Fruit
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Context
I want to remind of the exhortations Paul issued earlier in this chapter that we will conclude today.
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
and also
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
What we see here is the conflict between our flesh and the Spirit of God which resides in all who have placed their faith in Christ. This is why Christians find it difficult to live for Christ. It’s not that we struggle, as those who have received new life in Christ, actually struggle to believe that God’s will is best, but to actually live as if that is true requires us to gratify the desires of our flesh. Christians have been given the Spirit of God but we continue to contend with our flesh. It is all out warfare.
As we approach today’s text, I want us to do our best not to make assumptions about it because of how familiar it may be to some of us. The fruit of the Spirit is outlined here, but we also see the works of the flesh. And it is no small detail that Paul chose to discuss the two lists in different terms:
The works of the flesh are the products of human effort to devise, connive, manufacture and self-actualize. As Timothy George points out, whether it is the Tower of Babel or modern totalitarianism, or Aaron’s golden calf or contemporary idols like sex, money and power, the works of the flesh are clear enough and they bring misery, violence and death.
The fruit of the Spirit is framed different. The shift from works to fruit was intentional. First, works are plural where fruit is singular. The works of the flesh are many (and things like these v. 21), but the fruit of the Spirit is one fruit that manifests itself in 9 characteristics.
But what I want us to see here as we go to consider this passage of Scripture is that the shift from works to fruit points to the nature of people. Our nature, that is, who we are on the inside is a reference to our identity. And Paul’s point in this is to say that if we are people who practice the works of our flesh, then our true selves are rejectors of God and pursuers of our own satisfaction… whatever that may be.
But if the fruit of the Spirit is evident in our lives, that suggests that our true selves, that is our nature, reflects the nature of the Spirit of God.
So we have the outward and the inward. Who we are on the outside and who we are on the inside. It is important we understand the connection.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Introduction
Notice the word evident in v. 19. This is a reference to evidence. To that which has been made clear. It’s what is obvious. And Paul is saying, the works of the flesh are obvious. But what’s on the surface comes from something that is deeper. What’s on the surface, points to something deeper. I think I’ve used this illustration before, but in many ways, people are like cloudy pools. The water is clear to a certain depth, but the bottom can’t be seen because it’s too cloudy. The only way to see the bottom is to clean the pool. And to clean the pool, the bottom needs to be scrubbed. And when the bottom of a cloudy pool is scrubbed, allot of debris and dirt come to the surface. We are like cloudy pools in that what is seen on the surface only tells some of the story, but what lies beneath tells the rest.
You see, there is our behavior and there is our nature. We often try to live as if our nature and our behavior are two separate parts of us. We live as if we can behave in such a way that masks who we really are. And we know that it is possible to mask ourselves, but what often happens is that due to some massive event in our lives, what lies beneath gets stirred up and rises to the surface.
FCF: We have difficulty understanding the relationship between our behavior and our nature
I could say I love you, but you know I do already. (you know my nature so behavior isn’t important)
You say you love me, but those words are empty to me. (your behavior does not seem to be authentic)
Main Idea
Our nature and our behavior are inseparable.
Our nature and our behavior are inseparable.
How are we to understand the relationship between our nature and our behavior?
How are we to understand the relationship between our nature and our behavior?
Our behavior reveals our nature (24)
Our behavior reveals our nature (24)
The fact that I am beginning at v. 24 revels the way I understand Paul flow of argument here. Paul makes it clear that those who belong to Christ, have crucified their flesh with it’s passions and desires. He made a similar statement back in
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
The flesh with its passions and desires are explained in verses 19-23, and we will consider them in our next point. So verse 19-23 describe what verse 24 references. But when it comes to our behavior revealing our nature, I want us to answer:
What are the possible natures revealed by our behavior?
What I am suggesting we see in Galatians and in the Bible is that people have one of two natures. Either one that rejects Christ or one that surrenders to Christ. Our behavior reveals which one. So again, what are the possible natures revealed by our behavior.
