Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:16-26

My family, Annie, Elizabeth and Caitlin love babies. When we went on a safari a couple years ago in Tanzania, wherever we stopped, there was a trio of “Ooooooooh, look at the baby. It’s so cute.” This is a family joke and to get another perspective, talk to Annie after the service. But is the same wherever we go. This past Christmas when Elizabeth and Caitlin were visiting us, I would be somewhere in the house and when I heard, “Ooooooooooh, look at the baby,” I knew that some goats or sheep were passing through the field behind our house.

Babies animals are cute. Human babies are cute. In the United States, we had a German student staying with us: Wolfgang Baueridel. Wolfgang was what they call in German a party lion. He loved the fast life and he loved women. When he went on a picnic he always took our dog because women he wanted to talk with would stop to pet the dog and then he could talk with them. He said a dog was a great way to meet women. Babies were even better.

People love babies.

I’m not going to get thrown out of the church by saying I dislike babies, but babies are not very useful. They are fun to look at, but what is most enjoyable about babies is that they are in the process of becoming persons. Our excitement with babies is seeing them grow, make progress, acquire new skills.

Baby Christians are fun to be with. The enthusiasm of a person who has newly committed his or her life to Christ is a wonderful thing. God uses this newfound enthusiasm in wonderful ways. But mature Christians delight in this new Christian life and pray for that new Christian to grow so God can work more wonderfully in this new life that has begun.

Last week, Uchenna spoke about Christ being born in our lives. This is critical. It is impossible to grow in the Christian life without being born into the Christian life. He also spoke about us growing in grace and truth and challenged us to see the life we have with God be one that is growing.

Christians use two terms to talk about becoming a Christian and then growing in the Christian life. Those two words are: justification and sanctification. Paul uses these two terms to describe the two stages of salvation. I am justified and then I am sanctified. What do these two terms mean?

You have probably seen the word justification on your computer word processing program. It is an option under the format menu and offers ways to format how the lines of a paragraph look on the paper when printed. You can have the lines lined up on the left, the right, centered in the middle of the page or even on both the left and right side. In printing terms, to “justify” is to bring the words on a page in right relationship to that page and to each other.

This is very close to what justification means in religious terms as well. To be justified before God is to be brought into right relationship with God. In Romans 5, Paul defines being justified simply as being at peace with God.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

At some moment in time, each Christian has begun his or her relationship with God. There was a time when we were separated from God and a time when we were drawn near to God through his grace. At that moment in time when we cross over, we are transformed and God no longer sees us as sinners, but as perfect and holy creatures. This change does not occur because we did something. We did not finally get our act together, straighten up or in any way achieve moral perfection. But at that moment in time, when we accept the gift of salvation offered us by God, the perfection of Jesus covers us so when God sees us, he sees the perfection of Jesus. God sees us as holy creatures because Jesus is holy.

We are justified, brought into right relationship with God. We are at peace with God. And then begins the process of sanctification. When we enter into a right relationship with Jesus, God sees us as holy and perfect, able to enter his presence with out being consumed by his holiness. But then the second amazing thing that happens is that not only are we viewed as being holy, we actually begin to be transformed into the holy person God sees us to be.

In the French tale, “Beauty and the Beast” the prince, who has been changed into an ugly monster, is loved by a beautiful young woman. It is only when the Beast discovers that Beauty loves him in all his ugliness, that he himself becomes beautiful.

This was the Apostle Paul’s experience. Paul was on the road to Damascus to kill Christians when he was met by God. Instead of the “Now it’s my turn to get even with you,” that Paul might have expected, he was invited to become part of the family, to enter into a right relationship with God. Instead of retaliation for having killed Christians, Paul discovered this truth: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Like the Beast in “Beauty and the Beast”, Paul discovered that when he was loved in all his unloveliness, he began the process of becoming godlike.

Let me read from Frederick Buechner:
Paul’s word for this gradual transformation of a sow’s ear into a silk purse is sanctification, and he sees it as the second stage in the process of salvation.

Being sanctified is a long and painful stage because with part of himself the sinner prefers his sin, just as with part of himself the Beast prefers his glistening snout and curved tusks. Many drop out with the job hardly more than begun, and among those who stay with it there are few if any who don’t drag their feet most of the way.

