Last week we began our summer series of reflection on our covenant relationship with God, a relationship which began between Abraham, Sarah and the Lord and has been passed down through the Israelites. Through baptism in Christ this covenant relationship of blessing from God is offered to all the peoples of the world. We reflected last week on how Rebecca joined this covenant people through marriage and we remembered that we too are joined to Christ like his bride, as we feasted around his heavenly banqueting table of Holy Communion. It sounded like all would end happily ever after. But like all true stories, when we turn to the next chapter the plot thickens.
Just becoming part of the covenant people of God does not make us immune to the trials and troubles of this life. There is still great struggle among the people of God even after we become part of the covenant, and there is usually struggle within each one of us to uphold our part of the agreement with God. “Fightings and fears within without.” Sometimes even in the hope of new life we find ourselves in such turmoil that we wonder how to go on.
Lucy Fisk, a 70-year-old Methodist who lived in Natick in 1854, wrote about such a time of spiritual struggle, perhaps due to pain caused by several physical ailments. She said, “I felt Sabbath night, and Monday morning as though the Lord was afar off, or would not hear; and fear, dread and comparative darkness filled my soul.” Have you ever felt that way? Even for baptized members of the household of God, heirs to the kingdom, the struggles in our lives can fill anyone of us with fear, dread and darkness.
Rebekah surely struggled after her marriage. She and Isaac loved each other but it took 19 years before they finally conceived. God finally heard their prayers, and blessed them with, not one, but two sons. But even as they were being knitted together in their mother’s womb, Jacob and Esau began fighting over their birthright and blessing. The struggle in her womb was so painful, so intense, that it caused Rebekah to lament to God, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” God’s explanation of her pain was no more comforting. Her two sons and their children would be divided, fight one another, lord it over one another. We can expect that, like Lucy, Rebekah was filled with fear, dread and darkness.
Paul’s letter to the Romans can help us understand such feelings when he speaks about living enslaved to laws of sin and death, a slavery that comes when we live according to the flesh. For many Christians the term flesh is associated most with inappropriate sex. But Harper’s Bible Dictionary helps us understand what Paul means by showing us that the flesh as Paul uses it means simply the urge to sin. Flesh connotes weakness that leads Christians to behave like those who have no trust in God. When we loose our trust in God fear, dread and darkness fill our lives.
As I read Genesis 25 with this definition in mind I can see that not only Esau but Jacob also acted according to the flesh. Esau’s case is plainer. In our passage for today we read of how he despised his birthright by simply trading it for a bowl of his brother’s stew when he was hungry. Echoing his mother, Esau said “I am about to die; of what use is this covenant to me? What good is a promise of life in relationship to the living God, if my belly is empty?” In Esau we see life according to the flesh causing the sin of not valuing his inheritance as a child of the covenant, of exchanging it for something of far less worth.
A couple of weeks ago Kristin spoke about worshiping idols, when we put more of our trust in other things than on God’s promise. For Esau, hungry from a hard day’s work, his idol became food. In her letter Lucy Fisk writes of two men whose idol was “strong drink.” They had each converted and found hope in Gods mercy, but sank back in fleshly slavery to alcohol and it gave them death. What idols do we value more than our God given life in Jesus Christ? What takes our focus away from our relationship with our Beloved? In what ways do we despise our birthright, enslaving ourselves to fleshly desires, rather than live as heirs to God’s kingdom?
But this story of twins shows us that despising our inheritance from God is only one half of the problem of living according to the flesh. The other option, trying to steal, or horde God’s blessings, is just as bad. Remember, living in the flesh means behaving like one who has no trust in God. We can see by Jacob’s actions both at the time of birth, and in the stories that follow, indicate that he does not trust in God’s providence. Instead he sees God’s blessing as a limited commodity that he must fight to receive. Jacob, tried so hard to be first born that he came out grabbing the heal of his brother. As a young adult Jacob took advantage of Esau in a time of weakness, and later deceived his own father in order to receive Esau’s blessing too.
While Esau didn’t care about the gift of life represented in his birthright, Jacob wanted it too much. He misunderstood and thought that the blessing was some thing; perhaps wealth, honor, political power, or success. He thought that this blessing was something that he could take away from his brother. He was like the Grinch who thought he could take away Christmas by stealing all the decorations, presents and food. People who live according to the flesh like Jacob think that the one with the most marbles is the winner. But when they get what they think they wanted they find that they are not enjoying blessing, but are alienated from the ones they stepped on along the way. So they too end up lost in fear, dread and darkness.
