Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
It has always been the goal of every believer in Jesus Christ to become more like Him. Otherwise what is the point? All students who are taught by their master must have as their intended goal, to become more like the master to whom they follow. But how can those who are imperfect become like one so perfect?
When a person who follows Jesus reads the words that He spoke, understands how He treated people, witnesses the compassion and wisdom that He has, it is natural to desire those qualities for one’s self.
When the church of Jesus Christ first began in the Book of Acts chapter 2, they are said to have possessed many of these wonderful qualities, most of which were practiced and directed at the other members of the church.
Acts 2:42-47 “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.“
Can you imagine the members of the church today selling all their possessions and distributing them to all those who have need? When I first considered this thought, it made me realize that something has happened to the church in the last few centuries that has caused it to become different from this church that we read about here in Acts chapter 2.
When Paul wrote to Timothy in the Book of 2 Timothy, he warned him that in the last days, the hearts of people on the earth would drastically change.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.“
What is most shocking about Paul’s statement is that he appears to be speaking to those who have come into the church. At the end of verse 5 Paul says that they “have a form of godliness but deny it’s power.” It appears that the Holy Spirit is warning us that in the time just before Jesus returns to the earth at the Rapture, there will be a marked change in the church from those who openly exhibit the “fruit of the spirit”, to those who clearly exhibit the “works of the flesh”.
Galatians 5:19 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 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.”
Perhaps you have some personal experience with the treatment of one believer towards another in your own church or fellowship.
In my own life, I have seen first hand how some who claim to be following Jesus will turn and devour another who is following Jesus. The plague of gossip and backbiting in the church has reached epidemic proportions. Today we do not call it “gossip”, we simply tell another believer that we have something to “share” with them. It sounds almost spiritual to tell someone that you want to “share something with them”. Then we take the opportunity and begin to speak things about a person that we would never say if they were standing there with us.
It is always gossip when we speak in a negative way about someone who is not present. No matter what we may think our motivation is. If we speak negatively about a person who is not there to answer for themselves, we have gossiped against them.
This should give us a moment of great pause because the Lord has an opinion about this sort of behavior. In the Book of Proverbs the Lord listed six things that He hates and a seventh that is an abomination to Him:
Proverbs 6:16-19 “These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.“
Did you notice something quite compelling about these 4 verses? They all have something to do with gossip.
A proud Look: When someone speaks in a negative way about another, it is always from a foundation of pride. One person believes that he is superior to another, so he must make a negative comment about him. When a person is truly humble in spirit, they would never speak in an negative way about another individual.
A Lying tongue: The fundamental principle in gossip is that we want to tell our view of another person. The fact that these things that we are saying are not completely true is evidenced by our wanting to to say them to someone else, without that other person being there.
Hands that shed innocent blood: We may not intend that we should cause grievous harm to another person, but whenever we say anything negative about a person, it always kills something in that persons life that they can never fully regain: Their reputation. Once we have brought negative information about someone into the mind of another, from that moment on, they and everyone that they continue to tell this information to, will feel less respect or honor for the one we are talking person. Once we have maligned someone, they can never regain their former reputation, we have shed innocent blood.
Feet that are swift in running to evil: I suppose that it is a fact of our fallen nature that when we feel threatened, or jealous or slighted ourselves, we cannot wait to tell someone else about it. It is very rare that when a person feels the emotion of hurt that they will just sit quietly and contemplate their pain alone or before the Lord. Most always, we are swift to tell our thoughts and feelings to some other person. Whenever we communicate hurt feelings or anger that we have for someone, in the passion of that pain, we will say things we ought not to say.
A false witness who speaks lies: I brought up this point in “A Lying tongue”. If the things that we wanted to say about someone to another person were true, then we would not mind if that person were present when we said them. The fact that we would go privately to an individual or group of people, without the person who is the topic of the conversation, almost always means that we are not telling the complete truth. Any partial truth is still a lie.
