Life in the Spirit Romans 8:1-11        

Like last Sunday, today’s lessons are about two resurrections; the first a spiritual rising up of faith in us through Baptism, and the second, a glorious raising up of our bodies on the Last Day.

Our Old Testament Reading uses a vision of physical resurrection of our bodies as an analogy for spiritual renewal. It’s one among many visions the Holy Spirit gave to the prophet Ezekiel over a number of years.     

The first part of Ezekiel is a prophecy about the fall of Jerusalem and the exile of God’s people into slavery. The second part is a prophecy about the restoration of Jerusalem and the exiles’ return home.  

Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones is a part that prophecy about the restoration of God’s people. But more broadly, this is a prophecy and vision about the spiritual life of God’s people in all times and places.

The context seems to be a deserted battlefield, or possibly a place of mass execution, where hundreds of dead bodies were left for scavengers, and the bones were disconnected and scattered about.

By the power of God’s Word, by Ezekiel speaking as God tells him, the bones are brought back to their original bodies, and they’re covered with flesh, filled with a spirit, and made alive again.

God says in verse 14, I will put my spirit in you and you shall live.

We can see the final resurrection in this, when God will raise our bodies, which will be joined to our souls from heaven, and then we’ll live in body and soul forever. But we can also see our spiritual regeneration or renewal in this vision.

We were dead in our sins, unable to even repent and believe, but in Baptism the Holy Spirit breathed faith into us, and we became alive in our souls.  

In our Gospel today, we have the story of the resurrection of Lazarus, which was a foreshadowing of Jesus’ own resurrection, and our resurrection to come.

As last week’s Gospel of the healing of the blind man went into great detail, so does this week’s Gospel of the raising of Lazarus.

And as we said last week, this was intentional by John, to make it clear that this was not a fictional story or a legend that developed about Jesus over time, but it really happened, and we have the precise details from John who saw it happen.

Jesus was miles away from Bethany, when his dear friend, Lazarus, became very sick. Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, sent word to Jesus that their brother was deathly ill, and would likely die without his miraculous intervention.

But Jesus waited for awhile before he went back to Bethany. He waited because he intended to heal Lazarus of more than just a fever; he would heal him of death.

Before he did that, he talked with Mary and Martha about what had happened to their brother, and what was about to happen.

Jesus promised Mary, “Your brother will rise again.” And she said, “I know he will, at the resurrection at the Last Day.” Jesus answered her, “I am the resurrection, and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”

Then he called out to Lazarus, like Ezekiel called out to the dry bones, and Lazarus walked out of his tomb, alive and well. So someday will we rise out of our graves, alive and well, glorified for all eternity.

Our Epistle today reminds us that the Holy Spirit gives life, while sin brings death.

It begins by assuring us of our forgiveness in Christ, because without forgiveness there’s no spiritual life for us now, and no resurrected life for us forever.

Paul says, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus; there’s only forgiveness.

While we are completely forgiven, there still lives in us, competing forces or spirits: the spirit of sin and death, versus the spirit of Christ and life. 

The spirit of sin and death Paul calls the flesh. He says that God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh; not in the sinful flesh, but in the likeness of it.

Paul says, By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.

Jesus humbled himself to have a mortal body like us, even though when he came to earth, he could have glorified his body, to look like it does now in heaven; but he didn’t. He looked no different than anybody else.

It’s not like people could just look at Him and know right off that He was the Son of God. He hid that from them, so they would have to believe.

But when Jesus comes again, he won’t hide his glory from anyone; it’ll be obvious and undeniable to all that He truly is the Son of God.

By coming to earth in a humbled form, but still being holy and without sin, Jesus could take for us the punishment of the law, God’s punishment for sin; and he could die for us, because he had no sin of his own to die for.

Then, as the Son of God, he could rise for us, and in Baptism, give us his prefect righteousness to count as ours, to save us.

But he didn’t do all this, he didn’t invest his very life and his Spirit in us, so that we could walk according to the flesh, as Paul would say.

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.

It’s two completely different mindsets; two different and contrasting value systems -- the worldly mind that embraces sin versus the spiritual mind that embraces Christ.

 And they don’t mix. Just like death and life don’t mix; your dead or you’re alive, there’s nothing in between. So sin and Christ don’t mix.

Paul continues, For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life… and peace.

If you’re determined to sin, you’re determined to die. So considering that, what’s so great about sin, that we should devote our lives to the pursuit of it? Just because others tempt us and tell us it’s so great?

Adam and Eve thought that sinning against God was a great idea, until they did. And then they learned what suffering is, and death.

Our Epistle teaches us that we can’t blend together a life that given over to Christ, with a life that’s given to sin. They don’t work together; they can’t co-exist.

In verse 2 Paul tells us that the Spirit of life has set us free from the power of sin.

We’ll always have to contend with our own sin in this world, but that doesn’t mean we have to give in and let it take control of us; let our appetite for sin undo everything the Holy Spirit has done in us.

But that’s what can happen if you deliberately walk in the sinful flesh, as Paul says, instead of walking in the Spirit of Christ.

Paul says, For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

There’s no way to honor God with a conscience that’s hard toward sin, and a life that’s given over to it. That just leads to misery and death; and that doesn’t make God happy; that’s not what he wants for anyone.

What makes God happy is when you denounce sin and embrace Christ, his complete forgiveness for you.

When you have that rising up of faith and love in you; when you welcome the Holy Spirit to live in you; and you strive to be the kind of person Jesus is, that makes God happy with you, and happy for you.

Let the Spirit of Christ live and reign in you, rather than the spirit of sin dictating your life, and ruling your mind, destroying your spirit, ruining the best things about you.

As Paul says, to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life, and peace.

May Christ be your life, and may His forgiveness be your peace.

And may His peace, which passes understanding, and guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.