The Holy Spirit – 08 - Fruit
Sunday
Morning Bible Study
October
20, 2013
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church
loved?
Chuck’s Memorial Service – Next Sunday afternoon, 5-8pm, webcast here (no Ustream)
Kids’ Harvest Party – play promo clip
In talking about telling the good guys from the bad guys, Jesus said,
(Mt 7:16 NKJV) You will
know them by their fruits…
We’re going to wrap up our study on the Holy Spirit this morning with a
little “fruit inspection”.
Galatians 5:16-18 Walking in the Spirit
:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and
the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that
you do not do the things that you wish.
:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not
under the law.
:16 Spirit … flesh
We’re going to see two terms being used in our passage.
Spirit: The Holy Spirit in me
Before being born again, we were “spiritually” dead.
If you have given your life to Jesus Christ, then there is a new person
that has taken up residence inside of you, the Holy Spirit.
flesh: my sin nature
It’s that part of me that just loves to do wrong, that just loves to be
bad.
It’s something that is inside every one of us, even after we are born
again.
17 the flesh lusts against the Spirit
:17 lusts – epithumeo – verb for
mod "lust" (vs 16)
Paul is describing an internal battle that takes place in each of us.
With our battle, it’s not just with “our father, Darth Vader”, but the
fight is even closer. The fight takes place inside us.
Paul described the struggle like this:
(Ro 7:19 NLT) I want to
do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it
anyway.
:16 Walk in the Spirit, and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh
:16 walk – peripateo
– to walk around, conduct oneself, behave, imitate
Present active imperative. Continuous action. Imperative requires obedience.
:16 lust – epithumia – deep desire, lust
:16 fulfill – teleo – complete, make happen, obey
aorist active subjunctive
:16 you shall not
The phrase translates a “double
negative” (ou me), the strongest way to express a
negative. You will absolutely NOT …
The word “walk” is an “imperative”, a command.
You and I are faced with a command by God to “walk” in the Spirit. The
choice is ours to either obey or rebel against the command.
It is in the present tense, meaning that we are to continually “walk” in
the Spirit.
Paul is promising that if we will learn to “walk in the Spirit”, then we
will absolutely NOT obey what our own sin nature wants to do.
Lesson
What is walking?
Walking is about taking one step after another. Over and over
again.
Taking “steps” is about making choices. I decide where I want to go, and I
put one foot ahead of the other and take a step.
One step alone doesn’t define walking. Many steps define walking.
If I am “walking in the Spirit”, then I am walking in the Spirit’s
Presence – His presence is all around me
Path – He has a path, a direction He wants me to take. I walk in that path.
Power – I am walking with His assistance, by His power.
We’ve talked about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and
learning to “yield” to the work of the Spirit in my life.
As I make one choice after another while yielding to the Holy Spirit, I
find myself “walking” in the Spirit.
Lesson
Walking Lessons
For the sake of my health, I have been doing a lot of walking over the last
1 ½ years. As I was thinking about our passage this morning, I began to realize
that I actually know a little about walking.
1. It gets easier
When I first started walking, I was in such bad shape that all I could
handle was a few blocks before being winded. Now I walk 3-4 miles a day.
You may find it difficult to yield to the Spirit at first. Keep at it. It
gets easier.
2. Every day
For me and my health, I’ve learned that I need to walk every day. I rarely
take off a day.
Sometimes it’s dark out when I walk.
Sometimes it’s beautiful with awesome views and sunrises.
Sometimes it’s cold, rainy, or foggy.
But I still walk.
Paul talked about walking “continually” in the Spirit. Sometimes life is
easier than at other times. Sometimes life is quite hard.
But I still walk.
3. Stay on the path
One place I like to walk is up at Panorama Park on top of Acacia Hill. It’s
a rare place in Fullerton where there is a trail that goes through natural
brush. I can tell that some people like to try to go off the trail. It looks a
little prickly to me.
The Holy Spirit has some definite choices He wants me to
make. Life’s walk is much easier if you stay on His trail.
Sometimes there is more than one path to take. And I’ve found that it’s
okay to take either path as long as both are on the trail.
Sometimes there is more than one choice that you can make
and still be doing the right thing. Don’t worry about those choices. Either one
is good.
4. Fellow walkers
Over the last year and a half I have begun to realize that I’m not the only
one out there walking.
There are about a half dozen people who walk on the same streets that I
walk, and they walk just about every day.
How do I know? Because I seem them on
the path every so often.
There are also lots of other people who are occasional walkers. I will see
lots of people out when there’s a holiday. There are plenty of people who only
walk once a week, like on Saturdays.
