Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Galatians: A Grace-full Life

A Basket of Fruit: A gift of the Spirit

Sermon Series: Galatians: A Grace-full Life

Title: : A basket of fruit: a gift of the Spirit (Part 1)  Text: Galatians 5:22-23a

Introduction: While serving at the Lion’s Fair this week, I noticed that the sun is setting a bit later every day and the temperature is beginning to stabilize in the ‘I no longer need my winter clothes so I can pact them away’ zone. Summer, my favorite time of the year, is just around the corner.

I’ve also noticed that people are out working on their lawns and gardens. Some people exert a great deal of time and effort to make sure they have great looking lawns and gardens (Dan, at the Men’s Breakfast yesterday, was telling me about his father-in-law who was like that.).

However, every once in a while, I come across a home that looks like it’s not lived in. You know what I’m talking about:

·       The grass is a foot tall.

·       Leaves are still on the ground from the Fall.

·       The trees and bushes look like they haven’t been trimmed in years.

Is it, that the people in those houses, and you know someone is living there because you’ve seen them out and about, are they too busy or just disinterested in maintaining their property?

When we look at someone’s lawn and garden, I think we can tell a little bit about the person who lives there. I also think, the way we live as Christians; the way we act, the attitudes we display, even our personalities, can tell others a little bit, perhaps a lot about us.

Don’t raise your hands, but does anyone here live by someone who never takes care of their property? Truth is, for the most part, people are free to do or not do what they want with their property. And as Christians we have that freedom too.

That’s been Paul’s argument in the Book of Galatians. We’re not forced to live in any particular way. We have the freedom to choose how we will live as Christians...certainly within the framework of specific commands in God’s Word.

This morning, and for the next few weeks as we examine Galatians 5:22-24, I want us to consider how we have chosen to landscape our lives and how we can use our freedom to choose to live a

life in the Spirit that will be glorifying to God.

Background: A little background to get us caught up. In Galatians 5:1 Paul wrote that Christians have been set free from the Law. This was good news because we are not capable of ever living up to its demands. So Paul encourages us to live in the freedom we have been given, by God’s grace.

Basically there are three ways to do this:

·       The first way is to do whatever you want, to live a ‘Carnival’ lifestyle, if you remember that illustration from last Sunday. Sin all week, don’t worry about it. Just come to church on Sunday and confess your sin to maintain God’s love and acceptance. Then start sinning all over again on Monday. No struggles. Simply follow your natural desires, or as Paul called it, your sinful nature.

·       The second way is to become a legalist. Follow the letter of the Law in Scripture. But to make sure you maintain God’s love and acceptance, the struggle will be to keep drawing lines a lot closer than Scripture does...that will truly impress God and the other Christians who are privileged to be

     around you.

·       The third way to respond to the freedom God has given you by His grace is to ‘walk in the Spirit.’ You’ll be tempted to sin and there will be a struggle. Sometimes you’ll win, sometimes the temptation will win. But you never give up, you keep struggling, you keep fighting every temptation that comes your way. But, realize and trust in the fact that whether you fall or stand against the temptation, you know that by God’s grace, you are still loved and accepted by God.

Don’t answer out loud, but which one best describes you? Be honest.

Transition: Paul has already told us the results of a life lived in the flesh...by the old sinful nature... he said the works are obvious. In our text this morning and for the next few weeks, Paul will show us the other side of the coin...the life lived in the Spirit and the results will also be obvious. Just as if we were looking at a basket of mixed fruit.

I. Galatians 5:22a                The Fruit Basket

Read: Galatians 5:22-23a

A. Understanding the Fruit

ILL: What qualifies someone to serve God? There is a story of the testing of a candidate for missions work: One snowy morning at 5:00 a.m., a missionary candidate rang the bell at a missionary examiner’s home. Ushered into the office, he sat three hours past his appointment time waiting for his interview. At 8:00 A.M. a retired missionary appeared and began his questioning. “Can you spell?” Rather mystified, the candidate answered, “Yes, sir.” All right, spell “baker.” “B-A-K-E-R.” “Fine. Now, do you know anything about numbers?” the examiner continued. “Yes, sir, something.” “Please add two plus two.” “Four,” replied the candidate. “That’s fine,” said the examiner. “I believe you have passed. I’ll tell the board tomorrow.”

 

At the board meeting, the examiner reported on the interview. “He has all the qualifications for a fine missionary.

·       First, I tested him on self-denial, making him arrive at my home at five in the morning. He left a warm bed on a snowy morning without any complaint.

