Fruit of the Spirit : Week Five

And the Fruit of the Spirit is Patience

Patience Is
- Longsuffering, grace (forgiveness and mercy), humility, peace, faith

Three directions of patience
- Our patience with others
- God’s patience with us
- Our patience with God

First lets talk about what patience is. What do I mean by longsuffering? Exactly that. Suffering for a long time, on behalf of others, or with others, or in whatever sort of relationship. Patience means bearing with other people, who are sinners, and will do any number of things are not especially to your liking. Why have patience with them? For one, it is out of love. You love your brother, and so you bear with him as he annoys you. That is the essence of love. If you didn’t love him, you would not be patient with him. Second we are commanded to: Rom 15:1-2 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. As we are commanded to love one another, and therefore be patient with him, suffering long with/because of him, we are likewise commanded to bear with one another. This naturally assumes the weakness of others. We all of us are sinners and are weak. And we live together in community, not isolated as individuals. This means we will bump up against each other and discover just how sinful we each are. Therefore, bear with your neighbor’s weakness, seeking to build him up, and not shut him off.

This leads right into Grace. Patience means giving grace to one another. As we bear with one another we give grace, meaning we do not judge, condemn, exclude, shun, or anything like. Of course if the brother is unrepentant and proper steps have been taken to restore him to fellowship after grievous, unconfessed sin, then the Bible requires excommunication. But we will leave that aside for this conversation. Love covers a multitude of sins, and this means not throwing actions back in each other’s faces. Grace has a memory problem. Grace has a hard time remembering things. This is patience, and lies at the heart of forgiveness. When a brother sins against you, you must forgive them. If they sin against you seven times in one day, you must forgive them every time. This is grace, and this is patience. Bearing with the sins of others, understanding that you are made of the same metal, and they must bear with you, and forgive you when you sin against them. We have mercy on others.

Mat 18:23-27 "Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

This takes incredible humility because we human beings do not like to be offended. Our toes will not be stepped on, and our position will be respected. This is the natural man coming out in full fervor. Our sensibilities rate at the top of the importance list. And when we are sinned against, we feel the right to declare to the world that we were right, and they were wrong. The kicker is this: though that be often true, it is pride and glory-seeking to say as much aloud for all to hear. That is not love, and it is not patience. Nor be it forgiveness. To declare such things are expressions of self love and self importance. That is a far more grievous sin than what your brother did to you, for you are placing yourself in the seat of God, and all your brother did was broke your toy. No, we must humble ourselves when sinned against, for what right do we have to hold the sins of others over their heads? None. This is patience in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. God did not throw us into hell the minute we sinned. He bore with us, gave us grace, and humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross. This is patience.

Where else can peace be found, but in the fact that God has patience with us? Here is our peace with brothers: that we bear with them in humility and grace, forgiving them, and being merciful to them in their time of sin. If the Almighty Creator God of the all things has bore with us, how can we not do likewise? To do otherwise is to fill your life with anger, bitterness, anxiety, restlessness, and pride. But forgiveness and mercy and longsuffering beget peace; peace with life, peace with brethren, peace with God.

This all is fruit of the Spirit, fruit of faith. The faith that we have been given must lead to these works of longsuffering and forgiveness or else the faith is dead. That faith enables our response. It leads us to patience with others as they sin against us. That faith also leads us to patience with God. This is a different aspect of patience in that it does not bear with sin, but rather waits in hope. Our instant gratification, vending machine culture has programmed us to expect immediate responses to all inquiries. Our computer generation expects that when we input an equation, and hit enter, it will take 1 millianth of a second to receive a response. Thus we have fast food, drive up coffee shacks, and same day shipping. But God is teaching us something different. He teaches us to wait upon the Lord with hope, and to trust Him for all things. This means not receiving a desire the minute we are aware of said desire. We want a (fill in the blank), and ask God for a (said item). He chooses to give us (said item) four years later. He does this for our good, reminding us of our dependence on Him for everything.

Psa 40:1-3. I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up
from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their
trust in the LORD.

