Sermon Tone Analysis

Verse 24 starts with an ‘and’ following on from the fruit of the Spirit so this is connected and so today we will actually complete the Fruit of the Spirit.

It also has a ‘have’, as in have crucifed taking for granted that the Christian, the one who belongs to Jesus, has actually already done verse 24 and so must have formed part of the Gospel message that was preached.

Last week we saw in Paul’s reasoning with Felix that he talked of righteousness, self-control and the judgement to come.

Here we discover another aspect that must have formed the discipleship…the crucifixion of ourselves.

This is repentance.

Verse 24 seems to be the repeat of an earlier statement of Paul in this letter:

Part of this self-crucifixion is that we are no longer controlled by the flesh but now are controlled by the Spirit.

This crucifixion means that we are no longer controlled by those things that control the world, that is, our desires and passions.

All have been subjected to Christ.

And you thought the sermon on self-control was over!

But this is where it starts.

It starts in realising that when Jesus was crucified all those years ago we also were crucified with Him.

We, or to personalise it, ‘I’ am crucified and that means that I am no longer alive.

Do the dead feel anything?

Do the dead sin?

Do the dead get carried away by passions and desires?

But, of course, we have been made alive albeit in Jesus.

So, when it says we have crucified our passions and desires it is so.

We have been made pure, we have been made holy, we have been made righteous, we have been made alive, we have been made to sit in Heavenly places, we have been forgiven, we have been justified, we have been made complete, we have passed from death to life, and among other things we have been made into, we are also a temple for God’s Spirit to reside in.

This should change the whole perspective of who we are and what we do.

Verse 25 says:

It is patently obvious that the first part of this verse is true if we have understood what has just been said.

But the second part seems to me to be a choice.

This is the difference between what we actually are and what we actually do.

It should automatically follow that since we are alive in the Spirit, and that God, by His Spirit lives in us, then we should also be walking in the Spirit.

But what does this walking in the Spirit mean?

Paul does not mean for this to be abstract but to be concrete, to be practical.

Walking in the Spirit has to do with the fruit of the Spirit.

Let us check this out more carefully.

Let us hear what the NIV says about this verse:

When I was young I was in Sea Cadets and we were taught how to march and how to change direction with left or right wheel and when to stop.

Keeping in step is crucial for uniformity and to stop tripping yourself or someone else up.

If you watch a parade it becomes very obvious if one person is not in step or out of step…it is an accident waiting to happen.

The Greek word for this word translated walk or step is literally: be drawn up in a line.

It is to agree with, to conform, to follow.

[Polycarp of the 2nd Century translated this verse as ‘follow the Spirit’.]

Who is it that the Spirit glorifies?

It is Jesus.

To keep in step with the Spirit then is to be a follower in the footsteps of Jesus.

It is when we do not serve ourselves but seek to glorify Jesus in the lives we have been given.

If we surrender to God’s Spirit then we will also have the power to overcome the temptations that come our way.

We have been set free from a life of sin and now it is time to start to live like it.

The fact is the more we want to follow in Jesus’ footsteps the more we will be tempted…though you’d think the opposite would be true…but this is because we have a mortal enemy in the devil who is doing everything he can to discredit us and bring us down and stop us from being effective for God.

The most surprising truth for us is that we don’t have to sin…we have the power to say ‘no’ as indeed I read this morning:

This is a great truth but perhaps we have got out of step.

Then we have to surrender again to God’s Spirit and let Him direct us.

What have we been given the Holy Spirit for?

What does Scripture say?

This is the answer.

We have been given the Holy Spirit so that we can speak in tongues and use other gifts of the Spirit.

Er, no!

We have been given the Holy Spirit to witness to others about Jesus.

Remember that the number one goal of the Spirit is to glorify Jesus.

He wants us talking about Him; wants us living for Him.

A Spirit-led life is what this is all about.

If we don’t want to do this then we have not yet surrendered whole-heartedly to His will.

It means we are more consumed by the world than by Jesus.

What do we think Heaven is?

It is a place where God’s will is perfectly done.

Is this not what we heard this morning?! So, because Heaven is my home I will prepare myself for that day – might as well get used to it.

And this is why we needed to revise what we have heard about the fruit of the Spirit.

Why it is important for us to go over it time and again.

The Spirit gives us power to live.

There He guides us, directs us and lifts us above our carnal desires.

He expects us to submit to His will and He will lead us from where we are to where we ought to be.

But let me remind you that at the beginning of the series on the fruit of the Spirit that Paul said that we do not do the things we want, that we are in a battle, a battle that we must win.

It is plain from the list that we find earlier in the Chapter that there are many things that can blight our lives, whether it is

· sexual sins or

· idolatry; which are the things that take the place of God in our lives whether family, possessions, jobs, holidays, etc;

· or other things that blight our lives and the lives of others such as hatred and discord such as jealousy which is a form of anger, selfish ambition, gossiping, dissensions, envy.

Whilst even Paul’s list is not comprehensive (and he mentioned other things too that I have not covered today) he kind of covers the unmentioned by the phrase ‘and the like’.

These are not sins of Christians are they?!

We have to be careful that we do not make any of these a way of life.

But instead the fruit of the Spirit should be more and more evident.

What were the fruit of the Spirit again?

Love: Mentioned first because it is the foremost evidence of the Spirit’s work in our lives.

God is love and those who are His most also show love – if we do not demonstrate love to Christians we are still in darkness.

Love is what drove God to send His Son to us and love caused them to send the Spirit to us.

Love is a decision, it is unconditional.

Joy: The joy of the Lord is our strength.

We discovered that joy becomes evident in trials and pain.

It was for the joy set before Him that Jesus endured the cross.

We are to count it all joy when we fall into trials.

It is to rejoice in the Lord always.

Joy is the attitude of gratitude.

Peace: Peace comes from knowing God is in control.

The peace that passes understanding comes when we make our requests known to God.

It is reconciliation between God and us and between each other.

Recall that I spoke about Spafford whose four daughters died on a ship on its way to Cardiff and in the midst of it he wrote the hymn: It is well with my soul.

Patience: Jesus, with His Father showed incredible patience towards us and therefore we are compelled to be patient with others.

Patience has to do with forgiveness: God has forgiven us so much and we are expected to forgive our fellow believers from the bottom of our hearts.

Kindness: This is a deep concern for others.

We are to be kind to our neighbours.

Kindness has to do with mercy.

Goodness: Moral and spiritual excellence.

It is uprightness.

The opposite of goodness is evilness.

We can overcome evil by doing good.

Faithfulness: Trustworthiness and loyalty make up this quality.

It is, with the others, a trait of God: Great is His faithfulness.