But it’s the daily walkers that I’ve got the most in common with. We smile
at each other. I know some of their names. One couple walks with their dog and
pick up trash at the park. Another fellow is retired from the FAA and is
married to a Hungarian gal. Another fellow likes to walk backward. Some are
faster than I, some are slower, but they are all fellow travelers. I don’t see
some people, but I can see their footprints (like those in history who have
walked before us).
If you choose to walk in the Spirit, you will find that there will be
plenty of people who won’t walk at all. But
when you walk, you won’t be alone.
How do I know if I’m walking in the Spirit? How do I know if I’m on the
wrong path?
5:19-21 Flesh Works
:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which
are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
:20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions,
jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
:21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell
you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who
practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
:19 the works of the flesh
When I choose to get off the path of the Spirit and follow my sin nature, these
are the things that will happen.
:19 evident – phaneros – apparent, manifest; plainly recognized
No matter what we think, these aren’t “hidden” things in our lives. These
are things that we are well aware of in our own lives. Others are probably
aware of them too.
Paul’s list falls into four groups:
Sensual
:19 adultery – moicheia – adultery
Adultery is having sex with someone who is not your spouse, or having sex
with someone else’s spouse. Jesus said that if you just look on a woman to lust
after her, you’ve committed adultery (Mat. 5:28)
(Mt 5:28 NKJV) But I say to you
that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery
with her in his heart.
:19 fornication – porneia – illicit sexual intercourse
It’s a broader word than “adultery”. It includes ANY kind of sex outside of
marriage. It involves sex before marriage. I believe it involves pornography. If
you are having sex with anyone who is not your spouse, you are committing
fornication.
I am greatly concerned about explosion of pornography available through the
internet. It’s something that can be accessed from anywhere by anyone at any
time.
I’m concerned about our kids getting access to pornography and we are not
even aware of it happening. Pornography messes with your mind big time. It
changes the way you look at and treat people around you. It sends seratonin
into your brain, like heroin, and will indeed lead to sexual addiction. I am a
bit afraid of where our society is heading with the flood of pollution that is
pouring into the minds of not just our adults, but our youth and our kids.
If you aren’t taking steps to monitor this in your own life as well as your
family, you better take this seriously. If you need help with this, I have
resources for you to draw on that will get you out of this mess, but you need
to ask for help.
:19 uncleanness – akatharsia – uncleanness; the impurity of lustful
living
:19 lewdness – aselgeia – unbridled lust,
outrageousness, shamelessness
I’m sorry if I’m going to offend you, but my friends every commercial I see
on TV for Las Vegas is about tempting you with lewdness. Be careful my friends.
Idolatrous
:20 idolatry – eidolotreia – the worship of false gods, idolatry
:20 sorcery – pharmakeia – the use or the administering of drugs
The ancients used to use drugs to create an altered state of mind,
sometimes as a way of communing with their gods.
We are much more sophisticated than that.
It is not wrong to take your doctor prescribed drugs. It is the illegal
drugs we’re concerned about.
Relational
:20 hatred – echthra – hatred
Sometimes Christians like to say they have “righteous indignation” towards
others, as if to say that it’s okay. Be careful here. Hatred is a dangerous
thing.
Jesus equated anger with murder
(Mat. 5:22)
(Mt 5:22 NKJV) —22 But I
say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in
danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell
fire.
:20 contentions – eris – contention, strife, wrangling
It’s someone who is always fighting with others. Is there always tension between you and
others? Maybe the problem is you.
:20 jealousies – zelos– an envious and contentious
rivalry, jealousy
:20 outbursts of wrath – thumos – angry, heat, anger boiling up and
soon subsiding again
Someone who explodes with anger.
:20 selfish ambitions – eritheia – electioneering or intriguing for
office
The person who is scheming to get ahead of others.
:20 dissensions – dichostasia (“twice” + “standing”) – dissension,
division
Contentions, jealousy, and dissensions were the same Greek words Paul used
to describe the carnal (fleshly) Corinthian church. (1Cor. 3:3)
(1 Co 3:3 NKJV) for you are still carnal. For where there are envy,
strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere
men?
:20 heresies – hairesis – dissensions arising from diversity of opinions and aims
Both dissensions and heresies have to do with dividing the church.
:21 envy – phthonos – envy
Sometimes we want what other people have. We can even be envious of the
“gifts” that other people have.
:21 murders – phonos – murder
Drunken
:21 drunkenness – methe (“meth-”) – intoxication; drunkenness
The Bible doesn’t condemn drinking alcohol, but it does condemn
drunkenness.