We wait on the Lord, and have patience with Him, for His ways are not our ways. This means we wait for others too in patience. Example: We want our brother to learn how to play basketball well, so that we can play with him on the same level. If we have patience, we will wait for him to attain the skill that is necessary, and we will play in good time. This means we are putting aside our own desires and needs. If we do not have patience and see our needs as more important, then we will not wait for our brother to develop and neither one will play basketball. On a deeper level, waiting on the Lord means understanding that we do not have a full grasp on even our own lives, and where we are headed. We have aspirations and desires and dreams, which are all God given. But we do not control the future. Those who have tried end in ruin. The appropriate response is to have patience with God, understanding that He is leading us, guiding us through the events of the day, with the overriding purpose of conforming us to the image of His Son. In Creation we were made in the Image of God. In the New Creation we are made in the Image of Christ. This is the purpose and meaning of Life: to wait on God as he accomplishes His purposes and give Him glory and thanks while so doing. Waiting does not mean inactivity by any stretch of the imagination. Waiting means living life knowing that God is in control; living life in obedience to His Word; and living life by enjoying our time here on earth. This is not our home. We are pilgrims. What of the hard and difficult times you might ask? They require patience to the utmost. For it is in time of need that endurance and patience show their true colors. We wait upon the Lord as He brings us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. It is not pleasant, and we will not enjoy it. But we are called to hope in the Lord, to trust Him, and to wait upon His right hand. This is where James comes in and tells us to “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” This is the result of patience, or steadfastness: Joy and perfection. So, we are called to enjoy the good gifts of creation, and the fellowship we have with our brothers and sisters. And we are enabled to enjoy them through the outpouring of the Spirit.

This is what it means to Honor God as God and to give Him thanks. We wait upon Him, understanding His ways are above ours, and give thanks that they are, that He is leading us in ways we never thought possible, but in looking back, we see are the perfect plans of an loving Heavenly Father. Hindsight shows us that Patience is worthwhile. Hindsight also shows that hastiness is foolish and destructive. So give thanks to God and wait upon Him.

roughin' it

here are the pictures from our camping "trip", as promised:

henry cowell state park, ten minutes inland from the coast, three minutes from our front door

we thought this looked suspiciously like somebody's sad ending

playing with glow sticks and shutter speed

our pastor and his wife, steve and wendy watkins

their youngest son travis, aka t-bone, bones, joe's buddy

jen with their older son justin, aka monkey, jen's buddy

the cast iron feast

henry cowell

for the first time since we moved home to santa cruz, we went camping! a three minute drive and $30 dollars later, we set up tent in the redwoods. our trusty tent was a snap to put up (thank you, hardings!...we remember that awesome, tent-christening camping trip we had with you when brooklyn was still in beth's tummy!), and we broke out our cast iron and made dinner and breakfast over the fire. our friends the watkins joined us for dinner and smores, and we breathed in the campfire smoke and chilly autumn air. sleeping was challenging, especially since the night-watch owl kept as vigilant, and vocal, as ever. but it was tremendous.

i have pictures, but my computer's being cranky, so they'll come later.

The Fruit of the Spirit: Week Four

And the Fruit of the Spirit is Peace

First, what is peace? Peace involves rest, trust, contentment, reconciliation, and harmony.

Rest: stillness after work, silence after noise, calm after busy.
Trust: to lack fear concerning others actions and the effect those actions would have on you, to believe someone completely, and be willing to place your life in their hands.
Contentment: to lack greed for anything, to be satisfied with where God has you, and what He has given you.
Reconciliation: to lack hostility between two groups of people.
Harmony: to live in a way that does not focus on self, but rather others, that sees the needs of others as more important that the needs of self.


What is peace? Peace is both a state in which we live, and also a gift that is given to us. How is it a state? We live in a state called California. The land around us is defined as California. We live in California. You can leave this state and go to another state, perhaps one called Oregon. A different area of the world is defined as Oregon, and in being so described, it is not California. Much is the same with Peace. We can be in peace, and we can be out of peace. To live in peace is to live in such a way that your life could be described with the previous terms, rest, trust, contentment, reconciliation, and harmony. We describe our surroundings with terms particular to California. The same is true for peace.

