The Loving Father`

 

Text: Romans 8:12-17

Focus: The Spirit

Function: How the Spirit of God connects us to God

¹²So then, brothers and sisters, we are obligated, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³for 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. ¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Good Morning! This passage is packed full of promise for us as we continue the theme of Pentecost and look a little more closely at the role and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

In the beginning, The Word of God, Christ, created everything. Everything came from God, and according to scripture, God is all and in all. That is part of the purpose of God’s redemption for us.

And if Christ created everything, then Christ is in everything. Or, as Fr. Richard Rohr puts it, the Universal Christ. And if Christ is in everything, then everything is divine. That is how Saint Frances of Assissi was able to communicate with what he called Brother Rabbit and Sister squirrel. Because Christ embodied them as well as us. They too, are divine. They are loved and cared for by God. At least, that is what Jesus said when he said that even the sparrows cannot die without God’s love.

According the Fr. Rohr, the Spirit is in everyone, because everyone is created unique by God.

The Spirit of Christ is already in you.

And again, maybe we could say that Christians are those that recognize that the Spirit of Christ is inside of them and they allow the Spirit to lead and guide them. There is a focus in Jesus and the Apostle’s teaching on the power of the Holy Spirit our lives.

For example, the Scripture speaks of healing when it says that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us and it helps our mortal bodies as well.

There are many promises about the Spirit in our lives.

Believers are those that Trust Christ. Trusting Christ can be made as simple as letting the Spirit lead in our lives.

I need to tell you that the Spirit’s leading for me is through contemplation, prayer, study and then actually doing it.

That is why our passage says that we are not obligated to follow our fleshly desires that go against the principle of loving our neighbor as ourselves. Things like unforgiveness, jealousy, and greed.

It implies then, that we are obligated, as it says, to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in our lives.

I try to spend time in prayer and contemplation, not trying to tell God what God already knows, but trying to listen to that still small voice of God that always leads me to forgiveness.

And as I mentioned a few weeks ago. The one thing that blocks the Spirit’s leading in my life is unforgiveness.

Without forgiveness of others, the scripture says, we are not forgiven ourselves and remain in bondage to unforgiveness.

Forgiveness sets us free.

So the passage says, put to death the deeds of the body.

A lot of us grew up hearing that putting to death the deeds of the body meant that we lived holy lives abstaining from swearing, even saying gosh and darn and shoot, abstaining from alcohol, gambling, dancing and jewelry for the women.

None of those things mattered in comparison to the holiness of love that God calls us to. The sins of racism, gluttony, greed, gossiping, judgmentalism, and placing patriotism over our love for God were encouraged in our churches over the teachings of Jesus.

But that was the past. I hear the Spirit doing something new. And now I hear preachers all over the world calling us to repent for the arrogance of that old kind of faith and start loving like Jesus calls us to.

So, he says put to death the deeds of the body. Put to death bitterness, jealousy, greed, hatred, unforgiveness and pride.

When forgiveness is hard for me, I remember that it is the spiritual discipline of putting to death the deeds of the flesh.

It is our fleshly nature, not spiritual nature, according to Paul in Romans, that causes us to want to hang on to unforgiveness, bitterness, jealousy and the pride that comes from being judgmental. The passage says that this leads to death. It means that these deeds do not bring the life giving power of God to us.

Okay, let me sum all that up so that I can segue away for a moment before I come back.

The Spirit is here in us. We have a choice to let the Spirit lead. Sometimes our baser instincts get in the way of loving others and that hinders the work of the Spirit in our lives.

Now the segue:

I titled the sermon the Loving Father because what impresses me the most about this passage is the way he speaks of the power of community with God that the Spirit brings to us.

He says the Spirit bears witness with ours that we are indeed Children and heirs with Christ.

And then he speaks of the community with God when he says that the Spirit calls out to God the Father with the very fond and familiar term, “Abba.” Abba means daddy, or Papa.

It is a term of endearment.

I used the word Loving as a qualifier in my sermon because I realize that the experience of a loving father may not be the experience of everyone here in the room.

And I want to give grace and understanding to those people because there is a difference between a loving father and a cruel, or self-serving one.

I understand how imperfect parents can confuse our concept of love. For me, the confusing problem with a parent’s love came from my mother. My Father represented the unconditional love of God to me. And I am grateful for that, I wanted to please my father because I loved him and I knew he believed in me.

God is the loving father who believes in us and encourages and enables us.

And Paul tells us that there is indeed a great blessing to be had for those who follow after the Spirit of Christ in their lives.

But now I am going to segue back.

He says that blessing comes to those who suffer with him.

What does he mean by suffer with him?

Again, I am not talking about becoming an actual martyr, unless God gifts us with the eternal blessing that that entails, but I am talking about the sacrifice that it takes to die to unforgiveness, bitterness, jealousy, greed, fear, pride and prejudice.

But don’t forget the promise of this passage. The promise remains. This relationship with God through the Holy Spirit is promised to those who trust in Christ.

Hang on to and nurture that blessing in your lives.