·       Second, I tested him on promptness. He arrived on time.

·       Third, I examined him on patience. I made him wait three hours to see me.

·       Fourth, I tested him on temper. He failed to show any anger or aggravation.

·       Fifth, I tried his humility by asking him questions that a seven-year-old child could answer, and he showed no indignation.

So you see, I believe the candidate meets the requirements. He will make the fine missionary we need.” (Matthew Kratz)

Spirit-given abilities (gifts)  are needed, but Spirit-produced fruit is more significant.

 

You will find two similar but different terms in Scripture: the ‘gifts of the Spirit’ and the ‘fruit of the Spirit’

·       They are both necessary for a healthy and growing Christian life.

·       They both come from the Holy Spirit.

·       They are both given to the followers of Jesus Christ.

But, a true mark of Christian maturity is not found in how many ‘gifts’ of the Spirit you have, but in how much of the ‘fruit’ of the Spirit is displayed in your life. Let me explain.

Read: 1 Corinthians 13:1-2 ‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, (gift of the Spirit) but have not love, (fruit of the Spirit) I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, (representing all the gifts of the Spirit) but have not love, (fruit of the Spirit) I am nothing.’

·       ‘Gifts of the Spirit’ are what the Spirit gives, to enable our cooperation with God, in building His kingdom.

·       ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ is what the Spirit gives, to develop us into the people God can use, to build His kingdom.

·       ‘Gifts of the Spirit’ relates to our abilities.

·       ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ relates to our character.

Transition: Now that we have a general understanding of the ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ lets tackle the next obvious question....how do you get you basket full of fruit?

B. Growing the Fruit

Read: Galatians 5:22-23a

Paul encouraged us to ‘Walk in the Spirit.’ The result will be bearing/displaying the ‘fruit of the Spirit.’ Do you notice what word connects the two phrases?    Spirit.

·       Growing ‘fruit’ is the direct result, of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, in your life.

·       Growing ‘fruit’ is the direct result of how much of your life you have given the Holy Spirit permission to lead.

You see, it’s the Holy Spirit who bears the fruit in our lives. Perhaps Paul got the idea from Jesus when He said:

Read: John 15:4-5 ‘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. “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.’

So...when Paul says ‘walk in the Spirit’ he is really saying what Jesus said ‘remain in me, abided in the vine.’ In other words, keep yourself connected to the living Christ.

That means we can’t produce the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ on our own...not by good works, or by making the line of obedience even harder than what God has established.

The ‘fruit of the Spirit’ is not a matter of effort but is the simple expression of clinging to the vine, and letting Jesus produce the beautiful spiritual fruit in you. It’s like Jacob clinging to God until he got a blessing. It’s that kind of commitment to Jesus Christ that fills our basket with spiritual fruit.

But that kind of commitment to Jesus Christ takes time. Filling our spiritual fruit basket is a life lone process. We begin to display ‘the fruit of the Spirit’

·       When we, as Paul will remind us in verse 25 ‘Keep in Step with the Spirit.’

·       When we follow His leading and give Him space in our lives to work, to develop our character.

Read: 2 Corinthians 3:18 ‘And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’

Perhaps that’s why one of the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ is patience. Look, don’t get frustrated if your Christian life isn’t moving ahead as fast as you think it should. Everything happens in God’s time, even our spiritual maturity, and the display of ‘the fruit of the Spirit.’

Read: James 5:7-8a ‘Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm...’

Conclusion

Read: Galatians 5:22-26

Imagine how different our relationships with each other would be if we consistently displayed the traits Paul listed? Let me make it more real and relevant for you. Here is a paraphrase I found of the same text:

‘When you live your life in relationship to God through His Spirit, you are finally able to love people. You show grace to everyone, you’re always trying to reduce conflict rather than incite it, you’re patient with people who drive you crazy, your kind to everyone even when you’re hurt by them, you do good to people you don’t even know, you can be counted on by your friends and family, you care about other people’s feelings when you interact with them, and you’re able to avoid doing things that you really want to do but that you know would hurt someone.

When your life looks like this, you don’t need a law because you don’t want to stop any of these behaviors.

When you believed in Jesus Christ, you took your natural desires and put them on the cross with Him, along with all your lusts and selfish passions. So when we live our lives in relationship to God through His Spirit, our behavior will match the character of God.

We won’t put ourselves above anyone, we won’t try to put anyone else down, and we won’t want what God has given to someone else.’

So...what’s in your basket?