
PRAYER
Lord our God,
we, Your people, come to You this day
fully aware that we need your presence and your help in our lives,
yet aware also that we often fail to stop and turn to you for that help.
We get caught up in the troubles and the turmoils of daily living—
we become busy with the goals that we have set for ourselves
and those that come to us from our work, families, and friends.
We strive to be loving,
we seek joy and peace,
we desire to be gentle and patient and kind,
to show goodness and to have self-control—
and yet these things all too often elude us.
Help us, Lord, to root ourselves more deeply in you;
to seek your will for our lives;
to stop and to listen for your voice when we are troubled;
to fully rely on you when we strive to do what is right;
to remember you and trust in you when we are assaulted;
to meditate on your goodness and your gracious will when we begin each day—
so that, like trees by a stream which send down their roots to the water,
we may produce by your power the fruit of your Spirit.
May your will be done in us and by us,
both now and forevermore.
Amen.
SERMON
POINT: Character is the combination of qualities or traits that make up an individual’s
“Our character is not merely the result of our choices, but rather the form our agency takes through our beliefs and intentions. So understood, the idea of agency helps us see that our character is not a surface manifestation of some deeper reality called the “self.” We are our character.” —Stanley Hauerwas, The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics
QUESTION: What should we be doing? How should we get there?
Galatians 5:22-25 NRSV
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
1 John 4:7-12 NRSV
Beloved, let us love one another because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.
1 John 4:16-21 NRSV
So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
Two kinds of love to think about:
1. The love we give.
2. The love we receive.
POINT: Faith is about