Brent Kuhlman

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Fifth Sunday after Pentecost / Proper 8                                                                                     

27 June 2010                                   

Galatians 5:1, 13-25

You get hit.  So you hit back.  Harder.  In a fit of rage if you have to!  Until the person that hit you lies in a bloody pulp.  Someone hurts you.  So you retaliate with red-hot vengeance.  Someone betrays you.  So you strike back in spades. Someone tells a lie about you.  Someone misrepresents you.  So you go on the warpath.  You sow the seeds of dissension.  Spread on the hatred like a knife with your tongue.  Create factions in the family, community or congregation.  Tit for tat.  Quid pro quo.  Looking out for number one!  Kick in the teeth of anyone who stands in your way of being number one!  Make sure that you get what you want.  After all, isn’t selfish ambition what life’s all about?  You’ve got to be strong, take care of yourself, and take charge of your life!  Right?     

And since life is all about looking out for number one then anything goes.  Anything!  Especially when it comes to sexuality.  Anything sexual is open season.  From premarital to extramarital. From porno to same sex.  Even in groups.  After all, it’s your body isn’t it?  Don’t you have a constitutional right to do whatever you want with your body with as many people as you like?  And who cares about getting wasted?  If it feels good, do it!  And while we’re at it wouldn’t it be cool to join an on-line coven, dress like a witch, cast a few spells, do a little sorcery, and play around with the occult?  After all, I want to do what I want to do.  Whenever I want.  Now matter who I hurt.  No matter how many I hurt.  Just as long as I feel good!  Just as long as I … I… I …

What’s the problem here?  It’s idolatry.  The worship of the self!  The indulgence of the self.  Self.  Self.  Self.  Me.  Myself. And I.  I’m everything.  I’m the end all.  I’m the center of the universe.  Not Jesus.  I am god.  Not Jesus.  I can take care of myself – all by myself.  Don’t need Jesus.      

That kind of life – the selfish, idolatrous life that gratifies the “desires of the sinful nature” is a prison.  A life in chains.  A life locked up in destruction.  In death.    

Is that you?  Is your life so full of yourself, your needs, your gratification, self-indulgence that you have no room for Jesus?    

Good thing James and John aren’t here.  They’d offer some apostolic advice.  Throw around some apostolic authority.  “Give these people what they deserve Jesus!  They’re like the Samaritans who wouldn’t welcome you.  They don’t want you here.  Fine.  So let’s do an Elijah!  Call down fire from heaven and wipe them out!” 

But that’s not how Jesus works.  He loves.  Not just His friends.  But even His enemies.  Samaritans.  You.  Me.  He loves the loveless.  He forgives the unforgiveable.  He dies for the ungodly.    

The opposite of our idolatrous prison in which we live only to gratify the desires of our sinful nature is freedom.  In Christ.  “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”  He lived His life for you.  He died for you.  He answered for all your sin.  He didn’t leave any sin of yours out of His Good Friday dying.  To save you.  And you have been given the Holy Spirit in your Baptism. 

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”  What does this Spirit-filled life of freedom look like?  Are you free to do anything you want?  To “indulge the sinful nature?”  No.  Just the opposite. 

Your call to freedom in Christ means two things. 

First, Christ has set you free from the prison house of your sin and the entirety of its dark damnation not to serve yourself BUT to serve your neighbor – friend or foe!  “Serve one another in love.”  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”   

All this includes teaching and correcting those who err.  Forgiving those who sin against you.  Not exercising your rights even when you have every right to do so.  Comforting the afflicted.  Encouraging the weak.  Helping your neighbor, both friend and foe, in whatever way you can.  Bearing with those who are rude and impolite.  Putting up with people who just annoy the-you-know-what out of you.  Turning a blind eye to ingratitude and contempt.  Being patient with your spouse, ex-spouse, children, step-children, and fellow church members.  Turning the other cheek when the venom flies. 

Second, freedom in Christ means the daily struggle and fight AGAIST the “desires of the sinful nature.”  “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”  “

And that’s a battle you can’t win on your own.  For that daily and deadly battle Jesus has given you the Holy Spirit.  In the Worded water of your baptism.  In the absolution – Christ’s very own Spirit-filled breath that gives you new life and freedom.  In the Lord’s Supper -- He gives you the elixir of the Spirit’s medicine of immortality.  Your bodies are not your own.  They belong to Jesus who died to redeem them and sanctify them through the Spirit hooked with His Word of forgiveness.  Your bodies are temples of the Spirit.  He dwells in you through faith in Jesus.    

And from that faith in Jesus comes fruit of the Spirit.  Led by the Spirit there is: “Love.  Joy.  Peace.  Patience.  Kindness.  Goodness.  Faithfulness.  Gentleness.  Self-control.” 

A Holy Spirit filled life is the life of dying to sin.  The end of all self-centered pride.  The end to all self-assertion and envy.  The end of idolatry – the demolition of your worship of yourself as god.

The Holy Spirit filled life is the life of faith in Jesus.  You are forgiven.  Free.  “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”  Free then to “love your neighbor as yourself.”    

Learn such love today once again.  Learn such freedom today once again by God’s grace.  Learn to “live by the Spirit.”

After all, everything is forgiven in Jesus.  He loves you.  He lives the very love He teaches.  His Body and His Blood given into death for you at the Cross He gives today in the Sacrament.  And His promise is this:  “I don’t count your sin against you.”  And the fruit of the Spirit follows naturally.  After all, a good tree bears good fruit.

How much?  Well, with leave that up to the Lord and to His Spirit who live in us through His Word of forgiveness.  We won’t keep score.  He’ll see to the fruit.  And we’ll bear it abundantly as He sees fit to use us as His instruments of love for those in our lives who need it.   

In the Name of Jesus.