St James' Church of Scotland, Lossiemouth

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Lossiemouth Church of Scotland

Prospect Terrace, Lossiemouth, Moray IV31 6JS.

The Union of the former Parishes of St. Gerardine's High Church and St. James' Church

Minister: Rev. Geoff McKee.

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You are here: Home / Fruitfulness on the Frontline / Modelling Godly Character

Modelling Godly Character

February 23, 2015 by 2

The sermon for 22 February 2015 by Rev. Graham Crawford. “Modelling Godly Character” is the theme for week 3 in the series “Fruitfulness on the Frontline”.

The Darwin awards and the Fruits of the Spirit

I wonder how many of you are familiar with the Darwin awards.

There is no actual award but it is a compilation of stupid things that people do – things that, in some cases, are life threatening.

The inference of the award is that these people are so stupid, they will eventually die out, while others survive.

It is a form of natural selection, evolution and the survival, not necessarily of the fittest, but the brightest, hence the name Darwin awards after the author of “On The origin of Species.”

They are sometimes shown on TV and you can find them on the internet. For the most part, while they might cause you to cringe or go “ouch”, they are pretty funny.

In a world where we believe that the strongest, the fastest and the brightest survive, the fruits of the Spirit, listed in Galatians 5, are somewhat of an anomaly.

Love, patience, humility and self-control, to name but a few, are never valued in a worldview where only the strongest survive and it’s everyone for themselves.

As a result, many people dismiss the fruits of the Spirit. Many disparage them and use their disparagement to confine them to Sundays only, or for those who don’t really work in the “real world” – you know: folk like ministers!

And so passages, such as the one we read from Galatians, are swept under the carpet,

Christianity continues to be seen by those on the outside as largely superficial and whether in business, down the golf club or on the terraces, you cannot tell who has faith and who does not.

The Church’s impact on society continues to diminish, along with our confidence, and those looking for spiritual reality look in other directions.

My humble plea to you this morning, as we re-examine this passage of Paul’s writing, is that you will give it a fresh look, that you will consider how it would impact your ability to be fruitful should we actually take this passage with the seriousness it deserves.

Paul’s message for the Galatians

Paul’s concern for the Galatians is that they don’t allow themselves to get side-tracked from their faith in Jesus.

They were in danger of listening to those who suggested that Jesus was great and his death and resurrection were important – if only they stuck with the Jewish practice of the law as well.

Paul wants to remind these believers that “Jesus is enough”.

Our lives can be used by God because of all that Jesus has done – his work is sufficient.

So, as he closes his letter, he refocuses them on the blessings that trusting in Jesus has brought them.

Let us hear the word of God.

Life by the Spirit
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love.14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Love sets us free

The gift that Paul suggests is most in danger of being lost is freedom (5:1).

That freedom is from the law on one side, and from sin on the other side.

It’s as though these two powers are wrestling for the Galatians.

Paul wants them to walk a pathway between them and the way he suggests we govern that walk is through love.

If we are slaves to love, that agape love that always wants the best for others, whether we like them or not, we will be free to walk effectively in the Spirit.

I have met so many Christians over the years, good, well-meaning people who study the Bible as if studying for their final exams yet who have not grasped this little concept of love and its accompanying grace.

They are harsh and judgmental. To be honest, they are really not much fun to be around!

We have to avoid that moralistic pitfall, for there is no freedom there. Instead, we have to be accompanied on that pathway by the Spirit.

He is the one who guards us and enables the life of the Spirit to grow within us: the life that is wrapped up in a single command: love one another (5:13-14).

Without the Spirit of love we become a very rigid and unlovely people. It is love that sets us free.

Living for ourselves or living for others

When we get to the main point of this passage, Paul’s basic thought is that we can live in two ways: we can live for ourselves or we can live for others.

The vices of the flesh (5:19-21), at first sight, seem a random list of actions that fly in the face of God’s commands and desires for humanity.

It is easy to go from those vices to the rigid moralism we have just rejected.

What links them, though, is that they all are actions that flow out of a desire to live as the centre of the universe:

  • people are used for our sexual gratification;
  • religion is used to manipulate situations to our own end;
  • our relationships are full of strife;
  • we take aspects of a good creation, alcohol, sex, money, privilege, position (I wonder how many you can name based on your experience!) and we use them for our ends.

For example, if you are in a position of power and privilege, you can use that either to further your own position, consolidate that power and act ruthlessly to those in your control or you can use that power to improve the lives and working conditions of those for whom you are responsible.

