20 Years

Some of you might be amused to know that the twentieth reunion of the Highland High Rams of 1987 is coming up soon. Here is a fun video montage of what we were up to way back then. You may recognize at least one of the folks in the video.

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Having Been Transferred...

Having Been Transferred...
Colossians 1:1-14
July 15, 2007
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

© 2007 by Christopher D. Drew

Sermon Focus: We speak frequently about the Kingdom of God, and we make many pronouncements about life in the kingdom. We sometimes forget, however, that the kingdom has already come, even as we wait for its fulfillment. Paul makes this point explicit in the final few verses of this week’s text.

Sermon Function: To remind listeners that the kingdom of God (who is the source of our joy) is present now, even though there sometimes seems to be little evidence to suggest that this is the case, especially if we use happiness, rather than joy, as our criterion.

[Click to Show/Hide Sermon Text]

Introduction

Having just wrapped up Galatians, we’re going to move into another letter from our beloved apostle, Paul. This is the first of a four-part series on Paul’s letter to the Christians in Colassae.

You may remember that Paul was writing to the Galatians in order to counteract the teaching of certain preachers who where pressuring the Galatians to accept the full obligations of the Jewish law in order to be considered faithful – in good standing with God. The letter to the Colossians seems to have been written for a similar purpose, although the details in this case are different. Whereas Paul himself visited the Galatians on at least two occasions, Paul, to our knowledge, never visited the congregation in Colossae. In today’s reading, you will hear about a man named Epaphras, who Paul mentions as the “faithful minister of Christ” who has been tending the flock of Christians in Colossae. The opening paragraphs of the letter lead up what is known in some corners as the Christ Hymn, a hymn that I will talk further a bit later in the sermon.

Let us listen now to God’s Word.

[Read Scripture - Colossians 1:1-14]

Introductory Illustration

The phrase “out of the frying pan and into the fire” is one we are all familiar with. In a nutshell, the phrase is used to describe when a person believes at first to have gotten out of a particular dilemma, only to find him or herself in a worse predicament than before. This phenomena gets wide play in our popular entertainment, movies and novels play off situations where characters jump from the flames only to find themselves falling into a volcano. The dramatic tension of the Indiana Jones movies were often heightened by placing Indy into situations that routinely go from bad to worse.

We often find ourselves in similar situations, don’t we? Sometimes, our dilemma seems recursive – that is, it repeats itself throughout life. Several of my close friends were at first business colleagues, back in my days as a business and information technology consultant. The demands of our work were notable, and inevitably people left the company to find better opportunities elsewhere. For several of my friends, it seemed that the leap from the consulting frying pan led to yet another frying pan of a different sort. Do you remember the “dot-com” explosion of the 1990s? In the greater San Francisco Bay Area, the dot-coms where the giant sucking sound that we could hear from the confines of our corporate office building. But those companies tended to be frying-pits, not frying pans. Many jumped form company to company, holding out for the big payoff, but finding themselves without stock options and without jobs. This process could repeat itself several times. On several occasions I was approached by my friends to join them in the leap. I declined, for no other reason really than I was scared of losing what little security I had with my existing job. Plus, having seen the multiplying frying pans out there, I was looking for something radically different. At that time, I didn’t realize that that new path would ultimately bring me to Portland, Texas. (It’s kind of hot in here, isn’t it? Just kidding!)

The Kingdom Has Come

I bring all this up because the phrase “out of the frying pan and into the fire” typifies much of American life. Moreover, though, it typifies our humanity. We’re hard-pressed to be content. In our church life, there are those who think we must take on the responsibility for bringing forth the kingdom today, right now. What is interesting about all of that talk is that it frequently misses an element of our faith that is pronounced quite clearly in Paul’s letter to the Colossians. And it is that part of our text that I want to focus on today. Beginning with verse 11, Paul says the following:

“May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:11-14 NRSV).

What is Paul saying here? First off, he’s saying that whatever strength we have must be first credited to God rather than to ourselves. Our very life is a gift from God. Anything we may accomplish in life is really a credit to God, not to ourselves. We do not exist outside of the sovereignty and power of God.

