Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity - 1Kg 17:17-24

 

         Trinity 16

                                                                                                1Kg 17:17-24

                                                                                                9/15/24

 

            It was a feel good story that we heard in our Old Testament lesson last week.  Yahweh announced through the prophet Elijah to the wicked king Ahab that there would be no rain.  A drought ensued, and at first God sent Elijah to live by a brook that was east of the Jordan River.  Yahweh fed Elijah as he sent ravens who brought him bread and meat.

            However, when the brook dried up, God sent Elijah to a widow who lived in Zarephath which belonged to the region of Sidon.  Elijah must have been surprised when God told him to go there. After all, many of the problems in Israel had come from Sidon.  Jezebel was the daughter of the king of Sidon. She had married Ahab, and had brought the devotion to the false god Baal into Israel. Now, Yahweh was sending Elijah to live in Jezebel’s backyard.

            At Zarephath Elijah encountered the widow who was suffering from the drought that had come upon the land.  In fact, she was gathering some sticks with which she was going to make a fire and bake a little bread using the last of her flour and oil.  It would be the last meal for her and her son as they then faced starvation.

            Elijah did something surprising. He told the woman first to make a cake of bread for him, and then to do so for her son and herself.  He announced to her, “For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’”  The woman trusted the word of Yahweh spoken by Elijah.  She did as he said. And then Elijah, the woman, and her son ate for many days because the jar of flour and the jug of oil never became empty just as the word of Yahweh spoken by Elijah had promised.

            Elijah was living with the woman and her son as they were fed by the jar of flour and the jug of oil that did not run out because of God’s provision.  However, we learn in our text that things took a tragic turn.  The woman’s son became ill, and the illness was so severe that the boy died.

            While we are fully aware that death is certainly present, we also live with a sense that it can always be held off.  The advances in medicines, surgeries and procedures mean that we don’t die from things that used to be fatal. There is always the expectation – the hope – that modern medicine can do something about the problem.

            The ancient world had no such expectations.  Death was an ever present reality for which they had little understanding.  However, in the death of her son, the woman did not see a random event that was just part of life.  She knew that Elijah was a prophet of Yahweh.  He was a mysterious and powerful figure who had delivered the miracle of food in their midst.

            Yet now while Elijah was present, the woman’s son had died.  And she saw a definite connection.  She says in our text, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!”  The woman knew that she was in the presence of God’s representative.  And she believed that this divine presence had caused her sins to be remembered. 

In the widow’s words we find a perspective that we often lack.  She knows that Elijah is the representative of a holy and frightening power – a holy power that makes her keenly aware of her sins.  We are prone to lose sight of this fact – that God is the holy God who is completely other.  He is the One who determines what sin is - for sin is any thought, word or deed that violates his will for life. And this God is no doting grandpa handing out candy.  Instead, Scripture tells us that he is a consuming fire.  He brings death; he brings judgment to all who sin, because sin is always committed against him.

The woman perceived her sinfulness, and believed that the death of her son was God’s act of judgment. But Elijah then acted to show that Yahweh is the gracious God who gives life.  He told the woman to give him her son, and he took him to the upper chamber where he lodged.

            Elijah laid the boy on his bed. He cried to Yahweh, “O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?”  Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again.”

            We learn that Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah.  Life returned to the child and he lived. Elijah took the child and brought him down into the house and gave him to his mother. The prophet said, “See, your son lives.” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.”  The restoration of life to her son had shown the woman that Elijah was the prophet of the true God, and that the word of Yahweh spoken by Elijah was truth.

            In our Old Testament lesson, the prophet Elijah calls upon Yahweh to raise the boy from the dead.  This miracle performed by Elijah pointed forward to what God would do in Jesus Christ.  We see this in the Gospel lesson.  There Jesus meets the funeral procession that is leaving the town of Nain.  The only son of a widow had died, and now they were going out to bury him.

