Has anyone here ever grown fruit trees? What type? I am not a farmer or a gardener, but in 1990 we moved into a rented house that we were told had five different types of fruit trees in the back yard. When I heard that I thought, “wow that’ll be so cool.” The day we arrived one of the first things I did was to go out back and look for my five different fruit trees. There were a number of trees bordering our property but I could only identify one as being a fruit tree, primarily because only one tree had fruit on it. And that was a mandarin orange tree, great big beautiful mandarin oranges. But no other fruit trees. I was a little disappointed and during the first week a family from out church was over and I mentioned that we had been told that there were five different types of fruit trees in my back-yard but I only spotted one. They looked at me kind of funny and then told me that it was July and not all trees had fruit on them in the middle of the winter. By the way it was in Australia.
Within a few months I had it down pat; I could tell the difference between a banana tree and a mango tree, a mulberry tree and a lemon tree not to mention the ever present Mandarin orange tree. Not because I had become an expert on horticulture but because there was fruit on the trees and bananas don’t look anything like mangos.
Throughout the New Testament fruit trees are used as analogies for a productive Christian life, might we even say a fruitful Christian life. And we read how good trees will bear good fruit and how bad trees will bear bad fruit. And we are told that trees that bear bad fruit or no fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire, presumably a reference to hell. I have found in my Christian walk that if I have the unfortunate job of confronting someone over a moral failing they will tell me that the scriptures tell us not to judge, referring of course to the words of Christ in Matthew 7:1 “Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. Which of course is simply a warning telling us that if we judge others then we open ourselves up to being judged by others.
However we are urged time and time again to look at the fruit that a believer is producing to determine the state of their spiritual tree. Good fruit, good tree, bad fruit, bad tree. And then to make our job easier Paul includes a list of good fruit, which is a part of the scripture that Mike read earlier in the service.
The book of Galatians was a letter that Paul wrote to the early churches in the Roman Province of Galatia, which if we were to pull up a map we would see that it is right here in modern day Turkey. In Galatians Chapter 5 Paul contrasts our life when we follow our desires to our life when we allow the Holy Spirit to have control. He starts by telling us that the acts of the sinful nature are obvious. And then he lists a whole bunch of obviously sinful behaviour. Not a exhaustive list by any means and then he writes these words Galatians 5:22-23 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law.
If you were to look our website you’d be able to read our mission statement and it’s something I mention periodically in my messages. Way back before there was a Cornerstone Wesleyan Church or even a Bedford Community Church I was encouraged to put down on paper what was in my heart. To describe the church that I envisioned God would have us plant here in Bedford. And so in September of 1994 these were the words that I prayerfully came up with to describe the church that at that point only existed in my heart: Cornerstone Wesleyan Church exists to reach pre-Christians through dynamic worship and relevant preaching, bringing them to a life expanding relationship with Jesus Christ and guiding them into a practical holiness as evidenced through the fruit of the Spirit.
How were we going to measure that practical holiness? It would be measured by the evidence of the fruit of the spirit, which is very Biblical because Paul did write: But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us:
This isn’t a maybe, or a perhaps, Paul doesn’t say But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he may produce this kind of fruit in us: But instead the Bible says when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: And then Paul goes on to describe the fruit that the Holy Spirit will produce in our lives. This is what we call “The Fruit of the Spirit.” They are nine characteristics that need to be exhibited in the life of the Spirit Controlled Christian. Those nine characteristics are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
When I was doing some planning for the summer for my preaching schedule I kept coming back to this particular passage and so yet begins another series of sermons.
A couple of things we need to realize from the start, first of all these are the “Fruit” of the spirit, not the “Fruits” of the spirit. In other words these aren’t plural they are singular, so this isn’t a pick and choice list, it’s not a buffet or smorgasbord of qualities that we browse through trying to become a better person.
I think I’ll take some love and joy, a little bit of patience, but you know what I think I’ll pass on the self control, I really don’t enjoy it all that much.” Uh-huh, scripture doesn’t say But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce some of this kind of fruit in us: or a few of these kinds of fruit in us. It’s a full meal deal, when the Spirit controls our lives then our lives exhibit these qualities.
And they are great qualities, I mean they are qualities that everyone would love to have in their lives, and they are very practical qualities as well, qualities that we could all use. I marvel because they aren’t churchy qualities. Paul doesn’t say But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: speaking in unknown languages, casting out demons, healing the sick, walking on water, turning water into wine. He could produce that type of fruit if he wanted to, I think walking on the water would be so cool, but I don’t walk enough as is so I probably wouldn’t get around to driving down to the lake so I could walk across it.
