fruit of the Spirit

1 Chronicles 19-20, Colossians 3

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Heavenly Minded.

1 Chronicles 19-20, Colossians 3

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, Joab led out the army and ravaged the country of the Ammonites and came and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. – 1 Chronicles 20:1 ESV

There is an interesting omission in chapter 20 of 1 Chronicles. It starts exactly like 2 Samuel 11, but then leaves out the entire story about David and his elicit affair with Bathsheba. It is unlikely that the chronicler was attempting to cover up David’s infamous sin, because it would have been well-known to all of his readers. More than likely, he omitted the details of this less-than-flattering event in David’s life because his purpose for the chapter was to highlight David’s victories over his enemies at the beginning of his reign. But that one phrase, “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle” stands out. It tells us that Joab, the commander of David’s army, led the troops into battle while “David remained at Jerusalem” (1 Chronicles 20:1 ESV). While David should have been busy defeating the enemies of God, he was falling victim to “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness” (Colossians 3:5 ESV). David had been by God to be the king of Israel in order for him to lead the people of God. “You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel” (2 Samuel 5:2 ESV). But in the missing story of Bathsheba, we have a case of David losing sight of his real objective. He became distracted from God’s intended purpose for his life. And while David would experience great victories in the years ahead, he would also suffer tremendous losses within his own household as a consequence of his sin.

What does this passage reveal about God?

The chronicler obviously knew well the sin of David with Bathsheba, but his real objective was to write of God’s activity among His people through the kingship of David. In spite of David, God was still at work, providing the nation of Israel with victories over their enemies. He was still giving them His divine assistance in conquering the nations that occupied the land of Canaan. And His efforts would be so effective that by the time Solomon, David’s son, took over the throne, his kingdom would experience a time of unparalleled peace and prosperity. But even Solomon with all his wisdom, riches, and obvious blessings from God, would prove to be unfaithful, allowing his love of women to lead to his worship of false gods. He would lose sight of the fact that God had given him wisdom in order for him to lead the nation of Israel wisely. God had blessed him with abundant resources that he might provide for the people of God. Both of these men were God’s handpicked kings over His people. They were not to be like all the other kings of the world. They were never to forget that they had the God of the universe on their side and that their actions and attitudes were to reflect their unique relationship with Him. God wanted to bless their reigns and provide them with victories over their enemies, peace and prosperity for their people, and the assurance of His abiding presence.

What does this passage reveal about man?

David and Solomon both illustrate man’s unique capacity to give in to focus on what is earthly. In Colossians 3, Paul provides a short, but relatively comprehensive list of what constitutes an earthly, rather than heavenly mindset: “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and coveteousness” (Colossians 3:5 ESV). In his letter to the Galatians, Paul provides an even longer list of what he calls the “works of the flesh”: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, division, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these (Galatians 5:19-21 ESV). Together, these two lists serve as a compendium of a life lived with an earthly, rather than a heavenly focus. So Paul tells us we are to put to death what is earthly in us. These are internal issues that emanate from within. Jesus Himself said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19 ESV). David’s sin with Bathsheba was an outflow of an internal problem in David’s heart. Solomon’s idolatry and unfaithfulness was the direct result of a heart problem. James reminds us, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14 ESV). But Paul gives us the antidote to the problem. He tells us to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God ” (Colossians 3:1 ESV). He says to “set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2 ESV). Our focus, interest, and primary concern is to be on eternal, rather than temporal things. We are to desire the things of God instead of the things of this world. Paul would have us know that, because of our relationship with Jesus Christ, we have “put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self” (Colossians 3:9-10 ESV). The tense he uses in this sentence suggests that this is a past event. It has already taken place. We have been given a new life in Christ. We are new creations. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV). Paul’s emphasis seems to be that we are to recognize our new identity as redeemed, renewed creations and live accordingly. In other words, our conduct should begin to reflect our new status as children of God. We are “being renewed” daily – an ongoing process by which we are being transformed into the likeness of Christ. Paul would have us remember that our job is to live in accordance with who we are in Christ. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgiving each other” (Colossians 3:12-13 ESV). This is practical, real-life stuff.

How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?

My relationship with Christ is to transform every area of my life. “In whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17 ESV). I am to live with a heavenly mindset, not an earthly one. I am to live a life that reflects my new identity in Christ and my new Spirit-empowered capacity to reflect His holiness and righteousness. I don’t have to live according to my old sinful nature. Yes, it is still there and is alive and well. But God has given me a new nature that can effectively counteract my old nature. Paul puts it this way: “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16 ESV). I can live by the Spirit and walk by the Spirit. I can bear the fruit of the Spirit. But I must set my mind on the things above. I must seek God’s will and saturate my mind with His Word. I cannot live like Christ if I attempt to exist on a steady diet of earthly things. If I fill my mind with the things of this world, I will bear the fruit of this world. So Paul encourages us to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16 ESV).

