September 20, 2024 – Galatians 5:16–26 

“Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of G-d!  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.” Galatians 5:19–26  

We can put these “fruits of the Spirit” into three categories: 

1. Love, joy, peace.  For the Christian our first love is our love for G-d, and this is demonstrated through love for our neighbor; our chief source of joy is the joy of the Lord; and our deepest peace is our peace with the G-d of all peace. 
2. Patience, kindness, goodness.   Patience is sometimes called long-suffering: a suffering with a sense that it will end. Kindness is our disposition towards other people to do them good. Goodness is actually doing others good as there is opportunity. 
3. Faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Faithfulness is reliability, loyalty, steadfastness; gentleness is being calm and humble; self-control is self-discipline over our lives. 

All these are “Fruit” of the Spirit — not individual fruits — but all one fruit. Imagine a fruit tree laden with fruit rather than individual pieces of fruit on individual branches. It’s a natural part of the life cycle of the tree — it produces fruit, like apples, or oranges, but there are multiple fruit that are produced in one season. It is “one” fruit. In the same way spiritual fruit in our lives should be a natural consequence of the Spirit-led life — all part of or produced in a season, in age of our lives. And just as it takes time for natural fruit to grow and develop, so it takes time for the spiritual graces to grow in our lives. 

Today and every day we should be striving to live by the “Fruit” of the Spirit – not individual fruits for individual days – but collective fruit for a lifetime.

Pastor Dave   

September 21, 2024 – Galatians 6 

“Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness. Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too. Carry one anotherʼs  burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each one examine his own work. Then he can take pride in himself and not compare himself with someone else. For each one will carry his own load. Now the one who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with the one who teaches it. Do not be deceived. G-d will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows, because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith.” Galatians 6:1–10  

In the first part of chapter six, Paul describes what life in community looks like when we live in the freedom Christ gives and then use that freedom to serve one another. Paul offers the example of dealing with a member of the community detected in a transgression. “You who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness”. Gentleness, after all, is one of the fruits of the Spirit just mentioned at the end of chapter 5. The goal of dealing with the transgressor is restoration and healing. The Greek word for healing is “katartizo”. It is often used as a medical term, to refer to setting a bone or joint right so that proper healing can occur. As such, while seeking to restore the transgressor, community members are to take care that they themselves are not tempted to compare themselves to the fallen brother or sister — in other words, as the Pharisee prays, “Thank G-d I am not a sinner like that person” (Luke 18:11). 

Instead, we are to “Bear one another’s burdens,” Paul says, “and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”. Paul has a radical understanding of the responsibility believers should have for one another. They are to share all burdens, even the burdens of guilt and shame when one of them goes astray (another way of fulfilling the command to love neighbor as self). Loving our neighbor this way means resisting self-deception, recognizing that I am every bit as vulnerable to temptation as my neighbor, and every bit as dependent upon the grace of G-d. It means that rather than comparing myself to my neighbor, I should engage in self-examination: and we all know which is harder, Amen? 

Pastor Dave 

September 22, 2024 – Pentecost +18B

“They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” Mark 9:30-37

Can you imagine people arguing in the church? Can you imagine? People outside the church who witness or hear about the dissention within the Christian church usually point to such dissention as proof of our hypocrisy: “See, they are so holy and righteous – yet all they do is fight with one another.” But I am sorry to tell you this, I am sorry to burst your bubble, but we do argue in the church. We are not as holy and righteous as some outside the church will label us. Instead, we are just as human as the next person, and as such, we suffer from envy, selfish ambition, disorder and even wickedness, as James so eloquently puts it. Does this disappoint you? Well, let me ask you this—look around you: does this look like the Kingdom of G-d? As I look around, I do not see the Kingdom—at least as it is described in the scriptures. And I do not always see the kind of kingdom building we are all supposed to be a part of. However, we are on the right path. Our ministries point to this fact. But, like the disciples, we still argue—we still are afraid to ask enough questions. We still think more of ourselves than we should. And we still develop pecking orders in the church – and this clearly goes against the teaching of Jesus.

My friends, the key to being the kind of disciple that Jesus is trying to foster in his followers is being a disciple who is NOT driven by insecurities, NOT driven by a need for greatness or power. We need to be “who we were born to be”—around our Christian brothers and sisters—as well as around those outsiders who come into our midst. We are flawed people. Our identity should not come from race, gender, or sexual orientation—our identity comes from being baptized children of G-d. This is not one of those arguments you need to have in your head, or with your spouse. G-d’s love is something you need NOT earn, nor be insecure about. Your worth and value need not be defined by earthly standards – we all need to fight our insecurities and worries about whether G-d loves us. G-d loves us all. Period. Amen.

Pastor Dave

September 16, 2024 — Galatians 3:23–29 

“Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:23–29 

Paul writes: “before faith came, we were held in custody, or imprisoned, and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our guardian or disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith”. The word translated “disciplinarian” in the NRSV is “paidagōgos” in Greek. In wealthy Greek and Roman families, a “paidagōgos” was a slave entrusted with the care and discipline of a child when the child was not in school, until the child reached the age of adulthood. The metaphor suggests that the authority of the law is transitory, lasting only until something is attained, reached – here it is understood to be until Christ came, so that then, once the law is abolished, we might be justified by faith. 

“But now that faith has come,” Paul continues, “we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith”. The word translated “children” in the NRSV is “sons” (in Greek “huioi”). Sons would enjoy full rights of inheritance from their fathers. Yet it is clear that Paul intends the meaning to be gender-inclusive because, now that Christ has come, the rite of entry into G-d’s people is no longer circumcision (available only to “sons” or males) but the rite of entry is through baptism, available to everyone. And then Paul says that when we are baptized into Christ we have clothed ourselves with Christ. Here Paul uses language from early baptismal liturgy, in which the newly baptized were clothed in a white garment, symbolic of the righteousness of Christ. All who have been baptized into Christ are clothed with him, wrapped up in him, and incorporated into him so that Christ becomes our primary identity marker: not our status, not our wealth, and not our gender.

“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus”. Here is where I wish more people could find their initial identity — as children of G-d. If we were to start there, would there be so many people who struggle to seek their identity — and choose paths that lead down difficult roads? I know identity is wrapped up in so many different thoughts and ideas today — and it is too simplistic to think this would solve all of societies woes. But, perhaps, it might relieve some minds and a lot of unnecessary angst. Our primary identity is found in Jesus Christ, who makes us all children of G-d.

Pastor Dave