Jesus
Liminal Spaces
by Linda Rex
July 23, 2023, Proper 11 | After Pentecost—This week I have been thinking about liminal spaces and life change, and how we never know what life will throw at us. From what I have learned about liminal spaces, they are places of transition or change, whether real or metaphorical. We may be uncomfortable or feel anxious during seasons of change or transition, especially when they mean facing difficult challenges or dealing with stressful events.
Whether we like it or not, our lives are full of these experiences of transition. This week I learned that a dear friend and former ministry co-worker passed away. Even though I am sorry that she had to go, I am grateful that she is now enjoying what she always longed for, and that was being face-to-face with Jesus and her heavenly Father in the Spirit. She had embraced her life as God’s child and had looked forward to the culmination of all that Christ had done in her life. And she longed to be with those she loved who had gone before.
We never know what may occur in life, or where we may be in the next hour, the next day, the next year. We can make plans, but in the end, we have no control over the outcome. We struggle through life, difficult situations, and long for things to be better. In many ways, all of us are caught in a liminal space, for we are present in God’s kingdom even now by the Spirit, and yet we are not fully there, for it has not yet arrived in its fullness. We are caught in the already not-yet of the kingdom of heaven, and along with the creation groan and long for the ultimate redemption of our human flesh and this world.
In the New Testament passage for this Sunday, Romans 8:12–25, the apostle Paul reminds us that how we handle this in-between time before Christ’s return in glory is important. In this in-between space, Paul says, we are under no obligation to serve our fleshly desires and will. Since the result of doing those things is a life full of fear, slavery to sin, and death, it is better that we, by God’s Spirit, put those behaviors and actions to death. The call is for life instead. And life in all its fullness is directly related to our connection with our Creator and Redeemer.
Living in this transitional space of the already not-yet of God’s kingdom is best done as a child. Accepting our being children of our heavenly Father through Jesus in the Spirit enables us to embrace God’s love and grace, and live in the truth of who we are. As God’s children, we were designed to live in God’s grace embrace, to love God devotedly and to love one another. God’s indwelling Spirit creates a resonance in our hearts which tells us that indeed we are God’s children—we hear Jesus’ own “Abba, Father” in our hearts and realize that in Christ we can see the Father’s gaze and know we are loved.
Even though we embrace who we are as God’s children, this liminal space of the already not-yet of God’s kingdom is one where we have no guarantees of an easy, comfortable life. Because God’s kingdom stands in direct opposition to the kingdoms of this world, it is more likely that we will struggle and suffer because we have embraced our kinship with our Lord. But the apostle Paul assures us that whatever we may have to go through, nothing can compare to the vast and wonderful majesty of what we are now heirs to and will receive in glory. This is why we can, in the midst of difficulty, have hope.
And held within God’s love and grace, our hearts filled with hope, we wait. While we wait there is much to do—most especially living right now the kingdom life we were created for. We don’t have to wait for Christ’s return in glory to live as adopted children of our Father. No, we begin even now to live in the truth of who God has made us to be in Christ. Because we are given the Spirit and are even now participants in God’s kingdom through Christ, we love God and love one another. We share the good news of what God has done for us in Christ, and we tell others about God’s love and grace. And we trust that what God has in mind for us is better than what we could ask for or imagine, because he loves us.
Dear Father, thank you for including us in your life. By your Spirit, enable us to hear Jesus’ own words of affection, so we can share in your life and love. Grant us the grace to live free from our old ways and live in the truth of who we are as your beloved children, through your Son Jesus and by your Spirit. Amen.
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Romans 8:12–25 NIV
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No Condemnation
July 16, 2023, Proper 10 | After Pentecost—Yesterday I left our house to drop off a car at the rental service, and was immediately halted by the sight of a SWAT team at the corner where I turn out of our cul-de-sac. The officers graciously waved me through and I went on my way, stopping briefly to give my son a heads up, as he was following me in our personal car.
Later that day, the news said that the police had been trying to serve an arrest warrant, but the person had barricaded themselves in their home. The final outcome of the day’s effort at serving the arrest warrant was that the person was carried out and sent to the hospital, suffering from a self-inflicted wound. This person, who lived a couple blocks from me, was facing a difficult personal struggle, and apparently could not cope with the consequences of something they had done. As I prayed about their situation, for them and for the officers involved, I was reminded of the grace God offers us in Christ, enabling us to face our errors in more hopeful ways.
Our culture today can be very critical of people who do not fit into the “approved” way of living. Our Christian culture is especially guilty of being condemning towards those who do not follow Christ, or who live contrary to biblical teachings. Condemnation is the language of tabloids, which exploit the personal lives of people, sharing for public consumption what may or may not be true. We seem to feed off of condemnation, especially when we have been wounded by someone. We are judgmental—I find myself constantly passing judgment on myself and on those around me without realizing this is what is going on in my head. When I realize it, I am appalled, as I of all people do not want to be judgmental nor condemning.
