The Decisions That Reveal Our Character

so last week I was talking about trying to reframe our our attitudes when we come home from the feast. thinking about instead of thinking about the letdown of coming back from such a wonderful experience which most of us acknowledge we have a great experience during the feast. I wanted to reframe our thinking and put us back to work focused on the things that are in front of us because the feast isn't for us. The feast pictures a millennial period in which there will be human beings and those human beings should not be us. We hope that they're not us. We hope that we are the spirit beings serving those human beings. Well, if we're going to be those spirit beings, we have to become like Jesus Christ. So, I gave you a homework assignment. I wonder if I'm not going to ask. Not going to ask. I just suggested that you might open up Galatians 5:22 and maybe take a peek there and uh you know think about using that as a criteria for evaluating how am I doing on that whole becoming like Jesus Christ thing. Am I making some forward progress here? We could look at those attributes. They are the character attributes of Jesus Christ. Do I see them in me? That's the homework assignment. Of course, now as I start to think about it during the week, and you know, you know, my personality, I I'm going to look at something and I'm going to I'm going to start asking a lot of questions about it. And I started asking questions about what do we really know about some of these attributes? And I thought, well, you know, we can do you can do a sermon in which you cover all nine attributes and you skim across the surface of the water and what do you really know at the end of the day? So my intention is to just start a series where moving forward I'm going to cover them one at a time and we're going to do a deep dive and we're going to look at what what is the attribute? What is the characteristic here? But not just what is it? How do I do it? What's it look like in my life if I'm doing it correctly? What might not be in my life if I'm not doing it correctly? So that we get, I think, a little bit more of a how-to to go along with our work of becoming like Jesus Christ. So I'm just giving you that prelude and I want to begin today with a message that I've titled the decisions that reveal our character. Today I want to talk about how decision h how the decisions that we make reflect who we really are. The the way that I started evaluating this for myself was to say, "All right, are you does what you say you believe and the things that you say that you agree with in the scripture, are those present in your life?" How would someone know? The answer is, well, they'd be looking at the decisions that you make, the choices that you make. Do those choices harmonize with what you say you believe? those things that you say you agree with scripturally that are Christlike, you're gonna see that we're human. We are all just human. Mistakes are inevitable. The question isn't whether we'll ever make a mistake. We're going to be making mistakes until Christ returns. We know that. The question is, am I am I deliberately making bad choices or am I deliberately making choices in my daily decisions to try to be like Christ? I'm going to be faced with a number of those. That's basically that's the premise of this message. Let's look at each and every one of us on our own has to reflect on these things to see where where we're at with this. And so I want to begin here in Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6 vers 43- 45 I believe. I'm going to stick with that. Okay. Luke 6. Yes. Okay. Verse 43. So here Christ is teaching about the way we treat other people and he's been going through some examples of how we should be treating other people. We get to verse 43 and it says, "For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good. And an evil man out of the evil treasure in his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. So Christ is obviously just beginning with a very plain and easily understandable principle. I know who you are by how I see you behave, what I see you doing. Uh the easiest example I can think of would be this. I I go and I visit somebody who's a shutin and we're having a conversation and they tell me, "Oh, did you know so and so stopped by this week and spent some time with us and they gave me this and they did this with us and so and so helped so and so do this and such." And I'm like, "Nobody ever calls me about that stuff. I find out about your character when I'm having those visits and people share what you're doing that you're not announcing to the rest of the world. You're quietly just in the trenches with your brothers and sisters serving. What do I know about you? Because I know that about you. I know something about your character, don't I? And we've never even talked about it. But I know something about you. Your character is revealed. It is a part of the fruit that you're leaving behind that's identifiable about what's going on in here. Maybe I should say what's going on in here or maybe a little of both. So now think about that in a practical way. So this is this is there's something going on in your heart and in your mind that reflects what you say you believe. What you say you are. What you say represents who you are. And I'm looking at the fruit of your life. If you started nitpicking yourself, because I'm not going to nitpick anybody. I live in a glass house. I don't throw rocks. At least I try not to. If you were evaluating yourself though, and you started looking at some of the finer details of patience and let's say forgiveness and mercy and kindness and so forth, if you were honest with yourself, would you say 100% of the time I'm doing those things right? I mean, I don't have to get into your life to know inside your own brain, you're going that's I mean, you might be doing pretty good on a few because some of us are more naturally a certain way. Kindness comes naturally to a certain kind of personality. Uh, patience is a harder one. I think patience is hard for most people. Like, if you're a perfectly patient person and you have to get in your car, how is your patience doing then? because I know my patience. Of course, I'm not a perfectly patient person. Some of you come across like you're perfectly patient, but I wonder if I were in your car with you if you would admit that you're having a hard time with your patience right now. So, I'm just saying there can be circumstances in which what we might ordinarily say describes us, all of a sudden we're having to admit maybe it doesn't fully describe us. And that's useful for us to think about as we be as we sort of evaluate ourselves. We're comparing oursel to Jesus Christ, right? Well, here's the thing. I mean, it's not just God that knows this. Proverbs chapter 20. Proverbs chapter 20 verse 11. Now, notice the way that this is phrased. Even a child is known by his deeds. That that doesn't say only a child. It says on top of whatever else you're looking at, you can also see it in children, which means you adults are known by your deeds. Whether what he does is pure and right. And I I was commenting and laughing with the parents. We have a couple of parents with 11 year olds. 11-year-old boy, 11-year-old girl. They go to Olympia with us now. And I was we were kind of having some fun during the service while we're talking about this because you can see what's going on in a child's mind. They don't have any idea that they're telepaththing to you. Especially if you're the parent, you know, teachers are pretty good at this, too. You know what's going on. You can see it. And they don't know that they're telepaththing that's going on in their brain. They think they're whatever their motives are are hidden from you. No. No. I mean, adults can probably claim some to some degree to be able to do that, but children, no. And yet, to God, we're all open books. He reads us all very plainly. And of course, who is the ultimate judge except Christ? Who's looking deep inside here to see what we look like on the inside? You're supposed to become like Jesus Christ. How you doing? Well, even a child is known by his deeds. And so are we as spiritual children known by our spiritual deeds or perhaps the imperfect use of those or expressions of those beliefs we say we have. But I want you to think about this too because this I think is a great principle for us. I want to turn over to Luke chapter 16 in the context of this message. Okay, I want you to think about this scripture in the context of this message. Okay, we're talking about decisions that we make and the evidence of what we of what our character really is by the decisions and choices we make. Luke 16:10, it says, "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much. And he who is unjust in what is least is also unjust in much. Christ is trying to connect us to the little things in our lives. We have a chance every single day to practice being like Jesus Christ. It isn't going to come down to one big test we have to pass. Our test literally is every single day in choices and decisions we make at the micro level, not the big macro test. The the the best example I think to me, you might disagree or have a better one. We'll just go with mine because I'm up here. Do you know what happens to most people who win the lottery? How long does it take for them to go broke? The vast majority are broke within one year. Broke broke. The the what's the principle? Faithful in the little, faithful in the much. If you take somebody who doesn't understand how to manage the little amount of finances they have, and you dump a whole bunch of money on them, what happens to it? It evaporates. The same as the little evaporates. There's no discipline. I don't know what I'm doing with it. I don't really understand the principles that would lead to success with money. Just one example. And so you see what they do. They spend that money. They don't really understand how it works. How do I preserve this and how do I make this work for the rest of my life? It's not even a thought. It's needs. It's I've been buried under debt. I've got to solve that. And I have all these problems and I need to solve that. And it's like money. This is why the vast majority of lottery ticket buyers happen to be poor. Money is the thing they think will solve their problems. But if you're not already faithful in money, giving you a bunch more money only creates a much bigger problem for you. This is pretty well known. It's pretty well understood. You can just go Google it if you'd like to and study deeply into this principle. But that's the easiest way I think you could see the practical application of what faithful and little faithful and much means. For us, the little things are the choices and the decisions that we're making. And so if we are making good sound decisions at the micro level, we begin to build a pattern that God can begin to see in us that will lead us to be able to pass that big test later. When the big one comes along, we're ready for it. We've been practicing all along in the little things. This is why Christ mentions this and why I think it's really relevant for us in the context of this message. just