04/18/2021
Notes
Transcript
Fruit of the Spirit
Fruit of the Spirit
Good morning brothers and sisters! Today we continue talking about the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is not the same as the gifts of the Spirit. All of the fruit is to develop in the believers life whereas the gifts are given as God sees fit. Dead, rotten, or non existent fruit cannot feed anybody.
The Apostle Paul tells us:
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
Boards stapled together and boards nailed together
(First board) When we nail something together, we are expecting that it will not come apart. Now, we can nail something together loosely, with the wrong nails, and easily take it apart. What Paul is talking about are the spikes that went through the hands and feet of Jesus for you and me. We use those spikes to nail our sinful passions and desires to the cross so it can not come apart (second board). I used a bunch of nails on this one, it is not coming apart.
Now, someone here is thinking “I will go get a pry-bar and a hammer out of the truck and rip those apart!” What would happen if you ripped it apart with a pry-bar and a hammer? You would destroy the wood.
Those times that we rip those things back off of the cross, we allow sin to destroy us. Apart from Christ, we remain broken, torn, and damaged.
Have we truly nailed our sinful passions and desires to the cross, or have we loosely hung them on the cross? Those things not of God are to be nailed down with spikes at the cross and die in the likeness of Christ Jesus.
25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
Notice that Paul does not say “since we are going to live by the Spirit.” Paul says “we are living by the Spirit.” We are to be actively living by the Holy Spirit in our present lives, in all situations. Paul is bringing us full circle back to “The Fruit of the Spirit.”
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
We truly will harvest what we plant. To plant and cultivate pumpkins does not make sense if we are trying to grow tomatoes.
As we allow the Spirit to cultivate, to prune, and to develop the fruit of Christ in our lives, we are able to share that maturing fruit with others.
Today we are going to talk about self-control.
Self-Control
Self-Control
In the spirit of transparency, I struggled over the past two weeks with self-control a few times. The Holy Spirit set me straight. I apologized to the individuals, and now I apologize to you for failing you.
The Greek word for self-control used in scripture is “egkratia.” What Egkratia means is “temperance, self-mastery, self-control, and self-discipline.”
What gets in the way of self-control? More often than not:
Pride
Pride
There is a reasonable and justifiable self-respect that we call pride. There is good pride. Pride in how we care for ourselves, positive pride when speaking about our spouse or our children, positive pride when we are speaking of our confidence in the LORD.
There is another word that Paul uses: phusa (foo-see-oh). This kind of pride is inflated, arrogant, self-serving, and the opposite of humility. This kind of pride says “I am more important than you, I am better than you, and what you have to say is not worth hearing.” Foo-See-Oh pride is destructive to self, others, and the body. This kind of pride does not exhibit self-control and it is not Christ-like. Jesus Himself says this about bad pride.
12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
You want to give the enemy an invitation into your home or into your church? Act in bad pride. this is a place the evil one knows he can get under the armor. He will piggyback right into our homes and into our churches on the sin of pride. How? Because so many people still live with this as a major issue in their lives. Jesus is telling us that none are better than another.
Here me when I tell you: Not one in this room is better than another. No one is to a level where they are to be exalted. I am no better and you are no better than anybody else in this sanctuary this morning. We are all here to exalt one name, the name above all names, Jesus Christ.
Now, a problem that is growing, rapidly. So few will admit to it, yet it is a growing issue in the world and within the church of Christ.
Anger
Anger
22 An angry person starts fights; a hot-tempered person commits all kinds of sin.
The first thing we need to do is to recognize where anger comes from. Anger can occur when we are prideful and do not get our own way, like a child stomping their feet. Anger is usually a secondary emotion that occurs as a result of fear, physical pain, or emotional pain.
Someone will say or do something that we do not agree with or that is hurtful towards us and suddenly, we become angry. This happens because they have either challenged our inflated ego/pride, or they have said/done something hurtful.We will then say something like “That person made me so angry,” or “you made me mad.”
Nobody has that control over you or me unless we give control to them. If we give that control to them, we are not allowing God control of our lives in that moment.
In essence, we deflect away from ourselves to place that blame on someone else, because there is no possible way I could be wrong! It’s your fault I am mad!
This is not self-control. For the Christian, self-control means that self has died with Christ and that self-control comes through the Holy Spirit and we experience Christ-control in our lives.
James, the brother of Jesus tells us this:
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.
James lists this in a very specific order:
1. Quick to Listen
2. Slow to Speak
3. Slow to get angry
1. Listen to what the person is saying. Jesus Christ always asked questions and listened to what the other person was saying. Truly listen. Do not sit there with your arms crossed thinking about your response. Self-Control.
2. You and me, we do not need to run the conversation. DO NOT INTERRUPT the person. Why is what you have to say more valuable than what they are saying to you or me? The fruit of self-control leads the conversation from being an argument or a fight, onto the road of resolution.
3. Do not get all prideful and angry because someone views something differently than you or because someone feels differently than you or me. That person has a right to their feelings. We are to show self-control and awareness that we are speaking to another human being.
We are going to bring self-control closer to home now. We are familiar with these verses:
30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’
31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
In the Greek, the word that Jesus uses for neighbor is plēsion. The word plēsion literally means “those closest to you.” We are going to refer to this as “your Jerusalem.” Your home, your husband, your wife, your children, or those literally closest to you.
As we continue, the next few verses were written by Paul addressing the husband and wife relationship. You may be married, you may be in a developing relationship, or you may be single at the moment. These verses apply to present or future covenant promises. Marriage is the only covenant promise we make in this life. Beyond that, Paul is addressing the universal truth of the Word. Self-control and our behaviors as believers.
First I am going to speak to my brothers in Christ, sons of God. If you are taking your anger out on your wife, on your fiance, or on your girlfriend, you have no excuse and you are acting in an un-godly way.
25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her
If you are lashing out at your wife, fiance, or girlfriend, if you are provoking her to anger or hurting her, stop it, repent, and seek forgiveness from her. It would do you well to remember that you are speaking to a daughter of the most high God, even if she is not acting like it. Your job, your duty, is to be a reflection of Jesus Christ in the most important place, in your Jerusalem, in your home first. To everybody. Men of God, we have no excuse because we are to follow Christ.
Now, I speak to my sisters in Christ, daughters of God. Are you provoking your husband, fiance, or boyfriend to anger? Lashing out and trying to hurt him? Stop it, repent, and seek forgiveness.
1 Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives,
Submit does not mean that you are a doormat for anybody. What God means by subjection is order, cooperation, relationship, and partnership—that a husband and wife are to walk together, hand in hand, throughout life. Your job, your duty, is to be a reflection of Jesus Christ in the most important place, in your Jerusalem, in your home first, to everybody.
Your submission to Christ Jesus is more powerful than you may realize. When you act, when you speak, it would do you well to remember that He is a son of the most High God, even if he is not acting like it.
11 Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back.
Worship Team to Stage
We are each called to be more like Him and less like us. That pruning can hurt, it can be difficult, but it is not impossible when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us. Nail that pride to the cross, nail that anger to the cross, and do not take it back. Let us resolve to not give the enemy a foothold and truly exhibit Jesus-control in our lives. Amen?
Alter Call - Prayer