And as we go through life, we may or may not experience a sense of guilt, shame, or self-condemnation for our own actions and words. This is why it is important to look at condemnation from God’s point of view. Our New Testament passage for this Sunday, Romans 8:1–11, reminds us that because of who we are in Christ, God does not condemn us. God knows our frame. He knows the depths of the evil which holds us hostage apart from his intervention. He knows our proclivity to walk away from him and go our own way. So, this is why our Lord came. The redemptive, transformational work of Jesus Christ in his life, death, resurrection and ascension has set us free from sin in our flesh. We no longer are held captive by sin and death, but are able to walk in newness of life. We live free from accusation, condemnation and guilt.
However, we do not experience this newness of life in its fulness as long as we remain focused on self-centered, self-willed, and self-absorbed ways of being. To live focused on self is contrary to who God has made us to be and declared us to be in Jesus Christ, for we are made in the image of our other-centered, self-giving Father, Son, and Spirit, to live as his beloved children in loving relationship with God and others. This is what the apostle Paul means when he says we are to live according to the Spirit rather than according to the flesh. There is no need for condemnation—God does not condemn us. But God does call us up into the truth of our being—to be who he created us to be. God’s love compels us to live differently now—in ways that love, serve, and bless God and each other—because that is who we are in Christ. Because our identity is in Christ now, we live and walk in the Spirit not in our flesh.
This is what is difficult for us to embrace. We don’t want to live according to anyone’s direction or instruction—we want to be free to live life on our own terms. When the consequences of living life on our own terms start to hit us, we are unable to deal with them. Condemnation is a human and Satanic response—it is not God’s response. Accusation is Satan’s response—it is not God’s way of doing things. God’s response is grace. God’s response is a love which calls things as they are—truth-telling—but also offers us room to change and to begin anew in a healthier direction. God does not condemn, but he does invite us into an embrace in which we begin to live in healthier, other-centered ways which are a blessing to those around us.
What might your life look like if you chose to be guided by God’s Spirit and God’s Word rather than by your human flesh? What would your response to life be if you knew God does not condemn you, but rather invites you into loving relationship with himself through Jesus in the Spirit? Perhaps a life lived without condemnation and held in the loving embrace of God himself may be an experience you might want to have. God merely asks you to receive what he has already given to you in Christ—forgiveness, acceptance, new life—and to begin to live that out. Why not begin today?
Thank you, Father, for loving and accepting me, and giving me forgiveness through your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you for not condemning me, but setting me free from sin and death, and welcoming home into your loving arms. I receive your gracious gift of grace and ask from this day forward, that you would fix my mind on the things of the Spirit that I might leave behind the things of my flesh, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own 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. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” Romans 8:1–11 NRSV
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Our Inner Wrestling
by Linda Rex
July 9, 2023, Proper 9 | After Pentecost—One of the things I appreciate about the writings of the apostle Paul is his honesty regarding his own personal struggles in his walk of faith. Paul was frank about his previous persecution of those who followed Christ, and about his own weaknesses and frailties. He also humbly acknowledged the ways in which Christ lived in and worked through him, calling believers to follow him as he followed Christ.
In this Sunday’s New Testament reading, Romans 7:15–25a, Paul sums up his previous summation of the need for both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) to be rescued from sin. He shows that even though the Jewish people had been given the law, they were unable to keep it, because their hearts were not right before God. The non-Jews, who had some idea of right and wrong, also did not live in ways that acknowledged God and were equally as guilty before God. In the end, both groups of people (i.e. all of humanity) were headed towards death, with no hope of salvation—apart from Christ.
During his time here on earth, Jesus understood the desperate situation we as humans were in. He knew this is why he lived and would die, so that we would be freed from our enslavement to evil, sin, and death. Throughout his brief life here on earth, Jesus intentionally prepared for and walked the path to the cross, because he knew that the only solution to our desperate dilemma was his life, death and resurrection.
So, as God in human flesh, Jesus lived the life we needed to live but could not. He wrestled in each moment as we wrestle, being tempted in every way as we are tempted, but without sin. Jesus, within his one being, held the two sides of his divine person and human person together, burning away the sin which so easily besets us as human beings. He, by the Spirit and in perfect union and communion with his Father, actively forged within our human flesh a new nature—a new way of being.
In the gospel passage for this Sunday, Matthew 11:16–19, 25–30, Jesus pointed out how he and John the Baptiser were received by those who were exposed to their ministry. On the one hand, John was ridiculed and rejected because of his austerity and restraint while on the other, Jesus was ridiculed and rejected because of his warm reception of the despised and reject and his participation in their celebrations. Jesus’ ultimate word to all those who were caught in this crossfire was, “Come unto to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest”. He called to them to learn from him—that in him they would find rest for their souls.
I really appreciate Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of vv. 25–30:
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
He shows that it is in our walk with Christ that we begin to learn how to truly live as image-bearers of God in Christ.
