The Fruit of The Spirit - Love
Gal 5:22-23 & 1Cor 13
Scripture:
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self–control. Against such there is no law.
Introduction
Last week we examined this passage discovering that the abundant life that God intends us as believers to experience is through our yielding to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. That in so doing it is not merely a strong act of our human will, but a surrendering of it to the will of the Holy Spirit. In so doing the Holy Spirit is then able to produce in us the life of the Spirit that manifest it’s self as fruit, principally qualities of character found in Christ sometimes referred to as graces of the Spirit. God wills that our life be so submitted to the influence of the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit that our lives would like a beautiful diamond manifest and radiate with the splendor and glory of Christ.
Today as we continue in the examination of this passage I want us to examine the first manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit described for us as “LOVE!” “The Fruit of the Spirit is love….”
1. Love Is the Sum of God
1Jo 4:8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1Jo 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
These verses show to us that God does not just love us, but rather that God IS LOVE! That the entire being of God is manifested in this – He Is Love!
“Never was a more important declaration made than this; never was more meaning crowded into a few words than in this short sentence—God is love.” (Barnes N.T. Notes)
God is not merely a loving God – HE IS LOVE! Agape!
The warm word agape is the characteristic term of Christianity.
Unlike the English language which only has one word for love the Greek language has three words.
Eros was the word used in Greek literature to express sensual physical love and is never found used in the scriptures.
Phileo was the word used to express “tender affection” or brotherly love.
The third word while used in Greek literature at the time was not as common. It is the Word Agape. It was this third word that the Apostle Paul and other N.T. writers ceased upon to describe the Love Of God.
It signifies properly a love which chooses its object and implies implicit obedience. It is used in the N.T. exclusively to express that spiritual bond of love between God and man and between man and man, in Christ which is characteristic of Christianity.
Agape love indicates the nature of the love of God toward His beloved Son "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:26
- Toward the human race generally
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:8
- toward those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ().
"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." John 14:21
Agape love expresses the essential nature of God (1 John 4:8). Love can be known only from the actions it prompts, as seen in God’s love in the gift of His Son 1 John 4:9–10
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Love found its perfect expression in the Lord Jesus, Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Tit 2:14
Is it any wonder then that the Apostle Paul trying to write and instruct us in walking in the Spirit, that the first manifestation of the Spirit’s indwelling presence and effect in our life should be to manifest it’s self in LOVE!
2. Love Is the More Excellent Way
The Apostle Paul when writing to the Corinthian Church in 1Corinthians chapter 12 describes the multiplicity of the gifts of the Spirit and how they are divided amongst the members of the body serverally and separately by the will of the Holy Spirit and that every member receives by the Spirit individual giftings. That one gift is greater or lesser in importance and that one should in no way envy another’s gift or boast of his own.
As he completes this section on the gifts by telling them,
“But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.”1Cor 12:31
The More Excellent way is Love and again the word used is the word Agape.
Listen to the description of this love and see if there are any similarities to what Paul says in Galations about the Fruit of the Spirit.
1Cor 13:4-8 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Does any of that sound familiar? Does it sound anything like “joy peace longsuffering gentleness goodness, faithfulness, meekness or selfcontrol.”
Love is the Principal manifestation of the “Fruit of the Spirit” It is also the principal motivation.
As opposed to the flesh that would act out of self desire, self motivation, self preservation, self gratification, agape love acts out of self denial. It chooses instead the preservation and edification of the object of it’s love. This is how God loves and if we submit our lives to the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit he will reproduce in us this same Love.
(Illustration – Love That Overcomes)
After the U.S.S. Pueblo was captured by the North Koreans, the eighty-two surviving crew members were thrown into a brutal captivity. In one particular instance thirteen of the men were required to sit in a rigid manner around a table for hours. After several hours the door was violently flung open and a North Korean guard brutally beat the man in the first chair with the butt of his rifle. The next day, as each man sat at his assigned place, again the door was thrown open and the man in the first chair was brutally beaten. On the third day the same happened again to the same man. Knowing the man could not survive another beating a young sailor took his place. When the door was flung open the guard automatically beat the new man senseless. For weeks, each day a new man stepped forward to sit in that horrible chair, knowing full well what would happen. At last the guards gave up in exasperation. They were unable to beat that kind for sacrificial love.
