Fruit of the Spirit: LOVE

Now that we are past Easter, we turn to the part of the Christian story where Jesus prepares his disciples for his ascension and the arrival of the next chapter in the church: the Holy Spirit. I will admit that in our reformed church tradition, we seem to say much less about the Holy Spirit than we say about the other two persons of the Trinity, the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit seems so much more difficult to explain and lay out precisely in clear articulate doctrinal statements—something that the Reformed tradition likes to do. There is just so much more mystery to the Holy Spirit.

So, while there may be many aspects to understanding the Holy Spirit which are a bit beyond our precise definition and explanation, that doesn’t leave us empty with nothing. In these weeks now after Easter leading up to Pentecost—when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church—let’s spend some time considering what it is the Holy Spirit does in the church. Perhaps the best framework I can think of for us to do that is by looking at what the apostle Paul calls in Galatians 5 the ‘fruit of the Spirit.’ Over the coming weeks we are going to examine the Holy Spirit by taking a closer look at what it is the Holy Spirit produces in us.

Galatians 5:22–23 NIV

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

Matthew 7:15–23 NIV

15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Colossians 3:12–14 NIV

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

This week we start with the first piece of fruit Paul incudes in his listed ‘fruit of the Spirit.’ Love. You can see I am hopscotching around to a few different passages in the Bible. Love is one of those topics which forms a major theme all throughout scripture. It is hard to pick just one passage or place in scripture that summarizes everything the Bible has to say about love. But that’s okay; let’s deal with the theme of love as it is presented in the Bible as a sort of summary catch-all category for considering what spiritual fruit looks like.

what spiritual fruit looks like as an essential ingredient of the Christian life

what does it mean to be a Christian?

saved by grace through faith Bible is the inspired word of God produce spiritual fruit

Maybe that is the best way for us to begin this series on spiritual fruit is to spend some time considering what spiritual fruit looks like as an essential ingredient of the Christian life. Let’s tease that one out first. I think it is perhaps overlooked as an essential ingredient of the Christian life. If I were to ask the question, “what does it mean to be a Christian?” I wonder what kind of answers I would get back. A few things would certainly show up on everyone’s list. To be a Christian you must have faith in Jesus as the Son of God. That is a central teaching of the New Testament—we are saved by grace through faith. That is certainly number one on the list of what it means to be a Christian, to believe that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. I also imagine that everyone’s list would include something about the Bible. To be a Christian you have to accept and believe the Bible as the inspired word of God.

Beyond that, maybe everyone’s list of what it means to be Christian starts to veer off in some different directions. Some people may include a list of certain habits on that list. Being a Christian means you go to church and you give a tithe and you start each meal with a prayer and you read a devotional. Some might say that being a Christian means you have to be a good and moral person who follows a certain set of purity laws. That one seems to get us in trouble since the Barna research group notes that the number one reason people leave the church is because they find Christians to be hypocrites—who say one thing, but then do another.

But I wonder how many people would put on their list of what it means to be a Christian that we produce spiritual fruit? Look again at what Jesus says about this in Matthew 7.

Matthew 7:22–23 NIV

22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

“by their fruit you will recognize them”

They say all the right things. They even look at first glance like they do all the right things. And yet Jesus says to them, “I never knew you.” What was missing in their lives? Twice in the verses right before this Jesus repeats the phrase, “by their fruit you will recognize them.” It turns out we better pay some pretty close attention to what this spiritual fruit is and how we recognize it. The apostle Paul gives a mention towards spiritual fruit at different places in his New Testament letters. In Colossians 3 we note the way in which love, in particular, gives us a 30,000 foot view over this entire category of what we might consider to be spiritual fruit.

Colossians 3:14 NIV

14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

spiritual fruit of love reminds us that we cannot pick out one fruit and ignore the rest

We start with love because it reminds us that this is not a list of spiritual fruit in Galatians 5 which lets us just pick out one or two that we know we can nail down, and then ignore the rest. You can talk to me all day about goodness and faithfulness; I’m there for that. But don’t come at me with any talk about patience and self-control. If I can just highlight and excel in one, doesn’t that make up for the rest? If I had a basketball team of all excellent three-point shooting guards, but none of them could play defense or post up inside or get rebounds, I am not sure the team would win very much. You need some attention in all those areas to be a good basketball team. If I can drive a golf ball off the tee and get it to land in the fairway every time, but I can never get a chip to land on the green and I can never make a putt outside of two feet, I would still never be an excellent golfer even though I can hit solid drives every time.

spiritual fruit is the place in which all that we say about faith and belief and what it means to be a Christian show up as tangible recognizable features in our life — see John 13:34-35

The spiritual fruit of love reminds us that our spiritual game is a complete package. I need to know how to swing every club in the bag if I am going to perform well. Love reminds us that spiritual fruit comes as a complete set, not a pick-and-choose buffet. And about this complete set of spiritual fruit Jesus says, this is how you will be recognized. Spiritual fruit is the place in which all that we say about faith and belief and what it means to be a Christian show up as tangible recognizable features in our life. Here is the way Jesus said it to his disciples when talking about love.

