The Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:19-21)
- you might remember that some time ago, we began
looking at the Holy Spirit
- the Holy Spirit is that remarkable gift given
to every believer at the moment of their conversion
- when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit at conversion,
we receive spiritual power in our lives
- he fills us, purifies us, illumines, empowers,
preserves, and gifts us
-
- but there's one thing we haven't talked about
yet
- and we can't complete our look at the Holy Spirit
without talking about the fruit of the Holy Spirit
- God wants to lead us into a spiritual orchard
of fruit that the Holy Spirit will produce in us if we submit to his
filling and control
- but it's not automatic
- there are many Christians who have been baptized
in the Spirit and are indwelt by the Spirit, yet they have never experienced
all the Spirit's benefits
- if there’s anything we need to understand
in order to live the victorious Christian life, it is the person and
ministry of the Holy Spirit
- and when the Holy Spirit indwells us, certain
things begin to appear in our lives, just as fruit appears in an orchard
- these things called the fruit of the Spirit are
the distinguishing marks of the Spirit's influence in our lives
-
- but many Christians never experience the fruit
of the Spirit
- the Galatians are an example
- please open your Bibles to Galatians 3
- (Galatians 3:1) You foolish Galatians! Who has
bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed
as crucified.
- (Galatians 3:2) I would like to learn just one
thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or
by believing what you heard?
- (Galatians 3:3) Are you so foolish? After beginning
with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
- the Galatians had made a serious mistake
- they were trying to live the Christian life using
the power of human effort
- through the power of the flesh
-
- you don't have to be very smart to realize that
this is a losing proposition
- it is literally impossible to live the Christian
life in the power of the flesh
- if you try to lead a Christian life using your
own best efforts and on your own strength, listen right now: you
are doomed
- there is no way for you to succeed
- the Bible teaches that the flesh refers to our
human nature and its unregenerate weakness
- according to the Bible, our flesh has inherited
a sinful nature from Adam
- we completely lack spiritual good before God,
and we are totally unable to do any spiritual good before God
- in other words, our efforts to please God by
our own efforts in our own sinful nature are completely inadequate
- the flesh cannot please God
-
- in Galatia, some teachers had convinced believers
that the way to please God was by taming the flesh and making it behave
by their own self-will and discipline
- they were substituting rules for a relationship
with the Holy Spirit
- and Paul says, "You crazy Galatians!…Only
crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what
was begun by God"
- it's impossible to live the Christian life on
our own efforts
-
- we need the Spirit
- the Spirit is better than the law, because as
important as the law is, it only tells us what we're doing wrong
- have you ever been pulled over by a police officer
for driving within the speed limit?
- the police officer stops you and says, "Good
day. I just noticed that you were observing the speed limit, and I want
to thank you for obeying the law"
- no, the laws and the police are only there to
give you a hard time when you disobey the law
- and it's the same way with the law of God
- the law does not give us power to please God,
it only points out when we're disobeying
- but the Spirit helps us to please God
-
- so let's look at the spiritual fruit that comes
when we live the Christian life in the power of the Spirit
- turn to Galatians 5
- before giving us a juicy, sweet, satisfying taste
of the fruit of the Spirit, Paul whets our appetite by giving us a taste
of the dry, rotten, and unsatisfying deeds of the flesh
- look at verses 19-21
- these are the deeds of the flesh
- these are the vices of the flesh
- these are the mess we're in within the power
of the Holy Spirit
- Tony Evans splits this list into three categories
- first, you have moral sins
- (Galatians 5:19) The acts of the sinful nature
are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery
- sexual immorality is the satisfaction of our
sexual desires by either sexual contact with another person outside
the boundary of heterosexual marriage, or feeding ourselves with illegitimate
sexual material
- it's what one person calls "repetitive,
loveless, cheap sex"
- it's sexual acts we know aren't right; either
in reality or in our minds
- the word "impurity" has to do with
the stuff that oozes from a sore; it refers to a thought life that is
putrid and contaminated
- it's what the same person calls "a stinking
accumulation of mental and emotional garbage"
- debauchery refers to a wild, unruly lifestyle
that is unrestrained and out of control
-
- second, you have not only moral sins but you
have religious sins
- (Galatians 5:20) idolatry and witchcraft;
- idolatry is worshiping other gods
- I hope none of us have idols, but anything that
replaces the place of God in our lives is an idol
- it can include such things as worship of material
possessions
- we can even live in our idols or ride in them
- they can be our cars or our houses or our bank
accounts
- and witchcraft refers to the practice of magic
and involvement with forbidden practices such as spiritualism, fortune-telling,
and astrology
-
- third, you have social sins
- (Galatians 5:20) hatred, discord, jealousy, fits
of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
- (Galatians 5:21) and envy; drunkenness, orgies,
and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like
this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
- this is the longest list; how we relate to others
- you know, not many Christians take hits of crack
cocaine to get high, but how many of us are guilty of "outbursts
of anger?"
- how many of us experience characters of hostility,
grudge-bearing, and less than loving thoughts?
- how many of us have disputes with our spouses
or others?
- how many of us have what Paul calls "selfish
ambition"
- not to mention drunkenness and the life-style
of the wild party?
-
- okay, let's change the subject
- this is getting a little too convicting
- but the deeds of the flesh do include not only
sexual sins and religious sins, but also outbursts of anger and selfish
ambition
- these are what Paul identifies as the deeds of
the flesh
-
- now that we've tasted this dry, rotten, and unsatisfying
deeds of the flesh, let's stroll over to the juicy, sweet, and satisfying
fruit of the Spirit
- in this orchard we will see fruit that evidence
the Spirit's working in our lives
- this spiritual fruit will be visible to others
- it will bless others and as Bernard says, "make
their day"
- Paul lists nine flavors of the fruit of the Spirit
in Galatians 5, beginning in verse 22:
- (Galatians 5:22) But the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- (Galatians 5:23) gentleness and self-control.
