[Sermon Archive]

This Week's Sermon FIFTH MIDWEEK LENTEN SERVICE 12 March 2008 "Life in the Spirit" Romans 8:1-11 LSB Series A Vicar Heath A. Trampe Soli Deo Gloria!

It's pretty easy to space off during the Divine Service. This is especially true with the sermon, which is ten to twenty minutes of listening without any other participation on your part. Your mind is racing with all the important things that need to be done when you leave church. You've got bills to pay, errands to run, and lives to live, so why pay attention during the service, which is just one more activity during the week? Paul refers to this sort of thinking as 'setting our minds on the things of the flesh'. He warns that such thinking can lead to death and if that doesn't frighten you, it should. Your lives will mean nothing if they are lived for the things of this world. Nothing you can do will change that. You're only hope is the promise that the

I. Your spirit of flesh has made enmity with God and failed to save you.
--The law (our good works and righteous deeds) cannot save us.
--The flesh seeks only such things that will lead to death.
II. The Holy Spirit has worked life into you so that you now belong to God.
--We were God's enemies when He gave us the Spirit of life (Romans 5:10).
--God sent His Son that we might live (and receive this blessing through baptism).

It should come as no surprise to you that man is God's enemy. From the very beginning of time, man has set his mind on the things of this world and has done his best to unseat God from His heavenly throne. After all, we're so mighty and capable here on earth, what do we need God for? Adam and Eve started the trend by eating of the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which they were forbidden to do. They tried to become like God and even blamed God for their mistake.

Not so long after this, in only the sixth chapter of Genesis, man was so corrupt and wicked that God said to Himself "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals…for I am sorry that I have made them" (6:7). God flooded the world and rebuilt mankind through one man, Noah. Not long after this had occurred, however, man tried to reach God and unseat Him once again with the Tower of Babel. All of these events occurred within the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Do you suppose that it's gotten any better since then?

You suppose that these stories from the Bible don't really apply to you. After all, you're here in church and you've always gone to church. You do, however, have more in common with the people from Genesis than you think. You're obsessed with the things of this world. You may not build towers or eat forbidden fruit, but you put athletic competitions before God. This is why our attendance drops dramatically when the high schools are playing basketball or the Colts are playing football. Never mind that the things of the church are eternal and that the Colts can't save your soul; you only live to satisfy your own selfish desires.

You also put your financial well-being ahead of God. Making money to provide a comfortable life for your family becomes more important than what God provides for you, including the income you obsess over. Christ warns us in the Sermon on the Mount: "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money" (Matthew 6:24). Beware what you make a priority in your life. The results are eternal.

But this warning seems all but pointless for you. You know that Christ died for sins, and you know that your sins were covered in His death as well. But you aren't seeking the forgiveness that Christ offers in His death and resurrection. If you were, you wouldn't be trying to earn your salvation with good works and pious deeds. Paul warns "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".

You see here that these so called good works do nothing for God or to merit your salvation. You and your good works are "weakened by the flesh" and rendered impotent. You may have built a nice life for yourself here on earth, but none of that will matter when you experience an eternity in hell, for "those who are in the flesh cannot please God". All the pleasures of this life will fade upon our deaths, and nothing will matter but God's forgiveness, which you have not made a priority.

You may know that Christians need the Holy Spirit for salvation, but do you know how it works? Some Christians have pretty crazy notions concerning the Holy Spirit. Pentecostals and some others believe that if you truly have the Holy Spirit, you'll be able to speak in tongues. If you don't babble in some undecipherable language, you better figure out what's wrong and fix it in a hurry. Others picture the Holy Spirit as something that lives within them and can only bubble up and spring forth from inside of them. The Holy Spirit is reduced to an emotional state. This is why they must 'make a decision for Jesus' and come to faith by their own intellect and understanding. The Bible never makes any of these claims regarding the Holy Spirit.

Luther understood the Biblical concepts of faith in Christ and the reception of the Holy Spirit. He wrote: "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one true faith" (Small Catechism). You see, there is no such thing as 'making a decision for Jesus'. Only the Holy Spirit can work faith in us. So how do we receive the Holy Spirit?

To understand where the Spirit comes from and how you receive Him, you must turn your minds from the things of the flesh to the things of the Spirit. Only in the spiritual gifts of God given in the Sacraments can you truly receive the Holy Spirit and live a sanctified life in Christ. We receive the Holy Spirit in baptism, which consists of God's Word and "life giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit". The Holy Spirit truly comes to us when we are baptized, with no effort on our part. This also happens in the Lord's Supper, where we eat and drink the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Both of these Sacraments are necessary for you as Christians to have faith in Christ and to know that Christ's death is for your salvation. They, along with Absolution, are the only instances on earth where God combines His promise and command to a rite, truly becoming the 'things of the Spirit'.

You've been baptized and you receive the Sacrament of the Altar weekly, but you still feel as though your mind is fixed on the flesh. How can a sinful Christian, and all Christians are sinners, achieve peace despite our rebellion? This is where Absolution becomes our refuge. No matter what a baptized Christian has done, God will forgive him. This forgiveness, however, only works if you repent of that sin. Do you ever wonder if you are truly forgiven? Does your conscience burden you and cause you to despair? Confession and Absolution then becomes a necessity. In this Sacrament of forgiveness, the pastor truly forgives you, which is "just as valid in certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself" (Small Catechism). The confessed sin should burden your conscience no more. God has completely forgotten it. These are the Sacraments by which we receive the Holy Spirit.

Your minds are going to roam during the Divine Service. You can't help it in your sin. However, God Himself sets your mind on the Spirit, and allows you to experience His blessings despite your rebellion. Many of you were baptized as children, others as adults. All who are instructed and examined are able to partake of the Sacrament of the Altar. All who feel the burden of their consciences have Absolution to know that they are forgiven. These are the true things of the Spirit. All other things lead to death. Life on this earth can be found only in that which God has deemed worthy of such a distinction. These are the Sacraments. God has given them to you so that you might be confident that He didn't just send His Son to die for many, but that He sent His Son to die for you.