The second thing Paul says here is more profound and more uncomfortable. We are to draw on this strength we receive from God so that we might be “prepared to endure everything with patience” (v. 11). The demands of Christian faith require the character trait of endurance. This is not simply endurance one needs, for example, to win out over an opponent in an athletic competition. No, this word specifically refers to “the endurance to bear up under difficult circumstances.”¹ This is one of the more difficult lessons for Christians to hear, particularly if we’re used to living fairly comfortable lives – in fact, we are not put here on earth simply to be happy. We can anticipate and expect difficulties, hardships, disease, and evil deeds to invade our lives. There are those in our culture that might say that Christians have an “idealistic” view about life now. But the facts say otherwise. Christianity says more about the human condition we are in now than any other faith I can think of. It acknowledges, frankly, the hardships we face. The Reformed faith acknowledges what we know in our bones is true – that we are prone to sin and death.

Happiness Isn't Everything

Stan Guthrie is the Senior Associate Editor of Christianity Today magazine. He suffers from a mild form of cerebral palsy that causes him to walk with a somewhat “erratic gait.” Last week, he wrote an article about his son’s experience at school. While there, his son experienced the taunting of some classmates who had been making fun of Stan’s condition. Stan writes, “I worry about our society’s desire to engineer trials out of existence. Sometimes, even we who decry the health-and-wealth gospel forget that Christian life was never meant to be a cakewalk, that discipleship requires suffering, and that spiritual victory presupposes struggle.” He concludes his article with these words, “Only through suffering, disappointment, and death … are we weaned form the love of this world. There is more to life than happiness.”² A noted pastor I know made what I thought was an incredible statement during his sermon one Sunday. He said, “The pursuit of happiness is non-biblical.” I blanched when I heard that, but on further reflection, I can see what he means. And in fact, if the bible did guarantee us happiness then I think our faith would by largely wasted, because everything we know about human existence says that life isn’t all happiness.

Joy Comes from God

Are we then just destined for a life of depression and futility? The answer to that question is “no.” Living mature Christian faith requires that we distinguish between being happy and having joy. Have you ever stopped to think that joy and happiness are not the same thing? Happiness carries with it temporal, circumstantial implications. If I have all the things I think I need, the job that brings prestige, nice kids, etc., them I’m happy. If any of those things are missing, then I’m unhappy. Joy is something different, something more profound, something that transcends the simple emotions we might take pleasure in. Joy is the product of something eternal. In fact, the gospel of John makes the case quite clearly. In Jesus’ great prayer in John, he says:

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:9-11 NRSV).

What a remarkable statement: The source of our joy is not in anything we can do in this world, or in any of the possession we have. Instead, our joy is found in Christ. And it is that great power that allows us to have joy in our worship of the Father, even in the midst of trials and suffering and, yes, unhappiness.

In the Father, we also have a “share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.” We have a portion of that heavenly treasure redeemed for us through the blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross. We got there, because we have been “rescued … from the power of darkness” (v. 13). How? We have been “transferred … into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (vss. 13-14). I think the old King James Version states this same text in an interesting way when it says we have been “translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13 KJV). We have been moved from where we are into the kingdom of the Son.

Did you catch those past tense verbs? “He has rescued us.” He has “transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son.” Has. All of this has already occurred.

What does this mean for us? It means this: Having been transferred into the kingdom, we no longer leap out of the frying pan and into the fire. We’re been removed from those flames, thank you very much. Jesus Christ, our crucified Lord, saved us from that next fire that was worse than the last. We need only look to him for guidance, and obey his commands. It becomes easier to do that if you truly believe, in your heart, that he died for us, and that God raised him from the dead, and lifted him into the Kingdom, making him Head of the Church, of which each of you are a dear member of the Body. As you listen to these words, do so in the knowledge that we have already been transferred into the kingdom:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel” (Colossians 1:15-23 NRSV).

And may we all become servants of this same gospel.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Sprit. Amen.

Given at First Presbyterian Church, Portland, Texas

¹Louw, J. and Eugene Nida. “ὑπομονη.” Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Stuttgart: United Bible Societies, 1989. ↩

²Guthrie, Stan. “Stumbling After Jesus.” Christianity Today (www.christianitytoday.com). July 10, 2007. July 14, 2007. Path: Index; Faith & Thought; Prayer/Spirituality. ↩

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What Lies Ahead

What Lies Ahead
Galatians 6:1-16
July 8, 2007
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

© 2007 by Christopher D. Drew

Sermon Focus: This is a text about looking to what lies ahead – we look forward to living together in a restored community, which is characterized by a new form of justice, and a new creation.

