Word and Spirit

The scriptures referred to are Romans 8:1-11 and Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23.

One of the things that makes humans unique is our invention of writing. Other animals communicate with each other by cries, growls, howls, purrs, barks, chirps and other vocalizations. Yet not only can humans use more complex language to communicate exactly what is on our mind, and on topics I'm sure animals never contemplate—does any other animal deliver sermons?—but we figured out that if we use symbols for our words, we can write our down thoughts and they can be read by others, including those who never met or heard us, and even those who weren't born at the time we wrote. The passages we just read from the Old Testament, Psalms, New Testament and Gospels were written thousands of years ago in two different languages by at least 4 different people. Yet here we are discussing them and finding truths and wisdom that apply to our lives today. That is amazing when you think of it.

But, as we touched on in last week's sermon, words don't automatically accomplish what they tell us to do. As Jesus says in the parable of the sower and the seeds, it all depends on who receives the word. In fact some have said that we should call this the parable of the soils because that seems to determine if the word of the kingdom bears fruit. As Jesus says, some people hear the gospel but do not understand it. It immediately fails to take hold. Some people hear God's word and receive it with joy but they are shallow and when adversity strikes, they fall away because the word did not really take root in them. Some people hear the word but worldly concerns and the pursuit of wealth and success choke off their spiritual life. Finally there are those who not only hear the word but understand it. It goes deep, takes root in them and they keep the concerns of this age and the lure of earthly pursuits from choking the life out of it. So they bear fruit. In other words, what is essential is not merely the gospel but also our response to it. The majority of people in this country—62 to 68%—say they are Christians. But are we seeing a bumper crop of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? (Galatians 5:22-23) Why not?

Here's another interesting statistic. 85 to 88% of US households own a Bible. Actually, the average American household has 3 or 4 Bibles. Yet less than a quarter of folks with access to a Bible say they read it daily. And more than half read it very little or not at all. A lot of people seem to think that having a Bible is like having a magical item, which just automatically grants them God's favor. But as Jesus' parable points out, God's word doesn't do you any good unless it gets deep within you. As N.T. Wright says, people want the fruit without the root.

In our readings from Romans over the last few weeks, Paul has also been pointing out that God's law by itself cannot make us good people. In fact, it can be used sinfully. And daily we see people who will pick out quotes, taking them out of context and divorcing them from the main purpose of the Bible, in order to justify evil. As we pointed out recently, slave owners used a version of the Bible from which they had removed 90% of the Old Testament and 50% of the New Testament to keep their slaves from learning how much of the Bible talked about freedom and liberation from slavery.

Today we have so-called Christians who are ignoring the more than 800 verses that spell out our duty to the poor, the sick, the disabled, children without fathers, mothers without husbands, resident aliens, and those in prison. (Leviticus 19:9-18, 33-34; Proverbs 19:17; Isaiah 1:17; Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 4:18-19; James 1:27-2:11, etc) They even condemn empathy as a sin, though Jesus acted out of compassion, which any dictionary will tell you is a synonym for empathy. (Matthew 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34; Mark 1:41; Luke 7:13) Furthermore, they think that God can't wait to cast sinners into hell although we read, “As I live, says the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that they turn from their ways and live.” (Ezekiel 33:11; cf. Lamentations 3:31-36; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Jeremiah 3:12; 1 Timothy 1:15) Jesus did not come on a “search and destroy” mission but on a rescue mission. (Matthew 18:11; Mark 2:17; Luke 15:4-6)

For example, I was once in a murder mystery at the Marathon Community Theater where I played the detective. The chief suspect was the governess. Yet somehow at the end of the play we were in love. And neither I nor my leading lady could figure out how that happened. During most of the play it seemed that I was fiercely interrogating her to put her away for murder while she was deflecting my questions. Just a week or so from opening night, I was trying to answer the actress's question: “Do you know why we end up together?” And then it hit me. It made no sense if we fell in love at the end of the play but it totally made sense if we fell in love at the beginning. Once we started rehearsing as if our attraction was immediate, the tone of the play changed. Instead of me trying to get a confession out of her, I was trying to get her to give me evidence to exonerate her because I loved her. Instead of trying to hide her guilt, she was hiding the odd circumstances of the death because she was afraid I wouldn't believe her and reject her. So when we finally confessed our love, it was the natural ending for what was actually a love story. We didn't have to change a word of the play, just the spirit in which we spoke and acted.

In today's reading from Romans, Paul is saying that the law of God will not work on those who do not have the right Spirit: the Spirit of Christ. (Romans 8:9) Otherwise God's law is just a death sentence. But received in the right Spirit, it is life and freedom. (Romans 8:2) This doesn't mean that we can totally disregard God's word. As Paul writes, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3-4)

That might be hard to follow so let me read it to you in the translation by J.B. Phillips: “The Law never succeeded in producing righteousness—the failure was always the weakness of human nature. But God has met this by sending his own Son to live in sinful human nature like ours. And, while Christ was dealing with sin, God condemned that sinful nature. Therefore we are able to meet the Law's requirements, for we are living no longer by the dictates of our sinful nature, but in obedience to the promptings of the Spirit.”