Peace is also a gift. God gives us peace in and through Jesus. There are a few aspects of that gift. The first is the ability to live in peace, or what we just described. Next, because of that gift, we have peace with God, meaning we can rest in Him, trust Him, be content with Him, be reconciled to Him, and live in Harmony with Him. This is what it means to be at peace with God. This can only happen through Jesus, and through the gift of the Spirit. Like we talked about in our catechism, sin will not go unpunished, and we are sinners. The gospel is though that Christ has become that punishment for us. Therefore, through the sacrifice of Christ, and his victory over death, we have peace with God.

As always this gift is given to us with the purpose of us in turn, giving it to others. We never simply receive. We receive in order to give. God gave. We are to be imitators of Him. So we give. This means living in such a way that bestows peace on others. What does this look like with our 5 aspects of Peace? Lets see.

Giving Rest:
There were once two boys, one disobedient, the other obedient. The disobedient boy never thought about what his actions did to his parents. They were always worried about him, worrying about how to teach him godliness, for they knew that their child was an unrepentant sinner. This brought great anxiety, and stress. They stayed up many nights all night, talking about how to teach their child. Their child brought no rest to them, and their was no peace between them, because he was always in trouble.
The parents of the obedient child never worried about their boy. The trusted him completely, for he had shown himself to be trustworthy. They never stayed up late worrying about how he was going to grow up, if he was going to get into any real trouble. The boy brought his parents rest, and they were at peace.

Trust:
Two friends, Bob and Mike, were at peace with each other. This meant that there was no bitterness, or anger or anything like that between them. When Bob went on vacation, he asked Mike to watch his bike. Mike agreed and was very careful to take care of the bike. Bob trusted that Mike would take good care of the bike. He had peace concerning his bike, and did not worry about it at all. He was not afraid to leave it with Mike.

Contentment:
There once was a woman named Barbara. She was very poor. She owned very little, but what she did own allowed her to live in a house, and gave her food every day. She never complained about having more things, even though her best friend was a very wealthy woman who had everything. Barbara was at peace with what she had. She was thankful and grateful for her life, and possessions. She gave thanks to God for everything, and understood that this world is fleeting, and that our treasures are in Heaven, where dust does not gather. Her thankful life was simple and quiet. She never wished she had anything more beyond what she had. She was at peace.

Reconciliation:
There once was a father who loved his son. His son however was rotten, and stole everything his father owned, sold it, and moved to the city. In the city he spent the money foolishly, and soon was alone, and very poor. He began to feel sorry for what he had done, and realized it was a very selfish thing to do. He wished he could see his father again, and be at peace with him. The next day, his father came to the city and found him in one of the dirty alleyways. He picked up his son, and brought him home, and cleaned him up and gave him a large dinner. The son confessed his sin, and asked his father’s forgiveness. He forgave his son immediately, and loved him all the more. Through forgiveness and reconciliation, they found peace.

Harmony:
Two boys, Phil and Sam, were playing basketball together one day. Phil was an excellent basketball player, played on several teams in school, and in various leagues. Sam barely ever played the game, and so wasn’t really any good. But he had fun. Phil knew that he was better than Sam, and he knew that Sam was doing everything wrong. But Phil and Sam were good friends and at peace with one another. This meant that Phil never boasted about how good he was, nor tried to show off in front of Sam, but did everything he could to help Sam, but only when Sam wanted it. Phil never did what he wanted, but only what he sincerely thought would be best for Sam. So they played games they could both play, and enjoy. Phil put Sam’s needs and enjoyment first, before his own. In fact his enjoyment was found in Sam’s enjoyment. This was because Phil had peace, and was at peace with life.


A few things we can talk about here. To be at peace with someone means to act toward them in a manner fitting the five aspects we just discussed. We must live this way because God has given us this peace.

Num 6:23 "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
"So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them."

2Th 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.

