eMessage: “Giant Gentleness” (Week of August 22, 2010)

Giant Gentleness

The Apostle Paul is inspired to give insight to the fruit of walking with the Spirit of Christ by defining the components of the fruit which is developed by God in us on our faith filled journey with Him. One of the last components listed in Galatians 5:22 is gentleness. This component, like many of the other components, is often misunderstood.

All too often we think that true “Christianity” leads disciples to be weak people. We often think of them as those who are defenseless and easily victimized. This component of the fruit of the Spirit, i.e. gentleness, is often seen as evidence of a call to be weak. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The call to allow God to develop gentleness in our lives cannot be equated to a call to be unresponsive or weak. It is not a call to become weak victims of the callous treatment of others. Instead it is a call to be moderate in our response and presentation to an unbelieving world (as well as to believers). It is a call not to be severe, rough or violent in our response to the difficult or contentious treatment.
Allow me to give an illustration of a gentle spirit. If a Christian is hit on the cheek (that part of the anatomy is chosen because of specific Biblical instruction from Christ-see Luke 6:29) by someone intending to harm the person who is struck, a gentle (though strong) spirit can turn the other cheek and allow it to be hit as well. If a Christian is the target of vile and offensive name calling by someone, a gentle spirit does not respond in kind, but rather responds with words intended to heal not heighten the conflict. In both of these illustrations, the Christian’s response will be made in the midst of pain. It will hurt to be hit on the cheek even once much lest two. It is hurtful to be called names. Yet the strength God gives us allows us to respond in a gentle way even though there is real pain in being struck.

Several years ago in the early years of my law practice, I arrived at the Courtroom door in Louisville ready for a divorce trial. The other attorney was waiting for me outside the courtroom and as soon as I greeted him in my typical lighthearted way, he began to cuss me like I had never been cussed before. He began to berate my abilities as an attorney and blamed me for the lack of a settlement in the case. Every point he made was a shout in my face and though I had appropriate and logical responses (not the least of which was that I had been trying to get a hold of him without success for a month to discuss a settlement), my response to him was gentle and I simply apologized for anything I had done which was inappropriate. (I wish that I could tell you that my response was one of practiced gentleness but such was not so. My response was more a product of being so astonished at this well known practitioner’s conduct that I really did not know what to say.)

We finished the trial without further incident and I did not see this attorney again for several years. When I next saw him, he was retired. He took me aside and apologized for his conduct outside the court room those many years before. He specifically thanked me for not responding in kind to his name calling and told me that my refusal to join him in a shouting match had caught him off guard because he truly expected us to have a verbal altercation. I later learned that he had developed an alcohol problem in the early years of his practice and he rarely went to court for trial. He was frequently tardy in handling the necessary issues for his client and the last thing he wanted to do was to have to go to a trial. I learned in this incident that my gentle response did more for opposing counsel and our clients than what would have happened if I had gotten into a heated shouting match with him. This attorney also went on to say that he learned later that I was a Christian and because of that he felt comfortable in recommending clients to me.

Because we journey with Christ, we are to be seen as gentle giants. While our strength is to be unexpected so is our gentle nature. In fact our strength is to be seen in our gentleness. It is the gentleness and strength of the parent who patiently receives the “prodigal child” back home without an accounting of all the offenses that the parent has born. It is the gentleness and strength of spouse who emotionally puts an obstinate spouse on their back (I am not referring to an immoral or physically abusive spouse) and continues to pray for that spouse as they treat the spouse with respect while getting little or none in return.

Our world has a very different perspective of gentleness. Rather than gentle giants, our world expects and desires violent, severe, rude and rough responses and attitudes. I have seen parents (even church going parents) teach their kids to throw a baseball at the head of the players on the other team in baseball games (even little league games) or to throw elbows so as to injure an opponent in basketball or to take out a player on the other team with a slide in soccer (but do so only in such a way as to get a yellow card) and the list of such natural ungentle responses being taught goes on and on and on.
Christians are to stand out because of their gentle attitudes and responses. Are you a gentle giant-strong enough to take the blows of those who come against you while responding gently?

eMullins

eMessage: “Fundamental Faith” (Week of August 1, 2010)

Fundamental Faithfulness

In Galatians 5:22-23 Paul is inspired to write the following: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Among the several components which together make up the fruit of the Spirit which is to be evident in our lives because of our walk with Christ, it would seem that the component of faithfulness would be easy to experience. Since our walk with Christ comes only by faith in Him, it would seem then that faith would continue and grow into faithfulness. In fact, it should but faithfulness does not come easily and never comes without some fundamental changes in our lives.

