Galatians 5 22-23
-But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Nehemiah 8:9-12 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. 10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” 11 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.” 12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them. As we continue our series on the Fruit of the Spirit, today we look at one of the tastiest fruits. It is not my main fruit; I wish it were, but joy can be hard for me. One of the sins I do to myself (yes, you can sin against yourself) is in movements of joy. I analyze it. This has the effect of taking me out of the moment, which is like throwing cold water on a hot flame. There is a phrase, “paralysis by analysis”: by looking at something so hard, you freeze yourself. By looking at it instead of experiencing it, you stop yourself from it. The scriptures say, "Do not quench the Spirit" (1 Thes 5:19). Joy requires us to live in the moment. Joy has to be real, or it is just a science fiction movie. We do not fake it until we make it. We have to allow God to make it happen. 35 years ago, I was at a Christian camp in Rhode Island, and I met this cute girl, and we became friends. She went back to university, and I was working. I did not have a phone number or even an address and was not reachable. My mom did not like it. Anyway, I called home after a few months, and my mom surprised me by asking me about a girl named Stephanie DeRolf. I said, "How do you know that name" My mom said she called trying to get a hold of you, and we started talking because neither of them could reach you. In my call with my mom, she asked, “What is she like?” I said the thing that sticks out the most is her joy. I guess we look for things in our spouses that we lack. Serious people will often dismiss joy. After love, joy might be the most powerful evangelical gift the Lord has given us, and I am not great at it. I heard a pastor say to me, get ten joyful people together and a church will sprout out of the ground. Get a church of ten negative or unhappy people together, and you will have eight unhappy people because two will have the sense enough to leave. It is pretty true. Joy is central to our faith in Christ. We sing, “Joy to the World,” “Joyful, joyful we adore thee,” “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” Why? Because joy is a gift or an attribute of the Holy Spirit. On the Holy Spirit’s birthday (Pentecost) when the 11 disciples were in Jerusalem and praying, all of a sudden tongues of fire appeared on each of their heads. Interestingly, in a time before mirrors, they could not see the tongues of fire on their heads but could only see the fire on others. That is a lot like joy. You do not see your joy, but you can really see it in others. The joy of being in the Spirit led the disciples out into the streets and into the world, a world that could not understand them. So much so that they labeled them as drunk. There is a time to analyze things. There is a place for rational thought, and intellectual discernment, but don't do it at the expense of joy. Joy is a gift that keeps on giving. Nehemiah 8:10 reminds us of a truth, “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” It is not our theological understanding that is our strength. It is not the amount of scripture that we know. No!! Nehemiah says, it is our joy. How could Nehemiah say this? They were returning from exile, the temple was destroyed, the walls were knocked down, fields were fallow, to just name a few problems. The book of Nehemiah is a book on overcoming difficulties and leadership, and good leadership deals with problems (yes) but more so points people to life and joy. More than the temple, more than walls, or freedom from attacks, Nehemiah knows that true strength lies in joy. Because joy leads to worship, and worship leads us to a deeper relationship with God. Temples can be sacked. Walls can be knocked down, but those that trust in the Lord will not be put to shame (Psalm 25:3). As believers, we are called to embrace and experience this joy, understanding that it is not just a fleeting emotion but a powerful force that strengthens us and is evidence of the Holy Spirit working within us. Joy is the second in the list of the fruit of the Spirit. When the angels appeared to the shepherds, they pronounced, “We bring you great tidings of great joy.” Joy is not happiness. This joy is not dependent on external conditions; rather, it is a supernatural power that flows from our connection with God. As we abide in Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, joy