Last week after church we stopped at Trader Joes on our way home. We just needed to pick up a few items so I picked up one of the small red baskets on our way in. As we entered the store and tried to go down the first aisle our way was blocked by two women who had parked their carts right in the middle of the aisle and were sitting there talking, oblivious to the other customers trying to get down the aisle. So I just calmly walked around them, grabbed the items we needed and proceeded to check out.
Most of the checkout lines were pretty long, but I got in the express lane, figuring it would move pretty quickly. When the woman in front of us reached over to grab a candy bar to add to the items already in her cart, Mary looked over at me and said, “You’re counting, aren’t you?” Busted! But when the cashier finished ringing up that customer, Mary turned to me and said, “17”. So I wasn’t the only one counting. “No, actually it was 18”, I corrected her. “There were two cans of tuna that she rang up together.”
As I was working on the message this week, God brought that event to mind to remind me how often I fail to manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s presence and work in my life. At that moment there sure wasn’t a lot of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control operating in my life.
I’m sure that’s just a problem for me and that all the rest of you probably don’t struggle with seeing the fruit of the spirit in your life on a consistent basis. But just in case that is an area where you also need to develop some maturity, we’re going to spend some time this morning focusing on the fruit of the Spirit and how to experience it in our lives. So if you have your Bibles go ahead and open them up to the 5th chapter of the book of Galatians and follow along as I begin reading in verse 16:
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 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 keep in step with the Spirit.
(Galatians 5:16-25 ESV)
This week I went to Howard’s orchard with Pam and our grandkids. And while we were there we picked some apples and peaches. And I can tell you that confidently that every tree and plant in that orchard produces fruit that is consistent with the kind of tree or plant it is. Every peach tree produces only peaches. Every apple tree produces only apples. Every tomato plant produces only tomatoes. So even if I don’t know anything else about those trees and plants, I can tell what kind they are by the fruit they produce.
Our lives are just like that. The fruit that is manifest in our lives will reveal what kind of tree we are. If we’re a “flesh tree” then our lives will show evidence of that as our lives produce “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these”.
But if we’re a “Holy Spirit tree” our lives will also show evident of that as our lives produce “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”.
So let me ask you a question this morning. But before I ask you to answer that question I want you to listen carefully to what I’m going to share with you this morning so that you understand the consequences of your answer before you respond.
Which tree do you want to be?
Do you want to be the “flesh tree” or do you want to be the “Holy Spirit tree”?
The two trees could not be more different. And the process by which one becomes one or the other contrast starkly as well. Since it by far the easiest, let’s begin by describing…
How to be a “flesh tree”
1. Follow your own desires
Paul writes that those who are “flesh trees” “gratify the desires of the flesh.” So before we go any further this would probably be a good time to define a couple of terms that Paul uses here.
Let’s begin with the word “flesh”. The Greek word that Paul uses in this passage – sarx - is quite common in the New Testament. It’s used over 125 times and appears at least once in almost every book of the New Testament. It has three basic meanings:
• It can refer to the physical human body
• It can also refer to human efforts or work
• Its primary significance, though, is that it describes our unredeemed humanness, that part of us that has not yet been redeemed completely. It includes both our body and our soul – our mind, spirit and will. One day, we will get a glorified body that knows no sin, but until then, we still have this fleshly nature.
Paul obviously uses the term “flesh” in this passage with this third meaning in mind.
The verb “gratify” is also important here. It is the verb form of a word that we ran across several times in our study of the book of James that was usually translated either “perfect” or “mature.” So the idea of gratifying fleshly desires is that the person carries those desires to completion.
For as long as we live on this earth, every single Christ follower is going to struggle with fleshly desires because we still have that flesh nature. And occasionally, we are even going to give into those desires and carry them to completion. The “flesh tree”, by contrast, engages in a lifestyle where he or she consistently gratifies those fleshly desires.
• So the flesh tree focuses on his or her desire for physical pleasure and the result is sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, and orgies.
• He or she focuses on his or her rights and the result is enmity, strife, jealousness, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and envy.
• He or she focuses on the desire to escape from the realities of life and the result is drunkenness, and sorcery. The word translated “sorcery” is actually the word from which we get our English word “pharmacy”. Originally, it just described any kind of medicinal treatment. But by the time Paul wrote it had come to mean the misuse of drugs, which during Paul’s time was often coupled with occultic practices. In today’s culture that would certainly include practices like astrology and horoscopes, psychics, channeling, and even, as we saw in our study of the cults this summer, things like some meditation techniques and even yoga.
