God — Page 6

July 3, 2016 – Summertime Fruit – A Kind Find from John Knox Kirk on Vimeo.

A sermon preached at The Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on July 3, 2016.
The fifth in a sermon series on The Fruit of the Spirit.

Adapted from a previous sermon series at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas
and inspired and using ideas and content from the Rev. Chris B. Herring
preached at Westminster Presbyterian Church of Saint Louis. Original citation lost.

Ephesians 4:25-27, 30-32
and Luke 6:27-38

Lets review briefly a few basic insights we’ve uncovered so far.

We said earlier in this sermon series
that each of the fruit of the spirit
that is,
love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control
that each of these
is really a different facet of the same jewel,
different gifts of a life that has been filled by the Spirit of God.

This is why Paul uses a singular verb, is, to describe the fruit…
The fruit of the spirit *is* Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, and so on
instead of saying The Fruits of the Spirit *are* Love, Joy and Peace…

All these Fruit of the Spirit
emerge when the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us.
Its like when you look at both sides of a coin…heads or tails
or each side of a six-sided, or in our case, nine-sided dye.

They’re all distinct, and they’re all interrelated.

And sometimes, we learned last week,
the particular qualities are often very similar,
sometimes shining in only slightly different ways as the light strikes them.

This is particularly evident in the trio of virtues that make up
the middle-third of Paul’s list:
the fruit of patience and kindness and goodness.

New Testament authors might use two
or even all three of these qualities in the same sentence
as they attempt to flesh out what a Christian life looks like.

Perhaps the best known example of this
is Paul’s famous ode to love
which we find in First Corinthians. “Love” he says, “is patient and kind.”

The nuances between those two words—patience and kindness—
are not well drawn.
An act that seems like patience might also be seen
as kindness and vice versa.

Yet, in offering both qualities, Paul encourages us to reflect
in greater depth about the type of fruit that we are to bear when we love—
and so how we might more fully reflect the qualities of God.

Because, as we have discovered, the key to understanding any of these fruits,
these manifestations of the spirit,
is to look and see how they are exhibited in the being of God,
in God’s very self.

It is from the Bible’s insight about WHO God is
that WE find clues about how might be able to live
if we live in the Holy Spirit.

It is in understanding HOW God acts
that we know how the indwelling spirit would have us act
if we can only open ourselves to the New Life we are offered.

///
Now, what about today’s Fruit of the Spirit, the gift of Kindness.
What is scripture talking about when we hear that word? [Read more…]

June 26, 2016 – ” Summertime Fruit – A Tempered Temper” from John Knox Kirk on Vimeo.

A sermon preached at The Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on June 26, 2016.
The fourth in a sermon series on The Fruit of the Spirit.

Mark 10:35-45
and Colossians 3:12-17

So we’re back to this little sermon series on the Fruit of the Spirit
after a quick break last week.

I’m very glad that the Rev. Eric Garbison was here
to bring you a word from Cherith Brook
and to lead our worship. Thank you for your hospitality of him last week.

We are now on the fourth of the nine Fruit of the Spirit that Paul lists in Galatians,
the fruit of patience.

You might remember how Paul put it:
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
There is no law against such things.

So we’ll deal with Patience today.
Something I know none of us need to focus on.

To do this, we’ll read from the letter to the Colossians, the third chapter.
Listen for the Word of God to us this morning:

Colossians 3:12-17
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
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.

Above all, clothe yourselves with love,
which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
to which indeed you were called in the one body.
And be thankful.

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.

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.

And may God bless our reading
and our understanding
and are applying of this Word, to how we live our lives. Amen.

///

Once, many years ago, I heard a pastor open a Father’s Day sermon
with these dubious words from an anonymous poet:

Patience is a virtue.
Possess it if you can.
Seldom in a woman
Never in a man![i]

See: dubious. I told you so.
Well, I clipped it, and I was going to use it last week on Father’s day,
but I wasn’t here, and
somehow it fits today’s sermon a bit better…

This little verse recognizes a common malady these days.
I know how impatient I can be.

It was on full display last night, for instance
when I was trying to get home from being in
Portland at our General Assembly,
the national meeting of Presbyterians
and found my self, those last twenty minutes
waiting for my checked bag…at midnight….
did I mention twenty minutes…? [Read more…]

Sermon: Summertime Fruit–A Kind Find

Sermon: Summertime Fruit–A Tempered Temper