Homily on Romans 7:15-25a Delivered to St. Christopher's Church New Carrollton - July 5, 2026

 

Wretched man that I am! 
Who will save me from this body of death?

Father, what we know not, teach us; and what we have not, give us; and what we are not make us. For the sake of your Son, Jesus in whose Name we pray.  Amen.

A very devout woman who posted comedic skits on FB to convey a clear Bible doctrine, would in a sobering post declare that she was a saved and born again Christian, and since her baptism, she was no longer a sinner. Friends, she is not the only one who has been taught this untruth. Jesus’ blood cleanses us of our sin guilt – all of the sins we have committed -  so we’re no longer guilty before Holy God. At the very nanosecond following our cleansing, God’s Holy Spirit comes into us giving us new life in Christ; He regenerates us so that we are no longer spiritually dead before God, but rather raised to new life in Christ. *So we have all of this going for us, right? You got the blood that cleanses us. We have had our sin guilt removed. And the Holy Spirit God comes to live in us to begin the work of sanctification, which is a big word that means being transformed into the image of Christ, and the Father puts Christ’s righteousness into us so when He looks on us He sees Christ. So we got all this going for us. Why do we still sin? Why do we still mess up? Before we answer that question, let's identify God's definition of sin – anybody knows that? It's a very simple answer.  God's definition of sin is breaking the law: it's as simple as that.

Let’s look to the Bible for confirmation. In James 2:1-10 the Spirit speaks about loving one’s neighbor – a law, and the different ways that law could be broken. He says that if you claimed to keep the whole law, but chose to ignore one of them, you have broken all of the law. From a practical viewpoint: So if the community ordinances say to pick up after your dog when he relieves himself and you choose not to, you have broken the law, you have sinned. If God says do not lie, and you try to work around that by painting it white to make it a “little white lie” – “it’s just a little lie”-no one needs to know right? ha! God knows - you have broken His law, you have sinned. If the speed limit says 25 and you are doing 45 because you’re late, you have broken the law and potentially placed someone else in danger because of your poor choice; you have sinned.

So the question comes again. Why do we still sin? Because we choose to. But the overarching reason is that we still retain the falleness of humanity from Adam's act of sin. Paul, in his letter in Romans 7, transparently confesses that he is of the flesh – that is, the remaining fallen humanity is still in him – still in us. Never once does he say that the devil made him do it!…This is Paul, the super apostle, telling us he was still a sinner! Like him, we cannot free ourselves from our falleness. Although we have been converted, we have not been relieved of our fallen humanity. The converted side of our being wants to honor the Lord, to obey Him, express our devotion to Him, but sin dwells still in us. We are a new creation, a new life, have new longings and new aspirations, new impulses - that are incarcerated in redeemed humanity. Working toward all that is right, good, and holy is a challenge because it has to penetrate through our fallen humanity and our humanity must war against that. Paul is in anguish; he cries out for rescue from this body of death! 

What is the body of death Paul is referring to? Some suggest it is the fallen humanity; another view is based on a judgment practice in ancient times for one who has murdered another. The murderer is forced to have the dead body – the corpse of the person murdered -- strapped to his back to die a slow death because the decaying body would infest the healthy body and eat him to death. Paul saw the presence of his fallen humanity as a corpse strapped to him – that’s why he cries out – wretched man that I am! Who will free me from this body of death!!?? Paul concludes as we all should conclude: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen? So in God’s grace we must battle continuously with the sinful fallen humanity per Philippians 2:12-13 – working out with the Holy Spirit our salvation (this is not working for our salvation, this is once we are saved working in tandem with the Holy Spirit's guidance and counsel), removing the old self and putting on the new, following the Spirit’s lead in our transformation - walking that path that He has designed for us.

So, we come back to the whole “am I still a sinner after being saved” question. 1 John 1 clearly answers that question. After affirming God’s salvation plan in Christ, John speaks to the churchgoers at verses 5 to 10 where he clarifies that we still sin after we are saved. He says if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us; we make Christ a liar and God’s word is not in us. But - in good news there is always a "But God": If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and His blood continues to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Does our sinful nature – our fallen humanity that we still carry in us and the battle we daily wage against our flesh, our fallen humanity -- does it make us weary and tired (it certainly makes me tired!), does it make us feel heavy laden? What does Jesus tell us in our Gospel lesson today? Yes, Come to Me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I willgive your rest. That rest is a place in our relationship with Jesus where we can experience His peace and His joy, His rest - even in the battle.

