A Father’s Discipline
Practical Church (1 Corinthians) • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Announcements
Good morning. Welcome to Southern Hills Baptist Church. Thank you for joining us today.
If you are a first-time guest with us, you will find a Connection Card in the pew rack in front of you. We would appreciate it if you would fill that out and place it in the offering plate. That gives us a record of your visit and allows us the opportunity of reaching out to you this week to answer any questions that you might have.
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See bulletin for Calendar Updates
Highlight Lent starting this Wednesday
If you are a guest with us, know that this is our weekly Family Worship service. Our children will remain with us for the entire service. We do have a nursery available for children under 4 just down the hall if you would like to use it.
Please stand as I read our Call to Worship.
Call To Worship
The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!
Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Opening Hymn
Scripture & Prayer: Pastor Atreju Micah 4:1-5
Song #1
Missions Minute: Promised Grounds
Promised Grounds is a Christian Coffee Company. And by that, I don’t mean that they are believers who own a coffee company. Instead, they are a coffee company who exists to make the name of Christ known.
You may have noticed their information at our coffee station. Hopefully you have noticed scripture on your coffee cups. But their mission goes beyond good quality coffee and encouragement.
Promised Grounds holds to what they call the “ounce for ounce promise.” That is—for every ounce of coffee that they sell, they share proceeds of their business to provide clean ounces of drinking water around the world.
If you are interested in knowing more or buying their coffee directly, please see the info at the missions table.
[Invite ushers forward]
Offering & Prayer
Song #2 (O Praise The Name)
Lord’s Supper
Please be seated.
(beat)
We praise the name of Jesus for He came as God in the flesh, died in our place, and rose that we might have victory over death. Jesus is both God and Lord.
The word “Lord” in Greek is kurios. It speaks of a powerful ruler with all authority. It was used often in Jesus’ time to speak of the supreme power of Caesar. But it also played a function for the role of God for the Hebrews in the Septuagint—the Greek version of the OT.
When the people of Judah returned to the land, they had begun replacing the divine Name with the Hebrew Adonai, which means “Lord.” That is—every time they would read scripture aloud and come to God’s name, Yahweh, they would speak “Lord” in its place. Adonai would later be translated as kurios in the Greek Septuagint.
“Lord” became synonymous with God’s name to the Jews. So, for Jesus to accept the title “kurios” from His followers was to accept their acknowledgment of Him as the promised Emmanuel—God with us.
As “Lord,” the disciples recognized Jesus’ authority over all things. He was God in the flesh, the physical Yahweh on earth, the resting place of the Holy Spirit. In other words, while the second temple still stood in Jerusalem, the Spirit did not dwell inside of it. Instead, Jesus was the new temple, taking the Holy Spirit with Him wherever He traveled.
We’re going to continue our reading about Jesus from the book of John. Today we will finish chapter 2:
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
At this time, I am going to have our ushers come forward. If you are a follower of Jesus, in that you have accepted Him as Savior, bowed to Him as King, and been baptized in obedience to His commandment, we invite you to participate with us. In just a moment, we will pass the plates. Please take a piece of bread and a cup and hold it until we take together.
Pass
Instruction from Jesus: Read Luke 22:14-20
And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Prayer of Blessing on bread and cup
Song #3
Pastoral Prayer
World -
Country-
State-
City-
SHBC-
Introduction
I am glad to be back with you this week. Last Sunday, I had the honor of visiting with our sister church in Quimby, IA. Quimby Baptist Church was the first church planted by Southern Hills back around 1970. And while they’re still there in Quimby, they are a small and struggling local church body. So, I ask you this morning to be praying for them as we seek to come along side them and strengthen their local body and help them to better reach their community.
Pastor Atreju did a great job filling in during my absence. I hope you were blessed and encouraged in faith by being here. I’m looking forward to see him preach several times this year. Although, if he keeps preaching like that, I’m going to be out of a job soon…
(Beat)
In all seriousness, you should be glad to have a plurality of Elders who take serious the need to faithfully preach the Word and love the body of Christ. I would ask you to continue encouraging him and his family as they minister to us and with us.
If you have your bibles with you, please turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 4.
We have been continuing through Paul’s explanation of the purpose of the Apostles’ ministry. He began chapter 4 by explaining that he and Peter and Apollos are merely stewards of the Word and wisdom of God—they have no quality of their own worthy of reverence. That they are simply servants passing along information, teaching the Corinthians how to live through both their words and their actions.
