The Fruit of the Spirit Pt.1: Love
This is the first in a new series on the fruit of the Spirit recorded by Paul in Galatians 5v22-23. The apostle wrote, 'the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.' The importance of this spiritual fruit in our Christian lives and growth can't be overstated.
To begin with we'll consider the first of the nine fruit, love! In 1 Corinthians 13v1-8 Paul wrote renowned words about godly love to the church at Corinth. The Corinthian congregation was one of the most difficult churches that Paul ministered to. The believers in Corinth had spiritual gifts. But it is plain that many of them lacked spiritual graces.
Chapter 3 reveals that splits had developed in the church family. Certain individuals, such as Apollos, were being set up on a pedestal as leaders. A number of cliques had formed. Believers weren’t treating each other in a Christ-like way whatsoever. I imagine backbiting and gossiping went on.
There were other major problems in the congregation too. Sexual immorality had blighted the Corinthian Fellowship almost from the beginning (as chapters 5-6 reveal). The Lord’s Supper was being abused, as we see in chapter 11. Believers were taken up with how gifted they were, feeling superior to others and despising those who weren’t so gifted, as we see in chapters 12-14. False teaching about the resurrection was causing terrible confusion, as chapter 15 shows. So, the Corinthian church had a lot of problems. Quite a challenge for any pastor!
Well, it is into this situation of divisions and ungodly relationships and practices that the apostle wrote these radical words of chapter 13. In chapter 12 Paul stressed to the Corinthian Christians that they were one body in Christ. So, they belonged together and needed each other as vital parts of the body.
Well in chapter 13 Paul zoomed in on the top priority in church life, loving one another as members of the same body! From the first 8 verses note two key matters Paul emphasized about the fruit of the Spirit, love.
(1) THE PRE-EMINENCE OF LOVE v1-3
In these opening 3 verses, Paul was very candid with the Corinthians. They were totally besotted with spiritual giftedness and knowledge. Paul said to them in effect in verse 1, 'Look, you could be the best speaker in the world but if you have no love in your heart for those you address, your eloquent words just sound like a desperate din!' In verse 2 Paul added in effect, 'You could be full of spiritual understanding and knowledge, and you could know your bible inside out, and discuss it at length, but if you have no love, your giftedness is nothing in God's eyes!' He went on in verse 2, 'You could have great faith and tremendous confidence in God to meet the most pressing needs, but again, if you have no love in your heart, what you do is of no value in God's sight.' Then in verse 3 Paul brought the point home with even greater force and clarity. He declared to the Corinthians in effect, 'Look, you could even make the ultimate sacrifice. You could give all that you have to the poor and you could be a martyr by being burnt at the stake (a fate that many early Christians endured!). Yes, you could even make this supreme sacrifice, but if it is not motivated by love, you have accomplished nothing in God's eyes.'
So, Paul highlighted the pre-eminence of love! For God, there is nothing more important than for His people to live lives of love.
Of course, it is not only in 1 Corinthians 13 that we see this emphasis on the supreme importance of love. This message comes up time and again throughout the Bible
Paul himself stressed repeatedly the primacy of living lives of love. To the Galatian Christians he wrote, 'The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love!' (Galatians 5v6) To the Christians at Ephesus he gave this exhortation. 'Be imitators of God therefore as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.' (Ephesians 5v1)
Peter stressed the same imperative to love one another in each chapter of his first letter (1v22, 2v17, 3v8, 4v8, 5v1-2). Then John drove home very pointedly the imperative to 'not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth!' throughout his first letter (3v18, 4v7-12).
Jesus Himself spelt out the first and greatest commandment in Matthew 22v37-40. 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself! All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.'
He also said directly to His disciples in John 13v34-35, 'Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this will all men know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.'
So, the pre-eminence of love in living the Christian life is evident for all to see! Christian friend, you could be the most knowledgeable believer in your church. Or you could have more gifts than anyone else in the congregation. You might even be the most talented Christian in the whole denomination. But if you have no genuine heart love for the Lord or your fellow men, in God's eyes you achieve nothing. This is what God wants you to be above everything else, to be a believer who serves others with sacrificial love.
How is this all-important love to be worked out? Paul addresses this issue next!
(2) THE PRACTICE OF LOVE v4-8
If God's love rules in our lives, it will be evident in many different ways day by day.
Consider carefully what Paul wrote in v4-8 and apply it to your own life.
If the Spirit's love grows in your life, you'll be enabled to be patient in situations you find frustrating and with people you find irksome.
If the Spirit's love grows in your life, you'll be enabled to be kind to those in need, even when you aren't naturally attracted to them, or when there is nothing in it for you.
If the Spirit's love is growing in your life, you'll be enabled not to envy those who have possessions or gifts you'd like, but rather to want the best for them.
