We Have An Obligation
Sermon
There's been a lot of trouble in recent years over politicians receiving gifts. So much so, that nowadays politicians must declare even the smallest gift they receive. The trouble came because what these politicians actually received weren't gifts at all but were inducements to grant some or other favour to the giver of the gift. Thus a free holiday in the Seychelles or a new car or a grace-and-favour apartment weren't really free at all, but carried a hidden price tag. And that price tag could be considerable. The cost was the unwritten but nonetheless understood obligation to use pollical influence on behalf of the donor of the so-called "gift". Obviously for politicians or for any others who must be impartial in their decisions, this amounted to something closely akin to bribery, and so the practice has now been stopped.
But I suspect that we all know a bit of what it feels like to be the recipient of a gift with strings attached. Some of us may have been unwary enough or innocent enough to receive a gift at its face value, only to discover some time later that we were under an unwanted obligation to do something for somebody that we didn't particularly want to do.
Even in families it isn't unknown for a gift to have strings attached, such as the generous parent who gives a car to their unsuspecting offspring, but then expects a chauffeur service at any time they might require it. And it's very difficult to withstand that sort of emotional pressure. If someone has been so kind as to buy you a car, then it seems churlish in the extreme to refuse to give that person a lift from time to time. Just as the gift of a house from your parents might oblige you to have them to stay for long periods of time whenever they wanted to come.
And if there's that sort of emotional obligation from family, how much more obligation there's likely to be after receiving an unexpected and unwarranted gift from anyone who isn't family. So exotic gifts aren't always as wonderful as they might appear to be on the surface.
What , if anything, does this suggest to us about God's gifts? If God gives us gifts as amazing as eternal life, you might expect us to be under considerable obligation to him. So it won't surprise you to learn that Christians are under an obligation. But it might surprise you to learn that we're under no obligation whatsoever to God.
No matter what we do or how we treat God, he continues to offer us all his gifts, including eternal life. God's gifts are ours for the taking. We only have to reach out and receive them. We may not be in a position to appreciate God's gifts and we may therefore reject them, but they are always on offer to us whether we want them or not. And if we reject his gifts, God doesn't then withdraw his gifts from us. He goes on showering us with gifts which we can receive or leave as we choose. So we're under no obligation to God.
But we are under an obligation to ourselves. As St Paul said in today's reading from Romans, "we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature." We each have an obligation to ourselves, to our spirit or our soul. Through Jesus we can enjoy a new relationship with God, the relationship of a precious son or daughter, an heir to God's promises. So our obligation is to do everything we can to tune into God, to align our spirit with his Spirit within us so that we can reach the heights he has waiting for us. We need to begin to pay more attention to our spirit and less attention to our physical body with its insatiable demands.
St Paul puts it like this, "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." To enjoy the eternal life God has waiting for us both now in this life and in the future after we die, we need to honour our obligation to our spirit. We owe it to ourselves to encourage the development of our spirit, because that way we experience the glorious heights of a wonderful life - eternal life.
We're able to do that because we're no longer slaves to fear. At least, we don't have to be slaves to fear. But very often it is fear which prevents us allowing our spirit to develop. The fear of being thought weird or holier-than-thou by our peer group. The fear of being ostracised. The fear of getting it wrong. The fear of upsetting other people. The fear of losing a job, home, money, a partner or spouse. And so on. But if by clinging on closely to Jesus and following him we're able to overcome this fear - and God has made it possible for us to do that - then we'll be beginning to honour our obligation to ourselves, to our own spirit.
As we do this we'll share in Christ's glory, and we may well also share in his sufferings. The path to spiritual heights is a narrow one. It can be difficult, and it can be painful. Jesus recognised this, and referred to the path as something like crucifixion. He said that each of us must carry our cross, just as he carried his cross, and that by so doing, each of us will reach the resurrection of eternal life, just as he reached the resurrection of eternal life.
But St Paul is quite clear that the glory to come is far greater than any sufferings which may precede it, and we've seen that in Jesus himself. He suffered the most appalling agony, far worse than anything most of us will be called upon to suffer, but once he'd faced that and withstood it, the radiance and glory and ethereality of his new life was stunning. Suddenly he was no longer bound by time and space or by any other human limitations, and all his wounds were healed so that he was fit and well. He promised that we could not only match, but exceed his achievements. All we have to do is to remember our obligation to our own spirit and refuse to accept that we're under any obligation whatsoever to our "sinful nature".
