Fruit of the Spirit: Change

Fruit of the Spirit-

Prayer- Dear Jesus, you have called us into freedom. It is no longer sin that keeps us from a relationship with you. We have been set free! As we start to consider what our lives should look like with you as the main part, Lord, teach us to produce fruit that changes our lives. We love you, in Jesus' name, Amen!

Hey everyone! Super excited to be back teaching and kicking off a new series! We are now officially into our extended part of Edge. We have two more months to learn, and spend time with each other! What I will be teaching today comes from a sermon that Pastor Tim Keller gave back in the 90’s. I have found a lot of life through his message, and I now want to share with all of you.

We just got done talking about Freedom in Christ. We talked about Freedom from sin, Freedom through Confession, and freedom through the Holy Spirit! When we accept Jesus into our lives, we are set free indeed! Today, we will be starting a new series, this is a response to our freedom. If we are free from sin, WHAT’S NEXT?

If we are set free from our sin and have received the Holy Spirit as a gift to guide us through our lives. Then how should we look and act? Jesus transforms lives. Someone doesn’t just stay the same when they become Christian. The Holy Spirit starts to shape and transform them into who they are intended to be.

So with that, we are going to be talking about CHANGE. When we become Christian, we are going to change, it’s garunteed.

Look at this plant, can you see it grow? Does that mean that it isn’t growing?

EXAMPLE- Have you ever felt bad, or guilty for your actions. Have you ever done something mean to somebody and then you asked yourself “Why?”

Have you ever made a mean comment that made someone feel insecure, have you lied to someone you love, have you manipulated someones emotions to get what you want? Have you called someone you love an idiot or stupid for making a mistake? Have you ever talked down to someone. Have you ever wished the worst for someone, do you hate anyone? Do you use your phone for evil? Do you take joy in other peoples suffering?

This. This is why God has sent the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our lives. Because of sin, we make bad choices. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that you will stop sinning. No, not at all. But because of Jesus, sin no longer holds us down, keeps us in the grave. The first week of our last series we talked about freedom from sin. Jesus died for all the sin in our lives, and because of that, we are set free through Jesus.

Sin is the very reason why we need the Spirit to change our hearts. We are born into sin, we are more familiar with sin, then we are of goodness. We need the Spirit to do the work for us.

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT DEFINITION- The fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in a believer’s life. Also: Fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Becky talked about the Holy Spirit, which is part of the Trinity- Father, Son, Holy Spirit. All born-again Christian’s recieve the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus into our lives. The reason why we were given the Holy Spirit is so that the Spirit can work within us, and transform us to become more like Jesus.

This is the word of God-

“I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law....But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:16–24, CSB)

This is a great passage on change- How through the Gospel, through the Spirit, through our faith teaches us how we change. The fruit of the Spirit is about growth. When we first except Jesus into our hearts, we start out as a tiny seed, that the Holy Spirit waters into something beautiful. As we except Jesus into our lives, we start our transformation process. Sin no longer, enslaves us and we starting learning how to live in our new identity.

The fruit of the Spirit teaches us two important things about change-

Change is- gradual, and change is unavoidable,

Why does Paul use the word fruit? He is invoking a metaphor of botanical growth.

Q. What is botanical growth, can someone give me an example?

Definition- Botanical Growth- Relating to plants

1 Peter 1 Says -“you are born by the impershible seed of God, Psalm 1 (the Godly are like trees that grow near the water), there is a lot of imagery about botanical growth, growth in a garden.

Christian change is as gradual as a rose, potato, turnip. It’s gradual-

You can’t watch a plant grow, it’s to slow to notice. We know it’s happening, but you can’t plant a seed, sit down and watch it grow into a sunflower in one sitting.

EXAMPLE- Look at this plant, I bought it, this evening. Can you see it growing? Even though you can’t see it, is it still growing?

Someone might say to you, “I think you’ve grown.” People say this because growth is so small, that you can’t see it. It can never be seen, but it can be measured! That’s because it’s too gradual. It can never be seen, only measured.

Paul understands that growing in love, patience, kindness, gentleness, just like a plant, takes time. I’ll say it right now, if the fruit of the Spirit is gradual, that means we need to be patient!

