The Fruit of the Spirit: “Love”

Key truths to keep in mind as we study the Fruit of the Spirit:

1. There is only one Fruit of the Spirit.

(v. 22) “But the FRUIT…”

It is a singular in the English and the Greek. It is a singular fruit with 9 distinct aspects: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control…”

2. The Holy Spirit is the source of the Fruit of the Spirit.

(v. 22) “…the fruit OF THE SPIRIT……

John 15:5 (NASB)

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

3. God expects His people to bear the Fruit of the Spirit.

Luke 3:9 (NASB)

9 “…every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

4. God is glorified when His people bear the Fruit of the Spirit.

John 15:8 (NASB)

8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

Let’s take a close look as we begin to examine the Fruit of the Spirit, starting this week with the first aspect… LOVE.

1 Corinthians 13:1–13 (NASB)

1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The Primacy of Love

The word for love here in 1 Corinthians 13 is “agape”.

We usually think of agape as “unconditional love” but it is so much more than that. There are three kinds of love used, Phileo, Storge and Agape. There is a 4th common Greek word for love, eros, which is sexual in nature and where we get our word “erotic” but it isn’t used in the Bible. The ones that are have different meaning and application as well. Phileo is a brothertly, friendship kind of love. Storge is a familial love or the kind of love parents have for children and children for their parents. Agape is the GREATEST form of love. It is a selfless love. A sacrificing love. A love that surpasses all other forms of love. It isn’t just unconditional, it is unlimited. Why?

Because God is love!

1 John 4:8 (NASB)

8 … God is love [agape].

Love is first on the list!

Galatians 5:22 (NASB)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love [agape]…

The Greatest form of love is primary. It is first on the list for reason!

Love is also the GREATEST Commandment!

Matthew 22:36–39 (NASB)

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love [agape] the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love [agape] your neighbor as yourself.’

All! Heart, Soul & Mind!

Deuteronomy 6:5 (NASB)

5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

All! Heart, Soul & Might (Strength)!

Put it together…Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength!

Colossians 3:14 (CSB)

14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

(v. 1) 1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Unloving words are abrasive. They don’t land well. They offend. They push people away.

(v. 2) 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

We are supposed to speak the truth in love!

Ephesians 4:15 (NASB)

15 …but speaking the truth in love…

Dr. Adrian Rogers once said, “truth without love is brutal”.

It doesn’t matter how much you know if you don’t have love your knowledge is ultimately worthless.

You can have faith and believe all the right things but if you aren’t filled with the Holy Spirit and producing love, your beliefs are in vain.

(v. 3) 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

In “My Utmost For His Highest”, Oswald Chambers said, “One of the greatest competitors of loving devotion to Christ is service to Him. Are we more devoted to service or to loving Jesus Christ?”

What is the motivation? Why do we do what we do? Is it out of obligation or a sense of guilt? Is it habit or routine? Or is it because we love the Lord?

Love needs to be the primary reason we do what we do and all we do needs to be done in love.

Worship and sacrifice mean nothing if they aren’t fueled by Holy Spirit filled love.

John 15:13 (NASB)

13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus didn’t love us as a result of His sacrifice, Jesus sacrificed Himself because of His love for us.

Our love is to be fueled by the Holy Spirit and should be in response to God’s love for us.

1 John 4:19 (NASB)

19 We love, because He first loved us.

Paul wraps us the love chapter by saying that there are three key distinctives of Christianity:

(v. 13) 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Love is primary!

(v. 8) 8 Love never fails…

That’s the primacy of love.

Second, let’s talk about…

The Particulars of Love

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love is not a feeling or an emotion.

It can contain feelings and causes feelings but it isn’t a feeling.

Often times the kind of love that comes from God will lead us to act opposite of how we might feel.

(Matthew 22, “……love your enemies…”)

(v. 5) “…is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered…”

Love forgives! Love is merciful.

Love affects emotions but it is not an emotion.

Spirit fueled love keeps emotions in check!

(v. 4) “…love does not brag and is not arrogant…”

(v. 7) “…bears all things…endures all things…”

Love is an ACTION fueled by the Holy Spirit.

“Luv is a Verb” by DC Talk

1 Corinthians 16:14 (NASB)

14 Let all that you do be done in love.

(v. 5) “…does not act unbecomingly…”

(KJV) “does no evil”

(v. 6) “…rejoices with the truth…”

Love is a choice. You have to choose love.

