Luke 6: Have Mercy

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, 13 July 2025 by Major Michael Ramsay

 

Last week we spoke about forgiveness.[1] I shared many stories from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. I cut the sermon short in interest of time. There are many more stories to tell. Forgiveness and Mercy I believe are central to all of Christianity and without it there is no future. To experience the joys of the Kingdom of God we need to live in a world of forgiveness. Jesus says, Luke 6:27-30: “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back;” Luke 6:35-36: “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

 

You know that Susan and Heather have been away for a few weeks. As well as visiting family in Victoria, we have been staying in various campgrounds: the previous two weeks we were an hour or so west of Campbell River and before that Raftrevor. I have been splitting my time between being with them and coming into work here: it was much easier when they were in Raftrevor than an hour west of Campbell River – also there were outlets and internet in Raftrevor! Next week they are 3 plus hours away – I will wind up spending more time here, while they are there. There is much to do (this week: volunteer appreciation, Summer Rain, Colour Fest, …) and it is challenging to be in two places at the same time – but it is good to spend family time camping outside and in the weather.

 

The other week when we were in one campsite a family moved into the adjoining site for the evening. They were a husband and wife, a seven-year-old and a four-year-old from California. He is a carpenter, and she is a university professor; the mother is fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English and Dad is bilingual Spanish and English. I laughed in joy as I said “your kids have got it made! Carpenter, College professor, multi-lingual.” Maybe. The conversation then shifted to what is happening in the USA right now and California specifically. ICE agents are active on the college campuses. Her students are afraid. Especially Spanish speaking people and people of colour: they are carrying passports around with them. She said even university professor colleagues are afraid if they aren’t from the USA. (My cousin is a Math professor in Oregon. I know he is also really concerned.)

 

They told me what things were like for them in California, speaking other languages, and mom and children being Asian in appearance. One story they told me was horrific and at first, I missed the punch line. They said that a year ago when they were going home to the USA, they were stopped at the border. Mom was driving. The border guards saw her and her children and moved them to a particular line of vehicle traffic. They noticed that everyone in that line was a person of colour. The customs official then saw dad, who is ‘white’ in appearance and moved them to the other line. This struck me as horrible. I immediately thought of the stars that the Nazis placed on people in the 1930s and the radio shows in Rwanda in the 1990s, Apartheid in South Africa; post 9-11, McCarthyism, or so many other examples from the USA. The kicker for me in what they were telling me about crossing the boarder was this: that horrendous event, that racial segregation at the border, that was from before Donald Trump was re-elected. The USA has been walking down this road for a while now.

 

Also highlighted in the news lately is ethnic cleansing / genocide that has been continuing in Gaza and Palestine for decades. I have one horrific story from an Israeli attack on a hospital that I will share with you another time – the theme of that story is how Israel’s bombing of a hospital on live TV and the killing of a Palestinian doctor’s daughters’ saved the lives of many; just as Rome and Israel’s killing of our Heavenly Father’s Son made it possible for us all to be saved.

 

My story today is as told by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I have been reading a lot of his writings lately – I have been camping with no internet! - he tells us Bassam Aramin’s story[2]:

 

At the age of twelve, Bassam Aramin watched as another boy his age was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier. In that moment, he felt a “deep need for revenge” and joined a group of freedom fighters in Hebron. Some called him a terrorist, but he felt he was fighting for his safety, his home, and his right to be free. At seventeen, he was caught planning an attack on Israeli troops and sentenced to seven years in prison. In prison, he only learned to hate more as he was stripped naked and beaten by his prison guards. “They were beating us without hatred, because for them this was just a training exercise and they saw us as objects.”

 

While in prison, Bassam engaged in a dialogue with his Israeli guard. Each thought the other was the “terrorist” and each equally denied being the “settler” in the land they shared. Through their conversations, they realized how much they had in common with the other. For Bassam, it was the first time he recalls feeling empathy in his life.

 

Seeing the transformation that took place between him and his captor, as they recognized their shared humanity, Bassam realized that violence could never bring peace. This realization changed his life.