to caveat that a mistake can happen in anybody's life on any decision that you make at the micro level that doesn't define you. It isn't the oneoff that's defining you. It's the steady progression of repeating the same decisions and the same mistakes that starts to define where you're going. What am I seeing in you? How come after x number of years we're seeing the same problem and we start looking at what's been decided all along and there's no change in those decisions kind of obvious. We're keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is not going to work. You have to start to see that you're making these micro decisions and there every one of them is important. So I wanted you to see that principle. Now is it possible that our decisions can contradict what we believe? I'm going to share a story with you uh today of the Apostle Peter that plays on this point because this is this is there's a blind spot that we Christians have to be watching out for. Okay? And it it it stems first from the idea that I we all and I'll show you the scripture in Proverbs. We all tend to think that we are making our all of our choices out of a pure heart. I am like literally everything that I'm doing is right because that's all I'm trying to do is what's right. Okay. What happens when something comes along that's you're not seeing it clearly. This is the trap that I want us to see and it's a trap I want us to be aware of. Peter serves as an excellent example of this principle that I want you to be thinking about because it's a part of what we're looking at as we're saying, "Am I becoming like Jesus Christ?" Okay, I know that's the goal. Are you aware of some areas that could give you problems? Okay, so here's an example of what I mean by that. I'm going to turn over to Galatians chapter 2. Now, in this Galatians chapter 2, Paul gives us some background and he goes all the way back to remind us of what happened when he first was dealing with the issue of circumcision in the church. He was dealing with the issue prior to Acts chapter 15, if you'll recall, where he and Barnabas and apparently Titus ended up going to the Jerusalem council to talk about circumcision as a requirement for Gentiles. No Gentile was circumcised. Only the Jews. The Jews were saying they have to be circumcised just like us to be in the church. Okay, that's the basics of it. Okay, now Paul says this is the background. Now he comes to verse 7. He's talking now about some who came well let's read it. It says but on the contrary when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised okay that's for the Gentiles had been committed to me as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter. So Peter was given the responsibility to preach the gospel to the Jews. All right. Paul was given the responsibility to preach the the gospel to the Gentiles. Now verse verse eight says for he who worked effectively in Peter. So Paul is helping us to see that he doesn't see Peter as a deficient pastor. This is an important thing for us to understand. He sees Peter as a man who was doing his job and and God was working effectively through him. for the apostilhip to the circumcised. So for he who worked effectively in Peter for the apostilhip to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the gentiles. That's a correlary. They are he's saying we are equal in this regard. Both have been successful. Okay. Now that's an important thing because I don't want us thinking that Paul has a bias against Peter already thinks negatively of him and now whatever happens Peter can't do anything right. This is not the case. Now verse nine carrying on it says and when James Cphus which is Peter. Okay so James this is the brother of Christ Sephus and John who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that had been given to me. They gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. So this was well known and agreed to. We have our different responsibilities. Now Peter came and visited Antioch. This was a gentile congregation. Verse 11, it says, "Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withtood him to his face because he was to be blamed. For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles. But when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. So, do you have a sense of what's going on here? I want you to take in your mind, I want you to pause for just a second and I want you to go a little bit earlier back in the history of the church. What happened in Acts chapter 10? You remember that a blanket and a vision for Peter with unclean foods came down and Peter looking at the unclean foods on this blanket says and the instructions are rise and eat and he says not going to happen. I have never eaten anything unclean. Three times the same vision. This is commonly by mainstream Christianity treated as oh see all unclean foods are clean. Peter says I don't even know what this is about. He's pondering what it's about. It can't be about that because he never ate the unclean foods. So, it can't be about that. Well, we've come to find out it's about a gentile being sent to him. And so, all of a sudden, while he's having this vision, he's meditating on he's thinking real hard, which you would if you're Peter. What could this mean? A knock at the door. And it's this contingent who'd been sent to Japa to to have him come with them back to this centurion called Cornelius. What happens at Cornelius's house? They're talking to him and while they're having a conversation, the Holy Spirit is given to these people and it's done in such an obvious way that it repeats elements of Acts chapter 