9 Ways to Clean Up Dirty Deeds (pt. 2)
Gal. 5:22-25Aug. 28, 2005 FBC, Chester Mike Fogerson, Pastor
Introduction
A It’s one thing to overcome the flesh & not do evil things, but quite something else to do good things.
1 The legalist will be able to say, "I don’t drink, smoke, run around", but can anyone see the beautiful grace of God in his life.
a Negative goodness is not enough
b There must be positive qualities as well
2 Fruit of the Spirit!
a Gift-salvation
b Gifts-service
c Graces-character
3 Imagine you’re drinking your favorite drink
a Someone runs into you & now what was in your glass is all over your lap
aa You & I are like the cup filled to the brim
bb Whatever is on the inside comes out when we get upset, too!
b We might do "damage control" after the spill, but the damage is done.
aa Some of us have hot words (coffee), and burned our family & friends
bb Some of us have ice water & have chilled our relationship.
cc Like grape/tomato juice, we’ve left a stain that can’t be cleaned.
dd Whatever is on the inside will come out!
B Paul gave a list of nine characteristics that replaced the deeds of the flesh.
1 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become boastful challenging one another, envying one another. Gal 5:22-26 (NASB)
2 A heart filled with Christ gives external evidence of His presence.
C I want my listener to commit to producing more of at least one fruit of the Spirit this week.
1 What fruit of the Spirit will you work to increase this week?
2 Let’s look at two facts that can help us increase fruit production this week.
I The first fact that can help us increase fruit production this week is a description of the fruit of the Spirit.
A Paul had talked about works/deeds for 5 chapters, never in a positive light (it’s what we’re capable of making on our own).
a A factory full of machines can turn out a product, but it can never produce/manufacture a fruit.
aa Works/deeds we associate with strain, labor, effort, toil.
bb Fruit comes out of life. There is a beauty, quietness, unfolding of life.
b In the case of the fruit of the Spirit, the life that this fruit unfolds from is out of life in the Spirit (only for Christians).
B The fruit of the Spirit is the outward indicator that a person is saved. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Matt 7:16-18 (NASB)
a The fruits of the Spirit are not emotions, but rather character qualities determined by how we act, not how we feel.
b The fruits of the Spirit are a natural product of the Spirit when Jesus takes over a life.
C The fruit of the Spirit will always be present in a believer.
a It grows amazingly well in the right atmosphere.
(IL) Tomatoes grow well is workable, weed-free, fertilized, receptive soil.
(IL) Two men are in an orchard. One man climbs a ladder & starts picking apples & dropping them. The helper does not do anything. Regardless of how much fruit is picked/dropped, the helper won’t receive any unless he is standing under the ladder with his bucket ready.
b Fruit is grown for one purpose...to be eatem.
aa People are around us are starving for fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace).
bb When they find we have these fruits, they will realize that we have something in Christ that they lack in the world.
D (IL) Wallet was lost by sailor James Lubeck in 1966 at Marblehead Harbor.
a In June of 2005, a fisherman, Antonio Randazzo, hauled in the wallet along with a netful of cod, flounder, and haddock.
b Randazzo thought the wallet was from someone who had been lost at sea until he saw the expiration dates on the credit cards were from the late 60’s.
aa He looked for Lubeck in the phone book and found one, Jonathan Lubeck, James’ son.
bb James was still alive, according to his daughter-in-law.
c The wallet was returned.
aa The checks, cash, and leather were gone, but the value of the find isn’t what in what was recovered, but what happened afterward, Lubeck said.
bb "It’s the idea that someone reached out." Lubeck said.
d Our fruit is there for us to reach out and show others.
II The second fact that can help us increase fruit production this week is a prescription of the fruit of the Spirit.
A Paul gave nine qualities that made up the fruit of the Spirit. Three categories of expression:
a Expressed Godward
aa Love (agape)
• First for a reason! God is love (1 John 4:8), the greatest of these is love (1 Cor. 13:13), they we know we are Christians by our love (John 13:35).
• All the other qualities are birthed out of love.
