DAY EIGHTY-TWO: 

The Fruit of the Spirit 

Galatians 5:1-26 

The Fruit of the Spirit, Windswept, by Kelly Watts, 2013

The Apostle Paul was always careful to balance his teaching of God's truth with its practical application for everyday life. Sometimes we preachers aren't so careful. We can stress the theological concepts the the exclusion of their application. Or we can fall off the other side of the log and put the exposition of Scripture on the back burner in favor of the practical. Faith and practice are both important. 

Paul carried the Gospel to the region of Galatia on his first missionary journey. He preached and founded churches in the cities of Iconium, Lystra, Derbe and Antioch of Pisidia. Scholars believe that Paul wrote this letter while he was in Corinth, around 57 or 58 AD, some ten years after the first missionary journey.

This letter is perhaps the harshest of Paul's letters. He hit the Galatians right between the eyes: "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ." (1:6-7) This "different gospel" was the teaching of some Jewish Christians that Gentile converts must fully convert to Judaism in order to be saved. This issue was settled at the Council of Jerusalem over ten years earlier (see Day 78). There were some, however, who would not accept that decision. Some of them followed Paul's trail and contradicted his message. Many of the Galatians followed their teaching, which in effect nullified the Gospel message in favor of the Law. Paul wrote, "We ourselves are Jews by birth and notGentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified." (2:15-16) Then he went on blast them: "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (3:1-3) The word for foolish is the strongest of several Greek words Paul could have chosen. It conveys a sense of utter ignorance of a type that can't be remedied. They're terminally foolish for listening to those who "bewitched" them. They want to mix grace with law and thus be able to earn part of their salvation. They'd better come to their senses and turn back to Christ!

With this background, let's dig into today's text. "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." When Jesus died on the cross the Law was nailed there with Him. He took its curses for disobedience, which should rightfully have fallen on us, upon Himself. In exchange He gave us the blessings of His perfect obedience. We're free! But like slaves who are suddenly freed from bondage, we don't always know how to handle that freedom. We can go hog-wild and indulge the flesh, which is in fact another form of slavery. Or we can climb back into those familiar surroundings and submit ourselves to lists of rules and regulations. Paul told the Galatians to do neither. Resist those who want you to be circumcised, Paul wrote. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love." (5:6) He went on, "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (5:13-14)

Paul told the Galatians (and us) that we must rely on the Holy Spirit who lives within us rather than on our flesh (our human nature with all its reasonings and passions). "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." Paul then went on to list the evidences of living in the flesh and of living in the Spirit.

In verses 19-21 he lists the works of the flesh: "Now the works of the flesh are evident:

• sexual immorality- the translators of the ESV have chosen to use this term for two distinct Greek words. The first is moicheia, which refers to adultery, or sexual relations with someone other than one's spouse after marriage. As its English counterpart indicates, the word means to dilute something with another substance, like putting water into gasoline. Adultery adulterates the marriage bond. The second word is porneia, from which we get our word pornography. It refers to a wide range of sexual acts outside of what God has ordained.
• impurity- cultivating unclean thoughts that lead to unclean actions.
• sensuality- in Greek aselgeia, or not in control of one's sexual desires.
• idolatry- the worship of anything other than the one true God.
• sorcery- pharmakeia, the word from which we get pharmacy. It had more to do with compounding drugs to get high than it did with what we call witchcraft today.
• enmity- from the word for enemy. It means hating others.
• strife- contention, arguing for no reason other than to win the argument.
• jealousy- jealous comes from the same Greek word as zealous. Jealousy is zeal turned toward wanting what others have and away from wanting the things of God.
• fits of anger- one of two words for anger in Greek, this one refers to the type of anger that blows up suddenly and then subsides. 
• rivalries- literally politicking. It's seeking to advance your interests over those of others by gaining the favor of others.
• dissensions- literally a cutting in two. It refers to rebellion against rightful authority and the attempt to draw one faction away from the body.
• divisions- the word from which we get heresy. It means to capture something or someone. Heresy- wrong belief- captures those who fall for it and separates them from Christ's church.
• envy- literally corruption, anything that defiles a person or a place. Envy brings with it a corruption of the person who harbors it.
• drunkenness- intoxication, being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
• orgies- wild parties that went on all night with lots of drinking and sex.
• and things like these- this list is not all-inclusive. There are many more evidences of the works of the flesh- they are too numerous to list.