2. Speaking in tonesues is a big deal. For those of you who got a chance to hear the Bible study this week, I covered speaking in tonesues and what exactly happened there. This was a big deal and it was a sign that they had received the Holy Spirit. What did Peter say after that? Get us some water. It's pretty obvious God gave them the spirit and these are Gentiles. So he baptizes them and then he goes on and he preaches some truth to them. Do you remember what happened to him after that? Turn with me back to Acts chapter uh Acts chapter 11. I want you to keep this in mind because Paul identified something that was going on in Peter and there's a there's a there's a there's evidence that there's history with regard to this same issue. Acts chapter 11. Now, you know how word can travel pretty fast in that those regions, it traveled pretty fast because Peter's done with Cornelius. And by the time he gets to Jerusalem, word has already gotten there that he was in the house with Cornelius, a gentile, eating food with them. And so verse 11 or 11:1 says, "Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, "You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them." You know what this word contended means? This isn't the kind of conversation that colleagues have that's collegial and respectful and dignified. Albert Barnes says, quote, "They disputed with him, reproved him, charged him with being in fault." Have you ever experienced that where you weren't wrong? You were being falsely accused. Veheimately falsely accused. If you've experienced it, you know how you felt. even though you were right and you could defend yourself, which Peter was right and could defend himself. How do you think he felt about that experience? He was treated roughly. There's no question about it. When we go back to Galatians chapter 2, Paul identifies what the problem was. He says, "For before certain men came from James that Peter would eat with the Gentiles." Okay. What did Peter learn from his experience with Cornelius? Are the Gentiles required to become like Jews in order to be in the church? No. Who was it that treated the Gentiles as an aniththema? That you could not eat with them, you could not sit with them, could not go into their homes. Who did that? The Jewish people. Okay. Was that what God instructed in the church? That kind of separation. two types of people in my church and they shouldn't even intermingle. No, one church, one body, all members working together. This was the instruction. So what is the problem that we see Paul identifying here? And what's behind that problem? Well, first it says that he withdrew before the these Jews from James came, he would eat with the Gentiles. But when they came, he withdrew and separated himself. Why? Fearing those who were of the circumcision, I want you to think about fear for a minute. What is fear a result of? Perceived or real threats. A perceived threat, by the way, can be just as motivating in fear as real threats. A perceived threat is just as motivating. Here comes these Jews. Does Peter say anything? Paul doesn't accuse him of saying anything. It says he did something. He withdrew. Okay? He calls them hypocrites. And he also because read verse 13 again. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him. What is a hypocrite? Somebody who says one thing but believes another. Correct. Do you think Peter believes that he's not supposed to eat with the Jews or with the Gentiles? My bad. I should ask that again. Do you think Peter believed he was not supposed to eat with the Gentiles? Assume he did believe that. Then why was he? If he believed you're not supposed to, and he is, he's a hypocrite. Correct? It's believing one thing and doing another. If he believed he was supposed to, why did he withdraw? If he was supposed to, was he doing right? Yes. So, he's doing right and yet he chooses to stop doing the right. What does that make him? A hypocrite. In either case, he's playing the hypocrite. What was the only choice he really had? Sit there and eat with the Gentiles. Because it was both right and doing anything other than that would be wrong. Would be saying by your actions you believed it was wrong. Why would he do that? It says fear. What I want I wanted to mention this story because Peter is not a young man anymore. He has got quite a bit of experience that's unique to him. He knows the answer to this question. Can I should I be eating with the Gentiles? Is there supposed to be a division between Gentile and Jew in the church of God? He knows the answer is no. But here's the thing. Is Peter an insignificant figure in the church? The man who stands up on in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost and says, "Men and brethren," at the 9th hour or at the third hour, it's third hour. It's third hour. I'm pretty sure it's 9:00. I was thinking nine and three. Anyway, he stands up and he says, "Men and brethren, I have something to say." It's Peter. It's Peter who says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you." You think he's insignificant. Why was he visiting Antioch if he's insignificant? Let's assume that he is a prolific name in the church. Not the pope everybody in the Catholics want us to believe, but let's just say he's a significant figure. He's called to preach the gospel to the Jews. He's known. All right. I want you to picture somebody in your mind that you deeply respect. Maybe a minister that you really respect them. Okay? If that minister does something that is a headscratcher to you, you're like, I'm not sure why would they do that that way. What's your assumption? Is it they that