Transcript
A father and son arrived in a small western town looking for an uncle whom they had never seen or met. Suddenly, the father, pointing across the square to a man who was walking away from them, exclaimed, “There goes my uncle!”
His son asked, “How do you know when you have not seen him before?” The father replied, “Son, I know him because he walks exactly like my father.”
Others can see Christ in us by the way we walk and live. We can walk like our Savior. The Holy Spirit works in us to that end, and as we yield to Him and to His Word, He produces the fruit of Christ-likeness in our lives. That is always the Spirit’s purpose.
Fruit-bearing is another work of the Holy Spirit. And we’ll be looking at the “fruit of the Spirit” in this episode.
Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
In contrast to the “works of the flesh” which any person is capable of performing, we find the “fruit of the Spirit” which can only be produced by the Spirit in the lives of believers.
When believers walk by faith and dependence on the Holy Spirit, two results are secured. First, according to verse 16, “ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” And second, “the fruit of the Spirit” will be manifested.
Both these negative and positive aspects of our spiritual life are guaranteed to those who walk and depend on the Holy Spirit. It’s guaranteed because of the life, power, and faithfulness of the Spirit.
But because of that inner struggle between the flesh and the Spirit, we can fail to depend on the Spirit, and then we don’t “do the things that ye would” as verse 17 says, and thus, any believer can still yield to the works of the flesh and sin.
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance are the fruit of THE SPIRIT, not the fruit of self-effort. In ourselves we are only flesh. The flesh produces nothing but more flesh.
A product comes from a producer. The product of spiritual fruit comes from the Producer of the Spirit.
A.W. Pink wrote this: “A garden is a piece of ground distinguished and separated from others, for the owner’s use and delight; so the Church is distinguished and separated from all other people.
“In a garden is a great variety of plants, herbs, and flowers—so in the Church there are members differing much from each other, yet in all there is that which is delightful to their Lord.
“In a garden the plants and flowers do not grow up naturally of themselves, they do not spring forth spontaneously from its soil, but have to be set or sown, for nothing but weeds grow up of themselves; so in Christ’s Church, those excellencies which are found in its members are not natural to them, but are the direct product of the Spirit’s operations, for by nature nothing grows in their hearts but the weeds of sin and corruption.”
Notice that it is “the fruit,” singular, “of the Spirit.” It’s not the fruits, plural, of the Spirit. A tree may bear many apples, but all come from the same tree.
In the same way, the Holy Spirit is the source of all fruit in our lives, and all 9 aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. As fruit issues from the life of a tree or plant, so spiritual fruit issues from the life of the Holy Spirit in us.
And the singular form of the word “fruit” teaches that these nine graces form an indivisible whole. They constitute a unity.
In contrast to the works of the flesh which create discord and chaos, the Spirit produces a unity and characteristics that produce harmony.
And the Holy Spirit will not produce just a few of these, but all of them. If any are present, all will actually be present.
In believers, often one grace is predominate, such as the meekness of Moses, the patience of Job, the love of John, yet as the Spirit produces His fruit, all are present.
Manford Gutzke wrote this, “All the colors of the rainbow are in every beam of sunlight. They all are there at any one time. They may not always comes into vision, but they are all present. Just as these colors of the rainbow are present in light, so these traits of personal conduct are in the working of the Holy Spirit.”
The Lord told Israel in Hosea 14:8: “From Me is thy fruit found.” The same is true of the Body of Christ.
The nine virtues that make up the fruit of the Spirit represent DIVINE qualities of character. Christian character is a divine product.
C. I. Scofield put it well that “Christian character is not mere moral or legal correctness, but the possession and manifestation of [these] nine graces.”
Our character as believers is not something we create by self-effort or self-denial. It is a product that comes from a right relationship to the Holy Spirit.
We can’t and we don’t produce this fruit on our own in the Christian life. They are the result of the Spirit’s life and work within, and our personal growth in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is a product of the Spirit operating in and through the believer. This leads to true transformation and lasting change.
And in the measure that we yield to the Spirit’s control and grow in the Lord, these values flower and overflow in our lives.
Psalms 1:2-3 compares the godly man to a tree planted by a river, and it gives a principle for the Body of Christ, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.”