Looking at Jesus Christ, we see that our human experience will be of both our oneness with God in Christ and our human weakness and faultiness. Even though we have been born anew in Christ by the Spirit, we still wrestle with the evil, sin, and death that are a part of our human flesh right now. One day, when Jesus returns in glory, the truth of our existence—that which is hidden with Christ in God—will be revealed. Our true glory will be made evident, shining for all to see. But in the meantime, we are—as Paul puts it—earthen vessels, cracked vessels, which hold the glorious eternal treasure of God’s Spirit, Christ in us.
Jeff McSwain, in his book “Hidden in Contradiction” explains how we find within ourselves two sides, which are in contradiction, in the same person. In his placemat theology, he shows how these red and green parts of our person are interwoven—both are true at the same time. This does not in any way alter our relationship with God in Christ by the Spirit—Jesus has made that secure in his person. What Paul is explaining in Romans 7 is our inner human experience right now. We struggle, we wrestle. But our assurance is in Jesus’ finished work. He holds us in right relationship with God, and it is there we keep our attention and our focus.
Elsewhere Paul says that we do not wrestle against flesh and bones, but against principalities and powers in the heavenly places. This is a spiritual battle which is fought with spiritual weapons. The armor of God Paul describes in Ephesians 6:12–19 is essentially Jesus Christ himself. It is Christ’s life in us by the Spirit that is important here, and which already is triumphant. This is our hope and our joy. This is why Paul, in Romans 8:1, can joyfully exult, saying, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” What matters is not our ability to get it right, but Christ in us having already got it right, living that out in and through us by his Spirit. Thank the Lord!
Thank you, Father, for loving us so much, that you would give your Son to do this great work in our human flesh, forging for us a new human flesh to live eternally with you. Thank you, heavenly Spirit, for living in us and with us right now in the midst of evil, sin, and death, and working to transform, heal, renew, and restore. Grant us the grace to allow you full reign in our heart and lives, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:15–25a NASB
“This is how the sell-out to sin affects my life: I find myself doing things my conscience does not allow. My dilemma is that even though I sincerely desire to do that which is good, I don’t, and the things I despise, I do. It is obvious that my conscience sides with the law; which confirms then that it is not really I who do these things but sin manifesting its symptoms in me. (Sin is similar to a dormant virus that suddenly breaks out in very visible symptoms.) It has taken my body hostage. The total extent and ugliness of sin that inhabits me, reduced my life to good intentions that could not be followed through. Willpower has failed me; this is how embarrassing it is, the most diligent decision that I make to do good, disappoints; the very evil I try to avoid, is what I do. (If mere quality decisions could rescue mankind, the law would have been enough. Good intentions cannot save someone. The revelation of what happened to us in Christ’s death is what brings faith into motion to liberate from within. Faith is not a decision we make to give God a chance, faith is realizing our inclusion in what happened on the Cross and in the resurrection of Christ! See Rom 3:27.) If I do the things I do not want to do, then it is clear that I am no evil, but that I host sin in my body against my will. It has become a predictable principle; I desire to do well, but my mere desire cannot escape the evil presence that dictates my actions. The real person that I am on the inside delights in the law of God. (The law proves to be consistent with my inner make-up.) There is another law though, (foreign to my design), the law of sin, activating and enrolling the members of my body as weapons of war against the law of my mind. I am held captive like a prisoner of war in my own body. It doesn’t matter how I 1weigh myself I just do not measure up to expectations! the situation is absolutely desperate for humankind; is there anyone who can deliver them from this death trap? (The word 1talaipōros occurs only twice in the New Testament—Rom 7:24, Rev 3:17—and both times it is translated wretched!? it has two components, talanton, which is the word for a scale of balance; that which is weighed, a talent; and poros from peira, to test as in testing the weight of something.) Thank God, this is exactly what he has done through Jesus Christ our Leader; he has come to our rescue! I am finally freed from this conflict between the law of my mind and the law of sin in my body. (In the Incarnation, in a human body exactly like ours, Jesus balanced the scales! He is the true measure of the life of our design—he revealed and redeemed the image and likeness of God in us as in a mirror! See Rom 1:16, 17 and 3:24 and 27.)” Romans 7:15–25a Mirror Bible
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The Tyranny of False Freedom
by Linda Rex
July 2, 2023, Proper 8 | After Pentecost—In last week’s message, we talked about the way in which we as humans often have a mistaken understanding of what it means to be free. We adore freedom—being free to choose what we do, when we do it, and how we do it. But we do not realize how often our freedom actually becomes an entry way to our being enslaved or held hostage.
Before he left us for his eternal glory, Dr. John McKenna told me that he felt one thing our American society needed was to understand what true freedom was. As a people, historically we have valued (at least on paper) the freedoms we espouse, which involve such things as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, right to bear arms, and so on. Because we value these freedoms, we object strongly to anyone placing restrictions upon us, and voice loud complaints when such restrictions occur.
