“The peace of God that passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.” These are the words often spoken at the end of a sermon as a blessing on the message that has been delivered. Peace with God is the mighty work of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection that is proclaimed in our preaching. The peace of God is the frame of heart and mind that let’s us approach the Jesus Adventure with humble, bold confidence. The peace of God comes as you believe more and more that “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32 ESV).

Welcome

“The fruit of the Spirit” is singular, not plural. This is not a potluck where some have love, others have joy, and still others peace. The attributes listed in Galatians 5 (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) are all different dimensions and aspects of THE fruit of the Spirit. This Way of Life series is like holding a diamond up to light and looking at one brilliant facet after another, each reflecting the light of the gemstone. Joy is often confused with happiness. But happiness depends on circumstances. Joy is the ability to have hope, confidence, and courage, regardless of the circumstances. The joy we have comes from our identity and ultimate security in Jesus Christ.

The Way of Life will conclude the series we’ve been calling, The Jesus Adventure. It began in January looking at Jesus’ proclamation: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

The kingdom of God is the world put right. Jesus’ real presence in the world brings the kingdom of God into our experience when we repent (turn away from our personal kingdom building) and follow him into the kingdom he has prepared (by believing the gospel, which is his life, death and resurrection that works our forgiveness and eternal life). Therefore, we are called to repent and believe. We are equipped by the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus. We are sent out into the world as living testimonies that the kingdom is present and accessible to all by faith in Jesus. And we are restored again and again as we fail to follow consistently.

To embed the pattern of Called → Equipped → Sent → and Restored we have explored The Way of Worship, The Way of Wisdom, The Way of Service, and The Way of Fellowship. Now it’s time to put all the pieces together and see what it looks like in The Way of Life. In this series we will explore the fruit of the Spirit listed by Paul in his letter to the Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 22-23: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

The Way of Life will conclude the series we’ve been calling, The Jesus Adventure. It began in January looking at Jesus’ proclamation: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

The kingdom of God is the world put right. Jesus’ real presence in the world brings the kingdom of God into our experience when we repent (turn away from our personal kingdom building) and follow him into the kingdom he has prepared (by believing the gospel, which is his life, death and resurrection that works our forgiveness and eternal life). Therefore, we are called to repent and believe. We are equipped by the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus. We are sent out into the world as living testimonies that the kingdom is present and accessible to all by faith in Jesus. And we are restored again and again as we fail to follow consistently.

To embed the pattern of Called → Equipped → Sent → and Restored we have explored The Way of Worship, The Way of Wisdom, The Way of Service, and The Way of Fellowship. Now it’s time to put all the pieces together and see what it looks like in The Way of Life. In this series we will explore the fruit of the Spirit listed by Paul in his letter to the Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 22-23: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

As we conclude The Way of Fellowship today, a remarkable new perspective on people opens up before us. In Christ we become so confident, so secure, in our personal identity. We become humble and yet bold, in our relationships to one another, that we can be genuinely open to others, even to strangers. Fellow believers whom we have never met are, in fact, our brothers and sisters in Christ. With those who have not yet come to know Jesus we share the common experience of being sinners in need of grace. The Way of Fellowship welcomes strangers.

As we conclude The Way of Fellowship today, a remarkable new perspective on people opens up before us. In Christ we become so confident, so secure, in our personal identity. We become humble and yet bold, in our relationships to one another, that we can be genuinely open to others, even to strangers. Fellow believers whom we have never met are, in fact, our brothers and sisters in Christ. With those who have not yet come to know Jesus we share the common experience of being sinners in need of grace. The Way of Fellowship welcomes strangers.

The Way of Fellowship is created and sustained only by the presence of Jesus in our lives. Perhaps the most challenging part of this new relationship is the responsibility we now have. Not only to encourage one another, but also to hold one another accountable as followers of Jesus. Only the power of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection at work in us is strong enough to enable humble interaction. That interaction leaves us to be “transformed by the renewal of our minds” (Romans 12:2). Only the Holy Spirit can “create in us a new heart and renew a right spirit within us” (Psalm 51:10). In Christ alone we are daily being made into new creations, “spurring one another on to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24).

The Way of Fellowship is created and sustained only by the presence of Jesus in our lives. Perhaps the most challenging part of this new relationship is the responsibility we now have. Not only to encourage one another, but also to hold one another accountable as followers of Jesus. Only the power of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection at work in us is strong enough to enable humble interaction. That interaction leaves us to be “transformed by the renewal of our minds” (Romans 12:2). Only the Holy Spirit can “create in us a new heart and renew a right spirit within us” (Psalm 51:10). In Christ alone we are daily being made into new creations, “spurring one another on to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24).

Fellowship is an eternal relationship that not even the grave can undo. We are bound together in Christ, not just for a season, or in one specific place, but for eternity. In the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper we say, “Therefore with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven we laud and magnify your glorious name evermore praising you and say, “Holy, holy, holy…”. To understand this reality changes the way we think about treating one another. “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal” (CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory).