Sunday Sermon, 28 June 2026
The Fourth Sunday after Trinity, St Andrew’s Church, Sedbergh
You can read the sermon below, or listen here:
A reading from St Paul’s Letter to the Romans
Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6.12–23 NRSVA
Sometimes an instruction can be difficult to understand or be liable to misinterpretation. I remember a motorcyclist telling me about the time he was venturing off the beaten track in the Lake District. When he came across a road sign that said “Push Bikes Only”, he obediently got off his motorbike and started pushing it along the track, until he realised it meant only bicycles were allowed!
In our reading this morning from St Paul’s letter to the Romans, we’re given an instruction that can be difficult to understand. We’re told to ‘present our members to God as instruments of righteousness’. It’s worth spending a moment to think about what this teaching means, and its implications for us today.
The word ‘members’ in this passage is referring to the body – literally, our limbs and organs – our arms, legs, heart, and so on. He is affirming the importance of our bodies. Sometimes people have the idea that Christianity is just interested in the spiritual and has little regard for matter. But this is a later distortion. Authentic Christianity emphasises the importance of every bit of us, from the hairs on our head to the toes on our feet. God cares about the whole of you.
Our bodies are to become ‘instruments of righteousness’. The point here is that what we do with the body matters. Just as an instrument like a piano can be played harmoniously or discordantly, so our bodies can be used for good or for evil. In fact, the word ‘instrument’ is probably better translated as ‘weapon’, which heightens its impact. We have great responsibility in the way that we use our bodies. The same hands which can bring harm can also bring healing.
In short, the instruction to ‘present our members to God as instruments of righteousness’ is telling us to offer our whole self to God. We are to consider in every moment how our body, mind, and soul, can be equipped and put in service of righteousness, in order to extend God’s love and care into all parts of creation. As it is expressed in a famous poem often attributed to St Theresa:
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
This is an exciting and liberating thought of St Paul, because it gives meaning and purpose to every part of our lives. It tells us that there is nothing which is outside the scope of holiness. Every area of life may be sanctified when we present our whole selves to God.
Of course we do not do this in order to gain merit before God or win brownie points. Paul is emphatic that we receive eternal life as a free gift from God. Rather, it is because we have been saved from slavery to Sin and brought into the realm of grace that we are enabled to use our bodies for good.
Furthermore, we must recognise the great diversity of embodied life within the church. God has made us all differently, with unique abilities, limitations and experiences. The church has too often overlooked or marginalised disabled people and others whose gifts are not always recognised.
In a community of grace, we are invited to offer our whole selves to God for his glory, in mutual dependence upon one another. Whether giving or receiving, our discipleship depends not upon our own abilities, but upon the Spirit’s gifts of faith and holiness.
As I close, here are just some of the ways that we can present our bodies to God as instruments of righteousness:
In community life, we can honour and respect others with our bodies, by being present and giving our full attention. We can show care and affection with a hug, or offer a listening ear on the phone.
In the workplace we can be diligent and courteous, communicating well and working hard to support our colleagues. Whether engaged in manual labour or in a desk job we can view our work as an offering to God.
When we gather for worship, we can kneel before God in prayer, or raise our hands in praise. When we share in Christ’s body and blood, we engage the senses of taste and touch.
When we have free time, we can be grateful for the gift of the body – whether enjoying a walk in the dales, or the fun of playing sport or exercising with others. We can express our creativity through craft, music, and the arts. We can explore the life of the mind by using our intellect and emotions to probe the mysteries of God and wrestle with the big questions of life.
And when life is difficult, and we particularly feel the limitations of our bodies, we can exercise faith and remember our Christian hope in the redemption of all things.
Above all, we are called to use our bodies for good, as instruments of righteousness, in ways that bless others and bless God. May we remember that our common life together is an embodied life, and may we seek to protect and nurture each member of Christ’s body in all we do.
Amen.