“THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU”
Romans 8:9
April 5, 2014
Westmount Park United Church
The title of this sermon comes from today’s epistle reading where Paul says to the Christians in Rome, “The spirit of God dwells in you.” Paul’s message to the Christians in first century Rome, and to us today, is that because God has come to us in Jesus, because the spirit of the resurrected Christ is in our midst, God’s spirit dwells within every one of us. God’s spirit dwells in you and God’s spirit dwells in me.
In one phrase Paul speaks of God’s spirit dwelling in us, in another phrase he says that it is Christ’s spirit within us, for it is Christ’s resurrection and living presence in the world which brings God’s spirit into our lives. God’s spirit dwells in us for eternity because we have been united to the resurrected one who said to Martha in Bethany, and who declares to us here today, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live; and everyone lives and believes in me will never die.” [John 11:25&26]
Because we have the spirit of the God who raised Jesus from the dead dwelling within us, we are not just mortal beings bound to die. As creatures of mere flesh and blood our destiny is death and decay. As physical beings we are a part of a universe whose final end is entropy, cold dark nothingness. But because the spirit of God lives within us we are bound in exactly the opposite direction from the physical Universe. God’s spirit dwells in us, therefore beyond the death of the flesh is the same resurrection which gave us Jesus for all time and beyond time. God’s spirit dwells in us, therefore death is not the end but the beginning.
The rewards of having God’s spirit dwell within us are infinite but having the spirit of God in our lives can be a troubling and challenging presence because our own personal goals and ambitions and aspirations are bound to come into conflict with the spirit of God dwelling in us. The struggle which comes from the presence of God in our lives is described by Paul as the conflict between flesh and spirit. Paul says that since God’s spirit has now taken possession of our lives we are no longer “in the flesh” but are now “in the spirit.” [Romans 8:9] Paul speaks as if the conflict between my will and God’s will is settled once and for all but in fact the battle between flesh and spirit continues. Even though we are Jesus’ people, who are blessed with the indwelling of his spirit, our own spirits continue to assert themselves.
Because the spirit of God dwells within me there is bound to be times of conflict within myself, and I will also find myself in conflict with other people. Jesus even warned that we will find ourselves at odds with members of our own family as we seek to be faithful in following him. Loyalty to God can bring us into conflict with loyalty to family or community or country. The spirit of God that dwells within us will push us against the stream, against the values that strongly motivate both ourselves and those around us. That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and people’s foes will be those of their own households.” [Matthew 10:34&35] Because the spirit of God dwells within me I will find myself in serious conflict with myself, with my family and friends, and with the world around me, whose motivations, goals and ambitions are at variance with the will of God.
The spirit of God dwelling within me can put me in conflict with the world in sometimes frightening ways when I am led by God’s spirit to take risks or make sacrifices. I might find myself worrying about the loss of wealth or of social standing. I might fear the isolation of standing for different values or striving for different goals than are commonly held. But having God’s spirit within me also gives me the courage and strength to live through the challenges and conflicts which follow as a consequence of striving to serve God faithfully. Because God’s spirit is with me I have absolutely nothing to fear. No assault on my mortal self can triumph over the spirit of God living within me. No misfortune of any kind, not even death itself is a threat to me, because, as Paul says later in the same chapter of Romans, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” [Romans 8:37]
God’s spirit does not dwell in me because I qualify through any credentials of human accomplishment, for no human credentials are of any account. No matter how degraded a person may be by human standards the vessel in which God’s spirit dwells is of infinite worth. I may lack worth in other people’s eyes, I may at times even feel worthless in my own eyes, but God’s spirit dwells within me, therefore no one who has ever lived is of any greater value than me. In the old westerns they used to talk about a six shooter as “the equalizer.” You might say that God’s spirit is the real equalizer. Since our true and only value is as a vessel in which God’s spirit dwells then no one ranks ahead of another.
Because God’s spirit dwells in me I have power to be more than I could ever be on my own. It’s not just me living inside this frail human body under the misguided influence of a human mind and will. God’s spirit dwells within me, so I have strength and courage and capabilities that move me far beyond myself.
Because God’s spirit dwells in me I also have responsibilities. God is within me for a purpose. God wants to work through me. That’s why God’s spirit has taken hold of me. Indeed it is my responsibility as a Christian to bring God’s spirit to other people and to the life situations I encounter. That’s the way God works in this world. Notice in the story of Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones that God didn’t say to Ezekiel: Watch while I bring Israel back to life. God said: Ezekiel I want you to prophesy to the bones, I want you to call out to the people of Israel that they must rise up from the deadness of their exile and become once more a living breathing people of God. The prophet Ezekiel was the agent by which God’s spirit breathed new life into the people of Israel. The same goes for us. We don’t just possess God’s spirit for our own personal benefit. God’s spirit possesses us so that we can be the bearers of that Holy Spirit to others. Elsewhere in his letters Paul says that God gives particular gifts to each individual but all with the purpose of building up the whole community of God’s people. [I Corinthians 12] We only know the fullness of God’s spirit dwelling in us as we experience the gifts of God’s spirit to us through others.
We have come this morning to get more closely in touch again with the spirit of God which dwells within us. Let us remember as we go forth that we are carrying the spirit of God, the spirit of Jesus Christ, into our world. let us live this day and all days with the courageous conviction that the wonderful, awesome, challenging, empowering spirit of God dwells within us.