The Freedom of the Spirit

 

Text: 1 Corinthians 14:26-33

Focus: The Holy Spirit

Function: to help us feel free to let the Spirit lead in our midst

²⁶ What should be done then, my brothers and sisters? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. ²⁷ If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three and each in turn, and let one interpret. ²⁸ But if there is no one to interpret, let them be silent in church and speak to themselves and to God. ²⁹ Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. ³⁰ If someone sitting receives a revelation, let the first person be silent. ³¹ For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged ³² (and the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets, ³³ for God is a God not of disorder but of peace), as in all the churches of the saints.

Good morning to the beloved of God!

This is the last sermon on my mini series on the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit to bring glory to Christ and build the community faith.

So far we have learned how the Holy Spirit dwells in everybody and gives them gifts of manifestations of God’s presence within them.

The gift of tongues was of either men or angels, according to Chapter 13:1. I believe the tongues of angels is a prayer language whereby we don’t know how to pray, but the Spirit intercedes with groans and mutterings too deep for words and we get to pray our hearts according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26)

Two of the gifts were signs for unbelievers. (verses 1-5) The tongues of men gift was used by God as a sign to unbelievers. They would hear a message delivered to them by someone who didn’t know the language and it would be a word of advice or as it states earlier in our chapter, some sort of revelation about them pointing them to their need for God’s mercy. And preaching, or prophecy, also draws people to Christ. Paul also alludes to that in Romans 10.

Anyway, I think it is a pretty cool gift, and that can be the problem. We can, as they did, get proud.

So, at the end of Chapter 12, Paul tells them to pursue the greater gifts and then he lists them.

He reminds them in chapter 13 to keep focused on love because that is the proof of their faith, not these showy demonstrations of power.

And then in the beginning of 14, he makes it clear that the division was caused by the one gift of tongues.

And I believe he is really careful not to quench the power and the moving of the Holy Spirit in their midst. He just wants them to focus on how the Spirit causes them to love others instead of puffing up their own ego.

So in Chapter 14 he gives organizing, or instructional, principles about how the gift of tongues and its corresponding gift prophesy are supposed to work.

Essentially he says that if you are just praying your angelic prayer language to God, keep it silent because others will only hear babbling and people who don’t understand will mock us.

And it happens, I saw a video last week mocking a preacher of Christian Nationalism praying in tongues. And Paul implies that mocking us for that without someone to explain does indeed appear foolish. So avoid foolish stuff.

But if the tongue is a prophetic message and someone can interpret it, then go ahead.

And he gives instructions, two or three at the most, in order and give watch and see where the Spirit is leading when this is happening.

He gives one caution about the leading of the Spirit and he tells them that they can’t use the excuse that the Spirit took control to break the flow of the meeting.

Specifically he says that we have control over the when and how we speak or move in the Spirit and we should be sensitive to the Spirit’ timing and moving.

I don’t know how to tell you to do that except for me it is a pretty strong gut feeling or intuition that I have at times.

But the main point, after he tells them to not be crazy with their expressions, is the be free to express what the Spirit is doing in their midst.

The point is to be free to let the Spirit flow in our midst.

Now this is where it gets really cool here at Painter Creek.

We have created an environment that enables people to use their Spirit driven gifts, talents and passions to express their love for Christ and others.

One of the best Spiritual expression of that is worship in music since music seems to resonate the emotional and spiritual significance of what we are singing about.

It draws us close to God and I love our music, I think it works well here. I connect with God during our singing.

Musical expression is a gift and a talent from God according to scripture.

But so is art. So is poetry. Look at the beauty of the and meaning behind the table decorations each week. Understand the creativity behind the liturgy each week.

The Bible is full of different kinds of worship expressions. Did you know that Psalms 119, the longest chapter in the Bible is actually an acrostic Poem from the Jewish alphabet? David takes each letter of the alphabet and every line of each stanza starts with that letter. It must have taken him months to write it. It is a beautiful expression of the art of poetry and it is recorded in our book of worship for eternity.

That is why I love to hear the Poetry when it is read because I know that it is God inspired. It speaks to me and draws me closer to God.

The idea in the passage is to get people to express their love for God, for nature and for others through the Spirit’s leading in their lives.