Faithfulness requires fundamental commitment to that which is Godly. Yet this is easier said than done because commitment to that which is Godly is contrary to our humanness. Often we find we can go some small distance in faith with God but going the whole distance is much more difficult.

Take for example the sacred institution of marriage. Statistics inform us that the break in faithfulness in marriages of church goers is the same as those who claim no relationship with Christ. The divorce rates are the same for church going marriages as those of the non-church going crowd. Consider that there is a call to faithfulness in the church going crowd while the non church going crowd has no such call. Despite the understanding among church goers that we are called to live faithfully and to live by Christ’s power on a higher plane, ultimately it appears there is no difference between church goers and non-church goers as it regards the experience of divorce. Why? Isn’t the answer in the fact that our humanity with its sinful tendencies gets in the way of our staying in a marriage when the going gets tough or we become unhappy.

Our humanity tells us that we have a right to be happy and that we should not have to bear too much pain. It doesn’t matter that we stood before the minister at our wedding and vowed before God and man to stay married “for better or worse” (i.e. words of faithfulness). I know that newlyweds have a hard time believing that the “worse” will come but it does. Doesn’t the worse include having a spouse who “falls out of love” with us or even worse, us falling out of love with our spouse? Doesn’t the phrase “for better or for worse” cover all of the circumstances which give rise to the often used excuse for divorce, “we grew apart”?

Faithfulness is fundamental to experiencing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives because faithfulness is a fundamental part of the nature of God which He wants to share with us. God is faithful. He keeps His word. He never breaks His promise, no matter what the cost to Him is personally. For example, He kept His promise to rescue us from our sins but it cost Him His Son. God will keep every promise He has ever made.

Yet it is hard for humans to keep their promises. We always find an excuse to give us a reason to break our promises. Yet God develops in us or wants to develop in us faithfulness which is to become foundational to our spiritual experience. We learn from Him to keep our word, our commitments and our promises. Fundamental Faithfulness means to learn God’s way when our humanity tells us to quit, to break our words or to forsake our vows.

One of the most memorable graduation addresses I heard was delivered by Bob Russell, former minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He spoke at a small Christian school and shared some background to his being at the school for that occasion. Bob who is an avid golfer, remarked that within days of accepting the offer to speak at the graduation, he was approached by certain golfing friends with an opportunity to play golf at the exclusive Augusta National Golf Course, the famed Georgia home of the Masters Golf Tournament. It was a once in a lifetime invitation. The problem was that the weekend available to him to play golf at Augusta was also the weekend of the graduation ceremony of the small Christian school to which he had already made a commitment. Bob’s graduation address focused on being faithful, no matter the cost. Bob spoke from experience because he had to choose between the once in a lifetime golf outing and speaking to a few hundred people at the graduation.

When we walk with God we learn of Him that keeping our word and our commitments leads to the highest order of life. We learn that keeping our promises even with accompanying and unexpected painful cost brings a level of satisfaction not otherwise gained.

My wife and I have a very strong marriage. It is my belief that should either of us become ill the other will faithfully minister to the one who is sick despite the sickness and the pain in both of us brought in the ministry by way of that sickness. We have had reason recently to be in several nursing home situations and have witnessed the beautiful testimony of husbands and wives ministering to their stricken spouses who not only do not know who the spouse is any more, they are often violent towards them because of the diseases (such as Alzheimer’s disease). It is sad but also incredible to see a husband feed his wife like a baby is fed. It is heartwarming and Godly to see a wife tend to the needs of her husband who has no idea who she is or that she is even there. That is faithfulness.

Fundamental Faithfulness is experienced when we allow God to change the core of who we are and we keep our word and every inference which flows from the promises we make.

eMullins

eMessage: “Other World Kindness” (Week of July 18, 2010)

Other World Kindness

We are considering the components of the fruit which is to develop in our lives by way of our walk with Christ. This week we come to the component of kindness. Galatians 5: 22-26 “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

We have to remind ourselves that the fruit we are to experience and which others are to see growing in our lives (as well as each component of that fruit) is to be more than that which comes through ordinary human development and experience. The fruit which God is developing in our lives is extraordinary in nature. It could not exist except that we have chosen to walk with God and have simultaneously allowed Him to bring His character into our lives.

