The Fruits of the Spirit: Kindness

Today, we come to the fifth fruit in St. Paul’s list of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23.  Today’s fruit is kindness.

And most of us, I think understand what it means to be kind.  When we think of kindness, we think of friendliness, generosity–of being considerate.  We think of stories like this one which appeared in Reader’s Digest: Leaving a store, I returned to my car only to find that I’d locked my keys and cell phone inside. A teenager riding his bike saw me kick a tire and say a few choice words. “What’s wrong?” he asked. I explained my situation. “But even if I could call my wife,” I said, “she can’t bring me her car key, since this is our only car.” He handed me his cell phone. “Call your wife and tell her I’m coming to get her key.” “That’s seven miles round trip.” “Don’t worry about it.” An hour later, he returned with the key. I offered him some money, but he refused. “Let’s just say I needed the exercise,” he said. Then, like a cowboy in the movies, he rode off into the sunset. (https://www.rd.com/true-stories/inspiring/kindness-strangers/)

We admire the people who do such things.  Our hearts become warmed when we hear stories or see actions of kindness.  When we receive such acts of kindness, our hearts melt and we react with overwhelming gratitude.  I remember not to long ago, I had taken my family to eat in Bellville at Galileo’s.  We enjoyed our meal and prepared to go only to find out that someone eating in the restaurant that evening had paid for our entire family.  The next time we saw this person, we thanked her profusely for her generosity and gave her plenty of hugs to show our gratitude.  Kindness has this effect upon us.

And conversely, when we see cruelty, our hearts harden.  We get angry at the perpetrators.  We decry their actions and how they handle themselves.  We prefer kindness and want it to rule the day!  And so, we make bumper stickers that say, “Practice random acts of kindness.”  We initiate anti-bullying programs in school.  We post memes on Facebook that say, “It is better to be kind than right.”

And honestly, I only disagree with one of those things: I disagree with the meme that says “It’s better to be kind than right,” because the right thing is the kind thing.  Some may disagree, but let me explain.  Let's say that your kid comes up to you five minutes before dinner and says, "Mom, dad, I'm really, really hungry.  Can I please have a bowl of ice cream?"  Now, one might say that it would be the kind thing to give her the ice cream, after all, she is hungry.  Even though you might be right that it would be better to make her wait until dinner.  But is it really kind to give her the ice cream?  No.  It isn't.  That's not the nourishment that she needs.  In this case, and in others, the right thing--making her wait for dinner--is the kind thing.  And that brings us to the heart of what kindness is as a fruit of the Spirit.  For you see, kindness can be practiced by anyone.  Anyone can be compassionate.  Anyone can be generous.  Anyone can bring a smile to another person’s face by an act of kindness.  But what Paul is talking about here is not simply a pleasant disposition or a nice deed or action towards someone.  It is much deeper.

You see, the Greek word used for kindness here, xrēstótēs, doesn’t have a good English equivalent.  I think one of the commentaries I consulted this past week said it best when it said the word could best be translated as “useful kindness.”  Now, what does that mean?

Let me illustrate with the following two stories.  Three boy scouts were asked by their scout leader to do an act of kindness one day.  Later that afternoon, they returned with news of great success.  They told their scout leader they helped an old woman cross a street.  He said, “It took all three of you to help an old woman across the street?”  “Yes,” the boys said, “She didn’t want to go!”  Now, helping an old lady across the street is certainly an act of kindness, but helping here when she doesn’t want to go isn’t.  The act isn’t useful.  In other words, it is not what is needed.  The old woman didn’t need help crossing the street.  While the scout’s intentions were honorable, the action was not helpful.  It was not xrēstótēs.

On the other hand, this story, I think, comes much closer to the meaning of this Greek word.  A little girl was sent on an errand by her mother.  She took much longer than expected to come back.  When she returned, the girl’s mother demanded an explanation.  The little girl explained the reason.  On her way, she met a little friend who was crying because she had broken her doll.  “Oh,” said the mother, “then you stopped to help her fix her doll?”  “Oh no,” the little girl said, “I stopped to help her cry!”  This little girl was able to see beyond the broken doll and see into the depths of another’s grief.  She was able to see a heart that needed someone to grieve with her.  The little girl addressed a deeper need than simply trying to piece together a broken doll.  That’s xrēstótēs.  That’s the kindness that St. Paul lists as a fruit of the Spirit.

Interestingly enough, this term does not appear a whole lot in the Bible.  It has only scattered references, and Jesus doesn’t use the word kindness at all.  There is only one time when he uses the word in its shorter form which is translated kind.  But that reference is an important one in helping us understand the kind of fruit we produce.  We have that lesson before us today from the sixth chapter of the book of Luke.

Jesus is teaching to a great crowed gathered on a plain, and very much like the Sermon on the Mount found in the book of Matthew, Jesus is laying out the ethics of a Christian life.  The teaching he gives here is quite difficult.  “Give to everyone who begs from you.” That is no easy task at all, especially knowing that many who beg these days take advantage of people’s generosity–and I am specifically talking about those folks standing on the street corners holding signs.  Jesus says, give to them.

He continues, “And if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.”  Yeah, you know that guy you lent your favorite tool to.  Don’t ask for it again.  Let him have it.  Does anyone practice this?  Really?

“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” This is a saying found in every world religion and ethical system.  It sure would be nice if we actually did it.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.”  Are you really listening to what Jesus is saying here?  I mean, really listening?  In Jesus’ day, it was common place to give to someone expecting that the other person would give in return to you.  By giving to another, you put someone in your debt.  So, if you invited them to a dinner at your house, they were now obligated to invite you to their house.  If you loaned something to a neighbor, it was expected that if you asked for something, it would be loaned back to you.  If you gave a gift to someone, it was expected that they would give a gift in return.  There was an entire system built upon this kind of exchange.

And really, is it so different today?  Not really.  If we get a loan from the bank, are we expected to pay it back?  Absolutely, and with interest.  If we work to get a politician elected, do we expect him or her to enact the laws that we support?  Absolutely.  If we give our time to someone, do we expect that he or she will respect our time and our person as we are doing that?  If you don’t think so, let me ask you this: do you get angry when you are trying to talk to someone and they look like they are ignoring you?  If we go into a restaurant to buy a dinner, do we expect to be waited on promptly and cared for by the wait staff?  And if we are not, what do we do?  You see, this system of exchange and indebtedness is still in place today.  It may look a little different, but it is still there.

Jesus upends this system of how the world works.  Jesus throws it all out the window.  He says, “Don’t buy into this system.  Don’t expect rewards from others.  Don’t expect to give and then receive in return from them.  Don’t expect to lend and get anything back.  Don’t live by the “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch my back” axiom because even the sinners–those at the bottom rungs of society–do that.  You live differently.  You expect rewards differently.  You do not expect rewards from others–expect rewards from your Heavenly Father.  As Jesus says, “Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High.”