 

In 2005, Bassam Aramin cofounded a group called Combatants for Peace. He [had] not picked up a weapon since, and for Bassam this [was] not a sign of weakness but of true strength. [Then…] In 2007, Bassam’s ten-year-old daughter, Abir, was shot by an Israeli soldier as she stood outside her school. Bassam says, “Abir’s murder could have led me down the easy path of hatred and vengeance, but for me there was no return from dialogue and nonviolence. After all, it was one Israeli soldier who shot my daughter, but one hundred former Israeli soldiers who built a garden in her name at the school where she was murdered.”6

 

Forgiveness is not weakness. Bassam Aramin could have given into the same temptations that, after decades of children and friends being murdered by Israeli soldiers and politicians, Hamas did this past year. But how could that help? “Retaliation gives, at best, only momentary respite from our pain. The only way to experience healing and peace is to forgive. Until we can forgive, we remain locked in our pain and locked out of the possibility of experiencing healing and freedom, locked out of the possibility of being at peace.”[3]

 

Hamas drank the poison of vengeance and are suffering because of it. Israel is actively using their response as an excuse to continue and to intensify its holocaust, its genocide. Since the day of vengeance, Israel has slaughtered more than 57 645 Palestinians – not including the Syrians, people from Yemen, Iranians and the others they have murdered – all with the blessing and/or material assistance from Canada, by the way.

 

Jesus says, “… Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them…love your enemies, do good to them… Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:27-30).

 

Bassam Aramin, who cofounded Combatants for Peace, has used his own powerful story of recognizing the humanity of his enemies to create an organization devoted to dialogue, reconciliation, and nonviolence. This organization is run by former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters who say, “After brandishing weapons for so many years, and having seen one another only through weapon sights, we have decided to put down our guns and to fight for peace.”[4]

 

If one person can put down his weapon, so can 100; and if 100 people can, so can a thousand; and if a thousand can, why not 10 thousand? And if 10 thousand can, why not the whole world? Mercy and forgiveness can transform the world. Forgiveness and mercy can transform our whole selves, our whole lives. Pertaining to our own lives here, Quoting again from Archbishop Tutu[5]:

If you are standing before me, beaten and bleeding, I cannot tell you to forgive. I cannot tell you to do anything, since you are the one who was beaten. If you have lost a loved one, I cannot tell you to forgive. You are the person who has lost a loved one. If your spouse betrayed you, if you were abused as a child, if you have endured any of the myriad injuries humans can inflict upon one another, I cannot tell you what to do. But I can tell you that it all matters. Whether we love or we hate, whether we help or we harm, it all matters. I can tell you that I hope, if I am the one who is beaten and bloodied, I will be able to forgive and pray for my abuser. I hope that I would be able to recognize him as my brother and as a precious child of God. I hope I never give up on the reality that every person has the capacity to change.

 

[Maybe] We can’t create a world without pain or loss or conflict or hurt feelings, but we can create a world of forgiveness. We can create a world of forgiveness that allows us to heal from those losses and pain and repair our relationships

 

That is what Jesus invites us to: He invites us to His Kingdom of Forgiveness where we forgive others as our Heavenly Father forgives us. He invites us to His Kingdom where we live out a life of forgiveness, offering hope to those who seemingly have no hope; love to those some consider unloveable, and the peace of Christ, to all we meet.

 

So to us today I say this: if you are hurting from the pain of unforgiveness – it is a terrible pain; it is a terrible pain and Christ can heal you and He will heal us as we ask Him, He promises. If you would like to be freed from the burden of hate, unforgiveness, and sin; if you would like to be free to from the power of your oppressor and if you would like to be free to love your neighbour as yourself, please pray with me:

 

Dear Lord, please help me to forgive all those who have done big, small, horrible and other things to myself, those I love, and others. Please help me to be free of the chains of hate and unforgiveness. Please help to love my brother and sister and fellow human being dearly as You love me, so that indeed I may finally be free.

 

In Jesus’ Name.