To be sure, there is much benefit in allowing people to freely make decisions and to own property and do the other things that are a part of being a free person. Much of the misery we inflict on one another happens when we do not honor each other’s liberties in this regard. But living truly free is difficult for us, because we do not understand what true freedom is. It’s important for us to come to see that freedom in the greatest sense of the word goes way beyond these limited human types of freedoms. In fact, true freedom is solidly grounded in the other-centered, self-sacrificial love of Father, Son, and Spirit—the only Being who lives truly and completely free.
Jesus Christ, as God in human flesh, is the one human person who lives a truly free life. Interestingly enough, while he was here on earth, this freely lived life was lived within a culture which embraced slavery and existed under the tyranny of a Roman government marked by paganism, oppressive taxation and military oppression. He was raised within the confines of a legalistic religion, with all its dogma and hypocritical leadership. And still, he lived as distinctly himself, without losing his essential nature as the one sent by his Father to live, die, and rise again on our behalf.
How was this possible? Jesus said at one point that he never did anything he did not see the Father doing. If he was a truly free person, then how is it that he never did anything unless it was what his Father was up to? Could it be that true freedom for us as human beings is in living in full union and communion with our Father in the Spirit as Jesus did? Could it be that freedom has nothing to do with doing what we will and what we desire and everything to do with doing what our Father wills and desires?
For us as humans, this seems to involve a loss of self. But in reality, this is not the truth. If Father, Son, and Spirit are the God who created us and who knows what it means for us to be truly human, then wouldn’t this mean that they know what is best for us? And if God is love—other-centered, self-sacrificial love—doesn’t this mean that God wants us to live in joy and peace, and develop into the fullness of all he meant for us to be as reflections of his image in Christ by the Spirit?
Taking this further—if life in loving relationship with Father, Son, and Spirit are what we were created for, and if we were meant to live in right relationship with God and each other, then true freedom for us is living in this way, in being truly human, in being our true selves. This means that every part of our existence is swept up into Christ by the Spirit, where our decisions, our choices, our “freedoms” are all held within the bounds of God’s love. We are free to enjoy life, rejoice in all God has made, but within the bounds of God’s love. God has designed things to work a certain way so that we are able to truly live. When we don’t stay within these limits, we find ourselves in the place of death.
The good news is that Jesus, in the divine, loving freedom of his Father in the Spirit, went through death into resurrection so that everyone of us might be set free from the chains of evil, sin, and death. Since we all died with Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin. So, we need to act like it. We are set free from anything which hinders our right relationship with God and each other. We are set free from the chains of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life—those things which so often hold us fast and imprison us. We are under no obligation to live in submission to these things any longer. If we find ourselves where these chains are trying to form about us again, we need to look to Christ, for in him and him alone are we truly free.
Because of Christ, we are free now to be who God created us to be—the beloved, adopted children of Father. Because we are free in Christ, we walk no longer according to our flesh but we are led by the Spirit, are filled with the Spirit, and we follow wherever Christ leads us. We live each moment in face-to-face relationship with Father through the Son in the Spirit, enjoying their zōe life now in loving fellowship with others, in anticipation of sharing this life forever in the world to come. This is the gift of true freedom God has given us in Christ—a grace gift that we cannot earn, but can only receive with humble gratitude.
Father, Son, Spirit, thank you for setting us free, for removing the shackles of evil, sin, and death. Grant us the grace to live in the truth of our freedom in Christ. Enable us to remember the price that freedom cost us, and to not give any part of ourselves over to those things which inevitably end up being our masters, no matter how strong the temptation may be in this moment. For it is your will and your desire we seek to fulfill, not our own, through Jesus our Lord and by your Spirit. Amen.
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace . What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:12–23 NASB
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Divine Immunity
By Linda Rex
June 25, 2023, Proper 7 | After Pentecost—I was reading through one of my old journals today and noticing that there are several things I still am struggling with in my life and character that I wrestled with more than ten years ago. Over the years I have learned that some things that have been criticized by others as weaknesses have turned out simply to be personal quirks and ways of being that God created me with which are different than the average person. Other things are areas where the Lord is still working with me to grow me up into Christ.
In our life in Christ, we are faced with the reality that we are often far from being the image-bearers of God we were meant to be, but at the same time are warmly embraced by the Lord who loves us and forgives us, and is fully committed to bringing us into the fullness of all he has in mind for us. This journey we call the Christian faith is exactly that—a long trip in relationship with Father, Son, and Spirit in which we grow in our relationship with God and one another, and we mature spiritually, growing up in Christ and deepening in our faith.
If I were to walk into a bookstore, especially a Christian bookstore, I would find a lot of books which would tell me all the ways in which I need to grow as a follower of Christ, and a lot of methodology in how to go about doing this. While I have been helped to some extent by such books over the years, I have found the greatest maturing and healing has come in relationship—in healthy relationship with other godly men and women who invested me and my life. It was their mentoring work and their prayerful investment which often led to changes which otherwise would not have happened.
