Fruit of the Spirit
February 24, 2008 Evening Service
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: A Life lived in the Spirit will produce fruit.
Focus Passage: Galatians 5:22-25
Introduction: Errol Flynn’s mansion.
It’s one thing to overcome the flesh & not do evil things, but quite something else to do good things.
1The legalist will be able to say, "I don’t drink, smoke, run around", but can anyone see the beautiful grace of God in his life.
Negative goodness is not enough
There must be positive qualities as well
Fruit of the Spirit!
1. Love – agape - First for a reason! God is love (1 John 4:8), the greatest of these is love (1 Cor. 13:13), they we know we are Christians by our love (John 13:35). All of the other qualities are birthed out of love. A person with a habitually unloving spirit toward his fellow Christians is reason to question his salvation. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. John 4:7”
2. Joy – holy optimism – inward joy isn’t effected by life’s circumstances. “And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 13:52
3. Peace – love and joy get married and have a child named “peace”. Mentioned 80 times in every NT book. Peace with God, family, coworkers, church members, neighbors, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:7
4. Patience – Literally “Long suffering”. Describe God’s anger: God is slow to anger. Patience is putting up with people even though you are tired of them. “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love” Eph 4:2
5. Kindness – an attitude – nothing to do with weakness or lack of conviction, but has everything to do with the desire to treat other kindly. “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged” 2 Tim 2:24
6. Goodness – Love in action. Kindness & goodness is how we pull off patience! “For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.” Romans 5:7
7. Faithfulness – dependable, loyal, trustworthy. A person who would die for his faith. It needs to translate into every area of life: marriage, job, church, school, etc. “His lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” Matthew 25:21
8. Gentleness - meekness – meekness doesn’t mean weakness. Moses and Jesus were meek; were they weak? The meek Christian doesn’t throw his weight/authority around to get his way. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.” (Matthew 11:29)
9. Self-control - Self-control is the fruit that grows when Christ comes to live in a heart that allows that heart to live & walk in the world, yet keep unsoiled from the world.
I. Produce Fruit – deeds can be manufactured, only something living can make fruit.
a. Paul had talked about works/deeds for 5 chapters, never in a positive light (it’s what we’re capable of making on our own).
A factory full of machines can turn out a product, but it can never produce/manufacture a fruit.
Works/deeds we associate with strain, labor, effort, toil.
Fruit comes out of life. There is a beauty, quietness, unfolding of life.
II. Crucify the flesh with evil desires v. 24
a. It is a conscious decision
b. It will only happen with the Power of the Holy Spirit
III. Live & Walk by the Spirit v. 25
a. Wake up each day and die to yourself
b. Ask for a filling of the Holy Spirit each day
Invitation:
In the Melanesian islands of the South Pacific during WWII, the natives watched closely as the American and British engineers came in and built airstrips. The islanders were amazed to see that when the airstrips were completed, planes began to arrive filled with cargo: food, building materials, machinery, even vehicles. This, they decided, was something they wanted in on.
The Melanesians deduced, that if they built airstrips, then planes would come to them, too, likewise bringing cargo. They accordingly hacked makeshift runways out of the jungle and built mock-up control towers out of grass and mud. They put fires along the sides of the runways, and put a man in the grass-hut control tower, with two coconut halves on his head for headphones--he’s the controller--they rigged antenaes out of bamboo and then they waited for the airplanes to land. As far as they could see they were doing everything right. The form was perfect. It looked exactly the way it was supposed to. But it didn’t work. No airplanes ever came.
In the world that you and I live in today cargo cults of a similar type are commonplace. The cargo people are looking for is not food and machinery but love, joy, peace, patience and all the other things that our text this morning describes as the "fruit of the spirit." Rather than building runways for the cargo planes to land on, those who seek this precious cargo seek to order their lives in a way that looks religious. "Surely", the thinking goes, "if my life looks spiritual, then God’s blessing will follow." What they are missing, like the Melanesian islanders, is the fact that cargo comes not because of runways and control towers but because of a relationship with the one who sends the cargo.