Amen

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[1] Ramsay, Major Michael. Luke 23: 32-46: Forgiveness. Presented to TSA AV Ministries, 06 July 2025 https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2025/07/luke-23-32-46-forgiveness.html

[2] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 34-35

[3] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 32

[4] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 35

[5] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014),224

Luke 23: 32-46: Forgiveness

Presented to TSA AV Ministries, 06 July 2025 by Major Michael Ramsay

 

“Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” (v.34)

“I tell you the truth today, you will be with me in paradise.” (v.43)

 

Jesus on the cross, according to Luke, offered forgiveness to two groups of people, who did two different things. One was the person being executed for a capital offense. A criminal who deserved his sentence. The other: people who hurt Jesus personally. People who hurt people Jesus loved. People who killed – or were in the process of killing and/or having Jesus killed.

 

“HE HAD MANY WOUNDS.” She spoke with the precision of a coroner. “In the upper abdomen were five wounds. These wounds indicated that different weapons were used to stab him, or a group of people stabbed him.” Mrs. Mhlawuli continued her harrowing testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission [in South Africa]. She spoke about the disappearance and murder of her husband, Sicelo. “In the lower part, he also had wounds. In total, there were forty-three. They poured acid on his face. They chopped off his right hand just below the wrist. I don’t know what they did with that hand.” A wave of horror and nausea rose in me, writes Archbishop Desmund Tutu in “The Book of Forgiving” which he wrote with his daughter Mpho

 

Now it was nineteen-year-old Babalwa’s turn to speak. She was eight when her father died. Her brother was only three. She described the grief, police harassment, and hardship in the years since her father’s death. And then she said, “I would love to know who killed my father. So would my brother.” Her next words stunned me and left me breathless. “We want to forgive them. We want to forgive, but we don’t know who to forgive.”

 

As chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, [Archbishop Desmund Tutu writes] I have often been asked how the people of South Africa were able to forgive the atrocities and injustices they suffered under apartheid. Our journey in South Africa was quite long and treacherous. Today it is hard to believe that, up until our first democratic election in 1994, ours was a country that institutionalized racism, inequality, and oppression. In apartheid South Africa only white people could vote, earn a high-quality education, and expect advancement or opportunity. There were decades of protest and violence. Much blood was shed during our long march to freedom. When, at last, our leaders were released from prison, it was feared that our transition to democracy would become a bloodbath of revenge and retaliation. Miraculously we chose another future. We chose forgiveness. At the time, we knew that telling the truth and healing our history was the only way to save our country from certain destruction. We did not know where this choice would lead us. The process we embarked on through the TRC was, as all real growth proves to be, astoundingly painful and profoundly beautiful.”[i]

 

Most of my words in this sermon are not my own. Most of them are taken from “The Book of Forgiving”. I just found the stories Desmond Tutu and his daughter Mpho shared so powerful that I have left much of this sermon in their own voices.

 

Desmond Tutu writes, “I have also been asked what I learned about forgiveness from that experience and from the many places I have visited during my life where there has been conflict and suffering, from Northern Ireland to Rwanda… How do we forgive?

 

There are days when I wish I could erase from my mind all the horrors I have witnessed. It seems there is no end to the creative ways we humans can find to hurt each other, and no end to the reasons we feel justified in doing so. There is also no end to the human capacity for healing. In each of us, there is an innate ability to create joy out of suffering, to find hope in the most hopeless of situations, and to heal any relationship in need of healing.

 

I would like to share with you two simple truths:

1)    there is nothing that cannot be forgiven, and

2)    there is no one undeserving of forgiveness.

When you can see and understand that we are all bound to one another—whether by birth, by circumstance, or simply by our shared humanity—then you will know this to be true. I have often said that in South Africa there would have been no future without forgiveness. Our rage and our quest for revenge would have been our destruction. This is as true for us individually as it is for us globally.

