“The Fruit of the Spirit”
- Part 1
June 22, 2003 AM,
Danny Williams
1 Cor 13:4-10
Gal. 5:22
Now we have a generation today that talks a lot about love,
but to be frank we have a generation who knows perhaps less about love than any generation since the time of Christ.
It just amazes me how the word love has been twisted, perverted, mis-used and abused, today.
People just don’t understand what love is.
Many people think Love is an inexpressible emotion.
Sort of a outward express ability of an outward all overishness
They just don’t know what it is,
You know,
Ocean’s of emotions.
That is just feeling.
That is not what love is
Love is not feeling, it may contain feeling, it may result in feeling, but love is not primarily a feeling nor an emotion.
I’ll tell you why>>
Because the bible commands us to love.
And you cannot command a feeling.
Think about it,.
The bible commands us to love,
I’ll tell you something else,
it is not an uncontrollable passion.
People have the Idea today that it is just something that happens to us and we are more less victims of it,
You know, the saying,
We fall in love or fall out of love,,,,,,,,,
You know it just sort of happens.
We don’t have any choice over it,
But, wait a minute, the bible says
Husbands love your wives.
That is not a suggestion, not a request, that is a command.
Love involves two things,
Choice and conduct
You can chose to love, and love is not how you feel,
It is what you do.
Don’t tell me you love me and treat me badly,
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Now the reason we are more confused about is because we use one word for love.
The Greeks’ we more exact, they used three words.
For example.
1. Erous- the Greek where we get the word Erotic- meaning the kind of love a man has for a woman and a woman for a man, It is romantic love.
This love is for the one person in your life,
YOU better get the right one.
Example:
Herby said to Susie, will you please go out with me?
Susie said no, Herby said, is their somebody else?
Susie said there has got to be.
One man one woman that is the erotic love.
2. Philo- which means friendship love, Brotherly love
Comradeship,
But the word we are studying today is:
3. Agape- and it is God like love.
And that is what this world needs,
And that is what I want to talk to you about this morning,
But let me talk to you single folks for a moment.
Love in relationships goes in reverse order,
Agape, Philo then erous….
Now,,,,,
Look at vs. 19-
If we were going to display a diamond,
We would probably put it on black velvet, if we wanted it to show up,
That is what God has done with agape love,
He put it on the black velvet of the works of the flesh.
Gal. 5:19-
Vs. 22
There are nine qualities in the fruit of the spirit,
And by looking at these nine,
not only are you going to examine the fruit,
but you are going to examine your self.
You will find out whether you are a mature and a spiritual, Christian.
But let me say
Now, we live in a generation that talks about the gifts of the spirit,
Like, Prophesy, Tongues, Miracles, And helps
And people say, this is my gift, what is your gift?
How can I use my gift?
Fine, wonderful,
But, I want to tell you that no gift is a sign of spiritual maturity or spirituality.
Paul’s most carnal church the church at Corinth, he said you come behind in no gift.
If I want to know if you’re a mature Christian, I don’t examine the gift, I inspect the fruit.
The mark of spiritually and maturity, is what kind of fruit do you bare?
THE fruit of the spirit is the mark of spirituality,
In fact Jesus said in
Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Not, a spiritual gift.
Now there are three things I want you to notice about agape love.
First of all I want us to look at
1. The description of this love, what qualities does this love have?
How would we describe this love?
How could I tell someone else about this love?
How do we describe it?
Well, thank God there is already one given in the bible
Turn with me to ---------------------------------------------------------------------
I Cor. 13
Where the apostle Paul gives a description of Agape love.
I want us to look at the ten qualities of agape love.
This is Love: or what the King James Version sometimes calls charity.
Now,
I want you to do some fruit inspecting,
In your heart and life, are these ten qualities there?
The first quality I want you to see about
agape love is
1. it is a stead fast love-
vs. 4 – love suffers long
see, true love enables us to be patient.
If you are impatient, and you give up on people,
You say, I love them for so long but they don’t deserve it any more, and I have quit, loving.
Can I tell you,
When you quit loving, you became unlike the Lord Jesus.
John 13:1 having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the {end}.
True love is patient, it forgives 70X7,
And then keeps on forgiving.
Not only is true love steadfast,
But secondly
2. True love is serving love.
Vs. 4 – love is kind
And what is kindness?
Kindness is serving one another.
You say,
Well, the person I have in mind doesn’t deserve it,
That’s right,
That is exact ally right,
True love serves those who don’t deserve to be served.
Do you know what true love is?
If you love me, do you know what you will do for me?
You will not give me what I deserve,
You will give me what I need.
Jesus Christ said in
Luke 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Luke 6:28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
What are we to do?
You are to do good,
Speak well
And pray hard
That is you are to show them kindness
If some one has done you wrong, find some way that you can be kind to them.
Bless them, pray for them, encourage them,
That’s the way God loves you, and that is agape love.
3.It is sincere love-
vs. 4- it envy’s not
If you are an envious person or a jealous person,
It is because you do not love the person, you are jealous about.
