The Fruit of the Spirit 1

13/11/05pm

Dr Kenneth Brownell, Pastor

Galatians 5: 22

Love, joy, peace

1. The context of the battle between the flesh and the Spirit
2. The contrast between the law and the Spirit (vv 19-22)
   • The acts of the sinful nature, which lead to death
   • The fruit of the Spirit, which leads to life and growth
   • Fruit, not fruits, signifying wholeness and integrity

Love

• The primary Christian virtue (1 Corinthians 13: 13)
• Not just love for God but for other Christians (v 26; John 13: 34-35)
• Reflects God’s love for us (John 3: 16; 1 John 4: 16)
• We become loving people by grace, not by law

Joy   

• The believer’s delight in God as his Saviour
• The scriptures are full of exhortations to joy (Psalms; Zechariah 9: 9; Philippians 4:4)
• The scriptures are full of examples of joy (Luke 10: 21; Acts 16: 25; Romans 5: 11)
• We become joyful people by grace, not by law
• We lose our joy if we lose our grip on the gospel (Galatians 4: 15) and lapse into legalism. Jack Miller of Westminster Theological Seminary in the USA has said that legalism substitutes:
  • Loving ourselves for loving others
  • Pride for humility
  • External conformity for a loving relationship
  • Pretence for honesty
  • People’s expectations for God’ approval
  • Burden-giving for burden-sharing
  • The powerlessness of the law for the power of the Spirit
  • Guilt for innocence
  • A hard taskmaster for a gentle Lord
  • Slavery for sonship (Luke 15: 29)
  • Earning God’s love for accepting God’s love
  • The remorse of lingering sin for the joy of repentance
  • Bondage for liberty
  • Self-righteousness for Christ’s righteousness
  • Forcing, demanding and compelling for kindness and gentleness
  • Perverted modification of the law for the law of Christ
  • Unlimited obligation for the freedom to love
  • Biting and devouring in our relationships with each other for encouragement
  • Alienation for relationship

Peace

• The Hebrew word shalom (Numbers 6: 24-26)
• Covers the whole of life
• Jesus gives us this peace himself through his death (John 14: 27, 16: 33)
• We experience this peace through faith (Romans 5: 1, 14: 17; Philippians 4: 7)
• We become peaceful people by grace, not by law

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