Two things I want to note before we look at the first characteristic, the first thing is this: If you do not exhibit the fruit of the spirit then your life is not controlled by the Holy Spirit. Did you get that? Let’s try again for those who were hoping they heard me wrong. If you do not exhibit the fruit of the spirit then your life is not controlled by the Holy Spirit. You can speak in tongues, or heal people, you can cast out demons, walk on water and then turn it into wine, you could even wear a nifty fruit of the spirit tie or bracelet but if you don’t exhibit the fruit of the spirit then you are not controlled by the spirit.
The second thing I want to mention is that fruit is still fruit even when it’s little baby fruit. When we had all the fruit trees in the back yard we didn’t go from having no fruit on the trees to having fully grown, fully matured fruit on the trees. No there was a process, where we could watch the fruit grow and mature. But even when the mandarins were little tiny mandarins that you couldn’t eat because they weren’t ripe, they were still mandarins. And so we recognize that the fruit of the spirit sometimes takes time to mature.
But that’s not an excuse, if you’ve been on the way and in the way for a long time and you aren’t exhibiting mature fruit of the spirit then you’ve got problems.
And so the first Characteristic that is mentioned is love. We’ve spoken before about how the New Testament was written in Greek and how that language tended to use more words to reflect the meaning of a thought then we do in English. When you think about it the English language is a really lazy language. For example the word fast, you ever think about what fast means. It can mean that you are quick, or it can mean that colours don’t run, or it can mean to tie something up, or it can mean that someone is morally loose, or it can mean to not eat, or it can mean that your watch has gained time or it can mean that you are loyal or it can mean that you are sleeping soundly, or it can mean that you are close to something.
Another word like that is love. We throw the word love around to mean almost anything. I love “”CSI”, I love my motorcycle, I love flying, I love pizza, I love my kids, I love my wife, I love my parents, and I love all of you. But I love each of those things in different ways, but I describe my feelings with one word.
The Greek language however has several different words that are used to convey love for different things. First there is Eros, which is a sensual love, a passionate love that would be what Woody Allen was speaking of when he said “I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or I had smallpox.” Eros isn’t actually used in the Bible. The next form of love was Philia and this is the warm fuzzy feeling we have for those nearest and dearest to us. This is friendship. Have you ever wondered why Philadelphia is called the city of brotherly love? Then there is Storge, and this is affection, what you feel for your parents or children. My sister gave my mother a plaque that says “I love you more then you love me, because you have only loved me for part of your life and I have loved you for all of mine.” Cute. But Paul doesn’t use any of those words for love instead he uses the word Agape. And agape is less a feeling of the heart and more a feeling of the mind. It is as much an act of the will as an act of the emotions. It is why Jesus can tell us to love our enemies. It is a conscious action, something that you decide to do and something that you cannot do without the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.
One of the greatest descriptions of this agape love is given in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Now most of us are familiar with that passage, some of us may have had it read as part of our wedding ceremonies, although the word that is used here for love isn’t eros. Let’s try looking at 1 Corinthians 13 a different way. The way that God displayed his love for us was that he came to earth as a baby, lived 33 years and died on a cross for us. Jesus was love personified. That’s why the Bible says John 1:17 God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. And if that is the truth then we should be able to see the character of Christ reflected in 1 Corinthians 13. Let’s try. Here’s 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 again Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Let’s change it from Love to Christ and see how it reads: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Jesus is patient and kind. Jesus is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Jesus does not demand his own way. Jesus is not irritable, and he keeps no record of when he has been wronged. He is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Jesus never gives up, never loses faith, he is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
What do you think? Works? Let’s take it a step further. What is a Christian? A follower of Christ? Would it be fair to say that Christians are to be Christ-like or like Christ? Ephesians 4:15 Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
Ok, so let’s go back to 1 Corinthians 13, we changed the word love to Christ, now let’s take it a step further let’s change Christ to Christian and see how it reads 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 We are patient and kind. We are not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. We do not demand our own way. We are not irritable, and we keep no record of when we have been wronged. We are never glad about injustice but rejoice whenever the truth wins out. We never give up, never lose faith, We are always hopeful, and endure through every circumstance.
Hmmm, maybe we could stand a little work. Jesus told his disciples in John 13:35 “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Is that how people identify you as a Christian? Two secrets to exhibiting this type of love. You ready. 1) It has to be intentional. It’s not just going to happen; you are going to have to want it to happen. You are going to have to come to the place that you intentionally say, “I am going to exhibit agape love in all my relationships” 2) You can’t do it. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say You can’t do it yourself. And you don’t have to. Do you remember the scripture that we started with? Galatians 5:22-23 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law.
It doesn’t say we will produce, but He will produce. Is that your desire today? When you look at your life does it match the description given in 1 Corinthians 13? If not it can.
Let’s pray together: Lord help me to be patient and kind. To not be jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Help me to not demand my own way. Help me to not be irritable, and to keep no record of when I’ve been wronged. Make me never glad about injustice but help me rejoice whenever the truth wins out. Lord, I want to never give up, never lose faith, always be hopeful, and to endure through every circumstance. AMEN
