Live By the Spirit (II)
Galatians 5:22-26
Last week we spoke of the Christian life as a war. We saw how every believer is a soldier in a life-long spiritual battle. Every Christian has two contrary combatants vying for dominance in their life. If you’re a Christian, you have the flesh and you have the Spirit. The mind controlled by the Holy Spirit is life and peace; while the mind set on the flesh is death (Rom. 8:6).
In Galatians 5:19-21, we looked at the “works” produced by the natural flesh: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. This is what a life without the Holy Spirit looks like. Like a garden without a gardener, the flesh naturally produces weeds. But a life filled with the Holy Spirit produces fruit consistent with God’s Spirit.
This morning, we’re going to consider the fruit of the Spirit. These are godly virtues which the Spirit of God produces with those in whom He dwells. We’re going to talk about these virtues in light of the Spirit-filled life. But instead of doing a little study on love and a little study on joy and so on, let’s consider the whole cluster in light of the problem in the church at Galatia. This will give us a context to see how all of these virtues are produced in our own lives here in this church. They stand together and united. So let’s begin with our reading of Galatians 5:22-26. In honor of God and His Word, let’s stand for the reading of these verses.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. [NIV]
[Prayer] In these verses we have a picture of what a believer in Jesus Christ really looks like. The fruit of the Spirit is simply the life of Christ lived out in the believer. You and I can’t produce this fruit; only the Holy Spirit can produce this fruit within us. If we have the Spirit, we should expect to see these evidences of His work in our life. Before we get to the exposition, consider the nature of fruit and what this term implies.
As in nature, the production of fruit is a natural result of life and health. When an apple tree is living and healthy, it naturally produces apples. When it doesn’t produce apples, we may assume one of two things: either this isn’t really an apple tree and we shouldn’t expect to find apples, or this is a sick tree and it needs serious help. But a healthy tree doesn’t have to work to produce its fruit… it happens naturally. So it is in the life of a man or woman who is filled with God’s Spirit. When God’s Spirit fills a person, this cluster of fruit becomes evident.
Some of the people in the church at Galatia weren’t fruitful because they weren’t filled with God’s Spirit (they were religious, but not converted); others were genuine believers, but were spiritually sick; they had been bewitched by false teaching and needed serious help. Legalism and flesh-driven religiosity will blight the fruit of the Spirit. That’s what was happening. So let’s look at these verses in light of the church at Galatia. In verses 22-24 we find the first principle of the Spirit-filled life… namely,
I. God’s Spirit produces fruit in those who have crucified the sinful nature (22-24).
Notice that verse 22 begins with a sharp contrast. These nine fruit of the Spirit are presented in stark contrast to the works of the flesh. He says, 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. (inordinate affections and lusts)
The word “fruit” is singular. 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. In an ultimate sense, this “fruit” is really the life of Christ lived out in a Christian. The fruit of the Spirit is a picture of the character of Jesus Christ. Though artists have tried for centuries to render their conception of what Jesus might have looked like, the Bible does give us a clear picture of His personality.
If you were to ask those who knew Him best, someone like Peter or John, what is Jesus like…? They would tell you, “Jesus is love, He is joy, He is peace, patience, kindness, goodness; He is faithfulness, He is gentleness, and self-control. That’s what Jesus is like.”
This is the Jesus we see in the Gospels. This is the One who walked up and down the dusty miles of Judea. This is the One who loved His own to the end. He is the One who was so filled with goodness and faithfulness for the Father’s will, that He braided a whip to drive out the money-changers from the Temple; and He’s the same One who was so full of joy and kindness, that little children were drawn to His presence and found in Him more security and confidence than even their own loving parents could provide. The outcasts and untouchables were not afraid to call His name for help, nor were they ashamed to let Him touch their broken bodies.
The fruit of the Spirit is a description of the character of Jesus… a character that He desires to impart to all who are called by His name. In theology, we talk about the differences between God’s communicable attributes and His non-communicable attributes. The non-communicable attributes are those attributes which only God can possess; like omniscience, omnipotence, omni-presence, or sovereignty. Those cannot be shared or imparted. But the fruit of the Spirit are divine traits which are communicable to those who are filled with the Spirit.
If someone asks, what does a person filled with the Spirit look like, we can say: “They look like, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” They look like someone who has the character of Jesus living within them. The end of verse 23 reminds us that this is what all the laws would desire to produce in humanity, if it were possible. There is no law against this kind of behavior. The Laws we know are designed to protect us from people who are driven by the works of the flesh.
Since every true believer manifests the fruit of the Spirit in some degree; and since the fruit of the Spirit stands as a cluster, there must be varying degrees by which they are manifested in our lives. If you are a Christian, you have been filled with the Holy Spirit. And if you have the Holy Spirit, then you will manifest the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit may be hard to see sometimes; it may be dormant, but it’s still there. Remember, these virtues are not something you produce—they are something you possess. They are produced by the Holy Spirit within you.
