Sermon Romans 8:12-17 Spirit of Belonging

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon Romans 8:12-17 Spirit of Belonging

May 31, 2015

Today is Trinity Sunday. It is the day each year when we remember that the one God we worship comes to us in three ways: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The trinity is important because it always reminds us that God exists in relationship. We know from 1 John that God is Love. And if God is Love, then God must be a relationship. And that relationship is the bond of love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I know this is very difficult for us understand. The Apostle Paul knows that too. So he tells us that we should think of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit as a Holy Family. We will to this, but first let's pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

Romans 8:12-17 12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[a] And by him we cry, “Abba,[b] Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 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.

The words we use to describe God also describes a family. We have a Father and we have a Son. Now you may be asking where Mother is. If there is a Father and a Son shouldn't there be a Mother too? The Bible is clear that we should not think of God as exclusively masculine. Rather we should think of God as both a mother and a father. God gave birth to us in creation, and cares for us like a mother hen cares for her chicks. But God is also a father whom Jesus called Abba, daddy. And Jesus invited us to be part of this holy family when he taught us to pray, “Our Father”.

I remember growing up in my family. My mother taught me to pray at meals and before going to bed. My father drove me to Sunday school. And my parents, brother and sister where all with me in church. I loved going to church as a kid.

But when I went away to college all that changed. I joined a fraternity and began spending most Saturday nights drinking beer. There was no way I could wake up Sunday morning for church. I lived without church for ten years choosing to go only at Christmas and Easter for nostalgia's sake.

The creator God made all of us to be in the Holy Family. But I refused. I entered into a life of sin and turned my back on God. Consequently God put me out of the family. I ended up as an orphan.

For ten years I did not go to church, and then my mother died from an unexpected heart attack at age 58. I knew that I had to change. I had lost much of my earthly family. I needed to return to my Holy Family of God. So at age 27 I went back to church.

According to Paul there is a way to get back into the Holy Family. That is through a process of adoption. We must be adopted as children of God.

When I was six years old my parents decided to adopt a baby, my brother. They decided to keep me in the decision making process. I met with the social worker, and had the opportunity to tell my grandparents what we were about to do. We adopted my brother Keith and two years later my sister Jamie.

To adopt a child into a family you must have both a social worker and a lawyer. A social worker is needed to make sure that the family is a good and safe place for the child. A lawyer is needed to make sure that all the legal paperwork is done.

For us to enter the Holy Family of Father, Son and Holy Spirit we too must have a social worker and lawyer. The lawyer is Jesus, who through his death and resurrection accomplished all that was legally required for our adoption. He, in effect, prepared all the paperwork. The social worker is the Holy Spirit, who enters us to make sure that we have repented from a life of sin and truly desire entry into the Holy Family. And thus our adoption into the Holy Family of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is complete for all believers.

As members of the Holy Family we receive benefits. We become children of God and share in the inheritance of the Son. So what do we inherit as children of God? According to Paul we inherit two things as children of God. The first is that we share in Christ's sufferings. Just as Christ grieved for the victims of injustice in this world, so too do we. We see hungry people and we want to feed them. We see people with shoddy clothing and we want to get them something to wear. We see people unemployed and we want to help them get a job. We see people learning English, and we want to be conversation partners. We see an international students and we want to help them find housing and meal. Whenever we see people with a need we want to satisfy it. We do this because we have been adopted into the Holy Family and now share Christ's compassion for others.

But that's not all. We inherit something else too. We share in Christ's glory. As members of the Holy Family of Father, Son and Holy Spirit we called to live, with the help of the Spirit, in obedience to God. We leave our lives of sin and begin following Jesus as Lord. As we do this we find ourselves glorified by God.

So far we have seen that we have been adopted into the Holy Family with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But if we are in a family shouldn't there be brothers and sisters as well. And there are. Our brothers and sisters of the Holy Family is the church. As with any brothers and sisters we will sometime fight with each other, but we always love one another.

So we are gathered today as a family. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are here with the church. We are the Holy Family. We share in Christ's compassion for those in need. And we are glorified by God as we live lives of obedience. And the Holy Spirit is looking for new people to adopt into this family. Let me tell you a story.

One day last week Grace and I went up to the boardwalk to share our faith. It was cold, windy and not many people were out. We decided to go back home for dinner. But first, we sat down on a bench next to a young man and we began a conversation. He told us his story. His family was from China. He had been studying in America. He had just graduated from High School in Iowa and was on a bus trip with the marching band he plays in. Their first stop was Ocean City.

We asked him if he went to church. He told us he had been in churches for musical concerts. He was a little familiar with the Christian faith because his father, in China, was a Christian and had given him a Bible. But his mother was Buddhist, and he was much more familiar with that faith. We talked a little about the Christian faith and tried to answer his questions. Then he asked why we believe in Christ.

We told him that we believe in God who created the world good. Everything was supposed to be good, but we messed it up through disobedience. God wants the world to be restored to what he created and is working with us to make it better. We think that belief in a God who created a good world and is seeking to restore it, is much better than believing in a god who made a evil world we must flea from into nothingness.

He agreed that this sounded like a good idea. So we suggested that he look around at churches. Many have good music programs he might like. And he should find one that has classes where he could learn more about the Bible. I gave him my card and wished him the best as he begins his studies at Iowa State University this fall.

This is what we call evangelism. Evangelism is sharing the good news of what Christ has done in our lives with others. The Holy Spirit gives us the gift of evangelism to use us to adopt brothers and sisters into the Holy Family. Since April I have been working with leaders of the church to develop skills in evangelism. Two weeks from today I will be beginning a series of sermons on the topic of evangelism. And you will all have the opportunity to enhance your own skills though small groups after church. So beginning June 14 make plans to stay after church at 11am for small group discussion and evangelism workshop.

Today we have found that our God exists in relationship. Bound together by love God exists as a Holy Family, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We have been adopted into this family, and have inherited Christ compassion for others and the glorification that comes with obedience. We in the church are adopted brothers and sisters. The Holy Spirit desires to adopt others into this Holy Family and has given us the gift of evangelism so that we may share our faith with others.

Let's pray. Father, Son and Spirit we thank you for adopting us into your family. We thank you for giving us compassion for those in need, and glorification for leading lives of obedience. We thank you for the brothers and sisters in the church around the world you have adopted into the family with us. Help us to share our faith with others so they may join us in the Holy Family. Amen.