The alternative way is to live a life shaped by the Spirit – the fruit of which is evidenced by the way that others benefit from our transformation as we live for them as well.

Godly character in action

We can easily dismiss godly character as so obvious as to be not worthy of consideration.

But, it is much more than being “nice”; it is allowing this new way of being human to develop.

Take the person who is in a position of power, as an example.

He can use that, as I said, to benefit himself. But if, instead, he sees the working conditions of those under him as being less than desirable, he can, by words and actions change the whole atmosphere of the workplace.

When people feel like they are being listened to, when their stress is recognised and support is given, things change, people change and (in the example of this that comes to my mind from my experience) people are saved, as they ask the question: “Why is this boss so different from our other bosses?” – and yes, it did lead to a whole pew in a very large church eventually being made up of people all from one office!

This is the work of the Spirit, but it will be tested, honed, worked and reworked, it will be developed, on our frontlines.

The living out of these characteristics is both a fruit of the Spirit in our lives and, to the extent to which we allow this to happen, a mark of the fruitful Christian.

It is not going to happen overnight – appraisals at work, arguments at home, frustrations with friends, challenging situations and people, confrontations that you need to have or that come to you, tedious situations, tedious people, even – all of these offer opportunities where these characteristics are both developed and allowed to shine.

It takes prayer, constant prayer.

Before you go to work, say a prayer.

Before you go into a meeting, say a prayer.

Before you face that challenging visit, say a prayer.

Ask the Spirit to accompany you in every walk of life.

You may get to the end of a day and feel that little has been done for the sake of the Kingdom. But, in actual fact, nothing could be further from the truth. In actual fact, the Spirit has been at work in us; the fruit of the Spirit, the outworking of God’s life in us, has been on show for all to see.

People may not have said a word to you but, within them, they have marvelled at how you dealt with that unreasonable boss, the notoriously difficult patient or that child whose selfish demands and tantrums were driving you up the wall – yet whom we dealt with calmly and effectively.

All of this has happened in the frustrations, joys and challenges of yet another ordinary day in your life and mine.

All of this is happening on your frontline.

It is no small thing: modelling a character that is being counter-culturally transformed.

It is no small thing to be the incarnation of Christ in your small corner of his creation, yet you can do it.

You can model these fruits of the Spirit in your life, on your frontline.

We are going to watch a short video to close, that shows just how one man did this.

You will see a man talking with humility about how he runs his business as an expression of his faith and how he wants joy to be the signature of all he does.

Let us pray:-

Father God,
it isn’t easy being a Christian.
It isn’t easy always letting love govern our thoughts and our actions.
It isn’t easy to be so counter-cultural in this day and age letting the fruits of the Spirit govern our everyday lives.
Yet, Lord, in you, all things are possible.
In you, we can be the people you created us to be.
In you, we can be the bastions of joy in our workplaces, clubs, societies and even in our homes.
Father, guide us by your Holy Spirit.
We pray that others might see and might wonder at the lives we lead.
Amen.

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Filed Under: Fruitfulness on the Frontline, Sermons Tagged With: Fruit Of The Holy Spirit, Godly Character

WELCOME

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Jesus Ascends to Glory

May 28, 2025 By 2

Sunday 25 May 2025 is Ascension Sunday.

Christians celebrate the time when Jesus ascended to heaven. Ascension Day itself is generally observed on a Thursday, the fortieth day after Easter.

Today’s Main Scripture

Jesus speaks to his disciples, following his resurrection at Easter and shortly before his ascension:

John 14 (from The Message Bible Translation)
The Road
14 1-4 “Don’t let this rattle you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”

5 Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”

6-7 Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”

8 Philip said, “Master, show us the Father; then we’ll be content.”

9-10 “You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.

11-14 “Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.

The Spirit of Truth
15-17 “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

18-20 “I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.

21 “The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.”

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said, “Master, why is it that you are about to make yourself plain to us but not to the world?”

23-24 “Because a loveless world,” said Jesus, “is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we’ll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words. The message you are hearing isn’t mine. It’s the message of the Father who sent me.

25-27 “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.

28 “You’ve heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, and I’m coming back.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m on my way to the Father because the Father is the goal and purpose of my life.

29-31 “I’ve told you this ahead of time, before it happens, so that when it does happen, the confirmation will deepen your belief in me. I’ll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father’s instructions right down to the last detail.

“Get up. Let’s go. It’s time to leave here.”

Sermon by Rev. Anne-Marie Simpson

To get straight to beginning of the sermon, click here.

Sermon Text

For 40 days after Easter morning, Jesus remained on earth.

We know of several occasions when he met with some of his disciples.

