Introduction to the Fruit of the Spirit
Series: Fruit of the Spirit Teaching Series
Chuck Sligh
January 19, 2014
TEXT: Galatians 5:16-26 – “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Q. = Discussion QUESTION for the class / A. = ANSWERS or things to add to the discussion if not brought out.
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – In my sophomore year of high school my dad was stationed at an air base in Everett, Washington, about 30 miles north of Seattle. Not too far away were hundreds of strawberry farms, a big industry in the area. In the Spring, a bus would show up outside our base to pick us up to go out to the strawberry fields to make some money as young teenagers.
Another big industry in Washington is apple production. Though there were not apple orchards that I knew of in our vicinity, it was a huge industry in the state overall. Washington was the only place I ever went to school where the only product you could buy from the school’s vending machine was apples. Of course, you had a good variety to choose from…if you liked apples.
I’m not an expert on fruit production, but my limited experience working in the strawberry fields and a little previous experience working on a farm in Tennessee taught me a few basic concepts about fruit.
• First of all, a fruit plant or tree will only produce one kind of fruit.
When we bent over a plant to pick its fruit, we didn’t expect apples or oranges or kiwi to be attached to the plant. We knew that strawberry plants always bear strawberries.
• Second, the source of the fruit was the plant it was attached to. – Fruit doesn’t just appear out of nowhere; it’s the outgrowth of something it grows out of.
• Furthermore, we knew to pick fruit off live plants, because those not attached to the fruit are already dead, or was in the process of dying.
That backdrop gives us a little insight of the fruit of the Spirit, the subject of our study over the next few weeks.
The fruit of the Spirit is described for us in Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
We’ll examine each of these in detail over the next few weeks, but in order to understand them fully, we need to see them in their context of Galatians 5 and their relationship to the working of the Holy Spirit in the wider context of the whole New Testament. Today we’re going to look at an introduction to the fruit of the Spirit and then in the weeks to come we’ll look in detail at each grace that comprises the fruit of the Spirit.
I. LET’S FIRST CONSIDER THE NATURE OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
• Consider first the fact that verse 22 calls them the “fruit” (singular) of the Spirit, not the “fruits” (plural) of the Spirit.
Q. What do you think the significance of this little detail might be?
A. (See if the class expresses the thoughts below. If not, cover them.)
This indicates that these qualities constitute a unity—all of which should be found in a believer who lives under the control of the Spirit.
Unlike the GIFTS of the Spirit, the FRUIT of the Spirit is not divided or distributed among believers so that some have one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit and another has a different aspect of the fruit of the spirit.
Rather—ALL truly born-again believers who are walking in the Spirit are marked by ALL of these qualities to some degree or another (although practically speaking, no Christian ever manifests them fully or perfectly all the time).
So for instance, not everyone will have the gift of serving or the gift of ruling, but all of us—regardless of what our spiritual gift may be—when we’re walking in the Spirit and being ruled by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit will be working in our lives the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.
A tree cannot naturally bear more than one kind of fruit.—Apple trees only bear apples and pear trees only bear pears.
Q. TO STIR THINKING: So let’s take the analogy of an apple. Give me as many characteristics of an apple you can think of
A:
An apple is sweet (or sour, as the case may be), it has seeds, it’s round, its peel is red or green or yellow, depending on the variety of apple it is, and is smooth and waxy, and its flesh juicy, soft, and yellowish-white in color.
In the same way, the Holy Spirit really only produces ONE kind of fruit in our lives, but it has these nine characteristics.
• Note second, concerning the nature of the fruit of the Spirit, the contrast between the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh.
In verses 19-21, Paul lists THE WORKS OF THE FLESH – “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Q: Notice that Paul calls what the flesh produces “works” and what the Spirit produces “fruit.” What do you think the significance of this is, and why?
A:
The flesh, if left unchecked, produces evil works (verse 19), but the Holy Spirit, if allowed to rein in the believer’s life, produces fruit (verse 22)
Also, works of the flesh emanate from self through effort; the fruit of the Spirit, on the other hand, like all fruit, emanates from the vine from which it draws its life and sustenance (which we’ll examine in greater detail in a little while).