Although the phrase itself was probably coined sometime in the 1960’s, the philosophy of “if it feels good do it” certainly is much older. But if you are satisfied with being a “flesh” tree, that is pretty good summary of your philosophy of life.
2. Focus on what you do
Paul consistently connects living by the flesh to what a person does. The entire concept of gratifying the desires of the flesh implies taking some action to satisfy those desires. And in verse 19, when he writes about the “works of the flesh”, he is again emphasizing that a central component of living by the flesh is a focus on works – what we do. And in verse 21, Paul also points out that “those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”.
But in addition to those direct references to doing, there is another underlying theme that actually describes this focus on “doing” even better – the idea of the “law”. Paul uses the word “law” 25 times in the book of Galatians. In many of those cases, Paul was obviously referring to the moral law of the Old Testament. But he also uses that term in a broader sense to describe all human effort.
When we operate under the law, we’re operating by works. Paul wrote his entire letter to the church at Galatia to address those in that church who claimed to be followers of Jesus, but who were at the same time trying to operate on the basis of their own human efforts.
That kind of life necessarily focuses on the externals. It’s much more concerned on outward behaviors than it is on the heart that results in those behaviors. So the flesh tree constantly tries to change his or her own behavior through their own will power and determination.
3. Live a life that seeks to be comfortable
This is the natural extension of living a life that is focused on satisfying one’s fleshly desires.
The “flesh tree” doesn’t mind a little religion in his or her life as long as it doesn’t interfere with his or her comfort. So that person tends to compartmentalize life and relegate God to a small compartment that occupies only an hour or two on Sunday mornings. “Flesh trees” view their time and their resources as belonging to them, so they give a little bit of their time and money to God and then just live the rest of their lives the way they want. They want just enough of the Holy Spirit so they won’t feel guilty, but certainly not enough to make them uncomfortable.
It’s actually pretty easy to be a “flesh tree”. All it requires is for me to pretty much just do as I please and to take the path of least resistance. And obviously there were some people in the church in Galatia who claimed to be followers of Jesus who lived like that. Unfortunately, the same is still true in the church today. But the good news is that there is a better way.
How to be a “Holy Spirit tree”
1. Follow the Holy Spirit’s desires
Paul begins this passage with a command – “Walk by the Spirit…” And the remainder of the passage is our guide on how to do just that. There are three other places in this passage where Paul describes how we are to relate to the Holy Spirit:
• In verse 18, he writes that “Holy Spirit trees” are led by the Spirit.
• In verse 25, he writes that “Holy Spirit trees” live by the Spirit.
• In that same verse, he writes that “Holy Spirit trees” keep in step with the Spirit.
The ESV does a really good job in translating this verse. Unfortunately, the KJV, the NASB and many other English translations render this “walk by the Spirit” which makes it sound like he is just repeating the command from verse 16. But he uses a different Greek word here – a word that originally described marching in a row like a soldier. In Greek literature it also described the idea of following someone’s philosophical principles. Today, we would say that it means following in someone’s footsteps.
Overall the picture here is very clear. If I want to be a “Holy Spirit tree”, then it means that rather than following my own desires, I need to follow the desires of the Holy Spirit. I get to know Him – who He is and what He desires for my life - and then I follow in His footsteps.
Before we leave this first aspect of being a “Holy Spirit tree”, let me call your attention to a couple of other important details.
First, all of the verbs that describe how we are to relate to the Holy Spirit – walk, be led, live, and keep in step are all present tense verbs in Greek. And as I’m sure we all know by now, that means that they are describing continuous action. We are to keep on walking, keep on being led, keep on living and keep on keeping in step. In other words, this is a lifestyle, not just something we can do once and forget it.
Secondly, the verb “are led” in verse 18 is a passive verb. That means that we are the object of the action, not the ones doing the action. The emphasis is on what the Holy Spirit is doing here, not on what we are doing.
So, in contrast to what we saw with the “flesh tree”, the focus of the “Holy Spirit tree” is not on what I do, but rather on what the Holy Spirit is doing. My responsibility is to follow Him as He leads.
2. Focus on who God wants you to become
This is a good point to make a few observations about the fruit of the Spirit.
The first observation is that every one of the nine aspects of the fruit listed here is not an action, but rather a character trait. And I think I can confidently say that this list is not intended to be an exhaustive list of what the fruit of the Spirit should look like. The fact that Paul arranges these character traits in three sets of three leads me to believe that he is using these nine traits to picture the character of the triune God. Since the character of God obviously can’t be captured just by these nine traits, the fruit of His Holy Spirit is not limited to these nine either.
