The Law of the Spirit Who Gives Life

Romans 8:1-11

I am an avid listener to the CBC radio show Quirks and Quarks. This past week they ran a rerun of an interview that Bob MacDonald did with a women who wanted to smell like a dog. She didn’t want to literally smell like a dog. She just wanted to be able to experience the world of smell the way dogs do. A dog’s reality is oriented to smell probably more acutely than our reality is oriented to vision. Dogs have twenty times more scent organ than humans. Their brains are roughly a third the size of ours, but they have more area in their brains devoted to processing smells that we do. Their memory is cued by smell. We know our way home by visual cues. Dogs smell their way home. A dog with its nose to the ground is in a world we can’t see, but it is a world as vivid to them as the world we see.

One blogger writes about what a dog smells when smelling a hamburger. “Where we might say, ‘Mmmmm, burgers!’ a dog would say, ‘Mmmmm, fried ground cow muscle, gristle, and fat; soy extender; imitation American cheese made with vegetable oil and dry milk; wheat bun, toasted; a dozen sesame seeds; one leaf day-old lettuce; raw, partly green tomato slice; vinegar and spices in a tomato-based sauce, all touched by the hands of a human that I know and who will give me some if I make a big enough pest of myself!’ Dogs smell in minute detail.”

A dog’s life is oriented to smell. A dog sets its mind on smells and orients its life accordingly. It follows what it smells. If you took away a dog’s sense of smell, it could no longer function. It could not make sense of its reality. Taking a dog on a walk and not giving it time to sniff and follow it’s nose is a violation of its nature, a crime against dog-anity.

Looking at our reading from Romans 8, if Paul would have given space to a dog’s smell-based reality and how dogs will follow their noses, he would have called it the law of snout. A dog’s world is smell and their existence is oriented to that sense and it wilfully lives accordingly. T follows its nose. Similarly and going a bit deeper, Paul says that our reality as humans operates according to the law of sin and death.

About sin, in both the biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek the predominant word we translate as “sin” means “to miss” or “to miss the mark”. The Greek word comes from archery and describes missing the target. Sin is that we miss the target of what God created us to be.

A long time ago the church had question and answer learning tools called catechisms that people had to memorize to become members of the church. In our tradition the Westminster Catechism is the main one and its first question and answer gives us our target. It reads: “What is the chief and highest end of man? Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.” Sin is that we are unable to do that. Our instincts are misdirected away from God. We are unable of our own accord to know God and so we create and serve our own gods that we make in our own image. We literally follow our noses.

A hound is happiest when its nose is to the ground and blindly following a scent. So also, God created us to be happy when we are living fully in relationship with him. But, sin makes it so we can’t get God’s scent no matter what we try and instead we can only smell our own upper lips and grope about accordingly. As a result we die and not just a physical death, but more so a death of “being”. We do not know what it is to truly live the life God meant us to live in the first place. And, not knowing better, we are wilful participants in this misguided reality. Just like a dog will follow its nose to the carcass of a dead animal and roll in it revelling in the stench only to make itself odious to its human who loves it, such are we. Our mindset our orientation is to follow our sin twisted “flesh” to our own inevitable demise.

Now here’s the Good News. Paul says that since Jesus there is a new law at play now in our reality, in our existence – “the law of the Spirit who gives life and who has set us free from the law of sin and death”. When God the Son took on physical matter and became human flesh under the law of sin and death and lived faithfully in that flesh and died in that flesh, he condemned sin and punished it with the penalty of death. People say “God is dead.” No, sin is dead. The evidence of this is Jesus’ was raised from the dead and lives and so will we because of the Holy Spirit living in us. It’s the law.

I want you to be sure of something and hear me on this. Paul is not saying that what is different now is that we can believe in Jesus and provided we live good lives, we can go to Heaven when we die. Paul is saying that created reality, created existence, and in particular human existence is now different because of the incarnation of God the Son as Jesus and his death and resurrection.

