Renewing

Our reading comes from Galatians 5, 1st 16 until 17 and 1st 22 until 1st 26.

So I say, walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh.

They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

But the fruit of the spirit 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.

Since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit.

Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Hi, I'm Scott Pilgrim from Baptist Mission Australia, and this is our Mending!

series.

Today in the first message in our series, we focus on the promise and the reality that God by His Spirit wants to be at work in our personal lives, renewing us, shaping our lives that we might live, love, and lead more like Jesus.

To do that, we're absolutely dependent on the Holy Spirit being at work in our lives.

And so we begin our series by celebrating amending God at work in our lives, who then invites us to join Him as co-minders on mission together.

Mending!, joining with God in mending a beautiful, broken world.

When I sit at my home office, I look out a window, and there is our family veggie patch.

Well, that's a stretch, it's my wife's veggie patch.

She's a passionate gardener.

She loves to produce organic fruit and vegetables, and nearly every day, she brings in something from the garden.

And I look out my window, and I see her weeding and watering, getting her hands dirty, pruning, picking, all the other things that she does as a gardener.

I love the produce that comes from the garden, but I don't like gardening.

I'm impatient.

I don't want to put in the time or the effort.

Don't particularly want to get my hands dirty and do weeding.

I like the fruit, but I lack the commitment and discipline, and hence a confession.

A few years ago, my youngest son wanted to grow watermelons.

And my wife was at work, and he said, dad, can we grow watermelons?

Can we plant watermelon seeds?

And he'd asked over a number of weeks, and finally I succumbed.

I drove down to Bunnings and I bought some watermelon seeds.

I came home with Ali and we just threw them in the garden, somewhere I think between the carrots and the onions.

When Megan, my wife, came home that evening, Ali was excited to say, mom, dad and I are growing watermelons.

We've planted watermelon seeds.

And Megan's look said it all.

She told me it wasn't watermelon planting season and we hadn't planted them in the right way or the right place.

But Ali looked at me, confident that his dad knew how to grow watermelons.

You know what it's like when you're in the car with kids?

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

It was the same kind of story.

Dad, when am I gonna see my watermelons?

When are my watermelons gonna grow?

And this went on for days and days, weeks and weeks.

And finally then one weekend, kind of under pressure, meagre at work, the kids, causing a bit of angst and stress, I succumbed.

And when no one else noticed, I quietly got in the car and I drove down to Woolworths and I bought a big, beautiful watermelon.

I came home and on darkness, when no one else was around, I went out in the garden, dug a hole, put the watermelon in, covered it up between the onions, the carrots, the beans, wherever it was.

The next morning, I suggest to Arlie that he might go out and have a look at the garden and see if he can find the watermelon.

And suddenly, there is this scream of exuberance and joy and Arlie carries in this big watermelon and puts it on the table and he thinks his dad is the best gardener.

And then my daughter, Imogen, walks over to me and quietly says, dad, why has that watermelon got a sticker on it?

And I look Imogen in the eye and say that she will never mention that sticker again.

To this day, Arlie thinks I'm a great gardener, but the reality is I'm not.

You see, you can wing it and buy a watermelon and put it in the garden, but that's not gardening, that's not growing.

My wife doesn't wing it.

She puts the effort in, the dedication to bring in the fruit.

You can't wing Christlikeness.

You can't wing a heart for mission.

You can't wing the character qualities of Jesus in your life.

You can't wing a growing prayer life.

You can't wing a heart for justice.

You can't wing spiritual renewal.

My youngest child, Ada, likes to remind me that I'm getting older every day.

Dad, you're the oldest dad in my school.

You're the oldest dad in my basketball team.

I was at the shop with her the other day and she highlighted a poster for a seniors card.

She said, you're almost there, dad.

And yes, I'm getting older, but the older I get, the more I hold to this simple truth.

I'm absolutely dependent on God's Spirit in my life if I want to look and live and love and lead more like Christ.

I know my own brokenness.

We all do.

I know my own shortcomings, my own failings, my own brokenness.

And yet, what do we celebrate today?

We celebrate in this series, amending God, who never gives up on us, amending God who doesn't disqualify us because of our fractures, but who by His Spirit is at work in our weakness, in fact, producing strength and empathy that we might step out into our communities as credible, authentic witnesses, knowing that God is at work in our lives as He graciously invites us to join Him in mission.

And so, yes, the older I get, I see my brokenness, but I see my absolute need for the Holy Spirit to be at work in my life.

And that's where we begin this series with the invitation to allow God to bring renewal afresh into our lives.

In the passage we heard read for us today, Paul highlights some simple, encouraging, challenging truths.

And he begins by reminding the Galatian followers of Jesus that they live in a contest.

I don't know about you, but I know that contest well.

We live with it every day.

The challenge of pursuing the ways of Jesus compared to pursuing our fleshly desires and the ways of the world.

The pull of the world to live with values and ethics and behaviours that are inconsistent with the way of Jesus and the call to live as kingdom citizens, as followers of Jesus.

I live with that battle every day.

I know that contest.

In highlighting the contest, Paul reminds us of our absolute need for the Holy Spirit.

He reminds us that the Holy Spirit is living within us.

And he says in the Galatian passage in verse 16, so I say walk by the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, align, orient your lives around the Holy Spirit each day.

And he bookends that passage by saying in verse 25, since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Again, that call to orientation and alignment.

What's Paul beckoning us to?

To courageously cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit.

Our God is a mending God.

Our God wants to be at work in my life and your life today, mending, renewing.

And that begins as we courageously cooperate with the Holy Spirit in our life.

As we open our life up to what the Spirit may want to do, afresh in our world, in our lives today.

My former college principal, Vic Eldridge, I remember him preaching a sermon more than 30 years ago now when I was at college.