God has granted us peace, and has made us a people of peace. Again, our duty as Christians, and bearers of not only Gods image, but His name as well, is to share what He has given us with all the world. And so it does not fit for us to be angry at our sister because she played with our toy, or be rude to our brother because he left his clothes on out side of the room. We need to be at peace with others. This is how we honor God, and give Him thanks. We honor and give thanks through obedience. We have been granted peace. How can we not be at peace with others?

Life of Peace	Life without Peace
Rest Trust Contentment Reconciliation Harmony Joy Faith Satisfaction Friendship Unity	Anxiety Fear Greed War, Strife Selfishness Worry Unreliable Complaining Enemies Factions

Fruit of the Spirit : Week Three

And the Fruit of the Spirit is Joy

What is Joy:
True Joy (focus is outward) – Peace, Contentment, Gratitude, Fulfillment, Faith-based
False Joy (focus is inward) – Unrest, Discontent, Ingratitude, Unfulfillment, Self-based

Jdg 19:3 Then her husband arose and went after her, to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys. And she brought him into her father's house. And when the girl's father saw him, he came with joy to meet him.

1Sa 18:6 As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.

1Ki 1:38 - 40 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David's mule and brought him to Gihon. There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, "Long live King Solomon!" And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise.

1Ch 12:38 -40 All these, men of war, arrayed in battle order, came to Hebron with full intent to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel were of a single mind to make David king. And they were there with David for three days, eating and drinking, for their brothers had made preparation for them. And also their relatives, from as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, came bringing food on donkeys and on camels and on mules and on oxen, abundant provisions of flour, cakes of figs, clusters of raisins, and wine and oil, oxen and sheep, for there was joy in Israel.

1Ch 16:33 Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.

Isa 12:1 You will say in that day: "I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation." With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. "Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

Rom 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Jam 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.


What is joy? Joy is something that fills us up, that comes out of us in song, that dwells with a group of people, that accompanies us on the road. It is an attitude, but also a substance. By attitude I mean it is an inner quality: calm, trusting, resting. By substance I mean that it is something that can be transferred: I give you joy, make my joy complete, you fill me with joy. Joy hopes and fulfills hope.

The Attitude:
There once were two friends who had everything, Frank and Bill. Both were very rich. Cows and cars, sheep and stables, you name it, they owned it. They were very happy. Joy was abundant. They loved telling stories and they loved laughing. The men had no earthly need, and were very content with what they had. One day a wildfire came through the town where the two men lived and destroyed everything they owned. All the cows and sheep died, all the cars and stables were destroyed. The men alone were left. Both Frank and Bill were devastated. They had lost everything they held dear. They were very sad. Frank was bitter against God. He blamed God for everything, and was convinced that God was intent on ruining his life. He stopped going to church, and reading his bible, and telling stories, and laughing. His only thought was how to get back all his stuff. Bill however took things very differently. He was still sad, but it had not turned into bitterness. He told Frank one day, “Shouldn’t we receive both the hard and easy from God? Isn’t He the one in charge and sovereign over everything? Didn’t He give us all the stuff in the first place? Why not give thanks for the good and bad? The lord gives and the lord takes away, blessed be His name. This whole world is his anyway. The whole world belongs to Him, he can give of his own what he wants to, to whom he wants to, and he can take away what he wants to from whom he wants to, when he wants to. Why not just give glory to the God who still allows you to breath, and still allows the blood in your veins to move around letting you live? Especially when that is what we are commanded to do. What is more important: All this earthly material stuff that’s going to burn anyway, or salvation and eternal life with Christ? We can be bummed at what we lost, but God is still God, and we are still His children, and need to honor Him as God and give Him thanks.”