they're making a mistake right now? Or is your preliminary assumption I just don't understand why they're doing it, but I know this man and he's and he's got a reason for it. So, right. That's normal human. That's the way we do things. That's just the way we think about people we deeply respect. Peter's deeply respected by most people. And when he withdraws, how effective is his actions on others? What's Barnabas called? What's his nickname? Son of encouragement. The one who was viewed amongst the Gentiles as the most encouraging person who accompanied Paul on so much of his work. He does the same thing Peter does. So do some of the others. Peter didn't say a word. He didn't try to get them to do what he's doing, convince them that, hey, we're we're doing something wrong here. He doesn't say a word. So he but he does do something. He withdraws. And now we know what he did and we know why he did it. He feared something. Well, we have a pretty good idea of what he feared because he had this experience before where the Jews went after him because he ate with Gentiles. Okay. Is this a serious issue in the church? Do you think? Do you think Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, thinks this is a very serious issue? And if so, why? Well, the scripture helps us to see exactly why. Verse 14. But when I saw that there were that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, what truth? That there is no separation between us, gentile, equal with Jew in the church. They were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel. I said to Peter before them all, if you being a Jew live in the manner of Gentiles, how was he living in the manner of Gentiles? By eating at the table with the Gentiles innocently because it was appropriate. So he's living in the manner of the Gentiles who ate with one another. Where was the practices of the Jews in washings and ceremonies and all of that absent? They're not Jews. They're Gentiles. Peter is living amongst them as Gentiles live. That's what Paul is saying. So if you being a Jew live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews with all that ceremonial stuff, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? Well, then what can that mean? By your actions, you're telling the Gentiles they're wrong. They have to become like Jews. They have to separate themselves from the Jews and allow the Jews to separate themselves from them. There have to be two groups within the church. Gentiles and Jews. The apostle to the Gentiles thought that was egregious enough that he withtood Peter to his face publicly. Now, that's the story. And it's pretty hard when you start to dig into the details of it. understanding the embarrassment that Peter would have gone through. But not just Peter. How do you think Barnabas felt? You think he just quietly got up and left before Peter got his lecture? I think they all sat there and heard the same thing. This was an egregious thing by a mature Christian in the church. If Peter's capable of not seeing something, are we not vulnerable to the same thing? This is a pretty big thing he should have seen. He was the one who was in Cornelius's house. He was the one. He was one of those at Acts 15 at the council talking about these issues of whether Jews should be treating Gentiles like Gentiles instead of like church members. I wanted you to see this story and to think about it through this context of the decisions we make reflect our character. But is Peter really Here's something else I want you to think. Do you think Peter thought, "Yeah, I know this is wrong and I'm just gonna I just don't care." This is really important for us to consider. I want you to go to Proverbs 16:2. This is this is you and me just the same as it was for Peter at in this time. Proverbs 16:2, it says, "All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes. How do I know Peter didn't think he was doing anything wrong by just quietly withdrawing? There could have been a very innocent justification. He would have run through his mind. At least as I perceive it. I speculate that he probably thought these Jews are going to come in here and they're going to see me sitting with these Gentiles and we're going to go right back through Acts 11. It's going to be a big stink and everybody's going to get offended and I don't want any of that. So, I'll just quietly withdraw. we just try to keep this thing minimized. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? So, why did Paul not give him the benefit of that doubt? He sure jumped down his throat pretty hard. It's because of what the result was of his actions that he did not foresee that Paul wanted to make sure was very clear. There is not two churches. There is one church. There is one body. We don't get to treat the Gentiles like they're lesser than the Jews in the church of God. That was so important to Paul that he withtood him to his face about it publicly. That has to tell you something. If Peter doesn't see that because as we just read in Proverbs 16:2, all the ways of man are pure in his own eyes. He was thinking he had a good reason. Could we be guilty of that? We make the wrong choice because we think we have the right reason. Yes, I submit any of us is capable of that and probably regardless of age. Peter wasn't a young man here. So, the decisions we make can reveal weaknesses in our character. Even when we understand the biblical principles involved, we can have a very clear understanding of what every single one of the fruits of the spirit is and yet not be doing them. Understanding and practice isn't the same thing. Okay. So, what what what is important about the fruit of the spirit? Well, you already know by now, but this describes the character of Jesus Christ. Let's look at let's look at how Paul introduces over in Galatians 5. He's talking to converted Christians here in Galatians, right? And so he says here in verse 16 of chapter 5, I say then walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. If we're not paying attention, we're going to make a mistake or maybe more than one mistake like Peter did. What did he fail to do? He failed to pay attention to the details, the important aspects of what his behavior did to that congregation. Verse 18 says, "But if you are led by the spirit, you're not under the law." Now, the works of the flesh. So, remember the key here is being led by the spirit. There isn't any of us that's going to be able to do this without the spirit. He says, "But if you're led by the spirit, you're not under the law. " Now, the works of the flesh are evident, which are, and he goes down to list this long laundry list of awful things that human beings tend to do. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lwdenness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envys, murders, drunkenness, realies, and the like. You could go on and on and on. We we we tend to make a lot of bad choices as human beings. He says, "Of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in times past that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Okay, pretty strong. Big dire warning there. Key for us is the word practice. We are going to make mistakes. Every single one of us makes mistakes. David made a pretty big mistake. First one listed on the list. Adultery. He added that. He added murder to that. It's also on the list. There's room in God's plan for the person who repents. Practices says, well, think of it in terms of of our singing friends. They did not randomly walk up here together misidentifying one another. not knowing what they were going to sing and then just randomly come together in this beautiful piece that all the harmonies work with the piano piece and all of that. What did they have to do first? Practice. Lots of practice. In order to get something right, you practice it. This is the context behind what Paul's statement is. Those who practice these things, this is what you do. This is your way of life. You don't want another way of life. You want this way of life. He says there's no kingdom of God for you if that's your choice. Okay, that's the backdrop that we need to keep in mind. These are the works of the flesh. And how many of these involve our treatment of other people? If you think about it, there's quite a bit on that. Hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, and envy. These behaviors sometimes emerge when we believe we're justified in our feelings. If you if you pause for just a second and think back to Peter's example, he has a physical experience, but he also has feelings, doesn't he? Fear was a feeling. It's a potent feeling. Are there other feelings that can mess with our vision? Pride. That's a big one. How do we know that's a big one? Satan. The big accusation against Satan is pride. So, yeah, that's a potent one. There are a number of of emotions that can get in our way and cloud our vision for what we should be doing and the decisions we should be making. If we want to be right, we have to actually make right decisions. Okay. Now we can read verse 22. After saying this, his preface we remember at the at at the beginning of verse 16, he says, "Walk in the spirit." We come down now to verse 22 and he explains what walking in the spirit is. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Okay. Nine characteristics of Christ identified for us. Sidebar, fruit of the spirit. Fruit is singular, but I don't want you to overthink this term. U, have you ever driven by a fruit stand? Is it usually one fruit or are there varieties of fruits? Yeah, there's a variety of different fruit at the fruit stand. So, I want you to see that the singular word. Now, let me give you another one. Is character a singular word? You have righteous character. Are you developing righteous character? Is that a singular word? Yes, it is. Does it have multiple facets to it? We've read nine right here. That should be a part of our character. Okay. Wanted you to just see that. Some people get all wound up trying to figure out is fruit plural? How does that work? Just it's don't overthink it. Don't overthink it. All right. So, these are called the fruit of the spirit. God's spirit dwelling in us. This is the fruit that if that spirit is dwelling in us should become evident in our life outflowing from us because of the decisions that we make. Okay. We are trying to develop the character of Jesus Christ and his character is being described right here. This is why this is so important for us. And of course just to butress this point for you to understand that this is the criteria that we are judged by in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 verse 29 and 30. It says here in verse 29, for whom he forneew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. So Jesus Christ's destiny isn't to be the only born son of God. It is to be the firstborn of many brethren. We have to have the same character. It says we have to be conformed to the image of his son. So Christ of course is the standard. This is just affirming that that is a fact for us. He is the standard for us. And if we look at his life, if you you remember I gave the message a couple of months back talking about do you really know him? I wanted to slow down and look at Jesus Christ in the details of what he did and how powerful his example really is of what's going on in his heart. Well, that's a clue for us, too. We should pause and slow down and look at Jesus Christ and analyze his life. And we're going to find these nine characteristics are a part of who Jesus Christ is. And he demonstrated virtually all of them in the scriptures. Now, think about the fact that Jesus Christ went through and lived a life that it says he was tempted in every way we are. Of course, he was without sin. Be nice if we could claim that. Would love. Wouldn't that be a great world? That's coming. But his decisions every day and how he dealt with human beings, the patience he showed, the kindness that he showed and so forth on and on and on. All of the things that he did demonstrated the character God now is developing within us. Now, we know that we cannot produce that character through human determination alone. That is impossible. We can try all we want but we on our own are incapable because faith is required. What is faith? Believe in God. Do what he says. Trust him for the outcome. You can't please God without faith. It's impossible. It says so you have to do what God says, God's way. That's not us doing our thing to get there. That's us obeying and doing as God tells us to do. All right, I went through more of that in detail in the previous message and I don't want to replplow that ground. You are well aware that we are not capable of pleasing God without his Holy Spirit. We are not capable of developing Christlike character without God's spirit. That's why it's called the fruit of the spirit. Okay? And we have been given that spirit. If we've been baptized, live a repentant life, we have God's Holy Spirit. He gave it to us. And so, he expects us to use that spirit to change. Okay? So, how can we practice Christlike character in our decisions? Well, 1 John chapter 2 and verse 6. First John chapter 2. Okay. It says here verse six it says he who says he abides in him that's Christ ought himself also to walk just as he walked. This will be the great test before Christ returns. Are we walking like his son walked or like we want to walk? So Christ's example gives us a standard for the decisions that we make. So what decisions did he make? We need to be replicating those decisions. How well do we actually understand his example? See, we can read Galatians 5 and we can understand the words. We can see definitions for each of the nine attributes. But does that mean that we understand them, know how to apply them, how to practice them, how to make sure they're a part of our very character? I I I try to remind my myself, hopefully you do the same. What God wants in us is to know that we're going to be making those same decisions when we're spirit beings. He has to know in the same way that he says to Abraham, "Now I know. " He has to be able to say the same thing about us. Which means we cannot be putting on a show or a front acting as if this is an okay way of life. It has to be our way of life. It has to be our character. These attributes have to be in us, not superficially. They have to become a part of us. It's how we think. And we can't fake that with God. Let's go over to Hebrews chapter 5. I'd love it if if while we're working through this series, and I'm not going to give nine backto backto backtoback sermons and wear you out on the fruit of the spirit. We will be going through them over the next few months. But if there's a book I would like you to read, it would be Hebrews on your own. Take your time with it. There are five warnings in the book of Hebrews that apply to us today in the church. We are living in a very similar kind of circumstance as those Jews to whom this book was written. And we live under the same kinds of threats and pressures in some ways that they did. The warnings are very legitimate for us today. And I want you to go through them and read them and understand them and see why do I stand up here and I get so passionate and I get all worked up and I get hot and sweaty and my nose starts itching. It's because I care, right? I mean, I genuinely care. And I know you do, too. All right. Hebrews 5:13. I'm going to start over here in Hebrews chapter 5. I may come back someday and give you this message on the five warnings of Hebrews, but let's go to Hebrews 5. Well, let's start in verse 12 because Paul, this is I'm not this is not an accusation. We're just reading Paul's accusation here to some that were in the church at his time or excuse me the author of Hebrews maybe Paul verse 12 he's talking about some that were struggling with this he says for though by this time you ought to be teachers you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God and you have come to need milk and not solid food for everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness for is a babe. Well, who is this hard imagery for us? Babies drink milk. Is that a shocker? Do we have a hard time understanding that? No. We know exactly what that means. Okay. And so if if we see a seven-year-old nursing, how do we feel about that? Are you okay with that? Nobody's going to be okay with that. It's the weirdest thing. Why is that child still nursing? I have seen I h I have seen reports on this that this has actually happened very strange when this happens. So we know in principle what's being talked about here. Okay. Verse 14 he says but solid food belongs to those who are full who excuse me who who are of full age. That is those who by reason of use ah by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Well that means we have to be using studying applying making