becomes a natural outpouring of our relationship with God. Back to Nehemiah, the people had no reason for happiness. Their situation was not so good. KUC, let's be real. KUC has had some difficulties over the past few years. You have had a bunch of different pastors. I have heard stories from multiple people that have talked about the conflicts and difficulties that you have faced. Sometimes the challenges that you have inflicted on yourselves and others. I almost did not come because the stories you told about yourselves made me scared. I had bad dreams after hearing some of the stories. I am being real here. But after I preached here as a visiting preacher, I saw the problems (Yes). BUT I saw glimpses of people’s commitment to Christ, and through that commitment, I saw joy. Sure, we (I am part of you at least until August) we still got things to work on both practically and spiritually, but we cannot only focus on the problem; we need to focus on joy. I think the pastor's job and the church council’s job should be to protect that joy. Last week we had a shortened service. I hated cutting my sermon by 10 minutes. But I would rather cut my sermon down by 20 minutes than to cut praise and worship time. Because we need that. One of the primary sources of our joy is the salvation we have in Jesus Christ. Psalm 51:12 says, "Restore unto me the joy of your salvation." As Christians, we should be continually reminded of the incredible gift of grace, forgiveness, and eternal life that we have received through faith in Christ. This realization should fill our hearts with unspeakable joy, regardless of our present circumstances. One of the things that people get confused with is the difference between Joy and happiness. Happiness (which is great, don’t get me wrong). Happiness is dependent on our situation or circumstances. The word happiness is rooted in the Latin word, chance. So, we link our happiness to wealth, health, and success. I will not preach against these things, but they are temporal, not eternal. Joy is not connected to our present circumstances. I hope you are healthy and successful in what you are doing, and you can be happy and joyful at the same time. But Paul challenges us to give thanks in ALL circumstances, not just when you are happy (1 Thess 5:17). In the oldest story in the Bible, the story of Job, Satan says to God, "See that happy guy down there. He is only happy or praising you because he has stuff, because you blessed him." In the story, God allows Satan to strip away these blessings from Job's life. He is pained; he suffers emotionally and physically. Even his friends say that he deserves the suffering he is getting. But he does not curse God. Satan got it wrong. He thinks Job's relationship with God is based on his happiness or his circumstances when Job's relationship was built on faith and joy. Job, as a righteous man, was not really happy as he was joyful. Job (replace the b in Job with a y and you get JOY). Which is not based on the things of this world. While happiness is based on our circumstances, joy shapes our attitude toward our circumstances. Joy is a supernatural response to believing in the Good News. At the heart of a Christian is the knowledge of joy or understanding of our personal salvation. And the assurance that we have salvation through our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. I dare say that Christians that struggle with the knowledge of their salvation will also struggle with joy. James calls this type of person a double- minded man and says that blessings are not withheld as much as the believer refuses to receive the gift of Joy. Don’t turn away the Holy Spirit. Receive his joy. Receive the full measure of God’s blessing. It sucks to go through hard times. But one thing Satan loves is when your faith is connected to our happiness instead of our joy. Then we are fair game. But if your faith is based on the JOY of the LORD, Satan cannot touch you. I will close with a challenge. It is called the JOY challenge. 1. Every day this week listen to a praise or hymn of praise song on your iPad or smartphone with a volume cranked up. I also challenge you to sing along. ‘So this is not a train-friendly activity. That is part one. 2. How can you bring someone you know joy? Maybe it is a letter to a person you have not talked to in a while. Maybe it is calling someone and asking them out for tea or coffee. Maybe it is doing something selfless for someone you know. You might not get thanked, but Joy is not about the thanks; it is about knowing that the Holy Spirit is using you. Let's sing.