Father, I want to become increasingly more heavenly minded. I know that I have to live and exist in this world. Even Your Son prayed that You would not take us out of this world, but that You would protect us from the evil one. I pray that I could live in this world, but not be of it. That I could reflect my true identity as a child of God and a new creation, filled with Your Spirit and bearing the fruit that is evidence of His presence in my life. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Philippians 1:1-11

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Lives of Distinction.

Philippians 1:1-11

May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation — the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ — for this will bring much glory and praise to God. – Philippians 1:11 NLT

As Paul writes this letter to the believers in Philippi, he is under house arrest in Rome, awaiting his coming trial. But rather than complain about his circumstances or his lot in life, Paul is joyful, grateful, and full of words of encouragement to his brothers and sisters in Christ living in this Roman colony. Paul is far from self-focused, dwelling on his own situation. Instead, he is obsessed with the well-being and ongoing spiritual development of the church in Philippi. He is confident that God is going to complete what He started there. “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ returns” (Philippians 1:6 NLT). God was not done yet. He had more to do among the people of Philippi, continuing His transformative work in their lives and within the church.

So as Paul is prone to do in all of his letters, he offers up a prayer on behalf of the local congregation there. He shares that it is his ongoing request that their love will continue to grow unchecked – made possible by God’s work in their midst and the presence of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. He also prays that their knowledge and understanding will grow as well. Specifically, he wants them to understand what is really important in God’s grand scheme of things – what really matters most to God. Knowing and understanding what God wants will always result in lives that are pure and blameless. Comprehending God’s holy standard and understanding that He has equipped us with His Holy Spirit as a power source to enable to live according to that standard are major requests on Paul’s prayer list. Paul wants them to grow. He wants their lives to produce fruit that reflects the reality of their salvation in Christ. That fruit will appear as righteous character, or a Spirit-produced change in behavior. Paul describes the nature of this fruit in his letter to the Gatatians: “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NLT). That list is extensive, but it should also be expressed in our daily lives. Each one of those characteristics is a visible expression of the invisible presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. They are evidence of His power and presence, reflecting that He is doing a work in our lives.

Paul was not angry about being in prison. He was not upset about having to suffer for Christ. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to serve Christ and to minister to the body of Christ by using the opportunity to write letters to the believers in Philippi, Galatia, Ephesus, and Colossae. Paul stayed busy, not having a pity party, but using every available moment to minister to the body of Christ and to continue spreading the Gospel every moment of every day. His greatest desire, expressed in the words of his prayer, was that the people of God in Philippi would continue to grow, mature, and exhibit the character of Christ in every area of their lives. And that would be his prayer for us as well. Overflowing love, ever-increasing knowledge and understanding, pure and blameless lives, and Spirit-produced fruit that is both visible and tangible – all these things are needed in our lives today. May we pray as Paul did, asking God to make these things a reality among His people today.

Father, may Paul’s prayer become our ongoing prayer for one another. We need for our love to increase. We need to grow in our knowledge and understanding – comprehending what really matters to You. We need your Spirit to produce fruit in our lives that clearly reflects His activity in our lives – transforming us from the inside out. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Colossians 1:1-14

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The Key To Pleasing God.

Colossians 1:1-14

Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. – Colossians 1:10 NLT

I don’t think I’ve ever met an individual who claims to be a Christian who hasn’t somehow aspired to live a life that is pleasing to God. In fact, most of us as believers know that our lives should be markedly different than those of non-believers. We recognize that God has a higher standard for us. So we go out of our way to try and attempt to live in such a way that our lives somehow bring glory to Him. What we usually end up with is some list of do’s and don’ts that we use to determine our behavior and, ultimately to measure our degree of spirituality. Here’s the formula most of us work from: More good behavior + less bad behavior = holiness. So we attempt to increase certain things in our life that we understand to be good, while eliminating other things that might hamper our holiness because they’re inherently bad. So we read our Bibles and we give up smoking. We attend church and stop hanging out at bars. We listen to Christian music instead of rock or rap. But too often we miss the whole point. We can’t actually increase our holiness through behavior modification. We can’t sanctify ourselves any more than we could save ourselves.