There is also the gift of helps and service when people sense a reward from God for cleaning, fixing things and keeping things going. Paul emphasizes the less visible gifts as the most important because they keep us functioning.

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of meals and hospitality as a Spiritual gift and expression.

When we were meeting at the Fourman’s house, the eating and making of the meals was more than just food. I felt it. It was a spiritual connection and bond.

Look at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The angels came to town to see for themselves if the wickedness was that bad.

And Lot was the only righteous person.

And he proves his righteousness by welcoming the stranger. Welcoming the stranger has been a Middle Eastern religious value throughout their history.

The gift of hospitality builds this church. We can keep on growing by capitalizing on that gift.

And now were doing a Garage/Bake sale fundraiser. It’s an inspired idea that will draw us and the community together.

What I am saying is that I see the Spirit moving in many ways here at Painter Creek and you all are participating with your gifts. Thank you.

The Spirit of Charity

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13

Focus: Love’s importance

Function: to help us see practical ways the Spirit leads us to love others.

³¹ But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

13:¹ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

⁴ Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, ⁵ doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; ⁶ rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; ⁷ beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

⁸ Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. ⁹ For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. ¹³ And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Good morning beloved of God!

There is a lot to unpack in this very familiar scripture. It is one we hear read, but not preached on, so today I am continuing the teaching on the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives as it works through and motivates our love.

I started the text from chapter 12:31, because it is the segue between his teaching on the gifts of the Spirit to the power of love.

Remember from the last several weeks, the gifts of the Spirit were powerful in the Corinthian Church and joy of having it turned into pride and was causing division in the church about who was more important.

And in Chapter 13, Paul is reminding them of Jesus’ primary command to the disciples at the end of his instruction when he told them there is a new commandment now to make the Christian life simple: Love one another.

He is reminding them that if they focus on the love that the Spirit is giving them, the pride will diminish and they will get along and honor Christ.

I used the King James today because it translates the Greek word Agape as Charity. It means the kind of love that expresses itself in acts of giving. And it isn’t just physical things we give, more importantly, we give forgiveness and mercy along with the willingness and desire to share because the Spirit is giving us compassion towards others.

Verses 4-7 give us a synopsis of what love, or charity looks like.

So, Charity:

• is longsuffering

• is kind

• is happy, without envy, about the success of others

• is humble and knows its place

• is not selfish

• is patient in the midst of provocation

• is able to see the best in others without being critical

• is not happy when an enemy stumbles

• is happy when truth appears

• is forbearing

• is looking for the best in the other

• is hoping for the best in others

• is forgiving

• is permanent.

And when he mentions permanence by saying it wont fail, he segues again into the point of the passage about the relationship between the gifts and love.

A big problem was happening with them in that some had these showy gifts from the Spirit and others didn’t and they said the more supernatural gifts were the proof of salvation.

Paul steers them back to Jesus’ teaching and the importance of love.

I’m talking about verses 8-11 now. Continuing with the theme of Jesus teaching on love, he sort of explains what he means at the end of chapter 12 when he tells them to seek the higher gifts.

He talks about how we mature in the faith from childish notions to more mature notions.

I see it as going from needing to see signs and wonders to prove the reality of the faith to letting the Spirit lead inside ones own heart and seeing where the love of God takes you.

You remember that Jesus said that we will be known as followers of Christ by our love for others.

Verse 12 is kind of humbling when he speaks of the fact that we barely understand.

I see that.

It seems to me that the more I read, the more I pray, the more I study, the more I prepare, the less and less sure I am of what I know.

And that is because I keep seeing the bigness and wholeness of God in all of creation and in the people I get to meet.

I think it goes back to love not puffing itself up and remaining humble. I realize that I don’t understand it all, but God does, so it makes it simple for me to love and forgive as an act of faith and obedience.

Before we finish, I want to focus a bit on the Spirit’s power to see the good in others.

I wrote that love is seeing the good, the God, in others. There is a touch of the divine in everyone, and the Spirit of God inside of us resonates with that inside of them, God touches them, and perhaps hope is born in the midst of those who are prone to think the evil is good.

Now remember, this section of 1 Corinthians that we are studying is on the Spirit’s power in our lives.