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Scriptures
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Ⅰ John 4:7-8 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. Message Over the next nine weeks, we will be exploring the fruit of the Spirit. Perhaps we could give it a catchy name like "Fruity Christians." As we examine the fruit of the Spirit, we are responding to a fundamental question: What does a Christian look like? What qualities should a Christian strive for? What should people see in me and in us? The bar is high. Galatian 5:22 is the Apostle Paul’s response to that question. Let’s not confuse this with what a Christian should know but who we should be as we follow our Lord and Savior. Paul is writing to the church in Galatia, a church in chaos. The entire book of Galatians is a letter to refocus the church on following the Lord Jesus in faith, not on adhering to rules. We cannot do that without the gift of the Holy Spirit. As we know from Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self- control. Against such things, there is no law. The letter to the Galatians aims to bring the light of the Holy Spirit into the church (see Acts 15). Paul argues that the gospel, the Good News, transforms people through the presence and power of the Spirit and our relationship with God. Through this letter and Galatians 5:22-23, we see the full character of Jesus, and with the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can embrace those characteristics as well. Let’s read Galatians 5 together: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law." How do you feel about yourself when you read this list? I have a few—maybe three—that I feel I do pretty well, and a few that I wish I could improve. "God, was that a typo when you said 'patience'?" Come on now. Take a moment to share with someone. Share one of the virtues or characteristics that you feel good about. It is not bragging to acknowledge that you have some fruit in your life. It is good to know your strengths as well as your challenges. If you are brave now, share one of the characteristics that truly challenges you and that you would like to cultivate more of it in your life. I hope that was not too painful for you. Take time this week to thank God for the areas of strength and pray for the areas that are challenging. Pray something like, "Dear God, with the help of your Holy Spirit, I see some evidence of love and goodness in my life, and I thank you for the fruit. But, Lord, please help me to grow in my ability to be more faithful/gentle." (Maybe even write it in a letter, stick it in your Bible, and check in on it in 6 months. If you are even braver, tell your spouse or Christian friend for accountability.) The first thing is that it is the FRUIT of the SPIRIT, not the Fruits of the Spirit. Like your tree of, let's say, goodness, why would God expect patience or long-suffering to grow there? Wasn’t it Jesus who said people do not gather figs from a bramble bush? True. These are not many characteristics but actually just one. We need all of these to be healthy Christians. As we start, we begin with perhaps the best or most important. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13, says so when he says that when everything else is stripped away, three things will remain: faith, hope, and love. And he goes on to say that the greatest of these is LOVE. One guess on why love gets top billing. Love is the only thing we will continue to do after we leave our earthly bodies and are welcomed into the kingdom of God. When we get to heaven, we will not need faith anymore because faith is the confidence of things hoped for and assurance of things not seen (Heb 11:1). When we get to heaven, we will see God face to face so faith will not be needed. And hope is the anticipation of God’s favor. If you are in heaven, you will not be anticipating it; you will be experiencing it. But LOVE. Love is the only thing we are called to do NOW, and we will continue to do it in HEAVEN. Some have suggested that every characteristic in the Fruit of the Spirit is just an extension of Love; they might be right. Or it is out of the fountain of LOVE that all the other characteristics flow. We know that the Greeks had four basic words for love: Eros (passion), Storge (family), Philia (Friendship), and Agape (Sacrificial love or a love that does not change based on circumstances). Paul uses Agape love to describe the love that he is defining in a Fruitful Life. So, what is Agape (love)? Instead of trying to define love, which almost every poet in human history has tried to do, let me tell you a story about a man that AGAPED. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a biblical scholar who lived in Nazi Germany before and during WW2. (By the way, his books, "The Cost of Disciple" and "Life Together," are books that I would highly recommend if you want to grow in your faith.) As the world turned towards hate and violence, he stayed in Germany even though he had many chances to leave and go to England or the US. At one conference in New York, other pastors begged him not to return because they knew his life would be in danger for not ceasing to speak out against the hate in the country, which was contrary to the way of Christ. Instead, he stayed (in the lion’s den). Why? He had a purpose and an AGAPE for his people. DO WE? He stayed to shepherd his church and care for his seminary students. But he kept preaching the full gospel, and eventually, the Nazis arrested him for shining a light on how the country had turned toward evil. In jail, he led bible studies and prayed for fellow prisoners and guards. The guards grew to respect him so much that they left the door open for him and told him to escape. He did not. Why? He did not have a death wish, but he knew if he escaped, the guards would be punished. He had a capacity to AGAPE that can only come from the Holy Spirit. He lived Matt 5:43-45. Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. In the waning moments of the war, Bonhoeffer was put to death, but Christ’s love and the message of his Agape live on. For the light cannot be extinguished by the darkness. It is great that we have heroes like Bonhoeffer, but we do not live in Nazi Germany. But we all have challenges. A few years back, I had a guy that sat at the desk next to mine in the teachers' room. I would greet him, but he never greeted me back unless other teachers were around. I would ask him about work-related things, and he would ignore me. To my knowledge, I never did anything wrong or bad to him. But he did not like me. I was a foreigner, and he did not like foreigners. He would not pass along messages to me and made me look bad. It was a miserable year. Loving (Eros) is romantic, (Philia) is fun, (Storge) is stable, but (Agape) is hard. Halfway through the year, I stopped greeting him. Why should I greet him if he does not greet me? Then Stephanie stepped in and told me, “Mark, that is not right.” I said he did this, he said this to me. He, He, He. I realized I was living the way of the world instead of the way of Christ. The next morning and every morning after that as I walked to work, I asked God through his Holy Spirit to help me be a loving person. I greeted him. When other co-workers bad-mouthed him, I did not participate. God filled me with his AGAPE, not human love. I was even able to support him. He never liked me. He retired the next year. I did not die like Bonhoeffer, but I walked the path that God called me to be on; it is called the path of Agape. It was an area of growth in learning how to Agape. When I was a child, I thought like a child, acted like a child, but when I became an adult, God asked me to put childish ways behind me and act like a Christian man. God is calling us to be childlike in our love for HIM but not childish but to be adult believes. In 1 John 4:7-8 (One of my favorite verses), "Dear friends, let us Agape one another, for Agape comes from God. Everyone who Agapes has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not Agape does not know God because God is Agape." John is calling us to be people of love. None of us are fully there. Like these characteristics that we will be looking at for the next two months are similar to our body. If you don’t lift weights but did so today. I can promise you that you will be sore tomorrow. And you will be tempted to say I do not want to do that again. But if you keep lifting, loving your capacity to love will grow, especially as you ask the Holy Spirit to guide you on your journey to be the person God is calling you to be. To be made into something uniquely you and uniquely beautiful. It will not happen today, but it can start today. Let’s pray. It’s a blessing to be here today to share with you a word that’s been on my heart.
Today before we get to the focus passage, I’d like to do a little prelude. So, I’ve got three questions for you. First question. How many of us have a relationship with Jesus? Well at least I hope so, then we couldn’t call ourselves Christian. I used to hang out in the garage at home, but I wasn’t a car. So, I hope by us coming here we have confessed Christ. It’s good to know that because of our relationship with Him, and His work on the cross, we have been redeemed to the Father. We have been accepted in God’s eyes because of Jesus and we share in Christ’s inheritance. That’s why it’s so important to know whose you are. All of the sacrifices that were made in the Old Testament to parlay the punishment of sin were finally done away with, with the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. According to Ephesians 1:5 and 2:5-6, we have been adopted and were made to sit in heavenly places in Christ. So we owe a lot to Jesus and His finished work. How many of us have a relationship with God the Father? This question I think is a little harder. But remember, it’s because of Christ that we can approach the Father. Even in the prayer that Jesus taught the disciples, He taught them to appeal to the Father first! Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. This is a model that we have been given. To speak directly to the Father. To honor Him and begin to know His ways on a deeper level. The whole Bible is God speaking to His people, we can see His Character and know who He is. Third question. How many of us have a relationship with the Holy Spirit? We’re not going into whether we receive Him right after we are saved or if He comes later. But I would like you to simply reflect and ask yourself, do you have a relationship with Him? Has this promise become your reality. Let’s look back at the text. John 14:15-18 - 15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. John 14:25-26 - 25 “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Also in John 15:26 and John 16:7-15 These verses describe how we have been promised the Holy Spirit. I would like us to briefly pray for this to become our reality. Holy Spirit you are welcome here. We have not been abandoned. Fill us once again. Allow us to be transformed in character and steward Your gifts so that lives will be transformed. So how does the Holy Spirit show up to us? Let’s briefly look at two ways the Holy Spirit Manifests himself in our lives, through the Fruit of the Spirit and Gifts of the Spirit. Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-25 The fruit is for your character as men and women. We can assess if we have been spending time with the Holy Spirit through our character. Do you possess these: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? When I was in High School, my church had a summer camp, and it was there that I was baptized. After the camp when I came back home, I remember sitting at the computer and my father scolding me for something. But instead of reacting how I usually did; peace filled my heart. And my father noticed, He said “something is different about you Devin”. The Holy Spirit changes our character. The Gifts of the Spirit in 1 Cor 12:7-11 These gifts have been given to you for the sake of others. Can you discern His voice? While in University at a time in my life when I was really desiring to know more about who the Holy Spirit was. I met some buddies at a café for a mini-Bible study hang out. I had to leave the meeting a little early and as I was leaving, I passed by a couple sitting down and felt the Holy Spirit say I want you to speak to them. This was the first time this has ever happened to me so…I left. I went out the door and walked straight to my car. But the Holy Spirit wasn’t done with me. That feeling of heaviness grew and I knew I had to do something. I called my buddy on the phone asking if the couple was still there and explained that I think Lord wants me to speak to them. My buddy said, “ya, go do it!” So I walked back into the café and introduced myself saying I know this might be weird but I felt like Lord wants me to share something with you. In the same passages we read today in John, it is surrounded by the message of God’s love for us. I was able to speak to the family about the Love that God has for them and they told me how they worried for their son. We prayed and I even was able to show them the same verses we looked at today on the promise of the Holy Spirit is a promise they can hold on to. The Lord is desiring us to be the church outside the church, and I would have missed it had I not heard His voice and recognized that the promised One is with me. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, you sent your Son to break down the wall that separated us so that we can have a relationship with you. That same Spirit that rested on Jesus, the promised One, The Holy Spirit lives inside of each and everyone of us. Let us walk worthy of our calling. Amen! There are countless books and seminars you can attend about leadership. I
do not get paid thousands of dollars to motivate you, but sharing about leadership gives you a standard by which to assess me. This is my first Sunday, not just as a preacher but part of the pastor team. I would like to look at leadership. If you look at quotes or ideas on leadership, you will find a lot of great ideas on integrity, honesty, setting vision, building a team. I hope to live up to those high ideas. But not one quote on leadership talks about forgiveness. That is where I would like to start today. I. Forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-22): I think a biblical life and leadership start with forgiveness. Jesus was asked by Peter (Matt 18:21-22) how many times he must forgive my brother. Peter gives a generous response in his question, expecting Jesus to say, “Wow, Peter, you are awesome.” Instead, Jesus says to him, “Not 7 times but 77 times,” another way of saying, as much as needed. Just so we do not think this is a slip of the tongue by Jesus, he says something similar in Luke 17. Jesus means what he says. There is a story about Ruth Graham, the wife of the famous evangelist Billy. She was asked if she ever thought of divorcing Billy. She said, “Divorce never. Murder yes.” Then she got serious with the person and said, “unless a husband and a wife forgive each other, their marriage would never work.” Church, if you can’t forgive me when I make mistakes (And I WILL), if I cannot forgive you when you invariably hurt me (And you WILL), it will never work. I will stay here until July, and I will leave, or you will fire me. We will just be wasting each other’s time. Let’s not do that. Regarding Forgiveness, there are two aspects. One is humbling ourselves to receive forgiveness first from God and also from those we have wronged. The key here is we have to ask? You have to name what you have done in