What are you known for?

Before we get into the text this morning, I want you to ask yourself what are you known for? That is the title of this message this morning, and what I want you to do is to hold on to that question, and we will come back to it later.

Please Open up your bibles to Galatians chapter 5.

Todays text has one of the most quoted scriptures in all of the bible, we have it hanging up in our kitchen here, I have it hanging in my bathroom way at home. Every-time I go to Hobby Lobby or Mardels, or any other decretive store I see it. The verse i am referring to is Galatians 5:22-23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

No doubt an incredible verse, but the passage I am preaching today as a whole is really a powerful text, and looking at it in context really helps you understand those 2 verses I just read. We know context is king, and lets see those two verses really come to life.

Starting in Verse 16 it says this....

Such a great text and I want you to take note of what I am about to say have this in your bulletin, but the main point is this… Believers in Christ must walk in the Spirit in order to produce food fruit, and kill bad fruit. x2

This morning I have four points to help this main point come to life for us.

1. Walking by the Spirit is key to living a faithful Christian life.

Paul begins this text by saying But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. That is a power statement coming from Paul.

Because according to Paul if you walk by the Spirit your life is going to be different. Walking by the Spirit means that you are progressing into the likeness of Christ that you are continuing a lifestyle that marks you as a believer. And by his power and his word you are able to not gratify the desires of the flesh. Meaning you will be able to not walk the path of sin, and all the evil things that sin produced in your life.

And Paul makes it clear that the flesh and spirit are not friends. The flesh drives you toward sins, drive you to act on natural desires that are not from God.

However the Spirit drives you away from the flesh to serve God. Either you are serving the flesh or the spirit. It cant be both.

If you are a believer in Christ you are going to have multiple situations in your life ( probably everyday where you are going to have to either pick following God or following the flesh. If you are a believer in Christ ask the Spirit of God to intervene on your behalf so will not gratify the flesh. And you can do this because if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. You are not bound to the law, or all of its rules.

But if you pick following the flesh and you are a believer in Christ than you are going to go against the one who set you free. In the situations where either following God or following the flesh is an option what would you usually known for?

Its like in the movies, or tv shows were you see good angel on one shoulder and a devil on another, but for Christians the reality is are you going to pick to follow the Word and the Holy Spirit or your own desires, when you choose your own desires you produce things that are not from Christ.

And the fruit that comes from following the flesh is nothing but bad fruit.

2. Bad fruit comes from walking in the flesh.

Paul goes on to list several things that living in the flesh looks like. When you read these things your first thought is these things are what we see from the world, and its what the people of Galatia saw as well. Living in a fallen world sin manifests itself in a variety of different ways.

These sins, are internal, and external. Meaning you can struggle with them without anyone seeing, but you can also sin in a way that causes others to see your sin. Some of these sins are personal, they dont effect other people, mainly yourself, but some of these sins involve others.

These sins that we are about to dive into are a struggle for even believers, however Paul makes it clear and we will come back to this idea that those who make a practice of these thing or my version says do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

When God saves you he gives you his Spirit so you can kill the sins that you struggle with.

Lets look at this bad fruit.

Sexual immorality. This is a sin that effects you in multiple ways it’s internal, its external it involves you, and ofter another person. Sexual immorality is multiple things. Its adultery meaning a married man and women cheating on one another, breaking the vow they made before God.

Its premarital sex. God designed Sex to be between one man and one women in the context of marriage.

Its homosexuality. God designed men to be with women, not men with men or women with women.

Its bestiality. meaning you have sexually relations with an animal.

Its incest, having sexually relations with a direct family member.

pedophila- having sexual relations with a minor.

Its prostitution- paying for sex.

Really it comes down to breaking the covent that God created in creation that man and women would be bound together in marriage, for all of their lives. Going outside his teachings for that would classify as sexually immorality.

