Rev. David Holwick ZC Galatians sermon series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 17, 2000
Galatians 5:22-24
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I. David Holwick, migrant worker.
In the summer of 1973 I visited a friend in New York state.
He was a teacher in a small town on Lake Ontario.
Instead of a summer vacation he usually worked on the farm
of a friend.
They grew vegetables, corn and apples.
Lot of apples.
Since I was visiting, he invited me along.
We went into the orchard and were told to pick apples.
I picked apples all day long.
It is not like the boutique orchards around here where your
kids frolic in the grass while you fill a half-bushel
basket.
Think "Grapes of Wrath."
I had to fill these huge wooden boxes, the kind they use a
forklift to move.
By the end of that day I had a different perspective on all
those illegal aliens who want to swim across the Rio Grande
to work in American orchards.
Let 'em come.
Picking fruit was ALMOST as hard as preaching...
I still love apples and can eat three or four a day.
Only one fruit is more important to me - the fruit of the
Holy Spirit.
II. A key difference between the Spirit and the Flesh.
A. The flesh produces lots of works (called "acts" in the NIV).
1) Throughout Galatians, works have the connotation of
things human tend to produce apart from God.
2) The list of sins in last week's passage was extensive
enough to make half of you feel very guilty.
3) The other half of you have what the Bible calls a
"seared conscience"...
B. The Spirit produces fruit.
1) The word "fruit" is singular.
a) The qualities are a unity, like a bunch of grapes
rather than a refrigerator full of produce.
b) Real Christians may have different spiritual gifts,
but we should all have the same spiritual fruit.
2) It is not something we do, but something the Spirit
produces in us.
a) The fruit is mostly inner attitudes.
3) The nine aspects of fruit seem to be grouped into 3 sets.
III. The fruit described.
A. Love, joy, peace.
1) Triad of general Christian virtues.
2) Primarily concerns our attitude toward God.
a) It is appropriate that love comes first in the list.
1> 1 John 4:8 says, "God is love."
2> Our love for God should be a Christian's highest
priority.
3> Our love should be patterned after his:
A> God's love to us is undeserved. Rom 5:8
B> It is great. Eph 2:4
C> It is transforming. Rom 5:5
D> It is unchangeable. Rom 8:35-39
b) Our chief joy is our joy in God.
1> Joy is the Christian virtue that corresponds to
happiness in the secular world.
2> On the surface they seem related, but happiness
depends on circumstances, whereas joy does not.
c) Our deepest peace is our peace with God.
1> Christians borrow their idea of peace from the
Hebrew word "shalom" but it goes farther.
A> It is one of the most common words in the NT.
B> Word "peace" is found in each book of the NT.
2> Jesus is our conduit for our peace with God. Rom 5:1
A> It expresses itself in peace of mind.
B> It is also shown in the peace between all those
who know God.
1: In the home.
2: In the church.
3: In our relationships with all people.
B. Patience, kindness, goodness.
1) These are social virtues, people-ward rather than God-ward.
a) Patience is towards those who aggravate or persecute.
1> James Montgomery Boice says "patience" is the
quality of putting up with others, even when you
are really irritated by them.
2> The importance of patience is shown by the fact it
is most often used of the character of God.
b) Kindness is a question of disposition.
1> Kindness is the way God acts toward humans.
2> It is what the OT means when it declares that
"God is good."
3> Christians are to show kindness by behaving
toward others as God has behaved toward them.
c) Goodness is a question of words and deeds.
1> Goodness is hard to define, just as in English.
2> It is related to kindness, but is a more active
term.
3> It can be thought of as the generosity that springs
from kindness.
C. Faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
1) Inner virtues of a Christian.
a) Faithfulness is the reliability of a Christian.
1> It is someone who can be trusted.
2> It is the word used to describe a faithful servant.
(Luke 16:10-12)
b) Gentleness is the humble meekness which Christ showed.
1> According to Aristotle, gentleness describes the
person who is in control of himself.
2> He is never angry at the wrong time, but always
angry at the right time.
c) Self-control contains the first two virtues.
1> Self-control is the quality that gives victory over
fleshly desires.
2> Therefore it is closely related to chastity both
in mind and conduct.
IV. Fruit doesn't need laws.
A. Purpose of law is to restrain sin.
1) It makes you want to look over your shoulder.
2) Laws cannot command good behavior, but they hope that is
what results.
B. Fruit is a sign more than a method.
1) Paul is not saying, "Go out there and be more patient."
2) He is saying genuine Christians are revealed by qualities
like patience.
3) The Spirit produces it, not our own efforts.
4) If the fruit seems to be lacking in us, what do we do?
V. Crucify the sinful nature.
A. This is one of Paul's favorite images.
1) Vivid, if a little gruesome.
2) In this verse it has a twist.
a) Usually Paul says we have been crucified with Christ.
1> Passive. It is done to us.
b) Here, he says we must crucify our flesh.
1> Active. WE do it to us.
A> Jesus tells us to take up our cross.
B> Paul tells us to use that cross.
2> It is a stark way to describe "repentance."
c) Our old nature is condemned, but it is a lingering
death.
B. Analogies from crucifixion.
1) Our rejection of our old nature is to be PITILESS.
2) Our rejection of our old nature will be PAINFUL.
3) Our rejection of our old nature is to be DECISIVE.
a) Aorist tense, indicating the decisiveness of conversion.
b) Attitude must be renewed daily. compare Luke 9:23
VI. Fruit is all around us.
A. Becky Pruitt had a delicious bowl of it after our bike hike.
B. What kind of fruit would Jesus encounter in our church?
1) The fruit make a good barometer of your spiritual health.
2) If you are lacking, what needs to be crucified?
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Sermon borrows very heavily from commentary by John R.W. Stott,
"The Message of Galatians," IVP, in 'The Bible Speaks Today' series.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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