Since the beginning of this year we have been placing
a lot of emphasis on the Holy Spirit. Last week we
answered the question, ‘Who is the Holy Spirit?’
He is a Person
He is God
And one of the main roles that he plays in our
lives is as a “paraclete” (comforter, one who
comes alongside to help)
There are a lot of ways that the Holy Spirit helps us…
He is a teacher
Guides us into all truth
Comforter
Convicts us of sin
Brings truth back to our remembrance
Empowers us to Witness
Helps us in our Prayer life
Gives us the Spiritual Gifts
And over the course of the coming months we will be
exploring these things. And all are important, but as I
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thought about where to “begin” I really felt like we
need to start with the “Fruit of the Spirit”.
Before we talk about Speaking in Tongues, or
Prophesying, or Healing the Sick – Before we talk
about the more demonstrative activities of the Holy
Spirit that other people can see … we need to talk
about the inner character that the Holy Spirit wants
us to develop.
Years ago I was introduced to the concept,
“Talent will get you there, but character will keep
you there!”
How many of you can relate to that? We’ve seen
people with incredible talent – great giftings –
whether it be as a pastor or prophet or worship leader
– I mean really gifted people that we looked at and
thought, “I wish I could be like that…” And then we
heard about some moral failure in their life that took
them off the stage and left broken lives in their wake!
It is for that reason that, while it might seem
more “fun” or “inspiring” to to talk about the work of
the Holy Spirit by beginning with the Spiritual Gifts, I
believe that we need to start by looking at Spiritual
Character.
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And it is interesting/confirmation that while I had
already begun working on this message today, I
stepped into Judy’s class on prophecy Wednesday
night and Remi Carillo was teaching by Zoom and he
was talking about this very thing – that the
fundamental starting point before you start thinking
about prophetic ministry is CHARACTER!
So today we are introducing a new message series
“Character Counts.” We want to talk about
developing our character as the Holy Spirit reproduces
His character/fruit in our lives. So for the next few
weeks we will be studying the Fruit of the Spirt as
found in Galatians 5.
Preliminary Observations
Before we look at these individual character traits, I
want to set the table for this series by making some
observations that will help frame our study on the
Fruit of the Spirit. Please turn in your Bibles
to Galatians 5:16-26. Follow along with me as I read.
[Gal 5:16-26 NLT] 16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.
Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The
sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what
the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the
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opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are
constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out
your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit,
you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. 19 When you
follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear:
sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry,
sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish
ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties,
and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before,
that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of
God. 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23
gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and
desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them
there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's
leading in every part of our lives. 26 Let us not become
conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
1.The Fruit of the Spirit is the Character of God
This isn’t the fruit of man. This isn’t the nature of
man. It is the fruit/character/attributes of God… of
the Holy Spirit that He wants to reproduce in our
lives. As Christ is living in us and we are growing to
attain the fullness of the stature of Christ… as we are
learning to be “holy” (character) even as God is
Holy… we are to be allowing the Holy Spirit to
reproduce His nature and Character in us.
This isn’t just a list of what we are suppose to be
(love joy peace, patience)
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It is a list of what God/Holy Spirit is (love, joy, peace,
gentleness, goodness, longsuffering…)
[Rom 14:17 KJV] 17 For the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost.
Last week I mentioned where Jesus said of the Holy
Spirit that He would not just be with us, but in us!
When you get saved the Holy Spirit takes up residence
in your life. And immediately He starts helping us to
“put off” the old man/old ways and “put on” the new
man and become like Jesus.
So, again, the work of the Holy Spirit is to reproduce
His character, His fruit in our lives!
2. We cannot create Spiritual Fruit on our own.
Verse 17 reminds us that the sinful nature and the
Spirit desire contrary things. There’s an obvious
contrast between works and fruit and between the
flesh and the Spirit. The Fruit of the Spirit can only
come from the Spirit of God. Those things that
naturally flow out of us are found in verses 19-21:
“…sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits
of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and
envy…”
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You cannot become righteous on your own (our
efforts at righteousness are “as filthy rags”).
You cannot become holy on your own (legalistic
maybe, but not holy)
And you cannot produce the Fruit of the Spirit
apart from the Spirit.
We can’t just decide to be more loving or more
joyful or more peaceful and suddenly we are! It
doesn’t work that way. Fruit is not something we DO;
it’s what we ARE. There’s a difference between works
and fruit. A machine in a factory works, and turns out
a product, but it could never manufacture fruit. Fruit
must grow out of the life of the Spirit.
Our flesh produces dead works but the Spirit
produces living fruit.
Vices come from our sinful nature; virtues
come from the Spirit’s work.
The fruit of the Spirit is never dispensed apart from
Christ. The more I have of Him, the more His fruit will
flow through my life. Our responsibility is clear
from Galatians 5:25: “Since we live by the Spirit, let
us keep in step (KJV: walk) with the Spirit.” This is a
military term meaning that I must march in a straight
line, taking my orders only from Him. This isn’t
produced by a casual walk in the park, but by a
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disciplined life. As I yield to the Spirit His fruit will
ripen in my life.
3. The Fruit of the Spirit is a package deal. Did you
notice that verse 22 uses the singular “fruit” and not
“fruits”? This is not a grammatical error. The Greek
very clearly reveals that it’s in the singular. Some
commentators believe that it’s because the Fruit of
the Spirit is love and that the other eight items are
simply ways in which love is manifest.