            Yet when Jesus saw the mother he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”  Then he did something shocking. He came up and touched the funeral bier on which the body was being carried and said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”  The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

            Unlike Elijah, Jesus didn’t pray to God and ask him to raise the man.  Instead, he directly asserted his power over life and death. Luke tells us that fear seized all who saw it and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and ‘God has visited his people!’”

            The people were right.  In reporting this, Luke wants us to know that Jesus came as the great end time prophet promised by God.  Moses had said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers--it is to him you shall listen.”  Jesus performs miracles just like the great prophet Elijah because he is this One promised by God.

            After our text, Elijah went on to win a great victory for Yahweh at Mt. Carmel over the prophets of Baal and Asherah. But then the threat from Queen Jezebel that she was going to kill him sent Elijah into the wilderness. Suffering from what today we would probably call depression he said to God, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”  He asked to die.  And after arriving at Mt. Horeb he spoke words of failure: “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

            The prophets of the Old Testament suffered. The prophets were killed. Jesus Christ came as the great end time prophet who was more than just another prophet.  He was the Son of God who entered into the world as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  He worked great miracles such as raising the dead, healing the sick, and casting out demons. Yet Jesus’ greatest action occurred by his suffering and death on the cross.

               He came to die on the cross in order to win forgiveness for our every sin.  Paul told the Corinthians that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.”  How did Jesus Christ reconcile us to God?  Paul says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  Jesus took our sin and received God’s judgment against it.  God justly judged sin when Jesus Christ died in our place.

            And then, God raised Jesus from the dead.  In our Old Testament and Gospel lessons today we hear about two instances of individuals being raised from the dead.  However, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was completely different.  The two individuals raised in our Scripture lessons would one day died once again. 

            However, when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, it was not just a return to life.  Instead, his resurrection was the beginning of the resurrection of the Last Day. Jesus was raised with a body transformed so that it can never die again.  Paul told the Romans, “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.”  Christ has conquered death through his resurrection, and we will share in that victory when he raises us from the dead on the Last Day.

            In Christ God has visited his people, bringing forgiveness and salvation.  Yet that visitation did not come to an end with the Lord’s ascension.  Instead, God continues to visit us today.  He visits us through his Word as the Spirit of Christ who inspired that word continues to work through it.  The Spirit leads us to grow and mature in ever deeper faith as we trust and believe in Jesus Christ and what he has done for us.

            God visits us through the Sacrament of the Altar.  Jesus is the host at each celebration of the Sacrament.  His called and ordained servant in his Office of the Ministry speaks his Words of Institution, and those words do what they say as Christ gives us his true body and blood to eat and to drink.  Here he delivers the forgiveness that he won on the cross.  And here he gives his risen body and blood into our bodies in the pledge that that our bodies will be raised to be like his when he returns in glory on the Last Day.

            In our text, Elijah brings the boy restored to life to his mother and she says, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.”  We who know Jesus Christ risen from the dead confess the same thing.  The word of the Lord given us through the prophets and apostles is truth.  It is the word in which we hear the good news of the Gospel – the free gift of forgiveness and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.  It is also the word that now teaches us how to live as the forgiven children of God.

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark's Thoughts: Is the Pope Catholic? In his universalism, Pope Francis is.

 

Pope Francis has a penchant for making provocative statements that often appear to contradict or call into question Roman Catholic teaching.  Speaking on Sept. 13 at an Interreligious Meeting with youth he encouraged interreligious dialogue by saying:

Yes it is okay to discuss, because every religion is a way to arrive at God.  Sort of a comparison, an example would they are sort of like different languages in order to arrive at God.  But God is God for all.  And if God is God for all, then we are all sons and daughters of God.  But my God is more important than your God.  Is that true? There is only one God and each of us is a language so to speak in order to arrive at God … Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian … they are different paths.

