Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Introduction:
Fruit Illustration....
The purpose of both the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit is to enable and to empower the church to supernaturally impact the world.
The spiritual fruit and gifts are an outgrowth of a
Spirit-filled person.
Paul still urges us to develop them,
That shows me we must cultivate our hearts
And allow that working of the Spirit to take place
Flesh vs Spirit
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul provided a vivid contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:19-23
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Although he listed seventeen works of the flesh,
the list certainly was not a comprehensive list.
A person gains nothing positive through any of these fleshly works
The result or effect always is negative for each of them, eventually resulting in spiritual death and eternal loss.
On the other hand, the nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit are positive, and they bolster and build a person spiritually.
Love Defined
The first and most important fruit of the Spirit is love.
Love is the virtue of brotherly and sacrificial love.
It is a love that seeks the good of others.
Paul’s order of placement, as well as his other use of the word tells us that it is the greatest of the fruits. (1 Cor. 13)
Other New Testament writers such as John and Peter emphasize love as one of the greatest features of the kingdom of God.
Definition:
Love is not based on emotions or feelings.
It is a decision to be committed to the well being of others without any conditions or circumstances.
Need For Love
We live in a world that desperately needs love.
And even though society glorifies the subject of love,
there is so little evidence of love around us today.
Why is that
Well first, I think we’re misguided as to what love is.
We see a young couple locked in an embrace
And hear them say “I love you”
Society seems to equate romance, desire, attraction with love. But often times, love is not in the picture.
Others think that indulgence is love.
We have children & we buy them all kinds of things, expensive clothing, $200 athletic shoes.
We get them new red convertibles when they turn 16,
& think that is love.
It is a good and honorable thing to provide for your family
But lavishing spending does not equal love
We go out to a restaurant and we hear someone say
“I love fajitas!”
We overhear others say “I love... (basketball team)”
Love is often said,
Not often lived
Love Lived Out In Jesus
God has lived out love for us
Time and time again in the Gospels
It will tell us that Jesus was moved with compassion
In Matthew 14, Jesus had just learned about the death
of his cousin, John the Baptist
And he wanted to get away by himself
It said that he went to a desert place, apart, by himself
But the multitudes followed him...
Could you imagine, trying to get away and mourn...
Yet they follow, I would be annoyed...
But Jesus was not annoyed,
The Bible says
When He saw the great multitude
He was moved with compassion toward them
And healed the sick among them
He was moved with compassion
In Matthew 20
He was teaching to a great multitude
Yet they passed two lowly blind beggars
And they began to interrupt Jesus
And cry out
Thou Son of David, Have mercy on us!
The Bible says that the Disciples
Began to rebuke the blind beggars
Telling them that they should hold their peace
But they cried all the more
Saying it over and over again
Thou Son of David, Have mercy on us!
Jesus stops and walks over to them
Bible says He had compassion for them
He asked them, what shall I do for thee?
What can I do for you?
They answered “That our eyes may be opened”
Jesus touched their eyes
They were opened
They began to follow him from that day forward
He was moved with compassion
Of course we know John 3:16
For God so loved the world...
Became a servant
Took on sin, died the death of a criminal, provided salvation...
The key there for us today is that love drove the action!
Jesus Showed Love To The Least
Jesus was teaching, the disciples said,
We don’t have time for children, get them outta here...
But Jesus said,
Suffer (Allow, make time for, be patient for) little children
and forbid them not to come unto me
For such is the Kingdom of God
He loved them enough to minister to them
Jesus went to the well to draw some water
There was already a woman there
He asked her if she would draw some water for Him
She said, I am a Samaritan, a partial Jew
Why would you speak to me?
I am too lowly for someone like you to associate with
But Jesus loved her and took time to begin to speak to her
She had some questions about God
And how she was supposed to worship
He told her that there was a water available for her
The time is coming and now is
Where all men everywhere
Can worship,
Its not just for Abraham’s children anymore
But all men everywhere can worship in Spirit and Truth
He loved them enough
Doesn’t matter who you today
Or where you’ve come from
But God has love for you!
Jesus Showed Love To The Sinner
In John 8
Jesus was teaching in the Temple
The pharisees despised Jesus doing this
So they brought to him a woman caught in adultery
And the Bible tells us they did this to trap him,
that they might accuse him of not holding up the law
So they set her down in front of him and say
She has been caught in the very act of adultery
He stoops down and begins to write in the sand
And when he is done
Knowing the scripture that if someone violated 1 of the OT law
That you were guilty of all of the law
So he says,
You who are without sin
Cast the first stone
Where are thine accusers
Neither do I condemn thee
Go and sin no more
He loved her, He didn’t love the sin
He challenged her to sin no more
But He was the only one there
That day without sin
He could’ve threw a stone at her if he wanted to
But he showed compassion to the sinner!
There is love
There is grace available for you!
Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
The story is told of a preacher riding on a bus, & a drunk comes stumbling on, sitting down beside him. The preacher immediately took out his Bible & began reading scripture to the man. Then he announced to the drunk, "Do you know that you’re going to hell?" The drunk said, "Oh, no! I got on the wrong bus again!"
The world needs to know it’s going to hell,
but the best way to lead the world away from hell is to show them how to get to heaven.
Matthew 22:34-40
34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Romans 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery , Thou shalt not kill , Thou shalt not steal , Thou shalt not bear false witness , Thou shalt not covet ; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Love fulfills all of the Law
Love accomplishes
An Abundance of Love
The problem is that a command doesn’t generate the ability to fulfill the command.
I could tell my dog all night long to fix his own dinner
And it doesn’t matter how much and how long I tell him that
He’s not gonna be able to do it
He doesn’t have the ability within him
And I cannot transfer the ability to him
People can tell you over and over again to love each other,
but telling you to do something doesn’t make it possible for you to accomplish it
We of ourselves, are not capable of this type of love
But God has put this ability within us
He has put his love in us
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
God’s love for us transforms us.
The more we celebrate God’s love, grace and mercy in our lives The more the reality of it all soaks into our hearts,
the more we will love others as ourselves.
This is what Jesus is saying:
Love one another as I have loved you.
We have been given an overabundance
A surplus of love
And out of that love,
we can love others out of the overflow of God’s love for us.
Conclusion:
In 1 Corinthians 6, the apostle Paul paints a picture of what the church really is.
He talks about how the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Then he gives a long list of those who will not get into heaven.
They are the sexually immoral, the idolaters, adulterers, homosexual, thieves, greedy, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers.
None of those, he says, will inherit the kingdom of God.
Then he says, "Such were some of you were."
You see, we are standing beside this woman who was caught in the act of adultery.
We are sinners, too.
But then it says,
"You were washed, you were sanctified,
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ”
That’s the church!
We’re no different than the woman, except we have been washed, we have been sanctified!
And now that we have received that love in our life
We must let it overflow into the lives of others