That’s why this passage in the very beginning of Paul’s letter to the believers in Colosse is so important. He is writing to Christians and is confident that they have had a saving encounter with Jesus Christ. He refers to them as “God’s holy people” (Colossians 1:2a NLT). He has heard great reports regarding their faith in Jesus Christ and their love for one another. And he offers up a prayer for them at the very start of his letter. That prayer is insightful and gives us a great glimpse into what Paul understood about the key to living a godly life. Notice that the verse above starts with the word, “then.” Some translations use the words, “so that” or “in order that.” But the idea is the same. Paul is telling the believers in Colosse that if they want to live lives that honor and please God, and if they want to live lives that produce every kind of good fruit, there is something they are going to have to have before that can happen. And that ingredient is made clear in Paul’s prayer for them. “We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9 NLT). Paul tells them, “we have not stopped praying for you…” and the content of those prayers have been that they might know God’s will and have spiritual wisdom and understanding. Those things are not just “nice-to-have-them-if-I-can-get-them” kinds of things. They are the keys to living a life that honors and pleases God. They are non-negotiables to to fruitful living.

Paul knew that in order for the believers in Colosse to live godly lives they were going to need to know the will of God. They were going to have to understand what it is that God desired for them. Over in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, Paul wrote the Thessalonian believers that God’s will for them was to be holy – set apart, devoted to God. His will for all believers is that they live lives that are distinctive and different, characterized by the Spirit’s presence and God’s righteous requirements. One of the primary ways in which we can know God’s will is by reading and obeying God’s Word. The Bible is the revelation of God and gives us a glimpse into His character and His expectations of mankind. As believers, we have the unique combination of the indwelling Holy Spirit and the Word of God that provides us with a way to know God’s will, and a means to receive spiritual wisdom and understanding. Together, they provide us with divine insights into the will and ways of God. When I know His will and gain spiritual wisdom and understanding from His Word, I have what it takes to live a life that will always honor and please Him. I also have what it takes to produce the kind of fruit He is looking for.

Paul offered up a similar prayer for the believers who were living in Philippi. “I pray that…you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation – for this will bring much glory and praise to God” (Philippians 1:9-10 NLT). He prayed for knowledge and understanding. He wanted them to know and understand not only God’s expectations, but His provision. God makes the life of holiness possible. He provides us with salvation and then gives us His Word and His Spirit to aid us in the pursuit of sanctification. When we discover His will through His Word, and rely upon His Spirit to empower us to obey what we see and hear, our lives end up bearing fruit that is Spirit-produced. Paul describes that fruit in Galatians 5. “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NLT). That kind of fruit honors and pleases God because it is fruit that is the by-product of His presence in our lives. We can’t manufacture it on our own. So when it shows up, it is proof of His presence in our lives.

So if you want your life to honor and please God, producing fruit that is of divine origin, then you will have to know His will and possess a wisdom and understanding that is not of this world. That will require time spent in His Word. It will demand a submission to His Spirit’s leading. It will take a willing obedience to and trusting faith in His will for your life. And it all starts in the Word of God. Go there. Spend time there. Get to know Him there. And “you will grow to know God better and better” (Colossians 1:10b NLT).

Father, never let us lose sight of the fact that Your Word is essential for living a life that honors and pleases You. We can’t know Your will part from Your Word. We can’t get to know You well if we refuse to spend time in the very book that reveals Your character to us. May we grow increasingly dependent on Your Word and Your Holy Spirit’s leading, so that our lives might honor and please you, producing fruit that proves Your powerful presence in our lives. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Romans 15:14-22

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You Have What It Takes.

Romans 15:14-22

But I myself am fully convinced about you, my brothers and sisters,that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. – Romans 15:14 NET

While Paul has spent a great deal of time critiquing the behavior of the Christians in Rome, he begins to close out his letter with some words of encouragement. He wants them to know that they not only have within them the power to live lives that are different and distinct from those around them, they are actually pulling it off. His letter was not meant to depress and demoralize them. He was simply doing what God had called him to do as a minister of the Gospel. And that sometimes included having to say and write difficult things. But his goal was always the same: “that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:16 NET). Paul wanted them to live lives that were set apart, different and distinct from the way they used to live. He wanted their lives to be marked by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit – who alone can make a life of holiness possible. Paul knew that they had what it takes to live holy, set apart lives because he knew they had the Holy Spirit residing within them. As a result they were “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another” (Romans 15:14 NLT).

Paul uses the term “goodness.” It is the Greek word, agathōsynē and it means “uprightness of heart and life.” It is the goodness that comes from God and reveals itself in spiritual, moral excellence. In other words, it is an inner quality that shows up in our character and our interactions with others. Paul uses the word in three other places in his letters and it is always associated with the work of the Holy Spirit. In other words, it is not of human origin, but is divine. In Galatians 5, Paul includes it in the list of the fruit of the Spirit. In Ephesians 5, Paul tells the believers in Ephesus that they are full of light and, as a result, they should live as people of light. For the light that resides within them only produces “goodness” – spiritual and moral excellence. In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, Paul prayed that they would be make them worthy of His calling and fulfill for them every desire they had for “goodness” and every act that was prompted by their faith. Paul wanted to see the power of the Holy Spirit “fleshed out” in their lives by the way they lived their lives and interacted with one another. They had it in them, but they had to live it out.