But even so, the one relationship which really mattered most is the one which I have been given with Father, Son, and Spirit. The Lord of all has taken a personal interest in me (as I’m sure he has in you), and I sometimes wonder why. The Lord has invested in me and my life in a way which can only be explained by his mercy, compassion, forbearance and longsuffering. What I have discovered over the years is that I can work hard at being a good person, but my best efforts do not bring about lasting change. Lasting change only comes when I go to Jesus in the humility of my inability, need, and failure and receive from him by the Spirit the transformation which I long for as I live and walk day by day in relationship with him.
That I even long for change at all is a gift from God. This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 6, 1b-11, the passage for this Sunday. There were some who believed that God’s grace gave them the “freedom” to do whatever they wanted in their lives, the “freedom” to sin or to live in ways contrary to their original design. This was a misunderstanding of God’s grace and mercy. For when we truly realize and embrace what Jesus has accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection, we find we have no desire to do anything other than to love God and love one another as we were created to. Anything else ultimately makes us miserable. Even though sin is still something we do (for we are still human), it no longer has the same power over us and does not control us as it did before we came to faith in Christ. Rather, as Christ lives in us by the Spirit, we find we are compelled by God’s other-centered love to love God and one another.
It is unfortunate that much of our focus in Christian circles has been on moral behavior and trying to make ourselves right with God when it should have been on simply enjoying our relationship with Father, Son, and Spirit and being who we are as his beloved, adopted children who participate with him in caring for his creation. Jesus Christ, as God in human flesh, is the one in whom we live and move and have our being. It is Christ’s own relationship with the Father in the Spirit that we share in—so it’s not up to us to get ourselves in right relationship with God—Jesus did it, is doing it, will do it. It is his life with Abba in the Spirit that is ours, in which we find faith, hope, love, and joy.
The evil one likes to keep our focus on everything we are doing wrong, on all that is going wrong in this world. The evil one keeps us frantically trying to remake ourselves into good people or to make ourselves right with God. The evil one tells us constantly that God is not good, is not love, and doesn’t give a hang about us. The world around us convinces us that these lies are the truth of our existence. This is why we must remember that when Jesus died—we all died. All of creation went through death with the creator as he was crucified and died and was placed in the tomb. The good news is that evil, sin, and death are dead. The sin in you and me died with Christ and so no longer is in a place of power in us. No, we are in a new place now—in the risen Lord.
This means that sin, self, Satan, as the apostle Paul shows us, no longer dictate to us how we are to live. Indeed, now we are free to be who God meant for us to be all along—his beloved children who love and serve him and one another. What echoes in my mind are Jesus’ words to the woman caught in the act of adultery: “Neither do I condemn you—go and sin no more.” You and I are forgiven, accepted, beloved, placed in right relationship with God in Jesus’ death and resurrection. We have been given a new life—so, we live it. Did you mess up again? I know I have and I will, but in Christ I am made new. And so are you. And I will turn to Jesus once again. And so will you. And once again, we will go and sin no more—because that is what the life of Christ in us and us in Christ is all about. And we will continue on this journey in close fellowship with Father, Son, and Spirit until we are called home to be with them forever in glory—all because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Thank you, Lord!
Heavenly Father, thank you for making us your very own. Thank you for loving us and drawing us to yourself in Jesus by your Spirit. Lord, grant us the grace to never forget our old selves are dead, that sin no longer has power over us, and that we have been given new life, life in union and communion with you. Enable us to ever live in the truth of who we are as your cherished children, through your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Now what is our response to be? Shall we sin to our heart’s content and see how far we can exploit the grace of God? What a ghastly thought! We, who have died to sin—how could we live in sin a moment longer? Have you forgotten that all of us who were baptised into Jesus Christ were, by that very action, sharing in his death? We were dead and buried with him in baptism, so that just as he was raised from the dead by that splendid Revelation of the Father’s power so we too might rise to life on a new plane altogether. If we have, as it were, shared his death, let us rise and live our new lives with him! Let us never forget that our old selves died with him on the cross that the tyranny of sin over us might be broken—for a dead man can safely be said to be immune to the power of sin. And if we were dead men with him we can believe that we shall also be men newly alive with him. We can be sure that the risen Christ never dies again—death’s power to touch him is finished. He died, because of sin, once: he lives for God for ever. In the same way look upon yourselves as dead to the appeal and power of sin but alive and sensitive to the call of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:1-11 PHILLIPS
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Not Dead, But Asleep
by Linda Rex
June 11, 2023, Proper 5 | After Pentecost—Have you ever noticed how there are times when the people you love and care for are the ones who hurt you the most? Think about Hosea, the prophet who was invited by the Lord to marry and care for a woman who was inevitably unfaithful to him, as a witness to his nation’s repeated unfaithfulness to their covenant God. Deep in Hosea’s prophetic word, though, we are given a taste of the underlying theme of death and resurrection: “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him” (Hosea 6:2 NASB). Ultimately, the salvation of Hosea’s nation was solely dependent upon the goodness and faithfulness of their covenant God, the One who would come himself to redeem and save his people.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, we see brought forth this same theme of our human need for redemption, and Jesus’ descent into death, and his resurrection and ascension into glory, in order to raise us up into new life. In the gospel passage for this Sunday, Matthew 9:9–13, 18–26, Jesus engaged the religious leaders of his day in conversation regarding his relationships with those who were considered outcasts and sinners. He told these leaders, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. … for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (v. 12, 13b). His acceptance and calling of Matthew, the socially and religiously excluded tax collector was a case in point.