These is also impurity, we live in world that is broken, and views Sex as something that isn’t a big deal its causal, and there are things on our tv’s internet, phones that cause us to lose the purity that we should have in Christ. Pornography, literature, and so much more distorts our view of Sex, and God, and its everywhere, and partaking in these things make us impure.

Sensuality. That is the pursuit of pleasure of something that God does not approve of. The world is big on this seek what makes you satisfied, but those things often include things that are listed in this text. Our pursuit of pleasure should only be for the glory of God.

Idolatry-elevating things in the place of God, and worshiping them. God should come first, and elevating something above him is not fruit of the spirit.

sorcery-witchcraft, magic, occult is similar to witchcraft and magic but its supernatural, mystical, or magical beliefs, practices, or phenomena.

Enmity- being hostile to others.

strife- which is anger, conflict that is not biblical.

Jealously- wanting something else that you dont have and developing a spirit of jealously that reigns in your heart.

Fits of anger-self explanatory.

Rivalries- not like OU, Texas even though some take it to far but legitimate things that keep two parties from being in right relationship.

Dissensions-disagreements that lead to discord.

Divisions- things that separate us. The church especially must be united.

Envy-desire to have someone else’s possessions.

Drunkenness- being intoxicated.

Orgies, sleeping with multiple people.

and things like this.. The sins listed are not all sins, but they tie into so many other sins, and many listed are sins that we have all struggled with. Now you could do a sermon on all these different sins listed but the point is this, these things listed dont line up with those who walk according to the Spirit. And Paul is warning the people not to make practice of these very things. These things go against everything the bible teaches about how a Christian should live. And the warning is clear that if you make a practice of these you will not inherit the kingdom of God. We are not save by works, but our works often are a sign of whether or not we are in Christ and if we are in Christ we are to inherent the kingdom of God.

A true believer will struggle with sin, but by the power of the Holy Spirit a true believer will be able to fight those sins.

If you are not fighting those sins listed it is a sign of an unrepentant heart. Are these sins what you are known for? Are you known by the things that are not from God. Or by the power of Holy Spirit you are living a faithful Christian life that leads to good fruit.

3. Good fruit comes by walking in the Spirit.

These verses are what we started with, the famous verses of this powerful book, now seen in the light of walking in the spirit in order to achieve this good fruit. Now seen in light of the flesh and what it produces.

Paul says to the people of Galatia BUT the fruit of the Spirit is these things…

Love. This love in the text is in the greek Agape love. Which is the love of choice. The love of respect, the love of devotion, the love that shows affection that leads to a willing self sacrificial service. This love is different than other types of love, and its a distinct mark of a Christian. Christians should be known for loving one another, because we have been loved by God, and through Christ we know what real love looks like.

Joy. Joy is a happiness that does not change based on circumstances. Every believer in Christ, and person in general will go through seasons of life that are full of happiness, but also full of sadness, and everything in between, but with Christian joy, no matter the circumstance joy remains. When we lost one of our daughters in the womb is was, and still is sad, but the joy that comes from knowing Christ allows even the saddest of days to have joy. Joy is never fading, because it rests in the one who never fades.

peace. This peace comes from knowing Christ. We live in a hostile world, the people of Galatia knew that they were faced with the opposition of those who disagreed with them. Today is no different, just this week Texas passed a law to save babies in the womb, and you would have thought the world ended with people going against that law, wanting the right to kill innocent children, because they dont want them. Despite a continued hostility to Christians, not only hear but all over the world there is still peace that comes from knowing Christ. Christ gives a peace that no amount of money can bring, no job can bring, no house, no other luxury, because he gives us peace with God, and that peace is the kind of peace that Christians must be known for.

patience-another counter culturally thing. We live in a fast paced- fast food kind of world, and patience isn’t something that we are taught. But patience is something we should be known for. Patience helps us focus on the Lord when he doesn’t seem to be moving. x2 patience helps us get through the day by day every-life waiting for him to call us home, or to do the next thing he wants us to do.