John 13:34–35 NIV

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

A colleague of mine who pastors up in Canada noted an Angus Reid survey released this week through the University of Calgary which shows that more Canadians than ever consider evangelical Christianity to be “more damaging to society than beneficial.” In other words, even though they might say all the right things and believe all the right things, there is a spiritual fruit problem. In this case, it is not just that spiritual fruit is missing, it is that the exact opposite kind of fruit—bitter fruit—is evident.

there is enough bitter fruit out there in our world already — it’s time for us in the church to start to do some good spiritual gardening

There is enough bitter fruit out there in our world already. It’s time for us in the church to start to do some good spiritual gardening. It is time for us to start sowing some seeds and watering our souls in ways that produce the kind of fruit that will be recognized as spiritual fruit. It’s springtime. Many of us are giving some attention in the coming weeks to lawn care and planting flowers and other such gardening activity. I think some good attention to a bit of spiritual gardening right now might be helpful. Let’s use some gardening language to help set a framework for how these coming weeks of working our way through spiritual fruit will be most helpful.

dormant seeds come to life in the right conditions

Let me pull on two gardening observations that may also apply to the way we think about producing spiritual fruit. The first is this. I am amazed every springtime at the way the earth just seems to come back to life again after a long and cold winter. Brown wilted grass turns green again. Flower bulbs beneath the ground send out new shoots with leaves and stems and blossoms. Trees begin to pop open millions upon millions of new buds which will flower and bring another year of all new leaves. All of this lies dormant and seemingly lifeless throughout the winter. The seed is already there. The essence of those plants are already in the ground and are ready to go. You don’t need to go out every spring and replant your entire lawn. We don’t have to go every spring and put in all new trees in order for there to be forests. Those things are already planted, even though it all remains dormant during winter.

spiritual fruit we read about in the Bible has already been planted in you by the Holy Spirit

The spiritual fruit we read about in the Bible has already been planted in you by the Holy Spirit. It is already there. You already have it. Maybe you think you could never be a gentle person because you just don’t have gentleness. Maybe you think you could never be a patient person because you just don’t have patience. Maybe you think you could never be a peaceful person because you just don’t have peace. Maybe you think you could never be a kind person because you just don’t have kindness. But none of that is true if you have the Holy Spirit. Because along with the Holy Spirit, all of those other things are already planted within the soil of your soul. You already have the seeds of love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.

I can place my life within the right conditions for spiritual fruit to grow?

Through the Holy Spirit you never have to wonder or doubt if you have any of these fruits of the Spirit. The Bible makes the assumption that if you’ve got the Holy Spirit, then you’ve also got the fruit. But wait; this maybe leaves us in a pretty tough spot. Because of you are wondering or doubting at all if you have any of these spiritual fruits, then maybe it seems like I am suggesting it means you actually do not have the Holy Spirit. Okay, that’s worse; now I have given you even bigger things to worry about. Hang on though; consider this. Is there a possibility that the seeds of that spiritual fruit may, in fact, be there, but lay dormant? You have the Holy Spirit and you have the seeds. You have been given everything you need by God to produce spiritual fruit. But do you allow the cold winter of life to press the seeds of that spiritual fruit down to a dormant and unproductive state? Have you placed your life within the right conditions for those seeds to grow?

Part of this just makes sense. I think somewhere along the way we have to acknowledge that those seeds of spiritual fruit are, in fact, already planted by God within our souls. Because who wouldn’t want it? Who thinks to themselves, I just don’t want to be a good person; I don’t want to be a kind person; I don’t want to have joy; I don’t want to have love? Nobody thinks that. We all desire to have those spiritual fruits in our lives. The Holy Spirit has hard-wired us to be people of spiritual fruit. We each already have what we need from God. All we need is a little spiritual gardening to bring those seeds out of dormancy and into productive spiritual fruit.

seeds need tending to grow

This brings me to the second gardening observation. Seeds need tending to grow. This spring I am trying to grow some seed flats in my office window here. I say ‘trying’ because it hasn’t been overly successful. I have some potted houseplants in my office that need watering about every week or two. They’re pretty hardy plants and do well without a whole lot of careful attention. Seed flats are not that way. The small pods have such a little amount of dirt that it can dry out very quickly. And when the seedlings first sprout, the tiny plants are very delicate. I find that I must water the seed flats just about every single day in order to give those seeds just the right conditions for the seeds to germinate and begin growing. Earlier in April I had a week in which I was gone up north for a few days. Without thinking about it, I left those seed flats in my office without water for over three days. And three days was all it took for the soil to completely dry out and the herb sprouts to completely wither. I was back at step one again and had to start over.

the reason Jesus and others in the Bible give instructions about spiritual fruit is because producing spiritual fruit requires us to give some attention

I can do some soul gardening

There are times when gardening needs very close and regular attention in order for seeds to grow. In the case of the seed flats in my office window, it needs just a little attention every single day. I think that the reason Jesus and others in the Bible give instructions about spiritual fruit is because producing spiritual fruit does require us to be giving some attention. Yes, the seeds of spiritual fruit are already planted within your soul by the Holy Spirit. Yes, only God can make those seeds grow. But you and I do some soul gardening. You and I can do things which nurture and tend the growing of spiritual fruit in our lives.

And here’s the thing, God provides everything we need for that too. God provides the truth of his word in scripture so that we can spend time every day using the word to keep the ground of our souls fertile and ready for spiritual growth. It is in the word of God that we discover the heart of God’s will and learn how to shape and pattern our hearts to follow with God’s heart. Reading the Bible is not, then, a chore to check off of a task list; it is something that nurtures your soul to produce spiritual fruit. Coming to church so that you can sing and pray and learn in the community of believers is not an activity that checks a box on a faith scorecard; it is something that nurtures your soul to produce spiritual fruit.

“By their fruit you will recognize them,” Jesus says. Let’s be a church of people who are recognized by the spiritual fruit we produce. God has planted that within us and provides everything we need for that to flourish.