Also interesting is how Paul sets up his teaching on
the Fruit of the Spirit (starting in vs 16) by talking
about love: Galatians 5:14 says, “The entire law is
summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor
as yourself.’”
It’s not a ‘pick and choose’ list like a buffet table to
browse through. We can’t say, “I’ll take a little love,
a portion of peace, a spoonful of self-control, but I’ll
pass on the patience.” When you are living life in the
culture of Holy Spirit Presence you receive ALL that
He wants to produce in your life. It’s a full-meal
deal. It’s one kind of fruit with nine different
qualities.
And we cannot excuse our “old character” when it
shows up and say, “Well,that’s just the way I am…
I’ve always had a temper, or I’ve always been
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impatient” - That was the OLD YOU. You are now a
New Creature in Christ and you need to start
expecting to act like it.
And don’t just lean on forgiveness… I’m grateful
for forgiveness… I’m grateful for grace… but that isn’t
an excuse to cuss you out and then ask for forgiveness
later.
4. The focus is on Christian character.
It’s important to distinguish between the gifts of the
Spirit, which have to do with service; and the fruit of
the Spirit, which relate to Christian character.
Unfortunately we have sometimes elevated the
gifts of the Spirit over the fruit of the Spirit. (While
you may find people “ooing and aweing” over some
individual displaying a gift of the Spirit (healing,
prophecy, words of knowledge) and saying, “Oh, I
want to be like that “great man or woman of God”,
you rarely hear someone saying, “Oh if I could have
the “gentleness… meekness…. Patience… of so and
so.” But the reality is, Building Christian character
must take precedence over displaying special
abilities. And usually when people who are greatly
gifted get into trouble and fall, it is because of the
lack of the fruit/character of the spirit in their lives.
5. Not all fruit ripens at the same time.
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We must allow for the process to fully take place.
That is true in the natural and in the spirit. You don’t
harvest all fruit at the same time. Grapes are not
harvested at the same time as apples. Just because
one is ripe doesn’t mean you pick everything. Have
you ever picked butterbeans? You don’t strip the
vine. Some are ready to pick – others are not mature
yet.
That is true of the Fruit of the Spirit… Both
individually and congregationally. As you look at my
life you may see that the individual fruit of joy is fully
sweetened but at the same time that of patience may
be small, sour and shrunken. Or you may see one
Christian’s meekness as more mature than that in
another Christian. That’s OK. We are not
professional Fruit Inspectors. That’s the work of the
Holy Spirit. As we submit and surrender to the Spirit,
keeping in step with Him, He will bring to maturity all
nine virtues in all our lives!
Maturity is a process (somebody say PROCESS) and
it takes time. But that isn’t to be used as an excuse.
If you’ve been a Christian for years, but you’re still
acting like a spiritual baby, something is wrong…
somebody isn’t “walking/marching in the Spirit!”
6. The Fruit of the Spirit should be the result of
living the normal Christian life.
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They shouldn’t be the result of “straining” to produce
something foreign to who we are. A few years ago I
took a trip to Livesay Orchards in Porter. Apple trees
loaded. But I didn’t hear any “moaning, groaning,
straining.” Because they were just doing what came
natural.
When we are living life in Holy Spirit/walking/
marching in the Spirit, these character qualities are
not meant to be the exception for believers but
rather the norm! It shouldn’t be extraordinary or
unusual when Christ followers live in peace with each
other or treat others with kindness.
The display of the fruit of the Spirit is not the result
of more faith, or more work, or a more frantic
fanaticism. It is simply the result of normal Christian
living where we daily surrender to His will and die to
self, as we love God with everything we’ve got.
7. Bearing fruit is a both a gift and a responsibility.
There’s a paradox in living for Christ, isn’t there?
Fruit is always a gift (a product of God’s grace at
work in our lives), but it still requires effort on our
part (surrender, obedience).
While the love of Christ is poured into our hearts
by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5),
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1 Corinthians 14:1 tells us to “pursue love” by
going after it.
We’ve been given the Fruit of the Spirit and yet
we’re reminded in Galatians 5:16 to “live by the
Spirit.” It’s ours, but we have to appropriate that
which He has given us. It’s not automatic.
Conclusion: Musicians Come
Before I wrap up my message I want to at least
introduce the first virtue listed as part of the fruit of
the Spirit: Love. And it is fitting that we talk about
this at a time when the rest of the world is talking a
lot about love (Valentine’s Day). How many of you
believe love is important enough that we ought to
talk about it – a lot! I mean, Jesus basically said love
is the most important thing in the world. (love God,
love your neighbor) And Paul said, The greatest of
these is Love!
While love is a common theme, it’s not always easy to
define or describe it. We can learn a lot by listening
to the The Love Chapter…
I want to pick up our series next week by really
digging deep into what it means for us as Christians to
truly demonstrate the love of God, but for now, I
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want to close this message by reading the famous
“love passage: I Corinthians 13.
[1Co 13:1-13 NLT] 1 If I could speak all the languages
of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would
only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had
the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's
secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had
such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't
love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything
I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I
could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I
would have gained nothing. 4 Love is patient and
kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or
rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not
irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6
It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices
whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up,
never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures
through every circumstance. 8 Prophecy and speaking
in unknown languages and special knowledge will
become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our
knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the
gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole
picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes,
these partial things will become useless. 11 When I
was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a
child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.
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12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling
reflections in a mirror, but then we will see
everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is
partial and incomplete, but then I will know
everything completely, just as God now knows me
completely. 13 Three things will last forever--faith,
hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.