Kindness that is to be seen in the lives of Christ followers is to be more than that which is seen in the good but unbelieving public. Kindness is the compassion which we are to have towards others. It is the feeling of goodwill or the desire that good happen in the lives of others by way of our action or assistance.

I suspect that for most of us the real test as it regards kindness is not whether the desire for good for others exists but rather for whom it exists and whether that group of people for whom we wish well is a growing list. It is not hard for us to wish our friends and family well. That comes naturally or at least more naturally. The more difficult kindness to experience is to see ourselves extending kindness to those who do not like us or who even hate us.

We often find that we have bought into the principle that we are to fight fire with fire or to repay in kind. Treat others as they have treated you. Yet the effect of God in our lives is to change us from the inside out so that we begin to care for those who even hate us.

When Jesus asked His Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him (Luke 23:34), we know that Christ spoke from His heart. When Stephen prayed that God would not hold the sin of murder against his murderers (Acts 7:60), he spoke with the kindness which comes from walking with Christ.

The real evidence of the kindness component of the fruit of the Spirit rising to Godly levels in our lives is to see our desire for good to come into the life of our enemies or those who are active in their hate for us. It is to act as Christ and Stephen did in the most difficult of circumstances. It is to repay acts of hatred perpetrated against us with acts of benevolence. It is to act for the benefit of others even as they act against our interests.
When others see this kind of action on our part aimed at the unloving and difficult persons of our world, they will act as is we have just arrived from outer space. In fact, the thought that we are from a different planet is not so far from reality. We are to be transformed by heaven rather than formed according to the pattern of this world. In that way, we are to become “other” world creatures engaging in “other” world activities and one of the significant ways in which we can exhibit this “other” worldliness is to be kind towards all men and women, even those who do not act kindly towards us.

So when was the last time you felt God prompt you to act kindly towards an enemy or someone who does not like you? When was the last time you anonymously blessed an enemy?

Enter into the experience of Other World Kindness.

eMullins

eMessage: “Faith-filled Patience” (Week of July 11, 2010)

eMessage
Faith-filled Patience

James 5:7 “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains..”

In considering the fruit of the Spirit we come to the component of that fruit identified as patience. What is
Patience? Consistent with the other components of this spiritual fruit to which we are called, it is that which we are to experience and others are to see in our lives and which comes by walking faithfully with Christ. Well, that’s the church meaning, anyway. The real meaning in my life on a good day is the ability to have a quiet and steady perseverance no matter how slowly things happen, while on a bad day it is the ability to suppress my restless nature and my annoyance when things do not happen quickly enough. The truth is that I get annoyed quickly when what I want is not done quickly. “Quickly” is defined on my time table, i.e. when I want it done.

But patience for believers has a deeper reality. When I look deeper into why patience exists or does not exist in my life, I find that so often it reflects my faith (or lack of faith) in God’s ability to get things done as well as His desire to get things done. Stated another way, the amount of patience in my life is so often a direct reflection of my faith in God as well as my understanding of His desires.

Let me illustrate it this way. If God told me that He would answer a specific prayer request of mine on a certain day in a certain month of this year, would I care if He answered the request at 6:00 in the morning or at 6:00 in the evening? No I would wait without frustration or annoyance until He moved to answer the prayer as He promised. Generally speaking the assurance that He is going to answer would bring patience to my life allowing me to pass 6:00 am on that day without worry knowing that God was going to answer sometime that day.

Let’s expand the illustration to assume that God told me He was going to get certain things done, things about which I cared deeply. Would I really care if He got them done next week or next year? In some cases, I would have a preference but ultimately I would leave it all to God and simply be ready to do my part in God’s plan.

God has never told me that He is going to answer one of my prayers of great concern on a certain date. Yet His assurances to a faith filled life of answering our prayers and accomplishing all things, according to His Will, bring the ability to wait on His timing and plans. The key is that I must have faith in God as well as an understanding that God cares more about things than I do.

There are three things about His nature which have brought greater patience into my life as compared to the times in my life before I learned these things about God. These three things have given me the ability to wait upon God and to calm in His plans and timing.

