feeding . . . gathering . . . carrying . . . leading . (Isaiah 40:11)
Dearest family,
On Sunday I did an Introduction to our new Summer Series, “Living on the Vine”, which will be a week by week study of each of the nine manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit that Paul lists in Galatians 5:22. It will be relevant and refreshing, as nine different speakers present a fruit from a scriptural but also personal perspective, in a blend of teaching and testimony. Don’t forget that “fruit” is in the singular here. It is not “fruits” as if we can pick and choose between them, or comfort ourselves that we are stronger in some than others, or think that as long as we cover them all between us then we are alright. Deficiency in any area affects the overall presentation and health of the fruit in our lives. My concern in my introduction had less to do with giving you an overview of the fruits themselves (our speakers will do a good job on that) than with setting and explaining the context for this list of divine characteristics. I addressed two things:
I did a summary of the concerns that Paul had that determined the content of Galatians in which our teaching is placed;
I commented on the immediate context of 5:22 and what leads up to the specific description of this fruit.
The book of Galatians was provoked by the news that false teachers, “Judaizing legalists”, were infiltrating the young churches, and intentionally undermining Paul’s labors, first by questioning his ministry credentials and then by questioning and undermining his message, the gospel, by insisting that observance of the Jewish law was an essential ground of their acceptance by God and their assurance of salvation. This explains the order of the letter’s argumentation. Chapters 1-2 contain Paul’s defense of his call and his apostolic authority and gives us some personal details of his testimony. (The word “gospel” is constantly repeated.) The remaining four chapters are the defense of the gospel against those who were “perverting” it (1:8) by adding to it. Chapters 3-4 deal with justification by faith in Christ alone, and the word “faith” is the most prominent term. Chapters 5-6 deal with sanctification by faith through the Spirit of Christ alone, and not surprisingly, constant references are made to the “Spirit.” Now you can understand why it was written under duress, and it stands out from other epistles for its tone which is combative and confrontational, urgent and solemn, severe and stern. It gets in your heart and your head by getting in your face! Its seriousness is reinforced by the fact that Paul points out in 6:11 that he has written it in large letters “with my own hand.” In every way, this is a large letter and a heavy one as a result. So why did I pay attention to this context and not get straight into that sweet spiritual fruit-salad of 5:22?
The reason is because the context alerts you to the fact that whatever Paul is saying about the fruit of the Holy Spirit here, it is not some mellow, cute, cozy devotional chat about some nice things that will make you a nicer person. This fruit is not something you should give some thought to if you have a meditative moment, or if you feel strangely exercised to improve yourself to be a better Christian than normal. The fighting tone of the letter, and the massive issues of truth that are being argued for, tell us that whatever we think about this fruit, we should understand it is a crucial matter of life and death. Nothing less than the truth and power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is at stake. There is a critical choice being presented to us about two warring and contrary ways of living: the works of the flesh (5:19) or the fruit of the Spirit (5:22) This is so critical that Paul says there are two possible outcomes depending on your choice (6:8). If you choose to sow to please your sinful nature, the works of the flesh, then you will reap destruction. If you sow to please the Spirit, then you will reap eternal life. Are you tracking? This fruit is not about becoming more moral, more ethical, but more righteous, more holy, more of a gospel agent, but most importantly and necessarily, more like Christ. Our life and the lives of others depend upon it in this battle. The fruit is not growing in some pastorally sheltered, protected, high-walled, south-facing garden. It is better you understand it growing in what is a hostile environment that naturally does not support or co-operate with the growth process. In fact, it actively opposes it, so there is going to be great need for the spiritual equivalents of fertilizer and pest control. Given the nature of the human terrain that Paul has described in the letter, the realties of the heart without a relationship with Jesus Christ, this fruit is totally counter-nature – that is why it is counter-culture. This precisely explains why it is the fruit OF THE SPIRIT! These are not characteristics that we can cultivate by ourselves, for ourselves! It takes nothing less than a spiritual power to grow this fruit in us and through us. It is not self-derived, it is not dependent on our personhood or temperament. Hell will be full of nice godless people. We all start in the same place – unfruitful unless we are related to Christ and the Spirit of Christ.
Do you see the critical nature of the choice here? The whole letter up to 5:22 has been about choices between contrary realities. Paul uses the word “conflict ” to describe it. (5:17) It is about Christ or Moses; Spirit or flesh; promise or law; blessing or curse; sinful nature or divine nature; conviction or condemnation; faith or works; freedom or fear; love or license; liberty or bondage; law of sin or law of righteousness; son or slave; new creation or old circumcision; Christian church or Jewish nation; grace of God or rules and restrictions of men; fruit of Spirit or works of flesh; eternal life or destruction. This is serious stuff with serious consequences. In other words, this fruit of the Spirit is not an optional extra. It is not spiritual “accessorizing.” It is the non-negotiable, maturing evidence of a transformed life, that has been justified by faith in Christ alone and that is being sanctified by the Spirit of Christ alone. (Get the message for the extended explanations of these two vital truths about our salvation.)
