Trinity 14 September 13, 2020 The Sunday of the Ten Lepers Cleansed

Trinity 14
Luke 17:11-19
September 13, 2020

“Walk with Jesus”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

I think there’s a little bit of a problem with the translation of the last verse of the Gospel reading today. After Jesus heals ten lepers and only one returns to worship Jesus, Jesus says to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” In English that comes out all wrong. It sounds like Jesus is saying to this Samaritan leper, “Get up and get out of here. Go! Leave! See ya! You’re all better now! Adios! Catch ya’ later!”

But that’s not at all what the Greek says or what Jesus is saying. We don’t know for sure if this man physically journeyed with Jesus after this and followed him all the way to the cross. He may have. We really don’t know. But either way, he followed Jesus. He became a disciple of Jesus and walked with Him from then on.

What Jesus was telling him to do was first of all to “get up” because he had fallen down on his face in front of Jesus. Secondly, then, Jesus tells him to now “go” in the sense of “live” and “go about his new life”. It’s exactly what Jesus tells us when we’re baptized, when we confess our sins to Him, and when we receive the Lord’s Supper. He doesn’t say to us, “Now get out of here! See ya! Don’t come back and bother me again!” No! He says, “Now your faith has made you well. Get up and live your life in this new grace!”

All of you have a choice. A choice we make throughout our lives. Just like all the ten lepers had a choice. Jesus healed them. Their choice was to go back and walk with Him or tell Him, “See ya!” One of them chose to walk with Jesus. All of you have a choice as well. Jesus has healed you. Baptized you. Forgiven you all your sins. And you have a choice to walk with Him or walk away from Him. By the power and grace of God’s Holy Spirit, working through His Word, we choose the better way. To walk with Jesus.

In Proverbs today, Solomon clearly is telling his son there are two way to walk. He wants him to take the better way. Verse 14, “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil.” Verse 18, “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.”

Friends in Christ, Jesus has healed you. Your faith has made you well. Those aren’t empty words. It doesn’t just mean you should feel good. It means you are good. It means you’re a child of God and have eternal life. Now He tells us to rise and go. To walk with Him. So in the rest of our time together this morning I’m going to tell you what your life in Jesus, your walk with Jesus, looks like. We have a choice as Christians to walk with Him and live in the fruits of the Spirit. So we go now to the Epistle today from Galatians 5 where Paul describes what our walk with Jesus looks like – the nine fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

(Just a note: it would probably be helpful to either have the bulletin insert with the Galatians 5 reading handy or the sermon insert with those two paths on the front. We want to be able to see the words given for fruits of the Spirit and compare them with some of the works of darkness Paul lists.)

So let’s take these starting at the end with self-control and working back. You guys who walk with Jesus have this wonderful gift that you can control yourself. How about that? Those without the Spirit have a hard time controlling themselves. Paul lists two things in particular—drunkenness and orgies (or carousing). These are sins of excess. When you can’t control yourself. This is a gift of Jesus. He is strong. And in His strength we find strength. We find strength to control ourselves. To control our eating and drinking, to control our language, to control our lust, to control even simple things like the time we spend watching TV or looking at our phone, or to control how we spend our time in general. Jesus is self-controlled and we want to walk with Him.

Working back then we have gentleness. Jesus was gentle. He said that He is gentle and lowly in heart and we will find rest for our souls. On the opposite side, the works of darkness, Paul lists envy and quarrelling—opposites of gentleness. You don’t have to compete with anyone in this world. Jesus has already saved you and made you a child of God. You can be gentle like Jesus with every single person you meet. You’re not in competition. Jesus is gentle and we want to walk with Him.

Next is faithfulness. Who doesn’t want to be loyal and trustworthy and faithful? Jesus is faithful. Faithful to God and faithful to you. He keeps His promises. So you, as a Christian, are faithful to God and faithful to others. On the opposite side we have idolatry and sorcery. When we don’t trust God to take care of us and we look to other false gods. But you don’t need any other gods. God will always be faithful to you. Faithfulness—Jesus has it and we want to walk with Him.

Goodness or generosity. The opposite of this one in Paul’s other list is rivalries or selfishness. It’s very hard to be good, isn’t it? That’s what we always say. It’s hard to be good. But not with Jesus. Jesus teaches us give everything we have. To not think only of ourselves but to count others more significant than ourselves. Jesus is good and we want to walk with Him.

Kindness. The devil wants us to fight and be an enmity with each other. To consider other people our enemies. But Jesus is kind. He wants all people to know the truth and to be saved. One of the most important parts of kindness and goodness is forgiving one another. When you pray in the Lord’s prayer “as we forgive others who trespass against us” you’re essentially praying for kindness. Jesus is kind and we want to walk with Him.

Patience. Walking with Jesus down the road of righteousness we find patience. The opposite of fits of anger in Paul’s naughty list. Jesus is the embodiment of patience. He patiently endured all the suffering and shame of the cross to save us. Where do you need to choose patience right now? Maybe patience with an odd school year? Maybe patience with people who don’t share the same views as you? Maybe patience with a coworker or a family member? Jesus is patient and we want to walk with Him.

Peace. The opposite of dissensions, strife, and divisions. Those without the Spirit like to stir up trouble between people. But with the Spirit we strive for peace with everyone. We’re at peace with God because of Jesus. And this allows us to live our entire lives in peace. No matters what happens and no matter how evil the world is around us—we have a peace that passes understanding in Jesus. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and we want to walk with Him.

Joy. If Jesus can have joy as He went to the cross—If Paul can have joy while he sat in prison—we can have joy no matter what circumstances we must face in this world. Joy is that gift of the Spirit which enables us to see God in everything. To see God’s hand and grace in every moment of every day. Jesus has joy and we want to walk with Him.

Finally, love. The greatest of these is love. Love is the opposite of those things Paul lists such as sexual immorality and sensuality and impurity. Of course, love is the opposite of all sin. Love is the overarching gift of the Spirit which covers everything. Love is that indescribable gift of Jesus which causes Him to give and give and give to us without ever stopping. Love is yours in Jesus. Jesus is love and we want to walk with Him.

These nine gifts of the Spirit are yours to walk with. Right now. These aren’t empty words. Jesus doesn’t utter empty words. He says to you today, “Rise and walk with me—your faith has made you well.” And for your journey He gives you His own gifts—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Make your choice. Walk with Jesus.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.