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Episodes
Weekly sermons and Bible studies led by a retired pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Episodes
Thursday Nov 03, 2022
Thursday Nov 03, 2022
Last week, we heard Paul calling the Galatians and us not to “sow” seeds to our own sinful nature, focusing on and glorifying it and its selfish desires. Rather, we are to “sow to the Spirit,” as the Spirit leads us to “eternal life.” That path leads to doing much good for others, too, in gratefulness to God, including fellow believers in Christ, who are “of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:6-10).
As Paul closed his letter, then, he wanted to emphasize that this was truly his own message, written by the direction and inspiration of God. Paul wrote, “See with what large letters I am writing to you in my own hand” (Galatians 6:11). Most likely, this means that Paul had dictated this letter, written down then by someone else, but signed it in his own special way here, to give proof of his authorship.
See how Paul did something similar in 1 Corinthians 16:21, Colossians 4:18. and 2 Thessalonians 3:17, and how Peter also indicated that he wrote his first letter “by Silvanus” in 1 Peter 5:12. Even today in the US, people sometimes speak of signing their “John Hancock,” referring to the very large way in which Hancock wrote his signature on the Declaration of Independence, as the president of the continental congress and the first signer. Some think that Paul wrote this whole letter himself in “large letters,” and this might be an indication that his “bodily ailment” mentioned in Galatians 4:13-15 might have been an eye problem, causing him to write in such a big way.
Regardless, Paul went on to reemphasize a few key ideas of his letter. In Galatians 6:12-13,15, he said that “forcing” the Galatians “to be circumcised” was wrong. The false teachers were trying to “make a good showing in the flesh” for their own benefit, and not really for the good of the Galatians. They should have known that under the “new creation” (see 2 Corinthians 5:17) in Jesus as Savior, “neither circumcision nor uncircumcision count for anything” (Galatians 6:15). Trusting Jesus and what He had already done for the whole world was the key.
The false teachers were only trying to make themselves look better in the eyes of Jewish leaders by insisting on the need for circumcision and keeping other Jewish laws and traditions. This might help them avoid some of strong attacks and persecution coming from the Jews toward Christians. (Remember what Paul suffered at the hands of Jews in Acts 14:19-23. He was stoned and left for dead.) At least these false teachers were getting some Gentiles to look more “Jewish” by forcing them to be circumcised, etc. That might help these teachers to protect them from radical Jews and keep them from being “persecuted for the cross of Christ” (Galatians 6:12).
This “Jewish-like” stance might help some of the false teachers to be protected also from Roman persecution. At the point when Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians, Roman leaders were still tending to be tolerant of Jewish religious beliefs. If some Christians were considered just another offshoot Jewish sect, as the false teachers were really acting like, then that might provide these leaders more protection from Romans, too.
This all changed after the Jewish rebellion against Rome in the late 60s AD and the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and many Jews in 70 AD. It might have helped these false teachers and those who followed them, though, in earlier days, when Paul wrote this letter. But obviously, Jewish opposition to Jesus and pressure on the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, helped in putting Jesus to death on the cross. Jesus received no protection, even as a circumcised Jew.
Paul also pointed out that “even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law.” They cannot and do not do everything required by their own standards. The standard is perfection if we want to earn our own salvation (Matthew 5:48). No one comes anywhere close to that. Paul kept saying that truth in Galatians. (See also Galatians 2:15-16, 3:10-11, etc.) The false teachers wanted converts to their pro-circumcision, pro-law viewpoint, in whom they could boast, but no one could boast of being that good, that perfect (Galatians 6:13).
Finally, Paul took himself (and the Galatian believers and us) back to where we all need to be - to the hope we have alone in Christ Jesus and His cross (and then in His mighty resurrection from the dead for us all). Connected to Christ and His death, by His grace, though faith in Him, we died, through His crucifixion and death, to our old sinful life and nature, and are raised to be that “new creation” headed for eternal life (Galatians 6:14). (See also Galatians 2:20-21 and passages like Romans 6:3-11, along with Galatians 3:26.)