Sermon Function: To teach listeners that we are called upon to work for the good of all, and when one of us falls short, we are called to administer restorative, not retributive justice. We are called, in Christ, to be transformed. The sermon utilizes a combined expositional/narrative format using the J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings as an overarching illustration.

[Click to Show/Hide Sermon Text]

Introduction

I hope you all had a very enjoyable Forth of July, notwithstanding the delayed parade and fireworks! Sara and I had a wonderful time with some good friends.

For the past three weeks, we’ve been diving into Paul’s letter to the Galatians. So far, we’ve talked about Christian justification – being in right relationship with God – we’ve talk about what it means to be clothed in Christ – being faithful disciples, and we’ve talking about living in Christian freedom. If you were to read Paul’s letter from beginning to end (and I would highly encourage you to do so – it only takes about 30 minutes), you would notice several shifts beginning here in chapter six. First, Paul’s pace seems to pick up a bit. It seems that Paul knows he needs to draw his letter to a close, and so he does what we often do, he starts recapitulating themes from earlier in the letter, all the while issuing important admonitions about Christian behavior.

Paul’s use of verbs noticeably changes, too. After spending five chapters using past and present tense verbs, Paul shifts dramatically in chapter six to the future tense, and begins to speak about what comes next, about what lies ahead. Let’s hear what Paul has to say.

[Read Scripture - Galatians 6:1-16]

Setting the Stage – Burdens and The Lord of the Rings

For the past week or so, Sara and I have been re-re-watching Peter Jackson’s amazing cinematic rendition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. I own the “Special Extended DVD Edition” of the three movies. I’ve also read the books, and I’ve read much about Tolkien and his life, which included a stint as a member of Britain’s Armed Forces during World War I. That war, like all wars, involved heavy loss of life. The trenches of war were oftentimes places of extraordinary mayhem and slaughter. It’s not hard to image Tolkien suffering throughout life with the burden of lost friends and colleagues.

There are some commentary DVDs included with the “Special Extended DVD Edition” of The Lord of the Rings, hence their designation as “special” and “extended”. Some of the commentaries reflect on Tolkien’s life and background, including a bit on his relationship with his academic colleague and famous former atheist C. S. Lewis. What the DVD did not touch much on, however, was the relationship between Tolkien’s Christian faith and the allegorical representation of that faith in his epic trilogy. It really is impossible to disregard the relationship between the story of the little Hobbit, Frodo Baggins, and his “Fellowship,” with the story of the gospel. I know a pastor who reads the trilogy every year. He loves the story, to be sure, but I know he also sees that clear retelling of the fulfillment of all things in Jesus Christ.

Scenes from the movies also loom large over the text we have today. Let’s take as an example the first several verses of chapter six:

“My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor’s work, will become a cause for pride. For all must carry their own loads” (6:1-5).

The word translated as “detected” really carries with it the connotation of being “taken by surprise” during the commission of some kind of wrongdoing. We are all the time being taken by surprise at our sin, particularly those sins we might think are “secret,” but which can be laid out for the entire world to see in a moment’s notice. I can still remember being called out by my parents when caught messing around with some my father’s prized stereo system. It was an old, tube-based amplifier and receiver. I had turned the volume up all the way and walked off. No one noticed, however, because the speaker outputs had been deactivated. I was caught because smoke began billowing from the amplifier. I knew that I was supposed to stay away from it, but I didn’t. As humans, we are sinful and particularly prone to sin. We shouldn’t be surprised by our sins, but we frequently are.

In The Lord of the Rings, a little fellow named Frodo is portrayed as a faithful Hobbit who, out of selfless interest for his fellow creatures in Middle Earth, and for the sake of his beloved home town, takes on a burden that no one else seems capable of bearing – a ring of such evil that all who take possession of the ring are consumed by it. Multiple times, throughout the trilogy, members of the Fellowship of the Ring, men who have committed themselves to helping Frodo achieve his charged task of destroying the Ring in the fires of Mt. Doom, fall under the Ring’s evil power. While innocently claiming a desire to simply be helpful, each member of the Fellowship falls into the temptation to take the ring. In once case, one of the human characters named Boromir, actually attacks Frodo and attempts to claim the ring, ostensibly for the “benefit” of the human race. In reality, he want the ring for himself, so that he may dominate the entire world.