Look at it this way. We all know the rules for having a physically healthy life: Don't smoke. Don't drink alcohol. Eat healthy food and not too much. Exercise. Get a good night's sleep. So why are 93% of US adults metabolically unhealthy? Because, despite knowing how we should live, we don't follow those rules. And if, like my father-in-law, you have a severe heart attack, you cannot save yourself. You need a doctor to save you. My father-in-law had to have a surgeon do a quintuple bypass on him. In other words, 5 coronary arteries were blocked and had to be bypassed. Only after that, and his recovery from the surgery, was he able to do the things required to stay healthy.

God knows that we need a deep internal change in order to be spiritually healthy. In Ezekiel he says, “I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies and I will give them tender hearts, so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.” (Ezekiel 11:19-20) And in Jeremiah God says, “'I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people. People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,' says the Lord. 'For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.'” (Jeremiah 31:33b-34)

It's a matter of both heart and spirit. For instance, being diagnosed with congestive heart failure means your heart is slowly losing the ability to do its job. You can't just say, “Doc, I'll take it from here. I'll eat healthy and exercise.” That won't save you. It's too late for that. The only solution today is a heart transplant. Someone has to die and donate their heart. Think of Jesus as our heart donor. He died so that we might live. He gave his life that we might have life—his life, eternal life. Think of God as the surgeon who has to cut us open, remove our old failing heart and put in its place the heart of Jesus.

You know the weird thing about people who receive someone else's heart? Many of them report also receiving some traits of their donor. One woman said she started having dreams of being an 18-year-old, like her donor, and began craving the foods he liked. A dying man who was 47 used to hate classical music. After receiving the heart of a 17-year-old he suddenly loved it. He later found out that his donor was a violinist who loved classical music and who was shot on his way to music class, hugging his violin.

Some researchers think this is cellular memory. They took one slug who had been touched and then shocked and they transferred its RNA from to another slug. And then the second slug reacted negatively to the touch although it had never been shocked. With the transfer of the RNA came the transfer of the first slug's memory of its experience.

When we open ourselves to God's word and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we receive his Holy Spirit. We are also receiving the traits of Jesus. And so the Spirit enables us to do what God's law by itself could not do. The Spirit enables us to live by God's law. And what is the essence of that law? As Jesus said, it is to love God with all we are and all we have, and to love our neighbor as we do ourselves. He said all the other laws in the Bible are based on these two. (Matthew 22:36-40) And he said that no other commandment was greater than loving God and other people. (Mark 12:28-31)

It is hard to love God that fully. And it's hard to love our neighbors as we do ourselves, putting their wellbeing on the same level as ours. We cannot do it naturally because of our fallen human nature. But Jesus, who lived and died as one of us, can. And when we receive his Spirit so can we.

However, getting to the point where we can do it perfectly is neither fast nor easy. After my accident, and my 6 surgeries to put me back together and replace some broken parts with pins and screws and metal, I had to go to a nursing home with a good rehab program to learn to walk again. It took 100 days. For most of that time I couldn't even put weight on my repaired legs. So the physical therapists worked on restoring flexibility and strengthening them. And even when the surgeons cleared me to start weight-bearing, at first I just had to learn to stand for a few minutes. After a week, I took my first steps, with a physical therapist holding me by a gait belt, in case I fell, and another pushing the wheelchair behind me, in case I suddenly had to sit down. I had good days and bad days. I had days I made progress and days I seemed to have hit a plateau. I had days where the pain was so bad I cried. And after they discharged me, I still had to do more therapy to increase what I could do.

The Christian life is like that. The Spirit is like our physical therapist, helping us learn how to walk with God. The Spirit encourages us, comforts us, advocates for us, and intercedes for us. Without the help of the Spirit, we cannot live the Christian life and we cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit. And without the Spirit we cannot properly understand God's word, the gospel, Jesus' good news of salvation for sinners and the lost. It is the Spirit who testifies to Jesus and leads us to the truth. (John 15:26)

Jesus said he would not leave us like orphans but would send his Spirit. (John 14:16-18) Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) And God does this through his Spirit. God is love (1 John 4:8) and the Spirit pours God's love, the essence and fullness of God, into our hearts. (Romans 5:5)

A lot of people read God's word without understanding that it is a love story. They think God is all about wrath and judgment and can't wait to condemn us. But the Bible says, “The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) Jesus said he did not come to condemn the world but to save it. (John 3:17) God has confessed his love for us from the beginning of our story. He is simply giving us plenty of opportunity to return that love and to do it in the right Spirit.