We need to be patient with ourselves and others. This isn’t a overnight kind of change. Change that is important, and matters is often times slow and gradual. That’s okay! Be patient with yourself, and know that we don’t change over night.

Why would Paul compare love, joy, patience, kindness as fruit? Simply because it is gradual means you need to be patient.

Now, there are times that we can see growth in a short period of time. For instance, there are seasons in fruit trees where they grow very quickly and other seasons in which it’s a slow process. Like wintertime. Even during wintertime, the tree’s are still growing, just at a much slower pace.

Growth in these graces love, joy, peace, patients, kindness, goodness, faithfullness, gentleness and self control is gradual. This is a very mysterious and wonderful kind of growth. But first know that growing in the fruit of the Spirit takes time!

Since we are all wonderfully different and uniquely made. We all go through different seasons of our lives. For every person that is seeing growth fast, there are 10 other people who have slow growth. We need to be patient.

You may not know that you are growing until sometimes trouble comes or difficulty, something shows up. And you suddenly realize “My a couple of years ago I could never do that!” It is very difficult to feel growth. What I mean by that is 4 year old me, felt just as fast as me now.”

Christian change IS GRADUAL, SLOW, SEASONAL, AND YOU NEED TO BE PATIENT BUT THIS IS NOT JUST FRUIT, IT’S the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.

Christian growth is UNAVOIDABLE, it’s inevitable. If you have the Spirit of God in you THERE WILL BE CHANGE

You will worry less, you will become more patient, you will become wiser, you will be able to face your troubles.

G. Cambell Morgan a British pastor, once told a story, he said-

“He was in Italy and he saw, in a graveyard, that there was a huge marble slab over some man's grave. But an acorn had gotten into the grave, about 600 years ago.

Out of that acorn came a shoot, out of that shoot came to a tree, and out of that acorn had come to a tree that had grown up so big so tall, it had split the marble slab in half.”

Common sense will tell you that “Here’s an acorn, here's a slab. Who wins? Common sense will say the slab. 1000 lb down on the acorn, it’s no contest. The acorn will always win!

If botanical growth has that kind of gradual power, what kind of power does the Holy Spirit have?

You are not saved by love, joy, peace, patients, kindness, gentleness. You are not saved by fruit, you are saved by faith. These are the results of your faith in Jesus.

Our faith in Jesus Christ produces the fruit of the Spirit.

But you will never by the fruit in and of itself

We are not saved by our actions, doing good things, being loving, or being kind is not what makes us Christians. But if you have accepted Jesus into your lives that means these fruit will 10000000000% grow!

It can be really hard to see growth in your own life! So here is what I suggest- Go ask someone “Am I growing?”

Ask your parents, ask your leader, ask a friend that you trust. Ask them this,

“Have you seen me grow as a believer in Jesus? Am I looking more like Jesus? Have you seen me becoming more loving, patient, kind, etc?

Think about it for a minute. Maybe you still can’t keep secrets so nobody gives any to you, you are unkind, and you feel people avoid you. Maybe you’re not a very loving person, or maybe you get jealous a lot, or you want everything now, maybe you get your feelings hurt, always feeling like nobody likes me.

This is a lack of love, lack of joy, lack of peace, lack of patients, lack of kindness, lack of goodness, a lack of faithfulness, lack of gentleness, and a lack of self-control.

THIS IS WHY WE WERE GIVEN THE HOLY SPIRIT- To teach us a better way to live, teaching us to live like Jesus.

I am not saying you’re not a Christian, I’m saying you cannot know if you are Christian if you’re not changing. IT’S GRADUAL AND INEVITABLE. IT MIGHT BE SLOW BUT IT WILL HAPPEN.

The acorn might be under that slab A VERY LONG TIME! It might take years and years. They may be there a long time. I am not saying that if you’re not growing you can’t be a Christian. What I am saying is- don’t you dare say “Eh, I got habits. I can’t learn new things. Can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I am happy how i am?’