3. Love Is the Manifest Proof of True Discipleship
John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
“ Agape love conveys God’s will to His children about their attitude toward one another. Love for one another was a proof to the world of true discipleship.”
“Love is like oil to the wheels of obedience. It enables us to run the way of God’s commandments. Ps. 119:32 I will run the course of Your commandments, For You shall enlarge my heart.
(Illustration – The Power of Love)
The Power of Love
Dennis E. Mannering was teaching a class for adults, when he did the "unpardonable." He gave the class homework! The assignment was to "go to someone you love within
the next week and tell them you love them. It had to be someone you have never said those words to before or at least haven’t shared those words with for a long time."
Now that doesn’t sound like a very tough assignment, until you stop to realize that most of the men in that group were over 35 and were raised in the generation of men that were taught that expressing emotions is not "macho." Showing feelings or crying (heaven forbid!) was just not done. So this was a very threatening assignment for some.
At the beginning of our next class, Mannering asked if someone wanted to share what happened when they told someone they loved them. He fully expected one of the women to volunteer, as was usually the case, but on this evening one of the men raised his hand. He appeared quite moved and a bit shaken.
As he unfolded out of his chair (all 6’2" of him), he began by saying, "Dennis, I was quite angry with you last week when you gave us this assignment. I didn’t feel that I had anyone to say those words to- I had told everyone who needed to know that I loved them, and besides, who were you to tell me to do something that personal? But as I began driving home my conscience started talking to me. It was telling me that I knew exactly who I needed to say ’I love you’ to. You see, five years ago, my father and I had a vicious disagreement and really never resolved it since that time. We avoided seeing each other unless we absolutely had to at Christmas or other family gatherings. But even then, we hardly spoke to each other. So, last Tuesday by the time I got home I had convinced myself I was going to tell my father I loved him.
"It’s weird, but just making that decision seemed to lift a heavy load off my chest.
"When I got home, I rushed into the house to tell my wife what I was going to do. She was already in bed, but I woke her up anyway. When I told her, she didn’t just get out of bed, she catapulted out and hugged me, and for the first time in our married life she saw me cry. We stayed up half the night drinking coffee and talking. It was great!
"The next morning I was up bright and early. I was so excited I could hardly sleep. I got to the office early and accomplished more in two hours than I had the whole day before.
"At 9:00 I called my dad to see if I could come over after work. When he answered the phone, I just said, ’Dad, can I come over after work tonight? I have something to tell you.’ My dad responded with a grumpy, ’Now what?’ I assured him it wouldn’t take long, so he finally agreed.
"At 5:30, I was at my parents’ house ringing the doorbell, praying that Dad would answer the door. I was afraid if Mom answered that I would chicken out and tell her instead. But as luck would have it, Dad did answer the door.
"I didn’t waste any time - I took one step in the door and said, ’Dad, I just came over to tell you that I love you.’
"It was as if a transformation came over my dad. Before my eyes his face softened, the wrinkles seemed to disappear and he began to cry. He reached out and hugged me and said, ’I love you too, son, but I’ve never been able to say it.’
"It was such a precious moment I didn’t want to move. Mom walked by with tears in her eyes. I just waved and blew her a kiss. Dad and I hugged for a moment longer and then I left. I hadn’t felt that great in a long time.
"But that’s wasn’t his point or even my point. Two days after the visit, his dad, who had heart problems and didn’t tell him, had an attack and ended up in the hospital, unconscious. And the gentlemen didn’t know if his father would see tomorrow. But he had a peace just knowing that his dad knew he really loved him
Without such love, we are as nothing (1 Cor. 13:3).
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
Such Spirit-inspired love never fails but always flourishes.”
(1 Cor. 13:8)
Conclusion
If we were to try and measure how much you love Christ, what measurement would you use?
(Illustration)
The story is told about the church custodian who needed to buy a mop for the church
I wanted to buy a dust mop head for our new church facility, but I didn’t have a measuring tool to figure out what size I needed. So, I used my shoes and hand to measure. The dust mop head was two of my shoes and four fingers. When I went to the world wide web to order, I couldn’t find a dust mop two shoes and four fingers long. Surprise surprise, no one uses that form of measurement.
How would you like to get to the end of your life, stand before God and realize that you used the wrong measuring tool to measure your love for Him?