 

There have been times when each and every one of us has needed to forgive. There have also been times when each and every one of us has needed to be forgiven. And there will be many times again. In our own ways, we are all broken. Out of that brokenness, we hurt others. Forgiveness is the journey we take toward healing the broken parts. It is how we become whole again."[ii]

 

"In South Africa, we chose to seek forgiveness rather than revenge. That choice averted a bloodbath. For every injustice, there is a choice. As we have said, you can choose forgiveness or revenge, but revenge is always costly. Choosing forgiveness rather than retaliation ultimately serves to make you a stronger and freer person. Peace always comes to those who choose to forgive. While both Mpho and I have seen the effects of drinking the bitter poison of anger and resentment—seen how it corrodes and destroys from the inside out—we have also seen the sweet balm of forgiveness soothe and transform even the most virulent situations. This is why we can say there is hope."[iii]

 

"In South Africa, Ubuntu is our way of making sense of the world. The word literally means “humanity.” It is the philosophy and belief that a person is only a person through other people. In other words, we are human only in relation to other humans. Our humanity is bound up in one another, and any tear in the fabric of connection between us must be repaired for us all to be made whole. This interconnectedness is the very root of who we are.

 

To walk the path of forgiveness is to recognize that your crimes harm you as they harm me. To walk the path of forgiveness is to recognize that my dignity is bound up in your dignity, and every wrongdoing hurts us all."[iv]

 

Tutu writes: "THERE WERE SO MANY NIGHTS when I, as a young boy, had to watch helplessly as my father verbally and physically abused my mother. I can still recall the smell of alcohol, see the fear in my mother’s eyes, and feel the hopeless despair that comes when we see people we love hurting each other in incomprehensible ways. I would not wish that experience on anyone, especially not a child. If I dwell in those memories, I can feel myself wanting to hurt my father back, in the same ways he hurt my mother, and in ways of which I was incapable as a small boy. I see my mother’s face and I see this gentle human being whom I loved so very much and who did nothing to deserve the pain inflicted upon her.

 

When I recall this story, I realize how difficult the process of forgiving truly is. Intellectually, I know my father caused pain because he was in pain. Spiritually, I know my faith tells me my father deserves to be forgiven as God forgives us all. But it is still difficult. The traumas we have witnessed or experienced live on in our memories. Even years later they can cause us fresh pain each time we recall them.

 

Are you hurt and suffering? Is the injury new, or is it an old unhealed wound? Know that what was done to you was wrong, unfair, and undeserved. You are right to be outraged. And it is perfectly normal to want to hurt back when you have been hurt. But hurting back rarely satisfies. We think it will, but it doesn’t. If I slap you after you slap me, it does not lessen the sting I feel on my own face, nor does it diminish my sadness as to the fact you have struck me. Retaliation gives, at best, only momentary respite from our pain. The only way to experience healing and peace is to forgive. Until we can forgive, we remain locked in our pain and locked out of the possibility of experiencing healing and freedom, locked out of the possibility of being at peace.

 

Without forgiveness, we remain tethered to the person who harmed us. We are bound with chains of bitterness, tied together, trapped. Until we can forgive the person who harmed us, that person will hold the keys to our happiness; that person will be our jailor. When we forgive, we take back control of our own fate and our feelings. [Christ lets us] become our own liberators. We don’t forgive to help the other person. We don’t forgive for others. We forgive for ourselves. Forgiveness, in other words, is the best form of self-interest."[v]

 

That is all fine and good but, you may ask, ‘why should I forgive so and so’; ‘does everyone deserve forgiveness?’ Is anyone beyond forgiveness?

 

“What about evil, you may ask? Aren’t some people just evil, just monsters, and aren’t such people just unforgivable? I do believe there are monstrous and evil acts, but I do not believe those who commit such acts are monsters or evil. To relegate someone to the level of monster is to deny that person’s ability to change and to take away that person’s accountability for his or her actions and behavior. In January 2012, in Modimolle, an agricultural town in Limpopo province, South Africa, a man named Johan Kotze committed acts of monstrous and evil proportions. Indeed, such was the horror of his acts, the newspapers and town dubbed him “The Monster of Modimolle.”

 

I was appalled at the story I read. We were all appalled. Johan Kotze was alleged to have forced three laborers at gunpoint to gang-rape and mutilate his estranged wife. He then tied her up and forced her to listen and watch as he shot and killed her son. Johan Kotze claimed he was driven to commit these horrific crimes because he saw his estranged wife with another man and, in his rage, he chose the path of revenge.