One that presumes autonomy
One that presumes autonomy
Consider the first part of v. 24: those who belong to Christ. This literally says, those of Christ. This is a reference to ownership and allegiance. It’s a reference to surrender. And for those who live according to the works of their flesh, do not consider themselves as belonging to, loyal to, surrendered to anyone… especially God. Certainly Christ. And this is because this behavior reveals a nature that presumes to autonomous.
Autonomy, which is the presumption of self-governance, is really a lie. No one is really autonomous. Remember what Paul said about people who do not know God? Who reject Him?
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
Slavery is the descriptor for those who presume to be independent of God
And those who live according to their flesh along with its passions and desires instead of crucifying their flesh after the order of what Christ accomplished through His crucifixion do so because their nature presumes autonomy, pursues an autonomous life-style, and it is a vicious cycle that enslaves people to this futile effort.
Our behavior reveals our nature
One that embraces surrender
One that embraces surrender
And so the nature that v. 24 describes is one that has been changed so that it belongs to Christ, and the behavior follows.
Instead of indulging the flesh, it seeks to crucify the flesh. It is at war with the passions and desires of the flesh.
It is a nature that recognizes that we can do nothing in our own strength and expect to be victorious over our flesh. We do the work of crucifying our flesh alongside of our crucified Savior.
So our old selves, that is, our former, autonomy-hungry natures have been been killed, but the works of the flesh die a slow death. It is still a battle, but one day those works will die.
But again, what our current behavior does is it reveals our nature. Either one that is surrendered to Christ and embraces surrender to Him or one that rejects Christ and embraces the flesh along with its desires and passions.
But not only does our behavior reveal our nature it also
Our behavior reflects our nature (19-23)
Our behavior reflects our nature (19-23)
What’s the difference between revealing & reflecting or at least, what do I understand to be the difference here?
That our behavior reveals our nature is to expose our true selves for who we really are. But our behavior, will also comply with who we really are. Yes, we attempt to mask ourselves to some degree. Yet, when it comes to a nature that rejects Christ or one that has been transformed by Christ, the behavior of either nature will always be consistent with that nature.
Now before we get into these two lists, one of vices and one of virtues, I want us to see something
Here the works of the flesh are outlined and many commentators suggest, and I agree, that it appears Paul groups them into categories.
violations of sexual boundaries: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality
violation of the spiritual: idolatry & sorcery
violations of brotherly love: strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions & envy
violations of restraint: drunkeness, orgies
What’s interesting to note here is that the Judaizers, who again were those who came in among the Galatian churches and began to teach that being right with God required not only faith in Christ, but continuing to honor some of the Jewish law, in particular, circumcision. And these false teachers would have agreed that sexual immorality, immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, drunkeness and orgies were all out of bounds. Were all practices that should be avoided at all costs.
But it probably did not occur to them that evidence of our flesh, that is, evidence of that part of us that rebels against God shows up in strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions and envy. Most, if not all of these things were a problem in the Galatian churches to some measure because of their presence among the people. Their influence among the people was what Paul was addressing.
What are the possible natures reflected?
An entitled nature (19-21a)
An entitled nature (19-21a)
Now, I want us to revisit the idea of works here. The works of the flesh may bring with it the idea that they are done to earn something. In fact, that idea is what underlies what the Judaizers were teaching. Get circumcised (work) and then you will earn peace with God.
But when it comes to say, anger (loosing our tempers), are we trying to earn anything? Does loosing our tempers require any effort from us?
The works of the flesh are not works in that particular sense, but they are works in that they are carried out as an attempt to satisfy our nature.
When we loose our tempers or become jealous or behave in a way that causes strife among people, we do that because we think we did not receive something that we should have. We loose our tempers because something didn’t go the way we wanted or someone did not behave the way we thought they should, so to compensate for that, at least on an emotional level, we give our anger free range as an attempt to compensate for that failed expectation.