All of us can point to an act of sin or law breaking that we have done since our salvation – we all have whether we accept it or not. Jeremiah 17 says "The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse, so who can understand it?" (often in the Bible the reference to "heart" is not speaking about our physical hearts but, rather, the center of our desires and wills). We must repent and seek God’s forgiveness. One of the more devastating things we do in our fallen humanity is hold onto anger with a death-grip, which becomes bitterness over time to the point where it poisons our relationships with each other, and alienates us from God. It becomes an idol. We choose not to forgive others, Jesus says, then God will not forgive us. We can try to cite our reasons for being bitter – because so and so did this or that, and God just looks at us and asks us do you want me to put the shoe on the other foot? Do you want Me to remember all of your sins and choose not to forgive you?  

In His love and omniscience, God will choose the proper discipline for each of us; discipline - in this instance - being a disciple or one who is learning to live a certain way, a way that focuses on Jesus. God may allow us to feel the consequences of our wrongdoing, giving us a reckoning that we are not progressing in our thinking and doing - showing indications of a maturing faith. He trains us to confess and repent, teaches us the proper fear of the Lord so that we can be forgiven. Isn’t that good news? We are sinners who repent and God forgives us without any condemnation! That we will sin isn’t good news but God’s provision for addressing that is! One of God’s promises is to discipline us in the way He has designed for us; we mess up, commit a sin because our fallen wills and desires that stem from the mind and heart cause us to trip up. Friends:  God loves us too much to let us live in a lie. Hebrews 12:6 tells us He will discipline us; again, discipline doesn't mean beating us over the head with a 2 by 4, even though I make a joke about that sometimes. It is a training in righteousness and godliness. The Spirit uses the instrument of grace – God’s word – to train us. Disciplining may also mean that He sometimes will allow things to happen as a result of our choices influenced by our fallen hearts or wills. He will allow us to feel the consequences of that error so that we may realize we must continue to obey Him even when we don’t want to. Yes, you heard me right – even when we don’t want to. That’s called faith and trust that God’s way is the only way through this battle. And this is true for any Christian who’s born of God. And so when we choose to do it our way instead of God's way, we will suffer the consequences, but God does not condemn us because we who are saved are continually cleansed by the blood of Christ, and restored to the path of righteousness.

So I am going to cite some scriptures that urge us to seek God’s mercy, advises us how to protect ourselves from the world, the flesh, the devil – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride in riches. Part of the godliness training is our accepting & wearing our spiritual armor that God has provided us for defensive and offensive purposes. In Ephesians 6:10-18 the Spirit directs us in putting the armor on; we are fighting spiritual battles so spiritual armor is a necessity. Every day God wakes us up we must put on that armor. Every vulnerable part of our faith walk is to be protected, lest we get lured back into sin. The parts of this spiritual armor are: the breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, truth girded about our loins, feet ready to share the good news, helmet of salvation, sword of the Spirit, and praying in the Spirit – the last two items being critical to the effectiveness of the rest of the armor.  We cannot do this apart from the Holy Spirit and God’s Word. If you think that you can be transformed and protected in your walk without God’s Word and His Holy Spirit, then you have been deceived in a mortal way. Because we cannot. Peter tells us,in his first letter 5:8-9, that the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour someone. Who is he looking to devour? Not the people he already has in his control. He's looking to devour us. Those who have been chosen by God. Because he does not want to see us have that victory that Zechariah talks about in our first lesson where we are rejoicing in God. The devil does not want us to rejoice in God: he wants us to hate God as much as he does. As we commit to the effort of the Spirit’s work in us, we will see ourselves beginning to mature to the extent that our sin acts begin to dwindle. 

In addition to armor, we have an advocate in this struggle: 1 John 2 identifies our intercessor as none other than our high Priest Jesus Christ, who continually intercedes for us. Also see Romans 8:34. As we wrap up I want to refer you to a small handful of scriptures about what else God provides for us in our battle: His amazing love and mercy.  While we don’t have the time today to read them through I'll give you the cite and you can check your Bible or BibleGateway and search forgiveness of sins – long list of scriptures!     The scriptures I will share are just a glimpse of what God is doing. This instrument of grace that He gives us is powerful. But do not abuse God’s grace by sinning on purpose. You open yourself up to the devil. Jot these down: Psalm 32:1,3,5,11. Psalm 103:11-14; Isaiah 44:21-22. They all confirm to us God’s mercy and love in the act of forgiveness of our sins, blotting out our mess-ups, intentional or unintentional. Remember, though, not to take God’s grace in vain like Israel did; the Old Testament is filled with accounts of their sin which led to their utter destruction. An even closer to home example: last summer we began praying as a church for the church without a script seeking God’s face, direction, grace and mercy and His provisions. Each week I looked forward to the prayer group growing; however, each week the prayer group lost a member, until after a month of that we were down to 3, sometimes 4 people. And then, it ceased altogether. Shortly thereafter, a brick gets thrown at the upstairs kitchen window, and through the window in our sanctuary. Not too long after that, a brick is hurled at the front door and then thrown through a sanctuary window. Then the man goes around to the chapel window, kicks it in, and once inside he trashes the chapel. A coincidence – I think not. God’s ways and discipline are sometimes to allow the negative in order to produce the positive in us. Do not abuse God’s grace, but rather rejoice that He has loved you and I before we were a little twinkle in our daddy's eye - from before the beginning of time, that He has given us everything we need to fulfill our calling. That He extends us mercy and grace – things we do not deserve in the least bit. Friends - Is God good to us? Can we praise Him again for all He has done and is doing for us individually and what He desires to do for St. Christopher’s to keep our hearts open and our church doors open. Let’s end with the 1^st verse and Refrain we sang at the beginning of the service and Rejoice– Amen? Waving our scarves lifting our hands: let’s give Him praise and honor - maestro.  