And here is the why.  Jesus lays out the why we act and move differently.  “For he–Your Heavenly Father–is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

See, there is that word kind.  It’s the shortened version of kindness.  It’s what God gives to the ungrateful and the wicked.  He gives them what they need.  And what do they need?  Jesus says it: Mercy.  They need mercy.  But let’s get a bit more realistic.  Let’s drive Jesus’ point home into our own lives, because we shouldn’t use the word “they” in reference to the ungrateful and the wicked.  We should use the word “us.”  Now, I know that might be a bit unpopular to hear.  That might be a bit like nails on a chalk board.  We don’t like to hear that we are ungrateful. We don’t like to hear that we are wicked.  We don’t even really like it when someone has the audacity to say that we are sinners.

And, yet, that’s exactly what Scripture says we are.  You can’t read through Jesus’ teachings here and think that you follow them perfectly.  You can’t read through the Old Testament commandments and think that you follow them all.  You can’t read through the rest of the New Testament and come away with the idea that you have somehow satisfied what God demands of you.  This is why St. Paul writes in the third chapter of the book of Romans, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God!”  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  We stand condemned.  Indeed, we are wicked.

And being wicked, being condemned, we deserve God’s judgment.  We deserve God’s wrath, but instead, God gives us what we need.  God gives us what we need to change our hearts and change our minds.  God shows his kindness–his xrēstótēs by doing what is actually quite unthinkable.  “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but we are now justified by grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forward as a sacrifice of atonement effective through faith.”  That finishes out Paul’s statement in Romans chapter 3.  God took on human flesh and sacrificed himself on our behalf making payment for our sin; absorbing our debt; and declaring us not guilty–even though we were.  And as he pays our debt by hanging on the cross and facing the wrath we should have faced, he gives us his righteousness.  He gives us his sinlessness.  He clothes us with himself.  He gives us a new status and adopts us as His children.  It would have been easy for God to think that we needed punishment, but He knew that we needed a Savior.  And that’s exactly what He sent in the God made flesh–Jesus Christ.

And when we have encountered this grace; when we have met Jesus at the cross and seen the outpouring of His great love; when we feel the mercy he has extended to us–we become merciful.  We produce kindness.  Deep down, we long to discover the deepest needs of others.  We long to look deep into their hearts and find what will bring them the most joy; peace; and healing.  We no longer simply look at the surface, but we long to see with God’s eyes–so that we can address what is most needed.

A church began seeking one day to reach out into its community.  They began making plans to build a facility for youth complete with gymnasium and playground.  They were excited about the prospects, but some wondered how much use these facilities would get.  Would the community come and use these things?  The seeds of doubt were planted, and one day someone asked: how many kids are in the neighborhood around us?  That one question spurred a group to go investigate.  What they found was quite different.  Their neighborhood was not full of kids–not in the least.  The demographic was quite different.  In fact, the majority of their neighborhood consisted of retired adults, so the church shifted gears.  They talked with their neighbors.  They discovered their needs, and so they scrapped their plans for a youth facility and built a senior citizens center with full handicap access.  They put in an exercise pool and exercise room especially designed for older adults to help with therapy and rehab.  The church decided it would keep any necessary fees to a minimum so that the community–particularly those with a fixed income–could enjoy these facilities and benefit from their use.  And once completed, every day the facilities were in use.  The church addressed the community’s greatest need.  That’s xrēstótēs.

How do we know that we are producing this fruit?  How do we know that kindness is flowing out of us?  I think we must begin by asking ourselves if we are asking the right questions.  Are we asking ourselves: what is the biggest need that my friends have?  Are we asking ourselves: what is the biggest need that my family has?  Are we asking ourselves: what is the biggest need that our community has?  And are we listening to our neighbors?  Are we listening to our friends?  Are we listening to our communities?  Are we digging passed the superficialities and seeing their hearts?  If we are, we are practicing kindness.  We are producing the Spirit’s fruit.  May we produce it in abundance.  Amen.

The Fruits of the Spirit: Patience

Today, we continue our series on the fruits of the Spirit, and we turn our attention to the fourth fruit on that list: patience.

Now, I must confess that I was a bit excited to begin studying this particular fruit because oftentimes I find myself lacking patience.  I mean, a lack of patience is why I enjoy fishing for bass and not for catfish.  When you fish for catfish, you throw your bait into the water and just sit and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Sometimes, you can wait an entire afternoon or an entire day, and nothing happens.  This is very, very tough on me.  I personally don’t like it one bit.  But in bass fishing...well, that’s an entirely different dynamic.  You are constantly throwing your lure out into the water and reeling it in.  You can cast far away.  You can cast nearby.  You sometimes have to work though the weeds.  You are in constant motion even if the fish aren’t biting.  You aren’t just standing or sitting around waiting.  You don’t have to be patient.  Yet, they do say, “Patience is a virtue.”  So, I was hoping to cultivate patience so that at the very least, I might become a better fisherman–at least for catfish.

Ah, but then I started digging into the meaning of the word patience.  On Monday, I sat down and pulled out my commentaries.  I began looking up the word patience in the original Greek.  And I discovered something.  I discovered that there are actually two words in Greek that are translated into the English equivalent “patience.”  One of those words indeed meant simply waiting for something to happen.  But then there was the other one, and here is your Greek word for the day–a word that I am sure you will not remember five seconds after I speak it.  The Greek word used for patience right here in this list of the fruits of the Spirit is makrothymía.  It does not mean simply waiting.  No.  It has a much different nuance.  Let me read to you what Strong’s Concordance gives as its definition: “Makrothymia comes from the Greek words makrós, "long" and thymós, "passion, anger"–properly, long-passion, in other words waiting sufficient time before expressing anger. This avoids the premature use of force (retribution) that rises out of improper anger (a personal reaction).”  So, patience as Paul lists it here as a fruit of the Spirit is waiting a sufficient time before expressing anger.

This means patience, as a fruit of the Spirit, means not only being able to wait in the doctor’s office; it means being able to wait in the doctor’s office knowing that your appointment was at 10 a.m. and that it is now 11 a.m. and you still have a pleasant disposition.  You haven’t become angry.  It’s also the type of patience showed by the man pushing a cart with a screaming baby at the supermarket.  As he goes up and down the aisles, he softly says, “Keep calm, George.  Don’t get all excited, George.  Don’t yell, George.”  A lady watching with approval says, “You certainly need to be commended for your patience in trying to quiet little George!” The man said, “Lady, I am George!”  That’s the patience spoken of as a fruit of the Spirit.

And as I continued on with my study, I found that this word was used by Jesus only a few times.  One of those times, I’m going to deal with in the adult Bible study today, so you are welcome to join in on that.  But probably the most significant time Jesus used this word was in a parable that is very familiar to us.  It is a parable that I literally spent three weeks preaching on not too long ago in my sermon series on forgiveness.  Many of you might remember the parable of the unforgiving servant.  As I sat and wrestled with the true meaning of this word and how it was reshaping my entire understanding of what I had thought patience was and how it related to Jesus’ teachings,  I had to stop.  Literally. I had to stop and just let things settle.  I got up from my studies, grabbed my car keys and headed out to visit one of our members who was in the hospital. 

