Word of Salvation – Vol.32 No.37 – October 1987

 

The Fruit Of The Spirit

 

Sermon by Rev. J. W. Westendorp on Galatians 5:22-23

Reading: John 15:1-16; Galatians 5:16-25

Singing: 321; BoW.Ps       .91; 396; 397; 317

 

Introduction

Gardening is not a chore we all like.  For some it rates as a job left till last.  The grass is cut only when the baby gets lost crossing the lawn.

As a teenager I was never overly fond of mowing the lawns or weeding.  I did it as my assigned chore.  Or to earn a little pocket money.  Only over a long period of time have I come to enjoy gardening.  It’s still a chore… but also a delight and sometimes very satisfying.

For one thing: In the garden we find many illustrations of the Christian faith.  It’s not by accident that Jesus often used parables taken from the land..
– the story of the sower and the seed…
– the parable of the wheat and the weeds.
It isn’t surprising that the Bible often borrows images that spring almost directly out of our own back yards.  Here it’s the image of the fruit tree bearing much fruit.

A]  THE NATURE OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

Paul refers here to nine different fruit of the Spirit.  Fruit that he puts in contrast to the “deeds of the sinful nature” (vs.19).

These nine fruit are the virtues and qualities that mark a God-honouring life.

They have often been broken up into three groups of three…
– They are: love, joy and peace that primarily affect our relationship with God;
– patience, kindness and goodness that particularly affect our relationships among each other;
– faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that especially affect our own personality.

But why does the apostle speak of these things as FRUIT?  Why not “virtues”, or “qualities”, or “God-honouring characteristics”?
For several reasons.  FIRST to tell us something about the nature of these things.

Ask any nutritionist or dietician and they will tell you of the excellent food values of fruit!  Or put a nice shiny apple in front of most toddlers and you’ll soon see how desirable a good piece of fruit is.  Fruit is good quality… and highly desirable for most of us.

In fact Scripture often uses the image of fruit in that sense.  When Genesis tells us the wonders of the Garden of Eden then it mentions every kind of fruit tree.  When Revelation paints a picture of the new creation in all its glory, it tells of a new Eden with a tree of life bearing 12 kinds of fruit.  Fruit is a picture of what is good and wholesome and desirable.

Is it not so that these qualities are the very best virtues found in man?  Are these things such as love… and patience… and kindness… are they not highly desirable?  Do they not appeal to us as a most choice piece of fruit?

In our better moments we wish that we had more of many of these qualities.  And if you do not find these virtues attractive then there is something seriously wrong with you.  Every age has spoken of these as virtues to be desired.  They are like attractive fruit.

It’s interesting – in this respect – that those opposite qualities (v.19)… the “acts of the sinful nature” are not spoken of as “fruit”.  They are evil.  They are to be avoided and not desired.

Sexual immorality, debauchery, witchcraft, hatred, envy, drunkenness.  They may appeal to our baser instincts but they are not good fruit.

Instead there is a certain rottenness and corruption about them.  But love, joy, and peace… are as desirable and as good as any fruit that ever grew.

B]  THE SOURCE OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

There is a SECOND reason why Paul speaks of these qualities as fruit.  That is to draw attention to the way in which they come into being.  And then I want to say two things about that in particular.

As a Christian who loves gardening I am struck time and again… by the beautiful inter-relationship between my work and God’s work.

God is involved… but so am I – I with my work and effort.  But we must do justice to both sides and look at it from both points of view.

So on the other hand, growth and fruit-bearing are totally dependent on God’s work.  You can dig and plant and sow… you can graft and prune and weed all you like… but if God does not give rain and sunshine and growth then it will all be wasted effort.  Somehow in the final analysis it all depends on God to produce fruit.

That is why Paul speaks of these virtues as the fruit OF THE SPIRIT.  In other words, while we work at producing this fruit there is a recognition that sinful and rebellious man cannot produce these qualities in himself by his own effort.

When it comes to OUR efforts and what we can do and achieve… then it is only the “acts of the sinful nature” that we can produce.  When it comes to our achievement – that is where it stops.