Paul boasted in nothing “except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” There was his hope. When Paul spoke of his own troubles and “the marks of Jesus, that he bore on his own body,” he was not boasting about himself and what he had gone through (and would go through for Jesus) (Galatians 6:17). He did not think he was earning anything, even any merit, because of his suffering. He simply knew the reality of what he and others spoke of, after he had been stoned and left for dead in Lystra, when he had been in Galatia, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
Paul also may have been referring to the fact that in the ancient Greek world, both slaves and animals often bore the mark of their owner or master, sort of as cattle are sometimes “branded” in our own culture. Paul bore the “marks of Jesus” on himself, as a servant of Christ, as the Galatians and we are, too; but these are not marks of bondage, but of freedom in Christ and so many eternal blessings that are our in Jesus, even though there will also be times of suffering in this life, as we try to stay close to Christ and His Word, “walking in line with the rule of Christ and the Holy Spirit (Galatians 6:16-17).
Paul ended this letter as he began it, speaking of “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” and the “peace and mercy” that will be upon upon the Galatians and us, and “with our spirits,” in Christ. (See Galatians 6:16,18 and Galatians 1:3-5, which also spoke of the cross of Christ, as He gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the "present evil age.”) Note also that this is not a “theology of glory,” where we think in any way of what we have done or accomplished or need to accomplish truly to be saved. There is not an additional list of what we still need to do to be real Christians, as the false teachers at Galatia had given.
“The glory is God’s alone, forever and ever” (Galatians 1:5). Paul’s letter is a “theology of the cross” where Paul boasted only in the cross of Jesus and what He had accomplished already for us, through the cross and then His mighty resurrection. He also called the Galatians and us “brethren,” part of the family of God, simply through faith in Christ and His cross, whether we are Jews as Paul was, or Gentiles, as the Galatians were (Galatians 6:18).
Notice that Paul was also speaking of the true “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16). This is no longer the Israel of the Old Testament, waiting for the promised Savior and practicing circumcision and the many Old Testament sacrifices and ceremonies and laws. The Savior has come, in the Person of Christ crucified and risen for Jews and Galatians and us, whoever we are.
Paul had spoken of this “Israel of God” several times in Galatians. (See Galatians 3:5-9, 14, 15-18, 22, 26-29; 4:4-7, 28-31, etc.) There are not two separate and equal covenants, one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. Paul, a Jew, never spoke that way once he had seen and come to faith in Christ. He proclaimed Christ crucified, the Savior for all, and in whom everyone must believe. He alone is our Hope and our Savior, together with the plan of God the Father and the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 1:14.22-24,27-31, 2:1-5).
Paul ended this letter with the word, “Amen” (Galatians 6:18). He used it at the beginning, as well, in Galatians 1:5. When Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say to you” (as in John 3:5 and many other places), He literally said, “Amen, Amen, I say to you.” The word means: “This is really true.” It emphasizes that what is said is “most certainly true.”
We can and should say “Amen” to all that Paul has written in this letter. God gives us eternal hope in all the promises in Christ, and they are ours, simply by faith on Jesus, and not by any works we need to add. It is truly good news for us all to believe and to share with others, in love and care for others, as Jesus first has loved us. When you doubt your own goodness and worthiness, as we all do and should, read this letter again! Our hope is in Christ alone, and His gift, His declaration of righteousness, for us, because of what He has done for us.
Thursday Nov 03, 2022
Thursday Nov 03, 2022
Sermon for Reformation Sunday, based on:
Sermon originally delivered October 27, 2013
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Many churches will probably be using this weekend the Scripture readings for Reformation Sunday, celebrating the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation on October 31, 1517, 505 years ago. The First Lesson is from the New Testament, the words of Revelation 14:6-7. We are to “fear God” by “giving Him glory” and “worshipping” Him as our Creator and as the One who has made us “a new creation” through the saving work of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is the “eternal Good News,” the Gospel, which is to be “proclaimed” to us and to everyone who “dwells on earth.”
The psalm is Psalm 46, which helped inspire Martin Luther to write his hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” Twice we hear, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” These words echo the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, that the coming Savior would be called Immanuel - God with us. He will be “a very present help in trouble;” and as he is with us, “we will not fear,” no matter what is happening around us. We can “be still” and simply trust our Lord and Savior.
There are two possible Gospel lessons. The first is from John 8:31-36. Jesus promised, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples and will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus was talking about freedom from the “slavery to sin,” to which everyone who sins is subject. But He, God’s Son, will set us free, by His saving work for us.
The second possible Gospel reading is from Matthew 11:12-19. Jesus reminds people that there was violence against John the Baptist and that opposition was growing against Him as well, no matter what He did. He was even accused of being ”a friend of sinners.” That is exactly what He was, because He came into the world to save people from their sins, by suffering violence in their place, to pay the penalty for their sins.
The Epistle lesson, Romans 3:19-28, explains why Jesus had to come to rescue us and how He did it. The Law of God condemns us all and shows us that we are all sinners. None of us can be justified by our own works and efforts. All of us “fall short” of what God expects of us, but the “righteousness of God” came to us as a gift in and through Jesus Christ. He made the one great atoning sacrifice for our sins, by His death in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. God now justifies, declares righteous, “all who have faith in Jesus.” This was the great re-discovery of Martin Luther, from Scriptures like this one. “One is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Last week, we heard Paul describing how the Galatian Christians (and we) can live out our lives in the Holy Spirit, using the fruit He provides for our relationships with the people around us. He warned about what we should not do - become conceited and self-centered, with envy of and conflict with others (Galatians 5:15,26).
Rather, living out “the law of Christ,” the law of love, we are to bear each other’s burdens and help “restore” those who are drifting spiritually. At the same time, we are to act in “a spirit of gentleness,” of meekness, as we help others, always “watching” and “testing” ourselves, knowing that we, too, could be tempted and stumble, and living with humble repentance for our own faults (Galatians 6:1-4).
And as Galatians 6:5 says, we need to remember that as we help one another, we each finally “carry our own load.” No one else can believe for us and no other human being can save us, and we cannot save ourselves. But we are not alone. God Himself is with us, and He sent His only Son, the God/man Jesus, to forgive and save us, and He sent His Holy Spirit to bring us to faith in Christ and keep us in that faith, through Word and Sacrament. Finally, what we do as Christians is motivated by God’s love at work in us and not by laws and rules that we are told we must do for salvation. That is the primary emphasis that we have been hearing again and again in Paul’s letter.
At the same time, Paul does use the whole Word of God, including the law, to show the Galatians (and us) where we can be in danger and are called to repentance. In Galatians 6:7-8, Paul warned that people should not think that they can mock God by continually doing “the works of the flesh” described in Galatians 5:19-21, without concern and without repentance. That lifestyle is sowing seeds that lead to “corruption,” a word that is translated in other places as “destruction.” See the very dramatic description of where such “sowing” to fleshly desires can lead in 2 Peter 2:12-14.
In contrast, “sowing to the Spirit” leads finally to receiving the greatest gift of the Spirit, which is “eternal life” (Galatians 6:8). Such “sowing,” using the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) also produces much good in this life as God gives us “opportunities” to help and serve others and especially “those who are of the household of faith,” fellow believers. Some of this good we do, by God’s power, may be tiring and may not seem to accomplish much, but we are called “not to give up,” for God will bless these efforts “in due season,” according to His timetable (Galatians 6:9-10).
In Galatians 6:6, Paul also reminded the Galatians who were “taught” the true Word of God to “share all good things” with those who were “teaching” them. Some think that confusion created by the false teachers was causing the Galatians not to give needed help to any of their teachers. Though Paul sometimes refused help in certain circumstances, he clearly saw a Biblical basis for giving support to teachers of the Word. See Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9:3-12 and words of Jesus, such as Matthew 10:10 and Luke 10:7-8. See how grateful Paul himself was, also, for various kinds of help from the Christians at Philippi, in Philippians 4:10-16.
In the context of what Paul was talking about, doing good for others, Galatians 6:6 is likely also referring less to “financial help” than to encouragement in the Word that even “teachers” need, too. “All good things” that Christian teachers bring us center in God’s love and forgiveness and the hope we have in Christ Jesus. It is not always easy to be a faithful schoolteacher or pastor or Bible class leader or parents teaching their children, etc. These teachers need the same prayers and encouragement for their lives, as we do, and to keep hearing God’s Word and the Good News of salvation in Christ alone shared with them, too - maybe even from us.
