Unity is one of the recurring themes of the Bible. But the Bible and our lives are also jammed packed full of disunity. And this is the way that the Bible works. The Bible paints a picture of how we are supposed to live . . . what we were created to do and be. Our lives then are movements towards that ideal.
True unity and the avoidance of divisions seems like such an impossible ideal for us as humans in relationship with one another, though. It is hard enough for Dana and me to agree on a place to eat sometimes . . . so when the Bible calls us to perfect unity, that can seem a little crazy and impossible.
The passage we are going to examine this morning comes from 1 Corinthians 1:10-17. The sin from Galatians 5 that we are looking at is “discord.” Some translations have “contention” or “strife.” But the basic problem is that humans sinfully struggle to get along, even in the church.
Let’s begin by reading this passage. Read 1 Corinthians 1:10-17.
I heard a story this week. During one of our wars a military unit hired a local boy to cook and clean for them. Being a bunch of jokesters and not liking the boy much, they quickly took advantage of the boy’s seeming naiveté. They smeared Vaseline on the stove handles so it would get all over his hands. They put buckets of water over the door so he’d get soaked when he opened it. They even nailed his shoes to the floor during the night. Day after day the young boy took the brunt of their practical jokes without saying anything. Finally the men felt guilty about what they were doing, so they met with him and said, “Look, we know these pranks aren’t funny for you, and we’re sorry. We’re never going to take advantage of you again.”
The boy smiled and then asked, “No more sticky stuff on stove?” The guys responded, “Nope.” “No more water on the door?” They answered, “No more water on the door.” “No more nailing shoes to floor?” “Nope, we’ll stop that, too.” “Okay” the boy said with a wide grin, “I won’t spit in your soup anymore.”
Galatians 5 lists “hatred” as the next sin on the list.
The word “hate” just has an edge to it. It points to a deep deep disgust with something that gets out heart pumping and our emotions boiling.
There is a physical response to anger and hate. At the same time your heart rate accelerates, your blood pressure rises, and your rate of breathing increases. Your face may flush as increased blood flow enters your limbs and extremities in preparation for physical action. Your attention narrows and becomes locked onto the target of your anger. Soon you can pay attention to nothing else. In quick succession, additional brain neurotransmitters and hormones are released which trigger a lasting state of arousal. You're now ready to fight.
The word “hate” appears in the Bible quite a lot and in a bunch of different ways. So it is really quite an adventure figuring out not only what “hate” is, but what we are to do with it.
Sometimes “hate” is really just preferential. For instance, Jesus says that we are to hate our mother and father, but what he means is that our love for God is to be so great that it is as if we hate our mother and father. He does not literally mean that we are to have deep disgust for our parents.
Most of the time the word “hate” is used to refer to how people feel about God or God’s followers. And then also as how we are to treat bad things like evil, wickedness or idol worship. We are to hate these things or have deep disgust for them.
The passage we are going to focus on regarding hatred this morning comes from the book of James. James 4:1-12.
This week we arrive at a sin in Galatians 5 that is translated in several different ways. The original Greek word is “aselgeia.” The King James Version uses the word, “lasciviousness.” Then that gets defined as “filthy or wantonness.” We get other uses too. Our NIV translation uses “debauchery.” The same Greek word is then translated “sensuality” in the passage in Ephesians we are going to examine this morning. Then Eugene Peterson's Message takes the meaning of the word further by calling it a “stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage.” That is definitely a stretch from the literal meaning of the word, but it does get at the heart of it. I perhaps most prefer translating the term “outrageousness.”
Now just to be clear, there is clearly a sexual nature to this sin carried out in the outrageous nature of sexuality gone wrong. We talked about this last week when we discussed sexual immorality, but this outrageousness does not just take sexual forms in our hearts and minds. As Peterson's translation makes evident, it also includes a whole host of other mental and emotional garbage.
This morning then I want us to look at a passage from Ephesians 4 that I think illustrates the effect and pervasiveness of this sin. I want to call our problem foolish thinking and shallow emotions. Let's begin though by looking at God's word on this.