Last week, Pastor Atreju showed Paul instructing these believers to put their pride to death once and for all. Their idol worship and pride has no eternal value. They should not revere men, but only God. And if they rightly understand that, they would throw off the wisdom of men for what seems foolish to the philosophers of Corinth.
They should put to death the ideals of the world around them and, instead, seek after humility and meekness. That they should allow their reputation and status in the world to be thrown on the trash heap. Paul is asking them to abandon this idea of revering the Apostles, and instead follow them into nothingness. That their names would be less known in the world so that the Name of Jesus may be known more.
They should abandon all in chasing after Christ. All of their status. All of their material things. All of their desires. They should give it all up so that they can be molded into the image of Jesus. Like a young Jew seeking after a Rabbi, they should leave everything behind to be a disciple of Jesus.
And so, Paul has reproved the Corinthians and called them into account: they should abandon everything they know to follow the Apostles into the nothingness that is the Kingdom of God. As followers of Jesus, they must learn dependence on Him. They must learn how to rest in His grace and mercy.
[TITLE SLIDE]
This week, Paul is going to finish this lesson as he speaks to them like a loving father, disciplining his children.
But before we get to our passage, I want us to review the first part of chapter 4. We’re going to start in verse 1, but our main focus today will be on verses 14-21.
[MAIN PASSAGE SLIDE x9]
This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. (/) For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. (/)
I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. (/) For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! (/) For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. (/) To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. (/)
I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. (/) That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. (/) For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
Paul has given these Corinthian church members a bit of a tongue-lashing through his introduction and into chapter 4, but he has not done so to abuse or discourage them. Rather, like a good father, he has done so to discipline them.
[POINT 1 SLIDE]
Father (vv 14-15)
Last week, Atreju gave a helpful illustration of an oak tree. This oak was strong and robust—healthy and deep-rooted—but even in its strength, dead and weak branches would be blown out of it in times of stormy weather.
As a former professional in the landscape industry who has spent years around certified arborists, I can agree that this is a fact for real, physical trees. But it is also clear that this happens symbolically in our lives. That—through the circumstances of life—we are being shaped by the wind of the Holy Spirit. Dead branches and weak branches sometimes fall off in the storms of life.
But did you know that trees will incur less damage if they are thoughtfully pruned beforehand?
When the dead wood and unhelpful branches are removed ahead of the storm, the tree will grow taller and healthier and be able to withstand bigger storms. Look back with me to verses 14 and 15:
[PASSAGE SLIDE]
I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Paul first addresses the reason that he has confronted the church with their desire to divide and to revere men. He says that he does “not write these things to make” them “ashamed.” Paul says that his goal is not to shame them, but to instead admonish them.
So, what is the difference between shame and admonishment? They both would appear to have the same result in correcting behavior.
Shame has more to do with public rebuke and humiliation. It seeks to break the spirit of another, forcing compliance through social pressure. In other words, it is a tool of manipulation. Manipulation through shame may cause conformity to desired behavior, but it will not affect the heart of the individual. If anything, it may push them further away from Christ.
And this is one reason why legalistic churches do not work. Modern day Pharisees seek to hold everyone to the letter of the law through tactics of guilt and shame, manipulating through behavior modification. Their congregation may learn how to “act right,” but often their hearts remained uncultivated, further hardened by their spiritual abuser.
Because of this, legalistic churches tend to cause a lot of church hurt. They are using the wisdom of man in applying shame to get to their desired outcome. But the world is opposite of the kingdom of God, and shame is a tool of the enemies of God. And many of these “so-called” pastors harm their congregations and push them further from God.
It was no different in the honor-shame culture of the first-century Near-East. If anything, the social pressure to conform would be even stronger. But even though we live in a more individualistic society, we still desire to fit in. And humans are smart. They figure out how to manipulate others to get what they want really early in life.
Have you ever been manipulated by a two-year old?
(beat)
Oh, they are so good at it…
We learn to manipulate others before we even learn to speak. Babies quickly learn that crying can get them the attention they desire. Before long, they begin abusing it to get what they want. Those who use manipulation like shame to get what they want are not caring for the other person.
And so, Paul is not trying to shame them into obedience to God’s law, but to warn and admonish them as a loving father. For they—in fact—are his beloved children.
So, what does he mean by saying that they are his children?
This is not the only place that Paul uses this terminology. In fact, he writes that Timothy, Titus, and Onesimus are each his “children” of the faith. Now, surely Paul did not participate in their physical conception, but he is the genesis of their knowledge of King Jesus. He is, thus, their father in the spiritual sense: he has brought to them new life in Christ.
