one. And so that is why the Spirit comes with the second message. His first message is one of Law. The second is the message of the Gospel.
The sinner you see when you look into the Spirit’s mirror has died to himself, has died to herself, has died when she was drowned in the water of Baptism. “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Paul’s words from our text.
Baptism puts you, your flesh, you inner sinner, to death. The Spirit condemns and convicts you with his Word of Law. But by way of the Gospel and by way of Baptism the Spirit also gives to you life. God’s Word, combined with water makes you what you are not. It passes you from death to life. It turns you from a slave to a son and heir in the house of the Lord. And thus, the inner sinner become the inner winner as you participate in Christ’s victory over sin and death in his resurrection. Jesus won, you win. This is God’s gift to you in Baptism.
This means that you have what Jesus has. Jesus died to sin. You have died to sin. Jesus was raised. You have been raised. Jesus has life. You have life. Jesus is the Son of God and heir of the Kingdom of Heaven. You have the adoption of sons by which you cry out “Abba Father.” In other words, you are a co-heir with Christ and a son of the Father and you will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
The pragmatic and practical side of us will ask the question: so what? What does that mean about sin? What does that mean about overcoming sin? Does that mean that we never give in, that we are never tempted? That we never falter or fail? Does that make us strong? Stronger? Do we become super Christians? Not at all. We are sinners. We are weak. We falter and we fail. But we do it fighting tooth and nail. We struggle with sin. We suffer with sin. We tear and stretch and strain with sin. We do our best to get away from it, to overcome it, to get past or over or around it. It is always there like a prizefighter who refuses to go down to the mat even though he has been beaten. And so we keep fighting and we keep struggling. But Christ has the victory. He has the victory in us. And so, when the light has come on, when we have seen our sin and have come face to face with our own wickedness, we confess it. We confess before God and to those we have sinned against. We turn and are forgiven. Absolution. God’s word of grace and forgiveness spoken to you.
We moved the Baptismal font. It is right up here where you can see it. You have to walk by it to come here to the altar for communion. There is water inside it. You will come up here in a few moments to receive Christ’s body and blood. As you come, as you walk past, feel free to dip your hand in that water, to feel its coolness on your skin. Remember that you were baptized, that here Jesus put water on your head and His Word in your heart and that he gave to you his Spirit, his Spirit that bears witness from within you that you are Children of God and if children then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.
Amen.