While we are not under the law, but under grace today, we see that fruit is related to the place of the Word of God in our lives. When we delight ourselves in God’s Word and meditate upon it, the Spirit, who is the divine Author of the Word, directs us to God’s standard for our lives and produces His fruit in us.
There is no lasting spiritual growth or fruit-bearing apart from God’s Word.
And it’s been rightly said that “The fruit of the Spirit grows only in the garden of obedience.” As we obey the Spirit’s Book, the Spirit’s fruits are the result of trusting God and obeying His instruction.
And these values in every way mirror our Savior. The fruit of the Spirit is the shortest life of Christ ever written.
In Christ, we truly find love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and temperance. Ultimately, this “fruit” is the life of Christ lived out in the believer. This is where the Spirit will always lead us. He glorifies Christ and produces fruit in our lives which makes us like Him.
The first three elements of the fruit refer to the inward state of our character. The middle three deal with our character as it relates to our dealings with mankind, and the last three refer to our character in its expression toward God.
“Love” is listed first. Love is supreme and the foundation of the other eight graces. The love of God is an unconditional, willing love of action and sacrifice.
It’s been said that “Worldly love loves for what it can get. Christ’s love loves for what it can give.”
Paul had just told the Galatians in verses 13-14: “but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
God’s love is produced in us by the Holy Spirit. This love transcends natural affection. Romans 5:5 reminds us that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” God’s love is already in our hearts by the indwelling Holy Spirit, and it flows from a heart that has been changed by the Spirit.
The ultimate example of God’s love is, of course, the Cross of our Lord Jesus, where He willingly took our sins on Himself, suffered, and bled, and died in full payment of our sin-debt, so we might be reconciled to God.
And the Spirit, as God, loves with God’s, with Christ’s love. Thus, He produces this Christ-like love in us. We do not have this love naturally. And we cannot develop it.
Our flesh is naturally self-centered and self-seeking, but the Spirit supernaturally produces God’s love in our lives, which leads us to be others-centered and unselfish. He does this as we grow spiritually and yield to the will of God in His Word.
It’s been said well that “A Christian is a sign of contradiction—a living symbol of the Cross. He or she is a person who believes the unbelievable, bears the unbearable, forgives the unforgivable, loves the unlovable, is willing to give up his or her will, becomes weak to be strong, and finds love by giving it away.”
The fruit of the Spirit includes “joy.” The joy of God runs much deeper than mere outward or temporary happiness, because it is anchored in God Himself.
1 Thessalonians 1:6 speaks of the “joy of the Holy Ghost.” And He produces this joy in our hearts as we grow in Christ.
The Spirit’s joy is a transcendent joy, a joy born of our eternal blessings and hope in Christ. The victory Christ has won for us is not temporal or seasonal. And thus the joy of the Spirit is permanent and stable.
John Ortberg wrote the following: “When we take our children to the shrine of the Golden Arches, they always lust for the meal that comes with a cheap little prize.
“A combination christened, in a moment of marketing genius, the Happy Meal. You’re not just buying fries, McNuggets, and a dinosaur stamp; you’re buying happiness.
After all it is a HAPPY meal. Their advertisements have convinced my children that they have a little McDonald-shaped vacuum in their souls.
“‘Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in a happy meal.’ I try to buy off the kids sometimes. “I tell them to order only the food and I’ll give them a quarter to buy a little toy on their own. But the cry goes up, ‘I want a Happy Meal.’
“All over the restaurant, people crane their necks to look at the tight-fisted, penny-pinching cheapskate of a parent who would deny a child the meal of great joy.
“The problem with the Happy Meal is that the happy wears off, and they need a new fix. No child discovers lasting happiness in just one. No child says: ‘Remember that Happy Meal? Oh, what great joy I found there.’
“Happy Meals bring happiness only to McDonalds. You ever wonder why Ronald McDonald wears that grin? Twenty billion Happy Meals, that’s why.
“When you get older, however, you don’t get any smarter; your happy meals just get more expensive.”
The world’s happiness, and things that the flesh craves, bring only fleeting, temporary pleasure. But joy produced by the Spirit, in Christ, that’s true joy.
Joy rests in God, in His promises, in His control, in being eternally right with God, and in the salvation we have through His Son.
As Paul wrote in Romans 5:11 that we “joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the atonement.”