• We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. 1 John 3:14 (NASB)
• Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. John 4:7 (NASB)
• A person with a habitually unloving spirit toward his fellow Christians is reason to question his salvation.
• Miracle!
bb Joy (holy optimism)
• An inward joy isn’t affected by life’s circumstances.
cc Peace (love and joy get married and have a child named peace).
• And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:7 (NASB)
• Peace is mentioned 80 x’s & in every book of the New Testament.
• Peace with...God, family, coworkers, church
b Expressed manward
aa Patience (makromethia-alt. translation=long-suffering).
• How would you describe God’s anger? God is slow to anger.
• bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Col 3:13 (NASB)
• with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love Eph 4:2 (NASB)
• Patience is putting up with people even when you are tired of them.
• Don’t give up on people when constantly wronged/irritated.
bb Kindness (divine kindness) Attitude
• The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged 2 Tim 2:24 (NASB)
• Has nothing to do with weakness or lack of conviction, but has everything to do with the desire to treat others kindly.
cc Goodness (kindness & goodness is how we pull off patience!)
• Love in action, active kindness
• You can be so righteous, but no one likes you because your good heart is not accompanied with good hands.
• For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. Romans 5:7 (NASB)
c Expressed selfward
aa Faithfulness (dependable, loyal, trustworthy)
• A person who would die for their faith
• The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. Lam 3:22 (NASB)
• Faithfulness translates to your marriage, job, church, service.
• Usher, SS teachers on time
• Keep commitments in relationships
bb Gentleness (alt. trans.-meekness)
• Meekness does not mean weakness
• Jesus and Moses (Matt. 11:29, Num. 12:3) were were meek, but no one ever accused them of being weak.
• The meek Christian doesn’t throw his/her weight, authority around to get their way.
• Always angry at the right time and never angry at the wrong time.~Aristotole.
cc Self-control (temperance). The opposite of self-indulgence.
• Self-control is the fruit that grows when Christ comes to live in a heart that allows that heart to live & walk in the world, yet keep unsoiled from the world.
B For these fruits to flourish, they need to be nurtured.
a Crucifying the flesh (v.24).
aa Who’s doing the crucifying?
bb Weeding is done to let the roots of these fruits take hold.
b Walking by the Spirit (v.25)
aa Not run ahead or lag behind, but by the Spirit
bb Military term used to describe marching in rows
cc If we’re in step with the Spirit, we’ll also be in step with others.
c (v.26) If we clean up our act, we get along with one another!
Conclusion
In the Melanesian islands of the South Pacific during WWII, the natives watched closely as the American and British engineers came in and built airstrips. The islanders were amazed to see that when the airstrips were completed, planes began to arrive filled with cargo: food, building materials, machinery, even vehicles. This, they decided, was something they wanted in on.
The Melanesians deduced, that if they built airstrips, then planes would come to them, too, likewise bringing cargo. They accordingly hacked makeshift runways out of the jungle and built mock-up control towers out of grass and mud. They put fires along the sides of the runways, and put a man in the grass-hut control tower, with two coconut halves on his head for headphones--he’s the controller--they rigged antenaes out of bamboo and then they waited for the airplanes to land. As far as they could see they were doing everything right. The form was perfect. It looked exactly the way it was supposed to. But it didn’t work. No airplanes ever came. (John Derbyshire, National Review Online, June 14, 2002 "It’s All America’s Fault: The cargo-cult mentality."and Richard Feynman From a Caltech commencement address given in 1974 Also in Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!)
In the world that you and I live in today cargo cults of a similar type are commonplace. The cargo people are looking for is not food and machinery but love, joy, peace, patience and all the other things that our text this morning describes as the "fruit of the spirit." Rather than building runways for the cargo planes to land on, those who seek this precious cargo seek to order their lives in a way that looks religious. "Surely", the thinking goes, "if my life looks spiritual, then God’s blessing will follow." What they are missing, like the Melanesian islanders, is the fact that cargo comes not because of runways and control towers but because of a relationship with the one who sends the cargo.
Love, joy and peace and all the others are not the result of adherence to a set of Christian standards, rather they grow out of a relationship with God born of faith in Jesus Christ.
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Mike Fogerson