And Paul’s focus on love is consistent with the main emphasis of Jesus’ teaching.

I believe that when we refuse to walk in love, we quench the power of the Spirit in our lives.

Forgiveness is a major part of it.

When I am not forgiving, I simply find that prayer is next to impossible until my prayer is one of forgiveness.

Now, I don’t want to get off the subject here, the problem hindering love in these chapters is pride, not unforgiveness.

But I find pride is the biggest reason I am to stubborn to forgive.

Hopefully we have gained some insights into the power behind letting the Spirit lead us into love.

Let the Spirit lead you into love.

I see that as a defining characteristic of this church. Thank you.

The Body

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Focus: Spiritual gifts

Function: ‘to help people feel connected to the Spirit’s power

¹²For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. ¹⁹If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many members yet one body. ²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²²On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, ²⁴whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, ²⁵that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

²⁷Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. ²⁸And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. ²⁹Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work powerful deeds? ³⁰Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

Good morning beloved of God!

Today we are continuing our study on the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.

Brother Paul segues into a teaching during the rest of the chapter about how the Spirit of God draws us into the unity of the Body of Christ.

Remember, in God’s e eyes it is a blessing to God for us to leave planet earth and join God in heaven. Psalms 116:15. So the reason we are still here is because God leaves us on planet earth to do God’s will by showing the world the love of Christ. We are on a mission from God.

So he starts out the passage with this truth: We belong to each other.

We bear responsibility for the wellness and wholeness of each other. “Each member is to have the same care for one another.” (Vs. 25b)

We are linked together integrally just as the members of a body are linked together.

And he’s not just talking about the church here. He mentions unity between the races of humanity when he speaks of Jews and Greeks.

This truth belongs to more than just the church here. Jesus came to transform the society into a place which cares for everyone of all races and there isn’t superior and inferior races.

He reminds us that as an human race that we live together in harmony with diversity that makes us different.

We aren’t the same, God made us different, but connects us together.

And he uses the metaphor of a single body and its different components and how their survival depends on the health and wellness of the other parts of the body even though they have different purposes, gifts, passions, calling and needs.

Our survival depends on the well being of others. We live in a community and we are called to care for that community in Christian love.

So, let us just reflect on that a moment. What does it mean to you that we are part of one physical body?

(pause)

Now, we have to remember that the Corinthian church was experiencing a problem with pride in individual members who thought they were more important than others.

And we are going to hear repeated in these passages in 1 Corinthians how pride gets in the way of love.

Brother Paul addresses it here again when he continues the metaphor and speaks how one member may not feel like it needs the other.

He points out how ridiculous that is.

And it is self-importance that puffs us up and keeps us from honoring and valuing the other members of the body.

Christ wants us to honor and value everyone regardless of their race, religion, gender identity, nationality, and economic status.

By loving them and showing them kindness we set the example for people to give up their selfish ways and live for the strength and health of the body, the community.

Since we are one body, we are called to live for the collective good, not the individual good.

It is worldly, unchristian, and selfish to proclaim that we are not responsible for the entire body of humanity. Everyone is our neighbor. If we want God to bless our nation then remember that according to Jesus, how we treat the stranger is the way we treat Jesus himself. And Jesus says it with the judgment of either heaven or hell as our outcome to the way we care for the stranger.

It isn’t okay to say, “well, we are mainly responsible for our own families and we don’t have to treat the rest as our neighbors.” It contradicts Jesus’ teaching and I feel I must speak up.

Jesus said we are to care for the least of these and in this passage, we see that it is especially important since they are members of our own body.

When a member is sick, we pay attention to it, nurture it and heal it. Sure, we cut it out if its malignant, but almost always at a high price. Remember, Jesus wants to restore, he came to restore us to God and to each other.

So, yes, deal humanely with the criminal element, but the rest are still called neighbor by Jesus and whatever we do, we must do under the command to treat them as well as we treat ourselves and our own.

If we want security for ourselves, then the golden rule dictates that we give it to everyone else regardless of race or their skin color or status.

To end today’s teaching on the gifts, the passage switches back to our problem with pride. He uses the body metaphor again to tell us not to lose heart if no one seems to recognize our contributions to the body.