But little by little – less by taking pains than by taking it easy – the forgiven man starts to become a forgiving man, the healed man to become a healing man, the loved man to become a loving man. God does most of it. The end of the process, Paul says, is eternal life.

This second stage in the process of salvation is what we will be focusing on for the next eight weeks as we look at the fruit of the Spirit.

The passage in Paul’s letter to the Galatians about the fruit of the spirit is one of the better known passages of Scripture. When we talked about this passage in Sunday School, several people mentioned that they had heard many sermons based on this passage. That makes preaching again on this familiar passage a bit intimidating, but let’s see if we can’t take a fresh look and see this truth with fresh eyes.

The passage comes in a section where Paul is talking about life in the Spirit. He makes a very clear point, well illustrated, that the life of the Spirit and the life of the sinful nature are at war with each other. They cannot coexist.

Galatians 5
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.

In this introductory sermon to the fruit of the Spirit, I want to make three observations.

1. To grow in the fruit of the Spirit is to become more like God.
2. Growing in the fruit of the Spirit is a cooperative effort combining our obedience and our dependence.
3. We grow in the fruit of the Spirit by comparing ourselves to God, not each other.

1. To grow in the fruit of the Spirit is to become more like God.

Follow with me in your Bible or on the front cover of the bulletin where the fruit of the Spirit is listed and see whose character is described in this list of the fruit of the Spirit.

1 John 4:16
God is love.

Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.

Hebrews 13:20 in the great benediction of Hebrews starts out
May the God of peace

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Ephesians 2:7
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,  7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 27:13
I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

Lamentations 3:23
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Matthew 11:29
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Ephesians 1:19 in Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. Here, a word related to the Greek word for self-control is translated as strength.
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,  19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,  20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

It is easy to see the fruit of the Spirit as something Christians need to see developed in their lives, but it puts a whole new spin on it when you realize that the fruit of the Spirit we are to see develop in our lives is a description of the character of God.

What this means is that when we grow in the fruit of the Spirit, we become more like God. In the process of sanctification, we grow to be the holy person God sees us to be because when he sees us, he sees Jesus. We become Christ-like.

This should not come as a surprise. If you have an apple tree, why should you be surprised when it bears apples? If you have a grapevine, why should you be surprised when the vine produces grapes?

Jesus used the analogy of a vineyard to describe our relationship with him.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.  7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Because we attach ourselves to Christ when we become Christians, when we grow as Christians, we increasingly take on the character of the one to whom we are attached, we take on the character of God.

2. Growing in the fruit of the Spirit is a cooperative effort combining our obedience and our dependence.

How is it that we grow in the fruit of the Spirit? Should we make a list of the fruit of the Spirit and each week work on one of the fruit? Week 1, love. Week 2 joy. Week 3 peace and so on. Should we make a checklist and make sure that each day we are more patient, have more self-control?

Our efforts are required in the process of sanctification, but this approach misses the mark.

If you have an apple tree and you want it to grow apples, what do you do?

Stuart Briscoe tells the story of a boy and his brother who used a tree just outside of their bedroom window to escape any time they were restricted to the room for one reason or another. One day they heard their father tell their mother that he was going to cut down that tree because it was a fruit tree and was not bearing any fruit. This put a bit of panic in the boys. Their route of escape was about to disappear. So in desperation, they went to the market, bought a bushel of apples and that night, tied the apples onto the tree branches. The next morning, they heard their father exclaim to their mother, “It’s a miracle. The fruit tree is bearing fruit! And what is even more spectacular is that it’s a pear tree but it’s bearing apples!”

Tying fruit on the branches of a fruit tree is not the way to make the tree produce fruit. The fruit tree needs to send its roots deep so it takes in the water it needs. It’s branches need to be pruned. It needs to be sprayed with the right spray to protect it from damage from insects. It needs bees to cross-pollinate from one tree to another. When the fruit tree gets this kind of attention, fruit is produced.

In the same way, it is ridiculous to think that we can be transformed simply be exerting our will and trying to tie onto our lives the fruit of the Spirit. Our own efforts will not produce love, joy, peace and the rest of the fruit in our lives.