ENDING – Brothers and Sisters – In all our battles, may we cling to the Rock who is Christ as we move thru battle against the world, the flesh, the devil, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of riches, so that when we are finished with this life and this body of death, our reward will be total bliss, no more tears, only complete joy to the glory of God. Amen?

Sinking Ship - A Parable

 

  Came across this story some time ago – guess it was a kind of parable…

      One Sunday, after leaving church as soon as the “Amen” dropped, three men went out sailing in Chesapeake Bay as they had done many times before. The fellow who owned the boat cherished it as a prize possession-it was lovely. He always bragged about it because it reflected his self-achievements and his self-importance. His boat had hosted many parties. This particular Sunday, as they were drinking and playing their music as loud as they could, a storm came up out of no where – one minute the sun was shining and a gentle breeze blew across the boat; the next minute the sound of thunder could be heard. In the distance was a warning horn blowing, but the guys felt they could navigate themselves out of the storm – after all, they’ve done so before. But the rain came down in buckets; visibility was increasingly poor. The boat had survived storms before – only last year the owner spent thousands of dollars to repair damage when the boat got side-swiped in another storm; had special fog lights added. The rain continued so heavily that the boat was beginning to fill up. They were sure that all they had to do was bail out water and head in the direction of the shore. But then the wind picked up and blew more water onto the boat and made navigation hard. The men were frantically bailing out the water when a motorboat comes alongside offering to carry the men safely back to shore. However, sure of themselves, they tell the person, no, we are trying to save our ship. “We’ll be fine! This is not our first rodeo!” the owner chuckled. “Plus, we have prayed.”

        Twenty minutes later, the water in the boat has risen several inches – it’s up to their shins. Another motorboat a little bit larger than the first comes alongside and its captain offers to rescue the three men. “No, we’re good” they replied. “We’re almost at the dock – should reach it in a few minutes.” The captain tells them again to come on board, saying he’s been sailing these waters for years and knows how unpredictable these storms can be. The three men insist that they know what they are doing , plus we have prayed, they said.

       Fifteen more minutes pass; the water has practically submerged the boat. The men could not dump the water out fast enough. They had chosen at the beginning of their journey to not put on their life jackets because they were too cumbersome, too hot, and now the jackets are floating in the bay. A coast guard vessel comes alongside and tells the men to abandon ship and come on board. One of the men clings onto the ladder and climbs up to safety, urging the others to follow, but the other two are expecting God to perform a miraculous rescue because they prayed.

