The Fruit of the Spirit - Peace

Today we are continuing in our series entitled The Fruit of the Spirit. We saw that Jesus said the thing that would be an identifier of a true believer is our fruit. We shall be known by our fruit not our gifts. The fruit of the Spirit is found in Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia.

Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

We’ve already looked at the first two in this list, love and joy. We saw basically that the God kind of love is a love that is unconditional. There is nothing we do to earn His love and there is nothing anyone does that hinders the fruit of love operating in and through us! We saw last week that the fruit of joy is not based on emotion. Happiness is emotional but joy comes from deep within when we realize the life we have because we are part of the family of God. Today we are going to look at developing the fruit of peace. If there is anything that is really necessary today in the hectic world we live in, it’s peace. So let’s begin by looking this passage in the Gospel of John.

John 16:31–33 TPT

31 Jesus replied, “Now you finally believe in me. 32 And the time has come when you will all be scattered, and each one of you will go your own way, leaving me alone! Yet I am never alone, for the Father is always with me. 33 And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!”

1. The more we learn about Jesus, the more of His peace we have!

Now we all know that we live in a world that is full of chaos. Just looking at the news on television, or reading the newspaper or looking at certain things on social media and we can immediately become fearful, doubtful, and maybe even angry. We can run through a gamut of emotions and have no peace in our hearts. But notice what Jesus said, when we focus on Him and His teachings, we have His peace and the confidence that He will come through because He has overcome the world. That’s why the it’s called the Gospel, the Good News. We need to stop concentrating on the bad news and focus on the Good News then we will start developing the fruit of peace. The fruit of Peace, comes from our relationship with Jesus! Let’s go on.

John 14:25–27 NLT

25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. 27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

2. The Holy Spirit reminds us of Jesus and His peace!

Here’s another passage that tells us that the fruit of peace comes from our relationship with Jesus! The Holy Spirit is our teacher and He reminds us of everything that Jesus taught. Well, Jesus taught us not to be afraid or in fear. He tells us not to be troubled. The word troubled means to be concerned or worried and it even means exhibiting emotional or behavioral problems. When we have those emotions operating in our lives, first there is no peace and second, we are no help to anyone else. But, and I like this, Jesus has given us His peace which keeps our mind and heart at ease. That is really good news for all of us. As we continue to build our relationship with Jesus, we continue to develop the fruit of peace because the fruit of peace comes from our relationship with Jesus!

Romans 8:2–8 MEV

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and concerning sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, 7 for the carnal mind is hostile toward God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

3. When we a spiritually minded, God’s peace is guaranteed!

We can only have our mind focused on either being ruled by the flesh or ruled by the Spirit. You can’t be both. Remember what James said, a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. You and I can’t think halfway fleshly and half way spiritually. That doesn’t work! So we have to choose to line up with our flesh, which leads to death, or line up with the Spirit, which leads to not only life but life with peace. Why would we want to live a life that leads to death and be full of turmoil? That’s a miserable existence. No, we want to live a life that is full of peace so that we can be helpful to those around us. So as we line up our lives to what the Word of God teaches us and are being led by God’s Spirit, we produce lives that are peaceful and desirable for everyone around. This all comes from nurturing our relationship with Jesus! As we’ve seen already the fruit of peace comes from our relationship with Jesus!

Philippians 4:4–10 NLT

4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. 10 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me.

4. To develop the Fruit of Peace, focus on the right things!

Look at this passage again. It tells us to always be full of joy. Wow that’s the fruit we looked at last week. Then it tells us to pray and not worry and God’s peace will guard our hearts and minds. But it goes on to say that when we set our minds on basically everything that is in the Word of God and His character, we will not only have the peace of God in our lives we will have the God of peace with us. Did you see the progression? First we operate in joy, then we replace worry with prayer, taking our needs to Him and thanking Him for all He’s done, then we focus on His attributes, He’s true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable. He is the excellent One worthy of praise. Then we put into practice everything we learned about God and viola the peace of God is in us and the God of peace is with us. Wow!! Definitely, the fruit of peace comes from our relationship with Jesus!!