The first thing I learned about God which gave me greater patience is that God is truly in control. There is nothing which catches God by surprise. Unlike my own life which is filled with last minute surprises and carefully laid plans that are constantly in need of revision, there is nothing which catches God off guard. He never says, “Well, I didn’t see that one coming.” Nothing is beyond His ability. My impatience does not bring anything new to God’s attention-He already knows everything. He already has a plan for everything. Moreover, God sees everything from an eternal perspective and His plans are so superior to our own.

Secondly, I learned that the eternally valued things about which I care and about which I often become impatient, He cares about more than I do. For example, as much as I care about the salvation of my family, He cares about it more. My impatience did not help either the lost or God in any way or in any fashion. Please note being impatient for the lost is not the same as leaving the lost to their own devices at a time when God calls us clearly to share as we have opportunity. In fact my impatience to “bring the lost to the saving knowledge of Jesus” is often accompanied by poorly planned action and leads to frustration on the part of those with whom I share the gospel. I have found that God is more successful in reaching the lost through me when I am patient. The same analysis is applicable to my concern for loved ones who are sick or who are suffering great tragedy or etc. God works more effectively through us when we wait on His timing.

Often my impatience has to do with the urgent prayers that I raise to God. I often want to say to God, “God I am praying and I don’t see anything happening-that must mean you are not listening.” This leads to the third truth with which I had to wrestle. I learned that every prayer of the believer, even urgent prayers, is answered. God never ignores the prayers of His children. We may not get the answer we want nor get an answer in the time frame we want, but God is always going to answer us.

Someone has rightly said that God’s answer to our prayers will often be one of three answers, “Yes”, “No”, or “Wait”. Often we want to rush God. God has often had to say to me “Slow down Earl, I have this under control, be patient”. Yet, I want to say to God in further response, “But God, I don’t see anything happening.” By faith I have heard God gently reply, “But I do.”

Ultimately, patience is waiting on God’s timing. James, the New Testament writer used the common experience of the farmer waiting for the planted and desired harvest come in after a season of waiting occurs. I need to learn to wait for God’s season to arrive as it regards the things about which I so easily become impatient. Patience is having the faith to live out the truth that God is in charge, God cares more about eternal things than I do and lastly it is living out the truth that God answers every prayer.

Patience is faith-filled. The real question is do I trust God enough to wait on His timing?

eMullins

eMessage: “Abiding Peace” (Week of July 4, 2010)

Abiding Peace

Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”
We have been considering the components of the singular fruit which is to be seen in our lives as we walk with Christ. In Galatians 5:22-23 we read, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” In weeks past we have considered the nature of this fruit and specifically, the components of love and joy in this fruit. This week we consider the peace element of the fruit we are to exhibit in our Christian walk.

This element of the fruit speaks to the harmony in which we live. This harmony did not exist within us nor was it our experience prior to our receiving the gift of salvation from God through Jesus Christ and our beginning to walk by faith with Him. While we may have had some peace in our lives before salvation, it had to be incomplete because there was no resolution to our issues with God and eternity. Prior to that salvation experience we did not have harmony with God. We were distant to Him, even though as beings He created, we, like all humans, have a desire to go “to heaven”. Despite that desire, we cannot become heaven bound until we make peace with God.

There is a major difference in life which comes by knowing that matters are settled with God versus a life that has no idea of whether they will make it to heaven or not. There is a tranquility which arises once we know that we have accepted the invitation of God to go to heaven by accepting salvation in Jesus Christ. Once that matter is settled, there arises a new level of comfort previously not experienced. That newly found level of comfort or harmony with God (because the issue is settled) will be noticeable to those around us.
Perhaps you have had the experience of visiting with a family member or a close friend and as the visit continues you are able to tell that something is wrong. They may not be crying or voicing any complaint but nonetheless, you know that something is wrong. You can sense it in them.

From an opposite perspective, you and I have likely had the experience of seeing the relief in the life of someone who was struggling with a very important decision and who finally makes a decision. The decision seemed to interrupt most of their life and seemed to be ever present. However, once the decision is made the relief is evident.

So it is when we decide to walk faithfully with Christ and make Him Savior of our souls and Lord of our lives. The relief which comes from harmony with God ought to be palpable.

