Fruit of the Spirit: It s all about LOVE Last week you learned about the Trinity. The remaining classes are going to be focusing on the Holy Spirit and the power He provides. From the time of Adam and Eve, all people have been subject to the curse, which is sin. Your sinful nature drives your actions and the enemy is lurking around to grow the sinful nature in each of you. It is only by the blood of Christ and your acceptance of Him as your savior that the curse can be broken in your life. When you make this choice for yourself, the seed of the Holy Spirit is planted into your heart to begin the work of transforming your heart and mind to become like Christ. This is the sanctification process. Looking out for your spiritual health needs to be an important part of your life. Modern technology has come a long way in the advancement of machinery and equipment to detect health issues. I remember when my son was 9 months old, and he kept getting sick. From the outside he looked fine. The fevers kept coming however, and blood tests were not giving the answers we were looking for. Finally, when the doctor ordered an MRI, the results came back that he had an infection that was resistant to antibiotics. He needed to be healed, but it took the doctor and a microscope to identify the problem. The same is true for our spiritual lives. We are creatures of habit and tend to go through life doing what we know, on a sense of auto pilot. Often you miss the clues and signs that the spirit living within you is trying to tell you. You look fine on the outside but you need healing from the inside out. God put the spirit in you for a reason. Just like a fever helps to identify a problem in your physical health, God has given you an inner voice to identify the spiritual problems you need to deal with. 2 Peter 1:3-9 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: ITS ALL ABOUT LOVE Page 39
GROUP STUDY: Understanding the Spirit of Truth FOUNDATIONS Session 6 Last week you learned about the great commission in Matthew as you understood the Trinity go and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This week you will learn that the great commission is all about love! You will need to understand a little more about the power of the Holy Spirit before you move on. John 14:15-17 If you love me, show it by doing what I ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can t take him in because it doesn t have eyes to see him, doesn t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you! MSG When you pray to receive Christ as your savior, you are given the seed of the Holy Spirit (or truth), which is planted in your heart. This seed is planted there by God for you to water and grow. As you grow in spiritual maturity, you will be transformed to be more like Christ. You will begin to display the characteristics that are pleasing to God, also known as fruits. When nurtured the right way, a tree can produce fruit and feed people and animals. In the same way, when you nurture the seed of the Holy Spirit planted in you through bible reading, prayer and quiet time with God, the fruits you bear will feed and witness to the unsaved. As you spend time with Jesus and get to know Him better, His thoughts will become your thoughts. The old acronym WWJD, What would Jesus do? comes to mind here. His purpose will become your purpose. You will become like Jesus. The Holy Spirit s job is to conform your heart to the image of Christ! When you hear someone speak of the work of the spirit, they are speaking about the operations of the Spirit of God in your everyday life. The Sower and the Seed What does it mean to bear fruit? FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: ITS ALL ABOUT LOVE Page 40
But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Matthew 13:23 The idea of bearing fruit is used many times in scripture. Jesus told the parable of a sower who went out to sow seed. The seed fell on various types of soil or ground. Some of the ground was rocky and hard. Other ground was accepting of the seed, but weeds choked out the seed. But there was a portion of ground that was not rocky or weedy and the seed took root. Jesus said that this was the picture of the different people who hear the gospel. Those who are true believers are those who produce fruit. (See Luke 8:4-15 for further study of this parable.) There is an excellent description in the Bible of what this fruit looks like in Galatians. The fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT is a biblical term that sums up 9 attributes of Christian life. Gal 5:22-23, But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! What are the fruits of the spirit? In John 15:5, Jesus describes himself as the vine and you as the branch and he goes on to say that those vine branches that do not bear good fruit will be cut off and thrown away, while those that bear good fruit will be pruned so that they will bear even more fruit. In other words, one of the most important things you can do in THIS life is to bear good fruit for God. Which of these fruits do others see in you? FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: ITS ALL ABOUT LOVE Page 41
Which fruit do you ask God to help you grow in more? Bad Fruit The life of a Christian is a battle between your sinful flesh and your new life in Christ. You are human and will continue to be tempted as you are trapped in your body and desire sinful things. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Gal 5:19-21 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Colossians 3:5-9 These passages describe all people when they do not know Christ! As a Christian, you have the power of the Holy Spirit working inside you to battle your flesh desires. The Spirit s job is to speak to you and guide you to do what is right and pleasing to God. You will fall, you will make mistakes, you are a sinner. However, with the help of the Spirit, you will become sanctified as you grow closer to Christ! Sanctified means to be more holy like Christ, to be set apart. See Appendix H for a list of Sinful Acts Good Fruit Good fruit can t withstand in a person s life without the Holy Spirit. It is this power that produces the good fruit in you! ALL of the fruit are expected and commanded of every believer. What does that mean? Take a look at the following fruits and the verses you will find in the New Testament commanding the same of believers. FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: ITS ALL ABOUT LOVE Page 42
