Friday, May 25, 2018
Live and walk
Galatians 5:25
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The real test of our growth and maturity as Christians is how we conduct ourselves in the various social engagements in our lives both within the church and without. It is a false view that we can fail in our relationships with people and yet claim that we are alright with God.
Let us go back to the fruit. In the primary description of the fruit of the Spirit, there are nine characteristics of the fruit listed. Careful attention to the list will show that some of the characteristics are internal, and the others, of course external. The external list is longer than the internal because what is going on inside of us must produce some things on the outside.
The first three are love, joy, and peace, these are internal. What Jesus did on the cross was express God’s love for us so that when we come to the Him the first thing we are responding to and experiencing is the love of God.
The love of God also produces joy and peace, internally. Fun and excitement are momentary things that we experience and enjoy. However, the joy referred to here is a condition that is not a function of the external circumstance. You could be bored by the event you’re attending but still have the joy of the Lord in your heart. A satisfaction in the Lord that is above circumstances.
And it’s the same for peace. Things around us may not be peaceful but we could be at peace. Stephen Adams, a Nazarene Church minister who survived a tornado in Ohio in 1974 while trying to get to his family wrote the song “Peace in the midst of the storm” after the experience. Shirley Caesar really made the song popular in 1988. Here are some of the lyrics, “There is peace in the midst of the storm-tossed life/ There is an Anchor, there is a rock to build my faith upon/ Jesus Christ is my vessel so I fear no alarm/ He gives me peace in the midst of the storm”
But if we go back to the list, the remaining six characteristics are longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These are essentially external, they describe how we relate to others in every social engagement in the home and family, in the church, in the community.
All nine characteristics are a part of the one fruit. Going back to our watermelon example from yesterday, love, joy and peace seem to be like the seeds and the rest are the flesh, and rind (both the thick white portion and the skin).
I live surrounded by trees and plants, many fruit trees and many flowering plants, and some that are beautiful but produce neither fruit or flower. I have been considering these trees and plants as I have focused on this fruit of the spirit. I have noticed that the fruit producing trees serve others in a most obvious and meaningful way.
Flowers, in addition to their function in the food chain, provide beauty. However, the flowers do not have to be removed to provide the beauty, they can be beautiful and admired right where they are on the plants. It is very nice, of course, if there is someone in your life for whom you could take a bouquet of beautiful flowers.
Fruits, however, are never really left on the tree. We may admire the young fruit as they grow but once they reach maturity they need to be removed from the tree so that we could feast. The fruit have to provide food and nourishment and pleasure.
I am in competition with the animals, birds, and insects in my yard. My dogs love ripe mangoes. The passing parrots that pass daily and the small birds that seem to live here are all as interested in my fruit trees as I am, or more so.
The fruit of the Spirit that is produced in our lives must make us attractive people. People must want to engage us because we are beautiful people. Because we provide nourishment to their souls. Our relationships must reflect the Holy Spirit in our lives.
We, driven by the love, joy and peace that we have in Jesus, must be longsuffering with others in the face of weakness, failure, or disappointment. We must demonstrate kindness and goodness to others in their circumstances. We must be faithful to those to whom we have made commitments. And, in the midst of provocation and strife, we must demonstrate self-control. Longsuffering and self-control are like the bookends for our collection of virtues and values to be expressed in relationship with others.
Every marriage would be different if each member of the couple has the fruit of the Spirit. And likewise, each household would be different. Each church would be different.
Our communities and places of work would be different if those of us who live in the Spirit also engage others through the fruit of the Spirit.
We who live in the Spirit must not just talk a good game, we must walk the talk.
Think on these things:
- How have your relationships been different because of the fruit of the Spirit being produced in you?
- Are you now exercising longsuffering and self-control in any particular relationship, work situation of other social context at the moment?
- Have you been able to detect the fruit of the Spirit in others around you?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would be difference makers in every social context we are in because the fruit of the Spirit is produced in our lives.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
