Fruit of the Spirit
Galatians 5:22-26
April 8, 2018
The great theologian, Tina Turner said this about love . . .
What's love got to do, got to do with it
What's love but a second hand emotion
What's love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart When a heart can be broken
What's love but a sweet old fashioned notion
What's love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken
That’s really a sad commentary about love. Can you imagine what our world would be like if we all agreed love is just an old fashioned - - second handed emotion? What if we just don’t want to get hurt so we all agreed to protect ourselves to the point where we can never experience love, or give love?
Today we’re beginning a new series. Before Easter, we were looking at the 7 Deadly Sins, and now we want to look at the positive values and character we need to display. We’re looking at the Fruit of the Spirit. Each of these 9 fruits or virtues are tremendously important in who we are called to be in Christ. These will help us reach our full potential, which is our key phrase for 2018.
Love must be the backbone, the cornerstone of all that we do. The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Galatia these words ~
22 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
As we were talking at Bible study this past Wednesday, anytime you see a list, check out the first item on the list. Assuming the list is well thought out. That first item will be the most important item. On this list, Paul places LOVE first.
So, we can ask the question Tina asked . . . What’s love go to do with it? The answer is really easy . . . EVERYTHING!! Love must be the cornerstone of everything we do. It’s the first item in the Great Commandment from Jesus! In Mark 12 we read ~
28 And one of the scribes came up and . . . asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:28-31
Verse 29 is the most sacred of Jewish prayers. It was originally found in Deuteronomy 6, as Moses was giving final instructions to the people before they entered the promised land. It’s the foundation of Jewish faith. It’s called The Shema! In Hebrew it sounds like this - - -
So, Jesus is asked which commandment is most important! What’s most important is to love! No exceptions. And Jesus goes on to say ~
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your mind and with ALL your strength.’
Notice that Jesus didn’t just say to love God, or love God sometimes or with some of yourself . . . but we are to love god with . . . .how much of our heart!? ALL With how much of our soul? ALL! With how much of our mind and body? ALL! No exceptions. Love God with everything you have! That’s where it all starts! When we start to love God like that, our relationship with Him changes. We begin to look at life differently. We see people differently, we see circumstances and situations differently. We’re changed from the inside out. If it doesn’t change us, then have we really loved God with ALL of ourselves?
Then we move forward with loving others. That’s the second part of this commandment. Love your neighbors!
Part of the problem is the fact that we really don’t understand love. Love may be one of the most complicated and complex words in the English language. When we talk about love, don’t we say things like - - -
I love God, I love pizza, I love that song, I love sunny days, I love my job, I love that outfit, I love that book, I love that car . . . and that list can go on and on.
We’ve used the same word to mean many different things, because we’re limited because English only has 1 word for love.
The Greeks had 4 words for love. Here’s a quick lesson, and we’ll look at the main word for us.
The most obscure Greek word for love is STORGE — it’s most used to represent love between a parent and child. Or sibling to sibling. You may also use it when saying you love your country or you love your favorite sports team.
There’s EROS - that’s the passionate love you have for your spouse. It’s where we get the English word erotic! It’s more than physical love, it’s looking at the inner beauty or character of your mate.
There’s PHILOS - that’s a love you would have for a friend. “Oh I love him or her!” You would also use that word for saying, I love going camping. It’s where we get the name of Philadelphia. Philos is love - - adelphos - - brother.
Now we come to the main word for love . . .
It’s called AGAPE. Agape is the word Jesus used when He said to love God and to love our neighbors.
Agape love is unconditional love given to us from God. The heart or focus of agape love is sacrifice. It’s not this type of spontaneous, impulsive love we see on television and movies. Agape love is the greatest love we can offer another person.
A key to agape love is that it’s unconditional. It’s not contingent upon another person to love us back or perform in a certain manner to receive this love. Here is an important point in agape love . . . this love is not a feeling. It’s crucial to understand that. Love is a decision. To love another person is a decision we make, it’s not a feeling which comes and goes. We feel it today and tomorrow we don’t. And this love is sacrificial. Agape love costs us something, just as it cost God His Son. He gave His Son for us in the greatest act of love in history.
An example of agape love, besides Jesus going to the cross for us, was at the Passover supper when Jesus knelt on the ground and washed the disciples feet. The footwasher was the job of the lowly servant. Who really wanted to wash the feet of a bunch of guys who had been traveling?
Yet Jesus, the One who should be honored was the One who began to wash the disciples feet. No rabbi would ever do this. It was unheard of. Yet, Jesus was showing them what love is about. It’s not about titles, or privilege, it’s about honoring one another in a sacrificial way.
After the supper and footwashing, Jesus said ~
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:34-35
Here’s where the rubber meets the road. Jesus is telling us love isn’t a feeling. We are commanded to love. That means we don’t choose who we love and just as importantly, who we don’t love. We shouldn’t have to be commanded to love one another, should we?
