Free to Live as a Disciple (Sermon)

Just a few remarks. If you have already watched the sermon on Facebook, you are probably thinking, "Wait, the manuscript is very different from the video!" Yes, that is true. Even as I prepare manuscripts for the week's sermon if really serves as a research or preparation document. It is rarely meant to be read from. I don't always have time to prepare a manuscript. On those occasions I prepare an outline.

Oh! If you haven't seen the video of this sermon, you can do so here...
https://www.facebook.com/1308738/videos/3369185506729801/

Sermon: Free to Live as a Disciple – July 23, 2023 – Lebanon UMC
Proper 11 (16) Year A — Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43  

Introduction

Today’s texts deal with some of the pain and frustrations of living the life of the disciple. The Bible never says that the life of a disciple will be an easy one — to the contrary, the life is described as “denying ourselves and taking up our cross daily to follow Jesus.” (See Luke 9:23)

Working Through Matthew

Today’s Gospel lesson is a Kingdom of Heaven parable of Jesus. We often refer to this parable as the Parable of the Wheat and Tares. Our more modern translations translate the word ζιζανιον as weeds instead of Tares. The word seems to refer to a type of plant that looked very much like wheat but was poisonous to eat. (“Tares - Vine’s”) It would certainly be an unwelcome plant in any field and its presence in this image of the Kingdom of God is significant.

The Sower sows seed in the world (represented by the field). The church is the crop harvested from the field. At the harvest, the tares will be separated from the wheat and destroyed. (McIver, p. 652)

If we believe the church to be the earthly manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven, then we see that it is populated by good seed and bad seed. The church is as much of this world as it is the world to come (vs. 39). There are both godly and ungodly people in the church. In the parable, the servants are quick to suggest that the tares immediately be pulled up and discarded. But the farmer is patient. (Hare, p. 155) The problem is that it is hard to distinguish between the wheat and the tares while growing. The farmer is fearful that the servants would most likely uproot good wheat in the process of removing the tares. (Witherington, p. 267) So we, like the farmer must learn to be patient. (Hauerwas, p. 133)

Jesus is telling us that the reality is this: there will be godly and ungodly people in the church, but it would be a mistake to try and rid the field of the tares. Yet so many church conflicts are caused by this very action — deciding who is the good seed and who is the bad seed. We are bound to get them mixed up.

The day of harvest will come, but it is not now.

Romans 8

Now, let’s shift our attention to Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Anders Nygren, a former bishop in the Lutheran tradition describes Romans 5 through 8 as an explanation of the great freedoms we have in Christ. In chapter 5, we are free from the wrath of God, chapter 6, free from sin, chapter 7, free from the law, and chapter 8, free from death (Nygren, p. 32). Here in the reading from today’s text from Romans, we see that we are free, that is, under “no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do” (Rm. 8:12 NLT).

Wesley sees justification and regeneration (being saved and being born again) are two sides of the same coin. But while justification is a once for all gift from Christ by his work on the cross, regeneration is the beginning of a life of sanctification (or growing in holiness). (Maddox, p. 170) Here in Romans 8 we see that it is “through the power of the Spirit [we] put to death the deeds of [our] sinful nature” (vs. 13). This is what it means to grow in holiness.

So, let’s take a closer look at our reading from Romans 8 and see how it helps us understand the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ. But as we get underway, let me say this. I am reading today from the New Living Translation. I chose this translation because of the way in uses ‘sinful nature’ for the Greek word σάρξ, literally ‘flesh’. For the most part, this makes the text more understandable. But it isn’t perfect. I don’t believe that the flesh/spirit realms are simply evil and good. The flesh refers to the life and obligations in our old life. The spirit refers to the life and obligations of the new life.

We Have the Power (by the Spirit) to Battle our Sinful Natures

¹² Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. ¹³ For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

Let me read verse 12 in the Common English Bible, “So then, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, but it isn’t an obligation to ourselves to live our lives on the basis of selfishness.” We do have an obligation, but not to our sinful natures. In the Roman world, people were understood to have obligations to people in their social circle, but now we are not to allow the world to define those obligations – we let the Spirit define our obligations (Jewett, pp. 493-494). Changing social obligations would often disrupt family life: obligations with your family in Christ conflicting with your natural family (Luke 12:52-53). Remember that the transition is from the old life (flesh) and the new life (spirit).

In chapter 7, Paul describes how in our former lives before Christ we were slaves to our sinful natures. We were bound to the power and obligations of the old life. We couldn’t help it. He writes…

¹⁸ And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. ¹⁹ I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. ²⁰ But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. (Rm. 7:18-20 NLT)

But now, in Christ, we have died to sin. Of course, we still must fight and resist sin, but we no longer live under its dominion. We now live in the power of the Holy Spirit and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are able to resist the tendencies of our sinful natures.

More than resist! “Through the power of the Spirit [we] put to death the deeds of [our] sinful nature.” (vs. 13) The fancy church word for “putting to death” is mortification. It begins with the ability to recognize evil in our own lives and a desire to crucify it. It is responding to the call of Jesus “to deny ourselves and to take up our cross daily to follow him.” (Mk. 8:34)

We do this by actively working by the Holy Spirit who gives us the ability to act on this desire. It is worth whatever pain or discomfort we may experience because of the joys of the fulness of life that will be ours. (Stott, pp. 228-229)

As Christians in the Wesleyan-Methodist tradition we believe in the ongoing work of God’s Spirit in our lives. We are able to live into the new life, sustained by grace and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Thus, led by the Spirit of God we are the children of God (vs. 14). And how are we made children of God?

We Have Been Adopted by the Father

¹⁵ So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

The Holy Spirit assures us of our relationship with the Father as God’s children. We have been adopted by God as his own children. We are to live with the rights and place of children and not as slaves. We know this to be the case because of the Holy Spirit’s witness to our spirits that we are children of God. (vs. 16)

As fellow heirs with Christ, we share together with Christ in his glory, but also in his suffering. “The suffering is the indispensable prelude to the glory.” (Bruce, p. 159)

Creation Itself Longs for Redemption

¹⁸ Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. ¹⁹ For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. ²⁰ Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, ²¹ the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. ²² For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

We often hear the story of Adam and Eve told as the Fall of humanity. “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned” (5:12). As sin entered the world everything, even creation itself, became corrupted by sin. This is why even creation “looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay” (vs. 21).

We Look Forward to This Life of Discipleship with Patience

²⁴ We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. ²⁵ But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

Yes, this is the hope we have!

References

Bruce, F. F. The Letter of Paul to the Romans: An Introduction and Commentary. 2nd ed, Inter-Varsity Press ; W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 1985.

Hare, Douglas R. A. Matthew. John Knox Press, 1993.

Hauerwas, Stanley. Matthew. Brazos Press, 2006.

Jewett, Robert. Romans: A Commentary. Edited by Roy David Kotansky and Eldon Jay Epp, Fortress Press, 2007.

Maddox, Randy L. Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology. Kingswood Books, 1994.

McIver, Robert K. “The Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat (Matt 13:24-30, 36-43) and the Relationship between the Kingdom and the Church as Portrayed in the Gospel of Matthew.” Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 114, no. 4, 1995, pp. 643–59. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3266479.

Nygren, Anders. Commentary on Romans. 1949 Second Printing, Muhlenberg Press, 1949.

Stott, John R. W. The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World. InterVarsity Press, 1994.

“Tares - Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.” Blue Letter Bible, https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/Dictionary/viewTopic.cfm?topic=VT0002911. Accessed 18 July 2023.

Witherington, Ben. Matthew. Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 2006.