This is an obvious statement of universalism, as it declares that different religions are all paths to the same divine truth – paths to God.  It explicitly contradicts what Christ says about himself in John 14:6 when he declares, “"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

 

The Pope’s statement contradicts Scripture and the orthodox position of the Christian Church.  However, does it contradict Roman Catholic teaching?  The answer - which may surprise many Roman Catholics - is that it does not.

 

The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium (16) states that those who “have not yet received the Gospel are related in various ways to the people of God.”  It begins by discussing the Jews as it says, “In the first place we must recall the people to whom the testament and the promises were given and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh. On account of their fathers this people remains most dear to God, for God does not repent of the gifts He makes nor of the calls He issues.” 

 

Then it goes on to say, “But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind.”  This statement declares that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, as it ignores the fact that Islam denies the divinity of Jesus Christ and rejects the Holy Trinity.

 

As it moves on from Jews and Muslims, Lumen Gentium states: 

Nor is God far distant from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God, for it is He who gives to all men life and breath and all things, and as Saviour wills that all men be saved. Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor does Divine Providence deny the helps necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to live a good life.

This statement explains that salvation is possible for those who do not believe in Jesus Christ.  When through no fault of their own they do not know the Gospel, they can be saved if they “sincerely seek God” and “strive by their deeds” to do God’s will as it is known to them “through the dictates of conscience.”  Indeed, God provides “the helps necessary for salvation” to these individuals who by his grace “strive to live a good life.” 

 

The Pope’s statement is a very unsophisticated way of expressing the matter.  But according to Lumen Gentium the religion of the Sikh, Muslim and Hindu is a path that leads to God.  It is one of works as the individual “seeks God” within the setting of his religion and “strives by their deeds” to do God’s will as he understands it.  And so the official confession of the Roman Catholic church is one of universalism.  Yes the Pope is (Roman) Catholic.

 

 

 

 

Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity - Mt 6:24-34

 

         Trinity 15

                                                                                                Mt 6:24-34

                                                                                                9/8/24

 

            This week’s Gospel lesson has made me much more aware about one of my jobs at home.  We have a bird feeder that hangs in the back yard in front of the kitchen window.  It is constantly laden with birds that are eating there.  I enjoy looking out in the morning and seeing God’s little creatures.  Frequently it calls to mind the verse from today’s text: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”

            The birds eat the seed rather quickly.  It takes a day and a half at most before the feeder is empty and needs to be filled again.  Now sometimes I have been a little lazy about getting it refilled.  But after working with this week’s text I am going to try to be more consistent about refilling it. After all, the heavenly Father is using me to feed them.

            Our text is found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  In this section, our Lord is applying some foundational truths and showing what they mean in our daily life.  Just before our text Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

            Jesus contrasts the desire to accumulate wealth on earth, with a life that lives for God.  He reminds us that the wealth of this world is temporary and can be lost.  On the other hand, the things of God – the blessings that he will give to his children on the Last Day - are certain and sure.  Then Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Our Lord says that what we value – what we consider to be our treasure – is where our heart will be.  It is the thing that will be truly important to us.

            Of course, the contrast Jesus is setting up is between wealth and God.  And so in our text the Lord says, “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.”  God and money.  Jesus says that both serve as masters in life.  However, it is not possible to serve both of them.  In the end, one or the other will rule our life.

            In today’s text, Jesus confronts one of the false gods in our life.  He forces us to consider the ways in which we value wealth and the material blessings of this world.  We must recognize the ways that we find our ultimate sense of security and well being in our financial status.  We must acknowledge how we focus on acquiring things, and that this often holds a more important place in our life than Christ and his gifts of forgiveness – the Means of Grace.

            Jesus confronts the sin in which money, wealth, and possessions are a false god in our life.  And he calls us to live in a different way – a way that trusts in God to provide what we need and does not worry. 

Our Lord begins by saying, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”  He tells us not to worry about food and clothing because life is more than these things.  Life is God’s gift and he has promised to support us.