THIS IS THE SPIRIT OF GOD WE ARE TALKING ABOUT, THE MOST POWERFUL THING TO EVER EXIST- IF THE SPIRIT IS THERE IT WILL DEFINITELY GROW

That means growing in the fruit of the Spirit is unavoidable- If you believe in Jesus, you WILL GROW, IT’S A GARUNTEE.

Why does the Holy Spirit transform us? Why does the Spirit make us more loving, joyful, patiencient, and kind?

The Holy Spirit’s job is to POINT TO JESUS! The Spirit says to our hearts

“Let’s become more like Jesus, let’s be loving, joyful, kind, let me make you more like Jesus!”

CHANGE IS GRADUAL. CHANGE IS Unavoidanble.

Q. What is the fruit of the Spirit?

Leading? Counseling? Teaching? Singing? Dancing? Intelligence? Bold? Charisma? Learning? Are these fruits of the Spirit?

Teaching, singing, learning- These are all works, they are things that we do. Physical actions.

These are not the fruit of the Spirit.

Doing the work ourselves vs. Letting the Spirit work in you.

The fruit of the Spirit is learning a new king of love, joy, patience, kindness, and gentleness. We already know these emotions.

The Holy Spirit, through our lives in going to teach us a new way to express and live in these fruits.

The Holy Spirit is going to say, “You think you know what love is, but I am going to teach you how Jesus loved, how Jesus was kind.”

The only way we can ever learn to be more like Jesus is through the Holy Spirit, that is because when Jesus was on earth. The Holy Spirit was with Him, every step of the way.

We can say, Jesus, look what I have done! And He can say Yes, but I never knew you. It is very very possible that through your life other people are changing, through your actions, the Spirit is working in someone elses life, but it could very well be that you yourself aren’t changing one bit.

When Paul is talking about the fruit of the Spirit, he is saying right now- “You are harsh, you are rude, inconsiderate, and you have no self-control. You lack the Fruit of the Spirit. Even though you are doing good deeds, you produce no fruit!

What is Paul saying? He is not saying that you’re not a Christian, but he is saying that it is possible to get very active in the Church and to have the Spirit use your talents to change the lives of the people around you. And then you say “AAAAH! I am growing!”

Just because you are helping others grow does not mean that you are growing yourself.

What do I mean by that? Doing good, feeding the poor, going to Edge, leading small groups, teaching a message, business evangelizing, leading. All good things, but these things are NOT WHAT CHANGE YOU. Through those actions, the Spirit is going to teach us how to be more like Jesus.

You can do all that and have nothing- If you don’t have love, patience, kindness that comes from the Holy Spirit!

You can do all these external things and still have nothing.

You can do all these things out of your own desires, you can help at the Church because it makes you feel important, you can be loving because you want to be loved back, you can be kind you don’t like when people are mean.

Our love, joy, peace, patience can sometimes come from a different source outside of the Spirit.

But God calls us, to let go and let the Spirit do the work

But the Fruit of the Spirit is something that you can grow without the Holy Spirit. Just like a gardener, a gardner doesn’t make the seed grow, the gardner just makes the conditions. The gardner puts the seed in the dirt, gives the seed water, protects it from animals, too much sun, too little sun.

You can not make yourself more loving, joyful, kind, and peaceful. You can’t just say “ I’m going to, i’m going to” No, you have to crucify, You have to look at the sin in your life, and the things you put before God, the things you make more important than God. You have to let those things go and say

“Holy Spirit, teach me to desire Jesus. Teach me to love like Jesus, direct my heart towards Jesus.”

If we want to be like Jesus, the only way possible is through the Holy Spirit.

So…..When you except Jesus into your life, you are going to start to change! And with that, Change is gradual, it takes time, but change is inevitable. If you believe in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit!

God does everything to make the fruit grow., He is the sun, the dirt, the rain, the roots. We grow off of God’s tree. We are part of God’s family.

“and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”” (1 Corinthians 11:24, CSB)

We are called to remember Jesus, and become more like Him. In order to do that, we have to read our Bibles, pray, and become a functioning member of His Body.

Every good gift comes from God, and He has given us the Spirit to grow our love, joy, peace, patients, kindness, goodness, and self-control.

Let’s pray-