I mean, have you ever had such a thing happen to you?  Have you ever thought that you knew exactly what something meant and how it played out only to suddenly have everything changed?  Have you ever thought that you had studied something and understood it only then to have one more piece of information change your perspective drastically?  I had to go from understanding patience as simply enduring waiting for something to understanding patience as a slowness to anger.  I had to let my mind process that switch.  Now,  I am wondering if you are having to process this information in the same way.  I am wondering if you are having to re-think your understanding of patience just like I did.  I am wondering if you need some time to let your brain settle in just like I did.  If that’s the case, then maybe I should stop the sermon right here and give you a week to think about it.  Then, next week, we can all come back, and I will finish this sermon when we’ve let the dust settle.

Now, most of you know that I’m not able to do that.  I can’t preach a sermon where I don’t even mention the Gospel of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, so, that means I’m going to have to press onward.  Therefore, I am going to ask those of you who may be struggling to try and hold onto the definition of patience as: slow to anger.  And perhaps turning to something familiar will help us do that as we look briefly again at the parable of the unforgiving servant as we find it printed in our bulletin today.

Just to recap, we know that a master who is wealthy beyond imagination begins settling accounts with his slaves.  A particular slave is brought before him who owes the equivalent of $6 billion.  There is no way possible this slave can pay his master back.  The debt is entirely too large.  Therefore, the master is going to sell this slave along with all the slave’s possessions and the slave’s wife and children to recoup the debt.  The slave falls down, kisses his master’s feet and says, “Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.”  When I preached on this parable, I was under the assumption that the slave was begging for time.  I thought he was trying to convince his master that given enough time, he would pay back the debt–although we know this is an impossibility.  But, alas, this was the wrong assumption.  This is not what the slave is saying.  The slave is saying, “Don’t let your anger burn against me; don’t let your wrath be turned against me; be slow to anger, and I will pay you back everything.”  That’s actually a pretty big difference in what is being said because we know that the master has every right to be angry with this slave.  We know that the master has every right to unleash his wrath upon this slave.  This slave has managed, God knows how, to lose $6 billion of his master’s money.  That’s not chump change in the least.  That’s an overwhelming amount of your master’s money to lose.  Anyone who’s lost a substantial sum of money on a bad investment will tell you how angry that makes you.  But this slave is appealing to his master’s compassion.  This slave is appealing to the master’s love.

And guess what?  What does the master show?  Compassion.  The master has makrothymía.  The master is tremendously slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  Jesus is reminding his listeners–and us–of the reality of what God is like; a reality echoed even in the Old Testament in Nehemiah 9: 16-17: 16 ‘But they and our ancestors acted presumptuously and stiffened their necks and did not obey your commandments; 17they refused to obey, and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them; but they stiffened their necks and determined to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them.”

And that is exactly what the master does here.  The master swallows the debt.  The master writes off $6 billion and frees the slave.  This is the heart of the Gospel.  This is exactly what Jesus does for us on the cross.  We come before God owing a debt that we cannot possibly pay.  Our sin is overwhelming.  We have sinned against God in thought, word and deed.  Every time we have sinned against our neighbor or against the creation, we have sinned against God.  And we can never commit enough good to erase that debt.  We can never, ever pay it off.

Yet, justice demands that it must be paid.  And so, God pays it Himself in the person of Jesus.  Jesus takes our debt upon himself and faces the anger that we should have faced.  Jesus takes our debt upon himself and pays the price that we should have paid.  The cancellation of our debt is free for us, but tremendously costly for God.  But such is the compassion of our God.  Such is the grace of our God.  Such is the love of our God. 

But the cancellation of the debt is only half of what happens, for our God now gives us His righteousness.  Our God then clothes us with glory.  Our God then gives us garments that are whiter than snow.  “For as many of you who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have clothed yourselves with Christ...”  (Gal. 3:27) Not only has our sin been removed and have we been rendered spotless, we have also become children of God.  Jesus has made us His brothers and sisters so that we will share in His inheritance.  And that inheritance was gloriously revealed in the resurrection.  Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, we will be raised from the dead.  Just as Jesus suffering was transformed into good, our suffering will be transformed into good.  These are the things that happen to us when we place our trust in Jesus’ work and not our own.  These are the promises we can hold onto when we trust in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of our lives. 

And when we understand the makrothymía that God has had toward us; when we understand how slow to anger God was with us, then we will have makrothymía toward others.  We will be slow to anger toward others.  We will understand that we were and still are broken people.  We will understand that we needed a savior.  And we will be patient when others sin against us.  For we know that they need grace just like we need grace. 

Ah, but that does not mean that there is no time and place for anger.  That does not mean that anger completely vanishes.  Remember makrothymía means slow to anger.  Jesus reminds us of that in the remainder of the parable because the servant who received compassion from his master fails to extend that same compassion to a fellow servant.  A fellow servant owes him the equivalent of $10,000, and when the fellow servant pleads for makrothymía–that anger might be slow, his pleas are unanswered.  The one who was forgiven fails to forgive. 

And then, the One who was slow to anger, becomes angry.  The one who had forgiven, reinstates the debt and throws the one whose heart was not changed into prison where he must pay back the debt.  And we know, that this debt will never be repaid.  The one who had been forgiven will spend eternity in prison.  Jesus rams home the message, if you who know that you have been forgiven and you fail to forgive, the result will be eternal punishment.  Makrothymía has its limits.

There’s a story about a truck driver who dropped in at an all-night restaurant in the western U.S.  The waitress had just served his meal when three drunken bikers came in and asked him for a fight.  One grabbed his hamburger, and another took a handful of his french fries, while the third picked up his coffee and drank it.  The trucker didn’t respond as one might predict.  Instead, he calmly got up from the table with his check, left his money at the cash register, and walked outside.  As the waitress took his money, she watched the man drive away in a big truck.  When she returned, one of the bikers said, “He’s not very tough, is he?” She said, “I don’t know much about that, but I know he’s not much of a truck driver because he just ran over three motorcycles in the parking lot.”

Now, I’m not suggesting that we run over motorcycles or anything of that sort.  Not in the least.  But I am suggesting that even though we practice patience; even though we are slow to anger, there is also a time where we must realize that there are things that are wrong.  We must realize that there are things that must be confronted.  We must realize that we cannot stand idly by and allow things like poverty, abuse, hunger, bullying, harassment, and such things to go unchecked.  Our anger, like God’s anger must be kindled against such things. 

But here is the kicker–this is why makrothymía is a gift: our anger is directed toward the actions, not the people.  With people, we have patience–we are slow to anger.  Our first response toward people is to share with them the love of God in Christ Jesus.  Our first response is to help them understand how they have been forgiven.  Our first response is to introduce them to the God who loved them enough to die for them when they were unlovable.  For this, and this alone truly changes a heart and helps them stop doing the things they once did that were contrary to God’s word. 

Martin Luther, the founder of the Lutheran Church once said, and I am paraphrasing here: If I truly want people to change their behavior, I do not preach the law; on the contrary, I preach the gospel over and over and over again.  You see, it is very easy for us to see things that are wrong, and yell out, “Thou shalt not!!!”  But it is much more difficult to say, “Look to the cross at the God who died for you.”  To do so requires something special within us.  It requires an ability to be slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  It requires makrothymía–patience.  May we all be blessed with this fruit.  Amen.