Goodness. ( this is a tough one for a-lot of us because its original greek describes this as a quality of moral excellence, especially as a quality that is not stagnant, but working itself out ) So a Christians character must continually be one that is growing in the likeness of Christ. Where there moral stances on things look more like Christ and less like the world. And a Christians life isn’t just the same thing over and over again, but they are continuing to grow and become more like him. That’s what Christian goodness looks like becoming more like Christ and less like the world.

Faithfulness. the quality of being faithful. A christian truly believes what the word says about the Lord, and not only do they believe it, but they live it out. See faithfulness is practicing what you preach, and living out the truth of God’s word. You are loyal to Christ because what he has done for you, you trust him. Faithfulness is a fruit of the spirit, because its living out the truth, and living out the truth shows that you are faithful to him.

gentleness-a Christian is to be a gentle person, to have an even temper. There is a book called gentle and lowly and in this book, the author of it asks a question if we are asked to say only one thing about who Jesus is, we would be honing Jesus own teach if our answer is gentle and lowly. Jesus was a gentle man, and his example of gentleness towards us allows us to not have desires to have retribution, or revenge to others but rather serve other.

Finally he says self control. So you have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and now self control. Its fitting that self control is last, because all the things Paul listed as the bad fruit is something we must have control over. I said this earlier but each and every one of us if we are saved have the power of the Holy Spirit we have the ability to live for him. That means when temptation comes our way then we have the ability to fight it, because of who lives in us.

Are you known for having the fruit of the spirit?

4. Christ’s death gives confidence that we can walk by the Spirit.

Listen to verse 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. During our study we have learned that it only through faith in Christ that one can be saved. And if you belong to Christ by faith alone you have crucified the flesh and its passions and desires. And because this is the case you can by the power of the Holy Spirit crucify the bad fruit in your life.

Jesus death on the cross doesn’t mean we wont struggle with sin, but it does mean that by his strength we can walk by the Spirit. Life isn’t easy once we are saved and the temptations the flesh bring dont go away, however by his Spirit we can live for him. Living him means putting to death its passions and desires.

Because if we live for the Spirit we will keep in step with him. And keeping in step with him means we are walking in the spirit killing the bad fruit in our lives, seeing the good fruit manifested, and resting in the confidence that only comes from Christ.

If you are walling by the Spirit, you will not be conceited, provoking one another, or envying one another.

For the believers here today are you trying to live a life that is led by the spirit or the flesh? Because as we have seen you cannot have both. You are either walking by the spirit or the flesh. Which means you are producing either good fruit or bad fruit, is your life dominated by things such as, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, division's, envy, drunkenness, or orgies, or any other sin.

Because if it is, I want you to ask yourself two questions, am i quenching the Holy Spirit or am i actually saved? Because if I am actually saved what is going to happen is these sins are going to wreck your faith, cause you to know follow God, cause to question whether or not you are really saved.

If you are not saved then these are natural struggles the flesh has, and by the grace of God you can repent of those sins, and become a child of God all by just calling upon the name of the Lord saying save me from my sins, cleanse me , Lord help me produce good fruit, and by his grace you can be saved. and you can be confident of this because of the finished work on the cross.

If you are living by the Spirit do you have all the good fruit of the Spirit. Are you known for your love, for your joy, for your peace, for your patience, for your kindness, for your goodness, for your faithfulness, for your gentleness, for your self control.

For me I would say I have all those to certain degrees, but some more than others, but my goal at this moment is to live an authentic faith for him, I will be the first to tell you I am not perfect, but I have a perfect savior, I have the Holy Spirit which is God living in me, and by his strength my personal prayer is that I am known for the good harvest that he can produce and that harvest allows me to show others Christ, and point people toward him.

Church if we are honest we got along way to go, we look more like the flesh than we should and the fruit that only comes from Christ is lacking in to many areas, so lets be people who walk not by the flesh, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you have a decision you would like to make I will be down front, but dont leave here today without answering the question what are you known for?