Fruit of the Spirit

Grand Canyon
Fruit of the Spirit
October 11, 1992	Sermon by DRW	Passage Galatians 5.22-23 and 2 Peter 1.3-15

As I was attempting to explain everything we have seen concerning the Fruit of the Spirit, I became overwhelmed with the material we had covered. We have spent several weeks in the chasms of God’s work within us. We have seen the carvings that He is making and has made on our lives and in our hearts. We have seen where the river of God’s power has flowed within us to create canyons of beauty. An etching of love, faith, patience, self-control, kindness, goodness, peace, joy, and gentleness. We have seen the Master at work on His billboard called our life. Taking a look back at what God has done is amazing.

We began by standing at the edge of a broad canyon when we looked into Psalm 1 and the man and woman of God. From there we began to walk down into the canyon to look at the bright and beautiful aspects that create the man and woman of God. Some, even as we were walking, were touched by the hand of God as He added an extra touch of beauty to their life in Christ. Some realized the need for repentance from pride, the desire for rest in Christ, and even the patience that God requires. God was making His announcement to the world evident in the work of these peoples lives.

But now it is time to come to the top of that canyon. We could spend the rest of our lives in the canyon looking at the make-up of that canyon and never see the entirety of it. It is a grand canyon, carved by the hand of God. When God makes something, He demands glory and praise from that which He created.

That is what we want to look at as we leave the floor of the canyon and return to the edge–once more, we look down at the whole and praise God.

LET’S PRAY:

God, creator God. Re-creator God. GOD! We praise You. We thank You. We thank You for Your Spirit You have given that we might become more like You. We praise You for bringing to us Your goodness and glory that we might be more like You. Be with us this afternoon as we hear Your word–be glorified.

Today we want to look at 2 Peter 1.3-15. The outline is on the back of your bulletin.

I. A REMINDER OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT (3-7)

A. OUR APPOINTMENT

1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

As believers, we are called into a life of godliness, a life that is from God, the divine nature, and is not tainted by the world.

To look at it another way, we have been called by the manifestation of God’s glory and goodness to live a life characterized by purity and not by the corruption in the world. It is the time that the believer is renewed by Christ as the Holy Spirit begins to restore the image of God within him.

Stop to consider the impact of these verses.

3 He has given us everything we can ever need, not necessarily what we want, but what we need. The purpose for his giving what we need: to produce Himself in us–life and like Godness. It is key to know how this divine power is given, or how we become like Christ. Can you see it? It is through our knowledge of Him. I looked at “knowledge” in this passage (verses 2 and 3) and noticed something interesting: It is knowledge that produces godliness, which receives the promises which produces the divine nature. The knowledge goes beyond mere knowing of something. It must mean the joining together intimately with the thing learned. In this case, knowledge of Christ is to become intimately acquainted with Him. As we begin to know Him, we begin to live our life as if He were always with us (He is, you know). It is a knowledge of the heart: knowing what hurts Him, what causes Him to rejoice, what He is sensitive to.

4. We must become in practice what we already are in God’s sight. This is the promise, we can become in reality–someday–as God sees us now: participants of His divine nature.

God has called us to this. He has chosen to stop and turn and call us to Him. There is another side to the coin. It is true that salvation is free, we cannot work our way into heaven. We can only listen for His call and come. Because of His call and His great and precious promises and His divine power, we cannot sit back and be content with our faith. This is where the responsibility comes in (verses 5-7):

B. OUR ACCOUNTABILITY

1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;

1:6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;

1:7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

Sounds sort of like the Fruit of the Spirit. Now can you see why we could have stayed in the canyon forever looking at the intricacies of the Christian life. Instead of dwelling on these, allow me to briefly mention them, then we will press on to our second point.

Faith: this is believing in something that has worth, it is staying faithful to that no matter the cost. This is the greatest need of our age–belief in God. Here is an example: everytime we are lonely or feeling blue we are denying God. We are telling Him that we don’t believe His Word. We don’t believe Him when He tells us He will never leave us nor would He forsake us.

Goodness:Moral excellence. This is the willingness to stand out from the crowd, to stick your neck out (to be Shedrach, Meschach and Abedneggo). Not being pleased with mediocrity, only with the best. It is not striving to be like Paul, nor like Joe but it is striving to be like Christ. True moral excellence is Christlikeness. Never settle for second best when God offers the best.

Knowledge: We discussed that above. It also means to live life wisely. In a sea of decisions, we wisely choose the best one. It is what Heb 5.14 calls the ability to distinguish bad from good; it is also the ability to distinguish the good from the best. It is in essence the practicing of the presence of God.

Self-control: Remember last week, this is the ability to allow the Spirit to control you. It knows that our Christian life is a holy war between flesh and spirit and the spirit is winning.

