Lent: Growing in the Spirit
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16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
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. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. -
Fruit
The Galatians, like us, we’re on a spiritual journey from new birth to spiritual maturity, we can glean three important things to help us on our pilgrimage - three peas in a pod!
1. Process of Growth,
2. Partnership of Traits
3. Partnership between God and us
My Father in Law’s favourite verse was this Dorothy Frances Gurney poem:
The kiss of the sun for pardon
the song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God’s Heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.
One of our greatest delights where we live on the Isle of Wight is our garden. My wife seems to have inherited her fathers’ green fingers and I get to do the tomatoes! We live in our own little micro-climate on the south of the Island and seem to be blessed that we can grow virtually anything.
At the minute there are enough Raspberries to feed the neighbourhood. It’s hard to beat fresh vegetables and luscious fruit!
But it takes time, time for fruit to grow and time to ripen. There is no such thing as instant ripening (tomatoes) nor is there such a thing as instant spiritual maturity. It takes time. In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul writes, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” These nine qualities describe the character of a fruitful Christian.
The kind of Christian all of us want to be and hope we are… but dread that we probably are not.
‘Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control’
Galatians 5:22-23
Process of Growth
Paul doesn’t say the traits or qualities of the Spirit, he uses ‘fruit’ as an illustration of growth.
One of my hobbies is growing tomatoes. It starts out as a tiny seed and then the first small shoot appears and at the height of the season they are two metres tall. The Fruit starts as a tiny yellow flower followed by tiny green tomatoes which grow to full size. Even then it takes time for fruit to ripen it is a gradual process (I get quite impatient for the ripening, from green to luscious red fruit).
There’s no such thing as instant spiritual growth.
If you rush fruit, it doesn’t taste as good. Sometimes supermarket growers pick the green tomatoes and spray CO2 gas which forces them to ripen. Tomatoes straight from your greenhouse are much tastier. There is nothing wrong with bought tomatoes. But there’s is no comparison with greenhouse tomatoes!
It takes time for fruit to ripen. God needs time to ripen the fruit in your life, it is gradual. It is inevitable that you will mature as a Christian (I do not mean in age but mature spiritually).
Ask your friends and they will tell you how you have changed, generally, you don’t see it yourself. You have probably become more patient, kind, gentle, self-controlled. If you are not growing, examine yourself, seek the Holy Spirit to come into your life. I am describing what it means to be a Christian - It is only possible through the Holy Spirit who (in Christ) sets us free (John 8:32) and keeps us free – Galatians 5.
John Wesley was religious, wrote books and did good growing externally but he wasn’t growing in the Spirit. He admitted his emptiness within and invited the Holy Spirit into his life (he said his heart was strangely warmed). If you have been around church a long time but never opened yourself to the Holy Spirit coming into your life. Seek more of the Holy Spirit today.
A Partnership of Traits (a Concatenation)
Strangely, the phrase ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ is clearly singular (Greek word ‘Karpos’) but Paul goes on to give a list of nine traits or qualities of the fruit.
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control.
So these are not nine fruits but one fruit with nine qualities or characteristics that ripen. A ‘Partnership of Traits’ - a concatenation, a big word four syllables meaning, ‘a series or order of things that depend on each other.’ The fruit of the Spirit has many aspects that all stimulate each other, working together within you to nurture the relationship with God (to live in Spirit and walk in the Spirit - Galatians 5:16,25 ).
Interestingly the fruit seems to be in three clusters of three, ordered in three directions. Upwards, outwards, inwards.
Up (God-ward) – our relationship with God – (Love, joy, peace)
Outwards our relationship with others (patience, kindness, goodness).
Inwards (Faithfulness Gentleness Self-Control).
Partnership of Traits means you can’t say ‘self-control’ is the last one and it’s the one you haven’t got round to yet! Or that patience is a virtue I haven’t been blessed with!! Or I’m not bad at gentleness kindness and goodness: I do my bit, ‘do unto others’ and all that!
That is not how the Fruit of the Spirit is presented here! Love-joy-peace-patience-goodness-gentleness-faithfulness-self-control are aspects of the transforming work the Holy Spirit is doing in you – they are a concatenation, interconnected.
St Paul says in Galatians 5:17-18, before the mention of Fruit, that our Flesh (self) is in conflict with the Holy Spirit, it is an ongoing conflict and by yourself, without a relationship with the Lord Jesus, you cannot win.
“For the flesh desires (craves) what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” — Galatians 5:17-18
Our sinful nature (self) is good at making idols of things. Tempting us to worship anything but God – torments us into thinking you must have that thing or you are a failure or craving to have that thing for the ultimate thrill and pleasure. You must achieve that thing or you are worthless – it’s also a craving. The ‘flesh’ doesn’t suggest, it tempts the alcoholic into just one drink and then craves for the whole bottle. The flesh doesn’t say you ought to earn more or climb up the social ladder a bit higher, it teases you saying you are nothing if you don’t strive for more or you are a failure if you don’t keep up with the Jones’s. Flesh v Spirit is a battle and you are the battleground.
So is Christianity a constant battle of continuous defeats?
No “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” — Galatians 5:25
And there lies the secret. We are not meant to make our own way on our spiritual journey we are meant to live in the Spirit which means allowing the Holy Spirit to fill us (to overflowing).
One hundred years ago (1922) Rhea Miller and George Beverly Shea wrote a Hymn that is as poignant today as it was then.
It is self v the Spirit, which would you rather choose?
I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I'd rather be His than have riches untold;
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands.
I'd rather be led by His nail pierced hand
Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin's dread sway.
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
A Partnership of God and You
Paul describes the two-way relationship in Galatians 5:25 ‘If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit’ – live in the Spirit, which is more passive, it speaks of being led, guided, kept in step. Whereas walk in the Spirit speaks of action, we have a responsibility to walk the walk. The spirit leads and we walk - as a Shepherd leads but as a walker walks.
In saying ‘live in’ the spirit Paul is saying open your heart to the Spirit, let Him in and he will lead and guide you.
In saying ‘walk’ Paul is talking about a spiritual power walk, not just a saunter. What do you do in a physical workout? You develop or tone muscles that God has given you. To work out means to develop the muscles you have (use it or lose it).
What Paul is saying here is - develop your spiritual life!
‘walking in the Spirit is a way of life….a disciplined practice of prayer, bible reading, in fellowship with people who encourage us to love God and our neighbours and to do good works – and in keeping the Sabbath and sharing in the Lords supper
In this way we occupy ourselves with Spiritual things… Also examine the leisure we pursue, the books we read and the friendships we make.”
John Stott: Galatians Commentary, written 1968
This is about actively walking in the spirit and therefore growing in the fruit of the spirit which is lovely and desirable.
God has a part in our spiritual growth and we also have a part. The Holy Spirit teaches, guides and provides the power, but we must walk the walk.
You can begin by telling God right now that you want to be a mature, fruitful Christian, that you want to cooperate with his plan and be led by the Spirit. Commit yourself to read, even memorizing the Bible. See the wilderness challenge. Ask God to use His Word (the Bible) to speak to you and change the way you think. Pray and talk with him about everything – it’s a partnership (a relationship). Ask God to help you respond to difficult people and difficult situations as Jesus would. God wants to produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Will you cooperate with him as you mature spiritually and become fruitful in love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control?
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love the way you love,
and do what you would do.
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until my will is one with yours,
to do and to endure.
Edwin Hatch (1878)
