The Fruit of the Spirit

Published in the October 2011 issue of the Record of the Free Church of Scotland

  

I cannot say if Paul was a gardener, but he did know a great deal about spiritual fruit. In Galatians 5:22-23 he states what a Christian is like and points out nine features of the fruit that should mark his or her life. Scholars and preachers have speculated on how one can divide up the nine, usually into three sets of three. John Stott, for example, suggested that the first three describe a Christian’s attitude to God, the second three his attitude to other people, and the last three his attitude to himself. David Jackman sees the first three as the initial demonstration of the Spirit in a believer’s life, the second three are concerned about the believer’s relationship with others, and the last three with his relationship to himself. Gordon Fee wants to stress that this list of the Spirit’s workings, which is a selection of many graces, is more focussed on corporate relationships within the congregation. I suppose the lesson from such distinguished men is that we should read more than one of them in order to get the picture.

Like the Father

The fruit of the Spirit is a description of the character of God. We could list the details in this way: God is loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled. Think about some ways in which this is the case.

His love was displayed when he sent his Son to be the Saviour of sinners and it is also revealed in the various ways he blesses those who trust in him. His joy is shown in different ways: for example, he has great joy when sinners are converted. Then there is God’s peace, which Paul describes as the peace that passes all understanding. Peace is connected to rest, and in a marvellous way God’s peaceful rest is found in his people. The church is where he rests (Ps. 132) and where he spreads his peace.

 

God is patient in the sense that he is waiting for all his people to be with him on the future day when he will remove all presence of sin from the universe. He is longsuffering in that everyday he puts up with the ongoing rebellion of his creatures because he desires to show grace to them.

The kindness of God is seen in his actions as Creator in which he richly provides for our daily needs. And his kindness is clearly revealed in the grace of the gospel when he does not deal with us in the way our sins deserve. His goodness is closely connected to his kindness. At times his goodness is expressed in other ways because it is also connected to integrity. So we should not be surprised at Paul’s next aspect, which is faithfulness. God will always be faithful to what his goodness has planned.

God is almighty. But how does he express his power? Often it is done gently. As his children we  know his power as he works on our behalf. Yet we seldom, if ever, sense his power in its overwhelming force. One reason for that is that God is self-controlled. He knows how much we can take.

What has all this to do with the fruit of the Spirit? Merely this, that the fruit of the Spirit is likeness to God. It is straightforward to assess whether or not we are like the heavenly Father – do we love as he loves, rejoice in that which gives him joy, convey his peace, imitate his longsuffering, act kindly, remain true, behave gently, all under control? 

Like the Son

We can also take the nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit and note how they were seen in Jesus when he was here on earth. Since he was given the Spirit without measure, we should expect to see the fruit of the Spirit in his humanity. And we do – and it is marvellous to look at! The nine aspects are a description of a perfect life, the perfect life lived by Jesus. 

Regarding love, Jesus loved God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, and his neighbour as himself. The Saviour experienced joy as he found lost sinners (as he says in his parable of the lost sheep) and as his disciples developed in their relationship with him. He possessed peace in times of trial and difficulty as well as in times of pleasantness, although his peace was interrupted when he was in Gethsemane (which is a reminder for us that there are occasions when it is legitimate not to have peace). Jesus was patient with his disciples, he was kind to the needy, he was good to everyone, he was faithful to his calling, he was gentle as he taught, and he was self-controlled (unlike James and John who wanted to call down fire from heaven).

What has this to do with the fruit of the Spirit? Merely this, that it is the measure of Christlikeness. What was (is) Jesus like? Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit tells us. So we can tell whether or not we are Christlike, and so can others, by referring to this list of beautiful features.

Of the Spirit

Since the items in the list refer to attributes found in the Father and the Son, it is inevitable that they will also be found in the Spirit himself. And as we read descriptions of him in the Bible we find that is the case. For example, Paul mentions the love of the Spirit in connection to the prayer life of the Roman Christians (Rom. 15:30); in that same letter he refers to peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). The Spirit was longsuffering with us before conversion and he is patient with us after it. In his dealings with us, he is kind, giving to us what we don’t deserve out of his goodness. He remains loyal to us, even when we grieve him. Usually he works within us in a gentle manner, although sometimes we experience moments when his power is sensed in greater degrees, such as when he pours into our souls the love of God. And the Spirit never loses control, which is a reminder that Christians with bad tempers should not pretend that their ire comes from him.