The key for Paul was dependence upon and obedience to the Holy Spirit. His life was marked by a constant reliance upon the Holy Spirit’s direction. He did what he was told to do. He went where he was told to go. He preached what he was told to say. In spite of opposition, difficulty, set backs, his own apprehensions, fear, physical illness or any feelings of inadequacy or inability. Again, Paul was simply doing what the Holy Spirit had directed and empowered him to do. “I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:16 NLT). Anything he had accomplished through his life had been done by the Spirit, not him. His life had been marked by “goodness” – spiritual, moral excellence. By allowing himself to be used by the Spirit, Paul had been able to see lives changed, and the message of the Gospel spread throughout the Roman Empire. The power of God had been “fleshed out” in Paul’s life, making a difference in not only his own life, but the lives of thousands of others. The goodness of God had done a good work in and through Paul. And Paul wanted to see that same thing happen in the lives of the believers in Rome. Having the Spirit of God living within us is great. But the key to living the Christian life is learning to let the Holy Spirit reveal His power through us. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves” (2 Corinthians 4:5 NLT). Our darkness has been penetrated by the light of the Gospel and the presence of the power of God in the form of the Holy Spirit. Now we need to let that light shine. He describes us as fragile clay jars. We are weak and worthless, and yet God has placed His Spirit within us, so that His power might flow from us – revealing and testifying to His life-changing presence in our lives. But if the Spirit’s power never shows up, if the “goodness” of God never reveals itself in spiritual, moral excellence in our lives – God doesn’t get the glory and the darkness around us remains unchanged. We have what it takes. Now we have to take what we have and let it out.

Father, too often we live in our own power and fail to reveal Your power that resides within us. Show us how to let the power of the Spirit within us out of us. May His light shine through us, proving that we truly are Your sons and daughters. May Your goodness flow from us in acts of kindness, works of faith, and the fruit of the Spirit. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Romans 15:1-13

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Maturity By Committee.

Romans 15:1-13

We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. – Romans 15:1-2 NLT

The Christian life is not a solitary excursion, but a communal effort, where we walk hand-in-hand, side-by-side with other believers on a pilgrimage of faith. This journey is meant to be done in the context of community, not in isolation. Paul’s letters were primarily written to churches, not individuals. He spent a great deal of time trying to encourage the corporate life of the local church and stressed the non-negotiable interrelationship between believers. This chapter is no different. He closed out chapter 14 with an admonition to not allow the grey areas of life to cause division within the body of Christ. According to Paul, there was nothing worth causing another believer to stumble, whether it was your right or not. Just because you have freedom to do something, doesn’t mean you should. Your first consideration should always be for the other party. Paul tells us, “We must not just please ourselves” (Romans 15:1b NLT). The Christian life is not to be self-centered, but rather it is to be selfless and sacrificial. “We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord” (Romans 15:2 NLT). Our goal should always be the edification or building up of the body of Christ, not the self-centered protection of our own rights and privileges. For Paul, Jesus was and is the greatest living example of this idea. He wrote to the Philippians, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (Philippians 2:3-5 NLT).

We are to have the mind of Christ. We are to adopt His attitude when it came to loving others. Jesus willingly suffered the abuse and rejection of men, and returned their disdain with sacrificial love. Paul’s desire was that the believers in Rome would follow Christ’s example and learn to live in complete harmony with one another. He wanted them to share Christ’s passion for and commitment to the spiritual well-being of others. As followers of Christ, they needed to learn to live like Christ lived, with their attention and focus on the needs and cares of others. They were to “accept each other” in the same way that Christ had accepted them. In other words, not based on merit, effort or earning. One of the unique things about the church is that it is by nature a compilation or blend of a wide variety of people from all walks of life and of varying degrees of spiritual maturity. There will be strong and weak believers present. There will be mature and immature individuals within any given body of believers. There will be rich and poor, spiritual and carnal, young and old, educated and uneducated. “Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory” (Romans 15:7 NLT). When we accept one another, it glorifies God, because it reveals that He is at work in our midst, providing us with the capacity to love one another in spite of our differences. He is the one who provides us with the strength to love one another whether we deserve it or not.

