Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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One of the primary doctrines of the Christian faith is, what is called, "final perseverance." Basically, it says that only those who DIE in the one, true faith will be saved. I meet people who tell me that they used to go to the Lutheran church when they were little, or they used belong to this or that church, or they used to pray a lot and read their bible, but they haven't 'practiced' their religion for a long time. I'm never quite sure if they're asking me to help them to reconnect with the Christian faith, or if they're telling me that they've already had their ticket to heaven punched, and "once punched always punched."

The Scriptures make it very clear that you CAN loose your salvation by falling from faith. One of the saddest verses in the New Testament comes in the 6th chapter of John's gospel, where we read, "many of Jesus' disciples turned back and no longer walked with him." (John 6:66).

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus warned His followers of the trials and tribulations that they would experience because they follow Him. Jesus cautions them saying, "But the one who endures to the end will be saved." (Mat.10:22). At the end of His ministry, as He prepared His disciples for His departure from them, He warned them that tough times lie ahead saying, "And then many will fall away." "But the one who endures to the end will be saved." (Mat.24:10,13). Whenever you hear Jesus say something at the beginning of His ministry that He then repeats again at the end of His ministry, this is something that we need to be especially alert to. (more…)

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Everyone who's ever been a parent will readily agree that parenting is hard work. Children don't just grow up and become responsible adults all by themselves. They don't come preprogrammed with the data necessary to be able to discern what is dangerous from what's safe or what's right from what's wrong. They have to be taught these things, and that's the work of parenting, and it's hard work.

Children don't come into the world with a sense of responsibility. In fact, they come into the world with the definite impression that the whole world is there to serve them. Being responsible for themselves and responsible to others and society is something that has to be taught. And that's the work of parenting and it's not easy work.

What would make the job of parenting a whole lot easier is if children at least understood that they don't know these things and that they need to be taught these things and that their parents and other authorities who are older and wiser than they are and know and understand things better than they do. So, if parents said to their children, 'don't touch,' and the child, 'if you say so,' and didn't touch, that would make the job of parenting so much easier, wouldn't it? Or, if when a parent said, 'time for bed, you need you rest,' the child went to bed because, after all, parent's must know what's best, and if they say I need my rest then I must need my rest and so I better go right to bed, that would make the job of parenting so much easier. (more…)

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We come now to the ninth and final stop on our tour through the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5. Self-control. This facet of the fruit of the Spirit ranks right up there with patience as, "oh yea, we need help with that one."

How often do our appetites and impulses and desires and tempers take control of us? How many times have we committed ourselves to weight-loss, quit smoking, lower cholesterol, regular exercise, ballroom dancing, money management, reading, writing, foreign language, quilting, golfing, tennis, and daily devotions programs, only to hit a plateau or get discouraged or distracted and quit because we lack self-control. How many times have certain temptations touched a specific desire, and lacking the self-control that we should have, we've let our desires control us and cause serious harm?

As I prepared this past week for this sermon on "self-control," I realized how much self-control the preacher needs to exercise to keep from turning this whole business into some form of spiritual guidance to help us stick to whatever self-improvement programs we commit to. Or, spiritual guidance to help us kick some bad habits that we can't seem to control on our own. Don't get me wrong. It's not that the Holy Spirit is uninterested in these very practical issues of everyday life in this world. He certainly is. But to make these things the final goal of His work is absurd if not idolatrous. (more…)

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We come now to the eighth stop on this nine stop tour of the fruit of the Spirit. It strikes me that there have been two threads that have run through each of the facets of the fruit of the Spirit and that bind them all together.

First, each of these facets of the fruit of the Spirit applies perfectly to God. But in none of these have we been able to point to ourselves and say, 'now that's what I'm talking about.' But whether it be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness or faithfulness, the same point has been made so far in each sermon, God is each one of these things by nature. And each and every one of these attributes of God is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ.

The second thread that has run through this series is that these attributes that pertain only to God, are the very attributes that the Holy Spirit wants to produce in us. But in us they don't come naturally, the only come super-naturally. In our baptism, the Triune God has taken us to Himself and made us His own. The work of the Holy Spirit is to conform us into the image of God, so that the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness of God is manifest in our life.

Those two threads that we have seen run through all of the fruit of the Spirit so far are present as well on this eighth stop – 'gentleness.' (more…)

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"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and this morning we consider, 'faithfulness.'

Whenever we talk about faith, we always want to understand that faith is one of those things that cannot stand all alone. "Faith" all by itself, is a meaningless word. Faith must always have an object. It must always be faith in something or someone. To say, "I have faith," means absolutely nothing. But to say "I have faith in the government," or "I have faith in my horoscope," or "I have faith in Jesus Christ," now that means something. It means that you put your trust and your confidence in the object of your faith.

"Faithfulness" works the same way. "Faithfulness" never stands alone. All by itself, it's a meaningless word. It must always be "faithfulness according to" something. And that 'something' is the promises and commitments we make. The quality of our 'faithfulness' depends on how will we keep the promises that we make. 'Faithfulness' is a matter of keeping your word. "Faithfulness" and "promises" go hand in hand.