 

These are, without doubt, barbaric and dastardly deeds. They are acts so monstrous we are all quite right to condemn them. What shook me deeply as I read the media coverage of this case was that the righteous outrage at the alleged acts of Mr. Kotze had led journalists to call him a monster. In response, I wrote a letter to The Star newspaper. In it I argued that while he may indeed be guilty of inhuman, ghastly, and monstrous deeds, he is not a monster. We are actually letting him off lightly by calling him a monster, because monsters have no moral sense of right and wrong and therefore cannot be held morally culpable, cannot be regarded as morally blameworthy. This holds true for all those we wish to deem monsters. No, Mr. Johan Kotze remains a child of God with the capacity to become a saint.

 

This piece shocked many. But the world is filled with heartless sinners and criminals of all sorts who have [been] transformed, [have had their lives transformed by Christ}... In the Christian tradition, we often recall the story of the repentant criminal who was crucified beside Jesus. He was a man who had committed crimes punishable by death. Jesus promised him that, because of his repentance, “…we will see each other in paradise.” He was forgiven. The Bible is full of stories of reckless, immoral, and criminal people [whose lives were transformed], who became saints. Peter, the disciple who betrayed a friendship and denied Jesus—not once, but three times— was forgiven and became the chief of the apostles. Paul, the violent persecutor of those faithful to the fledgling Christian faith, became the sower who planted Christian communities in the gentile world.

 

Let us condemn ghastly acts, but let us never relinquish the hope that the doers of the most heinous deeds can and may change. In many ways, that was the basis of our truth-and-reconciliation process. The stories we heard at the TRC were horrific, some were bloodcurdling, yet we witnessed extraordinary acts of forgiveness as perpetrator and victim embraced and did so publicly. We believed then, and I still believe now, that it is possible for people to change for the better. It is more than just possible; it is in our nature ... in each and every one of us.

 

In my plea for the people of Modimolle to stop calling Mr. Kotze a monster, I called on my Christian faith for the examples needed...our model of the ultimate example of forgiveness is Jesus Christ, who on the cross was able to ask for forgiveness for those who were torturing and ultimately killed him…

 

I have said before that given the same set of circumstances, under the same pressures and influences, I may have been a Hitler, or a Kotze. I would hope not. But I may have been. I will not label anyone beyond redemption, regardless of what that person has done. I have found that hope and goodness can sometimes emerge from even the unlikeliest of packages.

 

... So, when I am asked whether some people are beyond forgiveness, my answer is no. My heart has been broken a thousand times over at the cruelty and suffering I have seen human beings unjustly and mercilessly inflict upon one another. Yet still I know and believe that forgiveness is always called for, and reconciliation is always possible.

 

… True forgiveness is not superficial or glib… We all want to be free of the pain of living with a broken and unforgiving heart. We want to [be] free ourselves of the corrosive emotions that threaten to burn away the love and joy [of Christ] residing in us. We want to heal our broken places. It would be wonderful if we lived in a world where there was no harm, no hurt, no violence, no cruelty. I have certainly not lived my life in such a world, but I do believe it to be possible. Surely he must be senile, you say. But these are not the fantastical beliefs of a man of advanced years. I know in my heart that peace is possible. I know it is possible in your life, and I know it is possible in mine. I know it is possible for our children, our grandchildren, and the generations that follow. But I also know that it is only possible if this peace begins with each of us. Peace is built with every small and large act of forgiveness.[vi]

 

I will likely speak more about this in the weeks to come. I want to conclude today by pointing out that Jesus’ last actions before he died was to forgive 2 people or groups of people – one, a criminal sentenced to the death penalty, like you would probably read about in a US or Chinese newspaper, as those two countries still torture and kill criminals. Jesus, however, forgave the man. And two: Jesus forgave those who hurt his family and himself by sentencing him to death and carrying out his execution. If Jesus can forgive them, surely we can forgive anyone who has been a part of harm done to us.

 

As Desmond Tutu has said many times in his speeches and writings,” there is no future without forgiveness.” If we aspire to live in the Kingdom of God now and forever, then we will forgive those who have harmed us, loving them as if they are our own mothers and children – because in all likelihood they are. When we forgive we are set free. We are free of our attackers and we are free of sin and death. My wish today is that each and everyone of us will experience that true freedom in Christ that only comes as we allow Him to help us forgive others. 

Let us pray.