• Finally, concerning the nature of the fruit of the Spirit, note three categories of qualities or “graces” comprising the fruit of the Spirit. – These make up three triads: (groupings of three qualities each): (SEE HANDOUT.)
1. The first triad contains those graces which turn one’s thoughts toward GOD.
Love
Joy
Peace
2. The second triad are qualities that directed towards our relationships with OTHERS:
Longsuffering (patience)
Gentleness (Literally = kindness)
Goodness
3. The final triad are graces that deal more directly with SELF:
Faith (Literally = faithfulness)
Meekness (Literally = gentleness)
Temperance (Means self-control)
NOTE: These divisions are taken from various sources, but I’m not so sure they divide themselves so clearly. This may be more a simple way for scholars and teachers to break them down more for their own benefit than something the Holy Spirit really intended when He inspired it.
II. LET’S CONSIDER SECONDLY THE SOURCE OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.
These are NOT the fruit of the BELIEVER really working hard to produce, but the fruit of the SPIRIT. The fruit of the Spirit is not produced by the believer, but by the HOLY SPIRIT working through the believer who is in vital union with Christ.
It’s a fact of the Word of God that we cannot produce godliness apart from the Spirit.
In our own selves we’re filled with all kinds of self-centered and self-seeking desires, which are opposed to God’s will for our lives.
Only the Spirit of God can produce His fruit in our lives.
That doesn’t mean that there’s not a part we play, or even that there is no struggle involved, but the part we play is in acquiescing and yielding to the Holy Spirit in our lives rather than yielding to the desires of our flesh. We’ll talk more about this later.
Note two passages which shed light on the SOURCE of the fruit of the Spirit:
• The first is Psalms 1:2-3 – “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; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
Q: What do you think this Scripture tells us about the SOURCE of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives?
A:
Here the bearing of spiritual fruit is clearly related to the place the Word of God has in our lives. Notice, by the way, that verse 2 does not say to just READ the Word of God, but to MEDITATE on the Word of God.
Q: How does the Holy Spirit use His Word to form the fruit of the Spirit in us?
A:
As we both read and meditate on the Bible, the Holy Spirit—who, inspired the Bible—convicts us of sin which needs to be pruned and guides us to holy living in harmony with Christ and His Word. Apart from the Word of God, there will not be—indeed there cannot be—any lasting spiritual growth or fruit-bearing in our lives.
• The second passage of Scripture that sheds light on the source of the fruit of the Spirit is John 15:4-5 – “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
There are many wonderful truths in this passage, but we want to just look at a few today that shed light on our subject of the fruit of the Spirit. Note the following:
1. First, there is a command here to every believer: (QUESTION TO ASK: What is the command?) ANSWER: “Abide in Me [Christ].” (Verse 4)
Q: “What do you think it means to “abide in Christ”?
A:
When Jesus said, “Abide in me,” He meant that we should have the closest, most intimate relationship with Christ possible, with nothing coming between us.”
This is one reason the disciplines of prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with other believers are so important.
2. Second, this passage tells us that we can only bear spiritual fruit if we abide in Christ.
Note the end of verse 3, “…for without me ye can do nothing.” It may be possible for us to use the GIFTS of the Spirit (our spiritual gifts) even if we are not in fellowship with the Lord, but we cannot display the FRUIT of the Spirit when our fellowship with Christ has been interrupted by sin. The secret of abiding is OBEDIENCE. As we, through obedient living, abide in Christ, the life of Christ (like the life-giving sap in a vine) flows into us, producing fruit to the glory of God and for the blessing of others.
Illus. – If we could ask a branch on a grapevine, “How do you grow such luscious fruit?” and get a reply….The branch would probably reply, “Well, I don’t know. I really don’t grow any of it; I just bear it. Cut me off from this vine and I’ll wither away and become useless.” Without the vine the branch can do nothing!
So it is in our lives. As long as I strain and work to produce the fruit of the Spirit from within myself, I’ll end up fruitless and frustrated. But as I abide in Christ—that is, as I maintain a close, obedient, dependent relationship with Him—God the Holy Spirit works in my life, creating in me the fruit of the Spirit.
That doesn’t mean we instantly become mature, bearing all the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit fully and immediately and perfectly. The fruit on a tree takes time to mature, and pruning may be necessary before fruit is produced in quantity or quality. And so it may is us.
