By The Rev. Dr. Paul A. Leggett
Sunday, November 30, 2008 · First Sunday of Advent
Sermon Text: Romans 8:1-11
Sermon Theme
Paul has presented the crisis of the Christian life as a conflict between opposing forces. He has described this conflict in terms of Adam and Christ (Romans 5:12-21). Death and sin are on the side of Adam. All of us are trapped in their power. Yet the power on Christ’s side is grace. Grace is God’s free mercy, forgiveness and new life given in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. Grace is far greater, far more powerful than sin and death. In the power of grace, sin no longer rules over us (Romans 6:1-23). Yet sin remains within us. While we have been made alive through Christ, we are not yet fully in Christ in this life. The law only serves to remind us of how powerful sin still is in our lives (Romans 7:1-13). We are divided selves torn between the old nature of sin and our desire to follow Christ. In our selves, we are helplessly torn between the two, constantly being brought down by sin, which, while not dominating us, nonetheless exerts real power over us (Romans 7:14-24). The solution is the power of Jesus Christ exercised through the Holy Spirit. The ultimate conflict is between our flesh (Adam) and the Spirit (Christ). We struggle between these two Lords. This conflict is clearly displayed in the Advent and Christmas seasons and has in fact gone on for two thousand years. Christ alone sets us free from this conflict.
Sermon Outline
- Sin. The problem of sin will not go away. Paul says, “for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15). In this eighth chapter of Romans, Paul affirms two critical points about the problem of sin. The first is that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. The second is that Christ Jesus came to take on our “sinful flesh.” Jesus does not appear as a second, sinless Adam. He is tempted in every way just as we are, yet he is without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus is always with us in our times of temptation.
- Savior. For Paul, to be set free “from the law of sin and death” includes also being set free from the powers, rulers and authorities of this age. The cosmic powers which Paul mentions repeatedly in this letters are constantly seeking individuals to do their will. One way they do this is by pointing people to false saviors. By Paul’s time, the original Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, had been deified as a savior and god. His worship was an example of setting a person’s minds on the flesh.
- Spirit. The answer to the struggle with sin is the power of the Holy Spirit. We are to set our minds “on the things of the Spirit.” What are these things? They are the things which point to Christ according to the Word of God. We need to recognize that the Advent and Christmas seasons are really a spiritual war between the things of the flesh and the things of the Spirit. This battle began with the birth of Jesus. People throughout Rome worshiped Caesar Augustus as a “God-incarnate” deity. The whole point of the Christmas story in Luke is the contrast between the false savior and the true savior. Augustus and his celebrations at the end of the calendar year represented “the things of the flesh.” As Christians, we are called to celebrate “the things of the Spirit.” This is both our challenge and our opportunity.
Questions for Us
- What hope can we take from the fact that Jesus came to us "in the likeness of sinful flesh"?
- What are some of the ways we set our minds on the flesh? How can we set them more on the things of the Spirit?
- If the Advent and Christmas seasons represent an inherent conflict between Caesar as Lord and Christ as Lord, how can we make our observance of these seasons more an affirmation of the true Lord, Jesus Christ?