During his attack, he stumbles, falls, and comes to his senses. “What have I done?” he says. “What have I done?” He knows he has fallen, and in his blind range brought on by the Ring, he didn’t even realize what he was doing. He was taken by surprise in his sin.

The Importance of Our Community

Frodo had the ring. It was his burden to bear, and his alone. The Fellowship was charged with helping Frodo with that burden. In that capacity, as a Fellowship, they prove successful in their quest.

But when the Ring begins asserting its power over individual members, the Fellowship begins to break apart. That is also a nuance of Paul’s challenge to the Christians of Galatia. In the freedom we have in Christ, we are to help those with heavy burdens, even as we take responsibility for our own. It is precisely through God-given freedom that Christians have the “opportunity...[to] do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”¹ This has instant, immediate, practical implications. A member of our church suffers a financial setback. Who responds? A regular visit to the physician results in a stunning, unexpected diagnosis. To whom can we turn? A child comes to church seeking to know more about Christ. Who will educate her? “Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher” (6:6). Sharing in all good things with their teacher means supporting the teaching ministries of the church, so that all may benefit from the gospel, including that little girl or little boy who is seeking Christ.²

Restoration from Sin and Separation

What happens, then, when we are caught outright in sin? Who responds? And what should be the nature of our response?

Despite Boromir’s error in attacking Frodo, Boromir is is restored to the fellowship. But restoration carries with it certain consequences. In Baromir’s case, the costs of his restoration were extremely steep – he lost his life to protect the other members of the Fellowship when his treachery led to their discovery by The Enemy. But he was restored. How should that restoration happen in the Christian community?

Paul suggests that it happen in a “gentle” way. What does that mean? It means that when we call another into account for their sin, that we never forget that we ourselves are sinners. “For if those who are nothing think they are something,” writes Paul, “they deceive themselves” (6:3). Instead, we in the Christian community of faith are called to “work for the good of all.” Justice in our community is restorative justice – one that brings people back into relationship with one another, just as we are expected to live in right relationship with God.

Living for Christ – Discipleship Means a New Creation

In the final paragraphs of Paul’s letter, Paul takes one more swipe at those who would persuade the Galatians to accept the rigors of the Jewish law rather than accepting grace through faith. He accuses those who would compel, for example, circumcision as trying to “make a good showing in the flesh.” That is, they want to be recognized as “right” in this life, right now. Circumcised or not, Paul knows that it is impossible to keep all the rigors of the law, and that trying to boast in the flesh is a futile thing. And to be clear, Paul adds that, in his admonition to accept justification through faith alone, neither is he trying to boast in his own flesh. Oh no. Paul writes, “May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything” (6:14-15). The flesh, circumsized or not, is not something in our sin that we can boast about. As disciples of Christ, we are called to new life in a new creation. Living into the reality of Jesus Christ crucified and risen mean totally new life in a new creation. That work beings right now. Our very nature begins to change when we live fully into our discipleship. Our spending priorities change, how we decide to use our time changes, our view of our friends and neighbors and enemies changes. Nothing about us will remain the same if we accept Christ. Do you remember Paul’s words? Neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female. No. We are becoming something new. Something unheard of will happen to us. And we are called to make ourselves ready for these wonders, for what lies ahead.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Given at First Presbyterian Church, Portland, Texas

¹Koester, Craig. “Opportunity to Do Good: The Letter to the Galatians.” Word & World. Sept. 2. St. Paul: Luther Seminary, 1989, p. 189. Koester is here commenting in Gal. 6:10. ↩

²Stamm, Raymond T. “Galatians.” The Interpreter’s Bible. Vol. X. New York: Abingdon Press, 1953, p. 578. Stamm provides a wonderful exegsis of 6:6. ↩

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To the Tune of...

... "I did it my way." Funny stuff.