What that means is that the quality of our faithfulness is based on history and past performance. Are you faithful? Will you keep the promises that you make to me? What's your track record? If I've been 'unfaithful' in the past, then you have good reason to doubt that I'll be faithful in the future. But if I've kept my word in the past, then you have good reason to believe that I'll be faithful in the promises that I am making in the present and will make in the future. (more…)

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"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,' and now this morning we focus our attention on 'goodness.'

To get an idea of what this "goodness" that the Spirit is out to produce in us is, you have to go all the back to the beginning. In the beginning, when God made the world and everything in it, after each day's work, God saw what He made and "It was good." When He was all finished with His work of creation, "God saw all that He had made and it was VERY GOOD." Every piece and part was GOOD and all of the pieces and parts worked together exactly like they were supposed, including the man and the woman. It was all exactly what God had in mind. Everything conformed exactly to God's will.

And really, what else would you expect from God? After all, God is GOOD. Over and over again the Scriptures repeat the glad refrain, "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good…" (Psalm 107:1). There is no evil in Him. So of course, all that He does is GOOD. All that is GOOD comes from God and is according to His GOOD will.

The corollary is just as true. All that is not good, all that is evil, does not come from God. Diseases, murders, injustice, these things are not good and therefore they do not come from God. But God's goodness is greater than all of that is not good. His goodness overcomes it. God is able to work all things for GOOD to those who love Him. (more…)

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"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, and KINDNESS."

The word in the original language of the New Testament is "Kreystotais," The word has to do with being useful, helpful, beneficial. The King James Version translates it as "gentleness." "Kindness" and "gentleness" are very closely connected to each other.

Last Sunday our focus was on 'patience.' Several of you mentioned after the service that you appreciated a sermon on patience because it's one of those things that we know that we lack and we know we need to work on.

I don't think that 'kindness' is quite like that for us. Oh, occasionally we may be disappointed with ourselves because we were unkind to someone. But for the most part we're not mean. But how often have we thought about how we might deliberately show 'kindness,' not just to someone, but to everyone? How often do we pray that the Lord would help us to show kindness to everyone whom I will come into contact with this day?

I guess what I mean to say is, when it comes to patience, we're aware when we're not being patient like we should be. But how many opportunities for us to be kind do we walk right past every day and it simply never registers with us that we did not show kindness when we could have, and should have. It's not that we were mean. We're just not kind. (more…)

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A father was doing the grocery shopping with his young son who was sitting in the shopping cart. The child was obviously unhappy and was letting his unhappiness be known. The father said, 'patience Albert,' patience Albert.' Finally, all the items on the shopping list were in the cart and the father made his way to the check out line. They were all two or three deep and so they had to wait. Still screaming and crying, the father repeated over and over again, 'patience Albert, patience Albert.' A woman who was in line behind the father and son, leaned forward and said, "sir, let me commend you for your patience with baby Albert." To which the man replied, "oh thank you, but I am Albert."

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and PATIENCE."

Touching briefly on ground we have already covered, the fruit of the Spirit is singular, not plural. It's not the 'fruits of the Spirit' but one, single, solitary fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love and all that follows are the facets of love cut by the Spirit, with His chiseling tools of Word and Sacraments. Like a precious diamond, there is a facet of love that is joy and another that is peace and another that is patience. In his famous 13th chapter to the Corinthians, St. Paul reminds us that if love is anything at all, "love is patient." (more…)

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When was the last time we sang, "Joy to the World" in June? As we make our way through the Fruit of the Spirit as St. Paul lists them in Galatians 5, can you guess that the second fruit of the Spirit is 'Joy'?

Paul writes to the Galatians listing the Fruit of the Spirit as follows: "the fruit of the Spirit is love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Galatians 5:22).

Last Sunday we examined the fruit of "Love." We said that it's first on the list for a reason. It's the place you begin to "walk by the Spirit." It's the soil in which all that follows grows. Where the love of God is bearing its fruit of forgiveness and new life through faith in Jesus Christ, then the rest is sure to follow. St. Paul says, if we strive to produce these fruit of the Spirit "but have not love," it's all wrong. Without love, "I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." Apart from love, "I am nothing and I gain nothing." (1 Cor. 13:1) (more…)

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If I were to ask you this morning if you believe in God, I'm sure that you would all say, 'yes.' If there are any atheists in the congregation this morning, I sincerely apologize for lumping you in with the rest of us theists. For all who said, 'yes, I believe in God,' I say, 'great. So does the devil. So do the Muslims, Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Unitarians and the Jews.' All of these would answer my question, 'do you believe in God,' with a hearty 'yes, I believe in God.'

But when you ask the next question, 'who is the God in whom you believe?' the united voice of many quickly becomes a confusion of languages that divides us. The general approach to this theological diversity is to become real bothered and agitated by the divisions that it causes among people. In the choice between social unity and theological truth, we much prefer unity to truth and so we say that all gods are basically the same god who just reveals himself or herself or themselves in various ways. All religions ultimately lead to the same destination, albeit by different paths. Our many different definitions of God are really not different at all. (more…)