Life by the Spirit
Life by the Spirit includes both what it is and what it is not. All the great teachers of the faith and the saints that we remember most particularly because of their examples in the life of faith have called the life by the spirit the ‘following of Jesus’. The life by the spirit is not referring to any spirit, it is the life by the spirit of Jesus, and that spirit above all desires to be united with Jesus. Those who have the spirit of Jesus live the life of the Spirit and long to be joined to Him. It is no wonder that the intimacy of marriage is compared in the Bible to the relationship between Jesus and His church – His bride! The attraction between Jesus and His church is the strongest in the world. They long to be united with one another!
Our Gospel reading today is entitled in my Bible – ‘The Cost of Following Jesus’. It doesn’t sound quite as positive when it is described as a ‘cost’ – do we have to pay something just in order to do it? Every Sunday we give offerings to the Lord, and whatever I pray, those of you who bring the offerings forward will know that I always begin with, ‘All we have comes from you and of your own do we give you!’ Everything we have and are is because of our God who created us. Someone might retort – ‘But it isn’t fair – I didn’t ask to be born in the first place!’ Life is like that – it isn’t ‘fair’, but it is given by a God who loves us.
Today we are having two baptisms – that of Sarah Kara Ross and that of Jonathan Christopher Hereward. We are celebrating the life of two people loved by God, loved by their families, and loved by us. We will be going to the back of the church for the baptisms. The reason we begin there is that baptism is descriptive of the beginning of the journey of following Jesus. Church buildings are built so that the movement from the back to the front describes a ‘following of Jesus’. When we follow Jesus we don’t take our eyes off of him, or we could lose sight of Him. So in the church there is a straight line from the baptismal font to the altar, which is where we remember Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. So we don’t say, like one person who wanted to follow Jesus:
‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family.’
If we don’t put Jesus first – if we think there is anything more important that we must do first, even in relationship to our families, we may lose sight of Jesus and be unable to follow him any more. The straight line of vision that allows us to see him clearly and follow him nearly, as the song goes, gets obscured. Jesus’ reply to that person describes it well: ‘No-one who takes hold of the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’ If you have ever ploughed and looked back while doing it, you know what a crooked line you get. In fact, you have no control over it whatsoever, and the line ploughed is not much use for planting! The same happens if you look back too long while cycling. To plough well or cycle well, you have to keep your vision forward – much like the line of vision that we get looking from the baptismal font to the front of the church here. It is symbolic of what the following of Jesus should look like.
‘I will follow you wherever you go.’
The warning given by Jesus to the person who said, ‘I will follow you wherever you go,’ is perhaps even harder to swallow – at least it was for me! My life, until I married my husband John, was a very unsettled life. Even after becoming a Christian, I found it very difficult that I didn’t have a place that I could call ‘home’. At certain times, when other circumstances were difficult, that fact became even more painful. I remember sharing it with a friend once – a friend who was anything BUT sympathetic – and he replied, ‘Well, if you want to follow Jesus, you must remember that “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”’ Talk about pain being heaped on top of pain! BUT it has meant that that saying is indelibly etched in by being. And I have come to appreciate it more and more. Firstly, it means that Jesus understands. But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it means that home is not a particular place – it is wherever Jesus, who loves me, happens to be. And I have found that when I follow Jesus, anywhere and everywhere becomes home, because He is there! It has given me an immense freedom to ‘be’ completely wherever I happen to ‘be’ at any one time – and the whole world feels like ‘home’!
‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’
Jesus’ response to the man who wants to bury his father makes it clear that following Jesus is a matter of life and death. ‘Jesus said to him. “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”’ Jesus calls us to choose life! This does not mean that we shouldn’t bury the dead. It’s a call to distinguish between what is our first priority – following Jesus – and all the things that are a part of daily living for anyone, whether they follow Jesus or not…including burying the dead! To follow Jesus is to do what he tells us to do, and that may sometimes go against the tide. He tells this man that proclaiming the kingdom of God is more important than dealing with the dead. Life is more important than death…telling people about the kingdom of God, that is, about the rule of the creator of the whole universe, is more important.
Elisha was not like these reluctant followers of Jesus. He was unwilling to let Elijah out of his sight, and twice when Elijah tells him to ‘Stay here,’ knowing that God is going to take him away, Elisha refuses. There is no doubt or wavering in his response: ‘I will not leave you!’ Finally, Elijah asks Elijah, ‘Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?’ Elisha responds, ‘Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.’ This is something that Elijah cannot give, because the spirit Elisha is referring to comes from God, but God can, and does, in fact, give a double portion of His Spirit to Elisha. What is our desire? What do we want with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength? God loves people who are single minded in their devotion to Him. He fulfilled the desire of Elisha’s heart, because his desire was for more of God’s spirit. If that is your desire today, God will give you that desire – keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, and do NOT leave Him! It is impossible to do two things wholeheartedly at the same time, so ‘live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature!’ Turn from the sinful nature, and allow God’s Spirit to strengthen you to live by that Spirit!...to produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
People to take their desires to the baptism as they also renew their vows. Also to note that along the way, they will see the fruits of the spirit exhibited. The promises made and renewed at baptism allow God’s spirit to fill us and produce the fruit that is proof of our life by the Spirit.