One who sows discord among bretheren: In may not be an intended purpose of gossip, that we create hard feelings amongst people in the church, but it is always the result. Whenever one person speaks negatively about another in the church, it always creates “Discord”. The definition of Discord is “A lack of Harmony or Agreement among people.” If we examine John chapter 17, we see the true “Lord’s Prayer” as Jesus is praying to the Father.
In Jesus prayer, He is asking the Father that He would cause all of us who believe in Him, to be One. Jesus asks the Father to make all of us one, even as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are One. The only way that anyone can be one is if they are of the same mind and in agreement. When we speak negatively about another believer, we are creating an environment where the goal of being one is impossible. In essence, we are working against Jesus kingdom to sabotage it into ruin. This is why this seventh principle of Proverbs 6:19 is an “Abomination to the Lord”. The Lord absolutely hates it when we gossip against another and thereby destroy unity within the body of Christ.
Gossip destroys the work of Jesus Christ in His church to make us all One. It is a clear work of the flesh and one that is present in these final days before Jesus comes for His church.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Everything begins with Love. Not the kind of love that the world understands, but a different kind of love that has to do with sacrifice.
In the world, we say that we “love someone” or “I am in Love” with this person, when our feelings are strong and emotional whenever we are near or think of this person. This kind of love originates inside us and makes us feel good. Not that being in love is wrong or not desirable, but if this is as far as our love takes us, it is lacking and far from the kind of Love that Jesus intends that we have for each other.
God’s love for us went far beyond the feelings or emotions that He could obtain by being in a relationship with us. the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are completely self existent and have no need of anything else in the Universe to be happy or completed.
The purpose of God creating man was not as some Bible commentators have claimed: so that He might have fellowship with man. This would imply that somehow God was not complete or satisfied with the relationship He had in the Father, Son and Spirit, He needed more. The purpose of the creation of man was so that God could be glorified in the universe He created and that His Universe would forever see a visible and eternal example of His love.
Long before the Lord made man, He already knew that man would sin and rebel against Him. Knowing that man would become a sinner and be forever lost and doomed to eternal punishment, Jesus volunteered in advance to be the Savior of all men, even before the first man walked on the earth.
The Bible says that the angels are watching us humans very closely to understand through man’s fall and God’s sacrifice on the Cross, what the Love, Mercy and Grace of God are truly like.
1 Peter 1:12 “To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.“
Even the evil spiritual hosts did not really understand what Jesus death on the Cross meant:
1 Corinthians 2:8 “which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
At the Cross, the truest definition of what Love is, was demonstrated:
1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
The Love that is a fruit of the Spirit is where we begin to do for other sacrificially. This kind of love has nothing to do with how it makes us feel, it depends solely on the needs of another and our desire to meet that need.
Jesus saw that we were helpless in our sin and that if He did not come and die for us, no one would make it to heaven. The love that God demonstrated to us is that HE GAVE US His only Son. Love in action, Grace demonstrated by the Life of Jesus being taken way so that we could have life.
When we learn what this kind of love is really all about and begin to put it into practice in our life, then we are ready to begin to see the other gifts of the Spirit.
The following is the natural progression of the Gifts of the Spirit in the life of someone who had been Born Again by the Spirit of God”
1. Once we understand what God’s love is all about, then we can begin personally to LOVE sacrificially. The results of learning to love in this new way is that we now have true JOY.
2. Now that we have true JOY that is not dependent on external circumstances, we can finally obtain genuine PEACE that comes from knowing that we are right with God, our sins are forgiven and the reason for our life is to know and love God.
3. Empowered with God’s Love, His Joy and the Peace that comes from a right relationship with Him, we have the ability to be patient or LONGSUFFERING with people. There is absolutely no way that anyone can truly be patient with other people if they have not first experienced Gods Love, Joy, and Peace, in that exact order.
4. As we are able to truly love people by being patient with them in all of their own struggles with sin and the power that the flesh has over a person, we can begin to exhibit the next fruit of the spirit: “KINDNESS”. Kindness is the ability to do good things for people, not when they deserve them, but most especially when they do not deserve them. In this definition of Kindness, is the intended purpose of Grace. Grace is unmerited favor. Those who do not really merit that anything good should be done for them, become the objects of extraordinarily good gifts.
