In Galatians, Paul describes the battle that every Christian experiences daily as the flesh wars against the Spirit. He offers a demonstrative (but not exhaustive) list of the works of the flesh, in four categories: sexual sins, idolatry, relational sins, and drunkenness. Paul then offers a warning: “those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” I remind you that if you are in Christ, you will stumble into some of these sins at times. But you will not settle down and live in them. You will not practice them with all your might. All who do practice them, all who live to satisfy the flesh, should tremble because they will not enter the kingdom. But all who are in Christ are new creations. While we wrestle with the flesh, the flesh does not control or dominate us. We have new desires and we have the Spirit of God who gives us power through grace to live in faithfulness and fruitfulness.
Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit, and he uses the singular noun, fruit, not fruits. The fruit of the Spirit is love, and the rest of the nouns, it could be argued, are descriptions of what love looks like in different situations. Jesus displayed these fruits in perfection and as we abide in Him, we grow in Christlikeness. I borrow freely from Tim Keller in sharing three reminders about how the Spirit works in us.
First, all Christian growth is gradual. You don’t see all the stages of growth that produce an apple or a watermelon. You don’t always see it in yourself, either. You just realize one day, Oh, I was just patient in a situation that used to cause me to come unglued. Thank you, Lord!
Second, the growth of the Spirit’s fruit is inevitable. If you are a believer, the Spirit will grow fruit in your life. “We are saved by faith, not by growing fruit,” Keller wrote, “but we are not saved by fruitless faith. A person saved by faith will be a person in whom the fruit of the Spirit grows.” We had an assignment in a Deep Discipleship class several weeks ago where we were to look at the other people at our table and one by one tell them how we see the Spirit of God working in their lives. And most of our praise for the others had to do with the fruit of the Spirit that is clearly evident in them. Try this at home. Or with your home group.
Third, the fruit of the Spirit has internal roots. It is about change much deeper than personality traits or natural gifts and talents. Do the apples on the tree make it alive? No. The apples don’t give life; they are a sign the tree is alive. The life produces the fruit, not the other way around. So, to be led by the Spirit is to grow the fruit of the Spirit. Talent, giftedness, math or science acumen, artistic ability…these are wonderful things but they may or may not operate out of a grace-changed heart. But the growing fruit of the Spirit can only happen in a child of God. The sure sign that the Spirit has indwelled a person is the growth of the fruit of the Spirit in his or her life. What fruit?
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Jesus displayed each of these in perfection and the Spirit grows each of these in our lives if we are in Christ. How do we walk in such a way that we grow in Christlikeness? Live by the Spirit. As Paul likes to do, he introduces the interplay between an indicative and an imperative. “If we live by the Spirit” could also be translated, “Because it is true that we live by the Spirit.” That’s the indicative. Settled truth. This is who we are, people who live now by the Spirit. Then Paul adds the imperative: “Let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” It is a military term that means to stand in a row or to be drawn up in line. Walk in step with the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Let the Spirit govern all of your actions.
That will bear fruit.
J. Mark Fox 