Producing Good Fruit
Galatians 5:16-26
July 3, 2005
Evening Service
Introduction
A friend of mine from seminary worked for an orchard while he was in high school and during his summers home from college. He worked in several different aspects of the orchard, from picking fruit to basic tree care.
Dan told me about one season that he was helping to spray all of the trees from insects to insure that the fruit would not be infested when harvest time came. The work of spraying the trees went well but one small section of about ten trees was somehow missed during the work and no one noticed until it was time for fruit to develop on the trees.
As the fruit developed things looked good with the fruit growing large but as it was ready to be harvested, it became apparent that the fruit was infested with bugs. Those ten trees produced fruit but it was none fit to eat because of the infestation.
Our lives in Christ are meant to be fruitful for Him but far too we become infested with sin that destroys the spiritual fruit in our lives. The fruit we produce becomes filled with the corruption of sin and is unfit for the Kingdom of Christ.
When Christ looks into your life and sees the fruit there will it be fit for His Kingdom?
This evening let’s take a look at what the apostle Paul teaches about spiritual fruitfulness in Galatians 5:16-26
16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. 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. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Galatians 5:16-26
A. Walk by the Spirit
1. Walking as a way of Life: Continual and regular action, not an option, implies progress, lead from where we are to where we ought to be, submission to the Spirit - direction to where God wants us to be
2. The role of the Spirit: Spirit gives us power to live, power of Jesus - salvation, Spirit becomes the guide, He directs and gives help, lifts us beyond the carnalhuman existence
B. Desire of the Flesh
1. We will not do: Christian life is above human life, Christian life is founded in the Spirit, human life is founded in fleshly desires, walking by the Spirit - not by the flesh
2. Desire of the flesh: We live either by the Spirit or live by the flesh, never both at the same time, it is impossible to do, we can not be like Christ - through the flesh, we can not live in the means which promote death
C. The Conflict
A. The Battle: Flesh Vs. Spirit
1. War of the soul: Flesh against the Spirit, both are exact realities - Flesh is real: it is human nature, Spirit is real: leading of God, they can not exist together without conflict
2. The conflict: Spirit wages on our behalf, flesh seeks to control, human nature is in direct contrast with God, we are in God’s image and His likeness but we conform more to our own image, Christianity runs counter culture with society, we are to be different from the world
B. The Strife: We do what we do not want
1. The flesh: We will be living by the flesh or by the Spirit, not both, when one is in control the other fights for control, thus there is always a battle and strife in this life, when we become Christian we reject the flesh, we still do stupid things - we say mean things, do hurtful deeds and cause harm to others, we give in to the flesh, the flesh takes us back for those times, Satan only needs a few moments to ruin our lives, it is those moments that make us who we are, they define our character
2. The Spirit: When we were living by the flesh, Spirit was at work, moving us toward God, nudging us in te right direction, convicting our hearts, allowing us glimpses of hope, helping us to see God & His grace, the struggle for the soul was being done
C. The Freedom
1. Spirit as Leader: When Spirit guides, go in right direction, he shows us the way, wether we follow is our choice, we can not accomplish work of Christ on our own, we need the power of the Spirit - he alone will lead us to glory in Christ
2. Free from the Law: Galatian church was living a preverted Christianity, they were following the Jewish Law and claiming Christ as Lord, they had no real freedom, Christ died to give us freedom from the bondage of sin, sin is the real bondage that must be broken, we practice a perverted Christianity - when we look down on others, when we think we are better or more important than others, we place our restrictions and regulations on people, Jesus loves everyone and He died to save them, we need to love them too
The Condemnation of the Sinful Nature
1. Sexual Sins:
Immorality - broadest term for sexual acts, all types of illicit sexual behavior, society has trivialized sex, sex is meant to be for marriage, it is a gift from God, human nature perverts this gift and we take what God meant as a blessing and make a curse, teen pregnancy is at an all time high, AIDS is the new leprosy of our day
Impurity - being unclean, Greek understanding is that of having an infected wound, illicit sex causes pain and destruction, children need to be given moral instruction - not condoms, we can not have right relationship with God there is a need for healing
2. Religion Sins:
Idolatry - central source of false beliefs, worship of anything besides God, we don’t have this problem - whatever is of 1st importance in your life is your god, family, possessions, job whatever comes 1st is the basis for your life, we place our lives out of priority,
Sorcery - the practice of witchcraft or magic, idolatry and sorcery were used together as a means of pagan worship, magic was used to control the world and even manipulate the gods, sorcery is seen throughout our society in movies and on TV, it is seen so often that we fail to recognize it
3. Relational Sins:
Hatred and discord - Like all of the relational sins there is a set pattern, first is the attitude and second is the result, hate is the deadly attitude that results in discord, when hate enters the heart there can be no love for anyone, no one can say they love God and still hate another person, the two realities can not exist together,
Jealousy and fits of rage - jealousy is a form of anger, it is nature to assume that jealousy will result in examples of anger, case in point fits of rage, uncontroled and unprovoked reactions of anger,
Selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy - These are all ongoing expressions of the flesh, the representation of ongoing fights & feuds, sinful action becomes established, a part of life, it absorbs the heart and the soul,
drunkeness orgies and the like - central part of pagan worship - large rituals characterized by drunkeness and illicit sex, more general reference calls to any and all rowdy and crude behavior
4. The results: This is a representative list, not exhaustive or all inclusive, Paul clearly states that these people will not inherit heaven, they will not see God, this result comes from ongoing action, not merely doing something once or even a few times, Paul is speaking about a way of life, call to walk in the spirit so they don’t do these things at all,
The Commendation of the Fruit of the Spirit
1. The fruit: These are actions done through the Spirit, done for God’s glory, this fruit will only be evident in lives of believers
Love: 1st and foremost, the greatest expression of the Spirit’s work, it is love that motivated Christ to die, love is the sure mark of salvation, supreme virtue
Joy: deep sense of well being, not humanly made - divinely stimulated, the joy of the LORD is your strength Neh. 8:10, joy comes from God - he gives it to his children, exhiliration of the heart, right with God
Peace: Tranquility of the mind, right with God, peace doesn’t come from circumstances, God is in cntrol and that fact gives peace, our trust in him, peace that passes understanding
Patience: Ability to endure injury inflicted, acceptance of situations that are irritating or unfair, we wait when God seems distant, we wait for God to act and show us his way, we are called to live by God’s time line not ours,
Kindness: Deep concern for others, genuine desire to treat others gently, God give us the ability to be kind, Jesus is our grand example,
Goodness: moral and spiritual excellence, goodness is high moral standards and kind action combined, God has the basis for our moral codes, God sends His spirit to grant us goodness,
Faithfulness: Strong loyalty & trustworthiness, Jesus is the supreme example of faithfulness, Philippians 2:7-9, Jesus was faithful first and He will return, Jesus keeps His promises, we are to be loyal to one another, worthy of the trust we have been granted
Gentleness: Possibly better to say meekness, humility and gentleness of attitude and Spirit, submission to God, ability to taught and consideration of others
Self-Control: Restraint in action and desire, this does not apply to God, He does not change, ability to stand in place of temptation, Jesus was the epitome of self control, he resisted all forms of temptation and trickery
2. Lawful Action: No laws are against these actions, these actions are never harmful, pagans would not have laws against these things, How do we find the power and strength to do these things?