We must constantly remember that we are all works in process. God is not done with His transformative work in our lives. And we must constantly remind ourselves that God has chosen to renew us within the context of community. We test, try, strengthen, and encourage one another. We not only test one another’s gifts, we help bring them out. We develop the fruit of the Spirit within the context of the local body of believers. There is a method to God’s seeming madness. He knows what He is doing. As we trust His redeeming work in our lives and accept the fact that He has chosen to do it through the relationships we have with others, we will experience hope, joy and peace. We will learn that those with whom we disagree are actually tools He has placed in our lives to accomplish His transformation of our lives. “Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13b NLT). Rather than bicker and fight over petty issues like food, clothing, worship music styles, Bible translation preferences, and a host of other grey areas, we will learn to trust that God is working through our differences, blending together a wide range of personalities, gift sets, backgrounds, and opinions, in an effort to accomplish His will for us – our holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

Father, thank You for the body of Christ, the local church. It is far from perfect, full of people like me, and therefore, prone to division and dissension. Help me to view it as the divine organism You ordained to accomplish Your redemptive work in the world and the transformative process You are doing in each and every one of our lives. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Romans 8:1-17

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Life Through the Spirit.

Romans 8:1-17

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. – Romans 8:5 NLT

Paul had a sin nature. You have a sin nature. I have a sin nature. Every person who has ever lived or is alive now has a sin nature. Even those of who are in Christ. But Paul has made it clear that, because of Christ’s death on the cross, we have been set free from having to live like a slave to sin, constantly giving in to the sinful disposition of our sin natures. While at one time we were totally enslaved and incapable of resisting our own sinful nature, we now have a choice. We have been given the Spirit of God, who resides within us, equipping and empowering us to live lives that are pleasing to Him. He can and will produce a host of good deeds through us and godly fruit within us. But we have to choose to live under his control, rather than willingly giving in to our own selfish sin nature.

Over and over again in this passage, Paul reminds us that we have the “power of the life-giving Spirit” within us. He has freed us from the power of sin that leads to death. He empowers us to no longer follow our sinful nature. But there is a choice that has to be made. We have to want to allow the Holy Spirit to control our minds and our lives. When He is in control, we will tend to think about the things that please Him. When our flesh is in control and our sinful nature raises its ugly head, we will find ourselves thinking about sinful things, inappropriate things, that don’t honor God or reflect our relationship as His sons and daughters. Paul emphasizes that the Spirit that lives within us is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. If that power can restore a dead man to life, it can restore us from spiritual death to new life. That incredible power can be tapped into in order to put to death the deeds of our sinful nature. It can allow us to live new lives – NOW – not just in eternity. We are God’s adopted children right here and now, not just some time in the future. We are heirs to His promises now, not just when Christ returns or He calls us home to heaven. We are beneficiaries of His life-transforming power now, not just at the rapture or when we experience our future glorification.

But Paul makes it clear that, while we will some day enjoy a future glorification and ultimate transformation into Christ-likeness, we are going to go through a period of suffering here and now. We will do daily battle with our sin nature, experiencing the same conflict and struggle that Paul expressed a few verses earlier. “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t. Instead, I do what I hate” (Romans 7:15 NLT). Christ suffered in His life on this planet. He had to do battle with sin and death, and so do we. We must constantly wage war with our sin nature and the enemy who seeks to kill and destroy us. We must wrestle with our inner desire to live for Christ, and the constant call of our sin nature to live for self. We are in a spiritual war zone as long as we live on this earth. But we have a power inside us that can equip us to live differently right here, right now. It will be difficult at times. It will be painful. But it will always result in our ongoing sanctification and ultimate glorification. We must rely on the Spirit of God to provide us with the power from God so that we can live lives that bring honor to God. This life-giving Spirit has not only freed us from sin and death, but empowers us to continue to live in freedom all the days of our lives – as long as we remain under His control and committed to living according to His power and not our own.

Father, thank You for providing Your Holy Spirit and placing Him inside me. I confess that I don’t always acknowledge His presence or tap into His power. I try far too often to live in my own strength and not in His. I do things my way, then wonder why things don’t turn out quite like I had hoped. Continue to show me how I might have victory over sin, not because I work hard at it, but because I have learned to rest in the power of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

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God’s Will – Part 2.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT

Earlier in his letter, Paul had told the Thessalonian believers that it was God’s will for them to be holy. then he gave them a practical example of what that kind of life looked like. They were to avoid sexual sin at all costs. They were to control their own lustful passions and live holy lives, not impure lives. They were to love and honor one another. They were to live their lives in such a way that they honored and pleased God. And now, at the close of his letter, Paul gives them another practical application of what a holy life looks like – a life that reflects God’s will for all believers. It is a life marked by joy. Not a giddy, unstable happiness based on changing circumstances, but a deep joy that is founded on the knowledge that we have a right relationship with God, our sins forgiven, our eternity secure and a God who loves us so much that there is nothing we can do that would ever cause Him to fall out of love for us. He is constantly out for our best interests and our circumstances, whether good or bad, are not an indicator of God’s love for us. His love is expressed in our spiritual transformation, that was made possible by His Son’s death on the cross. And that transformation is ALWAYS taking place within us, because of the indwelling presence of His Spirit. Which should bring us joy.