If the Spirit's love is growing in your life, you'll be helped not to boast about your achievements, for you'll be passionate about Christ's glory alone.
If the Spirit's love grows in your life, you'll be enabled not to be puffed up and proud, but rather humble in heart. For you'll realise that everything you are and have is from God.
If the Spirit's love is growing in your life, you'll be enabled not to be rude, even when you're provoked! For the Spirit gives us concern even for our enemies who persecute us.
If the Spirit's love grows in your life, you'll be enabled not to be self-seeking but rather to seek the good of other
If the Spirit's love is growing in your life, you'll be helped not to be easily angered or offended because His 'love covers over a multitude of sins'. 1 Peter 4v7
If the Spirit's love is growing in your life, you will be helped to keep no record of wrongs done against you.
Indeed, God's love will produce in you a forgiving spirit so that you'll be merciful to those who have hurt you.
So, if the Spirit's love is growing in your life, you won't harbour grudges or nurse grievances! For having experienced God's astounding mercy in forgiving you your huge debt of sin through Christ, His love in you will enable you to offer mercy to those who have sinned against you. For you'll realise that their sin against you is nothing compared with your sin against the Lord.
And if the Spirit's love grows in you, you won't delight in evil, either doing it yourself or witnessing others do it.
Rather, you'll rejoice in the truth, in what is right and true and praiseworthy.
Note in v7 how Paul repeats the word 'always' four times. 'Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.' Frequently, in God's providence, we can face really tough times as Christ's people. Oftentimes there may be little to encourage our faith. Spiritually we may see very little happening. Things can seem dark and discouraging.
Yet the Spirit's love growing in our lives empowers us to bear such times of discouragement, to keep trusting in Christ, to keep hoping in Him and to keep persevering. For the Spirit's love within us enables us to have a deep assurance that, however black things seem, our God is still in control. Even in perplexing & painful circumstances, He is still working out His purposes for our good as His children in Christ. And such is the nature of God's love in us that it never fails. The Greek literally means 'it never falls or collapses!'
So, the Spirit's love within us enables us not to fold under intense pressure. His love enables us to face every trial in life with a quiet and firm assurance. We can even face death itself with such assurance, knowing that nothing will ever separate us from God's love for us in Christ. So, this is how the Spirit's love is to worked out in practice in our lives each day.
But this raises a key question, how can we ever be such loving people?
The love Paul described in 1 Corinthians 13 isn't natural love. Paul's description here is of supernatural, sacrificial, selfless love! This is costly, Christ-like love! How can we possibly show such love day in day out?
Paul gives us the answer in Romans 5v5. 'God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.' To live a life of selfless love is only possible as the Holy Spirit fills us day by day, bearing His fruit of love. By ourselves, we have no resources to live such lives. Only by the Holy Spirit can we be empowered to live lives of sacrificial love.
The Spirit is the One who empowers us to be patient and kind and not to envy or to boast. He is the One who helps us not to be proud or rude or to be self-seeking or easily angered. He is the One who enables us to have a forgiving spirit & not to harbour grudges. He is the One who gives us a holy hatred for evil and a delight in the truth. The Spirit is the One who grants us the inner strength to bear all our disappointments and heartaches and to keep trusting in times which seem hopeless and to keep persevering in times of darkness and discouragement.
So daily we must ask God to fill us and control us with His Spirit. Then we must seek to keep in step with the Spirit, depending on Him for His enabling in each situation.
The fruit of the Spirit is love. This is the fundamental fruit that God the Holy Spirit produces in our hearts. This is the essential fruit and the fruit of primary importance. For it is the foundational fruit for all the other 8 fruit of the Spirit. Without this God-given love, we'll never grow in joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control. So, pray daily for the Spirit to fill you increasingly with His love. Pray this for yourself and for your fellow believers, that together we may grow more and more in the love of the Lord.
The fruit of the Spirit is love. This is the fundamental fruit that God the Holy Spirit produces in our hearts. This is the essential fruit and the fruit of primary importance. For it is the foundational fruit for all the other 8 fruit of the Spirit. Without this God-given love, we'll never grow in joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control. So, pray daily for the Spirit to fill you increasingly with His love. Pray this for yourself and for your fellow believers, that together we may grow more and more in the love of the Lord.
The fruit of the Spirit is love. This is the fundamental fruit that God the Holy Spirit produces in our hearts. This is the essential fruit and the fruit of primary importance. For it is the foundational fruit for all the other 8 fruit of the Spirit. Without this God-given love, we'll never grow in joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control. So, pray daily for the Spirit to fill you increasingly with His love. Pray this for yourself and for your fellow believers, that together we may grow more and more in the love of the Lord.