These are some very ugly words! They also come with some ugly consequences: "I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Yes, we're saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. But that doesn't mean we can live just any old way we please. If we a truly converted, the Holy Spirit will live within us and teach us to shun the flesh and its vices. Anyone who says that they know and love Jesus but whose life exhibits things on the list above is in for a rude awakening. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." It's not enough to talk the talk. We have to walk the walk too.

Paul then goes on to contrast the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. The word fruit is singular. Unlike the gifts of the Spirit, which God bestows on believers in different ways for the benefit of the whole body, every believer should have all of these things evident in their lives: "But the fruit of the Spirit is 

• love- Our English word love is very broad and vague. We love pizza, our pets, our spouses and God. Greek has four words for love. This word is agape, which is a self-giving love, seeking the best for others rather than self. This is the kind of love God has for us and that Jesus commanded us to have for one another. (John 13:34-35)
• joy- gladness, happiness, rejoicing. Knowing that we belong to God and that He loves us overcomes any grumpiness we might feel.
• peace- a restful tranquility. God is in control and I don't have to worry. 
• patience- literally long-suffering. It means putting up with what others throw our way for the sake of Christ.
• kindness- literally pleasant, eager to help.
• goodness- an uprightness and honesty that others see in us.
• faithfulness- God and others can rely on us.
• gentleness- meekness or humility. Jesus said that the meek are blessed because they will inherit the earth.
• self-control- being strong enough to control yourself and your desires.

These words, in contrast to the ones before, are beautiful words. An elderly woman in my last church liked to talk about the beautiful words of the Bible, and there's a good collection of them right here! Paul said, "...against such things there is no law." There are plenty of laws against the works of the flesh: drunk and disorderly conduct, pandering, assault and battery, etc. The Ohio Revised Code is full of laws aimed at curbing these bad outcomes of our fleshly desires. But you won't find one law telling you that you can't be loving, kind, faithful or self-controlled! Paul reminded the Galatians (and us) "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." But just like in a grade b horror film, that dead flesh won't stay dead! It keeps coming back and giving us trouble. We won't always be able to resist temptation. But our God is faithful and will forgive us if we repent and turn back to Him. 

Paul concluded, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another." Our individual lives as disciples of Jesus Christ and the lives of our churches, the Body of Christ, should be marked by the fruit of the Spirit, with no room for the works of the flesh to emerge.

I remember the first congregational meeting I attended as a child. I remember a heated discussion, raised voices and lots of side conversations. I couldn't tell you what it was all about, but it disturbed me. Since then I've seen a lot of that kind of thing in the church. Our enemy the devil works his way into our honest disagreements and convinces us that our opinions must prevail at any cost. The ugliest, meanest and cruelest behavior I've seen wasn't in bars or out on the streets. It's been in churches. I've witnessed it in my own churches and in other churches through working with the presbytery's Committee on Ministry. Presbyterians haven't cornered the market on depravity. I've seen the same thing in other denominations as well. A Baptist pastor once told me of another pastor who learned to hold the lid on his congregational meetings by asking a Deputy Sheriff to park outside! I don't have to tell you that it shouldn't be this way, that this is a terrible witness to give to a watching world. If we'll just learn to step back, take a deep breath and say a prayer before we open our mouths we wouldn't say and do nearly as many fleshly things that hurt others in the church. We don't have to let an offense get under our skin. We don't have to hear and then pass on gossip. We don't have to demonize the people with whom we disagree. We can be peacemakers. We can model kind and respectful behavior in the midst of conflict. Most important of all, we can pray!

Here's a fun song that will help you to memorize the fruit of the Spirit. It wouldn't come up in Blogspot's search engine, so I'm going to try to post it separately. Here's the link in case it doesn't work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxpbThVMdlg