Galatians 5:22a
But the fruit of the Spirit is…
Did you grow up knowing about Santa’s list? Most of us did, I’m sure. “He’s making a list. He’s checking it twice. He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.” Whether it was a single list or two, one thing is for sure—your name was on there, somewhere. Either you had been a nice kid, or a naughty one. There was no middle ground. The same is true in the Christian life, and Paul was referring to a “naughty and nice” list as well. On the one hand, you have the works of the flesh, while on the other…the fruit of the Spirit. In the coming days we will look at each fruit in the cluster on an individual basis, but for today, let’s just chat about the list itself.
A cluster of ripe grapes. A bouquet of flowers. A star-filled sky. A beautiful painting. A majestic landscape. A family portrait. All of these things manifest their beauty, not in a single element, but as a collection. A tapestry, if you will. With the works of the flesh, you get a list of sins that you can choose from individually, but not so with the fruit of the Spirit. There is one fruit with nine virtues. They grow collectively and are a natural result of the Spirit’s work in your life. They also posses “… a notable’ harmony, the first triad of virtues being inward in nature, the second, outward, and the third upward” (S. Lewis Johnson). Like the list of beautiful sights above, the fruit of the Spirit is obvious to anyone who observes it.
Do you know anyone who is bearing much fruit? It’s pretty obvious when you do.
Warren Wiersbe notes that “The contrast between works and fruit is important. A machine in a factory works, and turns out a product, but it could never manufacture fruit. Fruit must grow out of life, and, in the case of the believer, it is the life of the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). When you think of ‘works’ you think of effort, labor, strain, and toil; when you think of ‘fruit’ you think of beauty, quietness, the unfolding of life. The flesh produces “dead works” (Heb. 9:14), but the Spirit produces living fruit. And this fruit has in it the seed for still more fruit (Gen. 1:11). Love begets more love! Joy helps to produce more joy! Jesus is concerned that we produce ‘fruit… more fruit… much fruit’ (John 15:2, 5), because this is the way we glorify Him. The old nature cannot produce fruit; only the new nature can do that.”
The more we grow in Christ, the more fruit the Spirit will produce in us. It is the work of the gardener—not the garden. Have you ever noticed that vegetation tends to be lusher along the riverbank? The plants abide in an endless supply of water and as a result, they flourish. So it is with the Christian life. Jesus said, “He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit” (Jn 15:5). Our job is to regularly drink from the Living Water…and as we do, the fruit will naturally bloom and ripen.
What does that fruit “taste” like? We’ll work through the cluster one piece at a time, and sample from each of its delicacies!