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[i] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 1

[ii] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 7

[iii] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 1-3.

[iv] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 1-3

[v] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 32

[vi] [vi] Tutu, Desmond and Mpho Tutu, The Book of Forgiving (HarperCollins, 2014), 55-59 

Galatians 5:13-6:10: Test of Faith

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 04 August 2013 and 29 June 2025 to Alberni Valley Ministries by Major Michael Ramsay

 

This is the 2025 version. To read the 2013 version, click here:

https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2013/08/galatians-513-610-test-of-faith.html

 

A version of this sermon appears in Issue 88 of the Journal of Aggressive Christianity:  http://armybarmy.com/JAC/article4-88.html

 

This week is Canada Day; so as is common on Canada Day, I though we would have a little quiz. Please number your pages from 1 to 10 and let’s see how we do. Each answer will be the name of a different province. Pens ready…name that province associated with these items (answers below)[1]:          

1.      Anne of Green Gables

2.      Blue Nose

3.      Oil / Texas north

4.      Wheat / Watch your dog run away for 3 days

5.      Mosquitoes / Lois Riel

6.      Mountains / Lumber Jacks / Canucks and Lions

7.      The Rock / The Salvation Army

8.      The centre of the universe / Capital

9.      To separate or not to separate / Maple Syrup

10.  Bi-lingual Herring-choker

 

We have been looking at the fruits of the spirt and the fruit of the flesh for the past three weeks. After studying something for so long I figured it is time for a test. Paul says that you can either serve the Spirit or you can serve yourself, which he refers to as 'the flesh'.[2] Paul says “the acts of the flesh are obvious” so then let’s take this test and see whether we have in us the acts of the Spirit or the acts of our self, the flesh. This is a self-test. This isn’t a test for you to do for someone else. And another important thing about this test is that if you don’t score as well as you like, it is easy to do your corrections for homework.

 

Today we are all invited to take the test; so, let us begin.

 

Test of Faith/Flesh

1. Do you ever fall victim to ‘sexual immorality’ (adultery / fornication)?

 

The word translated sexual immorality in our Sanctuary Bibles (NIV) is sometimes more accurately translated as ‘adultery’ (Strong’s 3430). Deuteronomy 5:18 (Exodus 20:14) records, ‘You shall not commit adultery’. Jesus says, Matthew 5:27-28: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman [person] lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Have we ever committed adultery in our hearts?

 

2. Do we ever fall prey to impurity (uncleanness) or debauchery (lasciviousness / fornication)?

 

 Impurity refers vaguely enough to ceremonial uncleanness (Strong’s 167). And debauchery, variously translated ‘lasciviousness’ or ‘fornication’ (Strong’s 766), can apparently by extension mean any lustful longing or greed.[3] Do we ever display any lustful longing or greed? Do we ever wish we had our neighbour’s truck? Do we ever lament that we don’t have a job as cushy or with as big a paycheque or with as many holidays as someone else’s? A big part of the advertising that helps prop up our whole economic system in this country is the desire to have what someone else has? Do we ever need to ‘keep up to the Joneses?’ Do we ever fall prey to that temptation? Do we ever covet someone else’s life or someone else’s possessions? Do we ever fall prey to impurity and debauchery?

 

3. Do we ever fall into the traps of idolatry and witchcraft?

 

There seem to be a few witch stores, fairs and activities in Port Alberni. I don’t know much about them.  I don’t know about the occult here either but I don’t imagine that anyone here is tempted by that but that is not all that is referred to by idolatry and witchcraft.  Also included in idolatry and witchcraft are horoscopes, fortune cookies, tarot cards, tea reading, a lot of yoga, spiritual readings, spirit guides, a lucky horseshoe or a lucky rabbit’s foot – and idolatry also includes anyone or thing that you turn to instead of God in a crisis; so I ask us, do we ever fall into the traps of idolatry and witchcraft?

 

4. Are we ever caught up in hatred, discord, or jealousy?

 

We have already spoken about coveting our neighbour’s truck or other belongings. Do we ever get to the point where we hate someone? Do we ever say, ‘if so-and-so is going to be involved with that then I won’t come’? Do we ever threaten, ‘well if you want me to help with that, then so-and-so better not be there! This is hatred or, at the very least, this is discord.