You see, before Paul describes the FRUIT, he establishes what FAITH is all about, so any introduction to the fruit should draw attention to the faith too. He refers to it no less than 22 times which fairly presents the issue he is taking with any view of salvation that has any additive that is rooted in works or the observance of human traditions or obedience to legalisms – that is not of “faith through Jesus Christ.” (3:26) In 5:6 he says, “The only thing that counts is faith.” If we don’t get this sequence then we will be tempted to think that the fruit is something that we can manufacture, that we can manage, that is merely the product of our will. We will mistake good behavior for righteousness; civil politeness for godliness; good manners for Christ-like character; happiness for joy. Paul establishes that everything that has to do with our salvation is by faith. The assurance of faith is opposed by what he describes in chapter 6 as its counterfeit, namely “confidence in the flesh.” I have already mentioned the two aspects of our experience of salvation that Paul argues in chapters 3-6. If you want a refresher course on the gospel you could do no better than reread this letter. Luther described its affirmations of the gospel as “thunder claps from heaven.” When it comes to justification, it is all about the work of Christ. When it comes to the second aspect, our sanctification, it is all about the work of the Spirit. So it is clearly true to say that Paul is concerned about the means of our acceptance by God and Christ’s supreme role in that acceptance and he opposes anyone who dares to say that our salvation and acceptance is based on anything other than Christ’s redeeming work. If this is minimized or marginalized, reduced or revised in any way, then other works will replace it or be added to it, as was the case here, when observance of Jewish customs, particularly circumcision, were being insisted upon as a ground of qualification and acceptance. If this happens then the result is tragic. “Christ is of no value to you at all.” (5:2) It is in this acceptance issue that most commentators see the emphasis of this letter. However, it must also be stated strongly, that it is equally true that the main motif of Paul’s message has to do with how, once we are converted, we live, and his emphasis is heavy on our dependency on the work of the Holy Spirit. So there are the two main things that Paul wants them and you and me to know: the centrality of Christ’s work once and for all, and the cruciality of the Spirit’s work in our lives for now and always. Once saved, there is nothing that we can do by our own efforts, or rules or strategies, nothing that the law can do, to maintain or sustain our lives. If we try, it is foolish! It is saying that flesh or law can supply Spirit. What does Paul say? “If a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.” (3:21) “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort…Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law or because you believe what you heard?” (3:3-5)
So as we examine this fruit, remember this. It is not about behavioral rules, as required by the law or by traditions and customs. It is about the cross and the sufficiency of Christ’s saving work in our place and on our behalf. The fruit of the Spirit is not just a set of good behaviors. It has to be first the fruit of a crucified life – if it is not the fruit of a cross it will not be the fruit of our character. If you are not committed to living a crucified life, putting to death the works of the flesh, then you can forget the teaching on the fruit of the Spirit. What is the very next statement after the list of the Spirit’s fruit? “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature.” In other words they daily identify with the cross where their sin was borne, they daily deny their flesh and take up their cross.
We do not know what the result was of this communication by Paul to the Galatians. Was it received or rejected? As someone has observed, there is no Second Galatians to tell us what happened. Yet despite the silence of a response from the first recipients, the sheer intensity and integrity of this letter has resounded and resonated through the centuries, and as you know, it was this text that provoked the mind and spirit of a man called Martin Luther, that therefore served to launch the Protestant Reformation. We could say that this is one of our charter documents as an evangelical church, one of our foundational and constitutional declarations of faith. It has attracted many superlative titles like “The Magna Carta of Christian liberty,” or “The Christian Declaration of Independence.” Arguably, spiritual freedom is the central theological concept – being free to do what God desires. It is about the reality of our freedom that is emphasized in this letter: freedom from guilt and condemnation; from the fear of death; from the penalty, presence and power of sin; “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!” (5:1) “You, my brothers, were called to be free…” (5:13) It is as an evidence and expression of this freedom and deliverance that we must understand the fruit of the Spirit. Before these virtues of Christ’s character are manifested through us, we first have to be delivered from the prison-house of our flesh. In 3:22 Paul wrote “The scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin.” We need to be freed from those sinful dispositions that dominate our soulish and selfcentered lives. We need to be delivered from lovelessness and hatred, from misery and despair, from dispeace and divisiveness, from self-serving impatience and ungenerous unkindness, from intentional evil and spite, from unfaithfulness and betrayal and offence, from abrasive and prideful aggression, from uncontrolled indulgence and anger. Are you getting the picture here that Paul is presenting? By ourselves we can neither produce this fruit nor procure it. It doesn’t happen simply because we promote it by a teaching series like this one. It is Christ in us, the work of the Spirit in us. If this is all about being like Jesus, because we are so intimately related to him, then maybe we should close with his words on the subject, his way of putting what Paul went on to teach about. He is still the best teacher, as good as Paul is. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
So if you’re serious about this fruit in your life, get ready for the pruning shears, the pest controls and especially the fertilizer! Watch out for them this week because that difficult person is fertilizing love; that disappointing outcome is fertilizing joy; that storm that blows in to your life is fertilizing peace; that trial is fertilizing patience; that person’s inconvenient need is fertilizing kindness; that malice is fertilizing goodness; that betrayal is fertilizing faithfulness; that abrasiveness is fertilizing gentleness; that outburst is fertilizing self-control. “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.” (Galatians 5:22)
Living on the Vine,
Stuart
http://www.christourshepherd.org/pastlet.htm (and follow links to download MP3 audio of sermon)
Announcements
Breakfast this Saturday 9:00am-10:30am Johann will be leading into discussion based on this year’s theme of attitudes and actions of pursuing the prize. Childcare will be provided. We need 3 people to help set up at 8:30am, and 4 to help clean up afterwards. Please email Matt at matthew.tropiano@navy.mil if you can help.