Imagine what might have happened if Galatian Christians took to heart what Paul wrote in this letter and tried to share even with the false teachers what was right and true, according to God’s Word! And if you are a “teacher of the Word” in some way, be open to being taught, through God’s Word and encouragement and advice of others. We all have room for learning more from our Lord through His Word.
This brings us to one last thought from this lesson. Don’t get confused. All the talk about doing good and doing the right things is exactly what God wants us to be doing. But that does not mean that this is the way that we finally earn our salvation. We already have our salvation through what Jesus has accomplished for us and through being brought to faith in Him by the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul called “eternal life” what we reap and receive through the Holy Spirit (Galatians 6:8). It is God’s gift to us. Good works are simply our way of thanking and praising Jesus for His perfect goodness for us - and a way of actually helping others, and as a response to how Jesus first has helped and saved us.
Next week, in what will hopefully be our last lesson on Galatians, we will see Paul again taking us back to boasting only in Jesus and His saving work on the cross for us. Also, if any of you have suggestions about what you would like to study next, let me know. The Lord’s continued blessings and strength!
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
We’ll begin today with the Gospel lesson, Luke 18:9-17, which is central to understanding the primary message of the Scriptures and helps us with the other readings this week. Last week, we heard Jesus teaching us to keep praying and not lose heart. This week we hear Him saying that not all prayers are good and acceptable prayers, though, as we hear His parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Both men are in the Temple in Jerusalem and praying to God. The Pharisee offered a typical prayer of a Pharisee of his day, focusing on all the good he had done for God and others. Surely God would reward his very good behavior by bringing His deliverance of His people soon. It was human achievement that earned God’s favor and blessing, he thought. In contrast, the tax collector had nothing good to offer God. All he could do was humbly confess his sins and throw himself and his trust upon God and His mercy and forgiveness. Jesus clearly said, then, that the tax collector alone went home justified, counted acceptable in God’s eyes purely by God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness to him, as a gift.
A brief story follows, where the disciples don’t want Jesus bothered by those bringing unimportant little children to Jesus to be touched by Him. The children could offer nothing to Jesus. They could only receive His mercy and love and blessing. Yet Jesus wants them brought to Him and says everyone needs to come in the same way as a little child, dependent entirely on Him and His free gifts and mercy for them.
In the Old Testament lesson, Genesis 4:1-15, two men, Cain and Abel, also approach God, but the offering of only one is accepted. We don’t know all the reasons why, but both Cain and his offering were not acceptable, as his heart was not in the right place. That is evident from his anger about God and his refusal to repent of his sin, crouching at his door, and his willingness to kill his brother, Abel, in vengeance for God being unfair to him. Cain is unhappy with everything God does, yet God still does show mercy to him, in not allowing others to kill him. It seem from what Jude, verse 11 says, Cain never did repent and return to the Lord for His mercy.
The Psalm is Psalm 5. We don’t know what was going on in David’s life, as he groans and cries out and prays to the Lord for His help. He does trust in the “steadfast love” of the Lord in all his troubles, though. He “fears the Lord” and knows that the Lord will lead him in “a straight way” and spread His “protection over him.” David mentions nothing that he can offer to God, but he knows that God is righteous, as he “takes refuge in Him.” The same is true for all “who love His Name” and “bow down” to Him in faith
In the Epistle lesson, 2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 16-18, Paul is in prison in Rome and knows his death is near. At times, every other human being deserted him, but God has not. Paul has been far from perfect, but God will give him a “crown of righteousness” because he “has kept the faith.” The same will be true for all who have trusted the Lord and “loved His appearing” - His appearing first to bring salvation to the world and His promise of appearing again to “bring Paul (and us) safely into His heavenly kingdom.” He is faithful and keeps His promises, purely by His grace, given to us, too, as a gift.
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
Last week, we completed a look at the nine-fold “fruit of the Spirit,” through which the Holy Spirit keeps us in faith and enables us to live with greater faithfulness toward the Lord and greater “meekness” (gentleness) and “self-control” in our relationships with the people placed around us (Galatians 5:22-25). This is all in contrast to the sinful “works of the flesh” described in Galatians 5:19-21. What does this mean for our everyday lives?