Jesus then went to a synagogue ruler’s home where he found a group of people loudly mourning the death of a young girl. He told them that she wasn’t dead, but was asleep. They scorned his hopeful assurance. After making the scoffers all leave, he and her parents entered the girl’s room to see her laying lifeless in her bed. Jairus’ daughter was beyond any human help. Nothing could be done anymore to save her. But then Jesus took her by the hand, and raised her up. This young girl had nothing to do with her healing and restoration to life. All she and her parents could do was respond in gratitude to the gift of new life which was given.
In the New Testament reading, Romans 4:13–25, the apostle Paul showed how Abraham and Sarah were given a promise of a son, but were powerless to bring the promise to pass. Abraham was too old and Sarah was incapable of bearing children. They believed, albeit faultily, that God would keep his word, but found themselves utterly dependent upon God’s love and grace for it to be fulfilled. Like the little girl in the story who lay lifeless in her bed, due to their barrenness their dreams of holding a son in their arms lay lifeless and empty in their hearts.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he showed how Abraham did not receive his promised son because of anything he did, but simply because of his faith, because he trusted in the faithfulness of his loving God. lt is God’s goodness, God’s love, and God’s power which is important here. Abraham could only have hope because of the God of hope who had given him hope by giving him a promise—a promise God was well able and perfectly willing to keep. Abraham’s participation in the process was simply faith—believing in the goodness and faithfulness of his God and trusting him to keep his word.
In the same way, we receive our salvation, our new life, not because we do everything exactly right or obey every law perfectly. Rather, we recognize that we are powerless and unable to do what is needed, that only God can bring something into existence from nothing, and only God can raise up to life what is dead and lifeless. All of us, like the little girl in the story and like Abraham and Sarah facing their inability to have a child, are unable to save ourselves or restore our relationship with God on our own. But the Son of God came, took on our human flesh, to live our life, die our death, and rise again, so that we could have what we otherwise could not have—eternal life, life in face-to-face union with Father, Son, and Spirit, right relationship with God and one another.
When it comes to situations and relationships where there seems to be no hope, no life, no expectation of deliverance, we need to turn to Jesus. When it seems that the church today is dying and nothing we can do seems to be able to lift it out of that place, we need to turn to Jesus. When we are facing death and sickness in any form, we need to turn to Jesus. For he has entered and will enter into our place of residence here on earth, to take us by the hand, having become flesh like us and died as we die, in order to raise us up. God’s promise to us is sure—we see it fulfilled in Jesus. He calls us to trust him, to believe—to allow him to be the God he is, the One who is faithful, loving, and good, and who has and will heal us, reconcile us, restore us and bring us safely home.
It is significant that the sacraments which we practice in the church today point us to death and resurrection. Through baptism (a one-time event) and communion (an ongoing practice), we participate anew with Christ in his death and resurrection, being reminded both of our need for healing, rescue and deliverance, and of our gratitude for his finished work in our place and on our behalf. Together, as we are gathered at the table, we eat and drink anew of the divine gift, with humility, gratitude and praise. We celebrate the goodness, faithfulness, and love of our Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit.
Holy God, thank you for your faithfulness, your goodness, and your love, expressed to us in the gift of your Son and your Spirit. Today, we see so many places where death, sin, and Satan seem to have the upper hand. We have no hope or life apart from you. Lord Jesus, turn us back to you. and by your heavenly Spirit, restore our faith. Fill our hearts and lives with your hope and love. In your name we pray, amen.
“For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was ‘counted to him as righteousness.’ But the words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Romans 4:13–25 ESV
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Living in the Triune Gift
by Linda Rex
June 4, 2023, Holy Trinity | After Pentecost—As we move on into the season beyond Pentecost, we begin to consider what it means that we participate and live in the Triune gift given to us in Jesus and the Spirit. What does it mean that we are included in God’s life and love, and are called together into community?
The Lord Jesus Christ gave his disciples instructions before he ascended, telling them to live out the implications of his ascended life by making disciples, baptizing and teaching them wherever they went (Matthew 28:16-20). His instructions to them were predicated on the reality that he had received all authority in heaven and on earth from his Father in the Spirit, and he would be going with them through whatever they might face, no matter the circumstances.
As the early churches were formed and began to gather, those who were not familiar with Jewish regulations regarding fellowship joined with those who had customarily followed certain Jewish customs and regulations throughout their lives. And the Roman culture of the day venerated social status, income level, and materialism—similar to our culture today. In the midst of these contrasting influences and expectations, the Corinth church was in disarray, caught up in unChristlike behaviors and practices, and being led astray by false teachers. The apostle Paul lovingly sought to call them back to the grace, love, and unity which was theirs in Jesus Christ.