“An Introductory Course to the Christian Faith” beginning June 25. Contact Kelly Doley (kwdoley@gmail.com) or Brandon Prichard (brandonprichard@gmail.com) to attend or bring friends or if you have any questions.
*MADE IN AMERICA* Come celebrate the newest Kamon at a red, white and blue Baby Shower, Saturday, July 11th, 11:00 a.m. at Nancy's house, 512 11th St SE, DC (RSVP 202- 546-0120). Bring a scripture to pray over the baby! Group gift: call Maria at 703-971-3818.
BBQ cookout after church Sunday, June 28. Proceeds to benefit Ashasthan Home in Mumbai, India (where Alys McAlpine served for 4 months).
You are invited to a Baby Shower to welcome Julian to the Chenoweth family and the COSC family on Saturday, June 27 at 2:30pm at the Temenaks’ home. Call Carla Temenak at 301-434-5232 to RSVP and for information about a group gift.
Bocce Al Fresco tournament, immediately after church at Garfield Park July 5. Email Jim Song (song.james@yahoo.com) or Matthew (matthew.tropiano@navy.mil), if you want to play and we will set up a bracket.
Come watch and cheer on The Flock softball team on Monday, 29 June at 7pm. Field 1, West Potomac Park. Email Anne Hall (anne.hall16@gmail.com) if you have questions!
ISO musicians, dancers, worship leaders for Kids Worship, which takes place every Sunday at 11:45am on the first floor for all the Sunday School classes. Steve Kho, sjkho@me.com
ALL CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS!! Urban Hands July 12–18.
Volunteers needed for a wide range of activities, times, and dates. Please sign up online at www.carecompanydc.org (and click on organic ministry>Urban Hands) Thanks!
Bulletin Board
Postings not officially sanctioned by COSC.
HOUSING: Sept 1 – Room Avail - Looking for a CF to share a Kingstowne, Alexandria, Va, 4 BR/3.5 BA townhouse with three Christian, female 30-somethings. Rent $584/mo. + utilities. Upstairs room shares full bath with one roommate. Shared living room, dining room, kitchen, basement living room, upstairs attic storage space, and laundry room with washer/dryer. Free gym membership. Summer outdoor pool. Close to shopping, I395/495, and walking/biking trails. Missi, missi.evans@yahoo.com
HOUSING: Ben Doggett, Jim Song and Johann Ducharme are looking to rent at 2-4 bedroom house on Capitol Hill, ideally near COSC and metro accessible. Looking for July 1 availability. Ben, bdoggett@gmail.com.
HOUSING: 1 unfurnished bedroom with private bath for rent in SFH for single woman in Cape Cod SFH 3.5 blocks from East Falls Church metro. The 3 others are single professional women in their 20s, one of whom is also in grad school. Rent $765/mo + utils ($60-100/mo). Parking available. Looking for July 1. Christina, christina.m.watts@gmail.com or Jessica, espngirl@gmail.com
HOUSING: Looking for Christian female subletter in Chinatown (DC), Aug-Sept. Furnished sunroom. Apartment features shared bathroom with washer & dryer; A/C; highspeed wireless internet and cable tv; two wonderful roommates, both working in international development. We're looking for a Christian female in her 20's or 30's who's neat and friendly. $750/mo + utils (approx $65/mo). Garage parking available at extra cost. Dawn, dancerdawn05@yahoo.com
HOUSING-Capitol Hill: 2BR/2BA furnished, available July 1. $2400/month. Karan, karantownsend@gmail.com or 304-702-1872 or Jason, Jason@RealEstateinDC.com or 202-415- 7400
HOUSING-Columbia Heights: Seeking Christian male renter for room in 3rd floor apartment. Near shopping, entertainment, Metro. Shared kitchen, living room, bath, washer/dryer, small deck. Rent $700/mo + utils. Avail June 23. Chris, chris.caligiuri@gmail.com
FOR SALE: Gas range and oven, gas clothes dryer, refrigerator. $25 each. Larry or Jan Winnes, 202-544-4882