In John Bunyan’s classic, Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian, the main character, sets out on a journey to find a way of escape from the City of Destruction, where he lives, and to find some way to get rid of the terrible burden that he carries over his shoulder.
“He ran,” writes John Bunyan, “till he came at a place somewhat ascending, and upon that place stood a Cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a Sepulchre.
“As Christian came up to the Cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do, till it came to the mouth of the Sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.
“Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, He hath given me Rest by his Sorrow, and Life by his Death. Then he stood still a while to look and wonder; for it was surprising to him, that the Cross should thus ease him of his burden.
“He looked therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks. Then Christian gave three leaps for JOY, and went on singing.”
And likewise, we leap for joy and we praise God, because our burden of sin is gone in Christ.
The full, deep, and abiding joy of God in the believer penetrates the soul and allows us to “rejoice in the Lord always.” It allows us to praise Him in any circumstance, and to look beyond our circumstances in hope. And in the joy the Spirit produces in us, we find strength, as Nehemiah 8:10 says, “the joy of the Lord is our strength.”
It’s been said that “Joy is the flag that flies above the palace when the King is in residence.” And God the Holy Spirit is always in residence in us, thus joy can always mark the life of the believer in any situation and circumstance.
The fruit of the Spirit includes “peace.” The Scriptures teach that believers are at “peace with God” and also that we have the “peace of God.”
We first must experience peace with God in justification by faith alone, before the peace of God through the Spirit can reign in our hearts.
It’s been said: “If joy speaks of the exhilaration of heart that comes from being right with God, then peace refers to the tranquility of mind that comes from that saving relationship.”
Michelle Hardie says, During our family devotions one night, I asked. “Who can name the nine elements of the fruit of the Spirit?” Luke jumped in with seven-year-old wisdom and exuberance: “There’s love, joy, peace, and, and.” Our five-year-old Elise interrupted to finish her brother’s sentence: “Peace and quiet!”
Peace is God’s inner quietness and calm. It carries with it the idea of rest, ease, and security. It is not a peace won by appeasement. It is not just an absence of conflict or an armistice. It is a peace wrought and created by a permanent victory.
As God told Israel through the prophet Isaiah: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.”
When wars are fought and peace treaties are signed in this world, there is always the uneasiness and insecurity that they still could always be broken.
But not so with the victory Christ won over sin at the Cross. That spiritual warfare is accomplished and ended. He has secured eternal peace for us by His victory over sin, the grave, and the devil by the Cross and His resurrection.
As Colossians 1:20 states, “And, having made peace through the blood of His Cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself.”
Christ’s blood made peace. The war is ended. We, former enemies of God, by faith alone, are reconciled to God through the blood of the Cross. God’s peace is now our inheritance. It is our future in heaven. And it is something we can experience right now.
The Holy Spirit produces God’s peace in our hearts. It is a peace the world cannot give. It is a peace that passes understanding. It guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. It is a lasting peace that no one can take away from us.
Moving on to the aspects of the fruit which are in relation to man, Paul speaks of “longsuffering.” This refers to patience, tolerance with others, steadfastness under provocation. It carries the thought of patiently enduring ill-treatment without anger or retaliation or revenge.
This is opposite to the flesh which lashes out, is impatient, and seeks retaliation. The flesh can have a SHORT temper. The Spirit produces a LONG suffering.
This virtue reflects the character of God. God is longsuffering. We see this during this present evil age. God is longsuffering as He gives all people an opportunity to be saved. As Peter wrote, that the Lord “is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).
The Holy Spirit is patient with people. He is patient with you and me. We should be glad for that. None of us have arrived or will arrive at the goal of Christ-likeness on this side of glory. But the Spirit is longsuffering with us in our spiritual growth.
And He is longsuffering when we are not growing at all or as God would desire. But He waits patiently for us, in grace and love, to turn to Him for His aid.
As we do walk in the Spirit, however, He will produce in us a fruit that enables us to suffer long when provoked or injured by others.
The Spirit’s longsuffering is needed in the Church. Everyone is at varying levels of spiritual maturity, and we need to be patient with one another as we grow together, because spiritual growth doesn’t happen overnight and the flesh rears up even in believers. But, by the Spirit, we can be longsuffering.