How is it then that we may see some of these virtues, but not others? Why is it so hard to display this inner work of God in our lives? From what the Bible says here, perhaps a good utilitarian analogy would be a dimmer switch on your lights at home. A dimmer switch or rheostat, controls the brightness of the lights. As the switch is turned clockwise, the lights get brighter, and counterclockwise makes the lights dimmer. If we gave it a numerical value, we might say the lowest setting is a 1, while the highest setting is a 10. Now let’s apply the analogy.
Let’s say you’re a Christian, but the fruit of the Spirit is only being displayed in your life at level 3 or 4. Or perhaps, you’re more mature through dying to self, crucifying the flesh, and yielding to the Word and your life displays the fruit at level 7 or 8.
The preaching of the Word received by faith is designed to work with the Holy Spirit within you to make you display His fruit at ever increasing levels… all the way up to level 10. We don’t often live there, but that’s the goal. That’s where Jesus always lived… at level 10. This is one of those places where God’s Spirit enables us to emulate the character of Jesus. We can’t be perfect; but we can and must manifest the fruit of the Spirit. His love, joy, and peace were always as high as they could go. To those who have the Spirit of the living God within you, I want to say: Crank it up! Crank up the love! Crank up the joy! Crank up the kindness!
How different would our community be if Christians like us desired to manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit at level 10 for the rest of our lives? How would that impact our neighborhoods? How would that bless our families and our children? How would that change the way we gather as believers with all the fruit at level 10? Is there any place you would rather be than in a room full of people who had the radiant character of Jesus? What if every Spirit-filled man and woman began to “crank it up” where they live and work? It’s possible. But don’t believe me; believe the Word of God, it’s not only possible… it’s His goal for us.
So how do we move from struggling at level 3 or 4 with our fruit dormant beneath the flesh? He addresses that in the second point in verses 25-26. First the principle, then the Scripture…
II. If you have God’s Spirit, you will desire to grow in the Spirit, moving from spiritual immaturity to spiritual maturity (25-26).
He says, 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Notice that verse 25 begins with the premise that the person being addressed is a Spirit-filled Christian (the only kind of Christian there is). In fact, Romans chapter 8 is the definitive passage regarding the battle between the sinful mind and the Spirit of God. I want you to just listen to what Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome beginning with verse 5; and notice what he says about the necessity of being controlled by the Spirit of Christ…
5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. [NIV]
Romans 8 defines what it means to live, walk, and keep in step with the Spirit. So let’s apply this to Galatians 5:25. Notice the first word. The NIV correctly renders the first word (v.25) “since” while other translations use the word “if”. But “if” sounds conditional, and there’s really no condition stated in the verse; verse 25 is an exhortation to Spirit-filled Christians to “keep in step” with the Spirit. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” So he’s talking to Christians.
What does this mean? There’s an obvious distinction between having life by the Spirit, which begins at salvation, and keeping in step (or walking) by the Spirit. Keeping in step with the Spirit in verse 25 means the same thing as in Romans 8; it means to “live in accordance with the Spirit having your mind set on what the Spirit desires.” If you don’t have the Spirit, this means nothing to you; but if you do have the Spirit, this means everything to you. This means freedom from sin and redemption from degrading works of the flesh.
Keeping in step with the Spirit means living your life in joyful dependence on Jesus Christ. You know you can’t do it on your own. But here’s the good news: Jesus never meant for you to live the Christian life on your own. God never asks you to do anything apart from Him. You don’t have to go by yourself; you don’t have to fight alone; you don’t have to marshal your own resources—He is with you and His Spirit is within you.
What pleases Jesus is for Him to display His glorious fruit in your life. He wants to make Himself glorious in your life. He wants to crank up the fruit of His character in your life. Don’t live at level 2 or 3; Jesus wants to move each of us to level 10 as we stop striving and start depending.
When Jesus does this work in us, we can’t take any credit for it. The work of Jesus doesn’t fill us with pride, it fills us with humble gratitude. We’re thankful because the work He’s doing in us looks less and less like us… and more and more like Him. So we’re not competing with other Christians; we’re not comparing ourselves to each other. Instead, we’re looking to Jesus who wants to manifest His fruit in us at level 10 as we die to self and live to Him.
That’s how we avoid the situation in verse 26 which the Galatians were dealing with. “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Self-effort makes you compare yourself to other people; but producing the fruit of the Spirit forces us to keep our eyes on Jesus, while helping each other bear more fruit, at higher levels, because we know it will bring more honor to Jesus. Every true believer I know wants to honor Jesus more and more in their life.
If you have the Holy Spirit within you, then you are His and His fruit is already within you. Now by the power of the Spirit and trust in Jesus, the Word exhorts us to crank it up for God’s glory.
(c) Charles Kevin Grant
2003