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.