In theology, we speak of Jesus being begotten by God. This is spoken of prophetically in Psalm 2 and quoted multiple times in the NT. This idea is also inferred in John 3:16 where God gives His unique Son to His human imagers for the purpose of redemption. In this way, God becomes Father through his begetting the Son. Jesus, as the physical image of God, is not a creation of God. Instead, He is eternally generated by God the Father—that is, He has always been, even before He took on flesh as Jesus the Christ.
This fact was clarified for the church at the council of Nicaea in 381 to explain how Jesus can be both God and man at the same time. Jesus never stepped out of His divine nature to take on the nature of man. Instead, He carried the nature of the Son into His incarnation, being of the same essence as God the Father, and yet simultaneously having two natures. He was the unique God-Man.
And understanding this can help us understand how Paul can generate spiritual sons. He has not created them or made them new. Instead, he has fathered them by proclaiming the gospel to them, or as he says in chapter 3—laying the foundation of Christ. By the proclamation of the Word from his tongue, they have come to a saving faith.
And, in-as-much as they have received the Word, repented of their sin, and allowed God to change their hearts, Paul has become their de facto spiritual parent. He has become the father of their faith in Jesus. And he has carried this truth to them out of love for them.
He goes on to say that they have “countless guides in Christ,” but not “many fathers.” Here, Paul is using hyperbole. In the Greek, he has just said that the Corinthians have 10,000 tutors in Christ, but not many fathers. He is finishing his argument about their division over leaders. Not only should the Corinthians not divide over Christian teachers such as him and Apollos, but most of these teachers have no authority for they were not the ones who delivered the gospel to them.
Essentially, Paul is trying to reassert his authority in the Corinthian church as its father. He is their spiritual father and God has given him authority over the body to lead them well in love and truth. And because he is the father, he is their primary disciple-maker.
Paul would later explain the role of fathers, both physical and spiritual fathers, as disciple-makers. Look at what he writes to the Ephesians:
[SCRIPTURE SLIDE]
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
As their spiritual father and their chief disciple-maker, Paul must continue to care for their spiritual well-being even after he has left. He must continue to teach them with sound instruction and discipline them as needed to bring them to health.
The word instruction here in Greek is closely related to admonish. Teaching and correcting are both part of discipleship.
Getting back to our tree analogy, teaching and correcting are pruning. It takes intentional processes to remove dead wood and unhelpful branches that may inhibit future growth. This allows nutrients to flow to the good branches and spur on proper growth before the winds of discipline come.
And this is what Paul is trying to do. He doesn’t want to demoralize the Corinthians by putting them to shame, but he wants to correct them through admonition before they go so far as to incur discipline from the Lord.
As their father and disciple-maker, Paul is warning them of spiritual danger and calling them back to faithfulness. And he is reminding them of their duty as subjects of Christ to accept their correction and course-correct. For admonition and discipline come from a place of love.
It is the father’s duty to be the primary disciple-maker. And, as their disciple-maker, the father must stand ready to love his children by teaching, by correcting, and when need be, by exercising discipline.
This is also the duty of every physical father. He must disciple his wife and children in the way of the Lord. Failure to do so will multiply chaos into the life of his family. He will set them up for failure and he will be held accountable to Jesus when he stands before Him at judgment.
Paul writes to the Corinthian believers as their father. And the tool of the father is not shame, but admonishment. He hopes to lovingly correct them—to prune the tree—before discipline must come.
But fathers cannot only speak truth. They must live it out. As disciple-makers, they must model that truth for their disciples.
[POINT 2 SLIDE]
Modeling (vv 16-17)
Humans, even little ones, are not as ignorant as we think. Just as they learn to manipulate at an early age, they also learn to read people. They can tell when someone is a hypocrite. Fathers—and all disciple-makers—must live out the truth that they proclaim.
Paul goes on in verse 16:
[PASSAGE SLIDE]
I urge you, then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
Paul urges all of the church members to imitate him. The word urge here in Greek means to exhort or encourage. Maybe a better translation would be that he implores these believers to imitate him.
That may seem like a dangerous ask. As we know, Paul declares himself to be a sinner. Would preachers today be so bold as to call their spiritual children to imitate them?
But notice that the calling that Paul gives them is not to be perfect, but to be faithful. He is modeling faithfulness to Christ to his children. That he fully engages the Holy Spirit in chasing after holiness, and that he seeks forgiveness and reconciliation when he does sin.