The scientist in the Quirks and Quarks interview I started out talking about took a day where she followed her dogs around sniffing what they sniffed. People thought she had lost it; even the dogs thought she was acting weird. She discovered that with practice she could develop her sense of smell and make it better. Nevertheless, she could still never smell like a dog. What Paul is saying here in is the equivalent of saying now we can live in the smell-oriented world of dogs smelling like they do.

Prior to Jesus, humanity had a sin-disabled sense of God and everything died. As and since Jesus, God has given humanity a revelation of himself that can be experienced as the Holy Spirit. God’s revealing himself in, through, and as Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit has indeed changed the way things are. There is a new “law” at play in God’s good creation that leads to life and ultimately to resurrection.

Therefore, our work is to set our minds on the Spirit rather than on the flesh for when we set our minds on the Spirit we begin to live – to glorify God and fully enjoy him. Just like the laws of physics involved in flight, if you have a wing, as long as there is enough speed to counter the weight of the wing that wing will fly. It’s the law. When we set our minds on the Spirit, which means prioritizing our devotional lives, pray and study the Bibles together, worship and fellowship together we will live in Christ. It’s the law. Spirituality outside of Christ is like following a dog around trying to smell as good as it does. Spirituality in Christ is soaring on the wings of an eagle in new life. It’s the law of the Spirit who gives life.

Participation in church is more than a duty good people do to keep their moral compasses tuned. Churches that thrive have a high commitment to discipleship. Discipleship means following Jesus and in so doing come to know life as he has it to give because the Holy Spirit, his Spirit, lives in us. We can smell like Jesus. Paul says as much at 2 Corinthians 2:14: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.” We smell like Jesus.

If you want to know God and know life, set your mind on the Spirit. Attend together to your relationship with Jesus. Addicts don’t know sobriety because they go to meetings and hear about someone else being sober for them. They get sober because they work the program and in working that program somehow, mysteriously God sets them free. He takes away the compulsion to use. Likewise, focus on your relationship to Jesus together and together submit to his Lordship and somehow, mysteriously because of the Holy Spirit you will discover life in him together. It’s the law. Amen.

The Yoke of Rest

Matthew 11

I can’t image the frustration Jesus must have been feeling at this point in his ministry; surrounded by a people who “just don’t get it”; he, their Messiah.  The Lord God come to be with his people to deliver and restore them and they just didn’t get it. 

John the Baptist knew who Jesus was.  When John baptized Jesus with his own eyes he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus in the form of a dove and with his own ears heard the voice of God the Father saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  But since imprisoned, John sent some of his own disciples to tell Jesus if you really are the one, then get on with it.  He didn’t quite understand what the Lord was up to.

And then, there were all those people who flocked to John out in the desert.  They just didn’t get it that he was as the one who came to prepare the way for the Messiah.  But, in his efforts to prepare the way John was just a little too prophetic, un peu trop prophetique.  He called to account everyone in Israel—the royalty, the people, the soldiers, the priests, and all the religious authorities.  But, as far as we know he said nothing about the Romans.  John came as a true prophet living an austere lifestyle in the desert and though people flocked to him they didn’t listen and in the end accused him of demon possession.  They just didn’t get it.  They didn’t get what the Lord God was up to in their midst.

Jesus, the Son of God, Immanuel (God with us), the Anointed One they were expecting had come.  With John a great crowd saw the dove and heard the voice.  Jesus then began wandering about Galilee proclaiming the Gospel that the Kingdom of God was at hand.  He healed people, cast out demons, and forgave sins.  Unlike John the Baptist Jesus stayed among the people in their towns eating and drinking with them in their homes.  But, they still just didn’t get who he was or that the Kingdom of God was in their midst.  They didn’t have that change of thinking that compelled them to confess Jesus as Lord and live like it.

 The people of God in Jesus day simply could not recognize that God was in their midst and that the very thing all of Israel was hoping for—the Kingdom of God being established—was happening before them at the hand of Jesus.  They just didn’t get it.  Missed all the cues.

But, wait a minute we shouldn’t be so quick to judge.  It may be that we, each of us, suffer from the same malady. Who here can say, “I know what God is doing in my life.” Or, “I know what God is dong in this church.” The flutes are playing, but seriously is there anymore than just a few us doing any dancing while everybody else seemingly goes on with life as usual. 