Fruits of the Spirit: Peace

Today, we come to the third fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23: peace.

As we discovered when dealing with the word: love, there are also several meanings to the word peace.  There is the kind of peace that a mother of three young children longs for.  Some of you understand this kind of desire.  It’s the kids are jumping around the house on a rainy day, screaming and yelling, knocking over furniture, asking for juice and snacks, putting all kinds of demands on you, lock yourself in the restroom for five minutes so you can get away kind of peace.  This kind of peace is the absence of any distractions or demands on your time or person.

But that is not the only kind of peace we know and long for.  There is also the absence of conflict kind of peace.  I had an interesting discussion with a World War II veteran this week who shared with me what it was like to find this kind of peace.  His unit had been assigned to go after the Eagle’s Nest in Germany.  For those of you who might be unfamiliar with that term, the Eagle’s Nest was the place where Hitler was supposed to be holed up–a last stronghold.  This veteran had faced the daunting task of fighting to capture this fortified, dangerous position.  But before, they moved out, they received word that the war was over.  Peace had been declared.  “The feeling was unimaginable,” this man said.  The absence of what had been brutal conflict was overwhelming.  We long for this kind of peace.

There is also the feeling that we experience in the midst of conflict and strife that all will be okay.  We tend to call this inner peace.  I know this feeling well because I have had it numerous times in my life.  The most vivid one was when I was working for the YMCA summer camp program.  We had taken a group of children to a park in northwest Austin, TX.  It was June of 1996, and we received word that the town of Jarrel, TX had been hit by tornadoes, and they were headed our way.  Complicating matters was that the Y had hired school busses to shuttle us and several other groups to the elementary schools which served as our home bases.  Those busses were busy shuttling another group, and we were without transportation. The skies darkened, and we took the kids to a ravine hoping that the storms would pass over us.  I climbed to the top of a small hill and looked northward and saw a funnel cloud heading toward us.  Yet, in the midst of all of this, I was strangely calm.  Deep down, I knew everything was going to be okay.  And sure enough, a local family saw our plight and urged us to take shelter in their house.  The storms passed us by while we huddled safely there–in peace.

It is quite interesting that in all of these circumstances, we often talk about working for peace. We talk about trying to make peace happen.  We broker treaties, schedule retreats, go to counseling, and all sorts of other things to generate peace.  But Paul, in this list calls peace a fruit of the Spirit.  This means that for a Christian, peace isn’t something that we manufacture as if we can find and assemble the pieces to make something come together in perfect harmony; instead, peace is something that naturally flows from us as individuals and is found in our congregations and churches.  In a real sense, peace just happens.  How can this be?

Well, it all begins with Jesus.  Jesus makes a very interesting comment in the book of John.  27"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  When Jesus says these words, he is tapping into his Jewish heritage and talking about Shalom–a deep sense of well being; a sense of being in harmony with God.  This is not a simple, fleeting feeling.  It is a true gift.  And what is that gift.

First, let’s examine what Jesus means when he says, “I do not give to you as the world gives.”  What does the world give?  Remember, Jesus is saying these things in the midst of the Pax Romana–the peace of Rome.  It was a grand narrative that the Roman Empire proclaimed.  They were bringing peace to the world.  But how?  How did the Roman Empire bring their peace?  How has peace been brought to the world for countless generations?  Through violence.  The Romans established peace by stomping out anyone who opposed them.  They viciously put down any opposing army or insurrection.  They crucified thousands of people.  They rendered swift and merciless judgement on criminals.  Their violence established peace.  This is how the world establishes peace.  The biggest kid on the block gets to call the shots, and if anyone dares to oppose him or her, then the consequences are severe.  There is no conflict because no one wants to take on the big kid.  Everyone fears reprisal.  Everyone walks in lock step because to do so means one will endure the wrath of the one in charge.  This is the peace that the world gives.  Jesus says his peace is not like this.  Not by a long shot.

So, what kind of peace does Jesus bring?  Let me begin to flesh this out by reminding you of an older story–a story that is found at the very beginning of the Bible.  Some of you may remember the story of Noah’s Ark.  You know that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights and Noah and his family and a bunch of animals were saved by being on a giant boat.  And you may remember that the boat came to rest on top of a mountain and stayed there until the water subsided.  Now, I would like to read to you the ending of that story.  Genesis chapter 9 starting at verse 8:

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ 12God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ 17God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’

Now, most of us were taught that this bow is the rainbow.  The rainbow is often seen as a sign of peace.  Why?  Well, please note that in the lesson from Genesis, the word “rainbow” is not used.  The word bow is.  Do you know what a bow is?  No, not the bow that is put in someone’s hair to make it look pretty.  This is a bow, the kind that is used to shoot arrows. The kind that in that day was used to make war.  God hung up his bow after the flood.  After God punished the sinfulness of humankind, there was peace.

Now, let’s fast forward thousands of years.  Let’s fast forward to another hill, this one outside the city of Jerusalem.  On that hill stands a man, hanging and dying on a cross.  But he is more than just a man.  He is also God incarnate.  He is the creator and sustainer of the universe.  He is one person of the Holy Trinity who took on human flesh to live among us.  He lived the perfect life, following every command of God the Father, and because he was spotless and blameless, he became the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  That man, hanging on the cross has taken the world’s sin upon himself.  He has reached into you and into me and taken our unholiness upon himself.  He has reached into you and me and taken our brokenness upon himself.  He has reached into you and me and taken every evil thought, word, and deed upon himself.  And he is dying in our place.  He is suffering the torments of hell in our place.  He is taking the punishment of the world’s sin so that we might never have to face it.  He is redeeming us and offering us forgiveness of sin.  And not only is he doing this.  No, this is just one half of the equation.  The other half is what Jesus is giving to us.  He is giving us his righteousness.  He is giving us his blamelessness.  He is giving us his spotlessness.  He is making us holy so that we can stand before God Almighty acceptable in His sight.  He is transforming us into his brothers and sisters so that we may receive the promises of God.  He is giving us the same status that he had as sinless.

Instead of washing the world clean by a flood and destroying once again the wickedness of humankind and punishing us for our sin, God pays the price himself and washes us clean by His blood on the cross of Calvary.  Instead of hanging a bow in the sky, God hangs himself on the cross in a declaration of peace.  Why?  Because, when you hang a bow up, the bow is still there and it can be used later.  War can be re-declared.  This time, the bow is broken, shattered, and a lasting peace is established between God and humanity as God pays the price once and for all!

St. Paul wrote about it this way in the book of Romans, “6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

Through Jesus Christ, we have peace with God.  A right relationship with God has been restored.  We have been justified.  We have been made right with our creator, not by any action we have taken, but by the actions that Jesus Christ has taken.  And God announced this new status with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  God declared that everything Jesus said and did was true; and God showed that what happened to Jesus will also happen to us.  Death will not touch us.  We too will be raised to eternal life.

