A Mind Set on the Spirit Is Life Romans 8:1-11; Ezekiel 37:1-14; John 11:1-45

 

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God, our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, whose mind is set on giving us life.

 

We’re going to talk about a mind set on the Spirit, from our Epistle, 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 

 

A mind set on sin and the desires of the flesh, is a mind set on death; but a mind set on the Spirit is life. 

 

Our frame of mind is so important in living life in the right way, living in the way of godly love… and faith and hope and peace. 

 

After we rise on the final day, with glorified bodies, we’ll also have glorified minds, and glorified attitudes.

 

I know that my attitude is often less than glorified. But I also know that the Holy Spirit helps me to have a better, more godly attitude, a mind like Christ.

 

Philippians 2:5 says,5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

 

And then Paul goes on to teach us how Jesus humbled himself to save us, rather than coming to earth to attain worldly gain or glory. 

 

This is the mindset that won life and forgiveness for us, and this is the mindset that makes us a blessing to others, as Jesus is to us.

 

He rescued us from sin and death, that we might have a right attitude, a mind like His, in our life and our relationships. 

 

Our Epistle tells us how this is done, and how it’s not done. It’s done by God, not by the world… by the Holy Spirit, not by the sinful flesh.

Our Epistle begins with great news for sinners who no longer live by the flesh, who repent and believe in Christ: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

 

John 3:17 says, For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. 

 

Mark 16:16 says, Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

 

If we would live our lives as condemned people, without Christ, it’d be hard to have a good attitude… our relationship with God would be terrible, and our relationships with others wouldn’t be good.

 

Thanks be to God, He gives us His Spirit in Baptism, so that we can believe in His Son and the righteousness He won for us, and no longer be condemned, but be set free to live a life that’s forgiven and blessed, and thus have a godly attitude. 

 

Verse 2 of our Epistle says, For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 

 

The eternal laws of justice demand that our debts be paid. The debt imposed on us by our sin is death. 

 

Romans 3:23 says, For the wages of sin is death… but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

 

Jesus sets us free by paying the price we couldn’t pay, by offering to God, His perfect righteousness to count as ours, and His punishment by death, to count as the just punishment for our sin.

 

If we had to suffer the punishment for our sin, it would have ended in death for us, because we have no perfect love and righteousness to offer to God, to show that we deserve to live…

Nor do we have the power to rise from death.

 

But Jesus has both, the perfect righteousness to offer to God on our behalf, and the Divine power to rise for us, to set us free from sin and death.

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus shows His almighty power by bringing Lazarus back to life. And He did it with a promise. 

 

He said, 25 “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, 

though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

 

And then Jesus put those words into action, proving them to be true.

 

He went straight to the tomb, called for Lazarus to come out, and he did. 

 

Do we have an amazing Lord or what? Even death must yield to Him, and make way for life.

 

Our Testament lesson, with the story of the bones being animated, and then covered with flesh, is a parable that points to Christ raising and recreating our dead bodies on the Last Day.

 

But it’s also about the resurrection that’s already happened within us, at Baptism, when the Holy Spirit made our minds and souls, that were dead in sin, alive in love with faith in Christ. 

 

This is our true self now, our baptized self, even though we still struggle with sin. The real me and you is not the worldly, selfish me and you, it’s the believing, loving, Christ-like me and you, the new, spiritually, internally risen me and you. 

 

In daily repentance for our sin, and daily remembrance of our baptism, the old sinful self dies in us, and the new person, with a mind like Christ, rises in us.

Our Epistle both warns and promises us, 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death… but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace…

 

A mind set on worldliness and sin and self, is a mind of death and despair; a mind set on the Father, the Son and the Spirit, is a mind set on life and love and hope, and joy above.

 

They devil wants to kill the spiritual life and godliness and love in you; he wants to slay, not just your body, but your soul, and mind, and your faith in Christ.

 

And he is a formidable assassin, a highly skilled killer of faith and love, and of all that’s good in you.

 

But we have an even more formidable, infinitely more formidable, slayer of sin and evil in us. 

 

The Son slayed, not just all sin and evil, but even death for us, by His death… and His resurrection.

 

Likewise the Holy Spirit slays the sin in us, drowning it in the waters of Baptism, through faith and forgiveness in Christ.

 

A mind set on God, is alive, and wise and enlightened, and sees through the schemes of the devil, and the traps of the fallen world.

 

These things try to bring us back to a life of death, a life without faith and without love in Christ, a life that’s dead in the power of sin.

 

Years ago, there was a popular song, Only The Good Die Young. 

 

It has a lively tune, but the lyrics are cheap, poor… today it might even be interpreted as being about the sexual harassment of a young girl… pretty sick.   

 

The point of the song is that being good and godly, is like dying young, but on the other hand, being ungodly and worldly is like not dying young, but living life to it’s fullest and best. 

 

But here’s the real reason that being worldly is not dying young: to die, you first have to live. 

 

And being entirely worldly, without Christ in you, without His Spirit in your soul, is to be dead inside, empty, hollow. 

 

In fact, the reason we might act out with all kinds of sin and worldliness, is because we’re trying to animate that lifelessness, that deadness inside… trying to make your heart and mind come alive, trying fill that empty hole in you, where God belongs, and only He can fill.

 

Only true faith and love can fill and satisfy the heart… only the Holy Spirit, can enter into your soul and fill it full, full of joy and purpose and peace, and all the good gifts God gives.  

 

May God bless us always, to live abundantly, not in the sinful flesh, but in the Holy Spirit, alive in godly faith and love, and all that’s good and true. 

 

And with your heart alive, and your mind set on the Spirit, God will fill your soul with His peace, and will guard your heart in mind in Christ Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life everlasting. Amen