Galatians 5:1, 16-26 Fruit - Its Good for You - And Everyone Else!

Sermon preached August 25, 2013 Opening - growing into something beautiful A few weeks ago, the Colorado branch of our family - our son Peter, his wife Melissa and our nine-month-old grandson Noah - took a trip to see Mount Rushmore. And then took a great picture of Noah lined up with the faces of the four Presidents whose faces are chiseled into the rock. Noah is looking off into the distance. The pictures caption was, Future President of the United States? I said to his parents that he had a look of steely determination in his eyes. But it got me wondering about what Noah was going to become when he grew up? Would he become an actual President of the United States? A doctor, a scientist, and inventor, an artist? What would he do with the gifts of talents hes been given? And most importantly, would he grow up to know and love Jesus Christ? Noah is nine months old. Some of us, are pushing ninety! But no matter what our age, God intends for us to grow and become new and better people. Through growing in the fruit of the Holy Spirit Paul writes of to the Galatian church. Passage context To start, I need to give you a quick sketch of the situation Paul faced when he wrote Galatians. Scholars think this letter was addressed to a group of churches in what is now Asia Minor, churches that he founded during one of his missionary journeys. Some time after Paul moved on, a group of Jewish Christians came to these churches and said that in order to become Christian, you had to become Jewish first - if you were male, you had to be circumcised, and everyone male or female had to follow the law of Moses. And the Galatians bought into it. In response, Paul wrote this letter - and hes deeply upset, blasts those who have perverted the gospel of grace, and says in the beginning of chapter 5 - It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. You see, in Christ we are set free from the powers of sin and death, set free from having to obey religious law in order to be right with God, and set free in grow into a life of beauty and grace under the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ means the freedom to grow into new and better people. 1

The problem of the Flesh Jesus Christ came to set us free, because we are in bondage. To what Paul calls in this passage the flesh Heres an imperfect analogy - you get a brand new computer. Runs great. Over time gets slower and slower. Often thats because of malware. Little programs that install themselves and do things like track what websites you go to. And your computer, gets corrupted. You and are, are born with corrupted operating systems. Rousseau was wrong - thought human beings born pure and corrupted by society. Human beings are instead, born corrupted. You see it pretty early on. Couple of weeks, MDO starts back, man I love those little people. Just about every day I go see them when they have play time in the gym. Some of them run over and hug me around the knees or want me to play ball with them. One little guy with these big brown eyes, he would come over and just look at me and never said a word. Anyway, these kids are great, but theyre a handful. Theyre not born pure and innocent. Ever heard of the Toddler Rules of Ownership? Here they are: 1. If I like it, it's mine. 2. If it's in my hands, it's mine. 3. If I can take it from you, it's mine. 4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine. 5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way. 6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine. 7. If it looks just like mine, it's mine. 8. If I think it's mine, it's mine There is within each one of us, this mysterious darkness, this inborn selfishness, this spiritual blindness. Frederick Buechner once wrote that we are half in love with the things of death - we supposedly rational people, do things that horrify us, do things that destroy ourselves and others. You remember Hunter Thompson? Writer, journalist, wild man. Wrote the book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, wrote for Rolling Stone for years. He committed suicide in 2005 at age 67. After his death, his first wife, Sandy Conklin-Thompson, wrote: He was, on the one hand, extremely loving and tender, brilliant and exciting, generous and kind. On the other end of the spectrumhe was full spectrumhe 2