Against such things there is no law.
-
- for the rest of this message, let's examine the
fruit of the Spirit in each of its flavors
- this is the sort of quality that will be displayed
in our lives as we submit to the Spirit
- the fruit of the Spirit is uncommon and extraordinary
-
- Paul says the fruit of the Spirit is love
- this is a transcendent love that rises above
commonplace natural affection
- it is the ability to seek the highest good for
other people, regardless of their response
- it is selfless love; the ability to show love
to even our enemies
- natural love says, "You aren't being loving
to me, so I won’t show any love to you"
- the Spirit says, "Even if you are not loving
me, I will show you what real love looks like"
- love transcends natural affection; it flows from
a heart that has been changed by the Holy Spirit
-
- the fruit of the Spirit is also joy
- happiness has to do with circumstances on the
outside, but joy has to do with a well of living water on the inside
- this is not the joy that comes when our favorite
sports team wins a title, or when something good happens
- it is a joy that is transcendent, and born of
blessedness
- joy turns a bad situation into a playground;
it is inner stability regardless of external circumstances
- the joy of the Spirit pervades and penetrates
the soul
-
- the fruit of the Holy Spirit is also peace
- peace is our inheritance from the Prince of Peace
- it goes beyond any peace this world can offer
- it is an inner peace, a peace that passes understanding
- it is a peace with God
- it is peace with our brothers and our sisters
-
- the fruit of the Spirit is also patience
- the Spirit gives us a long fuse, and removes
a vengeful spirit from us
- it mirrors the character of God, who has no explosive
tantrums
- God is slow to anger, and endures the insult
and malice of others
- and God gives us this ability to be patient
-
- the fruit of the Spirit is kindness
- Jesus was strong and tender
- he was not harsh; he never broke a bruised reed
- Jesus kept his authority and power in check;
he did not crush the weak
- instead, he was thoughtful and kind, tempering
justice with mercy
- the Spirit produces kindness in our lives, the
ability to think of how we can help others
-
- the fruit of the Spirit is goodness
- goodness refers to a basic personal integrity
-
- and the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness
- the ability to believe in God, and to be faithful
and consistent in our lifestyle
-
- and the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness
- the ability to be humble and to resist arrogance
- to be graceful to others
-
- lastly, the fruit of the Spirit is self-control
- the Spirit gives us the ability to resist violence,
crudeness, rudeness, and pushiness
- instead, we are self-controlled, moderate, able
to resist wrong and submit to what is right
-
- this is the fruit of the Spirit
- these are the genuine marks of godliness, the
virtues we see manifested in mature believers
- these are the virtues that the Spirit cultivates
in our lives, not arising from our own righteousness, but because, as
Augustine put it, "God is pleased to crown his own gifts"
- we are incapable of displaying these gifts without
the power of the Spirit
-
- how can we experience this spiritual harvest
of fruit?
- (Galatians 5:24) Those who belong to Christ Jesus
have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
- (Galatians 5:25) Since we live by the Spirit,
let us keep in step with the Spirit.
- the answer is that we give our lives to Christ,
and have our sinful nature crucified with Christ
- that happens when we become believers
- and once we become Christians, that we keep in
step with the Spirit, that we walk in line with the Spirit
- this underscores the importance of a life of
dependence and submission to the Holy Spirit, a life that is driven
by prayer
- listen to what Charles Stanley writes:
- "The Spirit-filled life begins once we are
absolutely and thoroughly convinced that we can do nothing apart from
the indwelling strength of the Holy Spirit…The Spirit-filled life
begins with an overwhelming realization that we are absolutely helpless
and hopeless apart from the empowerment of the Holy Spirit…[Until
then], we will always be out there doing things for God in our
own strength"
- let me ask you, have you reached that point of
total dependence in your life?
- that without God’s help, you can do nothing
-
- until we surrender to the Spirit’s control
in our lives, until we come to the place in which we give everything
over to him, and remember, do this continually – we won’t
be filled with the Spirit
- remember, to be filled with the Spirit means
that we are controlled by the Spirit
- in order to be controlled by the Spirit, we have
to surrender everything to him
- one way to know if we are keeping in step with
the Spirit is to look at our prayer lives
- if we don't pray, we are leaving the Spirit out
of our lives
- but if we do pray, we know we are truly walking
in our lives in step with the Spirit
- friends, the Holy Spirit is not an nice addendum
to the Christian faith
- he is at the heart and core of it
- if we are going to have our lives transformed,
we can't do it on our own strength
- we need the power of the Holy Spirit
-
- as we conclude this series, I'm asking you to
give control of your life to the Holy Spirit
- you are a lousy producer of spiritual fruit
- we all are
- but as we submit to the Holy Spirit, we will
produce the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control that we need
- we need to begin each day with a commitment to
walk in the Spirit
- we need to set our minds on things that are above
- we need total surrender; to raise the white flag
and move over from the driver's seat so the Spirit can take control
- only then can he take control
- and then we can begin to experience, and enjoy,
the fruit of the Spirit
-
- Father,
- many of us are perhaps displaying the deeds of
the flesh
- our morality is less than perfect
- we struggle sexually; our thoughts are impure
and immoral
- we have other material gods before you
- we have short fuses and we are selfish and vengeful
-
- we want to live for Jesus
- we want love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
- this will only take place as we surrender and
depend on you in everything