And this call to imitation is not only to the Corinthians. Paul also gives it to the Ephesians, the Philippians, and the Thessalonians. He implores all of his spiritual children to imitate him. He will even be explicit with this call later on in this letter In Chapter 11. Why?
Because he knows that his true disciples will understand his heart and his motives. They imitate him as he imitates Christ. In doing so, the aim is not that they will begin to look like Paul. Instead, imitating Paul will help them to look like Jesus. Taking on the heart and actions of Paul will lead them to engage the Holy Spirit and be transformed into the image of Jesus.
And not only can they see Paul modeling true discipleship for them, but he sends them another of his spiritual children to model Christlikeness. He writes, “this is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord.”
The Greek here is imprecise. Scholars are not sure if Timothy has already come to them, or will come to them, or if he will be the one to carry this letter to the church. But, regardless of what Paul means, he is send their older and more mature spiritual brother to show them what imitating Paul looks like.
And even though Timothy may be young and have faults of his own, Paul finds him to equal him in faithfulness to Christ. He is one of his most trusted disciples. Paul has already instructed and admonished Timothy, teaching him what it is to be both a disciple and a disciple-maker. And Timothy knows what his goal is. In his personal letters to Timothy, Paul has made clear the goal of discipleship in the greater mission of the church.
[SCRIPTURE SLIDE]
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
Timothy is to continue the pattern that Christ has laid out of making disciples. In fact, Jesus not only taught and modeled faithfulness to His disciples, but He commanded them to follow in that pattern. He says, “go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
And Paul plays out that thinking for Timothy. Disciple-makers don’t just teach and correct and model for their disciples, but they make disciples who make disciples who make disciples.
He tells Timothy to entrust all that you have learned “to faithful men” who will teach others. Discipleship doesn’t stop with the Apostles, nor does it start with the second generation. After 2000 years, it is a pattern that continues today.
We, as the American church, seem to have forgotten this. We have turned church and disciple-making into something that it is not. Out of our selfish desires we have longed for and created local churches that cater to our desires and feed our sinfulness. We have stopped putting sin to death and settled for hanging it on a coatrack during Sunday service. We lift up the Name on Sunday and run down His reputation all week. And in our selfishness, we too are divisive, seeking to align ourselves with the like-minded and ostracizing those who disagree with us. And we have forgotten how to disciple young believers. Church, we cannot look down on these Corinthians because the American church looks exactly like them.
Spiritual fathers and mothers must step up like Paul. They must be faithful to King Jesus and seek to teach and admonish and model godliness for younger believers. And we must be intentional in doing so. For we are each called to make disciples.
Over the last 50 years, we have watched generations of kids leave the church because it has become inauthentic and lazy. We have stepped aside while others discipled our kids—or worse yet, we gave them over to the world to be discipled.
It is time for us to come back to the way of the King and stop the bleeding. We must strengthen the church and grow the kingdom through the intentional discipleship of church members and the faithful proclamation of the gospel.
Church, I realize that we—at Southern Hills and around the country—have not been properly discipled. If you never had someone intentionally teach and admonish and model Christian life for you, go find someone you trust and ask them to disciple you. It is not something to be ashamed about.
I grew up in a fairly legalistic church that said that discipleship was going to Sunday School. But that isn’t discipleship. Sunday School is formative and important for learning scripture and building community, but it is not discipleship. When I finally had someone pour their life into mine, teaching and correcting and modeling godliness for me, it changed my life. I went from following most of God’s laws to following Jesus with my whole heart.
You, as follower of Christ, need to be discipled.
And also you, as disciple of Christ, need to intentionally disciple others.
And what does that look like? It looks like you teaching and modeling faithfully where you are right now. It looks like you inviting someone to come along on your journey in sanctification, where the Holy Spirit is shaping your heart to desire holiness.
It looks like Paul here in our text.
And so, church, as your chief disciple-maker, imitate me as I imitate my disciple-maker who imitates his disciple-maker who imitates Paul who imitates Christ.
Not so that you look like me, but so you look like Christ. Join me in modeling faithfulness for all who come after us.
For one day, Christ will come, expecting to find His church in order. Those who are ready for His return and have been busy engaging His mission will be rewarded. And those, like the Corinthians, who have been busy idolizing men and dividing the body of Christ may be in peril.
For Christ will not come in impotence, but in power.