So Paul calls these qualities… not just fruit… but FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.  They are a fruit that God the Holy Spirit must produce in us.

The poet put it this way:
Every virtue we possess
And every victory won
And every thought of holiness
Are His and His alone!

For the Christian Church which has just celebrated Pentecost this is a vitally important matter.

At Pentecost we sang together – “O Spirit of Life, O Spirit of God”.  The life-giving Spirit of God was poured out upon the church in a tremendous baptism of the Holy Spirit.

But now one of the ways the Spirit of life works in the church and in us is to produce in us these qualities.  Where there is life, there is also fruit-bearing.  And the life of the Spirit shows itself especially in the fruit of the Spirit.

Fruit-bearing is not something we do.  It is something God the Spirit does in us.  This means that when we see evidences of love in our lives… or gentleness… or self-control… then that is no cause for self-congratulation.  But it is cause for humble thanks for the work of God the Spirit in us.

On the other hand, let’s now not make the mistake of forgetting the human element.  Just imagine that in your opinion, gardening and plants and flowers and fruit-bearing are totally the Lord’s responsibility.  And so you never bother digging the garden over or weeding.  Your fruit trees are never pruned and never sprayed.

By the end of the year the Wilderness Society would seek to have your garden put on the National Heritage Listing.  And fruit production would dramatically decrease as the years went by.

Paul recognises that fruit production is God’s work.  He does it through His Holy Spirit.  But Paul also recognises that human responsibility plays a part in it.

You cannot indulge in all those acts of the sinful nature back in verse 19 and yet expect the Holy Spirit to produce all those lovely virtues in you.

In Galatians 6:7-8 Paul says…

“Do not be deceived!  God cannot be mocked!  A man reaps what he sows.  He who sows to please the sinful nature, will from the sinful nature reap destruction.  The one who sows to please the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

There is a principle at work in the plant kingdom.  If I want to harvest a plot of cabbages I must sow cabbage seed.  It would be absurd to sow radish seed and expect a crop of potatoes.  You reap what you sow!

That same principle applies also to human behaviour.  If the Holy Spirit is to produce the good fruit in your life then you must plant good seed.

There is an old proverb that puts it well:
Sow a thought… and you reap an act.
Sow an act… and you reap a habit.
Sow a habit… and you reap a character.
Sow a character… and you reap a destiny.

This is an inflexible rule that you cannot alter.  That is why Paul says: God is not mocked!

In spiritual things, what we sow is what has to do with our lifestyle.  It has to do with the kind of friendships you develop.  And the kind of music you listen to and the films you watch.  God is not mocked – you will reap exactly what you sow.

So the fruit of the Spirit is produced only in those who decide to plant good seed.  When we strive to use the means of grace that God has given us: listening to His word, participating in the sacraments and seeking to submit to Him in an obedient lifestyle.

C]  THE PURPOSE OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.

The other reason why Paul speaks of these virtues as “FRUIT” is to indicate the very naturalness of the whole process.

First of all it is perfectly natural that good trees produce good fruit.  Obviously, dead trees don’t produce any fruit at all.  So too it is pointless to talk about these fruit of the Spirit in relation to those who are not Christians.

Not that we don’t see good qualities in non-Christian people.  Of course we do.  The Spirit who works in the Christian also works in the world.  But we cannot talk about their good qualities in terms of FRUIT.  As something wholesome and pleasing to God.

We talk about the fruit of the Spirit only in those in whom there is the life of Jesus.  And it is perfectly natural that those who have His life also produce fruit that pleases Him.  Just as dead trees do not produce fruit so too, the spiritually dead do not produce the fruit of the Spirit.

However this is also very natural in that it in fact involves “a process”.  A process that involves growth.  It does not just happen immediately.

You do not come outside one nice summer day and suddenly find juicy, ripe peaches on the tree that were not there yesterday.  No, that involves a whole process.  It began in spring with a bud then a blossom then a tiny fertilised fruit.  And only after many, many weeks of sunshine and rain do we finish up with that juicy, ripe peach.