And see this is the way the works of our flesh works. It’s not that they take any significant effort to do, and we may not be thinking that doing them will merit any favor from God, but because we feel we are entitled to certain pleasures and outcomes and expectations, the works of our flesh prevail.
Why do people have sex outside of marriage. Yes, temptation but also a certain presumption. What we want in pleasure and fulfillment can be achieved through sex. And we are not concerned that sex occur according to God’s design, we just want what we want. And if we have any conscience about sexual norms, we may tell ourselves that what we are doing is fine because we don’t need a piece of paper, like a marriage license, to show that we really love someone. And we may tell ourselves that we deserve this kind of companionship, and in fact we need this kind of companionship.
An entitled nature is what the works of our flesh reflects.
But, the works of the flesh will not dominate if our entitled nature has been changed. You see our behavior could also reflect
A transformed nature (21b-23)
A transformed nature (21b-23)
Now we come to what we have come to understand as the fruit of the Spirit.
The fruit of the spirit are the virtues of the person that is described in v. 18: Those who are lead by the Spirit will walk by the Spirit. In other words, those who are controlled by the Spirit will show it through the way they live. And the evidence or fruit of that kind of person is outlined here.
There are 9 descriptions that comprise the fruit of the Spirit here. There are many suggestions from commentators for how we should understand them. I like what how one commentator suggests we think about the fruit:
Galatians (4) The Fruit of the Spirit (5:22–26)
J. Stott has described this list as a cluster of nine Christian graces that portray the believer’s attitude to God, to other people, and to himself.
What’s important here is that when our nature is changed or transformed by the grace of God through the redemptive work of Christ, we come in possession of the fruit of the Spirit. And this fruit contains all 9 of these characteristics. And the fruit of the Spirit is evidence that our relationship and attitude towards God has been transformed and our relationship and attitude towards others has been transformed and our relationship and attitude towards ourselves has been transformed.
Entitled behavior, like fits of anger or jealousy or sexual impurity no longer prevail in and through us because our natures are no longer entitled natures but transformed natures. So our behavior will display these virtues.
The concept of being fruitful as a child of God is not new. We see it throughout the Old & New Testaments. For example
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
I’m not going to take the time to talk about each of the 9 virtues in the fruit of the Sprit, but I do want to focus on love for a moment.
We must begin our attempt to understand love with God before we think about how we experience or express love.
C.S. Lewis, in his 4 Loves, said this about the love of God:
Galatians (4) The Fruit of the Spirit (5:22–26)
“God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that he may love and perfect them. He creates the universe, already foreseen—or should we say ‘seeing’? there are no tenses in God—the buzzing cloud of flies about the cross, the flayed back pressed against the uneven stake, the nails driven through the mesial nerves, the repeated incipient suffocation as the body droops, the repeated torture of back and arms as it is time after time, for breath’s sake hitched up.… This is the diagram of love Himself, the inventor of all loves.”
Our ability to love, to express this virtue, is dependent on the unfathomable love of God. The fact that Christ suffered as He did on the cross, and that He did this for people who rejected Him and were complicit in His suffering, was all according to His design and plan. The redemptive mission of Christ was a love mission. It is this love that saved people and made them inheritors of the kingdom of God, and it is with this love that we love God and others because our natures have been transformed from be entitled to being loved by the love of Christ.
Our behavior reflects our nature.
Our nature and our behavior are inseparable. And the final point of consideration when it comes to the relationship between our nature and our behavior is that
Our behavior regards our nature (25-26)
Our behavior regards our nature (25-26)
Regard: show concern for
So whatever nature we possess, one that is in rebellion against God or one that has embraced God, our behavior will regard or show concern for our nature.
How does our behavior regard our nature?