Paul began with a negative example of what should not be happening (Galatians 5:26). “Let us not become conceited,” he said. Note that when he said, “Let us not,” he is including himself, as well as everyone else to whom he is writing, including us who still read his word, the Word of God, today.
Paul describes temptations that threaten us all. The word “conceited” was sometimes translated very literally as “vainglorious.” That meant that we should not be glorying in ourselves, when there is only false vanity and empty pride in us. A “conceited” person is one who thinks too highly of himself and is very self-centered, at the expense of others. Such a person wants to compare himself with others and always come out on top, as better than and superior to others.
That attitude can lead to “provoking one another” and “envying one another,” Paul warned. If we compare ourselves with others and think they might be doing better than us, that can lead to envy and jealousy toward others. It can also lead us to want to “provoke” them, challenging them and criticizing them and tearing them down, so that we can feel higher and better than they are. Remember Paul’s earlier words in Galatians 5:15, “If you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”
One commentator (Kretzmann) says that such negative attitudes and actions can be so hurtful and have caused “untold misery” even in churches. Some think that the new rules and regulations imposed upon the Galatian churches by the false teachers were causing rivalry among people and some feeling superior because they had been circumcised and were following old Jewish laws of “days and months and seasons and years” (Galatians 4:10), even though none of these rules and dietary rules, etc., were part of the New Covenant in Christ or the freedom from such things that Christ brought to believers. (See Paul’s comments in Colossians 2:20-23. Such humanly devised rules and laws may give “an appearance of wisdom” and of being holier than others, but are ultimately “of no value” in battling the real sins and works “of the flesh.”)
In contrast, as Galatians 6 begins, Paul spoke to his “brothers” (Galatians 6:1) in the faith and of the need for them “to fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). “Brothers” in this case seems to refer to all the fellow believers in Galatia, who were “of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). “The law of Christ” is “the law of love.” See John 13:34-35 and 15:12. James called it “the royal law… the law of liberty”(James 2:8,12).
Jesus put it very simply: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another” (John 13:34-35). Jesus fulfilled that law perfectly in our place, as He died for us to forgive all our sins (John 15:12-13 and Galatians 1:4 and 2:20, and 1 John 4:7-10). John therefore said, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).
That is what we now seek to do, as we live by faith in Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit and the fruit He gives us. We are never alone, as the Lord is with us always, and we have fellow believers who try to help us, too, even if imperfectly. We are called to “bear one another’s burdens,” in the love of Christ (Galatians 6:2).
Paul was speaking particularly to the Galatian churches, as they saw people influenced by the false teachers or caught in any transgression. (The idea here is that someone has strayed from walking by the Spirit and has gotten into trouble - as when a vehicle goes off the road and ends up in a ditch and the driver needs help.) Those who are “spiritual” should seek to “restore” the person. The word “restore” is used for setting bones, mending nets, bringing factions together, etc., and we get our English word for an “artisan” (a skilled worker) from this word. Ultimately, the Lord is the “Mender” and “Healer,” but he can do His work through the Galatians and through us today.
Paul called upon the Galatians and us to know our limitations and weaknesses, though, as we try to help others. Never is this to be done with a self-centered attitude of superiority, as if we were so much better than others. Paul warned, “If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing (as we all are, apart from Christ) he is deceiving himself” (Galatians 6:3). Rather we are to help “in a spirit of gentleness” with meekness and humility, as given by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 6:1).
Likewise, we are constantly to be “watching ourselves,” lest we, too, are tempted. (I once heard of a man who sincerely, I think, wanted to do a “bar ministry," talking with people in drinking establishments. Over time, he supposedly became an alcoholic himself.) Instead, we are to be “testing ourselves and our own work and lives, also (Galatians 6:4). Then we realize that we, too, need repentance and forgiveness and have nothing to boast about, in ourselves. (See 1 Corinthians 1:27-31 and Jesus’ reminder about “specks” and “logs” in Matthew 7:3-5.)
Paul has more to tell the Galatians and us next week. Join us then.
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
Sermon for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered October 20, 2013
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
The Scriptures for this Sunday have to do with the importance of prayer for our lives and the need for persistence in those prayers, as well as in study of the Word of God.