As he closed his letter to the members at Corinth, Paul began to write in deep affection with his own hand the closing benediction (2 Cor 13:11-13). Using the common greeting of “farewell,” he encouraged them to “put things in order.” The NIV and ESV say “aim for full restoration” or “strive for full restoration,” while the NASB says “be made complete.” He wanted them to put aside their differences and all of the false identities they were embracing, and simply be who God said they were—his beloved children, bound together by the Spirit in love and grace.
Paul went on to encourage his beloved spiritual brothers and sisters to be “likeminded” and to “live in peace.” What was on the apostle’s heart was the unity of the body of Christ being made manifest in the way that they treated one another. He longed for them to drop the societal and cultural exclusivism and live in truly Christlike inclusive, caring, and sharing ways with one another. This call for unity and being of one mind and heart is reminiscent of Jesus’ instruction to his disciples before he went to the cross. He told them to love one another, and in this way prove to others that they were his disciples (John 15:7-11). In doing so, he said, they would rejoice. This resonates with Paul’s instructions to the members at Corinth, for he too tells them to rejoice in the midst of their unity and likemindedness in the Spirit.
And this is the key. It is impossible for us to have this kind of unity and harmony apart from the living presence of God himself through Jesus in the Spirit. It is the grace of Jesus, the love of God, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit we are living in the midst of and participating in when we join together as one body, the body of Christ. Our unity of mind and heart is a gift from the Holy Spirit. This is where our joy comes from, a gift of the divine joy God has in his own unity and love as Father and Son in the Spirit. We receive God’s Spirit and joyfully participate in the grace offered to us in Jesus as an expression of our Father’s love, fellowshipping with God and man in peace and harmony.
When we try to work this up ourselves, we find that we are unable to avoid the differences which cause division within the body of Christ. When we seek to follow what is culturally comfortable and what we’ve grown up doing all our lives, we discover that these things create differences rather than unity. When we allow our individualism to reign, we lose our mutual personhood, for those relationships which are meant to harmonize together become fractured and broken. Our best efforts at unity are fragile and at times even infectious. We desperately need the grace of Jesus, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit to make us one, heal our divisions, and unify us. May we live in the blessing of God’s gift in Christ by the Spirit—and receive from our loving Triune Lord, the unity, harmony, peace he always meant for us to enjoy, and learn to share it with others. May we receive the Triune gift and live within it in gratitude and praise.
Dear God, thank you for including us in your life and love, for the grace offered to us through your Son because of your faithful, bountiful love, Father, in the wondrous fellowship and joy of your Holy Spirit. Enable us to receive all that you have for us, to live in the truth of who we are as your beloved children, in the unity and harmony and peace you always meant for us to enjoy, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” 2 Cor 13:11-13 NRSV
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Spirit Immersed and Spirit Filled
by Linda Rex
May 28, 2023, Pentecost—A while back I visited a bookstore to try and find a gift book for a friend. As I was wandering the aisles, I came across an entire section of the store dedicated to the supernatural, spiritualism, and gothic themes. The literature available included a full spectrum from white witchcraft to Satan worship, new age to eastern meditative practices.
The size of this section has grown in recent years. It seems there is a deepening hunger for something beyond our physical world, and a longing for there to be some way in which we can control the chaos and turmoil of our lives. We adore our human freedom, but we have not yet learned that freedom is something that must be laid on the altar of love, and used in relationship with Jesus with grace and humility in the service of others rather than of ourselves.
Unfortunately, even our Western religion has fallen prey to our adoration of all things self-focused and self-indulgent. We often talk about having the Spirit move in our world to bring about healing and change. This is good. We like the effects of the Spirit’s presence, to gather in worship and have ecstatic experiences. This is also good. But we’re not always as equally welcoming to the Spirit’s movements to bring about healing and change in us, in our churches, and in our communities. We’re not always immediately responsive to the repentance and change the Spirit is calling us to when the Lord is wanting to do something new.
In 1 Corinthians 12:3b–13, the apostle Paul sought to help the church at Corinth to understand that they were not given the Spirit so that they could impress each other with their spiritual abilities or gifts. They were not given the Spirit so they could cast curses on each other or so they could lord it over one another. Rather, they were given the Spirit for the common good.
In this passage Paul uses the metaphor of the parts of the human body making up a whole as a way of showing that the Church, the body of Christ, was meant to reflect God’s way of being. As the body of Christ, the Church is immersed in the Spirit and filled with the Spirit, enabling its members to participate in Christ, in God’s way of being. Our Father, his Son and his Spirit, are three Persons in one Being. We find within God what is to be reflected within the body of Christ—diversity with equality in unity.