It is by sending our roots deep into our faith, soaking up the living water of God, allowing God to discipline us as his legitimate children, feeding from the Scriptures, bathing our lives in prayer, that we bear fruit. When we abide in Christ, the fruit of the Spirit grows in our lives.

Using the analogy Jesus used, we have to be attached to Jesus as the vine branch is attached to the vine. If that connection is cut off, the vine branch withers. All our efforts to improve ourselves will come to naught.

But when we are attached and when we are abiding in Christ, then our efforts have meaning. After losing my temper I resolve to be more patient the next time I’m in that situation. After an embarrassing episode when my self interests won out over the needs of another person, I resolve to be less self-centered and to love more fully.

These steps I take to grow in the fruit of the Spirit are important, but only when I am first attached to Christ.

Sanctification, what Paul describes as the second stage of the process of salvation, is a cooperative effort. We, together with the Holy Spirt, are at work in this process of being transformed into the holy person God sees me as being. Sanctification is first our dependence but then also our obedience.

3. We grow in the fruit of the Spirit by comparing ourselves to God, not each other.
In the Chronicles of Narnia, a collection of seven books written by CS Lewis, there is a line repeated several times. At several points in the stories, a person asks Aslan, a figure of Christ in these stories, about someone else. “What about Corin?” or How about Shasta?” And Aslan’s consistent response is to say, “That is not your story.” This is not your story. Aslan deals with each person as an individual. He wants each person to be concerned with their own relationship with him independent of others.

Christ did not die for all mankind. He died for each person, individually. If there were a computer in heaven, you would not be a list of names under the file name of chosen children\Africa\Morocco\female\30 to 40 or any other group classification. If there were a computer in heaven, each person would have their own file. You are unique. There is no one else just like you. There never has been and there will never be anyone like you. God chose you to be his child and he is at work in you to transform you.

So to say that one person is really good at love while another is really good at patience and another at self-control is to miss the point. From whatever situation God picked you up and set you on the path, the Holy Spirit has been at work in you to transform you into the holy person God sees you to be. Your story is the story of God and you.

Tony Campolo is a forthright Christian speaker who teaches sociology at a university in the US. He speaks at many conferences and tells the story of a woman who came up to see him after one of his talks. She said, “I’m not a Christian and one of the reasons why is because of people like you. For a Christian who speaks to people, you’re really not a very nice person.” His response was to say, “Madam, as bad a person as I am, can you imagine how much worse I’d be if I were not a Christian? And, madam, as good a person as you are, can you imagine how much better you’d be if you were a Christian?”

I’ve know many people who are not Christians who are genuinely nice, loving people. And I’ve known many people who are Christians who I prefer not to spend time with. This is not the point. The point is that when we are saved, when we accept the gift of salvation offered us by God, we are transformed because God sees us through the perfection of Jesus. It doesn’t matter if we are really good or really bad. We all are transformed and we all have an equal need for transformation.

At that point begins for each of us the process of becoming holy and God takes us from who we were and begins to take us to who we will be.

The good news of the process of sanctification is that we have hope. What we are today is not what we will be tomorrow. No matter how badly we mess up, we are God’s creation in process. We are becoming. We are becoming because we obey God but we are mostly becoming because the Holy Spirit is at work in us.

Do you want to grow in the fruit of the Spirit? Would you like to see those qualities be more evident in your life?

Abide in Christ. Make certain you spend time each day in prayer. Not just a list of people to pray for, but reading Scripture and talking to God about what you’ve read.

Take time to meditate on what you read.

Take time to reflect on the events of your life. Search what you observe each day for what God is trying to tell you through the events, circumstances and people you encountered that day.

Take time to listen to what God wants to say to you. We walk through life with constant noise. TV, stereo, walkman, radio. Turn off the noise and listen for some time each day.

Begin your day by talking to God about what you know is going to happen in the coming day. End your day by reflecting on what happened.

I know how difficult it is to take this time out. I struggle with this as much as anyone here this morning. But this is a struggle worth fighting.

If your focus is on Christ and your spiritual roots grow ever deeper in him, you will see the fruit of the Spirit in your life.