Our Redeemer Lutheran Church
Quincy, IL
Rev. Larry D. Troxel


The Fifth Sunday in Lent
Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 8:00 & 10:15 a.m.


“Jesus Gives Life to Our Mortal Bodies”
(Romans 8:10–11)

In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Of all the freedoms we have and enjoy, one freedom ranks above all others. No government can give this freedom and no government can abridge or take away this freedom. This freedom is not mentioned in our nation’s Declaration of Independence. It is not mentioned in the Constitution of the United States of America nor in the Bill of Rights. Yet, just as the popular statement says, this freedom may be free but it has been obtained at the highest of all prices.

This freedom is freedom from death and from the fear of death. We enjoy this freedom because it has been given to us as a free gift. Yet it was purchased at the highest of all prices, “not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.”¹

This freedom from death is something for which many people are searching in many places, and yet no human being or group of human beings can find it by means of their own efforts. Medical research has given us many wonderful gifts – treatments which aid our bodies in fighting infections, surgical procedures which improved health and extend life, relief from pain and suffering. The list of blessings God has given us through the field of medicine is lengthy. But no medication, no medical procedure, no expenditure of money, no effort of any kind made by human beings can give us freedom from death.

Death exerts its enslaving power over every living thing because sin has infected and affected every part of God’s creation. Holy Scripture says, “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”²The sad fact is that we are all terminal; we will all die. The only people who will be untouched by death are those Christians who are alive at the time of Jesus’ second coming.³ But even they experience living with the crippling power of sin and the reality of living in a mortal body until Jesus does return. It goes back to what God said to Adam in the Garden of Eden after the Fall into sin: “You are dust and to dust you shall return.”⁴

For many people the thought of death, and especially of their own death, is just too disturbing. They refuse to think about it or talk about it. Even when they are told that they are terminally ill and have only a few months to live, some people deny the reality and refuse to discuss matters which need to be handled in view of their impending death.

The reality of death and the fear of death hold many people in the worst of all slavery. How is it with you? Can you speak comfortably with your family and friends about death? about the reality of your own death? Or is it a subject that you would rather avoid and not discuss?

God has some very Good News for all of us. In Christ Jesus He has set us free from death and also from the fear of death. Holy Scripture says, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”⁵ Our text says: “If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 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 through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

The truth about us is that even though our bodies may seem to be strong and healthy, because we are sinful our bodies are mortal. Our bodies will die. But Christ is in us. He took up residence in our bodies when His Holy Spirit gave us the gifts of saving faith, the forgiveness of all our sins, and the new life which is in Christ Jesus. God the Father has declared us to be righteous in His sight⁶ because Christ Jesus kept the Law perfectly for us, died on the cross under the divine punishment we deserved, and rose to life to demonstrate His victory over sin, death, and hell. Scripture says, “When we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”⁷

Because God has given us the gift of saving faith in Christ Jesus, we have been born anew, born again, born of water and the Spirit,⁸ to a living hope⁹ which is, in fact, the divinely-given confidence that eternal life is ours on the basis of all the Christ Jesus has done for us. Saint Paul expressed this divinely-given confidence in these words: “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 through His Spirit who dwells in you.” In other words, every person who believes in Christ Jesus as his or her Savior has divine assurance of what Jesus said to 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.”¹⁰ Eternal life is our possession now and forever. The only “if” is the one which both Saint Paul and Jesus speak: “Do you believe this?” ¹¹

Do you understand and appreciate what a great freedom this is, that you and I are free from death? We can look death, even our own deaths, in the face without fear. We can stand at the graves of our believing loved ones and through our tears sing God’s praises and even laugh in the face of death. For even when it appears that death has won, the reality is that death has been defeated by Christ Jesus and we share fully in His victory over death and the grave.

Yes, we are victors even over the grave, for every grave that ever has existed and ever will exist will not remained closed forever. And what Jesus did for Lazarus, He also will do for us. At His return and command, every grave will open. All the dead will be raised. And those who died believing in Jesus will be glorified, body and soul together, and will live forever in His presence in His new creation, the new heavens and the new earth He has promised.¹²

What confidence, peace, and joy this freedom gives us for every day and night of our lives. No longer are we enslaved by the fear of death. Death, like the grave and like Satan, is a defeated enemy. We say with David and with many believers, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”¹³

This freedom is so great that we cannot and must not keep it to ourselves. This freedom is such a great gift that we are eager to speak of it with our spouses, our children, our grandchildren, our friends, and our neighbors. Especially in the coming weeks, as we celebrate once again the great events of our salvation in our observances of Holy Week and Easter, we have much to offer to the people around us. Invite them to worship with us on Passion Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, and even the Sunday after Easter. On March 30 you even will have the unique experience of attending your own funeral. For on that Sunday, our order of worship will be based on our funeral liturgy as we continue to celebrate what Jesus’ Easter victory means in our daily lives. Be sure to invite your friends, relatives, and co-workers to these special services. What greater gift can you share with them than freedom from death and the fear of death, the freedom which Jesus gives?

Freedom from death and from the fear of death is what God has given you through faith in Christ Jesus. It is a freedom that is found only in Christ Jesus. It is a freedom for which God has paid the highest price, the life of His only Son. It is a freedom which God gives to you as a free gift along with faith in Christ Jesus. Rejoice in all that this freedom means for you. And invite someone else to share in it with us. Amen.


1. 1 Peter 1:18–19
2. Romans 5:12
3. 1 Corinthians 15:51
4. Genesis 3:19
5. Hebrews 2:14–15
6. Romans 4:23–25
7. Ephesians 2:5–6
8. John 3:5
9. 1 Peter 1:3
10. John 11:25–26
11. John 11:26; see Romans 8:11 – “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, …”
12. See 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18; 1 Corinthians 15:51–57; Phillipians 3:21; Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1
13. Psalm 23:4 3


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