In the divine Being, we see the Spirit’s graces of love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, and so on. We see the Son’s sacrificial service as the Person who came to manifest God’s life and way of being in sacrificial service for others. We see the Father’s actions at work in this world, manifesting his kingdom and his will being done even now, through his Spirit and his Son Jesus. All of the Spirit’s graces, the Son’s sacrificial service, and the Father’s creative and restorative actions are meant to be expressed in and through the Church as the members of the body of Christ receive the Spirit and allow the Spirit to work through them to benefit the world in which they live.
Individually and as congregations, it’s important to make to effort to learn how God has uniquely created us, and how he has specifically gifted us and blessed us with certain abilities. It is also good to grow in our own personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, to learn to listen for the “still small voice” of the Spirit and how to distinguish it from all of the other often louder and more insistent inner voices of self, sin and Satan. We want to get in step with the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit, no longer following our own human inclinations, which way too often get us in trouble.
We were created for so much more than just a rational, fleshly existence. As we follow the Spirit’s lead, we participate in what Jesus is doing in this world to bring healing, restoration, renewal and transformation. We aren’t doing things for God, but rather are doing things with Jesus in the Spirit—participating in God’s life and love, allowing him to love and serve others through us. What begins to happen when we get ourselves out of the way and allow Jesus to live in and through us in this way is that the power of God begins to be manifest in tangible ways in this world. This isn’t magic, because we are not the ones in control—God is. As we respond to the Spirit’s lead, God’s life and love is expressed in and through us in caring for those around us and for the world in which we live.
Heavenly Spirit, forgive me for all the ways in which I take you for granted, and the ways in which I grieve, insult, or offend you. Come, heavenly fountain of life, and pour over me anew, immersing me again in your living streams. Each and every day, may I be a ready conduit through which you may change and heal this world, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“… no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually has he wills. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:3b–13 ESV
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Giving Homage
by Linda Rex
May 21, 2023, Ascension Sunday—As I was listening to the Archbishop of Canterbury give his sermon during the recent coronation service for King Charles III and Queen Camilla, I was struck by his reminder that our leadership must always be grounded in a spirit of service, specifically, the Spirit of Christ. He pointed his listeners to the humble servant leadership of Jesus Christ, who willingly wore a royal robe of suffering rather than the rich robes of a kingly wardrobe. He noted our Lord’s attention to the widows, orphans, and captives of the world.
Whether or not the oaths the king and queen took during the coronation ceremony penetrated deeply and set the course of their service we cannot know. In any case, the reality is that they answer to the Supreme Sovereign, Jesus Christ, who reigns forever as Lord of all. How they respond to his lordship in the Spirit will determine the outcome of their leadership going forward. And indeed, they and every other leader in this world must answer to King Jesus Christ, who reigns over our cosmos as King of kings and Lord of lords.
As the king and queen walked out of the church to sit in their royal carriage, I noticed how few people gave them the customary nod or curtsy due to royalty. In the Conmmonwealth, the king and queen are more figurehead than actual rulers, so it is understandable that people no longer strictly attend to the customs of bowing to them. But this made me think of our own response to our divine King Jesus.
The Lord of all, Creator and Sustainer of all, took on our human flesh to live our life and die our death at the hands of sinful people. Jesus Christ rose from the grave and ascended to our heavenly Father’s right hand. There in the Spirit Jesus reigns supreme, bearing our glorified human flesh in the presence of the divine Majesty.
Even though the resurrected Christ has been crowned Lord of all, how many of us live indifferent to Jesus’ sovereignty? How many of us refuse to bow the knee or acknowledge that Jesus has the right to dictate our actions and behaviors, our decisions and choices? Are we willing to offer Jesus the customary nod or curtsy at church and then live our life as we please the rest of the week?
It is instructive that even our modern approach to the acknowledgment of royal position reflects our common human attitude towards the Divine One. Perhaps what we need most of all in our world today is the true humility of submitting ourselves completely to Jesus Christ, to the sovereign will of his Holy Spirit. Perhaps we need to commit ourselves to obeying his instructions as the living Word, following him by the Spirit through death of self into new life in service to others. It is possible that our struggles today on every level of society are simply because we have refused to submit to Jesus Christ as our Lord, the King of kings. May God by his Spirit restore to our hearts a humble submission to Jesus Christ.
In truth, just as there were those who pledged their allegiance to the king and queen and offered them homage, there are many today who faithfully seek to honor and obey our Lord Jesus. Leaders who approach their role in such a spirit of humility and service are an inspiration to all of us who seek to follow Christ. We follow such leaders as they follow Christ and serve others. May God provide us with many such leaders in every walk of life. And in this way, may God’s kingdom begin to transform our world in a real way even today.
Heavenly Father, forgive our irreverence and pride. Lord Jesus, forgive our rebellion and disrespect towards you. Heavenly Spirit, grant us the grace to bow our hearts and submit our lives every moment to our Living Lord Jesus Christ. May your kingdom, Father, Son, Spirit, be realized even now here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
“For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:15–23 NASB
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