We are to pray without ceasing. In other words, prayer should be a constant part of our lives because God is a constant part of our lives. Prayer is not just petition, or asking God for things. It is also expressions of thanksgiving and praise. Prayer is the intimate communication between the Father and His child. And He wants to hear from us as much as we want to hear from Him. Prayer includes spending time listening to God, which is difficult, because we can’t hear His voice audibly or out loud. He speaks to us through His Word and His Spirit. God is always speaking to us, but the problem is that we seldom take time to listen. So we are to pray or communicate with Him constantly, unceasingly.

And we are to live lives that are marked by thankfulness – not just for the good things that happen in our lives – but even for the trials and difficulties. Why? Because as believers, we should know that God is at work in our lives at ALL times, using even the difficulties of life to transform us into the likeness of His Son. And we can live our lives with the assurance that He ALWAYS loves us – at all times – even when our circumstances seem to shout otherwise. And we can be thankful for that love and express our gratitude back to Him. None of this comes naturally. It isn’t a normal reaction for most of us, because it runs contrary to our sinful nature. We are wired to complain, not express thanks. We are prone toward dissatisfaction and discontentment, not gratefulness. Prayer is the ultimate expression of dependence on God, and we tend to be far too independent to have to rely on God. And since joy is a fruit of the Spirit, and not a byproduct of our human nature, it must be produced by the Spirit in our life. We can’t manufacture it or even fake it well. As we live in tune with and in obedience to the Spirit, He produces within us a joy that goes far beyond mere happiness. It is not based on circumstances, but on the certainty of God love for us.

God’s will for us is that we live holy live. But holy lives are practical lives. And ultimately, Paul tells us, God must make us holy. That is his prayer for the Thessalonian believers and, by extension, his prayer for us. “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every Way and make your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ returns again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NLT). It is not only God’s will that we be holy. It is His mission. And one day He will complete that mission. There is a day coming when our holiness will be complete. Sin will be eradicated. Our transformation into the likeness of Christ will be finalized. We will be holy and blameless, because God is faithful and true.

Father, our holiness is of great importance to You, so it should be of great importance to us. Not that we should try to make ourselves holy, but that we should see it as our highest priority. We should view the circumstances of life as Your laboratory in which You are refining and perfecting us. You are always at work within and around us. Your ultimate goal is not our temporary happiness, but our eternal holiness. Give us that divine perspective. Help us to see our lives from Your viewpoint and with Your ultimate goal for us in mind. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Galatians 6

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The Law of Christ.

Galatians 6

Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. – Galatians 6:2 NLT

Our freedom from the law does not give us license to live according to our own standard. It is not freedom to live and do as we wish. Paul uses this last section of his letter to let his readers know that their behavior to change. They were to live differently than they had before. But it was not simply behavior modification brought about by mere human effort. It was to be the result of the Spirit’s presence and work in them. Rather than living selfishly and self-absorbed, they were to love sacrificially and selflessly. They were to care about the sins of one another, not in order to point fingers and make themselves feel better about their own righteousness, but in order to restore that brother or sister. Paul told them they were to “share each other’s burdens.” When they did, they would be obeying a different law altogether, the law of Christ. His is a law of love, of selfless sacrifice, that requires us to put others ahead of ourselves, rather than compete with them in order to get ahead. John Piper describes the law of Christ this way: “But when Christ summons us to obey his law of love, he offers us himself to slay the dragon of our pride, change our hearts, empower us by his Spirit, and fulfill his law.” The old law could not change our heart, it could merely alter our behavior, but never perfectly or completely. The law of Christ is driven by love and is focused on changing our heart and modifying our behavior from the inside out.

Paul tells us, “If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important” (Galatians 6:5 NLT). This had been a theme of Jesus when He walked this earth during the three and a half years of His ministry. He was constantly teaching His disciples that life in His Kingdom was about placing the needs of others ahead of your own. It was about service, not being served. It was putting others first and ourselves last. It was about life within a community, not self-centered individuality. “Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone – especially to those in the family of faith” (Galatians 6:10 NLT). Doing good to others. Loving others. That is the nature of life within the body of Christ. It is about caring and community. It is about the fruit of the Spirit being produced in our lives for the benefit of others, not ourselves. We are being transformed by Christ in order that we might be agents of transformation in the lives of one another. We are to love others as He has loved us – selflessly and sacrificially. We are to be instruments of change in the Redeemer’s hands. As He works in us, He will use us to love the lost and lift up our brothers and sisters in Christ. But the antithesis of the law of Christ is the lure of pride. We are constantly battling our own selfish desire to make it all about ourselves. But Jesus gave us the greatest commandment when He said, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40 NLT). Love God. Love others. And God has given us His Spirit to make it possible. So we have no reason to brag or be boastful. It is His love in us flowing through us and influencing those around us.