The point I am making is that the fruit of the Spirit is the outworking of divine life in our souls. This is how the life of God in the soul of man shows itself. It is radically different from an unspiritual life, even if that unspiritual life is religious. Instead it is a life that makes those who possess it into persons who are like the heavenly Father, who are like Jesus the Saviour, and who are like the Holy Spirit.

In ourselves

Paul indicates in the Galatian passage (5:16-26) that the fruit of the Spirit is found in all Christians. They are led by the Spirit in such ways that they continue to produce his fruit. Yet we are aware of differences between Christians with regard to the fruit of the Spirit. Why is this the case? Here are two common reasons.

First, in the natural world, there are types of soil in which fruit trees cannot be cultivated. This is true in the spiritual world as well, and if we are not showing the fruit of the Spirit, perhaps the reason is that we are weakening the God-given soil in our hearts by bringing in contaminated soil from elsewhere. As Christians, we must remind ourselves that we are not perfect, that even when we were regenerated we retained some of the heart-soil with which we were born. If we then begin to add more polluted soil we should not expect to find ongoing growth in the fruit of the Spirit. This reality basically means that we should not allow into our inner lives anything that is going to prevent our spiritual growth.

Second, there are situations in life that can affect spiritual growth adversely. Christians are not immune to the troubles of life, yet many have known the amazing reality that in times of adversity they have experienced greater development in their spiritual lives. We know that they would not want to boast about these personal matters, yet often their growth is such that it cannot be hid. Nevertheless, others have not developed in times of difficulty and their assessment is that they found such periods to be very barren. Not every Christian who has been persecuted has made a grand testimony, and not every Christian has gone through illness with great confidence in God. The good news for such is that they can still go to the heavenly Gardener and ask him to continue his work so that they will once again reveal the fruit of the Spirit.

While accepting we can at times be lacking in our degree of fruit-bearing, Paul’s list does indicate that the fruit of the Spirit usually will be present in a balanced manner. Each of the items should be there in some degree, but if one of them is missing, then problems will arise. C. H. Spurgeon, in a sermon on joy, likened the list to a row of houses, with the neighbours of joy being love and peace. If peace lost its presence and was replaced by arguing, then it would not be possible for the neighbouring house to have joy, and patience would probably be affected as well (and if this kept up, the street would soon be full of disgruntled occupants). The point he was making is that it is not sufficient to have some of the list, even eight of the nine items. We need to have them all.

How does one maintain the fruit of the Spirit?

A simple answer to the question is to speak to the Gardener as often as possible. As Christians we have the double blessing of possessing the Gardener’s instructions and the Gardener’s availability. His instructions are located in the Bible and we will develop his fruit as we live according to what we are told there. The Gardener is also available twenty-fours-a-day and is always full of energy to deal with any difficulties we may have. We can speak to him about any item in the list that is waning and ask for his help.

When we do so, we will discover that he already knows about the problem. But there is an unusual feature in the way the Gardener works. His method is to tell us what is wrong with us and then wait until we ask him to deal with it. For example, if I lack self-control, the Spirit will convict me about it. Two years later, I still lack self-control. Why? One reason is that I have been content with being convicted over it and have not gone and spoken earnestly to the Gardener about it (he appreciates us being as earnest as possible).

The same is true of the other items in the list. We can be aware, through the Spirit’s conviction, that we don’t have joy or peace or gentleness or patience. Months later, we still don’t have them. It is very likely that we have not taken his identification of our defect back to him in earnest conversation (prayer) and expressing to him that it is our vehement desire that he provide us with what is lacking.

A second response is to get rid of the barriers to spiritual fruit. When I look out my kitchen window, I can sometimes see weeds in the garden. Usually the time I see them is when a section of the garden has just been cleaned of them. It is amazing how quickly they return! Strangely I don’t see the weeds that have been in the garden for a long time. It is almost as if my eyes have become used to seeing them. So while I may remove the weeds that have newly appeared, I ignore the ones that I have become used to. Eventually someone points out to me that they are weeds and when I try and remove them I discover that their roots are deep and entwined round whatever they can grip. It is a lot easier to remove them when they first appear. The spiritual lesson is obvious. If I want my soul to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit, I have to get rid of illegitimate things that take up space within my heart. Because if I don’t, eventually I will not notice them and they will become part of me that others see.