Pursues consistency between the two (25)
Pursues consistency between the two (25)
So, I want to see the way Paul is expressing his thought in v. 25. If we live by the Spirit, if that describes you, that fact is a historical fact. We have been transformed and we therefore, live by the Spirit. And if that is true of you, the command is to keep in step with the Spirit. So if the indicative (the fact) is true of us, then we must obey.
This command, to keep in step with the Spirit, is one that comes from the idea of marching. The idea here is to stay or march in a straight line. Those who live by the Spirit will have a concern to keep careful observance of what the Spirit leads us to do. This isn’t like the Judaizers’ teaching that mandates certain behaviors to gain God’s approval. This is a call to those who have been transformed by the grace of God to walk by the Spirit, and as we walk by the Spirit we will not gratify the deeds of the flesh as is mentioned a few verses up.
But what is clear here is that our behavior will ultimately pursue what is consistent with our nature. If we possess natures that are in rebellion against God, our behavior will regard that nature. Show concern for it and manifest itself in kind.
But if we posses natures that are surrendered to the love and lordship of Christ, our behavior will regard it and manifest that the Spirit dwells in us.
And our behavior regards our nature in that it
Pursues its interests (26)
Pursues its interests (26)
Remember what we know about the Galatian churches. They were, at the time of Paul’s writing this letter, a fractured church. There were all kinds of divisions and broken relationships. So it makes sense that Paul is urging this church to not become conceited. In other words, don’t provoke one another and envy one another.
You see our behavior will manifest the interest of our natures. Natures that reject God are self-interested, and the behavior will reflect that. And that will certainly lead to conceit which manifests itself through provoking to conflict and envy.
And there’s no doubt that Christians contend with these sins, but natures submitted to Christ will love as He loved. So when we become conceited. When we attempt to provoke by bringing up something to someone, not out of love, but as an attempt to stir up trouble. To pick a fight. When we do this, we repent to God and we seek the forgiveness of those we hurt along the way. This isn’t mere conflict resolution that is taught in places of business and schools. This is the church, recognizing our dependence on Christ. Recognizing that we are not finished battling our flesh yet. But we have been changed by Christ, who on the cross said, it is finished. And because He finished His work of redemption, His redeemed can g to battle against our flesh, and live by the Spirit of God and and pursue its interests.
Conclusion
Our nature and our behavior are inseparable.
Our nature and our behavior are inseparable.
There’s something we did not consider together yet. The second half of verse 21:
Galatians 5:21 (ESV)
… those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Another point of distinction between those who carry out the deeds of the flesh and those who possess the fruit of the Spirit is inheriting the kingdom of God or not.
You see, to inherit something means you have a legal right to something from someone else. You are, in other words an heir.
So the question is, how can anyone expect to inherit the kingdom of God? To be an heir to the kingdom of God?
Well, remember what Paul said about the Christians in the Galatian church and what is true of all Christians today:
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
And who belongs to Christ?
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Those who have placed their faith in the redemptive work of Christ belong to Christ. Those who practice the works of the flesh, that is, those who practice such things out of a nature that rejects God will not inherit the kingdom of God. Their behavior shows who they truly are. It is sobering.
by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
You see, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the power of this kingdom has been defeated. Like our flesh, it is dying a slow and painful death. But those who stand to inherit the kingdom of God, possess some of the blessings of His kingdom now in their forgiveness of their sins, adoption into the family of God, the sanctifying work of the Spirit. But one day, our flesh will have no more power. This world’s kingdom and all its effort to rebel and reject God will be defeated.
On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Jesus will come back. He will establish His kingdom and will call all those who stand to inherit this kingdom to Himself. Who will they be? Those who have been radically changed by the grace of Christ, through the work of Christ and who laboured to proclaim the magnificence of Christ all for the glory of Christ. We can’t fake this.
Our nature and our behavior are inseparable.
Our nature and our behavior are inseparable.
Nature produces behavior. You can’t fake fruit.
Benediction
Know that the Lord your God is a faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations. Go in peace.