It has been an interesting week after people have heard the sermon topic for this week. There have been some questions and someone last week asked if there were going to be any pictures.
One of our goals at Riverside is to be real and authentic with each other and that also means that we want to be real and authentic with the Bible. This morning we begin a summer sermon series on a passage in Galatians 5 that lists 12 “acts of the sinful nature.”
This is our final Sunday in the E100 and next week we will be beginning a new sermon series from the book of Galatians. You are probably familiar with the “fruit of the spirit” in Galatians 5. There is a whole list of wonderful characteristics that the Holy Spirit enables Jesus followers to have. But that is not what our sermon series is going to be on. Immediately before all those good things there is a list of 12 things that Paul calls, “the acts of the sinful nature.” This is what our next sermon series is going to be on. Those particular sins that are difficult for us to overcome.
And I want to give you a heads up because the first sin on this list is “sexual immorality.” Next week we are going to be talking about sexual immorality and some parts of the sermon might not be appropriate for your kids depending on their age. I am going to call the sermon PG-13. We are going to talk about sex frankly, so if you think that might not be appropriate for your kids and they are usually in the service with you . . . then please plan to have them downstairs for Children's Church. If you are unsure or have other questions, please feel free to talk to me.
I believe one of the most difficult aspects of our Christian journeys is determining the difference between things of God and things of the world. When I have a decision to make in my life, how do I determine what God wants me to do? Better said perhaps, how do I know which voice in my head to listen to. (you all hear voices too, right?) How do I know which person amongst my friends to trust and believe have the best advice in a given situation? And as you will see in our passage this morning, John describes this as discerning between the spirits. And John urges us to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
Let’s go ahead and read this passage. Read 1 John 4:1-6.
This morning we are going to take a look at a passage in 1 Thessalonians. We will look at the beginning of chapter 5, which is primarily about the end of the world, particularly when Jesus will return again.
In the Bible we have two of Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. They are written to a predominantly Gentile church of new converts. Part of the purpose of 1 Thessalonians is to comfort and motivate the believers there with the truth of the Lord's sure return. So the primary issue that Paul emphasis throughout is that of the second coming of Christ.
The city of Thessaloniki still exists today. In fact it is one of the few cities from the New Testament times that still exists. Thessalonica was a very important city in biblical times. Its main street was a part of the very road which linked Rome with the East. Trade poured into the city from east and west. It is impossible to overstress the importance of the arrival of Christianity in Thessalonica. If Christianity was established there, it was bound to spread east along the Egnatian Road until all Asia was conquered, and west until it stormed even the city of Rome.
Hi everyone, my name is Mark Fisher, I’m finishing up eighth grade at West Side, and today it’s my job to bring together all you’ve seen, heard, and experienced.
Today has all been about worship. On your way in today I hope you noticed our welcome sign that says, “The reason we breathe, is to sing of His glory”. That sign sums up our reason for being here today, tomorrow, the next day, and the next day-we exist to bring glory to God. Hopefully you’ve experienced a new way to glorify God today-who would have thought that God and bubbles could mix so well? Or maybe for you it meant stepping out of your comfort zone while singing-maybe today you lifted up your hands a little-not a lot, just a little. Maybe that baby step will be the first of many steps out of what is comfortable towards a deeper connection with the Lord.
What I really liked about today was how our individual and collective testimonies all point to a God that loves us. We can respond to His love in tons of different ways. What He wants most from us is to make our entire existence an act of worship. Worship is singing His praise but it is way more. Worship is loving our neighbor, worship is respecting our parents, worship is taking pride in our work, worship is making dinner for a friend who has too much on their plate, worship is supporting a kid across the world so they can grow up strong, worship is being aware of how what we do can hurt or help other people, worship is turning the other cheek, worship is giving hope to the homeless, and worship is obedience.
Sermon text: James 4:1-20
Sermon Text: Romans 1:21-23, Galatians 5:19-21