The Substance
There once was a poor lady who was left all alone in the world. She had never married, and so never had had any children. She was born in England, but through a sad and lonely lifetime ended up in Russia, without a single friend, or a word of Russian to her name. How she got there is a sad story, and is better left untold here. She lived in a room adjacent to a house owned by a young couple who simply had pity on her and refused to allow her to continue living on the street. She had lived there perhaps close to three years. She had one joy in life, and that was a book. It was an old book and it was very delicate. It had been old and very delicate for so long that it was no surprise that the binding simply broke one day. That was fine, until she lost the second half. Now all that she had was the first half of the book, which still was precious to her, but saddened her even more. One day, a young man, accidentally tripped on the steps in front of her house. This man was a university student, and was studying English literature. He hardly spoke a word, but enough to say hi. The old lady had seen him fall, and went out to help him She invited him in to rest his ankle, which had twisted a bit. She was very kind toward him, and liked him very much. They talked as much as they could, which wasn’t very much, but enough to give her company. He eventually excused himself and left, because he still had a class to get to. This same young man began coming by regularly, at first out of pity for the old woman’s loneliness, but then out of a real friendship. He got to know her story, where she had come from, why she was alone in Russia, and how her favorite thing in all the world, lay in half, missing the better part of itself. When he found out which book it was, he had one task he knew he must do. He went out and found the book at the university, bought it, and wrapped in fancy paper. He gave it to her as a present. When she opened it, her eyes filled with water, tears of happiness, for the one the thing she had missed for so many years, was with her again. Her joy had been made complete.

Now these stories are examples of what joy is. Joy is an attitude before God, and an actual something that he gives to us. Joy means gratitude for everything, both fun and not so fun; joy means contentment at all times, when you have things you want, and when you don’t have things you want; joy means peace when people are happy with you or are unjustly mad at you; joy means rest when things are quiet, and when things are crazy; joy means trusting in a God who is in control when you can see what will happen, and when you cant see what will happen.

Our Joy is based in this. God is God and we are not. He has accomplished salvation for us, and has placed us in a world full of joy and enjoyment. The fact that the sun is bright, water is blue, and grass is green, food tastes good, ice cream is sweet, running is fun. All these things are things we enjoy, and find joy in. This is because of the gift of God. He enables us to enjoy things (through salvation), and gives us things to enjoy (through creation).

Joy, both attitude and substance, is a gift from God. It is a fruit of the Spirit, which he is working to hang on your wall. It is not something that we have naturally. It is something we are commanded to have however, and so we pray for it. Rejoice always, Paul tells us. James tells us to count everything as joy, when we encounter various trials, for steadfastness is being produced in us. And so when your brother or sister annoys you, take a deep breath, and count it as joy, knowing that your faith is being proven.

What does it mean to count it all joy? It means in the moment that you take a deep breath, give thanks to God, literally say “Thank you God for this “whatever is going on” and for teaching me to trust in you for everything.” Then you refrain from returning annoying for annoying, or evil for evil as the Bible puts it. Love your brother instead of ignoring him, beating him or anything that is not helping him or giving him opportunity to grow. Joy means giving thanks and trusting God to work everything together for good, which HE promises HE will do.

What does Joy not mean. It does not mean being happy all the time. Joy is something much deeper than superficial happiness. Joy is real, and sometimes cries. Joy is honest with God and keeps dialogue with Him open. Joy does not always have a smile on, but it does mean gratitude.

So again, we finish with this, Honor God as God, and give Him thanks. This is the core of what it means to be Joyful.

Fruit of the Spirit : Week Two

And the Fruit of the Spirit is Love

What is Love: (1 Cor. 13)