Perseverance:Patience–living in God’s time. Allowing God to work in you to remove anxiety and hopelessness. It calls us to look forward to the future when God’s patience will be spent and the world will be judged. It is looking to the future, and the hope that it brings. It is the ability to hang in there because we know what the payoff is, it is not merely surviving another day until He returns.

Godliness: This is an awareness of God in every aspect of my life.

Brotherly Kindness: This means that we guard one another’s dignity and fight against gossip, slander, jealousy, prejudice for the sake of unity. It is stopping and telling that person sitting next to you, “I love you because you are my brother or sister.”

Love: This is turning to the person next to you and saying, “I love you because God loves me.” Do you see the difference. Brotherly kindness is based upon the person receiving the love; love is based upon the person giving the love.

In short, another aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit. But with this comes responsibility. The outworking of God in our lives is the assurance of our belief and salvation.

II. A REASSURANCE OF THE FAITH (8-11)

A. OUR FRUITFULNESS

1:8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to be productive, fruitful in our Christian walk. We need to earnestly seek the better way. We need to possess these qualities in increasing measure. We cannot be content with where we were yesterday in our Christian life, nor where we are today, not even where we think we should be tomorrow. We need to, as Paul said, press on toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Here is the principle then: Grow or die. Climb or fall. If we don’t keep growing in the fruit we will become ineffective ministers for Christ on the earth.

Let’s negate that last sentence: If we possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will cause us to be effective and productive in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. A sign of a true believer is growth.

How does this growth come. We saw it earlier, it is through our knowledge of Him. It is knowledge that produces godliness, which receives the promises which produces the divine nature. The knowledge goes beyond mere knowing of something. It must mean the joining together intimately with the thing learned. In this case, knowledge of Christ is to become intimately acquainted with Him. As we begin to know Him, we begin to live our life as if He were always with us (He is, you know). It is a knowledge of the heart: knowing what hurts Him, what causes Him to rejoice, what He is sensitive to.

Knowing who we are in Christ and knowing who Christ is will never be enough to glorify God. We must be productive and effective.

B. OUR FRUITLESSNESS

1:9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Peter here is warning the believer of what will happen if he tends to forget Christ, one who is not increasing in the fruit. He is blinded by Satan (2 Co 4.4) and is also causing himself to be blinded. He tends to blink at the opportunities for growth. He will tend to close his eyes to God’s opportunities, have no eternal values, just see today having no hope for tomorrow. Worst of all, he will have forgotten his forgiveness, his repentance, his cleansing.

Let us take a look at the positive side of this. If you are increasing in the fruit, if you are productive you will be able to understand the schemes of the devil and not fall for them. You will see the opportunities God places before you. Most of all you will keep falling in love with Him day after day. Your knowledge of Him will increase. You will not think anything of waking up and saying “hello” to God. This is what John said about remembering our cleansing–he called it remembering our first love. Jesus called our salvation, knowledge and increasing intimacy with Him (John 17.3).

Have you ever climbed a mountain? Either by hiking or rapelling? If you have then you know what Peter is talking about. We need to keep climbing. Sometimes it seems as if we will never make it to the top, it seems as if the mountain keeps growing. Or if you are like Ben and run cross country, you begin to think they keep moving the finish line. But the reward comes only when we reach the top or the finish line.

We know that we strive toward the finish line, that we are truly Christians when we can see the work of God in our lives–in His fruit.

C. OUR FAITHFULNESS

1:10a Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.

This is what Peter means. He doesn’t mean we can lose our salvation. He means that we must remain faithful to Him because of our salvation. He means, if we are saved then others will see it and we can have assurance of salvation by the fruit that God produces in us. John put it another way when he said that we who have the Son have life, those who don’t, don’t. They are both saying, if we are intimately acquainting ourselves with God we can know we have eternal life.

D. HIS FAITHFULNESS

1:10b For if you do these things, you will never fall,

1:11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

What is the outcome of our seeking to know Christ and have Him grow Himself in us? Look at these verses: never falling and a grand reception into heaven.

Never fall! Is it to good to be true? We are going to stumble (James 3.2) in this life but, when we follow Him, we will never fall.

He also talks of entering the eternal kingdom. Better he tells us we shall be welcomed into the eternal kingdom. Even better, he says we shall receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom. The ticker-tape parades pale in comparison. Peter is using a description of the olympians who return home after victory in the games. When they came home, they were not welcomed through the normal gate that everybody else uses. No for these they tore open a brand new gate in the wall and welcomed them richly. Jesus did they same when He died for us. When He calls us to His home He wants us to come home victoriously. He wants us all to strive for His calling in our life. He has even tore open a new gate for us. Do you remembering the curtain that tore wide open as He died. He broke open a new gate, the only gate into His presence–the gate of grace.