He speaks of those whose spiritual gifts are not the showy ones that we talked about last week, but behind the scenes gifts. He explains it with the body metaphor by saying we cover up the important parts and the less important parts are seen.

It reminds me that the Spirit of God leads us to Christ, not a person or a personality, or a pastor but to a church, a community, a body. And every gift of service is important from cleaning, repairing, baking, visiting, sending cards, throwing parties, decorating, writing poetry, creating art or whatever we feel inspired to do by God to do.

I heard the story of a woman dedicated to prayer who went ahead of a famous evangelist to the next town and spent the week praying over the city for God’s Spirit to restore people to Christ.

She is a saint who remains nameless. I imagine it is because she came from a time before we were sensitive to Diversity, and Equality and a spirit that Includes everyone instead of the dominant culture or gender.

This passage is about diversity, equality and including those who don’t seem important, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion are commanded here as Christian values.

Let us be different here at Painter Creek and seek to include the entire body.

A Touch From Christ

 

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Focus: Spiritual gifts

Function: to help people expect a real presence of Christ.

12:¹ Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant. ² You know that when you were gentiles you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. ³ Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, ⁵ and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. ⁷ To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of powerful deeds, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

Good Morning beloved of God!

I read a quote attributed to Oscar Romero that said: “Never stop preaching love…. He takes on the passion of John the Apostle.

We read 1 Corinthians 13 at most every wedding, it is a great chapter in the bible describing the essence of Christian love, or Charity according to the King James, and I like that better, because the word for Love, Agape, is an action verb requiring acts of love to express love itself.

In other words, it is more than a feeling of oneness or community, it involves taking action on behalf of others.

And love is also the focus of my preaching. You notice, I hope, that I always mention that this love is accomplished through us in the power of the Holy Spirit inside of us as she, the Holy Spirit, leads us inside of our own spirits to help our souls express Christ’s love to the world around and shine our lights against the darkness.

In this chapter which introduces the chapter on love, brother Paul gives us a teaching about the Holy Spirit, specifically, the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

And apparently it was necessary in the Corinthian Church because they were having a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit in their midst and there were some who had one gift and thought it was more important than others and it was causing division.

Pride can get in the way of our spirituality. And that was what was happening so Paul straightens them out about the issue and it takes him the teaching about the Spirit in Chapter 12, through the Chapter on Love in 13, to practical ways to apply it in Chapter 14.

Apparently the division caused by pride was big and it got in the way of their love.

I went through the Charismatic renewal in the late 70’s and experienced and still experience some of these gifts. I believe they are real and do not want to quench the Holy Spirit. But I want to continue what Paul emphasizes here as the importance of loving others first.

Charismatics were named after this is short list of what is known as the Charis Gifts. Charis is the Greek word for gift. These gifts are manifestation gifts, or gifts that show God’s power. When I was a young Christian, I needed that to help me believe it was real. I saw God using the gifts to draw people to Christ.

These Charis gifts, these demonstrative gifts of power are not a complete list of Spiritual gifts.

Ephesians 4 and Romans 12 give us other lists and they are not the showy gifts, but they are just as real. Art, music, design, leadership, helping others, creativity, and then the most significant sign of being a believer from the Old Testament: hospitality. I gonna jump ahead for a sec and say that I believe it was the spiritual gift of hospitality demonstrated first by Delbert and Edna and then picked up on by everyone else when we worshiped at the Fourman residence and enjoyed all those meals together.

Now, back to the point about keeping pride away from our ability to love others. One emphasis of the Charismatic movement came from the Pentecostals who believed that if there wasn’t the manifestation by tongues, then a person didn’t actually have the Spirit. The Charismatics believed it had to be one of some show of power to prove their salvation.

Instead, however, the scriptures teach us that the Spirit moves to bring people to Christ (John 16:8).

Galatians 5, also teaches that the proof of the Spirit in the life of the believer is the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5: ²² By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.

And even this passage on the fruit deals with the problem of pride. Listen to the next three verses that tell us how to be controlled by the Spirit of Christ: ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (stop being selfish) ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. (listen for God) ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. (avoid pride) The Spirit filled life.

The showy manifestation of power is not the proof of salvation, to make it simple, the proof of salvation is the way we carry out our acts of love for others.

