What Does It Look Like To Walk By The Spirit? (Galatians 5:22-23) PART II
GIST: The fruit of the Spirit is the normal and growing product of true Christian living.
Today, we’ll pick back up with the application portion of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. After four chapters urging these believers not to fall into the trap of believing they’re saved by anything except Jesus’ amazing and unearned grace, Paul is closing by demonstrating what being changed by this truth will look like.
Last week, we began talking about the most recognizable portion of this letter where he contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. In part one of our conversation, we noted that we can know we’re walking by the Spirit, living the Christian life, when our lives are no longer defined by sin as they are being increasingly defined by Jesus instead. We spent some time then looking at the types of things our lives are naturally defined by and examining our hearts to see if that’s still the case. Now, we’re going to camp out with the fruit of the Spirit. Here’s the part to gist: The fruit of the Spirit is the normal and growing product of true Christian living. Let’s pray and dive in!
I. The Normal and Growing Product (22-23)
Let’s look at verses 22-23. “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” There are two observations I want to make before we dive into this list and then one we’ll come back to afterward. First, this is→
Real Fruit. Last week, we noted the difference between fruit and works. Works are things we do. Fruit… grow. They don’t produce themselves. So having these in our lives is the result of them growing not being created or fabricated by us. I wanted to make sure and point that out because it is easy to fall into two traps. 1: Trying to just “do” these things in order to earn your salvation. We’ve definitely covered the futility of that effort. You can’t save yourself by your works… and won’t be able to just “do” these things in the first place! And that’s the heart of the second trap. 2: This fruit is real, not put on. We can appear loving and patient and kind outside, but if sin is still reigning in our hearts, we know that’s not really who we are. Maybe we care about people, but we also know that care is often clouded by our desire to appear caring to others. Maybe we seem patient, but in our hearts we harbor resentment and constant frustration. We just bite our tongues. Certain personalities lend themselves to having these qualities more than others, but personality traits are not the fruit of the Spirit.
In fact, this is one fruit. It’s not the fruits of the Spirit, so don’t start looking at the list and saying, “yeah, I’ve got a few of those, but I’m just not the type of person who has the others” ☺. This is the work→
Of The Spirit. If you have been rescued by Jesus, the Holy Spirit produces His Work in you. Yes, this is a process, but it should be the natural product of being His. That being said, let’s look at them quickly today.
Love- Agape. This is a biblical term. It reflects the deep and profound love of God. Interestingly, it seems like its first usage can be traced to the Song of Solomon (just a little tidbit for you ☺). However, the most famous picture of this kind of love is found in 1 Corinthians 13. I know it’s a familiar passage, but it’s definitely worth our time to read it today. Look at this picture. This is what the Holy Spirit wants to create in you! “1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends...” (1 Corinthians 13:1-8a) It has actually been argued that this entire list of the fruit of the Spirit is just a further explanation of what love will look like in our lives. That could very well be.
Joy- Deep cheerfulness. This is beyond circumstantial happiness. This is the joy that comes from knowing God and being fully known by Him. This is having hope even when the world is falling apart around you. If you’ve been around Providence long, you know this is one of my soapboxes, and it’s partly because I want this so badly to be true of me. Too often, Christians are sad and gripey people. Guys, we’ve been rescued from Hell and called into a personal relationship with the God of the universe who loves us! Why are we so grumpy?
Peace- This is twofold. It’s harmony between people and a restored relationship with God. Our ultimate peace comes from no longer being God’s enemies. As such, our lives should be defined by being peacemakers. Are you?
Patience- Everyone always wants to skip this one. It means we’ll be longsuffering, slow to anger.
Kindness- The words kindness and goodness are actually connected words. In fact, they could both be translated using the same English word. The difference seems to be that kindness is moral goodness lived out! When we’re truly kind, it is because we are also experiencing→
Goodness- Which is an uprightness of heart and character.
Faithfulness- This is the conviction of the truth of God resulting in a trustworthiness of character. We’re faithful because we believe Him and seek to follow Him. That then bleeds into our character. We are reliable and true to our word.
Gentleness- This is sometimes translated as meekness. It’s humility that results from knowing your need. It’s hard to judge others harshly when you realize you have the same desperate need for salvation.
Self-Control- Oh, we’re not good at this, are we? This is not giving in to the desires of the flesh. We live in a “if it feels good, do it” culture, but that shouldn’t define us anymore.
Now, the passage goes on to say there is→
No Law Against such things. Why? Because the law commends these. Remember the law points us to our need for salvation. It reveals our brokenness. The fruit of the Spirit points to our redemption! There is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ! In fact, fruit combats the flesh. If you take the list of sinful desires and actions and contrast them directly with the fruit of the Spirit, you could see how nearly every fruit directly contradicts the works. Here’s just a quick example to help illustrate this point.
Love- Sexual Immorality
Joy- Drunkenness and Orgies
Peace- Enmity, Strife, Divisions, Dissensions
Patience- Envy
Kindness- Sorceries (Real Deal Change Vs Counterfeit)
Goodness- Impurity
Faithfulness- Idolatry
Gentleness- Rivalries/Self-Ambition
Self-Control- Sensuality
Now this is the natural and growing product of true Christian living. *Which is where I would have gone next, but while preaching it the first time, I realized I needed to stop here and go to a different set of →
TAKEAWAYS
This fruit is the product of walking with the Holy Spirit.
We don’t strain to produce them ourselves.
This fruit grows.
It’s not automatic.
So… do you see His fruit growing in your life?
Love- The profound and all encompassing love of God!
Joy- Deep cheerfulness
Peace- Harmony between people and a restored relationship with God.
Patience- Longsuffering, being slow to anger.
Kindness- Moral goodness lived out!
Goodness- Uprightness of heart
Faithfulness- Conviction of the truth of God resulting in a trustworthiness of character.
Gentleness- Humility. Knowing your need.
Self-Control- Not giving in to the desires of the flesh.
What defines you?
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