And when we put our trust in this action; when we stop trying to make ourselves right and throw ourselves on the mercy of God and God’s action, something happens deep within us.  Something happens that brings us a sense of overwhelming peace and comfort.  We know that we are right with our Creator.  We know we stand in God’s love–a love that will never go away.  And we know that God will act to bring us through whatever trial or tribulation we will face.  Even death cannot have the last say.  God will work to bring all things toward the good.  Such things bring us an overwhelming sense of peace deep within our hearts–even when the world rages around us.  Such is the fruit that grows within our hearts.

But it does not stay within our hearts.  These fruits of the Spirit also begin coming forth in our lives.  Peace begins emerging in our relationships–particularly in the relationships between those who believe in Jesus.  For you see, as our hearts change, we too understand that peace is not given as the world gives.  We begin to understand that peace is not brought about by being the top dog and strongest, mightiest person who can call all the shots.  No.  Instead, peace begins to emerge when we, like Jesus take on the pain and suffering of offering forgiveness.  Peace begins to emerge when we are willing to pay the price for someone else wronging us.  Remember our sermon series on forgiveness not too long ago?  See how the two are inter-related?  When a community of such like minded people gather, there are problems.  There are issues.  Our human natures still bring about conflict, BUT because our hearts are willing to absorb the cost; because our hearts have the peace of Christ within, reconciliation and forgiveness rule.  Reconciliation and forgiveness take center stage.  The same reconciliation and forgiveness God through Jesus extended to the whole world emerges within a community of faith bringing peace between brothers and sisters in Christ.

During my sermon series on forgiveness, I told the joke about the preacher who preached on loving one’s enemies.  Remember that joke?  A pastor preached a sermon to his congregation on loving and forgiving one’s enemies.  After 30 minutes, he asked his congregation, “Who believes we should love and forgive our enemies?”  About half of those in attendance raised their hands.  The preacher wasn’t satisfied with this, so he preached another 30 minutes.  He then asked again, “How many of you believe we should love and forgive our enemies?”  About 3/4 of the congregation raised their hands.  So, the preacher preached another 45 minutes.  He then asked once more, “Who believes we should love and forgive our enemies?”  The whole congregation raised their hands except for 94 year old Mrs. Mabel sitting in the back of the church.  The preacher was astounded.  “Mrs. Mabel, how is it that all the rest of the church believes they need to love and forgive their enemies, but you don’t?”  Mrs. Mabel replied, “I ain’t got no enemies!”  The preacher was astounded, “You have no enemies?”  Mrs Mabel responded, “No.  Not a one.”  The preacher was then filled with excitement as he said, “Mrs. Mabel, please come down here and give your testimony.  Come down here and tell us how it is that you have no enemies.”  Mrs. Mabel shuffled up to the front of the church. She took the microphone in her hand and held it close.  Then she said, “It’s because I outlived all them hussies!”

I am sure Mrs. Mabel was at peace, but not because she was producing peace.  She was not bearing the fruits of the Spirit.  Imagine a place where such personal relationships were governed by the peace that forgiveness brings.  Imagine such a place governed by a group of people who were quick to bear one another’s burdens and realize how deeply flawed one another can be.  Imagine a community where the words, “I forgive you,” easily flow as they did from the lips of Jesus.  Imagine a community of people who know the peace of being forgiven by God and who then extend that forgiveness to one another.  Would you want to be a part of that community?  Could you stand being away from that type of community for a long period of time?  Would you want to stay in that community and experience it day in and day out?  At its best, this community would be called the church.  It would be called those who are forgiven and who forgive as Jesus did.  It would be called those who produce the fruit of Peace because they know the grace of God truly and deeply.  May we be such a community.  Amen.

The Fruits of the Spirit: Joy

We move today to the second fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23: Joy.

I will begin by letting you know that this is a fruit of the Spirit that I, myself struggle with.  I mean, I truly do want to be joyful.  I want joy to ooze out of all my pores.  I’ve encountered people who are full of joy, and they are a wonder to behold.  Perhaps you have met such a person before in your lifetime.  I am reminded of the story I heard about a man who was admitted to the hospital with a very serious illness.  After several days, one of the nurses wrote on his report, “This man suffers from too much joy given the circumstances around his illness.”  The world is bewildered by such joy.  Oftentimes, so am I.

Jesus once told the story of a woman who lost a single coin in her home.  The coin was a drachma, or the equivalent of one day’s wage.  She was probably rather poor since she had to light a lamp to try and find the coin–this means the house she lived in had no windows.  She swept the floor trying desperately to hear the clink the coin would make when hit.  In every nook and cranny she swept and looked until her efforts were rewarded.  She found the coin!  Now, here is where things get interesting.  Here is where things take a head-scratching turn.  The woman is so excited; she is filled to the nth degree by happiness.  She is so filled with this happiness, she calls all her neighbors to come and celebrate with her.  The nuances suggest that she literally throws a party for her neighbors to celebrate her finding this coin, and I guarantee you, the refreshments for that party cost her more than the coin she found.  Such was her joy.

Now, you see, I’ve got an awful lot of German blood running through my veins.  We Germans are not necessarily known for being demonstrative people.  Neither are we necessarily known for being lavish in our expenditures.  If I would have been the one who found that coin, yes, I would have been glad.  Yes, I might have been a bit excited, but probably I would have been more relieved.  I would have stuck that coin in my pocket and gone about my daily affairs.  I might have told my wife about it, but there would have been no dancing; no celebrating; no feasting or what have you.  I certainly would not have spent the coin to have a party in celebration. The response would have been quite different.  Why?

Oh, I have been thinking about that all week!  I have been mulling it over and over and over in my brain trying to wrap my head around this problem of joy.  And here are a few thoughts that have seemed to have settled.

First, I came to understand the difference between happiness and joy.  Happiness is a sort of fleeting thing.  It is dependent upon our surrounding circumstances.  It can come and go in a matter of moments.  Watch how it happens.

A pastor had just begun serving his congregation and had only been there a few weeks.  After worship one Sunday, an elderly woman approached him and said, “I’m deaf, and I can’t hear a word you say, but I still come to get my plate full.”  Hoping to console her, the pastor said, “Well, maybe you haven’t missed much.”  She replied, “Yes, that’s what they all tell me.”

As you laugh and smirk, please know that right now, you are experiencing happiness.

Now, did you know that in the next minute 14 people will die of preventable hunger?  And suddenly, your happiness is gone.

See how fleeting happiness can be?  See how it can be there one second, and then the next, it vanishes?  Joy is something different.  Joy is something that happens even when our external circumstances change.

A nine year old girl was diagnosed with leukemia, and she was given six months to live.  As the doctor told her parents the diagnosis outside the hospital room, she overheard his words.  However, she didn’t fully understand her condition.  To everyone’s surprise, her faith in Christ gave her an attitude of victory.  She talked freely and with hopeful anticipation about her death.  As she grew weaker, her joy became more radiant.  One day, before going into the final coma, she said to her family, “I am going to be the first to see Jesus!  What would you like me to tell him for you?’