Father, I want to fulfill the law of Christ. I want to love as He loved. I want my life to be marked by selflessness, not selfishness. I want to lift the burdens of others, but sometimes I can become too consumed with my own cares and concerns. Help me to learn to take the focus off of me and place it where it belongs on others. Help me to understand that your fruit, produced by Your Spirit in my life, is not for me but for others. Give me a growing desire to give my life away. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Galatians 5:16-26

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The Fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16-26

But the Holy Spirit products this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! – Galatians 5:22 NLT

Not only are we free to love others, but we are free to live under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit. But if we’re not careful, we are also free to live according to the desires of our own sinful flesh – our sin nature. It’s a choice. I can choose to let the Holy Spirit guide and direct my life, or I can give in to the constant cravings of my sin nature. It’s not only a choice, it’s a daily battle. “These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions” (Galatians 5:17b NLT). The Holy Spirit directs us one way, while our sin nature prompts us to take an opposite and radically dangerous path. Allowing ourselves to get enslaved to the law only feeds our sin nature. Paul pointed this out in Romans 7. “…it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, ‘You must not covet.’ But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me!” (Romans 7:7-8 NLT). The law tells me what I should not do, and then my sin nature desires to do just that. It’s like telling a young child not to touch a hot stove, and that becomes the one thing they want to try and do. Their sin nature creates a desire for the very thing they have been denied. Like Eve in the Garden, we can’t seem to stay away from the one thing God has told us is off limits. When you attempt to live according to laws, decrees, rules and standards, your sin nature will always resist, tempting you to break those rules or justify your ignoring of them. When you try to do what God wants in your own strength, you will fail. But when you live empowered and guided by the Spirit of God, you will have all the strength you need and the motivation to do what needs to be done.

Following the desires of our sin nature produces obvious outcomes. Paul gives us a comprehensive list. Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these” (Galatians 5:19-21 NLT). Notice the diverse nature of his list. He includes sexual immorality alongside jealousy. Drunkenness makes the list right there by envy. All of these things, from the dramatic to the seeming inconsequential, all have one thing in common – they are focused on self. They are self-centered and driven by selfish desires. This list contains destructive behaviors that are anything but conducive to community and selfless servanthood. Trying to live your life according to some set of standards or rules will feed your sin nature and produce an unhealthy and destructive list of outcomes. You’ll end up comparing yourself with others. You’ll compete and attempt to outdo others in rule-keeping. You’ll attempt to justify your own insufficiencies and expose those of others. All this will lead to division, dissension, quarreling, jealousy, anger, and more.

It’s interesting that when we try to produce the fruit of the Spirit on our own, we end up with results that look nothing like what we were aiming for. Rather than love that is focused on others, we end up loving ourselves. In place of joy, we find ourselves with discontentment and dissatisfaction. Instead of producing patience, we become irritable, judgmental and angry. Kindness gets replaced with pettiness and an overwhelming need to find fault in others so that we can feel better about ourselves. Goodness gets trumped by selfishness. Faithfulness comes out as unreliability and self-seeking. Gentleness becomes harshness. And self-control goes out the window, as love of self takes over our lives, turning out attention inwardly rather than outwardly.

Only the Spirit of God can produce the fruit God is looking for in our lives. These things are not self-produced. We are incapable of manufacturing any of them on our own. If we try, we only end up with cheap imitations that are like those knock-off perfumes you can buy at the local drug store. They may cost less, but they stink in comparison to the real thing. Paul encourages us to live by the Spirit, according to His power, not our own. Rather than having to live enslaved to the desires of our old sin nature, we are now free to live in the Spirit’s power, allowing Him to produce in and through us what we could never have done on our own. He produces in us supernaturally what we could never have produced naturally. Like our salvation, it is the work of God, not man. This is no longer about trying to live up to some kind of standards, rules or laws. It is not about trying to behave in such a way that we somehow make God happy and satisfied with us. It is not about comparing ourselves with others and measuring our righteousness based on that of others. This is learning to recognize that our righteousness is the work of God, from beginning to end. It is the fruit of His Spirit, not our flesh. It is made possible by the work of Christ, not anything we do or don’t do. So Paul encourages us, “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives” (Galatians 5:25 NLT). Let’s live in His power. Let’s operate according to His agenda. Let’s seek His will, not our own. Let’s watch Him produce His fruit in us, rather than try to produce it on our own. “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death” (Romans 8:1-2 NLT). We are free to live in the power of the Spirit and to bear the fruit of the Spirit – for the good of others, not ourselves.

