July 23, 2023 Sermon
Guest Minister: Rev. Drakar Druella
Sermon Title: “Living in the Spirit”
Scripture: Romans 8:12-25
Romans 8:12-25
12So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, 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 have 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, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Future Glory
18I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
In Romans, chapter eight, there are a lot of references to the “Spirit” and even to our “spirit.” There is “Led by the Spirit of God,” “Spirit bearing witness with our spirit,” and “fruits of the Spirit,” to name a few. Being spiritual or living in the spirit is something I’ve always taken for granted that I understood until one day when I really sat down and asked myself what it meant to live in the spirit or to live a spiritual life. How, exactly, is a person “led by the Spirit of God?” Such a broad concept as “being led by the Spirit of God” all sounds good on paper, but when we get down to it, it can be confusing as to how to do this in everyday life, you know?
Upon reflection, I’ve found that Paul’s writing in this particular scripture highlights three key things that I think can help point us in the direction of living in the spirit or living a spiritual life. The first thing that Paul points out and that I wished I had known when I was younger is that being spiritual is about where you place your focus or sense of hope, regardless of the circumstances.
In verses 12-14, Paul writes “So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh – 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. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” Reading this scripture reminded me of how many of us have been taught that in order to be spiritual, we need to regard our bodies as something to be denied or ignored. At its most innocuous level, this belief has informed some of us that our physical bodies must be “transcended.” At its most toxic level, some of us grew up believing our bodies were something dirty or sinful – a tool of the devil – that could be used against us to lead us astray.
But in Romans, the language Paul uses does not mean that bodies are inherently bad. No, not at all. The point he’s trying to drive home is the ancient idea that “physical” passions draw us away from moral virtue. You see, Paul differed wildly from his peers back then in his conviction that the way these passions are brought under control is not through the exercise of reason (as his Roman contemporaries into Socratic or Platonic thinking may have thought) nor through the Torah (as his Jewish compatriots probably thought) but through the Spirit of God uniting us to the death and resurrection of Jesus.
While Paul intends this flesh/Spirit dichotomy as a spiritual lesson, we can see it manifested every day. People who engage in what we call “fleshly excess” on a regular basis do it through things like binge-eating, getting drunk, promiscuous sex, or taking harmful drugs, to name a few. It is not uncommon for these people to suffer shortened lives riddled with serious physical complications. Paul tells us that people who live according to the flesh suffer spiritual death, and if you think about it, when we suffer physical illness, pain, or shortened lives due to punishing our bodies in these ways, we are in essence hurting God’s creation. This is a form of spiritual harm to ourselves. Not to mention, it is mighty difficult to hear the inner promptings of the Spirit when our consciousness is clouded by a hangover, whether from overeating or drinking! Just ask me, I know. I have eaten some really big meals and could barely think afterwards!
On the flip side of the coin, there are some people who have made nutrition and exercise their core focus of hope, which is an alternate form of religion. Their church is a gym, and their altar a Nautilus machine. The primary values upon which their spiritual hats are hung are physical beauty, thinness, muscle tone, and longevity. This is not living a life in the spirit, either, because if you get down to it, they, too, are consumed by fleshly concerns – just in a different way.
That is not to say that we should not engage in healthy practices such as a good diet and exercise. After all, such practices constitute good stewardship and that’s commendable. However, the person whose focus or sense of hope is rooted in physical things like food, money, pleasure, fame, a perfect body, etc., whether healthy or not, is living according to the flesh; and Paul’s words speak to the reality of how it gets in the way of living in the spirit. After all, physical youth and a “perfect body” are fleeting things and won’t bring you closer to God.
The second thing about which Paul wrote in this scripture is that a powerful key to living in the spirit is the significance of truly understanding your relationship with God as intimate family and how sometimes suffering is associated with it, and that is okay. In fact, it’s not just okay, it can be powerfully transforming and lead to being “reborn” into a better version of ourselves.