That’s joy!  That’s something spectacular.  That’s something that comes from way down deep within a person–a person who has had their lives touched by the hand of God; a person who has experienced the transformation that the grace of God can bring.

Peter talks about this transformation in his book 1 Peter.  In fact, his opening words describe this transformation that leads to joy.  “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Those of you who were here last week know that I started off my sermon series on the fruits of the Spirit by talking about how Scripture compares us to fruit trees–fruit trees that have a rotten core.  That rotten core taints everything about us including the fruit that we produce.  Peter begins with telling us that we have experienced a new birth.  We are made new.  We know where this new birth happens.  It happens on the cross when Jesus takes our sin upon himself.  When Jesus who was spotless and blameless before God becomes sin–He literally takes your sin out of you and takes it into himself so that he can pay the penalty for your sins.  And then in a wondrous exchange, Jesus gives you His righteousness; he gives you his blamelessness; He gives you his spotlessness.  You who were once tainted and sinful are now clothed with Jesus able to stand before God without condemnation.  Your status is changed from someone who deserves God’s judgement to beloved child of God.

And since we are now children of God, we becomes heirs to the promises of God.  This means whatever happens to Jesus happens to us, and Peter is quick to point out what that entails as he looks at the resurrection and says, “This is the hope that we all share.  It is a living hope that envelops us right here and right now and helps us to understand that God has prepared for us “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”  Since Jesus has been raised from the dead, we too will be raised from the dead.  Since Jesus’ unjust suffering and pain has been transformed into glory, so our suffering and pain will be transformed into glory.  We hold onto and grasp this by faith–we trust that what Jesus said was true.  We trust that what Jesus did on the cross was true.  We do not put our faith in ourselves or in any action that we can possibly do.  Instead, we trust in God and His action.

Peter then follows up with the results of this trust.  Peter then follows up and says, “If you trust in Jesus and His work; if you have faith in God and not yourselves, then ‘6In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy 9for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.’” There’s not much I can add to these statements by Peter.  He’s pretty straight forward.  Even if you are in the midst of suffering, you stand on the promises of God.  This suffering is only temporary.  There is more to come.  Even if you are in the midst of trials, you stand on the promises of God.  There is more to come.  Even if you are hurting, you stand on the promises of God.  There is more to come.  There is hope.  A radiant hope.  A lasting hope.  A hope that does not disappoint.

And filled with that hope: filled with the knowledge of what Christ has done; what  Christ is doing; and what Christ will do–we begin to have something happen deep within us.  We begin to experience something that does not allow us to sink into the depths of depression.  Joy prevents us from ever going too low because we know that God is working.  Ah, but on the other hand, joy multiplies our happiness.  It makes us laugh louder.  It makes us sing with reckless abandon.  It makes us celebrate with more merriment.  It is why the woman in the parable was willing to spend more than what the coin she found was worth.  Her joy at finding the coin was worth more than the coin itself, and it demanded to be shared!  That joy made her happiness unbearable–she couldn’t keep it to herself.  She had to share it!

A little boy listened carefully one Sunday as his teacher explained why Christians give presents to each other on Christmas day.  She said, “The gift is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship for each other.”  When Christmas came, the boy brought the teacher a special seashell.  The teacher asked, “Where did you ever find such a beautiful shell?”  The boy said there was only one spot in a certain bay several miles away where such beautiful shells could be found.  His teacher said, “Why, it’s gorgeous! But you shouldn’t have gone all that way to get a gift for me.”  The little boy smiled and said, “The long walk was part of the gift.”

Oh, and church, does our joy come forth in such a fashion?  Is it overflowing so much that we cannot stand to keep silent?  When we think of all that Jesus has done for us in the cross, and when we think of all that Jesus will do for us as we see the proof of the resurrection, are we filled with a indescribable and glorious joy?  When we see others hurting; when we ourselves are hurting, do we sense hope?  Do we trust that God will turn things around?  Are we willing to live in joyful expectation of these things happening?  And when we hear things that bring us happiness, does that happiness overflow?  Does it erupt?  Does it come bursting forth in song; in praise; in merriment; in fellowship and laughter?  Oh dear church, I struggle with joy probably because I don’t stay focused on Jesus enough.  I don’t keep what Jesus has done and will do for me in my thoughts enough.  Perhaps it is one of the reasons I keep bringing them up Sunday after Sunday after Sunday as I preach.  Not only is it to proclaim them to you, it is also a reminder to me.  For to focus on Jesus and His mighty acts; to focus on Jesus and His glorious promises; changes a heart, and from that changed heart, joy overflows.  May we all produce such joy.  Amen.

The Return of the Zwickau Prophets

The year was 1521.  Martin Luther had disappeared into the Wartburg castle, now labeled an enemy of the state.  His stand at the Diet of Worms had all but signed his death warrant as an outlaw.  Fortunately, Luther had friends who wanted him protected, and protect him they did.

But someone needed to be responsible for continuing Luther’s work back in Wittenberg.  Someone needed to continue leading the Reformation–someone who had a steady hand, an intelligent mind, and the ability to hold onto the truths that Luther had re-discovered.  Luther believed that person to be Philip Melanchthon.

Melanchthon was a scholar par excellance.  He was adept in ancient languages.  He was skilled in theology, and he was a tremendous preacher.  Luther believed he was the right man for the job in his absence.  However, as Eric Metaxas writes in his book Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World, “Luther had far more confidence in him than Melanchthon had in himself.”1

This would pose problems as Luther stayed hidden in the Wartburg.

The first of these problems arose when two colleagues began pushing the Reformation in ways that Luther had never anticipated.  Andreas Karlstadt and Gabriel Zwilling began their own form of legalism contrary to Luther’s teaching of grace.  For instance, Karlstadt began proclaiming that whereas lay folks were once allowed only the bread at Holy Communion, it was now sinful if lay folks did not take both bread and wine at communion.  Melanchthon said nothing regarding this.  When Luther found out, he was furious.  “The Gospel gave us the freedom to do these things if we chose, but it did not in any way compel us.”2

The second of these problems came in the form of the “Zwickau prophets.”  These three men claimed to have direct communication from God.  They had essentially been run out of Zwickau as a result of their preaching, and they came to Wittenberg.  One of these three had actually been a student of Melanchthon’s, and perhaps this is why “they quickly overwhelmed the shy genius with their confident biblical interpretations and stories of heavenly ecstasies.”3

For some strange reason, none of the outlandish things these men said seemed theologically iffy–until they shared with Melanchton their views on infant baptism, which they were implacably against.  Of all things, it was this that got his attention.  But they said other things that ought to have alerted him, such as the idea that direct revelation from God himself could now supersede the Bible.  After all, they said, if the Bible were so necessary, God might have sent it to them directly from heaven.  Now, they had the Holy Spirit.  Melanchthon was in a dither.  He didn’t feel confident enough to understand whether these fast talking holy men were onto something or not, and he felt sure that Luther needed to return again to judge the situation properly.4

Luther would eventually return, and he did not have kind words to say to these so called “prophets.”  In fact, after meeting with one of them, he thought that he had spoken with the devil incarnate.5  Luther had no bones about shutting them down and ruling them out of bounds.