Mary Magdalene in the dawn Garden, the two walking the road to Emmaus. appearing more than once to those in the upper room. On the shore at sunrise, and now in this final time of parting.

We can only surmise how Jesus spent the rest of this time before his departure. How many others did he meet with, perhaps, who did not record the fact? How many lives did he touch in those final 40 days on Earth?

Just as it was vital for Jesus to prove his resurrection to his followers, so it was very important that he took his leave properly.

His appearances to them could not just stop suddenly. That would leave too much uncertainty in the minds of his friends. Nor could the story that we’ve heard today of this awesome ascension be omitted from the narrative.

People at the time needed to know this part most fully. Indeed, we need to understand exactly where Jesus has gone.

There have to be witnesses. There is much mystery to this story, ascending into a cloud seems, well, rather vague. We desperately want more detail.

Luke gives us a brief description in his gospel and another in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.

Yet, however brief this story is, it is so important for both the disciples and for us today.

The disciples needed closure for them. This is an ending, the end of their time spent with Jesus – i.e. the end of Jesus amongst them present here in this world.

Yet it is also a beginning. The beginning of a brand new chapter for the disciples.

Now they have been given final instructions. Wait here in Jerusalem and show you are empowered by the Holy Spirit, then go out and preach the good news of repentance and salvation to all the world.

They must continue Jesus’ work of justice and compassion, healing and acceptance, but now they must also preach their testament, make new believers and baptise them in the Holy Spirit, not just the people of Israel, but everyone, right around the world.

They are witnesses. They have a testament to share.

And if this work seems impossibly huge to undertake, so very difficult to achieve, then Jesus has promised them a helper. That will be given power through baptism in the Holy Spirit. And so the disciples are not overwhelmed by the task in hand, or cowed under the weight of their commission. Instead, they go back into Jerusalem filled with joy at what Jesus has promised. Filled with joy at what they have seen.

They know exactly where Jesus has gone. They’ve witnessed him rising to heaven with their very own eyes, and there is no room for doubt. Now they have a friend in heaven, a friend whom we believe presents our prayers at the throne of God and intercedes on our behalf. A friend who has sent them a helper, a friend who has always present with us, always available when we need help.

The human Jesus could only be in one place at any given time, but now as a heavenly being, Jesus transcends the spatial and the temporal qualities of this world.

He can be constantly with his disciples. He is constantly with us.

Furthermore, Jesus has promised them that they will follow where he has gone.

Before the crucifixion he has told them that he goes to prepare a place for them. Those words that we say at every funeral, I go to prepare a place for you. Now they understand what that means. One day they too will be in heaven, where they will see Jesus again and live in the presence of their Heavenly Father. They also know that Jesus is listening to their pleas and prayers. He might be out of sight, but he isn’t out of their hearing.

And Jesus has promised to return, to come back one day when everything will be put right, and the whole of creation will be restored to its original state of balance.

The early church watched patiently and diligently for the coming, believing it to be imminent.

But God’s time is not our time, as we are reminded in the second letter of Peter: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.

But we must keep watch and be prepared for this coming, for this event, so that we are ready to meet with Jesus on his return. Ready for whatever that will mean for us.

Jesus speaks of how his ascension has been written into Hebrew scripture in the laws of Moses, in the writing of the prophets, and in the Psalms, as we’ve heard in Psalm 93, and in Psalm 47.

The signs have always been there, but it would have been impossible for human minds to comprehend what was meant.

The story of death and resurrection and ascension is too full of wonder, too full of awe for us to fully understand. Jesus has ascended to sit enthroned at the right hand of the Father, where, as Paul tells us, he reigns supreme.

In the meantime, the disciples returned to Jerusalem in great joy to spend their time giving thanks in the temple, praying to God, knowing that they are heard, and knowing that whatever happens to them, Jesus awaits them with a place prepared.

And so what does this day of Ascension mean for us?

We’ve been promised everything that the disciples were promised.

We know that God, Jesus has gone before us, and we live in the hope that this and every other promise He has made will be fulfilled. that, through repentance, our sins will be forgiven, and we will go to take up that place, which He has prepared for us in his Father’s house, where we will live forever in the presence of God, reconciled and beloved for eternity.

And the second coming, what will that be like?

The angels in Acts have told us that Jesus will return in the same way as he left, descending from a cloud, perhaps, to the awestruck gaze of the people below.

Will you be there, as generations’-worth of prayers are answered, watching and waiting in joyful expectation, as your Lord and Saviour descends to bring the Kingdom that we pray for to come?

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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