Well, enough of the guilt trip.  Just as he was long ago, Jesus is here to help us with our difficulty in being able to recognize what God is up to here.  He gives us an invitation: “Come to me, all you weary and heavy burdened faithful, church-goers, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Instead of judging us and berating us, Jesus offers us an invitation, an invitation to come to him and find rest.  What is this rest?  Well, a couple of weeks ago I did the Wednesday worship service up at Country Lane in Chatsworth.  I noticed a new face.  Afterwards I went up and introduced myself to her and it was obvious that even with me speaking loudly she was having great difficulty hearing me and I doubt she heard anything in the service.  There was a lady sitting with her who was either her daughter or a close friend.  “I said you must be new here.”  Speaking for her, the lady next to her told me the new resident’s name was Kay and that she was 94 years old.  I said, “Hi Kay. I’m Randy.”  Kay looked up at me and said very loudly, “I’ve been a Christian 86 years.  Every morning God speaks to me.  I don’t hear all that well, but he let’s me know he’s with me and I serve him every day.”  I said, “Yep, God is faithful.  It’s new every morning.”  She knows what rest is.

I was speaking to a man a couple of days ago who had had a heart attack a couple of months ago and they wound up having to do open heart surgery.  As he reflected on it all, he remarked how everything that happened the day he had his heart attack was God watching out for him.  His wife came in a just the right time to call Emergency Services and getting to the hospital and getting the right care at the right time.  He felt everything was in God’s hands and it’s given him a new sense that God really is looking out for him and involved in his life.  But, that wasn’t all.  They did the surgery a couple of days after the heart attack and it was serious, scary.  Yet, he felt such a calm and a peace washing over him.  He could feel the prayers of everybody.  He knows what rest is.

The rest Jesus invites us to and gives to us is knowing the steadfast love and faithfulness of God the Father just as Jesus himself knows it.  We are bound to him, unioned to him in the Holy Spirit.  The yoke he places around our necks is the Holy Spirit who teaches us who Jesus is as the Son of God.  The Holy Spirit makes us feel the rest.  He teaches us what Jesus said, “No one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Yet, the Holy Spirit is a yoke.  Yokes go around the necks of animals so that they can pull a load.  Jesus gives rest to those who devote themselves to pulling the load of daily prayer and Scripture reading.  He gives his rest to those who will pull according to his way; according to mercy, to generosity, and to compassion.  His rest abides with those who will whole-heartedly be his disciples.  A disciple is someone amidst a group of someone’s who commit together to study Jesus by trying to live according to the steadfast love and faithfulness of the Father that we have come to experience in Jesus the Son because he has yoked us to himself by the presence of the Holy Spirit upon us and in us.  To these, to us, Jesus gives rest.  Amen.

Citizens of Heaven

Philippians 3:7-21

As most of you know, I am a Permanent Resident here in Canada.  My citizenship is American.  When the topic comes up in conversation especially since the last election down there people ask me if I am going to try to become a Canadian citizen.  I answer that I have every intent to do so.  But, intentions are intentions and carrying through is another matter.  Nevertheless, I need to do it.  I was raised with the value of being a good citizen; a bit of a Boy Scout in that respect.  I can act like a good citizen in the community where I live – obey the law, be a good neighbour, pay taxes, try to make my community a better place to live in.  I can act like a good citizen without actually becoming a citizen of Canada.  But, that’s not enough.  Voting is crucial to citizenship.

To be a citizen is to be a participant in a democracy.  As a Permanent Resident without the right to exercise the power to vote and hold office I am nothing more than a guest here, a voiceless guest who is a respectful consumer of most of the rights and privileges that Canadian citizens have.  I am here by the grace of the Crown and enjoy the privileges of that grace.  I have equality under the law.  I can have a job, get an education, and receive medical care.  I can travel within Canada and abroad.  I can be deported should I abuse these privileges.  I am simply a guest here with now real voice to bear on the way things are.  My children are Canadian.  I have an obligation here.