The Old Testament lesson is from Genesis 32:22-30. Jacob had done much lying and deceiving in his life to get what he wanted. His brother, Esau, had been so angry with him that he wanted to kill him. Only one half-hearted talk with God of Jacob’s is recorded in Genesis until now. Jacob is returning home and is fearful of what Esau will do. He carries out his own plans, but finally, before our text, prays to God and asks for His help and deliverance. Then, in our text, he wrestles almost all night with a man who is actually the Lord. The Lord could clearly win, as He injures Jacob, but He allows Jacob to seem to prevail and Jacob ask for and receives a blessing and a new name from the Lord - Israel - which means “He strives with God.” (This reminds us that we, too, can strive with God in prayer and by studying His Word and seeking His wisdom to understand and apply it to our lives.)
The Psalm is Psalm 121. The Psalmist looks to the hills and prays to the Lord for His help. The hills may remind him of the majesty and power of His Creator God. They may also refer to the hills of Jerusalem and the temple to which he can go and toward which he can pray to God. (For us, too, our churches remind us of God’s presence with us and the need to come and talk with Him in prayer and receive His good gifts that only He can give us.) Again and again the psalmist reminds us that the Lord is our “Keeper” and that He is the source and protector of our life, now and forever, and keeps us safe in times of evil in this world, until we come into eternal life.
The Gospel lesson is from Luke 18:1-8, a parable of Jesus calling us “always to pray and not to lose heart” in our praying. Jesus tells of a widow who appeals to a judge to give her justice where she has been wronged. The judge did not fear God and did not care about the needs of other people and just kept refusing her requests. She bothered him so much and so often that he finally gave her justice, just to get rid of her. Jesus asks: Will not God, who is just and does care about people, not respond in the right way to our prayers, as He knows best? Therefore, keep praying and talking with the Lord and trust His plans. But, Jesus also asks: “Will there be faith on earth when He, the Son of Man, returns?”
The Epistle lesson answers that question. A time is coming, Paul says, in 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, when people will reject God’s sound teaching and not listen to the truth and will look, with “itching ears,” for people who will say what they want to hear, “to suit their own passions.” Does that sound like many in our own generation? At the same time, Paul says, God has provided His sacred writings, the Holy Scriptures. “All Scripture is breathed out by God .”It is the truth and is profitable for all the teaching that is needed, so that people can be “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Therefore, “Preach the Word,” Paul tells Timothy. And that Word of God, the Bible, the truth centered in Christ, is still available today, and some will still come to faith through the Holy Spirit, at work through that Word. Paul would still say today, “Study that Word and preach it, that more may know the truth in Christ and come to faith in Jesus.
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Last week, we heard of the first three Christian virtues or qualities in the cluster of the fruit of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, and peace - given by the Spirit so that we may live with hope and confidence in our Lord and remain close to Him and His promises in Christ, by His power. Next is a listing of fruit that enables us to live in a good and proper way with the people God has placed around us (Galatians 5:22).
The first quality is “patience.” This word can literally be translated as “long-suffering.” Living and dealing with other people can be both joyous and very difficult, with suffering and trouble involved at times, suffering along with them and sometimes because of them. The Holy Spirit enables us to seek to have endurance and steadfastness toward them, in our contacts in both the best and worst of times. “Patience” is hard to have in the difficult times; yet the Holy Spirit keep pointing us to Jesus and how much patience and love He has had to have toward us - never leaving us nor forsaking us, and continually forgiving us, as we heard last week.
The Spirit strengthens us to carry on with “patience” toward others, along with the next two qualities - kindness and goodness. God is the one who has first been kind (gracious and good) toward us, though we did not deserve that kindness. Jesus taught in Luke 6:35 that the Lord is even “kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” That is what the Spirit wishes us also to be, as “sons of the Most High.”
Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander (the works of the flesh!) be put away from you, along with all malice. Be ‘kind’ (same word as in Galatians 5:22) to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” The pattern is always the same. The Spirit helps us remember what God has first done for us in Christ and helps us act in the same way toward others, as hard as it sometimes is for us to do.