So, it is sad that some would exclude others because of their own experience and limit God to their own experience. But that is what pride can do to a church, so loving one another is paramount.

Here is the neat thing, though. It is different here. We have created a community of welcome and love.

I see the manifestation of the Holy Spirit here all the time at Painter Creek I see the power of God here in our midst all the time. I see her work the most in our sense of community, but beyond that, I see it in in the creativity that many of you bring to our worship experience.

When we get to Chapter 14, I’ll talk about how the principles of Chapter 14 govern the way that I lead the Church and try to encourage each of us to allow the Holy Spirit to move in our own spirits.

I hope the take away from this message is how the Spirit of God is central to our life. It is literally the touch of Christ.

Christ touches us inside of our hearts, sometimes we feel a burning urge, sometimes it is just a nudge, or a thought that is more than a coincidence because it answers a prayer or solves a nagging problem.

God is with us leading us and inspiring us and Paul writes this to help encourage them to let this touch of Christ fill them and shine their light in the darkness.

Embrace Life

 

Text: John 1:1-12 (MSG)

Focus: New years

Function: to help us embrace Christ as the source of life.

^1-2 The Word was first,
    the Word present to God,
    God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
    in readiness for God from day one.

^3-5 Everything was created through him;
    nothing—not one thing!—
    came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
    and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
    the darkness couldn’t put it out.

^6-8 There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

^9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
    Every person entering Life
    he brings into Light.

Good morning everyone and happy New Year! It is a blessing to be back together with everyone this morning. I’ll be glad when health and healing brings us all back together. We pray for our ill and rest in God’s love for them.

Jesus, according to out text is the light of the world.

I have been intrigued by the Jewish understanding of light after I realized that the 7 days of creation are symbolic since God created light on the first day and the Sun on the third.

The Jews understood light to be the power and the Spirit of God moving.

The Bible is always fresh and new to us. I discovered something after reading the bible through approximately 53 times and preparing probably 1600 sermons that I never noticed before.

Jesus the Light, is also the life. The light is life.

Embracing the light means that we are embracing life.

I call that embracing hope. Because we are choosing to live and to thrive.

I believe that God created us to thrive and thriving through the power of the Holy Spirit manifests God’s loving kingdom here.

So, let us follow up with another scripture about how we thrive: Matthew 5:14-15: ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

Because of computer issues, I am lucky that I waited to write my sermon until after my morning devotions:

Fr. Richard Rohr this morning:

“I believe the gospel itself... ...is primarily communicated by richly symbolic human lives that operate as prime attractors and exemplars: through actions visibly done in love; by a nonviolent, humble, simple, liberated lifestyle; by a happy identification with poor and excluded people; by obvious happiness itself; and by concrete and visible people who “give others reasons for spiritual joy”—as Francis said when he rubbed two sticks together to play an imaginary violin and as Pope Francis did when he washed the feet of prisoners, women, and Muslims. When such people then speak or act, their words burn, and their actions convict!  

Surely this is what Jesus meant when he told us to be “a light on a lampstand” ‘’’

This thriving means we shine our lights, our lights of love, because that is what Jesus inside of us wants to do. But it is light. And it has an effect. It transforms darkness. And that, I believe is how Jesus wants us to transform this world into a loving place.

Walking in the Spirit

 

Text: Colossians 3:12-17

Focus: Holiness

Function: to help folks learn to forgive

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. ¹³ Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Good morning beloved! Don’t you just love that word from today’s text?

We are the beloved of God, and God holds all of creation lovingly in their hand. (hold out hand) Holding us… Loving us… keeping us close to God’s own self through the relationship we have with him through the Spirit of Christ living inside of us.

At times, I describe a Christian as a person who listens to and for the Holy Spirit leading them to love each other.

That may seem like a difficult and mysterious task since we have no control over the Spirit and their moving in our own spirits.

As Jody said last week, one of the ways to listen to the Spirit of God is to pay attention and look out for their presence and affect.

This passage kind of gives us some key points to living the Spirit filled life, or walking in the Spirit.

First off, instead of being worldly and using, pride, arrogance and blustering, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.