Verses 16 – 17 put it like this: “It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”
To be exact, Paul was telling the Romans–men and women alike–that they will become “sons of God.” He was making a statement about status as it was constructed and understood in the ancient world. In the patriarchal culture of that time, normally a son or sons were the heirs to the goods of the father of the family. The oldest son received a double share of the goods, while other sons received lesser portions. Women were “married off” and not normally the focus of inheritance. Thus, when Paul declares that “all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God,” he is talking about becoming related to God in such a manner that “we” have an inheritance from God, which is, in itself, an inheritance with Christ.
Yet, there is another note that is struck in Paul’s reflection on inheritance. He writes that if the “children” of God are to be heirs of God and heirs with Christ, then, it is necessary that we also suffer with Christ. And this is the suffering that comes from living in faithfulness to God.
What this means for us today is that when we live in the spirit, we must practice putting our fleshly or egoic desires on hold regularly. If we expect to inherit spiritual closeness to Christ, we must practice putting our momentary need to be right, to react angrily, or to selfishly disregard others, to name a few, on hold. And this can be incredibly challenging in the moment. It’s through this daily practice of self-control and self-reflection that we gain greater spiritual intimacy with Christ, and this is where the “spiritual rub” or suffering comes into place. It is deceptively simple in principle but can be difficult to consistently practice in daily life. If, however, we stick with it, the rewards are great. It leads to a spiritual development that not only renews us, but also renews our relationships and communities.
The third impactful thing about living a spiritual life that Paul teaches us in Romans is how being spiritual is about being stewards of all that God has created because the reality is that God’s spirit is the animating force within all living things. And every single one of these things matters.
In verses 18-25, Paul is talking about how creation has a future, and that future is tied to the resurrection life that God is bringing to God’s beloved children. The identity that is ours by the Spirit as daughters and sons of God is consummated when our bodies are redeemed and all creation is ushered into the glory that God has bestowed first on Christ and then on us (verses 18, 21, 23).
There are some people that think creation is such a mess that God’s going to replace all of it with something so different that there’s no point in even working to redeem it. Still, others find the Scriptures’ allusions to the new creation so mysterious that they don’t even try to imagine what it will be like. And then, there are those whose thinking resides in the camp that there’s little they can do to clean up things like polluted water or to help eliminate human trafficking. It’s just too big of a problem to deal with.
The truth is that God has sent us as adopted children to care for the earth and others because ultimately it helps all of creation to flourish in the ways for which God created it. But there is even more to it than this. Paul wrote in verse 19 that creation is waiting “with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.” We often assume he’s talking about the time when Christ’s return will reveal just whom God has adopted as God’s children, but it is so much more than that.
Fleming Rutledge, one of the first American women to be ordained as an Episcopal priest and whose specialty is the intersection of biblical theology and contemporary culture, suggests that such a revelation happens first when we’re actively involved in the world as Christ was. And I agree with her. God’s sons and daughters are initially “revealed” when we, among other things, work to alleviate God’s creation’s groaning. So, we show we’re God’s adopted children by taking on the job of caring for all of God’s creation, whether in big ways or small. It all matters.
There’s a book written by Laura Tillman called The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts. Have any of you heard of this book? In it, she tells the ghastly story of the murder of three young children by their parents. Despite her efforts, in the end Tillman admits that she simply cannot understand this.
As devastating as it was, she managed to find some hope in the reaction of this family’s neighbors following the murders, when they turned the yard where the children had once loved to play into a place filled with raised garden beds – a kind of living memorial.
Tillman concluded, “The garden had accomplished something unexpected – it made the site of the murder seem beside the point. The story of what had happened there lent strength to this new incarnation, a symbol of renewal in a spot where death once reigned.”
God’s project, made known in the work of Jesus, runs through all of us and does not stop until everything is renewed. What started as a section of scripture that begins with a call to put to death the deeds of the body is not about escaping from our bodies or the earth for that matter, but about becoming more truly embodied as spiritual people here and now. And this is how we can live in the spirit. This is how we can live fulfilling and spiritual lives, for this is something we all deserve and have the birthright to experience.
Rev. Drakar Druella
