Good Morning Friends,
Now some may say that repudiation of the law as a means of salvation would lead to a lot of people living badly but Paul as well as Jesus offer a new kind of freedom that much like the Sermon on the Mount turn everything inside out. It is not so much doing what Christ would do, for we could never be Jesus, but it is doing what we are led by the Spirit of Christ to do. So, Are We Living By The Fruit Of The Spirit Of Christ In Us?
Scripture: But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
Galatians 5:18-25 (NRSV)
Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. You say, “We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth.” Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will repay according to each one’s deeds: to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.
Romans 2:1-11 (NRSV)
“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.” One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.” And he said, “Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them.
Luke 11:42-46 (NRSV)
Message: Remember, that the Galatian Christians were being taught by the Judaizers that in order to become “real” Christians they had to obey the Mosaic law, follow the dietary rules, and, most importantly, enter the covenant community of the Jews through circumcision. In other words, they had to become Jewish to become real Christians. But Paul wasn’t having any of this. To Paul, Jesus plus nothing equals everything! Paul in today’s text is giving his beloved Galatian brothers and sisters new steps so they can dance to the rhythm of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control to retain the freedom Christ made possible. When Paul writes about this, he makes it clear that there are personal sins, social sins, lifestyle sins and sins in relation to our worship of God that are not always visible and more likely well hidden in the heart. That the deeds of the flesh are “obvious,” does not necessarily mean visible. Most of these sins are not visible, they are sins that can be hidden fairly well in the heart. Paul makes no effort to make a complete list of vices. The point is not to substitute a new legalism but to suggest that if the Holy Spirit is in a person, they will look the part and more like Christ over time, even to the point of inheriting the promises of Abraham and eternal life. Here the Fruit of the Spirit is a spontaneous product of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The fruit is not something we try to grow ourselves but the product of the Spirit’s work inside of us. It is pretty pointless for us to try to be more loving. We have to trust Christ to work the fruit of love in us. You see, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches, and only if we remain in Christ and Christ in us will we bear fruit. Apart from the Spirit of Christ we cannot do anything. Part of this process of being a new creation is that God grows in us the character traits that proclaim Jesus. Now some confuse the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit for they are different things. Each Christian is given gifts of the Spirit but not all Christians have every gift. However, the fruit are a package deal. It is not a buffet where you pick a little love and joy but leave gentleness and self-control to others. God wants to grow well-rounded Christians. The word “fruit” is singular as opposed to the “works” of the flesh which are all sin but plural. So, think of the nine fruits as this bunch of grapes. It is one bunch but has multiple grapes. Or a precious gem that has nine facets. Now this fruit grows gradually. But know this, we are saved by faith and not by growing fruit. But our faith is not fruitless faith. This fruit is simply the product of a normal Christian life. Christians submitted to the Holy Spirit’s work inside of us will produce these nine-character traits more and more as they grow spiritually. They are a character sketch of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit’s job is to glorify Jesus and mold us and make us into the likeness of our Savior. We do that in our attitudes toward God in relationship to love, joy, and peace. We do it in our attitudes toward others in relationship to patience, kindness, and generosity. And we do it in relationship toward our self through faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The first fruit of the Spirit that Paul highlights is love for it is the sum and substance of what it means to be a Christian. Joy is the second and is essentially the enjoyment of God and the good things that come from God. The third fruit of this triad is peace. The Hebrew word is one that many are familiar with – shalom. It is more than the absence of conflict or trouble. It is the presence of wholeness and everything that is necessary for the good of a person. It is a serenity of the soul. In this context, this means the peace that comes from knowing that our sins have been forgiven and that we are no longer under the bondage of that sin. Our debt has been paid by Christ on the cross. We need this peace, individually and corporately. This fruit will lead to peace with God, the peace of God, and peace with others. The next triad is patience, kindness, and generosity. Here patience has to do with forbearance in frustrating situations and circumstance. And generosity is the outward expression of kindness. Kindness is the inner root of a redeemed heart and generosity is the outer fruit of a redeemed heart. This is about righteousness for the benefit of others. The final triad is that of faithfulness, gentleness and self-control which is about an inner strength that enables us to control passions and desires and have the ability to avoid excesses and stay within reasonable boundaries. And here self-control may be the most important aspect for without it those works of vice in us cannot be overcome and the fruit of the Spirit will most likely not be evidenced. Aristotle wrote, “I count him braver who overcomes his desires than he who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is the victory over self.” It takes self-control to make peace. It takes self-control to do good for the way is narrow. It takes self-control to not automatically look out only for oneself but kindly look out for other people. It takes self-control to patiently bear with others rather than quickly condemning them. It takes self-control to be faithful and not have our faith shattered. It takes self-control to be faithful and not have our faith shattered. It takes self-control to be a gentle servant of the Lord, showing compassion and mercy with real love as God does with us. It takes self-control to be faithful and not have our faith shattered.
And So, our ability to shape the physical world spills over into a belief that we can shape the metaphysical world as well. The result of this way of looking at the world is that we simply change the rules. We say, if it feels good, do it. It’s your life. You only live once, so why not enjoy yourself? It’s your right. But to be consistently transformed into the image of Jesus, we are going to need a power greater than ourselves. That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. The Galatians were learning to dance to the rhythm of love, joy, peace, grace, and most of all freedom and Paul gives them some new dance moves in today’s passage from Galatians. The goal is to dance in the Spirit and to live one’s whole life in accordance with the mind of Christ. Legalist desire for everything to be in black and white and hoped to reduce the Gospel to rules by which to walk in the assurance and comfort of getting it right. But Paul suggested that Christ offered the Spirit to safeguard our newfound freedom. Here embodying virtues cannot be described or handled by the law. They represent a quality of life that is above the law. Interestingly we cannot directly cultivate the virtues we have explored today, but only by welcoming Christ to bring them into our lives can these virtues occur. So, these nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit are really a character sketch of Jesus Christ. When we seek to exhibit these character traits, we are really just seeking to live out our name as Christians. If you want to know what love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control looks like, look to the cross.
Pray we worship in Spirit and in Truth. Pray we produce fruit and give the best to God. Pray the faith of Christ in us reigns with the power of the Holy Spirit changing our affections, attitudes, appetites, actions, and assurances so we might glorify God. Pray we realize that only the Spirit of Christ can cure the human weakness of our nature to sin. Pray we become more Christlike. Pray we get to know Jesus by experiencing the fruit of the Spirit and its love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control manifested in us. Pray we produce fruit and give the best to God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 