No Bad Apples #5: Remove Finding Fault
1st Peter 2:1-5 Victory Fellowship
July 31, 2022 - Rev. Roderick Grabski
I. Introduction:
a. You’ve heard the saying, “One bad apple spoils the whole bunch.” It usually refers to a person unwilling to work well with others and consequently undermine the task at hand. The same can be true of certain attitudes that keep us from experiencing living in the unspoiled fullness of the Spirit of Christ.
b. My sermons will focus on an attitude (bad apple) that needs to be eliminated from the life of a Spirit-filled Christian in order to preserve our faithful witness.
c. This series, No Bad Apples, deals with improving our walk of faith, similar to picking out the bad fruit in order to make the bunch more appealing.
d. The topics each week will include:
i. Being too Stubborn to Change
ii. Negativity
iii. Self-Centeredness
iv. Woundedness (playing the victim)
v. Fault-finding (blaming others)
II. The last in this series, I want to focus on Removing Finding Fault.
a. A wise shopper will allow wiggle room for the possibility of bad fruit or vegetables, especially when purchased in larger quantities. If not, it’s not practical or productive to blame other people or circumstances for the problem.
b. Likewise, if a produce manager is helping you with the problem, you shouldn’t blame them that things didn’t go right.
c. In addition, you should not “cover-up” bad fruit and hide it from other prospective buyers. Do it right!
III. Application:
a. In order to keep our spiritual life fresh we should remove all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. We don’t blame others for our lack of Spirituality.
b. In Christ we are as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
c. If we want maximize our spiritual life, we must remove Finding Fault with other people and circumstances.
IV. Conclusion:
a. Billy Graham “physical ears vs Spiritual ears”
b. Let’s agree to ask God to help us examine our lives - and if we see any of these behaviors present - I say it’s time we throw them out!
i. Being too Stubborn to Change
ii. Negativity
iii. Self-Centeredness
iv. Woundedness (playing the victim)
v. Fault-finding (blaming others)
This week let’s examine in what areas we may need to remove finding Fault with others. Come Holy Spirit!
PRAYER
SONG: The Gift of Love
1st Peter 2:1-5 (HCSB)
So rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, desire the pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow by it for your salvation, 3 since you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 Coming to Him, a living stone—rejected by men but chosen and valuable to God— 5 you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