Now with this being Canada Day weekend and the Sesquicentennial year I would hope that we each would be not only celebrating and giving thanks for the privileges we enjoy dans cette grande nation but also that we would be reflecting on how good of a citizen we each are.  Authors John McKnight and Peter Block in their book The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighbourhoods make the bold and I think very accurate claim that we have sacrificed our citizenship to be consumers.  They say that North America has become a consumer society that holds as its basic belief that satisfaction can be purchased, “that most of what is fulfilling or needed in life can be bought—from happiness to healing, from love to laughter, from rearing a child to caring for someone at the end of life.”  We have ceased to be citizens—active participants in the making of our communities—and have become consumers who pay for the services we once did for ourselves as families, neighbours, and communities and found fulfilling (pg. 9).

Our consumer way of life comes with two notable costs: the family has lost its function and we have become disconnected from our neighbours and isolated from our communities.  What does this look like in day-to-day life? “We expect schools, coaches, agencies, and sitters to raise our children.  We expect doctors to keep us healthy.  We believe in better living through chemistry.  We want social workers and institutions to take care of our vulnerable.” (pg. 10)  We have decimated the relational aspects of human community with the power of credit on demand purchasing of “stuff” we believe we need for whatever reason.  Buying stuff is ultimately what we live for.

This consumer way of life has affected church communities as well.  Without leaning too heavily towards being nostalgic, the church used to be a valuable component in community life, particularly in smaller communities.  But in 1965 everything changed.  All the “Big Steeple” denominations started a decline in membership that became very noticeable in the 80’s at which time churches began to talk about being “Attractional”.   We asked what we could do to make our congregations more attractive so that people will come.  Consumerism crept into the church at this point.  Worship style and programming became services that people bought according to personal preference to help them in their efforts to grow in faith.  Instead of citizens of heaven, we became consumers of “feel good” faith programming.  The “Attractional” model falls apart when we realize that somebody actually has to do the work to provide those programs when the people who have been doing it burn out.  Just as a nation needs citizens and not just residents to thrive, so does the church.

For me to go from being a Permanent Resident to a Citizen of Canada, I have to demonstrate by means of passing an exam that I understand “Canada” and I must pledge my allegiance to Canada by taking the oath of citizenship.  Citizenship is a covenant.  It is by the grace of the crown that would I enjoy that rights and privileges extended to Canadians under the constitution of this land, therefore I must give my word that I will live as a faithful citizen.

But my American citizenship and hoped for future Canadian citizenship are both secondary to the fact that as a disciple of Jesus Christ my primary allegiance is to him and my primary citizenship is in his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.  This is true for all of us.  Our primary citizenship as disciples of Jesus Christ is in his kingdom…not Canada, not the U.S., not Britain, etc.  We serve the Lord Jesus above any other national or earthly commitment.

In our Philippians passage, Paul talks about how he was a distinguished servant of God a very devout and faithful Pharisee and “citizen” of Israel, but he left it all behind considering it to be dung (our English equivalent to the Greek word skubala here would likely be shit) in comparison to what he gained in Christ.  One day on the way to Damascus on a mission to arrest Christians in a blinding light Paul met the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Jesus claimed Paul as his own and made Paul a participant in his kingdom, a citizen of heaven yet living as a “landed immigrant” here until Jesus returns.

So also, Jesus claims us each as his own.  As Citizens of heaven we have extended the grace to know him personally and so must faithfully strive to deepen our relationship with him.  We participate in his reign in that we personally know the power of his resurrection, the new life giving transforming power of the unconditional love of God poured upon us with the Holy Spirit.  Striving to know Jesus and his way of the cross is how we express of our oath of allegiance to him.  We discover his Lordship, his reign in our lives as we share in his sufferings by laying down our lives to love and serve one another, our neighbours, and ourselves as he did to the extent of dying on a cross.  

Friends, the grace extended to us as citizens of heaven is knowing personally the Lord of Heaven and Earth…and that changes us.  We are representatives of him to our friends, families, and neighbours.  By the power of the Holy Spirit he is at work in us now making us to be more like what we will be when he brings his kingdom in its fullness.  Live as citizens of heaven.  Be fruitful participants in what Jesus is doing in the lives of everyone you know.  Amen.