Paul then adds “goodness” to “kindness” as the Spirit’s fruit in Ephesians 5:22. Someone once called Jesus “Good Teacher,” and Jesus responded, “Why do you call me good? No one is good (same Greek word) except God alone” (Luke 18:18-19). Jesus, of course, was also perfectly “good,” as the sinless Son of God, but He responds this way because the person questioning Him thinks he is only a “teacher” and not the good and sinless Savior.
“Goodness” (uprightness, doing the right things, generosity) is therefore an inner quality that only God has in the fullest perfect way. Yet the Spirit can work in us and bring out in us at least some of that “goodness” in action toward others. For that is what this word means: “goodness” is actually doing some good to and for others. Think about the words of James in James 2:15-16. If we see people in need and say, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled” and yet don’t do anything to help them, “what good (what benefit) is that?” The Spirit works in us to help turn our faith into “goodness” that actually does some good.
The last three parts of the cluster of the fruit of the Spirit are “faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:23). The first word is the word usually translated as “faith,” but in this context, along with other qualities, virtues, it means “faithfulness.”
Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:13, about Jesus, even “if we are faithless, He remains faithful (same Greek word) — for he cannot deny Himself.” Jesus has perfect faithfulness toward His Heavenly Father and keeps all His promises. We struggle, at times, but Jesus, through the fruit of the Spirit, forgives us and strengthens us to be more faithful to Him and His Word and to other people around us.
The word “gentleness” often used to be translated as “meekness.” That word has taken on a very negative connotation, though, to many people. It has the sense of someone who is weak and always backs down and gets taken advantage of and stomped on by others. If you are old enough, you might remember people being called a “Caspar Milquetoast.” There was an actual cartoon series about such “A Timid Soul” who had that name, that ran from 1925-1953 in many newspapers. That “Caspar” was considered too gentle for his own good and could never stand up for himself, and he was named for a meal of squishy toast in warm milk given to people who had a weak, upset stomach, to help with digestion.
In the Bible, though, this word for “gentleness” or “meekness” was used in a positive way by Jesus and is used to describe one of His great qualities. We would tend to think, “The strong and powerful (macho people) will inherit the earth.” Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5, as we heard last week). Jesus said of Himself, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle (meek) and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
“Meekness” in the Bible is connected with humility and courtesy toward and consideration of others. It especially means, as Martin Franzmann said, simply “trusting in the Lord above all and committing our way to Him and believing that He will vindicate us… and waiting patiently on Him and knowing that the steps of a man are from the Lord” and not from us and our scheming and plans. Franzmann pointed to Psalm 37 and particularly verses 39-40 (Franzmann, “Follow Me”, p. 37-38).
As others do with all this “fruit of the Spirit,” Franzmann pointed above all to Jesus and “His Messianic entry into Jerusalem with no means of power, no trappings of royalty, on a borrowed beast, with nothing and no one but God to depend on. He came as the meek King (Matthew 21:5), the meek Messiah.” He delivered the meek (who simply trusted Him by faith) by suffering and dying on the cross as a criminal, and only then receiving His mighty resurrection from the dead and return to glory. With “meekness” Jesus was actually the “Stronger Man” who defeated sin and Satan and death for us (Matthew 12:24-29). The Holy Spirit points us to all this and helps us to take up our own “yoke” of service to others, too, trusting that the Lord will ultimately judge with fairness and His mercy and rescue “the meek of the earth,” including us (Isaiah 11:1-5).
Finally, the Holy Spirt seeks to help us have “self-control” in all these things, helping us to hold our sinful passions and desires in check, by His power, and forgiving our failures, as we bring them to Him in repentance. Our old sinful nature was crucified with Christ on the cross (Galatians 2:20) and we receive personally the benefit of all that in our baptism and the gift of faith (Galatians 3:1-2, 24-26 and now 5:24).
The Holy Spirit is with us, too, in the daily battle of, as Luther says, remembering our Baptism and who we are in Christ and drowning those sinful passions and desires that trouble us. Paul put it this way in Romans 8:13: “If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit, you keep on putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” In Christ and in the Holy Spirit, we do live, and we march in step with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:25).
(Hopefully, next week, we will get to what this all means in more practical terms in our lives. The Lord’s blessings!)
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered October 13, 2013