Technorati Tags: iPhone, Madness, Parody

Flag with Flare

Flag with Flare
Originally uploaded by jason.s

Through we're pretty much settled in Portland, Texas, we have not yet established our own reliable high-speed internet access. Hence I'm late with this sincere happy birthday. Many of the people who live in Portland and the surrounding area (including Corpus Christi) either serve or have served in the armed forces. To all of them I say "thank you" for your service and sacrifice. It is your willingness to put life and limb on the line that guarantees, among other things, our right to freely worship God without fear of political persecution.

May God bless you.

Technorati Tags: Fourth of July, Thank You

Holding Out...

... From using cell phones, by The New York Sun's Lenore Skenazy:

"If I were to get one, pretty soon I wouldn't be able to live without one," one holdout, Henry Stimpson, said, neatly nailing the biggest problem with cell phones: The way they turn previously independent individuals into the great unweaned.

"Typical incident," Mr. Stimpson said: "I went to a ballgame with a bunch of my friends and afterward all the other guys in the car were whipping out their phones and calling their wives. I don't need to call my wife! She knows I'm coming home."

[Article - The New York Sun].

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Let Freedom Ring

Let Freedom Ring
Galatians 5:1, 13-25
July 1, 2007
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

© 2007 by Christopher D. Drew

Sermon Focus: The nature of Christian freedom. What is it? How does it function? Why is it especially important to remember as we prepare for the Fourth of July?

Sermon Function: To respond to Paul’s call to genuine Christian freedom by reminding listeners that Christian freedom isn’t just an individual “thing” – it can only be recognized in Christian fellowship and love.

[Click to Show/Hide Sermon Text]

Introduction

We’ve been speaking about Paul’s letter to the Galatians for the past two weeks. In the first week of this series, we talked about how justification – living in right relationship with God – is an essential part of what it means to live together in the Christian community. Last week, we discussed Christian identity. Do we live under the confines of the law, or do we live by and through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior? This week, we are going to address Christian freedom, that is, what is the character of our Christian community when we are liberated from law through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. This is an interesting question to ask, particularly as we are now on the cusp of our great national July 4th holiday. We celebrate our political liberty and freedom on that day. And this is something that should properly be celebrated. But after I read today’s passage from Galatians, I hope you will join with me in re-evaluating what freedom means within the context of our Christian church. I think what we will find is that Christian freedom is a different critter from the political freedom we enjoy today in this country.

Text

Some of you may have heard the sermon I delivered as a senior at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. The sermon was entitled “A.D.” and featured the cartoon work by the late, great cartoonist Johnny Hart.

This week’s sermon has a similar cartoon inspiration. A few days ago, I happened to find a wonderful article by Mark Galli on Christianity Today’s wonderful website entitled “I Love, Therefore You Are.”¹

In his article, Mr. Galli writes about his experience reading an issue of The New Yorker² magazine and coming across one of the of the famous cartoons for which the magazine is noted. In the cartoon, a couple is seen sitting on a couch in a nicely furnished room (I imagine the scene taking place in midtown Manhattan). Both are relaxing with a nice glass a wine. Amidst this nice scene, one of them says to the other, “I don’t want to be defined by who I am.”

I think you would agree that the cartoon is very revealing. It is revealing because it points to something about our humanity that we know theologically to be true – that we frequently aren’t very happy with ourselves, even if we successfully surround ourselves with lots of nice things in nice homes in nice neighborhoods. Galli writes about the cartoon, “as with so much of modernity, [our search for meaning is] a highly individualistic quest, and as such, it is a pointless quest. Not because the search for meaning is pointless, but because the context of modernity – the individual – is a myth.”³

Our Problem - The Individuality Myth

So this is the problem we face as we read today’s scripture: Our culture presupposes an individualist bent. We are encouraged to get into the world and that if we work hard enough, we can become a success. Many people are able to live into this dream just fine. Many people cannot, however. Sometimes our poor judgment is the reason. But many times the cause is beyond our control. Perhaps a hurricane sweeps up the Gulf of Mexico and wipes out our home. Perhaps we contract a disease that makes our lives difficult and reminds us of our mortality. Perhaps we get ripped off by a business associate and are left in ruins. The question for us, then, is what do we do with the freedom we’re received through Christ? What does it mean to be a person who lives in such freedom?