If you want the best that life has to offer, if you want undiluted happiness and the deepest peace within, if you want to rise to the heights and utterly fulfill your own potential, in other words, if you want eternal life, then honour your obligation to yourself. Pay attention to your spirit and enable it to develop and to blossom. That's the way to eternal life and that's the way to meet with God himself.
But I suspect that we all know a bit of what it feels like to be the recipient of a gift with strings attached. Some of us may have been unwary enough or innocent enough to receive a gift at its face value, only to discover some time later that we were under an unwanted obligation to do something for somebody that we didn't particularly want to do.
Even in families it isn't unknown for a gift to have strings attached, such as the generous parent who gives a car to their unsuspecting offspring, but then expects a chauffeur service at any time they might require it. And it's very difficult to withstand that sort of emotional pressure. If someone has been so kind as to buy you a car, then it seems churlish in the extreme to refuse to give that person a lift from time to time. Just as the gift of a house from your parents might oblige you to have them to stay for long periods of time whenever they wanted to come.
And if there's that sort of emotional obligation from family, how much more obligation there's likely to be after receiving an unexpected and unwarranted gift from anyone who isn't family. So exotic gifts aren't always as wonderful as they might appear to be on the surface.
What , if anything, does this suggest to us about God's gifts? If God gives us gifts as amazing as eternal life, you might expect us to be under considerable obligation to him. So it won't surprise you to learn that Christians are under an obligation. But it might surprise you to learn that we're under no obligation whatsoever to God.
No matter what we do or how we treat God, he continues to offer us all his gifts, including eternal life. God's gifts are ours for the taking. We only have to reach out and receive them. We may not be in a position to appreciate God's gifts and we may therefore reject them, but they are always on offer to us whether we want them or not. And if we reject his gifts, God doesn't then withdraw his gifts from us. He goes on showering us with gifts which we can receive or leave as we choose. So we're under no obligation to God.
But we are under an obligation to ourselves. As St Paul said in today's reading from Romans, "we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature." We each have an obligation to ourselves, to our spirit or our soul. Through Jesus we can enjoy a new relationship with God, the relationship of a precious son or daughter, an heir to God's promises. So our obligation is to do everything we can to tune into God, to align our spirit with his Spirit within us so that we can reach the heights he has waiting for us. We need to begin to pay more attention to our spirit and less attention to our physical body with its insatiable demands.
St Paul puts it like this, "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." To enjoy the eternal life God has waiting for us both now in this life and in the future after we die, we need to honour our obligation to our spirit. We owe it to ourselves to encourage the development of our spirit, because that way we experience the glorious heights of a wonderful life - eternal life.
We're able to do that because we're no longer slaves to fear. At least, we don't have to be slaves to fear. But very often it is fear which prevents us allowing our spirit to develop. The fear of being thought weird or holier-than-thou by our peer group. The fear of being ostracised. The fear of getting it wrong. The fear of upsetting other people. The fear of losing a job, home, money, a partner or spouse. And so on. But if by clinging on closely to Jesus and following him we're able to overcome this fear - and God has made it possible for us to do that - then we'll be beginning to honour our obligation to ourselves, to our own spirit.
As we do this we'll share in Christ's glory, and we may well also share in his sufferings. The path to spiritual heights is a narrow one. It can be difficult, and it can be painful. Jesus recognised this, and referred to the path as something like crucifixion. He said that each of us must carry our cross, just as he carried his cross, and that by so doing, each of us will reach the resurrection of eternal life, just as he reached the resurrection of eternal life.
But St Paul is quite clear that the glory to come is far greater than any sufferings which may precede it, and we've seen that in Jesus himself. He suffered the most appalling agony, far worse than anything most of us will be called upon to suffer, but once he'd faced that and withstood it, the radiance and glory and ethereality of his new life was stunning. Suddenly he was no longer bound by time and space or by any other human limitations, and all his wounds were healed so that he was fit and well. He promised that we could not only match, but exceed his achievements. All we have to do is to remember our obligation to our own spirit and refuse to accept that we're under any obligation whatsoever to our "sinful nature".
If you want the best that life has to offer, if you want undiluted happiness and the deepest peace within, if you want to rise to the heights and utterly fulfill your own potential, in other words, if you want eternal life, then honour your obligation to yourself. Pay attention to your spirit and enable it to develop and to blossom. That's the way to eternal life and that's the way to meet with God himself.
