Enjoy Spirit Security!

5th Sunday in Lent, 4/6/14
Romans 8:11-19


Enjoy Spirit Security!
I. Receiving real life from the Spirit
II. Living a life led by the Spirit
III. Embracing testimony from the Spirit


If you’re familiar at all with the comic strip “Peanuts” then you’ll have no trouble answering this question: What’s Linus known for? It’s his blanket. It goes with him everywhere he goes. And the only one who gives him any grief over it is his older, bossy sister Lucy.

In fact, I have yet to meet the person who considers Linus and his blanket anything but enjoyable and endearing. And why is that? Because everyone can identify with Linus. He has his insecurities and his solution is his blanket. Many are the times in our lives when we wish we had a Linus blanket to help us face our insecurities.

And they come in all shapes and sizes. I’m sure we all have experienced financial insecurity at one time or another. We simply don’t know how we’re going to make it with the funds that we have. And when we are flush with funds, we’re uncertain how we’re going to keep it that way.

Closely related to our financial insecurities are our employment insecurities. It used to be the norm that you worked for the same company all your life and then retired. That’s almost unheard of today. We live with the unease that our termination could happen any day.

Here’s another one: insecurities about our health. It’s true that people in our society are living longer than ever before, but that also means that they’re dealing with health issues for a longer period of time. They persist in spite of tremendous medical technology. We even have a term for them: they’re chronic.

But perhaps the most difficult insecurity we face is in our relationships. Not knowing where you stand with someone else has a way of eating at you. It makes you suspicious and irritable. It causes you to withdraw and obsess.

Are any or all of those insecurities part of your world?

They would make life unbearable if it weren’t for one amazing truth: your relationship with your God who loves you with an everlasting love is absolutely secure and it’s not due to anything you have done or have to do. It’s all been done for you by God the Holy Spirit. That’s the good news that that our God shares with us this morning in this portion of Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Your relationship with your God is secure. So enjoy it! Enjoy Spirit Security! Let’s see what it’s all about.

Part I.

Have you ever seen the walking dead? Some of you might reply, “I sure have. In some cheesy horror movies.” OK. Fair enough. But I mean for real. Have you ever seen a dead person walking?

I’m sure you have. Every day. It might even be someone who is very close to you. I’m talking about a person who is physically alive but spiritually dead. Sad to say, those people are all over the place. Because of their unbelief they are separated from the true God and walk each day one day closer to eternal separation from him. They’re the walking-dead.

But that’s not you. No, by God’s grace you have life, real life. You see, God describes life—real life—as having a loving relationship with him. And that’s what you have by the working of the Holy Spirit. By bringing you to faith in Jesus the Holy Spirit has created spiritual life in you. You’re a child of God, someone whom God has drawn close to himself.

That’s a relationship that God intends to enjoy with you not just for a lifetime, but for an eternal lifetime. God’s plans to be with you aren’t limited to the next few years or even decades; they’re forever. Jesus won that gift of eternal life for you when he died and rose again and the Holy Spirit has brought that gift to you by faith in Jesus. You have eternal security.

But the good news doesn’t stop there. Listen again to the opening words of our text, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” Dead people don’t come back from the dead as the walking dead; they come back as the walking alive. As we’ll celebrate on Easter, one of the certainties that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead gives us is that we, too, will rise from the dead on the Last Day with glorified bodies. Just consider all the insecurities we have about our bodies! Our God tells us, “Don’t worry about it. I have immortality in glory all set for you. And it’s all yours through the Holy Spirit.

Enjoy Spirit security, receiving real life from the Spirit.

What is real living in our world? For some it’s success in business, sports, or technology. For others it’s living in a dream home on their dream property. For still others it’s attaining what makes you happy. But the truth is, such people who enjoy such “real living” end up in the same place as people whose lives have been miserable—in the grave. What matters is whether or not you have received life from the Spirit or not. And by God’s grace you have. You’re enjoying one of the blessings of it right now—joining your fellow believers in praising the God who gave you real life and nurturing that life as you hear his word. You have real life—the life your God intends for you. What security! Enjoy Spirit security!

Part II.

Heinous crimes. Unthinkable violence. It happened again the other day in a local park. Two men get into an argument on a basketball court and one ends up murdered. What would cause a person to do such a thing? Some would say it’s the environment of violence in which that person lives. The Bible would call it something else: slavery to your sinful nature. In other words, the person’s sinful nature goes unchecked and drives them to do such despicable things.

Could that ever happen with you? Do we live in the insecurity of wondering if we might be driven to do something similar or worse? Not if your life is led by the Spirit. Paul states that very thing when he writes,

“Therefore, brothers, 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, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Paul states what has happened with all of us—our sinful nature was put to death at our baptisms. Luther would say it was drowned in the water of baptism. Ever since then the Holy Spirit has been leading you.

First, he leads you, as Paul says, to put to death the misdeeds of the body. What is it that helps a Christian avoid great and shameful sins? The Holy Spirit as he works in us through word and sacrament. He leads us to acknowledge that this is not the way a Christian acts. Even more deeply, this is not the way a Christian thinks and feels. This is sinful!

But he’s not done with us yet. Then the Holy Spirit also leads us in living for Christ. When we ask ourselves, “How should a Christian handle this situation?”, it’s the Holy Spirit who uses his word to guide us. He strengthens us through word and sacrament and then shows us the path of righteousness. That’s the kind of life that reflects who we are—children of God. That’s the life that gives glory to our God and brings blessings to our neighbor. That’s a life that gives us inner joy and satisfaction.

Enjoy it! Enjoy Spirit security, living a life led by the Spirit.

How’s that going for you? As you look back on your life even in the short-term, are you impressed? Or, do you have to admit that you messed up? Did you even fail the people closest to you? And if that’s the case—as it is with all of us—then maybe we’re not the people we thought we were. Then we wonder what kind of child of God we really are and the insecurities set in. If that’s the case, then follow the Spirit’s leading. He’s the one who leads us in recognizing our failures, our sins, our shortcomings and he’s the one who leads us to confess them. And when we do, then he does his most important work of bringing us the forgiveness we so desperately need. That’s living a life led by the Spirit and that’s your life! Enjoy Spirit security!

Part III.

If you needed someone to vouch for your character, whom would you choose? Usually we try to secure the testimony of the most important, reliable person we can. Their testimony about us will carry some weight. You don’t choose a person with a shady past who barely knows you.

There may be times in our lives when we wonder what our God thinks of us. Those times occur after we’ve had moments of spiritual weakness or when we’re going through a particularly rough stretch in our lives. Then insecurities arise in our hearts. So what should we do?

We don’t have to do anything. The Holy Spirit does it for us. Listen to Paul explain it, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” We have God himself—God the Holy Spirit—testifying two things about us.

First, we’re God’s children. Sinners that we are, by faith in Jesus we’re still God’s children. God the Holy Spirit has made it so.

Second, we’re co-heirs with Christ. Heirs with Christ?! Of what? All that Jesus won for us. The Bible declares that we will reign with Jesus in his heavenly kingdom. I don’t think any human language can adequately convey exactly what that involves. Let’s just say this—it will be far beyond any glorious moment we’ve experienced here in this life. And it’s all yours. The Spirit himself says so.

Enjoy Spirit security, embracing testimony from the Spirit. Amen.