There are many church-attenders who are not experiencing or exhibiting the peace to which we refer and which God wants us to experience. Please know that I believe that all who are true followers of Christ will be a part of the local church which is a part of the body of Christ. However, not all people attending church are followers of Christ. Many have only made a partial decision. For example, many have made the decision to follow Christ on Sundays and they do pretty well on that day of the week. But the other days of the week are not spent following Christ and His commands. Complete and abiding peace does not come when we are only partial followers. Abiding peace and harmony comes not from attending church but from surrendering fully to Christ.

God’s desire is that we live in abiding peace because we have settled all accounts with God and are heaven bound by our decision to accept salvation in Christ Jesus.

Abiding peace-may it be our experience, visible to a world in desperate need of peace.

eMullins

eMessage: “Unfailing Joy” (Week of May 30, 2010)

Unfailing Joy

Psalm 51:11-13 “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.

We have been considering how our lives are changed because of our decision to follow Christ. As we follow Christ, our lives are visibly changed. The visible changes are first recognized by us but the changes should soon be recognizable and visible to others. In Galatians 5:22-23 Paul identifies the changes and calls the changes the fruit of the Spirit. Here are the words he was inspired to pen: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

The second component of the visible fruit of our journey of following and journeying with Christ through His Spirit is Joy. Joy is the natural emotion of being in the presence of Christ. It is the emotion of the journey. It is the spiritual feeling we have because we are accompanying and accompanied by Jesus. When we realize the presence of Christ, that presence of Him who will never leave nor forsake us, there is emotion. It is the comfort, the security, the delight, and the foundation of His presence in our lives.

Joy is not happiness. It may at times include happiness but joy allows for appropriate grief and sadness. Joy is not giddiness because joy has high moments but it also has disappointing moments. Joy is not euphoria but rather the quiet sustaining emotion of existence in His presence.

Joy has more to do with our understanding and sensing the presence of God in our lives moment by moment than it does with what God is allowing to happen in any given moment in our lives. It is the emotion which follows in knowing that God is in control even as difficult things happen in our lives.

I have seen the joy in the life of the widow or widower who has lost a long time spouse. Even as they grieve there is the emotion of appreciation for the years that God gave that couple here on earth. There is the emotion of the expectation of seeing that loved one again in heaven. There is Grief and Joy being experienced side by side but only so because God is with us and that makes the difference.

King David understands this emotion and expresses it often in the writing of his songs. For example in Psalm 16:11 David writes, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” David had a life which had tremendous highs as well as lows. Yet David confesses that his joy was to be in the presence of the Lord. As David refers to being filled with joy, there is no qualification as to whether this was a day full of mountain top experiences or whether he was in the valley on that day. The key to joy was not what was happening around him but rather whether he was in the presence of the Lord or not. When he was in Christ’s presence, there was a sense of joy no matter what was happening.

Nonetheless, there were times in David’s life (as in ours) when the joy David should have had was not present because David had not been following or journeying with the Lord appropriately. We can probably relate to David’s dilemma. I know I can relate to times when my joy component was far less than what it should be because there are times when my walk with the Lord becomes far less than what it should be. The formula is quite straight forward, i.e. less walk with God is followed by less joy.

It was in times of less joy that David would cry out as he did in the verses quoted above from Psalm 51. In the verses which preceded the cry “Restore me to the Joy of my salvation”, David records his sinful pattern of life. He acknowledges that he had gotten away from God. Please note that he was very likely still religious in that he went through the religious exercises of daily life (like going to the Temple regularly and having sacrifices offered) but his heart and mind were not in these activities nor were they focused on God.

It becomes evident that one of the first things to leave us when we leave a faithful walk with God is our joy. In some ways this component of the fruit of the Spirit is a test. If it is present it acts as evidence that we are walking with God. In the opposite sense it also acts as evidence if it is not present that our walk with God is not what it should be.

As you consider whether joy is the emotion of your journey because you are walking with Christ, this is a component which should be evident to those who know you best. Maybe the best test is to ask others around you, “Do you see joy in my life?” or “Has my joy diminished recently?” What would you family say in response? What would co-workers say in response? The question is not whether you have had hard times or not but rather whether there is the emotion of walking with Christ evident in your life.

