Sermon for the 14 th Sunday after Trinity

September 12, 2004

Flesh

“Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. …they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. ”

Jesus healed the lepers as they walked away to be examined by the priests. Jesus hailed the one leper, a Samaritan, who was the only one of ten to come back to Him in order to give thanks to God. Ten men were healed in their flesh, only one receives the healing of his soul.

     Leprosy is a disease of the flesh, that is , of the tissues of our bodies. It was a dreaded disease, seen to be contagious, though most often it was not. A common form of leprosy is called Hansen's disease . That's a condition first of the nervous system, where the victim is unable to feel any pain. A result of that absence of pain is that people hurt themselves and they don't know it. A cut, a burn, a scrape—no matter. Without pain, they ignore the injury, and infection sets in. Still without feeling, the infection rages and begins to decay skin, inner tissues, festering sores, unchecked destruction of the body leading to death.

     A leper was called “ unclean ,” and had to wear bells about town to warn others that a leper was coming, and shout, “ Unclean !” as he walked. People shunned lepers, drove them away from home and family into colonies. In Jewish Law, the priest would certify that a person was truly a leper, or not. Thus, Jesus was encouraging the lepers to go to the priest to see if they were healed.

     Leprosy is symptom, not the original problem . Pain is a God-given benefit to us, so that we know to cleanse and protect our bodies. When we don't, more pain drives us to care for our injuries, and to stay away from dangerous things. If we fail to heed the warnings, our bodies suffer and we are driven from the society of men. Leprosy was so, and so is the drug world. So is the life of an alcoholic. The addict loves his drug more than life, and his body suffers, whether he is addicted to chemicals, pornography, violence, cigarettes, or fattening food. Sins of the flesh all take their toll on the flesh . There are other sins, but that's another sermon.

     Now it's odd for me to preach about flesh right before our church picnic. We're cooking hamburgers and hot dogs , playing and goofing around, and swimming today. I'm not issuing any discouragement from these pursuits. The difference between having a burger and being addicted to Big Macs should be clear to us all. And the difference shows up in the waste line.

     But the subject is flesh. Now, flesh is not sin . In fact, the word “ flesh ,” as it is used in the Bible, means many things, good and bad. It always denotes our physical nature . God didn't create sin when He invented human flesh. He gave His Son to be “the Word … made flesh, [who] dwelt among us.” John 1:14 Jesus commented on His Apostles' inability to pray an hour with Him in Gethsemane as a result of their flesh. “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41 Flesh is weakness, limitation, temporal. We hunger and have to stop and eat. We tire, and must stop to sleep. We grow weary and must stop going and rest. We get old and can't do what we used to do. These are not sinful, but understandable results of a limited human's existence . It is truly the human condition.

     But being human , we have weaknesses that deny God's access and sovereignty over us, that fight against His Spirit in us and the things He seeks to work in us. If a Christian man were only able to do what any man does, then God is not glorified in his life . But if the Spirit of God lives in a man, and that man allows the Spirit of God to move on his life, inform him of God's will, and conforms that man to life in the Spirit, then even in his human flesh will a man do impossible things, amaze other men and prove that God works through these vessels of clay. Jesus was perfect in this: all man and all God . We seek to emulate His life through our own. This, then, is the object of the Church…

      We were born in the world. The smell of the world is still on us. “ all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” is proof of our birthplace . 1 John 2:16 Jesus was born here also. We bear the evidence of fallen humanity. We get wrinkled, we have aches and pains, we tire easily. We hunger and thirst. We need glasses. We go bald. So, we are in flesh. We can't help it. God knows.

      But if that's it, we're doomed, for the world and its flesh are destined for the fire. Christ came to give us more, not to deny our human nature, but to restore it to what it was from the first: an intersection of the physical creation and the spiritual realm . He cleanses our flesh through Baptism, and upon that cleansing, He gives us the inheritance of the Holy Spirit, to indwell us, live in us, inspire us, strengthen us, lead us back to God. From inside of us, His voice is heard.

      That, then, is the point of choice for us. Will we follow the Spirit or our flesh? The flesh talks loudly at times, the drumbeat of our humanness is hard to ignore. Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub … Now we can't become like lepers and ignore our physical flesh, our natural needs . Our spiritual nature is in favor of truth: not a Gnostic lie that we are spirits trapped in rotting corpses, yearning to spring free of this evil world. The world as God created it is not evil, only weakened by sin.

      In Church we are encouraged to walk in the Spirit and deny ourselves, our body's cravings. Nobody's body loves to sit in these pews. It is somewhat uncomfortable to kneel on the kneelers, or to genuflect. This collar, or your tie may be a bit tight. Women may wear head coverings, even against their fleshly objections of being unfashionable. We spend an hour or more looking at what seems a blank wall, an uninhabited ceiling, my back to worship a God who is not visible. We use archaic speech, sing very old music, cross ourselves and keep quiet. These things are not natural for us . Lying on a couch propped up by pillows and watching the niners play is more to the liking of the flesh.

      But we have a quest. Our home for eternity is not here. These bodies will die and decay, go back to the dust from which they are made. We have claimed the rights of heavenly life through faith in the Son of God. We have made a good beginning.

      It's like this building, claimed 10 years ago by our congregation, risen out of the ruins of a church that no longer wanted it, and a restaurant that failed here. We cleaned it up, and God inhabited it. We come to worship Him here. This building is like our bodies, our flesh, sanctified by the indwelling Spirit of God. Thus, we keep that red light burning before His Presence.

      In 1994 , we were on fire with the idea of claiming back this building for God. It would be a great miracle , in the words of our Archbishop, and it was. Our vision had several parts, some hard, some harder still. We've done so much in the Spirit by God's grace and power. There are two steps more to go: Augie's and the completion of the Christian Education Center.

      But do we grow weary of the chase? “Isn't this enough? Can't we lie down now and rest? Why do we have to have a coffee house? Who says we want college kids in our building? Who are these new people? Can't we just enjoy our church and relax?”

      St. Paul chided his church at Galatia. “Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Galatians 3:3 Once begun by God's miraculous means, will we go back to what only men can do? Men can do these things: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings . They can also just slump. And having begun a good thing, forget where it came from and think they did it, and can stop doing it if they wish.

      But God's Spirit is in you , in me, provoking and inspiring us to keep on the course, there more to do. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance are signs that God is working in you. So are the fruits of the Spirit, extraordinary gifts of grace, generosity, zeal, sacrifice, the working of miracles .

      Our flesh is weak in this world, but we seek a world to come where our human nature will be glorious. We don't just sit in a waiting room, hoping for the rapture, doing nothing until we die. For truly, a talent so buried receives only a scornful judgment from Christ. He died so that you might live in the Spirit and show the works of God in your lives to the glory of God.

      Jesus' flesh grew weary. It even knew fear. It's all right to be human. You're human. Be human. But it's everlasting life to be in the Spirit as well, living the life of God in these clay jars. It's a miracle, a wonder most marvelous . You can't do it, only God can do it in you. But you can always, through the frailty of your flesh, deny Him His right to rule you . Your power, your only authority, is to say Yes to Him, or No. Say Yes and His power does what is impossible. Say no , and you have made your decision and nothing follows worth mentioning.

      The Spirit or the flesh: Which is it?

             PFH+