[POINT 3 SLIDE]
Power (vv 18-21)
And it is because of this that Paul is warning the church. Jesus has called His church to holiness and He has promised to come again. Will the Corinthians be ready? As their spiritual father, it is Paul’s task to ensure that they are ready. If teaching and admonition won’t work for some of them, he will have no choice but to discipline them.
[PASSAGE SLIDE]
Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
Paul wants to be among them and to restore them in their faithfulness. But for now, he is away. Yet he has a sense that some who oppose him arrogantly hold that he will not come and assert his power as their spiritual father. And so, he is all the more determined to come—if the Lord wills—and to challenge those that remain arrogant. In doing so, he will sort them out by their fruit to see who remains unrepentant.
When I use to travel often for work, occasionally one of our kids would be having a bad week. And by that, I mean that they were misbehaving for their mother in my absence. And after it continued for more than a day, I would have to get on the phone with them, encourage them of their duties to obey and respect their mom, and remind them that I was coming home at the end of the week. And if that day came, and they are still running amuck, that harsher discipline would be the course of action.
That is what Paul is doing here. He is admonishing them to course-correct and letting them know that Daddy is coming home soon and wants to find everything in order. And when he arrives, he won’t be coming as the gentle nurturer, but as the protective father who must purge evil and chaos from the church body.
He says that he will not investigate their talk, but their power. What does he mean here by power?
It’s their actions, their fruit. Some arrogant people have big mouths when they are far away, typing in chat rooms on the internet. But if their opponent showed up on their front porch and challenged them, they would skulk back to their mother’s basement.
You see, power is not found in what we say, but what we do.
Paul, as the loving spiritual father, is willing to disciple his children in any way necessary to see their actions align with what they claim to believe. For, by their fruit, they will be known to the world. The spiritual father cannot abide wicked fruit within a holy church. He must cleanse it for two reasons:
First, to protect the flock from the unhealthy influence and attacks of the evil one.
And second, to be sure that Jesus’ church is ready for Him when He returns.
“For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.”
Paul has taught and modeled this power for them. His fruits have been evident to them. And members of the church will be found in submission to Jesus or else endure church discipline in the form of a rod.
The word “rod” can mean stick or staff. It commonly refers to a walking stick, which shepherds would use to correct their sheep and beat off any foe. But it can also speak of the scepter of a ruler.
In this case, it could be both. Paul will come with the power and authority of the King to shape his flock and disciple his spiritual children. Don’t forget that disciple and discipline share the same root word. Discipline is necessary for the disciple to shape their heart and curb unrighteous behavior. Paul will try correcting in gentleness, but he is not above disciplining with the rod.
Solomon speaks of this in Proverbs 22:
[SCRIPTURE SLIDE]
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
Spiritual children must be discipled.
Intentional pruning is necessary in our lives. We must submit to the authority of Christ given to our spiritual fathers, our disciple-makers, and our elders—so that pruning may take place. In doing so, the Holy Spirit will begin shaping us as strong and healthy trees, ready for the storms that will come.
The power of the kingdom of God is the people of God living out their faith. Ultimately, it is found in their humility, for they are willing to lay aside every desire for the desires of their king.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
This is the fruit that is given to us by King Jesus through His Spirit. And this is the power of the kingdom—the overflowing actions from the heart of the righteous. And it’s what draws an unbelieving world to the church.
Be discipled.
And make disciples.
And allow the Spirit to prune your heart.
I leave you with the words of Jesus in John 15:
[SCRIPTURE SLIDE]
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Application
Church, Jesus is calling you into greater power this morning. He is offering to fill your life with more fruit. But we can only do that by coming to Him fully submitting every bit of ourselves. Be obedient in subjecting yourself to His discipline, for He desires to shape you into His image because He loves you and wants you to experience human life in the way God designed it to be.
Be faithful in what God places before you this week. For small acts of obedience shape your character to prepare you for great works of God.
As His church, our call to mission is first a call to obedience. We must seek to keep His church holy so that it will continue to shine like a beacon on a hill. For we cannot win the world by looking like it.
[PREVIEW SLIDE]
From the beginning, God designed His human imagers to be part of His family. This is what that looks like. A people that reflect His holiness and loving loyalty.
A people who display the fruit that He shares with us by His Spirit.
Invitation
Jesus has come to restore that purpose. Jesus has come to reconcile us in relationship with God. He came and He sacrificed Himself for you. What would you be willing to sacrifice for Him?
Jesus is King, and He is coming again soon. Will He find us living as holy people? Will He find His church put to order and in the field on mission?
CLOSE IN PRAYER
CLOSING HYMN
CONGREGATIONAL BLESSING
