Mark+

Thanks!  You just made it a lot easier to swipe from you!!

MLW+

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Clavier+ [mailto:anglican@...] 
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2005 11:58 AM
To: faithandlife@...
Subject: Re: FW: [FaithandLife] the meaning of the new birth

Mike+,

I normally don't go in for boring people with my sermons, but here's the one

to which I referred:

Mark+

Last Sunday I mentioned to you the identifying marks of redeemed humanity. 
That list, by the way, came from Galatians.  Let me give it to you again: 
"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, 
and self-control."  Those are the main qualities of sinless human nature. 
When we fail to exemplify those qualities what we are doing is more than 
just sinning, we're being less-than-human.  And a world devoid of those 
qualities is an inhumane world.



Well, without hopefully putting you all to sleep, I'd like to spend the next

hour-I mean fifteen minutes-looking at those virtues a little more closely 
to make sure everyone understands what they may mean.  You can then go home,

have lunch, and tell your spouse how he or she fails to be any of these 
wonderful things!



So, let's start with love, next to the Trinity perhaps the most 
misunderstood concept in the Bible.  Love.  We live in a world that loves to

go on about love.  Our shows are about love, our songs are about love, and 
our books are about love.  And so people end up with all sorts of funny 
ideas about what love means.  Most think it's an emotion particularly suited

for Valentine's Day.  It's all about feelings.



Scripture means something quite definite by the word love, and it has 
precious little to do with our emotions.  In Scripture, true love consists 
of three things: esteem for others, a desire to help others, and a desire to

be loved by others.  And its source isn't our hearts-actually they thought 
the emotion of love resided in our bowels, which would have made for 
interesting Hallmark cards-its source is God.  God Himself esteems us, 
desires to help us, and desires to be loved by us.  And, we are to act 
towards God and our neighbors in precisely the same way.  So, when Jesus 
tells us to love our enemies, he doesn't mean we're supposed to send them a 
Valentine or write them soppy love poetry.  He's saying that we should 
esteem them, desire to help them, and desire to be loved by them.  Think on 
that in our age of terror and tell me that Christianity isn't hard!



Next comes joy, another misunderstood word.  Joy doesn't mean happiness.
It's 
not the duty of Christians to be happy all the time, though I can think of a

few who might give it a try from time to time!  In Scripture, joy means 
having such an awareness of God's presence and love that you'll become 
filled with good will, will be gracious towards others, rejoice in their 
blessings, and forgive them for their failings.  It certainly doesn't mean 
that you have to go around be perpetually exuberant, a smile on your face, 
spreading good cheer as you go.  Joy is much like that sense you have, far 
deeper than any emotion, when you first looked at your newborn child or 
noticed a particularly lovely flower, or feel the silence in the wood or 
mountains.  It's a sense of profound connectedness to something far greater 
than you.  That's joy.



Peace.  "Blessed are the peacemakers," said our Lord during His Sermon on 
the Mount.  Today, peace often brings to mind pacifists.  In the ancient 
world, filled as it constantly was with war, raids, and conflicts close to 
home, nothing was desired more than peace.  Scripture means two things by 
peace.  First, it's an inward calm that comes from being anchored to God. 
It's what allowed the martyrs to endure persecution and missionaries to 
endure their journeys.  But it's not an inner peace that comes from 
withdrawing from the world or ignoring others.  More actively, peace means 
confronting the evils of the world in such a way as to bring harmony and 
wholeness to others.  In the Bible, a peacemaker isn't a passive person.
He's 
someone brave and strong enough to go into chaos and conflict and through 
his love and God's grace bring peace.



Next in line is patience, or better translated, long-suffering which, no 
doubt, some of you are exhibiting now with my sermon.  Christians are to 
endure suffering and torment not necessarily like a Stoic with a stiff upper

lip, but without yielding the other virtues.  Even when the world hurls all 
its darts at you, you continue to love, be good, faithful, kind, and exert 
self-control.  The pain and suffering will continue, it's just that they
won't 
be allowed to control and define you.  In the Book of Revelation, "patience 
endurance" is one of the highest virtues of the saints.