So Jesus says, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”  God provides for the birds.  He supports their life.  Yet they have not been created in God’s image.  They have not been redeemed by the death and resurrection of the Son of God. Jesus’ point is that you are of far more value to God.  If he provides for the birds, won’t God also provide for you?

Next our Lord says, “And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” Jesus points us to the flowers of the field which bloom in beauty, but are really nothing more than weeds. If God clothes them with this beauty – part of his creation that has no real value – then certainly he will clothe us.

We need to recognize that our Lord speaks about food and clothing.  He addresses the basic needs of life.  God promises to provide us with daily bread.  He promises to give us what we need to support this body and life.  But he doesn’t promise more than that. 

We are the ones who have created expectations about what life “needs” to be like.  It needs to have a home with lots of living space, and décor and furniture that fit our style. It needs to have air conditioning, a dishwasher, and washer and dryer. It needs to have plenty of outdoor space and proper landscaping. A pool would certainly be appropriate.  It needs to have clothing that fits our style.  It needs all of the electronic gadgets that everyone “has to have.”  It needs all of the things that we use in our hobbies and sports. It needs vacation and travel to interesting places. The list can go on and on….

The uncomfortable truth is that God has not promised any of those things to us.  St. Paul wrote, “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

God has only promised food and clothing. Yet he has blessed us with so much more than that.  Each of us must recognize that we live a life that billions of people in the world can only dream about.  The problem arises when we focus on these blessings instead of God.  The challenge occurs when sustaining life with these many blessings that we consider to be essential becomes a source of worry and anxiety.

Jesus repeatedly warns again worry in our text. He says, “do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.”  He states, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”  He asks, “And why are you anxious about clothing?”

Jesus’ response is to say in our text: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

            There is no reason to be anxious because our heavenly Father knows that we need the things that support life.  And so Jesus directs us in the way our life needs to be oriented.  He says, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”  In these words, our Lord is directing us toward himself.  He is the One in whom the kingdom of God – the reign of God had entered into the world.  As the incarnate Son of God, he was the presence of God’s reign that was turning back the forces of Satan and sin.  Jesus told his opponents, “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

            Jesus was bringing God’s righteousness – his saving work to put all things right.  Our Lord announced how he would do this as he approached Jerusalem and said, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

            Jesus did suffer and die on the cross. He submitted to this as the sacrifice for our sins.  The Lord said, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” And then on the third day he rose from the dead as he defeated death and began the resurrection of the Last Day.

            To seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness is now to focus on those ways by which Jesus Christ comes to us.  It is to direct our life towards the Means of Grace through which the Holy Spirit gives us forgiveness and strengthens us in faith.

            We seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness as we hear, read, and study the Scriptures – God’s Word.  Here we receive the Good News of what God has done for us in Christ.  And through the Scriptures the Spirit leads us to grow and mature in faith so that we can trust in God to provide all that we need.

            We seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness as we turn to our baptism in faith.  We return to God’s promise that our sins have been washed away.  In baptism we were born again of water and the Spirit.  Baptism is the continuing source of the Spirit’s work in our life by which we trust God and learn to live in his ways.

            In our text our Lord addresses those who worry about being clothed as “O you of little faith?” The presence of worry about the necessities of life is not the absence of faith.  Instead, it is faith that needs to grow.  It is faith that needs to mature.  And so we listen to our Lord, for faith grows and matures when we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.  We fix our attention on Jesus and the gifts by which he comes to us.

            Jesus begins our text by saying, “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.”  We have been made a new creation in Christ through the work of the Spirit.  Now, as we walk by faith, our money becomes the means by which we serve God.

            As we mentioned earlier, God has blessed us with so much more than just food and clothing.  In thanksgiving to God, we return a portion of our blessing to him in our offering. Drawing upon the Old Testament example, Christians have traditionally sought to return a tithe – 10% - as that offering.  Where this has not been possible, it has served as a goal towards which Christians aim.  When possible, it is something that Christians also exceed.