5. Following the natural growth and progression of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, and Kindness, comes GOODNESS upon the life of the person who is in a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Goodness is the outflow of good things in the life of a someone. As you begin to love people sacrificially with God’s Love, and they can see that you have genuine joy, peace, patience and kindness, the by-product of these that came before, is a life of goodness. There is an counterfeit goodness that the world has that comes from self motivated good works. Most of the good works done by people in the world flow out from a heart seeking personal recognition and acclaim. Even when a person puts on a show of false humility, they are hiding the deep seated desire for glory for themselves. When a person who has had their life changed by their new relationship with Jesus Christ, the goodness that now flows from their life is more often motivated by a desire to see Jesus glorified and others come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord.
6. FAITHFULNESS is exhibited by doing what you have promised. It is also seen in not ever quitting once you make the commitment to follow Jesus. The criteria that Jesus will use in determining your rewards in heaven is not how successful you are while on earth, but how faithful you were to the tasks He committed to you. The reward for faithfulness from the Lord is the same for the person who had a huge ministry to millions, as to the one who only had a few to minister to during his or her life. It is an earthly principle that says that the more recognition we have in the world, the larger the reward. In the realm of the Spirit, it is the motivation, the heart and the desire that are judged in determining the reward from the Lord, not the size of the ministry. In reality, no man can have anything in their life unless they receive it from the Lord. Every gift, opportunity and task that is given to us comes from the Lord. The work He gives us to do is based upon His advanced knowledge of those gifts and abilities that He placed in us when He created us. When we use what we have been given to glorify Him, and do so with our only motivation being to lift up the name of Jesus and remain anonymous ourselves, then we will receive our reward from the Lord when He comes for us.
7. It should be obvious by now that what has been happening in this brief study of the Gifts of the Spirit. Someone may say that they want to be more gentle or have greater self control, but these qualities cannot be obtained until the previous seven gifts of the spirit are learned. It seems to be the intended purpose of the Holy Spirit that we understand that the reason these first seven gifts of the Spirit are listed in this order is that they should be learned and gained in this order. Nothing is in the Bible by accident, everything is where it is by supernatural design and purpose. GENTLENESS is not a quality that can be imitated. Either a person has acquired the quality of gentleness by the time and practice of all seven gifts before, or they will not have the genuine gift of Gentleness. Gentleness is the ability to be soft in a very hard and sharp world. Gentleness is often mistaken for weakness. Another name for Gentleness is Meekness. Meekness or Gentleness is “Power under control”. Jesus was the most gentle man who ever walked the face of the earth, yet he possessed the power to speak the Universe into existence or speak to the elements of the Universe and melt them all with a fervent heat. A gentle person will use their great power within to build up, encourage, instruct and bless. The outflow of all the other seven fruits of the Spirit before is a gentle spirit.
8. SELF CONTROL is the ultimate goal of learning all the other eight gifts of the Spirit. A person who knows how to control himself is a person who has been thoroughly trained by the Lord. One of the qualifications for being a person who is Self Controlled is that they must have gone through many, many trials, hurts, disappointments and failures. Paul was given revelation and understanding of God’s Word because of all the things that he suffered as a result of preaching Jesus gospel. The book of Hebrews states that although Jesus is the Son of God, He learned obedience by the things that He suffered. In order to obtain the quality of Self Control, first the other eight gifts of the Spirit must be in practice. At this point, and after many years of personal struggle in trials and pain, a person begins to exhibit the quality of Self Control.
In these final days before the return of Jesus, it is necessary for the church of Jesus Christ to again take a fresh look at, and a renewed effort, to put into practice these nine fruits of the Spirit. Most of us will find that these nine fruits and the acquisition of them will take an entire lifetime. The perfection of these nine qualities will never happen while in our earthly bodies, but an attempt to put them into practice in our daily life is an absolute and necessary goal for every person who desires to follow Jesus.
Rob Robinson
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