The second important observation is that it is the “fruit” [singular] of the Spirit, not the “fruits” [plural] of the Spirit. Although this may seem like splitting hairs, it is actually a very significant distinction. Far too often, we have taken this list of nine attributes and viewed them as merely a list of separate character traits that we are to develop in our lives. I know that is true because I’ve done that myself. But doing that leads to a couple of problems. .
First, it can lead to viewing this list as a menu from which I am free to just choose the items that appeal to me and focus on them and ignore the rest. And when I do that, it inevitably leads to a second problem which is attempting to develop these character traits by my own efforts. But if this is truly the fruit of the Spirit, then He is the only one capable of developing that fruit in my life.
This is certainly in sharp contrast to what we saw when Paul described the “flesh trees” in terms of what they did and not who they were. What God desires for us is a transformed life that is the result of what He has done and is doing for us. That will never occur by attempting to substitute our human efforts to adhere to list of right and wrong for letting God make us into who he want us to become.
So far, I think most of us would probably say that we’re willing to take these steps in order to become a “Holy Spirit tree.” The idea of following the desires of the Holy Spirit and focusing on who God wants us to become don’t seem all that daunting. At least until we realize that committing to those first two steps also requires us to take a third step, one that is not quite as easy.
3. Live a radical life of faith
Becoming a “Holy Spirit tree” requires a lot more than just carving a little niche out of our life that we give to the Holy Spirit while we retain control over the rest of our lives.
It means that we give control of every single area of our lives to Him. And when that happens our lives are going to look radically different than those of the people around us.
In just a moment, I’m going to suggest some ways that following the Holy Spirit as He leads us ought to radically impact the way we live our lives. So I’m not going to dwell too long on this point right now. But before we move on, let me just say that this kind of life is not only going to look radical to others, but it is also going to surprise us. Because when we begin to live like this, there are going to be times when we step back and think, “That sure wasn’t me. That’s not how I would normally act in this situation.” And then we realize that it was the Holy Spirit at work in our lives and all we did was to keep in step with Him.
So now let me ask you the question I asked earlier again:
Which tree do you want to be?
Do you want to be the “flesh tree” or do you want to be the “Holy Spirit tree”?
I’m still not going to ask you to answer that question yet, but at least now you can begin to see what the answer to your question is going to require you to do.
If you’re satisfied with being a “flesh tree” then you can probably just keep living life like you always have. You can just follow your own desires, focus on the externals of what you do, and live a life in which your comfort is the top priority.
But if you want to be a “Holy Spirit tree” you’re going to have to live a radical life of faith in which you follow the desires of the Holy Spirit and focus on who God wants you to become. But what does that mean for me practically? Before I ask you to answer the question I’ve posed, let’s use our remaining time to focus on…
Some practical steps I can take to become a “Holy Spirit tree”
1. Evaluate my life on a consistent basis
Right after Paul commanded the church in Rome to present their bodies to God as living sacrifices and to not be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds, he wrote these words:
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
(Romans 12:3 ESV)
The idea is that as followers of Jesus, we must constantly be making a sober and honest evaluation of how well we are following Jesus. And the same is true when it comes to how well we’re following the Holy Spirit.
Because we still have the flesh nature, there are going to be times when we give in and gratify our own desires rather than those of the Holy Spirit. As disciples of Jesus, all of us are “works-in-progress” who will never be able to follow the Holy Spirit completely 100% of the time. The apostle Paul certainly understood that:
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 3:12-14 ESV)
It’s okay to be a work in progress, but we can’t use that idea as an excuse for our sin. By definition, if we are a “work in progress”, there has to be some progress. The passage we’ve looked at this morning is a great tool to use to evaluate where I’m at when it comes to becoming a “Holy Spirit tree.” If I’m a “Holy Spirit tree” then the works of the flesh ought to become less and less a part of my life and the character that is evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit ought to become more and more evident.
So how do we make that progress?
2. Follow the Holy Spirit one step at a time
When I look at this passage, the idea of becoming a “Holy Spirit tree” can be overwhelming. I see just how far I fall short from what my life should look like. And if I try to get there all at once I’m probably going to fail.
I love carbs, especially sweets. But I know that eating too many of them, especially those simple carbs I love the most, isn’t good for me. But if I just try to go “cold turkey” and try not to eat those things, it’s nearly impossible. So when I do finally give into my urges and grab a cookie or a candy bar or a bag of kettle corn or eat a lot of bread and pasta, I find that I crave even more carbs.