I don't really remember the sermon, but I remember writing down two questions he asked, two profound questions.

The first, do you really want what you say you want in life?

Do you really want what you say you want in life?

And the second, if you do, what are you gonna do about it?

I wrote those two questions down in one of my Bibles and I have come back to those two questions in my life so many times.

I can say, I wanna live a more authentic Christian life.

I wanna live and love and lead and look more like Jesus.

I wanna be a more loving, serving husband.

I wanna be a better dad.

I wanna be a more Christ-like, effective team leader.

I want to grow in my prayer life.

I wanna bear fruit in my relationships.

But do I really want those things?

And if I do, what am I gonna do about pursuing those things?

Paul challenges us in this passage that we need to courageously cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

What does that mean for me today?

What might that mean for you?

Where in your life today, may you need to open up your life to God's Spirit coming to bring change, transformation, letting go of some things, picking up new things?

I know from my own experience that can be painful and uncomfortable, but are there attitudes or behaviours or habits, things that I know in my life that need to change that only the Holy Spirit can bring that change that I might look more like Jesus?

Paul highlights the contest.

Paul highlights the need for us to courageously cooperate with the Holy Spirit.

And then he gives us this beautiful picture, this promise that as we do that, what does God's Spirit do?

He cultivates Christ's likeness within us.

It's like my wife out there in the garden.

She can't wing the produce that she brings in.

She's out there cultivating and toiling with intentionality, watering and working.

And that's what God's Spirit wants to do in our life.

And what does he produce in our lives?

We read in Galatians again, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

You can't wing those things.

You can't wing the fruit of the Spirit.

I know, the harder I get, the more I need God's Spirit to be at work in my life.

If I'm to see those beautiful character qualities of Jesus grow in my heart, in my actions, in my attitudes.

I wondered this week over a cup of coffee, over a cup of tea.

Could you take the time and join me in reading this passage again, but particularly reflecting on the fruits of the Spirit, reminding ourselves that the Holy Spirit wants to cultivate all those things in our life, that they're not optional extras.

I wonder if we look at our life today compared to 12 months ago.

Has there been growth in those character qualities?

What might our hopes and aspirations be as we look 12 months ahead?

Where might again we need to see the Holy Spirit doing something new in our lives?

Paul reminds us of the contest, the battle that we live with each day.

He invites us to courageously cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit.

He encourages us that God, our mending God, hasn't finished with us yet, that our mending God is at work in our lives, wanting to produce the fruit of the Spirit, wanting our lives to look more like Jesus.

And as he does that, let's just pause and remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit doesn't want us simply to look more like Jesus for our own personal holiness, or that we might gather in a holy huddle in the safety of the four walls of the church.

No, the Holy Spirit wants me to look more like Jesus, that I might then step out into my community to come alongside others, to get my hands dirty in the brokenness of the world, that when people see me, my life reflects more of the message of Christ, that I might live more as a credible, authentic witness, that others might be more attracted to me, that I can become the hands and feet of Jesus in serving and loving them.

We're not called to holy huddles.

We're called to embed ourselves in our worlds as co-menders, as people who graciously embrace God's invitation to mission, as the Holy Spirit is at work in us, shaping our lives to look more like Jesus.

The contest, the call to courageously cooperate with the Holy Spirit, the beautiful cultivating work of the Holy Spirit.

And finally, in this passage, we just get this snapshot to remind us that the Holy Spirit does his work in the context of community.

As others come alongside us, as other followers of Jesus speak into our lives and challenge and encourage us.

At the end of this passage, Paul cautions the Galatian Christians not to become conceited or jealous or envied of each other.

He kind of gives these negative kind of warnings, but we flip that over in so many other parts of Paul's writings, where we hear the positive.

Love each other, encourage each other, forgive each other, spur each other on, serve each other, cheer each other on, build each other up.

Paul recognises that as the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives, he uses others around us to help shape us into people who look more like Jesus.

The Holy Spirit works in the context of community.

And that's why gathering in our faith communities and local churches for worship is important.

It's why life groups and prayer groups and ministry groups play an important role in our lives.

It's why accountability relationships and spiritual directors and mentors and coaches and counsellors and pastors all play such a vital role as people speak into our lives and encourage us and challenge us and help us on the journey as we invest in the lives of others.

I've come this morning before filming this message, having coffee with my mentor.

I need that person in my life that over a cup of coffee, we can laugh, we can weep, we can talk.

He can challenge me, call me to account, speak the truth in love into my life, help me to dream and think and plan and pray.

I need people like that in my world if I want to authentically grow as a follower of Jesus.

Yes, the older I get, the more I see the contest every day.

The more I see my absolute need for the Holy Spirit to be at work in my life.

The more I see the absolute need for other people to be in my corner speaking into my life and my worlds.

I'm sure many of you watching this message today would say, yes, I want to love and live and lead and look more like Jesus.

Today, what do we celebrate?

We celebrate amending God who's not finished with our lives, amending God who is at work across the world, but also who wants to be at work in our hearts and our minds and our lives.

And as we celebrate that, the gracious invitation, the challenging invitation, that we would open our lives up afresh with courage to allow the Holy Spirit to bring renewal to our lives.

And that as he does that, as he shapes it to people who look more like Jesus, that he graciously sends us in our weakness, discovering God's strength as Henry Nowan writes, that we might be wounded healers, that we might enter into our local communities, that we might forge authentic relationships, that we might join God as ordinary people on mission, knowing that we're privileged to serve as co-menders, the hands and feet of Jesus.

May it be today that we experience the Holy Spirit afresh in our lives, bringing renewal, bringing transformation, bringing change, that we might live and love and lead and look more like Jesus.

Thanks for your partnership with us.

God bless you as we celebrate all that our Mending!

God is doing around the world and across our movement in Australia.

‍