We’ve looked at the nature and the source of the fruit of the Spirit.…
III. LET’S LOOK FINALLY AT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, THAT IS, HOW DOES GOD FORM THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IN OUR LIVES?
There are three phrases in our text that tell us how the fruit of the Spirit is formed in our lives: We hear these terms often in Christian conversation and in sermons, but often don’t really understand their distinctions. So let’s look at these three phrases.
1. The first phrase is “LIVE in the Spirit.” – verse 25 – “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
“Living in the Spirit” is generally understood by Bible teachers to be referring to salvation itself. When we’re saved, the Holy Spirit comes inside of us to dwell in us. We are born into the family of God by the Holy Spirit, and we are sustained and kept spiritually alive by the Spirit. To be born again is to be “alive in the Spirit” or to “live in the Spirit.”
So Paul is saying, “If you are alive in the Holy Spirit (that is, IF YOU ARE A SAVED BELIEVER), you ought to walk in the Spirit.” That is, you should live according our nature.
2. This leads us to the second important phrase: “WALK in the Spirit.”
This is found twice in Galatians 5:
• Galatians 5:16 – “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
• Galatians 5:25 – “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Q. What do you think the phrase, “Walk in the Spirit” means?
A. (See if they touch on these below, and if not, cover this material.
To “walk in the Spirit” is to be constantly “filled with the Spirit.” Note Ephesians 5:18 – “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”
To be “filled with the Spirit” is to be CONTROLLED by the Spirit. It doesn’t mean getting any more of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is a person and you can’t get a person in parts. You either have Him or you don’t: If you don’t, you aren’t saved; if you’re saved, you have all of the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit does, however, have much to do with Him having CONTROL of us.
So to walk in the Spirit is to walk throughout the day with continuous control of the Holy Spirit of your live. As soon as that dirty or angry or greedy or jealous thought comes to your mind, you instantly yield to the Holy Spirit instead of allowing yourself to entertain that wrong thought.
As you continue to do this, you’re walking in the Holy Spirit; i.e., walking in His power and strength. As soon as you feel tempted to strike back at someone, instead of yielding to that fleshly desire, you immediately yield to the Holy Spirit instead, as He prompts you to respond in love and longsuffering and kindness and goodness and meekness and self-control.
3. Finally, the Bible tells us to “BE LED of the Spirit” – Galatians 5:18 – “But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”
Q. What do you think it means to be LED by the Spirit?
A. (See if they touch on these below, and if not, cover this material.)
This means to be GUIDED by the Spirit moment by moment. A person who is led of the Spirit follows God’s leading in every thought and action. As you’re tempted by those bad thoughts I mentioned earlier, you seek the Lord’s direction about how to react.
God’s way is easy in this kind of situation, because the Bible has given clear direction about such thoughts. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 – “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
But what about an area or a decision that you have to make in which you don’t know a clear biblical course of action, or you don’t have time to look it up in the Bible; that is, you have to make a snap decision. In this situation, you ask the Lord for direction and follow His leadership in what you should do. If your heart is right with God; if you’re walking in the Spirit, you can be sure that the Holy Spirit will lead you in the right way.
Now really, the last two phrases walk in the Spirit, and be led by the Spirit are interrelated with being filled with the Spirit. They all, in a way, are talking about the same thing—being controlled by the Holy Spirit—not just for a moment, but continuously, regularly, consciously, moment-by-moment.
CONCLUSION
Q: How then can we be filled by the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and be led of the Spirit?
A. Note 3 keys to cover if not mentioned by participants:
1. The first key is maintain such a close walk with the Lord—so close that you can easily discern the Lord’s mind on any given matter.
This is what Jesus called, “abiding in the vine.” “Abiding in the vine” is facilitated by all spiritual activity—by reading and meditating on and memorizing God’s Word; by prayer, by fellowship with God’s people, by worship in the Lord’s house, by service and works for God and others.
2. The second key is “crucifying the flesh” – verse 24 – “And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
The flesh is at war with the Spirit in our lives. Paul said in verse 17 – “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” To “crucify the flesh” is to DENY it—to act as if it were dead.
3. The third key is yielding to the Spirit – Romans 6:12-13 – “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” (EXPAND ON THE MEANING OF THIS PHRASE)
