Advent 3 Recap
Joy & Kindness
It’s hard to believe we’re through three weeks of Advent. This week, we spent three days each on two of the fruit of the Spirit: Joy & Kindness. If you missed a post or want to review anything, they are linked below. If nothing else, read again our passage from Galatians, included in full at the end of this post.
Tomorrow is the fourth and final Sunday of Advent.
We’ll begin with the fruit of Love,
which is the traditional theme for this Sunday,
and then on Wednesday, we’ll dig into Gentleness.
Galatians 5:13-26
You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only don’t let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love. All the Law has been fulfilled in a single statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour each other, be careful that you don’t get eaten up by each other!
I say be guided by the Spirit and you won’t carry out your selfish desires. A person’s selfish desires are set against the Spirit, and the Spirit is set against one’s selfish desires. They are opposed to each other, so you shouldn’t do whatever you want to do. But if you are being led by the Spirit, you aren’t under the Law. The actions that are produced by selfish motives are obvious, since they include sexual immorality, moral corruption, doing whatever feels good, idolatry, drug use and casting spells, hate, fighting, obsession, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry, jealousy, drunkenness, partying, and other things like that. I warn you as I have already warned you, that those who do these kinds of things won’t inherit God’s kingdom.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the self with its passions and its desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit. Let’s not become arrogant, make each other angry, or be jealous of each other.
Joy
Made Complete - Choosing abiding love over performative happiness.
Pregnancy - Joy, not because circumstances are resolved, but because God is near.
Belonging - Jesus teaches and exemplifies a joy that comes from a placed source, not external circumstances.
Kindness
Choosing Kindness over Ease - Jesus reframes discipleship not as ease, but as a life shaped by Spirit-formed kindness rather than rivalry and burden.
Enemy Kindness - Jesus pushes kindness beyond the familiar and familial, calling his followers to reflect God’s kindness even toward those who oppose them.
When Kindness Becomes Compassion - Kindness deepens into compassion when love draws near to suffering, mirroring the incarnational movement of God in Christ.
By the way, tomorrow morning (Sunday, December 21), I’ll be playing some of these songs live on Facebook at 7:00 AM EST.