Picture an old, grey, broken-down, ramshackle house, no windows, holes in the roof, porch falling apart - the kind we often see along the sides of our back country Ozark roads. Got one in mind? Now, picture that house with this story I'm about to tell.
The story is told of an artist who walked two miles to his studio each morning. Halfway there, he would slow his pace to admire such an old broken-down house that stood vacant for many years. To the view of the ordinary passerby the house was nothing but an eyesore, a blight on the landscape. However, to the imaginative eye of the artist there was something fascinating about it that drew him to it. One day, in response to an irresistible urge within him, he bought that old house and moved in.
Once inside, he began to make improvements. Week by week, month by month, year by year the old house took on a new appearance as it reflected the touch of the master dwelling within it. Finally, in place of the disreputable old building that had marred the neighborhood for years there stood a gleaming white dwelling of striking grace and beauty – all because an artist, bought it, moved in, and took over.
Got the picture? Now listen again to Paul's words in our text: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He…will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.”
The same thing that happened to that old house when the artist moved in, happens to those who believe in the Lord Jesus. The Spirit moves in because no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. So, you believe in Christ as the Savior? The Spirit has moved in! And not only did He move in, He's making changes. You've come to life. You've become a dwelling of striking grace and beauty. Or, if you prefer, think of Ezekiel's Valley of the Dry Bones. God's Spirit breathed into your dry bones and you came to life. It's the same thing. It always happens when God's Spirit moves in. Things come to life. And the first thing that happens is…
I. …You live for Him.
In fact, Paul goes further. He says you have an obligation to live for Him , not for your sinful self, but for Him. Paul put it this way: “Therefore, brothers, (if the Spirit is living in you) we have an obligation – but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” An obligation to live for God ! What does he mean?
You owe God something! Why? Because He purchased you as His own through the blood of His Son on the cross. You are His. And thank goodness you are, otherwise you would be owned by the devil. He would make you his slave for evil and eventually would take you to hell along with him. But God buys you as His own through the blood of Christ and then sets you free. Jesus explained this in last week's Gospel text when He said, “I did not come to be served, but to serve; and to give my life a ransom for many.”
You are ransomed, freed from the devil and the effects of sin. Freed, but you have an obligation. Live like you are freed by God!
At first something seems wrong here, doesn't it? You've been freed; yet, you have an obligation. That seems contradictory – freed but obligated. You can't be both. Yes, you can; and it's a good thing! Think of it this way.
We've got an expression that goes like this when someone helps us out of a bad situation. We say, “Much obliged!” For example, if my car had gotten stuck in the snow last week and some guys who were passing by stopped to push me out, I might have said, “Much obliged guys!” and then drove off.
Many times that phrase is used to simply say “Thank you.” But it really goes a little further beyond a simple expression of gratitude. It says, “Oh, guys, I'm so thankful that you helped me. I feel indebted to you for the kind thing you've done.” Perhaps we'd then add, “I owe you one.”
Paul says if we believe that Christ died and rose again to save us from sin, the Holy Spirit lives in us and makes us God's children by that which Christ did. How about that! By nature (v.7) enemies of God because of our sin, now become His dear children, heirs of heaven. Imagine that. What a turn-around. At first we were His enemies going to hell, but now we are made His children going to heaven. In the place of death, He gives life – unending life.
And that life is a gift; you're not obliged to pay Him back for it. In fact you can't pay Him back; the price is too big. If you try to pay Him back, you'd actually be insulting God. It would be like receiving the gift of a big diamond ring, the biggest diamond you ever saw. “Wow!” you say. “Thank you for this great diamond. Let me repay you for it. Here's five dollars!” Five dollars for a diamond ring? What an insult! What ingratitude!
Yet, that's how many seem to approach life in Christ, thinking they are to pay God back or insisting that they can't accept the gift unless they pay Him back. And then they try to pay a holy God with imperfect deeds. How foolish! Christ did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as the ransom price. That means salvation, forgiveness, life in heaven is a gift earned by Christ, offered to all, and received by faith, a faith which the Holy Spirit works within as He moves in.
Still, Paul says that when the Spirit moves in and we believe in the Savior, we have an obligation to live for God. It's governed by an attitude of gratitude that says “I owe you one for pushing me out of the ditch of hell and taking me to heaven.” An attitude of gratitude.
Dear friends, our lives are different since that Spirit moved in . First, He led us to Christ. We didn't find Christ; the Spirit led us to Him, and then made us God's own children. Paul writes, “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” In the grand picture, He fixed our broken down lives of sin and built us into His holy dwelling, cleansed of all filth in the blood of the Savior, a temple for God. That affects us daily. We will not only live for God, but want to live for God to say, “Much obliged, Lord!” An attitude of gratitude.
We seek to make choices in life that show gratitude for His saving love, choices that don't follow sin and our selfish desires, but choices that follow the Savior's way of loving service. We want to become God's beautiful dwellings. And the Spirit leads us because He's moved in. He doesn't just give directions telling us how we should do it. Through Word and Sacrament He actually builds it in us and makes Himself the controlling influence in our lives. That's what happens when God's Spirit moves in.
II. You know you belong.
And when you see this happening, when you believe what He says is true, you know you belong here. Paul said it this way: “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God…. You received a spirit of sonship by which we cry, ‘Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. If we are children, then we are heirs of God, coheirs with Christ…and wait in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.”
Wow! That's a mouthful. I don't even know how to begin to show all these wonderful things that Paul says happens to us when God's Spirit moves in. Let's summarize it all by saying God wants to assure you: “ Know you belong. You belong here in my family, for Christ is your brother who redeemed you, now and forever. And you just wait to see what “forever” brings. Don't be overcome by all the bad stuff that happens to you now. Just wait and see what things are yet to come in a glorious heaven with me.”
That's God's assurance. And when God, the perfect loving Father, promises, you know you belong. As you look behind and look ahead, don't let anything make you afraid or doubt. You belong to Him . That assurance takes all kinds of fear and worries away, doesn't it?
Have you ever been in a group where you felt you really didn't belong? Not necessarily because you shouldn't have been there, but because you didn't feel part of the group? Maybe you've been to a party where everyone else there knew one another, but you didn't know a soul; you were the stranger. Or maybe you went to a party where all the men were dressed in tuxedos and the women in long, flowing gowns, and you went in jeans. How uncomfortable, uneasy, unsure, out-of-place you felt.
Sometimes the devil tempts us to feel that way about our relationship within the family of God. He uses doubts and worries – some of it centered on our sins and weaknesses of the past that make us afraid lest they be found out. And then he whispers scornfully in our ears, “And you think you belong here! You think you can be one of God's children?”
If that happens, don't “trust your feelings,” as people like to say. Trust what God says. Feelings can err; God's promises are sure. Trust the Spirit for He lives in you to testify that for Christ's sake you are forgiven and you are God's children, heirs of heaven now and forever.
If God says it, you know you belong . That's what happens when the Spirit moves in . What a beautiful dwelling He makes you. God grant it in our lives of faith for Jesus' sake. Amen.