BUT… it is also true that no matter how small and hard that peach may be it is still a peach… still fruit.  It just hasn’t fully developed yet.  And so too with the fruit of the Spirit.  Those virtues may be there, and yet only in a very, very small way.

There is joy… but not too much of it.  And peace… but it is often broken.  The fruit of self-control is there… and yet so often so little of it too.  It is like hard green fruit that is a long way from maturity.

Indeed we could say that in this life the fruit of the Spirit will never fully ripen.  The mature and perfectly ripe fruit will be there only in glory.

It’s important for us to remember that when we look at other people.  Sometimes we can be very critical of a lack of fruit in the lives of some of our brothers and sisters.  So-and-so just doesn’t have any self-control!  Joe Blow hasn’t got an ounce of patience.  And Fred is an old pickle puss who seems to have no joy in his life.

The production of the fruit of the Spirit is a process.  We know that in our own lives there are many areas where the fruit is a long way from ripe.  But we need to remember that too when we see the faults of our fellow Christians.

The fact that this is a process leads us to consider one other matter: That is the whole PURPOSE of this fruit of the Spirit.  Why does the Holy Spirit produce this in us?

Obviously: Growth occurs to make us better people.  Better in God’s eyes.  There is no doubt about that.  A lack of those virtues is not pleasing to the Lord.  That is why he gave us the Spirit – to produce these things in us.  It is certainly the Lord’s wish for us to grow and so produce fruit.

However these fruit also help us grow in inter-personal relationships.  A person who has absolutely no tact… who rides rough-shod over other people’s feelings is going to have problems in relationships with other people.

Yet as the Spirit produces in him the fruit of gentleness, problems are overcome and relationships begin to blossom.  When the Spirit produces in us the beautiful fruit of the Spirit we become more attractive to others around is too.

So the purpose of the fruit of the Spirit is for our Christian growth.  In fact Jesus specifically stated that he chose His followers for the very purpose of bearing fruit.  “I chose you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.” (John 15:16).

So we now see this fruit of the Spirit in this way: That it is not just an optional extra… something nice and pleasant, but which really doesn’t matter all that much.  Nice if you have some fruit… but too bad if you don’t.

Far from it!  Jesus put it very bluntly: “Every branch that does not bear fruit is cut off and burned.”  The very reason why we are Christians is to bear fruit.  And that fruit-bearing is not first of all doing lots of things for Jesus.  It isn’t first of all a matter of serving well as Cadet Counsellor or being a very active Calvinette leader or a very busy Elder.  It is first of all a matter of this fruit of the Spirit being seen in us.

So all of us constantly need to ask ourselves: How are we measuring up in these 9 areas of our life?  Is there that fruit and is that fruit growing and ripening?

Let me put all this another way.  Earlier we said that these 9 qualities will never fully ripen here and now.  For all of us there will always be room for more growth.  You and I must keep on sowing good seed so that we may also reap in due course.  And we must keep on praying for the Spirit to produce these virtues in us.

But there was one man in whom all these qualities were perfectly present.  In fact when you add up all these virtues then what you finish up with is really nothing less than a snapshot of the character of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just think about that a moment.  In Galatians 5:22-23 we actually have a picture of the character of Jesus.  And not only a portrait of Jesus but also a portrait of a Christ-like life.

That in fact is why Paul speaks of FRUIT in the singular.  Not fruits.  Not nine different fruits.  But the one fruit of the Spirit that shows itself in these nine ways.  Because all these are simply the life of Jesus being reproduced in us through the Holy Spirit.

That means then that the purpose of the fruit of the Spirit is to make us more like Jesus.  Jesus died for our sins, to forgive us and give us a new start in life.  But now through His Spirit He also seeks to make us more like Himself daily.

On one occasion Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit came He would come for the purpose of bringing glory to Jesus.

And now we see that this is true also in this area of life.  The Holy Spirit is creating in men and women for whom Jesus died the image and likeness of Christ their Saviour.

That makes it vitally important that we on our part become good spiritual gardeners.  Cultivate in your life these virtues!  Work for that and pray for that!  For Jesus said: “By this is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

Amen.