            So consider how the Lord has blessed you during the past few years.  Does your offering reflect changes that have occurred?  Where God has blessed you with more, has your offering kept up with this blessing?

            Our money – the blessing that God gives us – becomes something that we use to serve God in other ways as well.  We have two men who are beginning seminary this school year as they prepare to serve as pastors in Christ’s church.  Mark your offering as “Seminarian” and it will be used to help pay for their tuition.  And likewise, the congregation Emergency Fund continues to be a means by which we can help those in need in our community in order to share the love of Christ.

            In our text today, Jesus assures us that there is no reason to worry.  Our heavenly Father will provide us with what we need to support this life.  He calls us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.  By focusing on Christ and his Means of Grace we receive the assurance of forgiveness. And the Spirit uses these gifts to cause us to grow and mature in faith so that rather than worrying, we employ God’s blessings to give thanks to him and to help others.    

              

           

 

           

           

 

Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity - Gal 5:16-24

 

                                           Trinity 14

                                                                                             Gal 5:16-24

                                                                                              9/1/24

 

     “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.”  That’s how Paul launches into his letter to the Galatians.

     Now normally, after the opening greeting, Paul has a section in which he gives thanks for the congregation to whom he is writing, and for what God is doing among them. But in his letter to the Galatians there is no thanksgiving. Instead, he launches right into a statement about how he is exasperated with them. Paul can hardly believe what is happening in Galatia.

     Paul had preached the Gospel to the Galatians during his first missionary journey. These Gentiles had turned to faith in Christ. However, in Paul’s absence other teachers had come to Galatia. They told the believers there that Paul had not given them the whole truth. Yes they needed to believe in Jesus Christ.  But if they wanted to be part of God’s people, they needed to do what God’s people – the Jews – had always done. They needed to keep the Law of Moses – the Torah.

     These opponents of Paul said that Christians needed to keep the Law of Moses. And they emphasized this point by declaring the need for men to receive circumcision. This was the requirement for all who wanted to be part of God’s covenant people. It was also something that was a great challenge for Gentiles for two reasons. First, as you might guess, this was not a procedure that adult men were eager to undergo. And second, circumcision itself was something that the Gentile world viewed as a barbaric practice – they regarded it as the mutilation of a man.

     Nonetheless, these teachers demanded that the Galatians receive circumcision and keep the Law of Moses. They said that faith in Christ was not enough. A person also had to keep the Torah to be saved and be part of the people of God.

     Paul is fired up as he begins the letter to the Galatians because he understood that this demand was a denial of the Gospel. He wrote in chapter two, “we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

     Our salvation occurs through faith in Jesus Christ – through faith alone. As Paul said, “by works of the law no one will be justified.”  The apostle explains exactly why this is so in chapter three. There he says, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’” 

     The Law is about doing. God’s law says that anyone who doesn’t do all of the law, all the time, is under God’s curse.  There is no way that we can keep God’s law in thought, word, and deed. We can’t because of what Paul calls in our text the flesh.  The flesh is the sinful, fallen nature that continues to dwell in us.

     The apostle says that the works of the flesh are evident. They are certainly found in our lives. He refers to sexual immorality, impurity, and sensuality. We see this in the lust in our hearts – lust that leads to sex outside of marriage and the use of pornography. He speaks of enmity, strife and fits of anger. We know how we react in ways that harm our relationships with others. Paul mentions jealousy and envy. We feel this as we look at the success, wealth, and lives of others.

     The way of the law – the way of doing – could only bring us God’s curse. Yet Paul says that because of his love, God acted to save us. He writes, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” 

     God sent his Son into the world as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He sent him to redeem us – to free us from God’s curse. Christ did this through his death on the cross. Paul says: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’”

     Christ became a curse for us. He received God’s judgment in our place as he died on the cross. By this action he has redeemed us. He has freed us from God’s curse and judgment. And then God defeated death in Christ when he raised him from the dead.

