5th Sunday in Lent (A)
Romans 8:1-11
March 22, 2026
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The text I have chosen for this morning’s sermon is the Epistle from Romans.
I haven’t met very many celebrities, there aren’t many in Nebraska, or Iowa. I did meet Tom Osborn, the longtime coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who was a good guy. David Doyle who played Bosley on the TV show Charlie’s Angels was also nice. I think that’s pretty much the extent of my celebrity interactions. I’ve heard other stories about celebrities who weren’t very nice. They cultivate one image on TV, but when people see them in the flesh, their true sides come out – rude, critical, demanding. It shouldn’t be surprising because what we see on TV or the movies isn’t real life. While they may look perfect on TV, they’re flesh and blood just like us.
The term flesh is fitting here because we hear it in the Epistle when Saint Paul refers to our sinful nature. Living “in the flesh” is a life that hates God and loves sin, and this will never end well for anyone. Living “in the Spirit,” on the other hand, is God’s way. The problem is that because we live in the flesh it seems impossible to live in the Spirit. It’s hard, but with God’s help and by His grace we can.
Living in the flesh is setting our minds on things that are earthly, sinful, and displeasing to God. We look at what’s bad and call it good. The Bible tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The poisons of the flesh are hatred, anger, impatience, cruelty, selfishness, and impulsiveness. As Christians we know that living by the poisons of the flesh isn’t good, it’s deadly in fact.
Paul writes, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” I wonder if you truly realize how living in the flesh impacts your relationship with God. Sins of the flesh aren’t just murder, adultery, stealing, the so-called big ones. It’s all those other insidious sins, the ones that we think aren’t all that bad, that also lead us astray. We see them as small, but all sin is hostility towards God.
Knowing how much I sin, and how much trouble my flesh gets me into, it’s a little scary. You’re sinful and live by your flesh, so is God is telling us we can never please Him? If sin is hostility to God what brings peace? In Romans 7, Paul cries out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Who will deliver him from his flesh? Who will deliver us from our flesh? Listen as he tells you: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
The Father sent His Son into the world as a real flesh-and-blood human for us real flesh-and-blood humans. Mary conceived Jesus who was both fully human and fully God, so while Paul says God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, He doesn’t have any sin. God came down to us to live the life that we’ve been called to live. Paul writes that Jesus was born in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. He kept the Law perfectly. He obeyed all the commandments, resisted all the temptations, all those things we can’t do. God says, “obey the Law”, sees that you don’t, and then says, “I will obey the Law for you”.
Obeying the commandments and resisting temptation wasn’t enough, however. Jesus had to come because fleshly living must be punished. Paul says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Why aren’t you condemned? Because Jesus went to the cross and there suffered and died, atoning for our sins. As Paul says elsewhere: “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (II Cor 5:21).
Jesus lived for us, He died for us, and He rose for us! He rose from the dead to overcome death for us. As Jesus told Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25). By being baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ the Holy Spirit has taken root in our hearts and minds. With the Spirit living in us, even though we’re still real bodies we are no longer ruled by the flesh. The Holy Spirit living in us sets us free to live as God’s children. Those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit and find life and peace with God.
It’s not easy, you and I both understand that, and that’s why God gives us help. We live when we’re fed by the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacraments, and these aren’t simply spiritual gifts. The human, flesh-and-blood Jesus is really with us in this physical world, though invisibly, every time His Word is preached or read. And through the Sacraments, this very flesh-and-blood Christ even becomes visible in this physical world: in Baptism by water and in the Lord’s Supper in and under the bread and wine, which are His true flesh and blood.
In these precious, lifechanging gifts we find Christ who sustains us for living in this world and the Holy Spirit leads us to live the way the Lord wants, setting our minds on His things. Every day the forgiveness that Jesus obtained for us cleanses our hearts from our sins so that we live by the Spirit. This transforms our thinking. By the Holy Spirit’s power, we do all we can to please God by helping and serving others. When the Spirit is in control of our lives, we live for others, not just for ourselves. We’re concerned about our fellow human beings and the fruit of the Spirit which we mirror in our life will, by God’s power, lead others to put aside the poison of the self and instead find peace and life with God.
Paul says, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies.” You have real life now and forever. Yes, our bodies are going to die, that’s because we’re human. One day though we’ll be raised from the dead and our flesh will be holy and perfect just the way God originally created us to be.
Amen
Now the peace which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen