Sermon preview, week of August 27, 2024
Elect Spiritual Fruit: Love
This Sunday’s order
- Sunday
- Reading
- Leviticus 19:1-18
- Series
- Elect Spiritual Fruit
- Preaching
- FBC Muncie
This is a sermon preview for the first week of our Elect Spiritual Fruit series.
The readingLeviticus 19:1-18
Visit FBCM’s YouTube channel to view video live stream (live) or audio version of the sermon (published the week after).
"Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." - From Leviticus 19:1-18
Read Leviticus 19:1-18
1Then the LORD said to Moses, 2“Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. 3Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must keep My Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God. 4Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the LORD your God. 5When you sacrifice a peace offering to the LORD, you shall offer it for your acceptance. 6It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it, or on the next day; but what remains on the third day must be burned up. 7If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is tainted and will not be accepted. 8Whoever eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned what is holy to the LORD. That person must be cut off from his people. 9When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God. 11You must not steal. You must not lie or deceive one another. 12You must not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. 13You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him.
You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand. 14You must not curse the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD. 15You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly. 16You must not go about spreading slander among your people.
You must not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD. 17You must not harbor hatred against your brother in your heart. Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him. 18Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible, public domain
Love is not simply a feeling of affection. It is actively seeking the good of others.
The Old Testament shows how the separateness, the holiness, and the love the people of God are told to demonstrate are all connected to the Lord's Holiness.
So, if it is true Love isn't a vague feeling that we like someone or something, what is it?
Love looks like living honoring God and honoring others.

As we begin a series on the fruit of the Spirit in a world where such fruit seem so rare, we are reminded that the sort of life we are given to live in Christ, and the fruit we are to seek as we become more like him, are truly good things.
And in a contentious election season, it is important Christians display the fruit of the Spirit more than political vices.
Join us as guest preacher Dr. Craig Long brings us the first message in our series on the Fruit of the Spirit on Love.