     Now, you have been baptized into Christ. You have been joined to his saving work. Paul says in this letter, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”  Your life is now lived in Christ because you have received the Holy Spirit. As Paul says, “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”  You live by faith in Jesus Christ who loved you and gave himself up for you.

     In Galatians Paul has powerfully demonstrated that we are justified by faith alone – faith in Jesus Christ. Yet in the section of the letter in which we find our text, the apostle wants us to know that faith is not only about receiving salvation. Paul says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” 

     Faith in Christ gives us freedom from the curse of the law. It gives us freedom from sin in forgiveness before God. But just before our text Paul says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” 

     The flesh the fallen nature that draws us to sin, is a continuing presence in our life. Paul says in our text, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”  There is an ongoing struggle that continues in our life.

     However Paul begins our text by saying, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”  Paul’s statement here is the most emphatic negative that can be expressed in Greek. We can translate it as, “and you will certainly not gratify the desires of the flesh.”  The Spirit who has called us to faith leads and empowers us to walk in faith.

     The Spirit has made us a new creation in Christ. He has created the new man in us. But this does not mean that we are some kind of robot, uninvolved in the walk of faith. Instead, quite the opposite, the Spirit gives us the ability to seek to live in ways that please God. Just after our text the apostle says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” We follow the Spirit’s leading as we seek to live our life in Christ. We make it our goal to live in ways that demonstrate what Christ had done for us.

     Paul speaks in our text about the fruit of the Spirit.  These things find their ultimate source in the work of the Spirit.  Yet Paul lists them here because we are the ones who are living by the power and guidance the Spirit provides.  And so we need to make these things our goal and purpose.

     The apostle tells us that the Spirit led life is characterized by love.  This is not a feeling.  Instead, it is action. Paul says later, “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Help your family members and friends as you seek to make their life better and easier.  Support and care for them as they face challenges and difficulties.

     The Spirit produces joy and peace.  We have the joy and peace of knowing that we are the forgiven children of God.  Death has been defeated in Christ. To die is to be with Christ, and we look forward to the resurrection on the Last Day.  These truths shape the way we look at everything in life as we walk by the Spirit.

     Life in Christ is one of patience.  God has acted dramatically in the death and resurrection of his Son to give us life with him.  He did this in “the fullness of time.”  He did it when the timing was just right according to his plan.  So trust that One who has redeemed you in this way is also carrying out his plan for your life.  Be patient as God works in his time and his way.

     Life led by the Spirit demonstrates kindness and gentleness.  It acts in ways that show care for others.  It is tender towards those who are weak and burdened. 

     And the Spirit enables us to be self-controlled.  So restrain the words that want to come out of your mouth.  Do not speak the things that are going hurt others.  Do not place yourself in settings of sexual temptation.

     Paul says in our text about the works of the flesh, “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”  You can’t give yourself over to these sins.  You can’t allow them to control you and become normal. The life that surrenders to sin drives out faith and the Holy Spirit.

     The apostle tells us, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.”  Until we die or the Lord returns, there will always be a struggle against sin.  There will be times when we stumble – when we fall in sin.  Yet the life that is Christian responds to this sin with repentance.  We acknowledge the sin for what it is.  We confess it before God, as we return to our baptism in faith knowing that there we have forgiveness.  And then by power of the Spirit who gave us new life in baptism we turn away from that sin to live in God’s way.

     Paul begins our text with the words, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”  You cannot walk by the Spirit if you are not being fed, nurtured, and strengthened in the faith by the Spirit.  You cannot walk by the Spirit if you are not receiving the Means of Grace.  So come to the Divine Service each Sunday to hear God’s Word proclaimed and receive Christ’s true body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. Remember your baptism each day, trusting the promises that God has attached to it. Make the reading of Scripture to be a daily part of your life.  For in this way God will bring forth the fruit of the Spirit in your life.