Jesus wants us to have joy because we are walking with Him. He has joy when we walk with Him and He wants the emotion of the journey together to be mutual. Here are the words of the Apostle John – “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:10-12

Joy-the feeling we have of His unfailing presence with us and in us. May your life be filled with Joy in His presence as you journey with Him.

eMullins

eMessage: Excelling Love (Week of May 23, 2010)

I Corinthians 13: 8, 13 “Love never fails.” and “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

It came as a shock to me when I discovered that my mother had lied to me. When I was young and visiting on the farm of my maternal grandparents in the summer, I would delight in eating watermelon. My mother would say to me’ “Don’t eat the watermelon seeds or else you will have watermelon growing out your ears.” She lied. Maybe I should not have eaten the seeds but I later discovered that watermelon will not grow out of a person simply because one has eaten the seeds.

In fact there is no amount of association with the watermelon, whether eating seeds or sleeping in the watermelon patch or anything else which will cause a person to turn into or become a watermelon. No amount of association with the watermelon will make us more like a watermelon. No amount of surrender to the watermelon patch will make us like a watermelon.

However, the same is not true for association with Christ. A true and proper association with Him does make us Christ-like. Our journey with Him on a surrendered basis does change us and make us more like Him. The change in our lives is to be evident to ourselves as well as to those who have opportunity to observe us.

The Apostle Paul identifies the fruit of change which others should see in our lives. In Galatians 5:22-23 Paul is inspired to write the following: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” It is necessary to note that the fruit which is to be evident in our lives is a singular fruit. Paul’s insight is not declaring the existence of nine (9) fruits in our lives but rather one (1) fruit with nine (9) distinctive characteristics.

These nine distinctive characteristics combined as one (1) fruit are those which we should recognize growing in our lives and should also be seen by others. This fruit with its nine (9) characteristics are made distinctive by two elements. The first element is its presence in our lives. The second element is the source from which the fruit comes.

Paul speaks to this fruit and its characteristics noting that the very presence of the fruit is noteworthy. Paul’s teaching is that the presence of this fruit (which comes because of our communion and journey with Christ) is astonishing from the human perspective. Its existence in our lives is noteworthy because it should not otherwise be present and would not be present except God produces it in us.

Secondly, the source of the fruit and its components is God. Since it is from God it will honor and be worthy of Him. God never desires to produce incomplete fruit in our lives or change our lives in any way which is less than honorable. He always produces fruit which brings glory to Him. He does not desire to produce half-baked fruit. If there is incompleteness or “half baked fruit” it will be because of what we are doing to inhibit the production of His fruit.
Let’s consider the first characteristic of this fruit listed by Paul in the Galatians passage quoted above-Love. The love component of the fruit of the Spirit which is to be seen in our lives is extra-ordinary love. It is the love which comes only from God. As Christians who are walking with Jesus and evidencing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, we are to be seen as more than loving people. There are loving non-believers. We are to be more than them in regards to our loving ability. We are to have excelling love.

The love component of the fruit of the Spirit is love which God describes as follows: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” I Corinthians 13:4-8

This is the kind of love which when walking with God, He will produce in our lives. It is love which is heavenly in nature in that it flows from God. It is not the sensual based love which is consuming and killing our culture nor is it the love of friends. It is the strong yet graceful love of God. It is the merciful yet just love of God. It is the disciplined but forgiving love of God. It is the possessive and persevering love of God.

It is evidenced when we love those who do not love us. It is seen when we love the unlovable. It is experienced when we love those who are harming us. It is excelling love. Do we individually love the unlovable? Do we as a church love the unlovable? When was the last time we were willing to be incredibly uncomfortable on behalf of someone else motivated by love?
Forgive a personal example, but I marvel at how my wife works patiently with her mother who is frequently combative as she suffers the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. My wife grieves over her mother’s inability to control her emotions, language and actions. Yet she continues to stand by and assist her mother even as the tears fall down my wife’s face and even as her mother says very hurtful things to her. That is excelling love. It is staying motivated by heaven’s love when you could leave. It is working for the benefit of someone who will never say “Thank you”. It is blessing someone who hatefully curses you.