either breaking the covenant with God or the relationship with someone. The second is being willing to give or extend forgiveness to those who have harmed you. Jesus tells us the story of the unmerciful servant that willingly received forgiveness but not give it. God revokes his forgiveness. God calls us, who have been forgiven so much, to live humbly with each other. Today is the first Sunday of the month, and we have communion. Part of communion is putting ourselves in the place of the unmerciful servant, knowing that we have such a debt to God that we cannot repay it. And in receiving (We never take communion because we did not earn it); in receiving communion, we live our lives knowing that we have been forgiven much, so we endeavor to forgive others. II. Know my limitations. I hope that I am competent. If I were not competent, I hope you would not have asked me to be part of the team. But I know my limitations. In the old movie Cool Hand Luke, there is a famous quote, “A man has to know his limitations.” I know I cannot do this job on my own. Only with God’s help will we achieve anything worth doing. Unless the Lord builds the house, we truly do labor in vain (Psalm 127). When Jesus taught about entering the kingdom of God. Jesus said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. The disciples asked, “Who then can be saved?” (Truly who can?). Jesus says, “With man, it isn’t possible BUT with God anything is possible (Matt 19). My hope is not just to maintain the church (keep the seat warm) but to grow the church. This impossible task is only possible if we allow ourselves to be instruments of God. If I work in my strength I will do a lot of nothing. But with nothing is impossible. That is what I am praying. I am praying for the impossible. We need to do our part: welcome people, tell people about KUC, pray for the church that is needed. Like Paul said, Water or plant the seeds, but we know that it is God that brings the increase. III. Staying in Your Role/Prioritizing (Acts 6:2): You all know that I work full time. I will be at church at least three Sundays a month. But I also have other responsibilities as a missionary/teacher at my high school. Even if I were full time at the church, I couldn’t do everything. In the early church, they were experiencing growing pains. People were falling through the cracks. After prayer, the Apostles appointed elders in the church so that it would not take away from their ministry of the Word. I am a full-time worker just like you. There will be things that I enjoy or think I am good at but can’t do because of that job. Like in our finances, like in how we use our time, we need to prioritize what we can do. Because I can’t do everything on 10 to 15 hours of work a week that I have committed to doing for the church. When I was at Toledo Mennonite Church, my first pastorate, I was getting bogged down with the amount of non-member requests on my time. I was part-time during this part of my ministry there. At one point, things were falling through the cracks with my care for the members of the church. I was skimping on my study for Sunday because I was saying, “Yes” to everything. My pastoral mentor told me about Acts 6:2 and also not stealing the bread from the mouths of the people. I had to do the hard work of saying “No” to the things that I could do to do the work that God was telling me to do. Not doing the good but the better. IV. Service (John 13 and Mark 10:45): After the cross, one of the most powerful examples of Jesus’ words, “I have come not to be served but to serve.” Jesus is what he demonstrated in John 13, knowing that he was going to be betrayed, he got down on his hands and knees and washed his disciples' feet. Peter resisted, but Jesus told him that unless he allowed Jesus to wash his feet, he would not be part of Jesus and his kingdom. After washing their feet, Jesus asks, “Do you understand what I have done for you?”. We have to confess that we do not. As a child, I had no clue how much my parents cared for me. It took becoming a parent myself to know that. This side of heaven, we will not be able to grasp what Jesus has done for us. He goes on to say, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. The example that Jesus set for us is not a one-time event but a way of looking at the world. Before saying yes to the church, I had to be able to say, will I be able to humble myself to be your to be your pastor. Can I put my pride on the shelf and be led by God and accept council from you? Can I not just wash your feet, but can I enjoy doing it. A question that I am still asking is how can I wash the feet of the church? How can we wash not just our feet but wash the feet of the people of Kobe? I do not have the answer to those questions, but Jesus says that if we are not willing to do this we will forgo a blessing because Jesus says very clearly you will be blessed if you do it. If we want the blessing we have to get off the bench and do it. As we start preparing ourselves for the mystery of coming to the Lord’s table how is God calling you to take leadership in your life so that you can turn your life over to be used by the Lord. Let’s pray. |
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