:21 revelries – komos – a drunken party
:21 whose who practice such things will
not inherit the kingdom of God
practice – prasso – to
exercise, practice, to be busy with, carry on
Present active participle
Lesson
The Warning
Paul says that those who make it their constant practice, their manner of
life, demonstrating these things are in danger.
They are in danger of not going to heaven.
If you have never surrendered your life to Jesus, you are helpless in this
struggle against the sin nature. You are powerless to do anything.
God wants you to know that He loves you and wants to help you out of your
mess.
God sent His Son for the purpose of dying on a cross, to die in your place,
to pay for your sins, so that you could be forgiven.
If you will make a choice today to turn your life around and open your
heart to Jesus, you will be saved.
For those of you who have trusted in Jesus, you will know that these things
don’t just disappear in your life, but once you surrender to Jesus, you now
have the ability to do something about these things.
As you grow in the Lord, there ought to be a constant refining of these
things. God will help these things to become weaker and weaker in your life.
They never completely go away. Your sin nature is with you until the day
you die. But things do change.
If you are a “carnal” believer whose life still looks like these things,
then I have a serious message for you.
It’s time to get serious about God.
It may be that you never truly gave your life to Jesus like you claimed you
did.
If could be that you have backslidden, fallen away from the Lord, and you
are in a dangerous place.
Whether you want to say that a person who is like this has
lost their salvation or has never had it, I’d rather not argue over how you
want to describe it.
The message is still the same – you are in danger. You are
fooling yourself if you think you don’t need to change.
5:22-23 Spirit Fruit
:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there
is no law.
:22 the fruit of the Spirit
Fruit isn’t something that a vine has to work at, it just happens
naturally.
When I choose to walk in the path
of the Holy Spirit, things will begin to happen in my life.
:22 love – agape – love, unconditionally choosing to give value to another
This is the best kind of love. It’s the ability to love the unlovable. When the Spirit is flowing in us, we love
others like God loves us.
:22 joy – chara – joy, gladness
Joy is one of the chief characteristics that separate the Christian from
the world.
Illustration
A Hindu trader in India once asked a missionary, “What do you put on your
face to make it shine?”
The missionary didn’t know how to respond until he began to realize that
the man was talking about his joy.
He explained to the man that it wasn’t something he puts on the outside, but
something that comes from within.
:22 peace – eirene – peace, peace between people, peace inside my heart
It’s the opposite of contentions or dissensions.
It’s the opposite of anxiety.
For some of us, we spend our lives battling anxious thoughts. The Holy
Spirit wants to produce peace in our hearts.
:22 longsuffering – makrothumia – patience, endurance, slowness in
avenging wrongs
This is especially patience with difficult people. This is the opposite of
“outbursts of wrath”.
Illustration
There was a truck driver who dropped in at an all-night restaurant in
Broken Bow, Nebraska. The waitress had just served him when three swaggering,
leather-jacketed motorcyclists—of the Hell’s Angels type—entered and rushed up
to him, apparently spoiling for a fight. One grabbed the hamburger off his
plate; another took a handful of his French fries; and the third picked up his
coffee and began to drink it. The trucker did not respond as one might expect. Instead,
he calmly rose, picked up his check, walked to the front of the room, put the
check and his money on the cash register, and went out the door. The waitress
followed him to put the money in the till and stood watching out the door as
the big truck drove away into the night. When she returned, one of the cyclists
said to her, “Well, he’s not much of a man, is he?” She replied, “I can’t
answer as to that, but he’s not much of a truck driver. He just ran over three
motorcycles out in the parking lot.”
Longsuffering is not like that guy.
:22 kindness – chrestotes – kindness, doing good things for others
:22 goodness – agathosune – uprightness of heart and life, goodness
This is pure goodness, perhaps the opposite of “unclean”
:22 faithfulness – pistis – faith, faithfulness
This is a person who is “faithful”, someone who can be relied upon.
:23 gentleness – prautes – mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness
This doesn’t mean “weakness”. This is a word used to describe a powerful
horse who has been broken by the cowboy and now is
safe to be around. It is about strength under control.
Illustration
:23
self-control – egkrateia (“in” + “power”) – self-control
This is about having the power inside you to do what is right, to master
your own desires and lusts.
This is about the ability to say “no” to yourself
and “yes” to God.
Lesson
Walk in the Spirit
We’ve talked a lot about the Holy Spirit the last few weeks. I hope that you have been encouraged to learn
to yield more and more to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.
But don’t stop at yielding one time on a Sunday. That’s just one step. Take another step. And another. And another. Head
down the path.