       Several minutes later the boat capsizes and the two men eventually drown. They suddenly find themselves in the presence of Jesus. They are quick to ask and demand an answer: “Jesus! we prayed and prayed but you didn’t come!” Jesus is quiet. They angrily ask, “Jesus why didn’t you save us? We prayed over and over and cried out to you! You’re Jesus - you were supposed to save us! ” Jesus looks at them. Their faces are stern and their attitudes are filled with arrogant pride. Jesus finally says, “I heard your cries for help. I sent three boats to pull you to safety but you chose to stay on a sinking ship – chose to continue existing in the dangerous condition you were in, believing you were safe because you ‘prayed’. I read hearts – your hearts were never all mine because of your proudful stubborn will. You treated me like a wooden idol you could appease by offering me tainted worship, and your cries were yet another expression of self-preservation in your sinful ways. Your focus was on keeping your boat, which represented your status and position, demanding that I save you so that you can continue in your wicked way and brag about how you ‘prayed’ and swayed Me. Your prayers have not reached heaven because they were always earth-bound. For years I have reached out to you, but your hearts were hard; you did not listen to Me as My word was read to you in church; you rejected My Word and never truly desired it. You reasoned that because you were baptized and took communion regularly you secured your salvation. But, you chose not answer my call to serve Me, as it required sacrifice – your work and your personal time, yet expected others to serve you. You treated faith like a commodity rather than a relationship with Me. That’s why you never heard Me nor really knew me. I sent intervention after intervention, but you preferred all these years to stay in your ‘sinking ship’ rather than come to me without your personal agenda.” The two men complained, “then why didn’t you make us worship you right? Why didn’t you make us get onto the coast guard boat with our friend?” Jesus replies, “Your other friend cried tears of remorse, prayed to Me, repenting of his sins – including rejecting me - he surrendered his whole self to Me, letting go of the self-righteousness prison in which he had lived for years, the Father forgave him, and I responded to his prayer, opened his mind and heart to my presence, placed my Spirit in him. He immediately received My salvation and My provision for life with me. Even now, you believe that you could have salvation without close relationship with Me. But you - you stubbornly stayed stuck, you shut the door to relationship with Me, refusing me yet again, preferring your own version of salvation – deceiving yourself --putting trust in your own wit and logic, seeking to save the status quo and thus closing your minds and hearts to My provision of safety. And just like the many, many times I reached out to you, you rejected My call again for this - the last time, because My call meant to you that you had to let go of the love of material things and status you held so dear, that I would require you to work for My glory and not yours. Your friend began praising me in his heart and then with his lips while you two were distracted with your self-salvation. He grabbed hold of the ladder eager for new life with me; you chose to stay, never asking Me what I would have you do at that juncture because your hearts were stone. You have always wanted my blessings, my peace, my provisions, but you bore no fruit of faith, no heart for service, no interest in Me outside of what I could do for you; you rejected my words of eternal life. You sought instead the world’s and the flesh’s pleasures – false idols -- rather than obedience to and life with Me, and were comfortable not abiding in Me. You now have your reward.”

       And suddenly they found themselves groping about in the density of darkness that surrounded them.

Jesus: The Chief Cornerstone and The Way, The Truth, and The Life (Delivered May 3, 2026 at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church)

 

Response To The Word: Jesus - The Chief Cornerstone; The Way, The Truth, The Life (1 Peter 2, John 14)

Pray:Father open the eyes of our hearts so that we can understand your Word. Holy Spirit come! Amen

Would you Buy House with a bad foundation?  At some point in hopefully the next 5 years, we will be in a place to engage in the construction of new buildings on our property. We will first want to hire a geotechnical engineer who is the professional responsible for analyzing the ground, soil, and rock on a property before construction begins, and who will assess the physical and mechanical properties of the earth to determine if it can safely support a building's foundation. Before housing can be built similar analyses for any impurities in the foundation's cement that will eventually cause the cement to weaken must take place. Years ago a townhouse complex in DC began collapsing because it was on a sink hole, which was once a landfill that was now decomposing.    Thus, the critical need to determine what the building will be supported by. 

That brings us to our texts for this day. In this Eastertide we have seen Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, The Door, and we have seen Him as the Good Shepherd who protects the sheep. In today’s texts in Peter’s letter and the Gospel of John we are presented with matters related to building the Church and our relationship with Jesus. In Peter’s first letter he writes via the H.S. to those chosen or elect of God, metaphorically depicting Jesus as The Living Stone and Chief Cornerstone.  He is also portrayed in the Gospel of John as The Way, The Truth, and The Life. So we have this grand image of The Church and what relationship with Christ looks like, where Peter illustrates the building of the Church spiritually living stone by living stone: that is - us. The Church is not a physical brick and mortar structure – it is the people, those chosen of God, the communion of saints who Peter is likening to living stones being built into a spiritual house and holy priesthood – we are the living breathing organic Church whose calling is to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus. But what is the Church’s firm foundation?

Let us refer to scripture to determine the answer. If you have a Bible or a Bible app, turn with me to Ephesians 2. Paul is led to write about the relationship true followers have with Christ by being in Christ. In the latter half of verse 19, Paul writes about these Christ followers: READ THE BIBLE through 22. Ask the question: Paul also identifies Jesus as the chief cornerstone. In Him – in Jesus – the whole structure is joined together. Yet, upon what is the Church built according to verse 20? Apostles and Prophets And what does that mean? What it doesn’t mean – it does not mean that any apostle, nor any prophet, can claim to be the one upon whom the Church is built. No – the Holy Spirit through Paul is saying that the oracles God gave to the apostles and prophets by God, which they proclaimed, wrote, prayed is the foundation. What do we call those words today? 