Jesus tells us the world is watching and they will know you are Christ followers if you do one thing . . . love one another. It’s that simple, yet, that difficult. The world wants to know if following Jesus really makes a difference.
The world constantly tells us to follow our hearts. What they really mean is to follow our feelings. If it feels good - - do it. David Jeremiah spoke about a girl who was asked what love is and she said this ~
“Love is a feeling you feel when you feel that what you feel is a feeling you’ve never felt before.” Yikes!! That’s a tongue twister, but when you break it down, that’s really how most people feel about love. It’s a feeling you feel.
The command to love is not ambiguous. We don’t get to pick and choose who we are going to love today. Some people are pretty tough to love, yet we’re commanded to love them anyways. Some people are mean, angry, bitter, backstabbing, stinky, lying, no good people . . . We all know some of them.
We know those people who are pretty beastly, hard to deal with, and Jesus would still say, show my love to them, through the way you live your life.
Decide to love them. Yet, at the same time, have healthy and safe boundaries! People will hurt us and we don’t have to be in a relationship with them. Sometimes, it’s healthier and safer not to be in a relationship with them. Yet, don’t mistreat them. Love them in whatever way you can.
Henry Drummond once said, “if a piece of ordinary steel is attached to a magnet and left there, after awhile the magnetism of the magnet passes into the steel so that it too becomes a magnet.” It’s true for us as well, as we stay attached to Jesus, His love passes into us and we pass that same love to others.
On the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said ~
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, – Matthew 5:43-45
In those days, if you didn’t like someone, you didn’t treat them well. They were shunned, alienated, mistreated and mocked. If someone hurt you, you got payback. It was the way of the world. It’s still that way of our world in many respects. Yet, Jesus says, love your enemies, and even pray for them.
Do you remember the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast? The story is about a handsome young prince who is made to look like a beast. He lives alone, not wanting anyone to see his hideous face, and nobody wants to associate with him, he’s also not very nice. The beast could only be restored to his former self if someone truly loved him, despite his appearance. As Belle ends up at his mansion, she ultimately offers him redeeming, transforming love. It took time for him to believe she was sincere, but eventually her persistence paid off, and he accepted her love and was changed.
That’s a great example of God’s agape love. We are like the beast. We are made hideous and unlovely because of our sinfulness. But God sees through our sin . . . He sees into our heart and soul - - and He sees our true beauty. God sees who we can still yet become. And when we open ourselves to God’s powerful gift of love, we change, we become transformed.
And we become that new creation. We become a person who understands God’s love for us is endless and filled with power and strength.
To love is risky! If we open our heart, we will get hurt. People will hurt us. C.S. Lewis, in his book, The Four Loves, wrote ~
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable; impenetrable; irredeemable. The only place outside of heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love . . . is hell. (P. 155-56)
That’s a remarkable, yet true statement. When we protect ourselves from experiencing God’s love, receiving love and consciously deciding to avoid love, we become just like the beast.
As we learn to walk, we take one small step after another. In the same way, as we grow, we learn to love one loving act at a time. Sometimes we get hurt and step back, but if we’re willing . . . we keep forging ahead, knowing we are doing what God is calling us to do. We can’t become loving people by doing these huge gigantic acts of love. We learn to love by doing small acts of love.
Paul told us ~
12 As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
13 bea with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. – Colossians 3:12-14
Do you see what Paul is saying? As God’s chosen people, people He considers holy, dearly loved - - everyday when you dress, put on compassionate hearts, put on kindness, put on humility, put on meekness and patience! Then on top of that bear with one another and then forgive one another. Now, Paul says, how do you wrap them together?
You bind them together in love, agape love, sacrificial love, love which is unconditional, love which is willing to give . . . because ultimately that love will bind all those other virtues together in perfect harmony!!
You see, we think we have to give love in $1000 increments. But that’s not how it happens. For most of us, we might have a $1 million love account from God. And we make withdrawals. We love in 25¢ and 50¢ increments. Sometimes, it’s a $5 act of love.
What I’m saying is that love, even agape, sacrificial love - - isn’t real costly. It’s one act at a time. It’s loving $1 or 25¢ or on occasion $10 of love. It’s listening, not condemning another person. It’s listening and caring. It’s giving small doses of love so that others can see Christ in us.
We’d rather just do one big thing and be done with it, and let others know about our great sacrifice, but that’s not what God is calling us to do. It’s not flashy, it’s living life, loving others . . . one person at a time.
You and I did nothing to merit God’s love. But God loves us because that’s who He is. John very simply tells us
God is love (1 John 4:8).
Three simple words. A subject, verb and direct object. God is love. Not just any kind of love. Agape love. He chooses to love us because He can do nothing other than who and what He is.
In the passage in 1 John 4, between verse 7 and 21, the word love is used 27 times, and every time it is AGAPE love. John wants us to know God’s love for us is sacrificial and He wants our love to be the same. John wrote ~
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