That means, I have something, you have something that I want.
Now if I want it that means I don’t rejoice that you have it.
And if I do not rejoice that you have it, it is because I don’t sincerely love you.
But let me tell you how you know
If I cringe when your praised,
If your gain is my lose
I don’t sincerely love you.
The bible say in
Proverbs 14:30 A sound heart [is] the life of the flesh: but envy is the rottenness of the bones.
4. it is self effacing love-
true love enables you to be humble.
Vs. 4 - Does not parade it self, is not puffed up.
That means it doesn’t swagger.
It is not proud
See: if I love you, I don’t rejoice that I love you,
I don’t look down upon you,
You can’t love anybody and look down upon them.
Let me tell you,
Pride and love do not dwell in the same heart.
You cannot be big headed and big hearted at the same time.
And people don’t want to be around a proud person,
And the are augmentative,
Because the bible says,
Proverbs 13:10 Only by pride cometh contention:
Question?
Any contention in your home?
You know what happens in our homes?
It is ego against ego,
Self love against self love.
5. true love is self love restraining love
vs. 5 does not behave it self rudely,
do you know what that means?
It means true love enables you to be Courteous.
Have you ever been around rude people?
Elbow their way in?
They don’t know how to say please and thank you?
Do you know what Courteous is?
It is just love in little things.
And the person who doesn’t love in the little things,
You can bet, doesn’t love in the big things.
And when you find a person who is rude, you find an unloving person.
6. it is self denying love
vs. 5 – does not seek its own
it doesn’t say me first,
It never says I know my rights.
Any time you hear a person say, I know my rights
They are not speaking from love,
Why pastor?
Because when you got saved you just lost all your rights.
You see: What rights does a dead man have?
The bible says in
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
You are not your own,
Your bought with a price, you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you rights are now his rights.
And he is the one who has commanded you to love,
You can no longer seek your own.
Bill Gotheier said
If you teach somebody their rights, you will have a revolution
But if you teach people their responsibility, you will have a revival.
If we could ever stop thinking about our rights and start thinking about our responsibility,
And stop seeking our own and start seeking, to love an bless other people,
Things will change in our world.
7. True love is serine love.
Vs. 5 – is not easily provoked.
Do you know any body like a shot gun with a hair trigger?
Just giggle them and bang,,,,
Then they say I didn’t mean it,
And I got over it quickly,
And all those dead people are lying on the ground.
A vial temper is never something you lose by losing,
Question?
Are you easily provoked?
Quick tempered?
Do you know what that is a sign of?
It means you are not full of love.
That is all is a sign of
8. it is sacrificial love
vs. 5 – thinks no evil
what do we call this sacrificial?
Because the word thineth is a book keeping term
I means you don’t keep a record of faults.
Not a collector of grudges,
It is able to forgive and forget.
And let me tell you that cost.
Why?
Because their can be no forgiveness, without somebody paying a price.
If you owe me ten dollars and I forgive it,
It cost me ten dollars to forgive it.
You see somebody has to pay a price.
But so many of us are bookkeepers.
That is we have in our ledger, little IOU’s
We need to have a funeral, and bury all those things in people’s past, and pay the price.
Take the hurt in.
9 true love is sympathetic love
vs. 6- does not rejoice in iniquity
why do we call it sympathetic love?
when somebody is in sin, when somebody falls,
You don’t rejoice,
You weep
Do you know what the sin of the gossip is?
The gossiper rejoices in iniquity.
When they hear something bad, they can’t wait to tell it.
Like the woman who said,
My motto is, “never say anything unless it is good, and boy is this good.
She is ready to tell it,
Or he,
Why do we only think gossips are just women,
Some of the worse gossips I know are men.
Now, this doesn’t mean you just over look sin, you can’t do that
Sin has to be faced, and dealt with,
But don’t rejoice in iniquity.
And before you say anything about any body you must pass it through these golden gates.
1. is it true – do you know it to be true?
2. even if it is true – is it necessary to tell it? (some things are true, but better not told
3. If you must tell it, - is it kind? ( am I telling it in a kind way?)
True love does not rejoice in iniquity.
Finally
10. True love – is suffering love
You cannot love with out suffering.
Look with me in verse 7
Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things
Bears all things- that means there is a burden to bear when you love.
Believes all things- that doesn’t mean it is gullible, it means you are graceful
Hopes all thing-Pastor there is no hope for my marriage----
Endures all things-why not it endures all things
Suffering love
Why do people suffer?
Some lose their faith in God, because they see the suffering
Let me tell you something
Life is not all honey and no beee’s
It will cost you something
Somebody said,
Can God suffer?
Yes,
Let me ask you,
Does a father suffer when a son does wrong?
Do you know that bible says in
Eph. 4 we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit?
You can only be grieved by someone you love.
But what do we do when we suffer?
We love,
But Pastor what if I fail
Let me tell you, even if you fail love never fails