 

Do we ever gossip? Do we ever repeat things that we have no business repeating that we hear other people say? I have heard people do that and that causes so much discord. 

 

Some people even hate people they have never met: Trump? Putin? Iran? Politician or country xyz? Hatred, discord and jealousy are very serious indeed. Matthew 5:21-22 records Jesus as saying, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Are we ever caught up in hatred, discord, jealousy?

 

5. Are we ever overtaken with fits of rage?

 

Do we ever get to the point where we are so mad that – as they say – ‘we can spit’? Do we ever get so mad that we punch a wall or swear at someone? Do we ever get so worked up that we yell at someone, scream, cry? Do we ever hear others -when they see us coming- cautiously ask people around what our mood is like? Do people ever ‘walk on eggshells’ around us? Are we ever overtaken with fits of rage?

 

6. Are we ever subject to our own selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy?

 

We have already spoken about covetness, jealousy, and envy; we have already spoken about dissentions and factions as they relate to discord. Do we ever try to get people on ‘our side’? Do we ever play politics? Do we ever try to whip up support for ourselves or our position at the expense of others? Do we ever talk to others about so-and-so and such-and-such instead of approaching the matter head-on? If so, we are guilty of dissentions and factions. And much of this – if not all – can be seen as a result of selfish ambition. If we don’t have the need to be right all the time, if we don’t have the need to be thanked every time we do something, if we don’t need for people to appreciate what we do for them, then why would we fall prey to envy and the like? We probably wouldn’t. So, are we ever subject to our own selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy?

 

7. And the last question: Do we engage in drunkenness, orgies, and the like?

 

Do we spend our nights – or days for that matter – drunk, or involved in chaotic parties? I think this also applies to drugs as well as alcohol. I would say as well that if you feel the same way about a piece of cake or a can of pop that an alcoholic feels about her addiction; if you immediately, when someone leaves the house, run and grab the chocolate chips that you have squirreled away; or if you are incapacitated -not from a hangover- but maybe from a caffeine headache or because you were up all night playing video games, I think the same sentiment probably applies. So do we engage in drunkenness, orgies, and the like?

 

That concludes the test. Now let's check our tests. The correct answers are:

 1. Do you ever fall victim to ‘sexual immorality’? No.

2. Do we ever fall prey to impurity or debauchery? No.

3. Do we ever fall into the traps of idolatry and witchcraft? No.

4. Are we ever caught up in hatred, discord, or jealousy? No.

5. Are we ever overtaken with fits of rage? No.

6. Are we ever subject to our own selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy? No.

7.  Do we engage in drunkenness, orgies, and the like? No.

 

I won’t have any of us to share how we did. I imagine that everyone aced the test. Now, just in case we didn’t. On the off chance that we didn’t pass this test, the Apostle Paul says, Galatians 5:21, “I warn you, as I did before, that [those who do not pass this test] those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Now I know this probably doesn’t apply to any of us but as you can tell this is still serious stuff.

 

Let us think about this for a moment because I know that we all have been faithfully reading our Bibles and we know that Paul can get quite upset with people’s suggestion that new Christians become Jewish Christians and follow elements of the Jewish Law.[4] Paul says that the Kingdom of Heaven isn’t like that and he says that we are under a curse if we place ourselves under the Law (Galatians 3:10) but by adding a list such as this, is that not exactly what Paul is doing… saying that unless you avoid all of these things you will not enter the Kingdom of God? What is the difference between Paul’s list and the Old lists?