III. A REMINDER TO THE FAITHFUL (12-15)

A. REMEMBER

1:12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

B. REFRESHED

1:13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body,

1:14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

1:15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

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Faithfulness
Fruit of the Spirit
September 20, 1992	Sermon by DRW	Passage Galatians 5.22-23

Introduction:

The prisoner sat in a poorly lit cell.
they tried starvation, torture and mental anguish to get the prisoner to bow before the ruler.
they came to take the prisoner to a room with a high ceiling.
they lifted the prisoner high on a rope, “BOW!”
“Forsake your God. BOW!”
Sounds like a story out of Paul’s life, or a first century Christian.
She would not bow.
She stood for God, no matter the cost.
They figured if they could get here to bend forward and take a picture, and publicize it they’d ruin her testimony.
They raised her three stories in the air.
They let the rope go and she plummeted toward the floor.

Why would she go through all this? She knew her Saviour. She may not have known why she was put through this but she knew her Saviour: He is faithful and she realized she needed to be faithful, after all she was a disciple of her Lord.

I. This poses an interesting question, “Is God faithful?”, if so, how does He show it?

A. God keeps His promises

1. Deuteronomy 7.9

2. 1 Corinthians 10.13

3. People often ask me how I know the Bible is true and not just partial truth. Every time I answer, “Look at me!” . . .

B. God does no wrong, He is just.

1. Deuteronomy 32.4

2. Isaiah 42.3

C. Faithfulness is part of His glory, who He is

1. Psalm 89.8

2. 2 Timothy 2.13

3. There are times when we feel we have no faith, no purpose to carry on for, no God to lean on. But He remains faithful. The One who said, “Lo, I am with you always” will still be there, even when we are without faith for it is His character.

I can only imagine this is what my friend’s aunt knew as they raised her high and threatened her to bow before Mao. Flashing through her mind was Proverbs 2.8–God is faithful in His promises, in His justice, and true to His character. She bellowed, “I will not bow! For I am faithful.” She exemplified Revelation 2.10.

II. God has called us to be imitators of Him. How can we do this? By being faithful.

* Kim and Eric story that Kathy told me.

A. Faithful in Word, God keeps His promises

1. Psalm 89.1

2. Isaiah 29.1

3. Prayer has got to be the greatest acts of faithfulness in word that a believer has. In prayer we praise God, worship Him, make requests of Him, communicate with God. Prayer always precedes doing.

B. Faithful in Deed, God does no wrong

1. Joshua 24.14

2. Romans 12.12

3. When the world says forsake God and bow, do you? When the world causes others to deny Christ, do you? *Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego* When there is a choice between self and God, who do you choose? When the devil tempts do you fall for the temptation and ultimately into sin. Are you faithful in deed?

C. Faithful as our way of life, faithful is God’s character

1. 1 Timothy 1.12

2. 1 Peter 4.10

3. Revelation 13.10

Daily, we are asked to stand for Jesus in some way: rejecting false teaching from godless professors (whether in school, on T.V., billboards, etc); refusing to take heed to our friends who deny Christ or blaspheme the holy God we worship; telling someone about Christ; praying. Daily we are called to stand. When we don’t we bow to the world, the flesh, or the devil.

I know there are times when we wonder if its all worth it, those times we are raised to the ceiling, the moment we plummet toward the earth, not certain. In those moments of we need to remember His faithfulness (1 Corinthians 10.13; 1 Samuel 12.24) and cling faithfully to Him

What happened to my friends aunt? We left her hanging a while back. As I said, they let the rope go with the intention of taking a snapshot of here when she hit the ground. When she hit, they thought, as they placed a large photo of Mao before the spot she would land on, in full range of the camera shutter, she would fall forward in a “reverential” bow to Mao for all the Christians of China to see.

But, and this is a big but, they did not know that she was a faithful follower of a faithful God and He was about to show this to her and to the officials of the communist Chinese government in the 1960’s. As she was falling to the ground she praised her God, re-counting His faithfulness to her. When she hit the ground, she landed standing! What a picture of God’s faithfulness Premier Mao now had. Too bad the camera did not have a spiritual eye. If it did, can you picture what would be in the picture? I can only imagine it would have contained what Elisha saw in 2 Kings 6. It would have shown an elderly woman standing defiantly before a picture of Mao DeZhong, being upheld by the mighty angels of God! The only explanation, God gave His angels charge over her lest she dash her foot. AMEN!

The world, the flesh, the devil (all that Mao embodied) can get you by the throat and damage your testimony. Stand firm! Be faithful! God will be well pleased with you and be glorified because of you. Then the Proverb will be answered, “I am that faithful person.”

Remember,

1. God is faithful to His Word–you be faithful to your words.

2. God is faithful in not doing evil–you be faithful in your deeds.

3. God is characterized by faithfulness–you live a life that is characterized by faithfulness.

In so doing, we imitate God and are the greatest billboard for Him, and we bear His Spirit.

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