Thursday, Sept 24, 2020
Dear Church,
It was good to gather last week to worship together. It was an additional blessing to celebrate with Derek and Janelle the dedication of Abigail. We pray God’s continued blessing on Abigail as she grows up.
Picking up on last week’s sermon I wanted to write about the theme of walking in step with the gospel. Last week we saw Paul call out Peter for not walking in step with the truth of the gospel in Galatians 2:11-14. Peter was living in a way that was undermining the gospel he preached. This is a danger for all of us. We can fall into patterns and behaviours that go against what we say we believe. The best way to tell we are doing this is by looking at the fruit of our lives. These are symptoms of our spiritual health.
In order to find out if we are sick physically the doctor spends a lot of time asking about how we are feeling and about our symptoms in order to see if we are healthy. One of the things this pandemic has shown us is how seriously we take our physical health. We will go to extremes, shutting down our country to protect our health. I wonder if we take our spiritual health with the same seriousness. Surely, we should as Christians. If we take care of our bodies which will pass away, how much more should we care for our souls which are eternal?
It’s important that we be aware of our spiritual symptoms that warn us when we have fallen out of step with the gospel of grace. It is also helpful as a test to let us know what it looks like to be spiritually healthy. Last week we saw three negative ‘symptoms’ that Peter experienced (on the left side of the table below). We also examined the contrasting example of Paul, who bore fruit in step with the gospel (on the right side of the table below).
Spiritual ‘Symptom Checker’:
| The fear of man We care more about what we or other people think than what God thinks. We follow our own opinions and the opinions of others over what we read in God’s Word. | The fear of God We place our confidence in God’s approval over man’s. We follow God’s Word over our own opinions and the opinions of others. |
| Hypocrisy We are engaged in activities which we know are wrong. We make a show of our ‘good’ deeds to make us seem better than we are. | Integrity We walk in the truth and in the light seeking to live for God. We practice what we preach. |
| Division We are exclusive and are quick to divide rather than seek unity in Christ. | Unity We seek to walk in love and unity with all our brothers and sisters in Christ regardless of human differences. |
I encourage you as you look at this list to ask God to show you your own heart. Are there any areas God is calling you to change? Are you spiritually healthy and living in step with the gospel? May God give us his grace to be the people he has called us to be in Christ this week.
In Christ,
Taylor Ewert