Deuteronomy 30:19–20 (NASB)

19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the Lord your God…

The choice was ultimately choosing love.

(v. 7) “…believes all things, hopes all things…”

You choose to believe.

You choose hope.

You choose love.

How do you choose love?

Two verses we are going to be referencing a lot in our series….

Luke 9:23 (NASB)

23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Galatians 2:20 (NASB)

20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

How do you choose love? You surrender to Christ. You don’t try harder, you die daily to yourself so that you can live controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Make it your first prayer when you wake up…Thank the Lord for the new day and giving you rest and then ask Him to help you deny yourself. Give Him that day. Surrender your will over to Him and ask Him to take control. That’s how what Luke 9:23 is about and that’s how Galatians 2:20 becomes real in your life.

Particularly, “Christ lives in me!”

The love that is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit isn’t love like God’s love, it is God’s love because it is Jesus in you loving God and loving others in your and through you.

That’s why Paul calls it PERFECT…

(v. 10) “…when the perfect comes…”

Agape love is perfect love because it is God’s love.

God is the only one that has agape love.

If agape love is going to be present in us, it has to be the Spirit of God producing it in us.

You don’t ever find a command or a description in the Bible that says, “love LIKE God.” Because we can’t!

But you do read this:

1 John 4:9 (NASB)

9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

Again, Galatians 2:20

When we live THROUGH Christ, then the love of God, agape, will be in us, manifested as the Fruit of the Spirit.

That’s the particulars love love.

Lastly, let’s talk about……

The Permanence of Love

Alistair Begg said, “Love is a permanent priority for the Christian.”

(v. 13) 13 …love, abide[s]…

Love abides! It isn’t supposed to come and go or fade.

John 15:9 (NASB)

9 “…abide in My love.”

1 John 4:16 (NASB)

16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Love is God is us. The Holy Spirit, in us, loves through us. And He doesn’t come and go. He loves through us because He lives in us and that love can be and should always be present in our lives because He is always in us and with us.

1 Corinthians 3:16 (NASB)

16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Love doesn’t come and go. That’s what feelings do and what emotions do. Love that is the aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit doesn’t fade over time. (Marriage counseling)

Love isn’t random. Love remains!

(The daisy: he loves me, he loves me not…)

Many good things will end, but not love!

(v. 8-10) 8 …if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.

Love never ends. It is never to be done away with. It is supposed to be a permanent characteristic in the life of the Christian.

Why don’t I love all the time like I should?

Let’s go back to

1 John 4:9 (NASB)

9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

If love isn’t present it could be because Christ isn’t in us.

It could also be what (v. 11) is getting at…

(v. 11) 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.

Fruit grows and matures. A lack of love indicates an immature Christian. If love isn’t a permanent part of our lives, then we have more growing to do. We have more we need to surrender.

(v. 12) 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

When we know what love is, and where it comes from, then we know that the love that is an aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit is permanent.

Psalm 136 is an awesome chapter in the Psalms. It is all about the love of God. It is a powerful and encouraging passage. And you know what it primarily tells us about the love of God?

IT ENDURES FOREVER!

26 times in Psalm 136 we read, “His love endures forever.”

Nearly all the lyrics from Chris Tomlin’s song “Forever” are found in Psalm 136.

Psalm 136:1–26 (NIV)

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever. 4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. 5 who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever. 6 who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever. 7 who made the great lights— His love endures forever. 8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. 9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever. 10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever. 11 and brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever. 12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever. 13 to him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever. 14 and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever. 15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever. 16 to him who led his people through the wilderness; His love endures forever. 17 to him who struck down great kings, His love endures forever. 18 and killed mighty kings— His love endures forever. 19 Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever. 20 and Og king of Bashan— His love endures forever. 21 and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever. 22 an inheritance to his servant Israel. His love endures forever. 23 He remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever. 24 and freed us from our enemies. His love endures forever. 25 He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever. 26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.

The love of God endures forever!

Love is permanent.

Aren’t you glad the love of God is forever?

He loves us even when we fail to love Him like we should.

We have talked about the primacy of love and the particulars of love and the permanence of love.

Now let me ask you, what kind of love do you have?

Do you know the love of God in Christ Jesus?

Do you show the love of God through His Spirit?

Maybe you need to grow in the love of God.

Whether it is knowing, showing or growing in the love of God today, as I pray, let’s all pray for God’s love to be more and more real in us starting right now, today.

Let’s pray!

Memory Verse of the Week:

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NASB)

13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.