God’s excelling love, which rises above, is to be what we experience and share with others. How different the world would be if we as Christians really had excelling love in our lives and had such to the extent that God wants to give to us. It would be a different world, indeed- God’s excelling love poured into our lives which then moves us into action where the world will see the heavenly character of God in us.

eMullins

eMessage: Evidence to Others (Week of May 16, 2010)

Walking With God – Evidence to Others

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
This is the final week of considering how our walk with God changes us. Last week we considered how that change has a very personal component. This week we move to consider how our walk with God ought to be evident to others. If we are truly changed, the changes ought to be evident to others who have an opportunity to observe us.

The familiar passage of scripture above speaks to the changes which should occur in our lives as we walk with the Spirit of God. The concept of the Spirit producing “fruit” gives us some insight to the changes we are to experience. The fruit will mean something to the tree upon which it is produced because it is a significant change from prior experience (i.e. prior to the experience of the Spirit). The concept revealed in the passage above is that the fruit now appearing did not appear before or, in the alternative, the fruit which did appear previously was of inferior quality.

The other concept that we focus upon this week is that the outside world can now tell what kind of a “tree” exists because of the nature and quality of the fruit which is now showing (and hopefully growing). Fruit is more often than not a visible sign to the outside world. It tells the outside world so much about the tree.

Among the things which fruit tells the world is that the tree is alive. Dead trees do not bear fruit. The opposite corollary is also true-live and healthy trees bear fruit. The presence of fruit is a sign of life and health.

The fruit also tells the nature of the tree. Apples do not grow on pear trees and vice versa. You can tell that you are seeing an apple tree by the apple fruit. The apple tree already knows that it is an apple tree but the outside world may not be able to tell until the fruit appears and then the question is settled.

These two principles relate to our walk with Christ. As we walk with Christ, “Christ” (or “Christ-like”) fruit is born. We will give evidence of our life in Christ and walk with Him by the presence of and nature of the fruit our lives exhibit. We can say that we are walking with Christ but if the fruit is not there then we are lying to ourselves and others. Our claims of walking with Him must be borne out by more than our word, it must be present in our fruit.
But the question remains: What is the “fruit” that needs to be seen by others in our lives which evidences a close walk with Christ? The answer comes from God through the words He gave His servant, Paul, to share with the churches in the Galatian region of Asia Minor. Let me repeat these words: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5: 22-23) Walking with Christ should produce this fruit in our lives.

Think with me this week about whether the fruit identified above is present in our lives. Next week we will look more closely at the “fruit of the Spirit” which is obtained by walking with Christ and which others should see in us.

Until then-be fruitful because you are walking with Christ.

eMullins

eMessage: Personal Evidence of Walking with God (Week of May 9, 2010)

Galatians 5:25 “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Last week I asked that we take some time and consider the evidence we see in our own lives which comes only because are walking with God. Of course, there will be no evidence of being in His presence or walking with Him if such is not the case. Be reminded that an occasional visit with God is far different from and produces far less evidence and change than walking with Him daily. The personal impact of daily interaction with Him and walking by His side is far greater than that of an occasional conference with Him. An occasional conference may (and I stress may) have its rewards but they are significantly limited as compared to the rewards of journeying in step with God.

Because of the significant rewards of walking with Him, God is very clear in His challenge for us to stay in step with Him. As we stay in step, we find our lives are changed. The change is universal in that there is no part of our lives which is left untouched. Our close journey with Him changes our heart and our minds. It changes what we see in the world and how we see the world. It changes our view of money and our view of value. It changes our level of commitment to our family and the family of God. It changes our consideration of earthly governments and our desire for heaven’s abodes.
The changes which come by walking with Him are intense and undeniable. When the changes start by way of walking with Him, we will not have to guess whether we are changing and neither will we have to guess as to the cause of the changes. We will know that we are being changed by Him. It will be the undeniable evidence of time with Him.

The changes within us are often personal. They may be evident to others but they will mean so much to us. The changes within us will always be needed but the changes may be different from one person to the next. What God needs to change in me may be dynamically different from what He needs to change in others.

Please forgive the personal references which follow but I want to share a couple ways in which my journey with Him have changed me. Many of you who have heard me preach know that I often get emotional and often I will be very teary. It has not always been that way. When I first began preaching I felt it was inappropriate to become emotional. I had an intense delivery and it was a “hell fire and brimstone” approach and tone.