Does it mean unfettered existence as an individual, worrying about individual concerns, striving to identify that which makes me me, just as you are striving to identify what makes you you? We begin by thinking that that is the answer. But what we discover is that when we start with ourselves, we end up holding the proverbial bag.

Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, is making a big point here in chapter five. We are not created for lives of social isolation or radical individuality. We are created for living with each other.

“For freedom, Christ has set us free,” Paul writes, “Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” Do not submit to that yoke of slavery, says Paul. We might say today, “Do not submit to that yoke of slavery, that lie that says I can do it all by myself. I don’t need you, and I don’t need God. I just need to do the right thing. I just need to be a moral individual. All of that other stuff is far too messy. I’m my own man/woman.” We do ourselves a grave disservice if we accept the notion that we can live without others. Such thoughts can lead to an impoverished life. The path of radically individuality is the path that promises loneliness and isolation. Sometimes, the path leads to more insidious things, like unhealthy addictions and what Paul refers to as other “works of the flesh.”

In fact, we are not called into being to do our own thing. Our loving God did not intend for us to be automatons, responding only to our own physical desires. Instead, Christians are called to live in the Spirit, as Paul writes in verse 16. When we live in the Spirit, we are truly able to love our neighbor as ourselves. Self-indulgent isolation is not true freedom, but is like the yoke of slavery, and that yoke can be a lonely place, filled with fear and sadness, and marked with despair. By ourselves we tend to the destructive things that Paul enumerates as “works of the flesh.” These include “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife [which is probably better translated as “selfishness that leads to strife”], jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissentions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these [which mean there is far more that we could add to the list].”

Solution – Living in The Spirit

But then Paul contrasts this life-of-the-individual-first with life in the Spirit. Life in the Spirit is life lived in its fullness with our neighbor. Whereas Paul’s works of the flesh begin by alluding to “repetitive, loveless, cheap sex,”⁴ he starts his list of the fruits of the spirit with love (ἀγάπη). He then lists joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Life in the Spirit is not lived in isolation in the context of the individual, but in the fruitful context of a relationship with the other, the neighbor in the Christian community. Love is not something experienced in isolation. Love is experienced with other people. Joy is a sharing a sunset with someone else. Joy is also found when you sit with someone who is suffering. Patience is exhibited best when someone we love else tries our patience. Kindness is not showered on the self, but on others. Generosity is exhibited by giving something away to someone who may not even need it. Faithfulness is engendered through public worship with others. Gentleness is experienced when someone we love touches us. The only thing in Paul’s list that refers directly to the self is “self-control.” But self-control in this instance is for the benefit of ourselves only, but so that we might not unduly or unnecessarily offend our neighbor in the community by indulging in those truly selfish works of the flesh.

The contrast between these two ways of living could not be presented any more clearly. The works of the flesh, which can also be called the idolatry of the self, exist in the vacuum of isolation and loneliness. The fruits of the Spirit are the fruits of life. All of them are rooted in love. All of them mean necessarily taking the other person into consideration. All of them require living in a loving Christian community. And this loving Christian community is marked with a relationship with God. This relationship with God is made possible by the presence of his Holy Spirit among us. The gift of his love – that is what sustains us.

Conclusion

Paul concludes this section of his letter with these words:

“[T]hose who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:34-25 NRSV).

Our Christian freedom is not the same kind of political freedom we celebrate each year. Neither is it about the false idol of that radical individualism that causes us to say those comic and tragic words, “I don’t want to be defined by who I am.” True Christian freedom is achieved by living fully human lives of discipleship to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus wasn’t known to live for himself, but for the sake of others – his disciples, the sick, the poor, the outcast and unclean, and, most importantly, for the dead. He exemplified love, this most amazing fruit of the Spirit, by taking his place on the Cross for us. We are called to follow, in freedom, this example. Christian freedom is known, then, through the cross, and in the communion of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, as will be exemplified more fully in the Lord’s Supper we will soon celebrate.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Given at First Presbyterian Church, Portland, Texas

¹Galli, Mark. “I Love, Therefore Your Are.” Christianity Today. June 28, 2007. June 29, 2007. Path: Index; Faith & Thought; Theology. ↩

²Vey, P. C. The New Yorker. June 25, 2007. The cartoon can be see here. ↩

³See Galli. ↩

⁴See Gal. 5:19-21 MSG. ↩

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