But there is good news for us today. For those who are in Christ Jesus, for those who breathe deeply of the Spirit of Christ, so that they mindfully live in harmony with God, there is abundant life. This is the good news Paul shared with the Romans. It’s also the good news Lucy Fisk wanted to share. Like a trumpet of hope, Lucy continues her story. Though she was feeling as though the Lord was far off and would not hear her, she continued to seek him in prayer. This represents trust. Trust that her experience of despair was only for a time. Trust that the Lord, who had transformed so many lives and pulled them out of darkness into the light, would do so for her. Trust that God’s grace was greater than any trouble or pain that she had. So Lucy prayed.
Then Lucy says, “About noon the Lord drew near, and talked with me: He asked if I would consecrate my time and talents to Him? In heart I yielded them fully. My property was next called for; friends and family were brought up. I freely yielded. Last my life. ‘Twas done. An entire consecration was made.” Though she was 70 years old and had presumably entered into the covenant with God many years before, Lucy recommitted her life, just as she was, to Christ that day.
And as she did so, her spirit was lifted. “All fear, dread, darkness etc. departed. ‘I am the Lord's and He is mine,’” she almost sang, “what can I want beside?” Lucy tells us that faith “secures to its possessor everything, for time and eternity, that the soul needs or desires.” In other words, we don’t have to grab it from someone else like Jacob did. We don’t need to scheme, or hoard to receive our birthright. In God’s providence it is freely given when we allow God to fully dwell in us. This is what Paul means when he writes in Romans that we are in Christ, and the Spirit of Christ dwells within us.
Paul lists several benefits of living in Christ. First we are set free from the law of sin and death. “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do; by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.” Second God makes it possible for us to walk according to the Spirit. It is possible to live justly according to the law when we allow the Spirit of God to dwell in us. The Methodists of Lucy Fisk’s day called this sanctification, living in holiness, or receiving a second blessing. The first blessing is being forgiven for our sins, or justification and the second blessing, is learning to live a virtuous life, free from sin, or sanctification. We don’t talk so much these days about sanctification, but as I have been studying the lives of the first Methodists here in New England, it was a commitment to living according to the Spirit which enabled the church to grow in faith and in numbers. Methodists formed societies in order to encourage one another to hold fast to life in the Spirit, to pray for one another and to help each other when one was tempted to go back to living according to the flesh.
Though Methodists talked about moving on toward perfection, they were still realistic enough to acknowledge backsliding. I know that in my own life right now I can be sure of God’s mercy and grace and have a strong faith one day, and then be nearly overcome in the shadows the next. Lucy compares this experience to an infant who though he falls a thousand times remains determined on rising to his feet again. Genesis, and Romans and the letter of Lucy Fisk all show us that life in covenant with God is a process, a journey winding through valleys with a few mountain top experiences. But one of the great blessings of being part of church, a society of fellow travelers, is that we can be there for one another to help each other up, to pray for one another and to encourage each other to trust in God’s grace.
When she gave all she had to Jesus, Lucy then felt as though she were stepping on a rock, “which alone will remain when all else is destroyed.” And her words jump off of that ancient page right to us, “Now is the time to place our feet there.”
Now is the time to place our feet there. Where are you standing in your faith journey today? Are you like Esau, hardly thinking about your birthright of life in the Spirit? Distracted by other cares and concerns and not thinking about the one in whom you live and move and have your being? Then listen to Paul’s words, “You are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.” Breathe in the Spirit and breathe out life. Are you like Jacob, yearning so much after a particular blessing that you have been hurting someone, creating darkness along the way? Then hear these words, “If Christ is in you, though your body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Breathe in Christ, and breathe out light. Is trouble or pain darkening your days so that God seems far away? Then take heart. “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” Breathe in the heavenly Father and breathe out unadulterated love. This is your birthright, so claim it. Let us come to Jesus Christ today, just as we are so that he will dwell in us, and we in him. As Lucy says, “Let us assert our right theoretically, experimentally, and practically; by taking hold of God's strength, and prove we are children of Abraham.
The Benediction also comes from Lucy Fisk
Christ is One - Eternal unchanging - unadulterated Love pure benevolence. Six thousand years ago when he pledged Himself the sacrifice for us, two thousand years ago when he fulfilled that engagement and ever since on the mediatorial throne and also in the hearts of His children. I hope you say “He is mine, and ever shall be.” Amen!
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