Next, “Gentleness.” The Greek word translated as “gentleness” here is translated as “kindness” in 2 Corinthians 6:6. It carries the idea of kindness.
Gentleness does not indicate lack of conviction or weakness. It’s been said: “Only the strong can afford to be gentle.” A man who is gentle and kind, we call a gentle-man.
Paul was gentle among the Thessalonians, telling them “we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children” (2:7).
It carries the idea of graciousness, thoughtfulness, benevolence, compassion, tenderness, a gentle kindness toward others, both in action and in our speech.
Gentleness means to not crush the weak. Many in their authority, pride, power, or supposed strength will crush others with their words or actions to lift themselves up.
But of the Lord, it was prophesied, “A bruised reed shall He not break.” This is speaking of the fragile reeds that grow up around water, and one that was “bruised” or cracked was even weaker.
But Christ in His gentle kindness, did not break a bruised reed. He cared for the fragile, the weakest of the weak, the lowliest of the lost.
He was gentle and showed mercy and compassion to those who are weak in this world. And the Spirit will produce this Christ-like gentleness in us as we grow spiritually by the Word of God. The fruit is not produced by the flesh and not by works, but by faith.
Paul challenged these Galatians earlier: “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:2-3).
We received the Spirit at salvation by faith; we grow and mature in the Spirit by faith, and the Spirit produces His spiritual fruit in us by faith.
“Goodness.” God is good. The Lord told the rich young ruler that “there is none good but one, that is, God.” The Holy Spirit is God and He is good.
Referring to man’s supposed goodness, Hosea 6:4 says, “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.” Man’s goodness is fleeting and fails and false.
When we measure goodness against the perfect standard, righteousness, and goodness of God, we find true goodness. And the Holy Spirit will produce His fruit of goodness in our hearts as we yield to Him.
Goodness refers to one’s personal integrity and it speaks of having a disposition to do good out of a good heart, being generous with our time and resources, always ready to do good, reaching out to help others and to please God, without expecting anything in return.
Paul goes on to tell the Galatians in 6:10: “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do GOOD unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”
John Wesley: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.”
Next, “Faith.” This is something for you to study and check here, but I believe the fruit of faith is referring to one who is worthy to be trusted. In other words: faithfulness.
This fruit speaks of one who is faithful to the task, dependable, true to one’s word and their promises. God is faithful. He is trustworthy. He is faithful to His Word and His promises. Deuteronomy 7:9 teaches, “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him.”
And the fruit of the Spirit’s working in our life will produce this same quality of God’s faithfulness in us. In manifesting this aspect of the fruit in our lives, fidelity will be a mark of our character. We will be loyal, reliable, trustworthy, worthy of other’s confidence.
“Meekness.” In 2 Corinthians 10:1, Paul wrote, “Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” In the Lord’s earthly ministry, He said, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am MEEK and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29).
Meekness, like all the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit is a characteristic of Christ.
Meekness is not timidity or weakness; it is real strength, inner strength through the power of God. It is strength under control. The word carries the idea of being tamed, like a wild horse that is brought under control.
Moses was known for his meekness. But prior to God’s special call he was an unbroken, high-spirited man. It took 40 years in the desert until he was broken and brought under God’s control.
A river that is under control can be used to generate power. A fire under control can be used to heat a home. A person under control of the Spirit can be used of God to serve Him and His work in this world.
The Spirit can produce this Christ-like, humble meekness in us, resulting in love under discipline and strength under control by the Spirit.
Finally, “temperance.” This term speaks of self-control, restraint, the ability to harness one’s fleshly desires and passions through the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is to have one’s spirit, soul, and body ruled by God. It is to allow the Spirit to have mastery of one’s thoughts, words, and actions.
Paul pointed out in 1 Corinthians 9 that any athlete who would win a race and gain a crown must train and exercise self-control: “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible” (9:25). And in the race we run in the Christian life, pressing toward the goal of being more like Christ, we need to be temperate and exercise self-control.
The Spirit can produce this in our lives as we yield to Him.
Unlike the list of the works of the flesh, for these wonderful virtues, Paul wrote that no law by man or God forbids the possession or practice of them.
Instead, God desires all His children to possess and practice these very things. And the Spirit will bear this fruit in our lives as we walk in the Spirit.