Kindness ought to be self-explanatory.  A truly human person will seek out 
the good of others, be hospitable, and forgiving.  It's a fruit of the 
spirit not much mentioned these days.  But perhaps it's a good place to 
start: simply be kind.



By goodness, St. Paul doesn't just mean that we ought to be moral. 
Certainly, that's part of it.  As the Psalmist puts it, "we're to do good 
and eschew (or avoid) evil."  But it also means that we're to be "good for 
something."  We're to seek to fulfill our purpose in life.  All of us are 
called to be stewards of God.  Each of us has a vocation.  Through the 
Spirit, we're to be stewards and ambassadors of God in our work, family 
life, play, and service.



We should remain faithful, as well.  The Greek word used for faith means 
allegiance.  When we claim to have faith, we claim to have pledged our 
allegiance to God.  Through Scripture, we see that God is constantly 
faithful towards us.  We're to return the favor, and seek to remain faithful

to Him in how we lead our lives, govern our actions, and resist temptation.



Next is the really popular one these days: gentleness.  This word is 
normally translated meekness.  We're to be meek, which is about as popular 
as being Hilary Clinton at an NRA meeting!  I've often said that I'll know 
that the Church is making a real difference when I see the headline on GQ 
that reads: "How to be a meeker man."



There's very little about which Scripture is clearer than the need for 
Christians to be submissive and teachable.  In an age in which private 
judgment is one of the great idols, this is perhaps the fruit least 
demonstrated and most scorned.  But unless we do learn to stand submissively

before God, learn to be humble enough to set aside our personal opinions and

predilections and be taught by Scripture, and unless we respect deeply and 
humbly the views and needs of others, we'll fail to be totally human. 
Meekness is the opposite of pride, the vice that led to our fall.



And finally there is self-control.  By this, St. Paul means our resisting 
impulses.  And in his first letter to the Corinthians, he tells us the 
questions we should ask in order to resist impulse.  Is what we wish to do 
helpful?  Is it constructive?  Does it glorify God?   If not, we're to exert

self-mastery against it.  In an age of marketing, what an excellent virtue 
for us all to have!



So, there you have it: an overview of human nature as it ought to be, of the

human nature that we will one day have.  But let me make it clear that these

aren't virtues that you and I can work on.  St. Paul calls them "fruits of 
the spirit," by which he means that these are the effect the Spirit of God 
dwelling within us has.  Those fruits come to us not through are setting 
goals and working towards them, but through prayer, contemplation, worship, 
the sacraments, and ministering to each other.  It's by connecting with the 
Spirit that we will grow in the Spirit.  Conversely, it's by neglecting the 
Holy Spirit that we won't grow and won't produce fruit.



Nor should you be worried if you don't feel like you exemplify these 
virtues.  Last week we heard how the Spirit of God groans within us.  The 
Holy Spirit won't drag us kicking and screaming against our will.  He'll 
work with us, groan with us, and be frustrated with us as we grow, however 
slowly and with however much pain towards being the human beings we're meant

and redeemed to be.  And that's also not a road that goes ever upwards.
It's 
a road that sees many heights but also leads through many dark valleys.



But you do know how you're to conduct yourself and treat others.  Work in 
your prayer life and worship on becoming more attuned to God's Spirit.  When

you are confronted with difficult situations, respond to the crisis with 
prayer, giving the Holy Spirit the opportunity to guide you towards right 
action.  Measure your words for the same reason.  Do this especially in 
those times when you feel fear or anger welling up inside you.  None of 
this, of course, will be easy.  That's part of the cross we must bear.  But 
give the Holy Spirit time, give prayer and worship a chance, and you'll be 
transformed into the glorious human you were made to be.

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