Yet over time spent with God, I was changed and the change was needed. It is not necessary for every preacher to become emotional but it was for me. God needed to break my pride which exhibited itself by being in control in front of audiences as I shared the word of God. I needed to share God’s heart which weeps for the lost and for me it was being changed to cry when I share His Word.

Another way in which I have been changed has been my bend towards legalism. I used to be very legalistic. I was concerned for anyone who did not worship like the church I attended worshipped. I was sure churches that did not have Sunday night and Wednesday night services were lesser parts of God’s family. I was sure that the acapella style of worship was the only acceptable style before God. I needed to be changed and so as I walked with God, He changed me. He took me to other countries and to wonderful, inspiring Christian people in country and out whom He used to open my eyes to so much more than my very, very small world and understanding. If you had asked me twenty years ago if I would be ministering at a wonderful, contemporary, nontraditional church in Crawford County, Indiana I would have asked if you had lost your mind. I was sure I would never be in that kind of a church.

Not only am I in that kind of a church, I am having the time of my life. However, for me to be at Hillview Christian and feeling the incredible blessing of calling this congregation my church home, God had to change me and He did.

Thank you God for the changes you have made in me. The changes You made are so sweet and satisfying to my soul.

Even as I confess the changes He has made to me, I hear His loving voice say to me, “Shall we walk so more and go further?” As I say “Yes” to Him, I know there is more changes in store.

In the week to come, consider with me how the changes He has made in us are also visible to those who have opportunity to observe and know us. When God changes us, it becomes obvious to those around us.
Until then will you join me in saying to our loving God “Lead on, I will keep step with You.”

eMullins

eUpdate: “Walking with God” (Week of May 2, 2010)

Walking with God

Micah 6:8 “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Walking through the woods or over farmland has been an activity which I have enjoyed since I was a small child. In the days of my youth, my parents would take long “hikes” over the farm property of my grandparents in Central Kentucky and my brothers, sisters and I would delight in joining them for those long walks. Even though I rarely have the opportunity anymore for long walks in the woods or over farmland (now replaced by long walks hunting my golf balls in the oddest places on a golf course), I nonetheless continue to enjoy this activity when the occasion arises.

Often times when we as a family “hiked”, we came back home with evidence of where we had walked. That evidence was often in the form of the distinctive smells of the honeysuckle covering us or the “stickers” or thorn like attachments to our clothing. Sometimes the evidence was the mud on our pants or the small pieces of hay from a mown field stuck in our shoes. Often it was the remnant water from the creek now drying from our clothes.

I heard of a family who walked over their farm and were confronted by a skunk which proceeded to protect itself and territory in skunk like fashion. You can only imagine how they came home with evidence of their walk. It didn’t take others any amount of time to understand what had happened. Thus the phrase- “the smell will tell” (in case it isn’t obvious-I just made that phrase up).

Spiritually,God calls us to walk with Him. He has provided a way through Jesus Christ for us to walk in fellowship with Him. That walk rightfully exercised will be humble. That means we recognize the right to be with Him is not a right we naturally have nor a right we have earned, rather it is a right He has given.

Nonetheless and despite the fact it is a right we have only by way of His gracious gift, it nonetheless brings us to a unique position with Him. We are not distant from Him, rather we are with Him. Being with Him is described in the verses above as “walking” with Him. My mind returns to my childhood memories of walks with the family. I was with my family and in the same way God wants us to be like family walking with Him.

As there was evidence of where my family and I had walked when I was a child roaming over the farm, isn’t there evidence of our being beside God? Isn’t there noticeable evidence of our special time with Him and being in His presence in a very special way? Isn’t it something that others should see to some extent? I believe that our walking with God leaves much evidence on our being. I believe that evidence is clear, first to be seen and appreciated by us and then to be seen and appreciated to some extent by others.

What would that evidence be? What evidence of our walking with God be?

Next week we will look at some of the evidence we should see. The evidence, whatever it is, should be visible first to us before it is to others. Moreover, the weight and impact of the evidence should mean more to us even though it may have great influence and impact on others. It is our personal evidence and that should mean more to us than to anyone else. So let’s look together for the evidences that should mark our lives because we are walking with God.
This coming week be very attentive to God’s desire that we walk with Him and how that activity marks or impacts our lives.

“Walking with God”, what a delight and undeserved privilege which brings rewards for our time on earth as well as our future in heaven.

More next week.
eMullins