I find that looking for the presence of Christ in another person helps me to clothe myself with these virtues and then hopefully reflect the love and peace of Christ back to the world around me.

He explains patience a little bit when he says that we should bear with each other. People are not perfect and they may mis-speak or offend another without intentionally trying to be mean.

People are not perfect and they may be going through some hard and difficult times of stress and they may react in ways that do not reflect the love of Christ. Love them anyway. Be patient with them and remember that we too have bad days and are not perfect.

I find it this way, “In other words, don’t be quick to be offended.”

I Corinthians 13, that great chapter on love says that love for others believes the best about them, not the worse. Practice believing the best about people because most people really do want to be good and caring people inside. Give them a break.

In conversations with my Uber passengers, I love trying to find that spark of Christ in them and bring it out.

Then, as he explains patience, he goes into the most important point to walking in God’s Spirit: Forgive each other.

As I mentioned, we make allowances for each other when they get off track and we do that by forgiving them.

He says, as Christ has forgiven you, forgive others.

And that forgiveness is without condition.

That is hard for us.

Real harm has come to some of us by the hands of other people. We have abandonment, abuse, neglect, selfishness and all those other sins that keep us from loving others to contend with in our lives and in the lives of the ones who may have hurt us.

Forgive anyway. God has forgiven us without shame or judgment because God is Love and embodies love to the world. Jesus, the Christ, came to show us how to love and forgive each other.

I love the fac that Jesus was criticized by the religious folks for associating with people that they called sinners. Jesus hung out with them and that means a lot.

He showed them that he loved them by welcoming them into his presence. He broke down the barriers between bitter rivals and enemies when he showed compassion to the woman at the well and the whole village became followers of the way.

In John 20:23, Jesus gives us the spiritual authority to either forgive or withhold forgiveness.

He gives us the choice to forgive and does not force us. But he does command us to forgive. It is almost like the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden. They had the choice to obey or disobey, God allowed them free will. We have the free will to forgive or condemn.

Abut remember, we have the Spirit of God inside of us leading us to obey the Christ, to follow him and to forgive others.

My experience has taught me that forgiveness is a Spiritual Discipline, just like prayer, bible study, devotional reading, and gathering in community on Sunday mornings. Spiritual disciplines are spiritual exercises that help keep our spirits healthy and in communion with God. We are literally taking the time to acknowledge the presence of God in our lives and our dependence on them.

And my experience teaches me that forgiveness is something that we practice, something we take time to diligently focus on.

And I do that because when I refuse to forgive someone, I just don’t feel connected to God anymore. It is like the heavens are dried up to me.

When I pray about it in that situation, the Spirit always shows me whom I resent and leads me to forgive.

And forgiveness goes beyond releasing revenge from someone who has harmed you. It goes to the point where we provide God’s mercy to someone else. We are salt and light, called to be peacemakers in a world full of conflict.

And since forgiveness, restoration and healing have come to us, we see the possibility of what Christ’s forgiveness can do for others. So, we forgive them because we have that power.

Look at Jesus. There was a woman caught in adultery. He forgave her. There was a crooked tax collector named Zaccheaus, he forgave him and the man was restored to God and to the community. As I mentioned, he was criticized for hanging out with what they called sinners. He was called a friend of sinners. He loved them, forgave them and didn’t judge them. His willingness to associate with them and actually enjoy their company showed them that God loves them. It healed them.

They early church picked up Jesus’ tradition of love and forgiveness and welcomed people like us, the hated Gentiles ,into God’s family even though the Old Testament strictly forbade our association with them.

Forgiveness breaks down the barriers that separate us and I believe, frees up the power of the Holy Spirit to transform people into light bearers for Christ.

Unforgiveness gets in the way of love. He tells us in today’s text, “Above all, clothe yourselves with love.” Love as a priority in our lives brings more harmony with others especially when, as we started out with in the passage, we make allowances for the fact that others are as imperfect as us we are and we want people to forgive us and make allowances for us.

Maybe there is a formula here in the end of the passage that will help us focus on the positive instead of seeing the negative in someone else.

He says, Be thankful. Discipline your energy to be positive because God is there and God is with us.

We are the beloved of God, so let us enjoy that power of God’s peace in our hearts as we fulfill Christ’s destiny through us.