was extremely cruel. I will never forget something Hunter once said to me. In one of his tender moments I asked him if he knew when he was about to become the Monster. He said, Sandy, it's like this. I sense it first, and before I have completely turned around he is there. He is me. There is no cure for the flesh, other than Jesus Christ. Thank God! Jesus Christ has set us free from the power of sin embedded in our flesh, embedded in the core, and sets us free to grow into new people. Are you growing? And my question for us is, are we growing - growing away from the flesh, and growing in the fruit of the HS? Time for a diagnostic self-assessment. Pull out insert and look at the two lists. Take a minute and read them over and ask yourself, which of these lists looks more like me? Now you look at that list of works of the flesh and you probably think, not me! Full of really juicy stuff - orgies! Sorcery! Drunkenness and carousing! Heck, no, not me! Keep reading and youll see Paul drills down to the heart. The works of the flesh are not just about what we think of as flesh - they are also in our hearts, too Jealousy, anger, envy - how about those? Maybe a little closer to home? Deep down inside? Long-simmering anger over a wrong done that you keep alive by replaying the hurt? Envy that other people who clearly arent as smart and as decent as you make more money, have more respect? Or impurity - what do you watch, what do you do on your computer, when no one else is watching? What kind of thoughts are playing regularly in your mind? Heres another useful diagnostic assessment. Its sometimes hard to assess yourself honestly - so try this - think about the effect you have on other people. When other people are around us, do they experience things like love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness and the rest? Or, do people have a different kind of experience when they are around us - do we create discord, jealousy, factions, anger - among other people? Like in our marriages - I read a great story last year taken from the time of the American revolution. There was a married couple, named Col. John Custis of Arlington, Va., and his wife, Frances Parke. And they were notoriously unhappy. According to local accounts, they would go for weeks without speaking. One day, 3

on a miserable carriage ride together, Mrs. Custis realized that her husband driving their carriage straight into Chesapeake Bay. "Where are (taking us), Mr. Custis?" she asked with alarm. "To hell, Madam," the colonel replied. "Drive on," she said. "Any place is better than Arlington (with you)." The colonelor his horsesapparently changed their minds1 You see, what this is about, is how we live in relationship with God and other people. Its not just whats in here - its how we live in the everyday. And this applies especially, to life together in the church. Like all of Pauls letters, Galatians was written to a congregation or congregations of our long-ago sisters and brothers in Christ. You look at the list of the works of the flesh - seems like an odd list for a church drunkenness and orgies? Well, for drunkenness, Paul may have been thinking about the Corinthian church, where the congregation was in the habit of swilling communion wine until they got hammered - no little dip in the cup, none of those little communion shot glasses - they were guzzling the stuff and Paul rebuked them. And there are churches today where social events lead to people drinking too much and getting out of hand. Whats this about orgies? Well, I know of a church not far from where I was in SC where on a mission trip abroad, the church folk were out on the water on a boat, and somehow somebody got the idea - I believe there was alcohol involved that everyone should go skinny dipping. So off came the bathing suits, men and women both, and everyone went into the water. Just as serious, but not as spectacular though, are the more common issues of discord, dissensions, factions and rage. There are some churches who have been so mean for so long thats all they know. I have heard so many sad stories from people who have been beaten up in church - laypeople and ministers alike - that it can make you despair for the church. Satan gets into churches and encourages the works of the flesh to destroy Christs church, and to destroy the faith of new believers. Each of us has to really vigilant and practice self-examination and ask ourselves - what effect do we have on each other in the church? Do we help create a climate of love, joy, peace, patience; do we help other people grow in the fruit of the Spirit? Or does our behavior create 4

dissension, factions and the rest of the mess? What kind of influence are you, am I? Christians are people whom Jesus Christ has set free from the power of the flesh. But we have to claim that freedom and work with the Holy Spirit to grow and become the people God wants us to be. Freedom lays before us a choice - do we continue to listen to the call of the flesh, or do we choose to cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit in us? And really - if you look at these two lists - what list would you like to describe you? Wouldnt it be great, if when other people thought about you, the qualities on this list came to mind? And wouldnt it be great, if this characterized our church? Imperative of growth Tough words now. If you are not growing in the fruit of the Spirit, somethings wrong. If over the course of the years, you have not grown away from the works of the flesh and into the fruit of the Spirit, there is something bad wrong. You cant come to Christ, and stay the person you are. Anne Lamotte says grace meets us where we are, but doesnt leave us there. Yes, Jesus met people right where they were - in order to take them someplace they couldnt imagine. You cant claim to know Christ, and make no progress in growing away from the flesh and growing into the fruit of the Spirit. You cant say Im a follower of Jesus Christ, but Im just fine the way I am, Im going to stay right here thank you very much. We must grow. Flipping that around, Jesus Christ means freedom. Freed from bondage, freed to become better people. As JB Phillips put it, Every time we say I believe in the Holy Spirit we mean that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it. Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit So how do you do this? First thing to remember, is that God wants you to grow, is working in you to help you grow. Were not on our own, trying to summon up willpower like when were dieting or going through an exercise plan. I once heard Andrew Purves of Pittsburgh Seminary say some words that changed my life - Jesus Christ is not only Lord of our justification, Jesus Christ is Lord of our sanctification. Which is seminary-speak meaning that just as salvation is Christs work, so is our growth as Christians. Jesus Christ is at work in us and our job is to discern how and where and cooperate. The only guidance we get in this passage is to be guided by the Spirit. The Greek 5