So what I have to do is to deal with each craving as it comes up. And if I have the discipline to not give in and gratify my fleshly desires and to eat something that is healthier instead, I can usually handle that particular craving. And as I continue to do that time after time, what I find is that my body begins to crave those unhealthy foods less and less.
I’ve found that following the Holy Spirit like that is much more manageable for me. As the Holy Spirit takes a step, I just follow that single step. And then I watch and see what God does. And then I take another step and do the same thing. And over time as I do that, it becomes easier and easier to follow His lead and the less and less the things of the world are attractive to me.
So that means that throughout the day, I continually keep asking “Holy Spirit, what do you want me to do now?” That’s where last week’s message comes in. The first way I can understand what the Holy Spirit wants me to do is through God’s Word. So in each situation I ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind any Scripture that might apply to that situation. And then I think about His character that is reflected in the fruit of the Spirit and think about how I can exhibit that character in the situation. And my goal is to do that in every area of my life.
Let’s imagine what our lives might look like if we did that.
I get up in the morning and I eat breakfast and head off to work. And along the way someone cuts me off in traffic or they are driving too slowly which causes me to hit a red light, which is going to make me late for work. So I ask the Holy Spirit to help me follow Him. And He brings to mind some Scriptures about how to deal with my enemies and He reminds me that He is patient, kind and gentle. So instead of honking the horn and flipping the guy off, I remain calm and just thank God that He kept me safe. Maybe if I’m really spiritual I even pray for the other guy.
I get to work only to find out that one of my fellow employees has gone behind my back and told my boss things about me that aren’t true. So again I ask the Holy Spirit what step I should take. And again He brings to remembrance some Scripture verses that guide me in dealing with that situation. Perhaps He even reminds me how Jesus was falsely accused and how He dealt with those accusations. So I use those thoughts to help me deal with that situation in a Biblical manner.
I go to lunch and the server completely messes up my order. So they have to remake my food and I end up getting back to work late after lunch. So I ask the Holy Spirit how He wants me to treat the server and how to deal with my boss when I get back to work late. And again, He brings to mind Scriptures that apply to the situation and reminds me of His character.
On my way home from work, guess what? That same guy cuts me off in traffic again. The Holy Spirit is testing me to see if I learned anything that morning.
On the way home I stop at Trader Joes to pick up just a few items that my wife asked me to pick up for dinner. And yep, that same lady is in the express lane with her cart full of 17 items when the sign clearly says “15 items or less.” And yep, she adds a candy bar to make it 18 items. So I ask the Holy Spirit how He wants me to respond, not just outwardly, but also in my heart.
I finally get home and I’m exhausted and I just want some “me time.” But instead of acting based on my desires, I ask the Holy Spirit to lead me. And He reminds me that I am to love my wife like Christ loved the church and that she has been home with the kids all day and that she could use some down time, too. So I help her finish up dinner and then I watch the kids for a while so she can take a quiet bath, not because that’s what I feel like doing, but because I just want to take that next step as the Holy Spirit leads me.
You see, every moment of every day is an opportunity to follow the Holy Spirit, step by step, and to become that “Holy Spirit tree.” Most of the time that is certainly not the easiest path to take. To be real honest, most of the time it’s far easier to just be a “flesh tree” and do what I want.
So now that you have the big picture I’m finally going to ask you to answer the question I posed earlier. But before you answer, you need to consider what that means and whether you’re really ready to do what is required to be the tree you want to be.
Which tree do you want to be?
Do you want to be the “flesh tree” or do you want to be the “Holy Spirit tree”?
God is calling every one of us to respond to His Word by answering that question. So I’m going to give all of us some time to pray and seek God’s leading here. Let me suggest a couple things that you might want to pray to God during this time:
1. Ask God to reveal what kind of tree you are right now and what kind of tree He wants you to become.
2. Ask God to help you follow the Holy Spirit one step at a time in every area of your life.
Certainly God may have brought to mind some other things you may need to pray about during this time. Perhaps He has revealed some sin you need to confess to Him. Perhaps he has revealed some relationship in your life that needs restoration and wants you seek another person’s forgiveness and reconcile with that person. Once you’ve had some time to pray individually, I’ll ask you to stand with me and pray corporately.
Corporate prayer:
Holy Spirit,
• Forgive us for those times when we have lived according to the flesh rather than being led by You.
• We thank You for the fruit that you develop in our lives as we follow You.
• Help us to follow you step by step so that we might live radical lives of faith in which we become who you want us to become.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