There is of course, more to the story, and it has a tragic ending.  But for our purposes, there has been enough history shared.  It is now helpful to move into the present.  I am becoming more and more convinced that the same spirit that inhabited the “Zwickau prophets” has inhabited some in our churches today.

I remember vividly attending a Synod Assembly in 2007/2008 where Presiding Bishop Mark Hansen, of the ELCA spoke about the proposed social statement on human sexuality, “A Social Statement on Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust.”  I remember a recurring statement ushering forth from him.  “It seemed good to the Spirit and to us...”  It was a play on Acts chapter 15 indicating that this new teaching on human sexuality–that homosexual relationships were not only not forbidden by God but accepted and blessed–was given by the Spirit.  Oh, and we just happened to agree with it as well.  Zwickauian anyone?

And the redefining of the Gospel continues in that vein.  No longer is Christ’s work on the cross an act of atonement, but it is God’s solidarity with the oppressed.  Scripture lines up perfectly with Marxist thought as social justice supercedes individual repentance and conversion.  (I’m still struggling to find that without doing tremendous exegetical gymnastics.)

God loves you just as you are has replaced God loves you in spite of who you are.  You do not have to change–it is society that must change and conform to acceptance and tolerance.  After all, Jesus was completely and totally tolerant of everyone.  (That’s why they tried to throw him off a cliff in his hometown, you know.)

And grace really, truly covers all.  If there is a hell, it is empty.  God really doesn’t give you up to your passions so that you will follow them for eternity.  He will bring you to him even if it is against your will and desire.  He will eventually force you to love Him.  Oops, I’ve committed another mortal sin.  I can’t use masculine pronouns.  God will eventually force you to love God.

Yes, people really believe this stuff.  And more.  And why isn’t it shut down?  Why doesn’t anyone call it for what it is?  Well, most who are in a position to do so are very much like Melanchthon.  In fact, I’d probably argue that we have far too many Melanchthons in our churches these days and far too few Luther’s.

And I get that too.  I understand that very well.  For to be a Luther means that not only must you speak out against such things, you also must be willing to bear the tremendous weight of attack that is thrown at you.  Most of us know very well that Luther was attacked by the Roman Church, but when he began speaking out against Karlstadt, Zwilling, and the Zwickau prophets, he had to endure their attacks as well.

But Luther was more than up to the challenge.  He believed he rested on the Truth.  He believed and argued vehemently for it.  He was willing to take a stand, not just once or twice, but over and over and over again.

May we all find such courage in these times.  May we all.

1. Metaxas, Eric.  Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World. Viking: New York 2017. p. 243.

2, Metaxas. p. 256.

3. Metaxas. p. 267.

4. Metaxas. p. 267-268.

5. Metaxas. p. 286

The Fruits of the Spirit: Love

Today, we begin a new sermon series titled, “The Fruits of the Spirit: Responding to God’s Grace.”  It is based upon St. Paul’s teaching in the book of Galatians that we have in front of us this morning from chapter 5.  It reads, “22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control.”

One of the things that has helped me understand the Christian faith more deeply is learning what the Bible tells us about ourselves.  In a very real way, the Bible says that we are like fruit trees.  And no matter how good we look on the outside–no matter how big our trunk, how long our branches, how colorful our leaves–deep within, there is a problem.  At our core is a rottenness that taints everything.  Therefore, when we start to bear fruit, the fruit carries that same taint.  It is not good fruit, and the bad news is we cannot do anything to fundamentally change this ourselves.  We cannot make ourselves into good, fruit-bearing trees.  However, the good news is: the core teaching of Christianity, the Gospel, tells us that God has acted in human history through the person of Jesus–who was both God and man–to change us; to transform our core being into something that is good; something that can and does bear good fruit.  Paul lists nine of those basic fruits, and those fruits should be prevalent in every Christian church and in every single Christian.  As Jesus said, “A good tree bears good fruit,” and if we do not find ourselves bearing these fruits, we must examine ourselves and our relationship with God.

So, with that background being laid out, let’s take a look at these individual fruits, and we begin with the most important one: love.  Almost everyone agrees “that what the world needs now, is love sweet love.” Some of you may remember that song.  Others of you may be more inclined to ask, “What is love?” and I’m going to try really hard to resist the temptation to add, “Baby don’t hurt me; baby don’t hurt me no more.”  For those of you scratching your heads, Google Haddaway or talk to anyone who was growing up in the early 90's.  Love is indeed the subject of song, of poetry, of books and literature.  Love is a deep need of each and every one of us, and I think we are extremely confused about just what it is.  Hence the wonderful 80's ballad by Foreigner, “I Want to Know what Love Is.”  Wouldn’t we all?

Now, by no means am I going to try and clear up all the confusion over love in our society and culture.  But I am going to point out that our language for love doesn’t help us in the least.  When we say “love” it can mean a ton of things.  It can mean a deep feeling that you have for another person.  It can mean a sense of friendship.  It can mean an ideal sense of how we should treat each other.  It can mean a sense of pleasure in an activity.  It can mean sex.  If you are watching tennis, it can mean zero.  There are a whole lot of nuances and understandings of this word in English that make things quite confusing at times.

Fortunately, the Bible was not written in English.  It was written in Greek, and Greek has four different words for love.  Eros–which is a sexual love.  Philia–which is a love that denotes friendship or brotherliness.  Storge–which is used to denote affection towards another person; particularly parents toward children.  And, agape.  Now, I’m not going to give you a quick definition of this word right here because I am going to take the rest of this sermon to define agape.  The reason for that is this is the kind of love that Paul speaks about in his list of spiritual gifts.  It is a very specific, special type of love.  It is so special and rare that it is hardly found in much of the Greek literature before Christianity came into being.  But in the New Testament, it is the dominant word used for love.  Why is it so dominant?  Because it is what Jesus showed to the world, and it then becomes the governing word for the life of the Christian and the Church.

So, let’s take a look at this type of love as shown in Scripture.  Jesus begins our putting together of this definition as he is talking to his disciples in John chapter 15.  We read it earlier, please hear it again, “9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.  12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Let’s look at each point that Jesus makes without digging into them too terribly deeply.  Point 1: This agape/love is something that we abide in.  We rest in.  We stay in.  Point 2: When we keep the commandments, we abide in God’s love.  We rest in God’s love.  We stay in God’s love.  Point 3: No one has greater agape/love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  These points help flesh out our definition of love quite a bit, but they don’t give us the fullness of that definition.  So, we will turn to another portion of scripture.  This portion of Scripture, we did not read earlier, but it should be rather familiar to you if you grew up in the church or if you have attended multiple weddings.  It is the great love chapter from the book of 1 Corinthians.  Chapter 13.  You can turn to it now as I read it.