 

Professor Frank J. Matera: “Paul's answer is simple and direct. Those who are no longer under the law are led by the Spirit which [itself] produces its fruit in their lives (5:22) so that their faith expresses itself in love (5:6). Consequently, even though believers are no longer under the law, they fulfill the law through the love commandment (5:14). This vision of the moral life, as life under the guidance of the Spirit, is probably the most optimistic statement of Paul's ethical teaching…”[5]

 

“…The fruit of the Spirit [Paul says, Galatians 5:22-24] is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

 

Biblical Scholar, Richard B. Hays declares that “in the summarizing sentences of this unit, Paul returns explicitly to the problem raised in vv.13 and 16, ‘Those who belong to Christ’ (cf. 3:29) will not, despite the Missionaries warnings, be overwhelmed by the impulses of the flesh, because they have ‘crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.’”[6] James Montgomery Boice explains that ‘Christians are delivered through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit from the necessity of serving sin in their lives.”[7]

 

Paul says that those of us who do actually belong to Christ Jesus have already crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. We don’t need to go to a 12-step program to rid ourselves of these vices; Christ has already crucified them. Simply by our turning to Jesus, the Holy Spirit will replace the fruit of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. Like it says in 1 Thessalonians, when we have Christ, he will make us holy (1 Thessalonians 5:22-23). We are now free to not sin.[8]

 

So then as that is the case one might ask, ‘why do I sometimes give into those vices mentioned on the test instead of or as well as experiencing the blessings of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, forbearance [perseverance], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and things such as these? Why, one might ask, according to this text and this test, do I have the fruit of the flesh as well as or instead of or as well as the fruit of the Spirit? Am I really in danger of not entering the Kingdom?

 

Galatians 5:14 “…the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I can’t tell you or anyone else whether your name is written in the book of life. I can tell you that the kingdom of God is now as well as forever and the fruit of the spirit is some of the benefits available to us who belong to the kingdom, if we want them. I don’t have the ability to judge your salvation (Matthew 7:1, Luke 6:37). That being said, if you see some areas where I need to be encouraged to grow in holiness – these lists may be a good guide in that matter - you certainly do have a responsibility to let me know about that and to help me through it; Galatians 6:1-2: “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. ² Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. ”

 

Also importantly, if we are struggling, we may wish to come to the Lord in prayer both now and often – he can help us. We may wish to spend more time with Jesus: we may wish to pray and read our Bible even more – and ask Jesus to help us do that; we may wish to show our love to Jesus simply by looking to spend time with him.  Jesus promises that if we seek Him we will find Him (Matthew 7:7-12; cf. Deuteronomy 4:29, Proverbs 8:17, Jeremiah 29:13); and Jesus promises that as we find Him we will be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:3-25 cf. also Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:5-7; Psalm 89:35; Matthew 5:48; 2 Corinthians 13; Colossians 1:28; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, Hebrews 11-12); and Jesus promises that once we find him -no matter what - He will never leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5; cf. Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:5), and we are promised then that we will experience love, joy, peace, forbearance [perseverance], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and things such as these. As we seek God, He promises that we will find him. No matter how we scored on our tests today, let us take comfort in that and no matter how we scored on our tests today, let us commit to spend even more time getting to know our Lord and Saviour. Who will never leave us nor forsake us and who will continue to transform us into His likeness.

 

Let us pray: this prayer for us from 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, ‘May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you (us) through and through. May your (our) whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you (us) is faithful and He will do it.’

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[1] PEI, 2. Nova Scotia, 3. Alberta, 4. Saskatchewan, 5. Manitoba, 6. BC, 7. Nfld., 8. Ontario, 9. Quebec, 10. New Brunswick

[2] Cf. R. Alan Cole,: Galatians: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1989 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 9), S. 211

[3] Marvin R. Vincent, “Of uncleanness” in Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament, Vol. 4, (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2009), 22.

[4] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Galatians 4:8-11: Vs. Old Jewish Law, (Swift Current, SK: Sheepspeak.com, 28 July 2013), http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/07/galatians-3-4-vs-old-jewish-law.html

[5] Frank J. Matera, “Galatians in Perspective: Cutting a New Path through Old Territory”, Interpretation, (July 2000), 244

[6] Richard B. Hays, Galatians, in NIB, Vol. 11, ed. Leander E. Keck, et. al. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2000), 328.

[7] James Montgomery Boice, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM: Galatians/Exposition of Galatians/III. The Call to Godly Living (5:1-6:10)/C. Life in the Spirit (5:13-26)/1. Liberty is not license (5:13-18), Book Version: 4.0.2

[8] J. Lewis Martyn, “The Apocalyptic Gospel in Galatians”, Interpretation, (July 2000), 255.