May 27, 2018                        Life in the Spirit                                  

         A few years ago, I heard a speaker at a College Graduation ceremony tell a group of graduates about the challenge of life that they would be facing as they went out into the work world. “The challenge of life,” he said, “was not to stay a live, but to stay in love!” And then he told the following story.

         There was once a study done of 700 MBA students, for those who don’t know, MBA means Masters of Business Administration. Anyway, those 700 students were asked why they were getting their degrees. Of the 700 students, 500 said they were getting their degree to make money and pay their bills. The remaining 200 said they were getting their degree because it would help them make what they loved doing into a business.

         Now, 10 years later, all 700 of these students were contacted again, and the funny thing is, of the 500 who said they were getting their degree to make money, only 1 had become a millionaire. And even more interesting, was that of the 200 who said they were getting their degree to so they could do what they loved, 107 had become millionaires.

         “And so,” he told them, “The challenge of living is not to stay alive, but to stay in love!”

         I thought of this story because all three of our scripture passages this morning speak about the difference between living life in the flesh and living life in the Spirit.  and the life of the spirit. When we live solely for the purpose of staying alive, for the purpose of accumulating things, or wealth, or pleasures, we are living according to the flesh!

But when we live for the purpose of love, for the purpose of creating, or being reconciled to others, for sharing the abundance of God’s grace and gifts with one another, then we are living according to the Spirit. So as Christians, the challenge of life, is not to live according to the flesh, but to live with that passion of love for God and for one another that is life in the Holy Spirit.

         Now all three of our scripture passages this morning are all concerned specifically with what it means to live according to the Spirit in the context of religion.

         Isaiah is a priest in the temple of Jerusalem, he has lived a holy life according to the law. He has offered sacrifices for the sins of others on numerous occasions. He is above reproach in all his dealings with humankind.

But in the presence of God, he recognizes that for all his human virtue, he is just as lost and sinful as any sinner in the world. And so he cries out to God, and God forgives his sin, and then God calls and sends Isaiah out into the world to proclaim his message.

         And for those who have read the message of Isaiah, one knows that the message of the book of Isaiah is that God’s will and God’s laws should not be done according to the flesh, for personal gain or appearance or profit. But that God’s will and laws should be done simply for the love of God, to create life, to reconcile people to one another, and to show God’s mercy and compassion and justice for all.

         Paul himself knows all about the difference between life in the flesh and life in the Spirit. In his ministry, Paul is constantly beset by Judaizers. Jewish people who demand that all of Paul’s converts live according to God’s law. But Paul knows the error of the Jewish religion. That using the laws of God, or any law, as a means for personal salvation is using religion as a means to live according to the flesh.

But to live in with that same passion and love for one another that God has shown to us in Jesus Christ, is to live according to the Spirit. Again, as in Isaiah’s message, This Spirit is a spirit of love by which we seek to create life rather than destroy it, to reconcile people to one another rather than divide them, and to seek justice and mercy and compassion for all people, rather than seek the injustice of our own advantage over others.  

         People who live in this Spirit, Paul contends, are far more likely to fufill God’s law, because if they love God, they will joyfully do what God commands. While those who live according to the flesh, will grumble, avoid, and twist God’s commands to their own ends.

         And Jesus this morning discusses with Nicodemus the religion of the flesh that the Jews have created with life in the Spirit to which one must be born in order to be saved. Now the Jewish leaders of Jesus day, had created some 613 laws that must be observed for salvation, and they had turned their religion into a fleshly observance of these commands. As Jesus himself said, they had tied up heavy burdens upon the people, and did not lift a finger to help them. But Jesus helped them, by telling them that if they loved God, they would fulfill all the demands of the law. The focus of their faith shouldn’t be on the fleshly observance of the law, but on loving God, and in loving God, in loving neighbor.

        

         So what does this have to do with us. We don’t have a church that demands we obey all the Jewish laws, we don’t refuse communion to those who the pastor or the church council decide have not done enough to receive it. But there is still that tension in our churches between the flesh and the spirit, there is still that tension between doing what we believe is enough to be saved, and living in the Spirit of God’s love. There is still that grumbling about what we must do to keep the church going, versus the joy of doing the work of the church and making a difference in people’s lives.

         This tension exists in every church, and in every church, there are wonderful examples of those who offer their lives in service to God and to one another. There are wonderful examples of people who live in the Spirit, because they love God, and seek to realize God’s purposes and plan for their lives and for the world. These people do not come to worship, participate in missions, fellowship, and fundraisers  because they have to, they do so because they want to, they want to share God’s love with others, and with the whole world. And I encourage all of you to grow in that Spirit as well. For therein lies life in the Spirit and life everlasting! Amen.