LA, Proper 9, July 6, 2008

How many here know that we are at war? I am not referring to the present war in Iraq. The scriptures have told us that there will be wars and rumors of war on earth until Jesus returns. This is not the kind of war that I am talking about today. What I am speaking about is the war between our flesh and our spirit.

In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans he writes, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.  For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” Just a note here of clarification, when Paul refers to his members, he does not mean the members of the church. He is referring to the parts of his body that are tempted to remain under the bondage of sin. In other words, he is speaking about the struggle between fleshly desires and spiritual desires.

This is an everyday struggle. It is a war between doing what one knows is right and not doing what one knows is wrong. Each one of us has been given a weakness in our flesh that will destroy us if we allow it to rule our lives. Pope Gregory listed seven sins as deadly, because these sins not only destroy the body, but also the soul. They are lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Whatever the weakness within our flesh is, we can only have victory over sin through Jesus Christ. This is why St. Paul writes, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

In Christ, we are more than conquerors. In fact, St. Paul puts it this way, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

For those of us who walk in the Spirit of Christ Jesus, the war has already been won. Although our flesh may tempt us to do what we know is wrong, the victory over our fleshly desires has already been paid. It is for us a matter of choosing our victory in Christ or living a life of defeat in the flesh.

The world and the Evil One will always try to make the pleasures of the flesh more desirable. Even Christ Himself was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness, so much more will we be tempted.  In St. Peter’s first letter, which he wrote to the exile of the Dispersion, he writes this warning, “Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.”

St. Peter does not stop there. Instead, he gives the readers hope in their struggles. He writes, “Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.”

The good news of being a Christian is that we are never alone. Jesus, who overcame our mutual foe, is always with us. Even more than that Jesus has already fought the battles for us. We only need to rest in His victory over sin and death. This is why Jesus tells us in the gospel of Matthew, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

There are some here today who have been going through some major struggles in your life. You may have turned to everyone you know for help, when help was waiting beside you all along. The Lord Jesus Christ wants to ease you of your burdens. He wants to let you know that you are no longer under the condemnation of sin and sorrow. He wants you to rest in His peace that passes all understanding. There is no suffering so great that Christ cannot bear. There is no sin so huge that Christ has not already atoned through His precious blood.

Too many Christians in this world go through life burdened with sorrow and past sins. Some even continue in the sins that so easily tempts them through their flesh. Yet, this is not the life that Jesus died to give to us. The life he died for us is a life filled with His peace and joy.  No matter what the Evil One brings our way, Jesus can give us His rest even in the midst of great trials and tribulations.

In the gospel of John chapter ten, verse ten, Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  It is because the ancient martyrs knew this fullness of life with in them that they were able to endure horrible tortures and even death for Christ’s sake, because they knew that their Redeemer lived within them. They knew that they were not alone in their sufferings. Today’s martyrs for Christ continue to hold on to this revelation that has baffled the world.

This past week as many of us prepared to celebrate our country’s birthday and the gift of freedom, Christians throughout the world were called to take a stand for Christ. For example, according to ‘Voice of the Martyrs’, an organization that seeks to support present day Christians who are being persecuted, in Beijing, China, on July 2^nd, Pastor Hua Huiqi, a prominent house church leader and his family were forced from their home by the Public Security Bureau. “According to China Aid Association (CAA), “Hua and his family were resting in their rental apartment when PSB officials led by Officer Yang Jian used a 10-pound hammer to break down the doors and locks of the apartment. Hua’s brother was beaten by police officers and suffered severe damage to his eye. Hua and his family, including his 90-year-old father, were forced onto the street with their furniture. They are currently in search of a new home and are being hosted by a Christian family in Beijing.”

This is just one example of the persecutions of our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world. Here in America, we have become so self-centered that we think that our daily trials of overcoming the sins of the flesh are unbearable. As we complain about the difficulties of facing our fleshly weaknesses, other Christians are being forced from their very homes because of Christ.

The time we spend in prayer over our personal struggles could be better spent praying for our brothers and sisters who know the true meaning of struggling for Christ. It is time for the Church in America to grow up! We need to stop acting like a bunch of little fat babies that need continual coddling and start using the great gifts of freedom to support our brothers and sisters in Christ in their life and death struggles for remaining true to Christ.

We need to take Christ at His word and get over ourselves. Only when we start putting Jesus first, others second and ourselves last will we become the Church we have been called to be. In house quarrels over protocol and politics are a waste of time. Brothers and sisters are being persecuted while we sit around feeling sorry for ourselves and arguing about this and that. This is not the Bride of Christ that Jesus died for us to be.

The Bride of Christ that the Church has been called to be already sits with Christ in the heavenly places.  St. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians, “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us ⁵even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ^*—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, may we rise up in His glory to be the Church Jesus has called us to be. May we shun the works of the flesh and put on the raiment of the Bride of Christ knowing that in Him there is no condemnation. For just as we have been set free in America from the earthly bondage of tyrants, even more so we have been set free through the blood of Jesus from the bondage of sin. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”