The fruit of the spirit is LOVE yet believers are instructed to love God with all their heart and to love their neighbor as themselves. (Matthew 22:37-39; Galatians 5:13-14; John 13:34) The fruit of the spirit is JOY yet believers are instructed to continue rejoicing in all trials and circumstances. (Philippians 4:4; 1Thessalonians 5:16; James 1:2-3) The fruit of the spirit is PEACE yet believers are instructed to continue living at peace with all people and be reconciled with those who are your enemies. (Romans 12:18; Matthew 5:23-24) The fruit of the spirit is PATIENCE yet believers are instructed to be patient and slow to speak for the time of the Lord is near. (James 1:19; James 5:7) The fruit of the spirit is KINDNESS yet believers are instructed to be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other. (Ephesians 4:32) The fruit of the spirit is GOODNESS yet believers are instructed to overcome evil done to us by doing good in return. (Romans 12:20-21) The fruit of the spirit is FAITHFULNESS yet believers are instructed to remain faithful in all trials. (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 14:12) The fruit of the spirit is GENTLENESS yet believers are commanded to show gentleness to all people. (Colossians 3:12; Philippians 4:5) The fruit of the spirit is SELF CONTROL yet believers are responsible to yield to the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:25; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Luke 12:15) While each of these fruits is important, the great commission, the greatest commandment is to LOVE. Take a quick look at the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments. Notice that the first four commandments are about love. See Appendix I, The Ten Commandments When Jesus was being questioned by religious leaders about the resurrection this is what happened according to scripture: Mark 12:28-31 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, Of all the commandments, which is the most important? Jesus replied, The most important commandment is this: Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. 30 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these. FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: ITS ALL ABOUT LOVE Page 43
He loved us 1 John 4:9-10, 1 John 4:19 Love your Luke 6:35 The greatest is 1 Corinthians 13:13 The Golden Luke 6:31 Above All 1 Peter 4:8 Love drives out 1 John 4:18 Love 1 John 4:7 FOUNDATIONS Session 6 Whether you are new to reading scripture or have been reading it for years, the underlying theme throughout the Bible is LOVE. All the fruits of the spirit are held in place by love. What is Love? There are many different types of love. In the English language we use the same word for many different types. For example, you love your mate differently than you love your kids. You love your neighbor differently than you do your parents. Much of the New Testament was written in Greek as Paul spent his time reaching the Gentiles. The following are the different Greek words used to describe love. Mania Love Lust Acts 26 Eros Love Physical Love (Song Of Solomon) Phileo Love Brotherly Love Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Romans 12:10 Storge Love Family Love Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12 Agape Love Godly Love For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 Read Mark 14:1-9 together with your group. It is an excellent illustration of agape love, sacrificial love in the Bible. It is a story about a woman named Mary. Mary s dramatic act of love, more powerful than words, demonstrated her love, her faith, her trust, her understanding of who Jesus is, why he came and what he is about to do for her, indeed for the world. Your ultimate goal is to learn to agape love like God loves. FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: ITS ALL ABOUT LOVE Page 44
HOMEWORK: The fruits of the spirit are a lifetime commitment to change for the good of Christ. The purpose of these fruits growing in your life is so that you can experience the goodness God has put here on Earth. God never intended for you to live a miserable life. 1 Corinthians 13 is known as the chapter of love. Read through this chapter and meditate on the words you read. Ask God to show you how to love well. LOVE: Seeks the highest good of others What qualities of love are hard for you to show? JOY: Gladness not based on circumstances Read Acts 16:16-40 What is joy and how do we have it? PEACE: Contentment, unity between people Read Philippians 4:4-7 What is peace according to this scripture? PATIENCE: Slow to speak and slow to anger Read Genesis 15:1-6 What is patience? FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: ITS ALL ABOUT LOVE Page 45
KINDNESS: Merciful, sweet and tender Read Matthew 7:12 How is this hard to do? GOODNESS: Generous and open hearted Read 2 Kings 22-23 How hard would it be for you to accept authority from this person? FAITHFULNESS: Dependable, loyal and full of trust Read Matthew 25:14-30 Which of these three men were faithful and not faithful? GENTLENESS: Humble, calm and non-threatening Read John 8:7-11 What has happened in your life that made it hard to be gentle and instead you were judgmental? SELF CONTROL: Behaving well Read Proverbs 25:28 What do you think that means? MEMORY VERSE for next week: The shortest verse in the Bible. FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: ITS ALL ABOUT LOVE Page 46