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

This is a beautiful chapter of love, laying out what agape/love entails.  I challenge you to re-read this chapter and see if you measure up to this kind of love in your relationships.  I challenge you to re-read this chapter and see how well you practice this love in your everyday live.  I challenge you to read through this chapter and see how well any church practices this kind of love on a regular basis.  This kind of love is not easy.  It is terribly difficult.

And now, we get to the final piece which shows us the near impossibility of this agape/love.  1 John 4 spells it out in its ultimate expression.  7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

True agape/love is willing to die for someone when that someone does not love you in return.  True agape/love is willing to give of itself even though it receives only anger and hatred in return.  True agape/love is willing to sacrifice itself for those who do not deserve it.  This is the true form of this fruit of the spirit.

And now, can you see why this is a fruit that can only come when you are transformed from the inside-out?  Can you see why you cannot simply go around and say, “Oh, I will love everyone just like Jesus loved everyone.”?  To say this means you have to look at someone who hates you; who is wishing that you would be dead and be willing to die for them to save them.  Who is really, truly wanting to do that?  Lord knows, I don’t.  When I see what scripture says about this kind of love, I hang my head in shame because I know that this kind of love is very, very rare in my own life.

But Scripture does not leave us with our heads hanging in shame.  No.  Not by a long shot.  Scripture, in fact, gives us the key to actually being able to practice this kind of transformational love.  And it begins with an admission on our part.  It begins with us standing before the Almighty God and confessing the fact that we do not love as we should.  It begins with us standing before the Almighty God and confessing that we have not loved God and deserve His just punishment for our failure to love Him.

Oh, and I know how hard this is. I know how difficult it is to stand and admit that I am a failure.  I know how hard it is to admit that I am nowhere near the Christian that I should be.  I know how difficult it is to admit this in a society that tells you over and over and over that you are fine just the way you are and that you don’t need to change–everyone else may need to change, but you are fine.  Admitting that you are broken is one of the most difficult things you can ever do.

But then, in the midst of your brokenness; in the midst of your sin; in the midst of your humility before God Almighty, you will see what Jesus did for you.  You will find yourself looking up at the cross, and you will see Jesus dying for you.  You will see Him taking your sin and brokenness upon Himself.  You will see him paying the price for you.  You will hear him say, “Father, forgive him.  Father, forgive her.”  You will then find yourself experiencing something amazing.  You will find yourself clothed with the righteousness of Christ.  You will find that Jesus pours Himself into you through the Holy Spirit.  You will experience agape/love.  And your heart will burst.  Your heart will absolutely melt with a sense of awe and wonder.  And you will find within yourself a deep desire to love others in the same manner that you have been loved.  You will find yourself supernaturally changed so that every fiber of your being wants to give what you have received.  You will find yourself bearing fruit: agape/love because God Almighty has given you the ability to produce it.

Oh, that doesn’t mean it will be easy.  That doesn’t mean that people will necessarily accept it.  It doesn’t mean that people will get it.  They aren’t used to that kind of love.  A husband and wife were celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary.  Having spent most of the day with relatives and friends at a big party given in their honor, they returned home.  Before going to bed, they decided to have a little snack of tea, bread, and butter.  The husband opened up a new loaf of bread and handed the end piece (the heel) to his wife.  She became furious!  She said, “For fifty years you have been dumping the heel of the bread on me.  I won’t take it any longer!”  On and on she vented her anger over the heel of the bread.  Her husband was absolutely astounded.  When she finished ranting and raving, he said to her quietly, “But dear, it’s my favorite piece.”

Trust me, that story is a much better one than that of the couple that was having a 50th anniversary party when the wife stood up and said, “My dear, for 50 years, I have found you tried and true.”  The crowed applauded.  But the husband who had become very hard of hearing responded, “Eh?  Well, after 50 years, I’m tired of you too!”

The point is, agape/love is difficult love.  Because of our continued imperfection, that love is not always received well.  Because of our continued imperfection, our intentions and our outreach may be misunderstood.  But, we do not cease in our efforts.  We do not stop striving day after day after day.  We do not give up or give in when our efforts are rebuffed, because we know what it is like to experience such love.  We know what it is like to have our hearts filled with the agape/love of Jesus.  We have become those who bear good fruit, and we will never, ever stop.  Amen.

Simply God's Word: Easter 2018

       Before I begin today, I want to let you know that I am doing something that I have never done before in preaching.  As I was thinking and praying about this sermon today, the Lord laid it on my heart to simply give you His Word about His Son–to give you what the Bible says about Jesus.  So, the words that follow are not my own.  I did take a little bit of liberty in changing a few words to make clarification, but these words come from St. Paul and St. Peter those who first brought the news of Jesus to the world.  I don’t know how well this will go over, but the Spirit has led me to do this so I ask for your grace and your understanding.  One thing that I can assure you that this sermon will not be long, and that is no April Fools.  So, let me begin.

I come before you today, my brothers and sisters, not to proclaim the mysteries of God to you in lofty words or wisdom.  For I come to you today deciding to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  And I come to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.  My speech and my proclamation are not given with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on the power of God.  (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

And so, I ask you to listen to what I say:

Jesus of Nazareth, a man who the Bible reveals to us as full of power and might; who God did many signs and wonders through while he walked the earth–as you yourselves know–this man was handed over to humankind according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, and we crucified and killed him.  But God raised him up having freed him from death because it was impossible for Jesus to be held in death’s power.

Long ago, the Old Testament King David wrote about this in Psalm 16. David wrote these words, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover, my flesh will live in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. 28 You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.”

Now, there were those who argued that David was writing this about himself, but we know that this cannot be the case.  We know that David died and was buried and this his tomb exists to this day.  His body experienced the corruption of death.  Therefore, since David was a prophet, God gave him visions of the future.  In Psalm 16, David was seeing the future Messiah who would not be abandoned to Hades and whose flesh would not experience corruption.  David was speaking about the Messiah!!

And that is exactly who Jesus was!!  Jesus was the Messiah who was resurrected and whose body did not experience corruption.  The earliest apostles were witnesses to this, and they have passed down that witness throughout the generations to us today.  And they have told us that Jesus was exalted at the right hand of God, and has received the from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, Jesus has poured that Holy Spirit out so that we may both see and hear God’s Word today–we may come to believe God’s promises today.

Therefore let the entire world know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom we crucified...(Acts 2:22-36)

Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave being born in human likeness.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death–even death on a cross.  Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:6-11)

And now, I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I am proclaiming to you and that you in turn are receiving, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I am proclaiming to you–unless you have come to believe in vain.  For I am handing on to you as of first importance what I in turn have received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve.  Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.  Throughout the centuries, he has appeared and called men and women to proclaim the good news of his death and resurrection.  And, as to someone untimely born, he also called me.  But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain.  (1 Corinthians 15:1-10) His grace toward all of us has not been in vain.

17For since we are in Christ, we are a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting our trespasses against us, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20So we are those who now promote the good news for Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)

We are those who tell the good news for Christ.  We are those who proclaim that Christ has died to make us right with God.  We are those who proclaim that Christ is risen from the dead.  We are those who proclaim that those who trust in Jesus work and not their own will be saved.  This is our message to the world today and everyday.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.