Sermons
Works Not Wanted
Series: The Way Of SalvationWORKS NOT WANTED
Sermon By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / January 05, 2020
I'd like to express my gratitude to our church shepherds for teaching and preaching last Sunday.
Please read my brief essay in today's FamilyMatters and give them a hug.
Vic's sermon last Sunday was a wonderful lesson filled with optimism - - a splendid way to close out the year.
I want to begin to bring my sermon series on The Way Of Salvation to a close this morning.
Although some might interpret this message as being negative, I cannot consciously wrap up this series
without balancing what I have said thus far throughout the series with a word of warning.
We have focused over the last several weeks on two texts - - Gal.5:22f and Col.3:12f.
Both of these sections of Scripture, both written by the apostle Paul, urge the cultivation of Christian virtues.
In Galatians, Paul speaks of these virtues as “the fruit of the Spirit”:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
In Colossians, Paul alters his metaphor to speak of clothing ourselves (putting on): a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, love, peace and thanksgiving.
None of these virtues listed in these two texts are optional.
In other words we can't pick and choose which characteristics we want to cultivate.
Yes, we can focus on a single attribute and do our best to inculcate and refine that quality in our lives.
But, in zeroing in on one particular virtuous ingredient, we must not neglect the others.
Actually these virtues are so intertwined that they can't be isolated from one another.
It is impossible to bear with and forgive others without being humble, kind, gentle, compassionate and loving.
This collection of “fruit” and this wardrobe of “apparel” (clothing) are indispensable ingredients for true discipleship.
Years ago, when we first started our summer youth retreat, we had what we called the Ten Commandments of Camp.
I guess some could look at these and deem them to be too negative: No smoking … No foul language …
No excessive PDA with the opposite sex … No leaving the campus w/o permission … Etc.
Over the years I've noticed that these explicitly-stated prohibitions seemed to be emphasized less and less.
They were not rejected outright; they weren't totally overlooked; but they were not stressed as strongly.
I've often thought that our summer youth retreat is a microcosm of life in the church.
Over the years, I fear that many of us preachers of the gospel have gone overboard in trying to be POSITIVE.
We seemed to have presumed that we know better than God (read the 10 Commandments in Ex.20 & Deut.5).
Of the ten commandments given by God to Moses for the children of Israel, eight are “thou shalt NOTs”.
Two are stated somewhat positively: remember the sabbath and honor you father and mother.
The other eight are emphatically negative: No other gods … no graven images … do not take God's name in vain …
do not murder … do not commit adultery … do not steal … do not bear false witness … do not covet.
There is something about our human make-up (which our Creator knows so very well)
that requires a clearly spelled out of forbiddence - - things which we must intentionally not do.
First-time parents often aspire to be so positive with their child-rearing strategy, but they quickly
come to learn (hopefully) that parenting demands rules, and rules include numerous “thou shalt nots”.
As our Heavenly Father shows us repeatedly in the sacred Scriptures,
you can't eliminate the negative by only accentuating the positive.
Open your Bibles to two passages - - Gal.5 and Col.3 - - we will be reading from both.
This morning's message will be a shot-gun approach.
In a few lessons yet to come we'll then take a more laser-like approach to some of these works of the flesh.
We need good works. We need the fruit of the spirit blossoming profusely among us.
In Titus 2:7, Paul states, in all things show yourself to be an example of GOOD DEEDS.
Jesus urges us (Mt.5:16) - - let your light so shine in such that others will see your good works and glorify your heavenly Father.
In Eph.2:10, Paul declares - - we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
So, as we read from these two select citations from Paul we are going to hear some “thou shalt nots”.
As we read down thru these texts I want us to take note of the specifics.
We all have some good work to do in eliminating some of these bad works - - “works of the flesh” (Gal.5).
There are some old garbs that we all need to “put off” (Col.3) - - some ragged garments that need to be shed.
This past summer I burned several of my garments: three old t-shirts … an old sweatshirt … a worn-out pair of jeans …
a thread-bear sweater vest. They felt so comfortable but they were not very presentable.
So listen up as we read together and make a few notes of some negatives that you need to discard.
GALATIANS 5:19-21
Now the dead of flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery,enmities,
strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing
and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that
THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
COLOSSIANS 3:5-10
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
FOR IT IS ON ACCOUNT OF THESE THINGS THAT THE WRATH OF GOD WILL COME,
and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also,
PUT THE ALL ASIDE: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from you mouth.
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put one the
new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.
This is my message for this morning. It is brief and pointed.
The church (our church) has suffered from an influx of carnality.
These “works of the flesh” are “the works of the devil” that must be pruned away.
If left unchecked they can be not only corrosive but cancerous to the body of Christ.
These unwanted works are unacceptable and must be put on the fire.
GOD WILL NOT BLESS A CHURCH THAT HARBORS WORKS OF THE FLESH.
I'm not much of a gardener, but every late spring my garden patch needs attention.
Our garden is a small 12' X 12' plot of ground, but come mid-spring it becomes polluted with weeds.
So we till the soil, and pluck away the unwanted growth and then we begin planting anew.
This analogy describes life in the spiritual realm as well.
We've all cultivating a garden of virtues that we want to make both presentable and productive.
We've all got some serious weeding to do, so let's use the Word of God
as a hoe (a long-handled scalpel/Heb.4:12) and start cutting away at these “weeds of the flesh”.