decisions reaping consequences learning lessons getting better more experienced less mistakes over time. This is what Paul's talking about. The mature Christian should be doing. We are people of full age in my opinion. And you are practicing and you are exercising and you are doing what you can and should be doing to grow. This makes you an adult in God's eyes, a spiritual adult, not a babe. So this is what we're supposed to practice. Paul says, "If we practice the wrong list, we're not getting into the kingdom." There's a list we're supposed to practice. That's 22 and 23 of Galatians 5. If you're practicing anything on the former, we're in the we're on the wrong page. Drop down. And that's the stuff to start practicing. Now, it's important that we realize that because our decisions aren't always easy. That's why we practice in the micro so that they get easier in the macro. Okay, economic terms, the little things versus the big things. Practice them in the littleer things. And the little things come along every single day. Lots of little decisions to make, to choose, to do, to be, to carry, to have these characteristics of Jesus Christ identified in Galatians 5:22 and 23. Peter knew that God had accepted the Gentiles. Yet his fear influenced how he treated them when certain Jews arrived. What seemed reasonable to him at the moment resulted in conduct Paul had to correct. Hopefully, none of us get so blinded to something and lets so much emotion overwhelm us that we make a decision that's like that, catastrophic, humiliating. We just need to become better at recognizing those situations in our own lives. So, I think the more thoroughly that we understand the character of Christ and we're looking pretty regularly at our own character, maybe it maybe it's not going to come from somebody else before we've already identified I need to be working on something. That's preferable, isn't it? I mean, I think would you like for God to whisper through his Holy Spirit to you, you need to be working on this. Rather than a loved one, somebody from church to come up to you and say, "I need to talk to you about something." Because we all love that idea. Pretty sure that's the most scary words you're going to hear. I need to talk to you about a problem. Especially if it's pretty sure you are the problem. Okay, let's uh let's I'm going to probably wrap up close to here here. I'm going to go back to James 1. We did read this last week, but it's it's on point. James, right after the book of Hebrews here, James chapter 1, verse 22, he says, "But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. " Well, this is what happened to Peter. The emotion, he deceived himself. Thought he was doing something that was right and never even thought it through. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself. He goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it. You can't just look at this and go, "No, I've read that. Are you doing it?" You can't just say, "I read it." You got to you got to be doing it. So he says, "But a but a he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer. " That's not human nature at all, is it? Being a forgetful hero. Yikes. But a doer of the work. This one will be blessed in what he does. So this is the the idea obviously is that we can go home and we can read through Hebrews. You can see the five warnings and do nothing about it. You can really read Galatians 5:22 and 23. Understand that there are nine fruit of the spirit. Maybe even understand what each and every one of them means, but you don't do anything about it. That's hopefully no one's going to be able to say that they do that. Just remember that the objective is to become more like Jesus Christ in the way that we think and make it an automatic part of how we respond by adopting these nine fruit as a part of who we really are. Not some some mirage we try to cast that people think that that's what we are because we can't fool God. There's no way that we're going to slip in somehow into the kingdom. Maybe even Peter's not watching. Thinking of the old Protestant ideas here. All right. So, last Sabbath, I asked everyone to review the fruit of the spirit and consider how we're doing in developing the character of Jesus Christ. And I'm not asking you all to explain how your review went or even if you did it, it's on you. But today, I wanted us to consider how our decisions reveal the character that we presently have. It's not perfect. I don't think any of us says, "Yep, I'm got this. I'm great. I'm ready." Um, I think we're ready in terms of timing. None of us is ready in terms of, "No, I'm fully there. I'm fully spiritually there. I still have work to do." And I know most of you think the same. But over the coming weeks, I do want to spend time examining each of the qualities of the fruit of the spirit in this series that I'm just going to call the fruit of the spirit series. I don't like to get fancy on titles or series. It's what it's going to be. and you'll find it because we're going to post them all on the YouTube channel under us under the uh you know it's under the groups or whatever they call that playlist. It's called a playlist and I'll have one called the fruit of the spirit and I'll just keep dumping them in there and anytime you want to go back and review them they should be enough of a deep dive that by the time we're done with one you have a pretty good grasp of it. You understand what it is, you understand how to do it, what it should look like in your life. I hope that arms you and prepares you to keep on doing this work that we're supposed to be doing after the feast.