Fruits
Grace to you and peace from God our
Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Apostle Paul just
told us, “The works of the flesh are
evident: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery,
hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,
dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.” In other words, we should avoid Synod and
District conventions.
While I like to make fun of church politics,
the truth is, the works of the flesh are evident at Synod and District
conventions. But they are also evident at our Voter’s assembly meetings and,
even more significantly, in our homes and schools and workplaces. Wherever two
or three fallen sinners gather together, there will be hatred, contentions,
jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, and the like. We know the
danger, but we still sin. Do we dare take an examination of our lives? Who has
not looked with lust in his eye? Who has not grown angry in his heart? Who has
not felt the pang of jealousy or covetousness? These are the works of the flesh—of
our flesh. And those who practice them do not inherit the kingdom of God.
Repent.
The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy,
peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. Is that what outsiders would report at our conventions and
meetings and dinner tables? What about the neighbor children who throw their
trash into our streets and fields, who torment our pets? What do they find when
they come knocking, while their ball rests in a pile of broken glass on our
dining room table? Do you give them love, joy, and peace? I know you love your
friends. What about your enemies? What about those who mistreat you? What about
those whose pierced noses and tattooed bodies disturb you? Repent.
The Samaritan leper returned to worship
Jesus. He was a foreigner, doubly cursed by birth and disease to be an unclean outsider.
He was healed by the Word of Jesus, and faith sent Him back for more. He knew
the works of the flesh in his rotting skin. He knew love, joy, peace, long
suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in
Jesus, the dwelling place of God among men, who healed him with a Word.
The life of faith we live is not a life of
perfect works for all the world to see. The works of the flesh are evident in
us to the eyes of men. Our life of faith is an on-going struggle with healing,
forgiveness, and thanksgiving. We are not those who say we have no sin. We are
those who confess our sins and receive forgiveness. We wait on God and trust
His Word. He says we are His children. He has marked us with His Name and
resurrection. We have known the fruits of the Spirit and receive foretastes of
them. But we don’t always see them. We confess them by faith, not by sight. The
creation groans in eager expectation of the time when the good works in you and
all the fruits of the Spirit will be evident in you, when the works of the
flesh will be destroyed and forgotten forever. Until then you live by faith.
That is what faith expects; that is why faith prays and waits.
The Samaritan found a family in God. He
believed, and so he returned to Jesus. Faith always wants more. Faith always
returns to Jesus. And the Spirit is alive in you. He has brought you here,
where Christ is, where He commands the sins of His people to depart, where He
speaks His Word for healing and cleansing. He may even attend the occasional
convention and voters’ meeting. You’re no better than the leprous Samaritan,
but God loves you. He makes you righteous in His blood. He provides the faith
that makes you well. He sends the Spirit who sanctifies and keeps you. Against
such there is no law. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all
understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.
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