literally means to walk with the Spirit, or to keep in step with the Spirit. So whats that mean? Well, back when Susan and I were dating, or going out, I guess youd call it, in college, we didnt have any money or a car, so instead of going out to eat or something we would go for long walks around town. And of course we would hold hands. Now we didnt have a set route, so at different points wed have to decide do we go this way or that way. Sometimes we would communicate that to each other with just a little tug on the hand, a little nudge so wed go right or left. Thats sort of the way it works when we walk with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesnt usually clobber us; more often the Spirit nudges, tugs us in a certain direction. You may sense a little nudge to go speak to someone and find they needed you; you may feel a little no in your heart when youre about to lose your temper; you may sense a peace washing over you when you are stressed and anxious; you may have a verse of scripture come to mind that gives you a little reminder of how God loves you and wishes you to live in that moment. And you develop sensitivity to the Spirits voice by the discipline of prayer and Scripture reading. It...takes...years - but it does happen. And then, you practice living out the fruit of the Spirit. An illustration. I cycle for fun and exercise. Most Saturdays Ill ride 40-50 miles. Have done a century ride - 100 miles. People tell me they are amazed by this one person even said he was in awe of me. I thought, As you should be! But heres the truth about cycling. There is absolutely no skill or talent involved in cycling. To go a long ways, you sit on the bike and you keep pedaling, you build up endurance and after a while you can go a long, long ways. You just keep turning the pedals. There is an element of that in growing in the fruit of the Spirit. Its a matter of everyday living, of living into these characteristics. Need to grow in joy? Think on the blessings of your life and the goodness of God. Need to grow in peace? Work on the discipline of trusting God no matter what comes in life. Need to grow in patience? Have or adopt children and wait until they are teenagers! Hah! Need to grow in kindness? Be alert to opportunities to bless others - like someone is just home from the hospital - bring them a meal. Listen for the Spirits voice, be alert for opportunities to practice the fruit, and you will grow. And look especially at the areas where youre the weakest. You may naturally be patient but have a deficit of joy; you may naturally be self-controlled, but not generous - its the 6

fruit of the Spirit, when its not a natural part of who you are. And isnt it cool that God wants and enables us to grow, precisely in the areas where were weakest? Closing Our genius daughter Amy, magna cum laude nursing school graduate, National Honor Society inductee, really high IQ, for some mysterious reason, loves to watch reality shows. And her favorites are The Real Housewives of NJ and The Real Housewives of Orange County. Just for the experience, I watched part of one of the episodes. Jealousy! Rage! Envy! Drunkenness! Works of the flesh! Was kind of perversely entertaining. But theres another type of reality show - The Biggest Loser, Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition - where people try to change positively. My Ph.D daughter-in-law Melissa watches Biggest Loser and occasionally weeps when someone makes their goal. Those shows are about other people changing their lives. And it is exciting to watch someone succeed. But you and I are called to change, not only that, helped to change, not only that, destined to change and become new and glorious creatures. The Holy Spirit is at work in you to change you into a better person - thats the promise, thats the offer - let the Spirit go to work, cooperate with the Spirits workings, and watch the fruit blossom in you. Amen.

1. Thomas Fleming, What Life Was Like In 1776, in The Wall Street Journal, July 3, 2012.