Father, I want to live increasingly in the power of Your Spirit. I want to say no to my sin nature and yes to Your Spirit’s leading. I desire to see His fruit produced in and through me. My attempts at fruitfulness always fall short and never produce what You’re looking for. My sin nature tends to make everything about ME. But I want to live for You. Continue to patiently show me how to live in Your power, according to Your will, and expressing Your love for others through my life. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Day 121 – John 15:1-17

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Fruitfulness and Friendship.

John 15:1-17

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mind that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” – John 15:1-2 NLT

Not only does Jesus desire that His followers fully know Him, and understand the significance of His deity and sovereignty, but He wants them to comprehend their complete dependence upon Him. Here Jesus uses the metaphor of the vine and the branches to help the disciples understand both the intimacy and dependency of their relationship with Him. He illustrates that relationship with the image of a vine and its branches. He repeatedly encourages them to “remain” or “abide” in Him. He lets them know that, just as a branch cannot bear fruit apart from the vine, so they cannot bear fruit apart from Him. But fruitfulness requires abiding or remaining. The greater the degree of intimacy and dependency, the more fruitful the branch will be. The vine will produce fruit through the branch. The branch doesn’t produce the fruit on its own – it simply bears the fruit.

Jesus warns His disciples that constant attachment is required for fruitfulness to occur. Those who choose to disconnect themselves from the life-giving power of Jesus will find themselves living fruitless lives. And eventually, God will prune them from the vine. This is not speaking of a loss of salvation, but sadly, a loss of usefulness. You can be in Christ, yet useless to Him. You can be saved, but refuse to be sanctified, remaining satisfied with the current state of your spiritual life, and neglecting to grow in Christ. But when we remain in Him, He produces His fruit through us. And God, the faithful gardener, prunes and cleanses us in order that we might produce even more fruit. It is when we refuse to remain in and depend on Christ that we lose our fruitfulness. We become severed, so to speak, from the vine and lose our ability to bear fruit. I branch that becomes separated from the vine will never bear fruit, because it has lost its connection with the source of fruitfulness. Jesus said, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NLT). And it is our fruitfulness that reveals or proves the reality of our relationship with Christ.

Jesus makes it clear that one of the greatest expressions of our fruitfulness is our love for one another. In other words, we can’t love the way He requires unless that love is produced by Him through us. Which is why He tells the disciples to “remain in my love” (John 15:9 NLT). Remaining in His love requires remaining that we remain attached to Him, so that He can love through us. A big part of remaining or abiding in Christ is reflected in our obedience to Him. And obedience is a willing submission to His will for us. It is not so much about rule keeping as it is about trust that He knows what is best, and obeying what He tells us to do. Even the capacity to obey Him comes from Him. When Jesus said, “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love” (John 15:10 NLT), He was not teaching that His love is contingent upon our obedience. In other words, Jesus’ love for us is not conditional. No, our obedience is a reflection of His abiding love for us, flowing through us, creating in us a desire to obey. It also creates in us a desire to love others. “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you” (John 15:12 NLT). When we abide in Him, His love flows through us and is to be shared with those around us. One of the interesting things about fruitfulness is that it is other-oriented, not self-centered. The fruit produced by a branch is not for the benefit of the branch, but is for others. My fruitfulness is not for me, but for the benefit of others. Think about the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – none of these things are self-directed. They are to be outwardly focused and exist for the good of others. Fruitfulness is about otherness. It is about loving others as we have been loved by Christ. Abiding in Him will result in our ability to love like Him. Even to the point of laying down our lives like He did for us. As branches, we exist for the vine and, ultimately for the gardener. It is God who prunes us in order that we might be increasingly more fruitful. Our job is to remain or abide. We don’t produce the fruit, Jesus does. We simply have to be ready and willing for Him to flow through us. What we end up producing is His work and belongs to those He brings into our path. For the believer, fruitfulness is a non-negotiable. Fruitlessness results in uselessness. A fruitless branch is a useless branch. And we must understand that our fruitfulness is simply the result of our willful desire to remain intimately attached to Jesus so that He can do through us and in us what we could never do on our own.

Father, I want to be fruitful. But I don’t want to try and produce that fruit in my own effort. I want it to be a natural outflow of my intimate relationship with Your Son. I want His love to flow through me. I want His fruit produced as a result of me abiding in Him. I want the fruit of my life to be proof of my relationship with Him. Help me abide. Help me remain completely dependent on Jesus each and every day of my life. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org