 

Yes, the Bible, GOD’S WORD is THE sure foundation. Like a precious letter from a loved one; in it are the Triune God’s revelations of Himself, His will for us which is following Jesus as our only Way, the only Truth, and the source of all Life; Jesus prayed to God the Father in His high priestly prayer in John 17 to sanctify those who have been chosen to be in Christ with the truth, for His Word is truth. And still, as many as 50-65% of professing Christians do not believe Jesus to be The Only Way, and they reject the Bible as God’s infallible Truth.  Even now, some denominations carve out/ignore certain parts of the Bible so that what the Bible calls sin is now not sin, thus rejecting God’s standard of holiness. This is the fulfillment of the false teaching of carnal Christianity. No holiness, no moral standard, also means ignorance of who God the Savior is. They claim to be Christian, but their lifestyles and rejection of God’s Word prove to the opposite. One of the new sayings going around in church circles now is that all humans who were born were born children of God. That statement does not agree with scripture; we are called children of creation, children of nature, children of wrath. Becoming a child of God is not our decision or our birthright. In Acts 17 we read about Paul and Silas being sent away by the leaders of the church to Beroea. What do you think they did when they were out of harm's way? Did they go to the local pub and have a few snorts to 'chill'? NO! They went straight to a Jewish synagogue to worship and proclaim Christ. While doing so, some of the Beroeans who were listening took out their scrolls to fact check Paul's statements. Unfortunately, many professing Christians take things at face value - like the infamous, "God helps those who help themselves." Noooo! Dragging out the earlier metaphor, the did not check the roof and foundation to see if the house could stand up for a long while, so bought into a house with a failing foundation, where the walls are shifted off the damaged base, pulls away from the cornerstone; that house will eventually become a collapsed structure unless some very expensive repairs are done!

Go to the font where the experiment is. As I was studying this passage, I sought from God how I could make this lesson more visual – i.e., what happens when the foundation that faith or belief was built upon fails because it has impurities or other causes towards weakness, separates from the Chief Cornerstone. Let’s see. There are two structures here: one is built on "sugar sand" with sugar cubes representing what the foundation sits upon. The other is a structure that has a steel foundation, and is sitting on a rock. I am pouring water on both of the structures - let's see what happens.

Within moments the house structure on the sand begins to sink, while the structure with the foundation that sits on a rock is unmoved. Upon what kind of foundation are we individually building upon? Will it hold up? Will it connect us to the Chief Cornerstone which joins the whole structure together? Is our foundation set on stable bedrock? In Matt 7:24-25 Jesus says: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” The psalmist cries: “Truly God is my rock and my salvation, my fortress – I will never be shaken.” The Church and the ‘living stones’ that are its structure are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and set down on stable bedrock – that Rock is God. Is our faith tied to the firm foundation set on bedrock that is Christ? Bible scholars for centuries have debated that in Matthew 16, Jesus says that Peter is the Rock, the head of the Church. Unfortunately due to time constraints I would fully unpack this, but let me go to scripture again for us to briefly explain what Jesus is saying.

In Matthew 16, God reveals the truth of who Jesus is to Simon – that’s the name Peter was most commonly called. Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One who was foretold by the prophets. In His response to Simon, Jesus says “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter (Petros), and on this rock (petra) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (also see 1 Corinthians 10:4 ) The context is about identifying who Jesus truly is. Peter receives the truth of Jesus' identity from the Father - that He is the Messiah, the Anointed One. Jesus continues based on that revelation that on that rock or petra I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Peter's name "Petros" translated means a small stone - something you can pick up in your hand and toss without effort. The word "petra" when translated refers to a humongous boulder, so large that it is immovable, cannot be shaken. That was not Peter. The "rock" or petra would not be overwhelmed or overcome by the gates of Hades. Most assuredly Peter was not the rock because he died. The petra upon which the church foundation sits and clings to is an eternal rock. That was not Peter; if it was Peter, he would be almost 2,000 years old. The Roman church doctrine teaches that Peter was the first pope, which is also problematic, as Peter died around 67-69 AD; the Roman Catholic Church was formalized nearly 11 centuries later. Peter was an undershepherd, as were the other apostles, all of whom died during the first century or within less than a handful of years into the second century. The only one who could be the Rock is Jesus as the Holy Spirit identifies in 1 Corinthians 10:4.  

