Romans 8:12-17
So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh - for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.
We are Children of God
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Last Sunday we talked about how you are a slave, no matter what you do. The other side of the reality of being a Christian is that we are more than just slaves. We must holy, or we are slaves to sin, but we are also Children of God. We are His children because He says so. He actually calls us "sons". You might wonder, what is the difference between children and sons. In the time of the Apostles, there was a great difference. Sons were more valued, and sons inherited. In addition, God had one Son, and when He calls us "sons", He is ranking us with Jesus Christ Himself, at least in some ways. Let us explore this in our text this morning, or themes is, We are Children of God.
First of all, the distinction of "sons" is a leveling distinction. Instead of lowering everyone to a common level, however, it raises us all to the same high level. There are no second-rate or second-class citizen in God's kingdom. We are all alike, sons of God! Every one of us is precious to Him. Each of us carries in the eyes of God the same value as His only-begotten Son. That is why we cry, "Abba! Father!" "Abba" is the Aramaic word for "Father." When Paul repeats these two words here, he is doing so as if to say that we cry out, "Abba, which means 'Father'".
The message of the passage is simple, at that point. We have been adopted into the family of God. Our adoption consists in that we have been given the Holy Spirit, and made members of the family of God by the Sacrament of Baptism. Paul makes the additional point that the Spirit we have received is not a meek and fearful spirit, but the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of our adoption into the very family of God, and so we can call God 'our Father'.
That's the good news. There is something else in this passage, something most people do not consider to be so good - or at least so happy. The news of this Epistle lesson is that we are co-heirs with Christ, to inherit everything Jesus inherits, right along with Him, but only if we suffer with Him here. The inheriting part is, of course, wonderful news, but it is linked to the news, commitment, and expectation that as the children of God we are going to suffer, and not just suffer like the people of this world do, but to suffer with Jesus!
You cannot help but suffer as a Christian. Verse 17 of our text (the final verse) should suggest to any Christian that they do not even wish to avoid it. But we have to deal with the flesh, which loves its comfort. The truth which the passage reveals is that we are not co-heirs with Christ if we do not suffer with Him. Our flesh, on the other hand, has invented that theology of glory that says we can measure our nearness to God by how well we are doing and how good we feel.
I don't want you to think that I am opposed to feeling good. I personally enjoy it. Nor does Scripture teach that we should look for pain and trouble to make us feel Christian, or measure our nearness to God by our pain level. That last theology is as bad as the first -- and it too is a Theology of Glory, however twisted. Our nearness to God is measured by the cross of Jesus Christ. That was where Jesus died for us. Any other proposed sign of God's favor is pagan and idolatry. Christians may and do enjoy life just as much as anyone else, when they have reason. But the child of God cannot help but suffer with Christ, and we are children of God!.
We suffer, for example, the pains of putting to death the deeds of the body. The effort of stopping sin from ruling in our bodies and keeping sin from determining our behavior and our words and our values is painful. Sin is natural to us. Ceasing from sins is uncomfortable. It feels like we are giving up something we enjoy. That isn't necessarily the case, but it feels that way. We crave, we lust, and it feels just awful to deny that part of us that wants to sin. It doesn't necessarily bother us to resist the sins we don't want to do, mind you, just the ones that appeal to us personally, at the moment.
And then there is no shortage in the world of invitation and enticement to sin. In fact, if you don't go along in sin, you are labeled a "goody-two-shoes." You might be accused of being "so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good." You are said to be no fun, or you are unrealistic, or you are old-fashioned and out of date. You are a wet-blanket or an obstacle to those around you. You just don't fit in - and people around you who belong to the world and not to God have no problem making that clear to you. And if others get the sense that you are taking the moral high ground, they will spare no effort to make sure you know that, in their opinion, the problem is not what you are doing, it is the way you are doing it, your style, not your substance, that is causing the flack. Doing right and not wrong often leads to pain for the child of God.
We Christians also suffer for standing firm on the truth. The pain of the truth is that it seems true to no one but the believer. It contradicts the wisdom of this world. It is pure and true, not pragmatic and utilitarian. It gets in the way, and it always accuses us. Even when God's Word tells us that our sins are forgiven, it implicitly accuses of needing that forgiveness. And hearing the truth always accuses us of error and ignorance - and we can tolerate almost anything but being called "wrong" or "stupid." God's truth tells us that truth matters, and we don't naturally want the truth to matter.
Standing on the truth makes enemies. The world around you loves compromise. Patience with error is stylish. Letting people wander in foolish blindness is considered a kindness and correcting them for their own benefit and safety is considered boorish and arrogant and abrasive - and in today's world, racist. It is reminiscent of hunting squirrels - you wait for one to stop and you shoot it. Error is always on the move, and lies are very mobile, since they have no anchor in reality. Truth stands still. It never changes, and the devil and his servants in this world will always shoot at the ones who are standing on the truth because they are usually the ones standing still, intellectually. Now and again a stubborn error gets caught too, but truth is always the target of the uncommitted and unbelieving.
The Children of God often suffer the pains of uncertainty - having no certainty but the Word of God. I know that sounds contradictory - but you know what I am referring to. You have no outward sign that the truth is the truth, or that your sins have been forgiven, or that we will rise from the grave. All you really have is the Word of God. People will ask why you should be right and everyone else wrong. How dare you assert that truth and salvation are your exclusive properties?
Of course they aren't, and we don't say things like that. The Children of God have to deal with being lied to and lied about in many situations, and we are the children of God!. Truth and salvation are the gifts of God, but at the moment of the accusation, we all feel that pain of uncertainty. We have no outward sign to guarantee our faith is right and true but the Word of God. That is sufficient, most of the time, but we are not perfect in faith and so those moments may come when we just quail in uncertainty, and must cling through the pain to the truth of God, without the feelings of confidence or absolute certainty that everyone else seems to have. - By the way, everyone else just looks certain. They suffer just like you.
We must also endure the hatred of the world and the attacks of the false brethren. The world actually persecutes Christians. We American Christians are typically spared the most violent forms of it, but people are dying for their faith throughout the world. More Christians have died simply because they were Christians in the last fifty years that in all of history before. More people suffer and die in our modern age because they will not let go of Jesus and will not surrender the one thing needful than at any other time in history. They aren't American Christians, usually, so we don't see the pictures and hear their cries. Our government and our news media could care less - they actually agree with the destruction philosophically, if not explicitly - so we don't hear the reports. They do not report thee truth unless it serves their agenda, and our truth almost never serves their agenda. They are of "the world" and the world is persecuting Christians. And it is coming for us, sooner than you may think.
But the hardest part to deal with, at least in my mind, are the attacks of those who call themselves Christians and "brothers." One moment they seem to stand with you, and the next they treat you like some sort of extremist, a zealot, something to be silenced or exterminated. Suddenly, they say that the old truths are extreme. Closed Communion is unloving. Confessing the truth boldly is suddenly styled as pushy and aggressive. Holding fast to the word of truth is 16th century and stubborn and unreasonable . You lean back on such 'brothers' for support and find criticism instead of encouragement, condemnation rather than commendation, an enemy rather than a brother. It happens all too often in the swiftly changing religious environment of our age, with television preachers who proclaim the lie and call it the truth, and Internet religion replacing going to church, and the "new spirituality" dominating the religious bookstore shelves and Christian radio, so called.
These are among the pains we face, the things that the child of God must suffer if he is to walk with Jesus. We cannot run for cover or hide from the pain - to do so would require that we deny Jesus. We have nowhere to hide, except in silence, hiding our light under a bushel, keeping our heads down to avoid becoming the target for someone who hates the truth and those who cling to it. But salt that has lost its savor is worthless, and Jesus said that He would confess us before His Father if we confessed Him before men, and He would deny us before His Father if we denied Him before men. There is nowhere to hide, except in Jesus, and no one to seek out for company and encouragement, but one another in the Church.
If we stand faithfully, we shall also inherit along with Jesus, and enjoy glory and blessing and salvation with Him. That is the message of our text. And if we stand faithfully, we will suffer, just as He did. His sufferings won us life and salvation, forgiveness and the favor of Almighty God. Our sufferings witness that we really do trust in God, and they tell others that we have a God, and a promise so wonderful and so sure that it is worth taking whatever they can throw at us in order to stand firm and faithful and receive the prize. Our faithfulness in the midst of the sufferings which belong to the adopted family of Jesus Christ witness better than any words we can speak to the truth and the wonder of the grace of God and the promises of salvation. Your faithfulness confesses for your heart the truth and power and reality of what your lips confess in the creed. It tells the world in truth that we are the children of God.
A couple of useful principles as we walk together in the Lord. First, you cannot judge the truth by who, or how many, agree with you - only by the Word. Following the crowd is not a useful habit for the child of God. Studying the Word is.
Second, you cannot judge whether what you do is right by how it feels to do it, or how you feel having done it - only by the Word. Our flesh lies. Our emotions lie. We want to feel good, and the devil knows it, so we can feel good about some of the most horrific things. God's Word alone is our reliable guide.
The amazing truth, which we perceive only through the Word of God Himself who tell us this truth, is that we are His children. In Him, as our Father, we have a helper, a source of strength, a fortress of protection, and a Comforter. We also have the promise of the inheritance in glory. God invites us to fix our eyes on the goal, and the promise, and take comfort in the wonderful truth that we are not just slaves, but He has claimed us to be His children, adopted us in Baptism, and has given us His Spirit to keep us and intercede for us. The truth of the Gospel is that now, by God's own doing and proclamation, we are the children of God!
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
(Let the people say Amen)
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