Here is how we can know for our own individual assessment where we stand by discussing with God: Is God’s Word a sacred treasure in my life – more precious than gold? AMEN? Is it the foundation I acknowledge and believe it to be? Is it the basis for how I learn to approach God? Does it shape my worship? Does it inform my prayers? Can I claim as Paul does in Romans 1 and as Peter says in John 6 that God’s Word—His Gospel truth, is the power of God for salvation to those who have received faith from God, and the words therein words of eternal life? Do I really study the Bible regularly – which is different from reading a devotional – but rather like the example of the psalmist David who meditated on scripture day and night seeking God’s wisdom and understanding?  Jesus says very succinctly that if we love Him, if we are in Christ – in growing union with Christ – then we will obey His commandments. And what are His commandments? The Word of God. Last Sunday, during Bible study, Mercy quoted Hosea 4:6. which tells us that people perish - which means they are eternally dead - for lack of knowledge of God and His word.We cannot duck this responsibility - while a faith leader can provide some knowledge on God and His Word, it is our singular responsibility to learn, know, ingest and digest God's word, to know Him intimately, and to live like Christ. WHY would we want to neglect so great a salvation? The Bible is God’s means of grace for our salvation and sanctification. If we are neglecting it, then any faith structure we are attempting to build will suffer damage. If we do not get it repaired, if we do not commit to Jesus as Lord and fail to reconnect to the chief cornerstone, we will disconnect ourselves. So it comes down to relationship – which is more precious and more appealing to us – an eternal relationship with the bedrock, the Rock and the Chief Cornerstone, or striving to make a way in the world’s culture and becoming honored by people, and making God and His kingdom a 'something' that we will get around to? We are commanded to "Seek first the kingdom and its righteousness"- the righteousness that God has provided through Christ and sustains by His means of grace – His Word. Friends, God is calling you to seek Him, and He is looking for those who willingly worship Him in spirit and truth! Is that how He sees us?

(The experiment concluded as it should have because of the faulty foundation and base the one structure collapsed, while the other remained unchanged and unshaken.) 

Oh, by the way, does anyone know where our building's cornerstone is located? That is your challenge for this week! 

Let's conclude by singing the first verse again, of "How Firm A Foundation" and thanking God for His amazing grace of the Church.   

 

Born Again - Response to the Word (at St Christopher's Episcopal Church, Sunday, March 1, 2026)

 

(I ask for your grace in this delivery - it is a critical message that will exceed the recommended 15 minute time frame. The topic of being born again is essential to understanding your salvation. So here we go...)

Born Again – The Fundamental Doctrine in Salvation (John 3)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God… Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”  

How many of us--who are not in the medical profession--have seen a child being birthed? It’s a moment of awe isn’t it? We know all about the process, but to see it happen, oh how miraculous! How emotional! Jesus uses that circumstance of a woman in labor allegorically in John 16 as he describes God’s work of salvation; remember, in the first century there was no such thing as epidurals – women gave birth in pain in vertical positions to allow gravity to assist in the birth. That is still a practice in some parts of the world.  Her pregnancy – while beautiful – is often uncomfortable when sitting or sleeping, limits a mother’s mobility and balance sometimes. Her body changes not just in shape but also in function. Every part of her body is impacted. So -- all throughout the pregnancy – from conception to full term, who physically has been doing the work of nourishing and caring for the child in the womb?

         Right – the mother! It is an act of love and sacrifice. And when her time has come to give birth, it is called labor for a reason! It is painful Mothers – AMEN? The mother groans, pushes, groans and moans, pushes, steadily and repeatedly, and the energy and effort become a difficult struggle, the pain heightens; both pregnancy and the immense strain and stress of childbirth happens and yet she cannot stop the process. She doesn’t stop. When the child finally enters the world, mom is so excited to see the precious babe that the struggle was worth it. She no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So how much effort did the baby have to put forward? Did he or she consciously say I want to get out of here – let me hurry up the process? Or just the opposite, I don’t want to leave this home, so I’m going to stay! No, the child does not control the birth process, does not aid in nor direct the process. The woman does all of the suffering, all of the anguish, all of the groaning and moaning and pushing, in order to birth her child. And then, when the child is birthed, it screams and is discombobulated, confused  because he or she is no longer in the comfortable home that was well furnished for them. All of the bright lights, the sounds, the different hands are so foreign to him or her and makes the crying sometimes more intense! But after a while, when hearing the mother’s voice and heartbeat the child begins the process of acclimating to its new life.
Similarly, Jesus, our Lord and Savior, also groaned, moaned,   list it   so that following His struggle, we too could be birthed.

Garden of Gethsemane the cup.  Jesus' sacrifice was greater than we can imagine. His horrific torture, then nailing Him to a cross was only part of the sacrifice. On that cross hung not just a person, but a bearer of EVERY SIN EVER DONE BY EVERY HUMAN AND WOULD BE DONE UNTIL THE SECOND COMING. The weight of all of those sins made Jesus grotesque to the Father. So much so that it shadowed --in Jesus' human experience--the presence of the Father. In Habakkuk 1:1-4, 13 the Spirit says that God cannot approve sin, He doesn't look upon it with approval. Perversion of justice, violence, etc. -  God is Holy, God is Righteous. The uncountable sins Jesus bore placed Him at odds with the Father; Jesus would cry out at His darkest hour, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?) No one else could effect the redemption required for our salvation. (Hebrews 9:11-15,18-22) In our Triune God’s divine plan of salvation, He alone does all of the work, He choreographs the timing and the circumstance. He determines the means of grace for our salvation: sola scriptura--Scripture alone (the Word of God with which we are sanctified and trained for eternal life); sola fide - justification, i.e., being declared righteous by God: that it is by Faith Alone that we are saved, and that is not of our own; and, sola gratia - by Grace Alone does God save us, not based on works or actions on our part.  We are incapable of adding anything to salvation. Jesus says that you are not a Christian unless you are born again, even if you choose to call yourself Christian. HARD SAYING. Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus clearly says to all who profess to be a follower of Christ.

In our text, we are introduced to Nicodemus: he was an important guy. A Pharisee, and member of the authoritative Jewish body called The Sanhedrin. He doesn’t approach Jesus in the street in daylight hours, but makes his way in the dark of night to speak to Him. He gives Jesus accolades as he lets Jesus know that, "well, I am an important guy who holds you in respect and…” Jesus stops the flow of flattery; see, Jesus knew that Nicodemus wanted to know if Jesus was going to restore the kingdom at that time. He tells Nicodemus straight out: “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” And Jesus continues: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus, who spent years ingesting the Mosaic law and the ‘add ons’ the Pharisees thought fit, was clueless. Jesus softens the delivery with an illustrative explanation - “Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’  The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” In other words, you cannot see the actual birth or regeneration, but you see the effects. 

So what does it mean to be born again? Let me tell you what it is not: it’s not being 'refreshed' as a Christian or 'revived' after a long absence from worship. Being born again is not an 'altar call'. It’s not the words/rituals by a religious leader. No. How many persons present know that they have been born again? How do you know? When I was 14, I was encouraged to get baptized – full immersion baptism. I had followed the rules of the denomination and they thought I was ready for this. But, it wasn’t until 45 years later, 45 long years – in God’s timing – that I was born again. Baptism did not effect my regeneration; no words spoken over me effected my regeneration. It was the work of God alone through His Holy Spirit that 'resurrected' me from spiritual death. It only happens once. How many times can you be born physically? 
     Following the saying that the Gospels proclaim Jesus, and the epistles explain Jesus, Paul by H.S. offers clarity in this act of regeneration or being born again.

[Read Ephesians 2 one through 10 to everyone and make comments as I do so.] If you have your Bible, turn with me so that you can make notes.  Reads vss 1-3. We were physically born spiritually dead in our trespasses and sin – King David recognized in Psalm 51 that he was a sinner in his mother’s womb – a baby, yet he like everyone before and after him born into this world he was born with the deadly sin passed on by Adam. We all were born spiritually dead,  separated from God - which was the initial consequence of Adam's and Eve's sin - spiritual death. We were born from our mother's womb spiritually dead; it wasn't discovered on any hospital equipment in the delivery room - it is a condition shared by every person born since the fall of Adam and Eve, whether we wish to acknowledge it or not – see God already has!  We had no interest in God in our spiritually dead estate, no interest in His word, no desire to know God, but rather live for ourselves – to satisfy our immoral desires. We were under the influence of the sinful world culture and power of the devil. God says that because of that we were to Him children of wrath! A few weeks ago we read in Corinthians that there were persons in that church who were spiritual, having been born again into Christ, and also those who had not been so, who were referred to as unspiritual. Yet here’s the best part of passage--verse 4. But. God. Turn to your neighbor and say But God.” Whenever you see text that says But God, you can expect God to be doing, saying or initiating something beyond our power. READ 4 ….And then we come to the clincher, verse 8. Some of you may know this verse by heart so feel free to speak it out loud. God The Holy Spirit tells us: …read 8;The Holy Spirit comes into us to make us alive spiritually and to give us the faith to accept Jesus as our Lord. We can't raise ourselves from the dead. Jesus did not say to Lazarus – could you at least open the door so that we can call you out of the tomb…Lazarus, first take off the cloths you’re wrapped in and when you’re ready say Amen.  No, no. Lazarus had no part in his resurrection. Was only when Christ brought him back to life, Lazarus was able to obey Jesus’ call to come out.  EXPLAIN SPIRITUALLY DEAD CANNOT HAVE FAITH.

We do not have the power. God does not send us a calendar appointment that says on March 3 be ready to be born again. You can’t get ready, YOU ARE SPIRITUALLY D-E-D – you don’t know when it will happen. And this is a very critical point because there are denominations that do not teach this important Bible doctrine, rooted in scripture, that comes directly from Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And it's really important to understand that by grace you have been saved through faith that wasn't your own doing, because you did not have faith= you were dead. God had to put His Holy Spirit in us to make us alive to Him. ADAM AND EVE WHAT GOD SAID TO THEM. If you eat of this fruit….. and from the instant that they rebelled against God they became spiritually dead. They realized it, felt ashamed and hid from God. From that point in time until Jesus comes again, all people born are physically born spiritually dead. (Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit - He was the only fully human, fully God individual who was born spiritually alive!!) If we were not born again we’d still be children of Wrath deserving eternal death.  There was nothing we could do or say that would take us from spiritual death to spiritual life. Verse 10 says that in His act of regeneration, He has given us purpose - we’re created in Jesus for good works – that is, we have received special gifts—spiritual gifts and talents, so that we can be Jesus in this world, to tell out the gospel to others, to make disciples. Isn't it really important to understand Bible doctrine if we are going to make disciples of people? Amen?

And then we come to the next hard saying of Jesus to Nicodemus and to us all: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” For years, even centuries, theologians have shared varying interpretations of what the water could be.  3 prominent ones: Some say that it represents the water of baptism. BCP, Pastor Prince, me and others I’m sure, says that (1) baptism is an outward sign of the inward grace of God - it is a symbol of the internal work of regeneration and a public declaration that the person has received Christ as Lord.

(2) the amniotic fluid of the physical birth of a human. Premise—we’re born humans and based on that, we can be born again. (that may not hold since mammals with four legs also have wombs with babies in amniotic fluid)
(3) the water of God's Word. Next week our Gospel read is from John chapter 4, where we see Jesus seeking out Samaritan woman.Meets up with her at Jacob’s well, and He says – Give me a drink. She’s astounded -- you're a Jew, you're not supposed to be talking to me. And Jesus said, If you knew who was asking you, He would give you living water, and you will never thirst again. Jesus associates Himself with Living Water. Also in Eph 5, Paul is led by Spirit to write to the church about the spiritual life of the family. He describes the children, the wife, and then he talks about the husband. Husbands are to love their wives just as Christ loves His bride, the Church, that He laid down His life for her & who He sanctifies by cleansing her with the water of the word. Husband is to imitate that in his own family. Cleansed by the water of the word. Jesus, of course, is the word, and His words are backed with Holy Spirit and Divine power . Rom. 1:16 gospel of Christ power of salvation. He is the Way The Truth and the Life. Thus differing interpretations;

But the important take away here, brothers and sisters, is that regeneration is not an act of our own. It is impossible for us to achieve. These are hard sayings, one of the reasons being that different denominations have differing views on salvation, yet the clear truth can be found in scripture and if that truth is not taught then as someone told me recently, I’ve got so many other options to choose from to guess what it means!

After the instantaneous miracle of regeneration we enter into a new life in Christ, in union with Christ. Psalm 23, Matthew 7:14—paths of righteousness, narrow road. God provides what we need to live this new life. Like the baby who gets acclimated to his/her new life outside the womb and grows, gaining knowledge and skills, the Holy Spirit guides us, trains us in godliness, and nurtures us with scriptures in our spiritual growth. 

The born again experience is different for everyone: There may initially be joy. May be frustration at times - metaphorically it's like living in a certain house and certain neighborhood for years and suddenly finding yourself in a different kind of house and different kind of neigborhood. As time goes by, something inside you begins changing. You start wanting to know God. You start desiring to be in His word. You start the struggle of sanctification, about which Jesus prayed for us on his last night in his human journey that we would be sanctified by the truth. When we are born again, we become joined with Christ, that is, in union with Him.

As noted previously, it was 45 years between my baptism and my being born again. God never left me nor forsook me, even tho I was not the sterling character calendar girl for the cover of Spiritual Living Magazine. Because I wasn’t – I was still spiritually dead. yet He never left me nor forsook me, even when I was living in my trespasses and sins. And I am so grateful. It took me almost a year afterwards to begin to get grounded in the word and it was sometimes a confusing time because I had to shake off the false teaching that had been drilled into me.  And it may be true of others –a period of adjustment under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we begin to engage in spiritual disciplines – God’s means of grace that He uses as instruments in our new life in Christ:  Bible study, (the Holy Spirit will help you understand those things that didn’t make sense before you were regenerated), the prayer relationship with the Father, and the Holy Spirit himself indwelling us. How many of us know this: that we serve a Triune God, and according to Jesus’ words in John 14, that the Father Son H.S. will come to us and live inside of us who are born again. And we will bear fruit worthy of the gift of new life in Christ.

       Friends, this is our Blessed Assurance. We are heirs of salvation because we have been made alive, regenerated, born again by the Holy Spirit, who even at this very moment is working a work in us!

 

Thank you for your gracious patience. This was not an easy topic that one skimps through, but it is a vital one. So thank you. Let us pray.