- If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
- And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
- If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
- Love is patient and kind; (When your brother leaves a mess on your side of the closet)
- Love does not envy or boast; (Love never looks sideways, in want or in plenty)
- It is not arrogant or rude. (Love and pride cannot coexist)
- It does not insist on its own way; (Love submits – Obeying parents is a form of loving them)
- It is not irritable or resentful; (Love and bitterness cannot coexist)
- It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. (Love and justice)
- Love bears all things, (Love is sacrificial)
- Believes all things, (Love is quick to believe the best)
- Hopes all things, (love is slow to believe the worst)
- Endures all things. (love is not fickle)
- Love never ends. (love is not momentary)
o As for prophecies, they will pass away;
o as for tongues, they will cease;
o as for knowledge, it will pass away.
o For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
o When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
o For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
o Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Three Fold Love (From The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky)
Brothers, have no fear of men’s sin. Love a man even in his sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth. Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love. Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble it, don’t harass them, don’t deprive them of their happiness, don’t work against God’s intent. Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to the animals; they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile the earth by your appearance on it, and leave the traces of your foulness after you — alas, it is true of almost every one of us!
At some thoughts one stands perplexed, especially at the sight of men’s sin, and wonders whether one should use force or humble love. Always decide to use humble love. If you resolve on that once for all, you may subdue the whole world. Loving humility is marvelously strong, the strongest of all things, and there is nothing else like it.
Every day and every hour, every minute, walk round yourself and watch yourself, and see that your image is a seemly one….. Brothers, love is a teacher; but one must know how to acquire it, for it is hard to acquire, it is dearly bought, it is won slowly by long labor. For we must love not only occasionally, for a moment, but forever. Everyone can love occasionally, even the wicked can.

Love is passionate. The Father Loves us completely. He loves us in Christ at all times. He overflows with a desire to see us blest. This love looks outward, away from what you want to do. With your brother and sister it is an attitude that gives to them even when they are being mean and nasty and annoying. You love them, and bless them with things. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, in heaven and on earth. And we do the same for others, we seek to bless as much as we can.

Love is humble, and sacrificial. Jesus loved us so much that He died for us. He said, “No man has greater love than this, that he lay down his life for a friend.” This may mean giving up what you want to do so that your brother or sister can do something. It means giving up your own desires for the desires of others.

Love is wise, and the Spirit guides us in how we love. In overflowing with love and desiring to bless we don’t give unwisely. Example: Your brother wants to play with something that you know he shouldn’t play with and isn’t allowed to play with. Love in this case stops him from playing with it, instead of allowing him to continue. So blessing others does not always mean giving them opportunity to do what they want to do. It means always giving them what they need. And this takes wisdom.

Love is an attitude that is the foundation to whatever you do. Jesus also says that the world will know that we are His disciples, by how we love one another. This is also the first and second greatest commandment: Love God, love neighbor. We are commanded to love. And this is why we are given the Spirit. He plants the seeds and waters and gives sunshine, and prunes, and brings fruit. He paints a picture, and hangs it on our walls. He displays love on us.

Why should we? Why should we love others? Well if the fact that we have been commanded to by the God of all Creation is not enough, it should also be a response of Gratitude. We have been loved in this way, fully and completely with our betterment and blessing as the goal. This is how we honor God as God, and how we give Him thanks. We acknowledge that God has done this, and we in return act likewise to others.

Fruit of the Spirit : Week One

Hey everybody. This is Joe. I haven’t done this in a while. I hope you all are well. Recently I started teaching a Sunday school class at our Church. The class is for ages 11-13. Currently I have one student (Derek Jensen for those who know). I have one more who might be joining soon, but that is not for sure. It has been a great study thus far. We have been looking at Galatians 5:22-23, and the fruit that the Spirit brings to fruition in our life. If you are interested, the lessons will be posted here. We have a little liturgy, which I will explain. We begin with the song/prayer "Christ be with me." This comes from a larger song called, "St Patrick’s Breastplate" and is an awesome song, dating back to St Patrick himself. We sing the smaller one as an opening prayer, and then go into our scripture memory. We are memorizing Psalm 95, and reciting it antiphonally. Next comes fun Bible trivia, followed by the Heidelberg Catechism, and some questions highlighting key aspects of the answers. We then dive into the text, and he sits there listening to me spout off for a while. Then we have a poetry reading, usually some great hymn such as William Cowper's "God Moves in a Mysterious Way." That’s what we do. It has been a great blessing to me. So here it be. Forgive the unpolished prose. These are more like lecture notes than anything else. Blessings

Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me
Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
Christ to guide me, Christ to lead me, Christ in Song and Christ in Story,
Christ to wash me, Christ to feed me, Christ to bring me to His glory.

‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

What is the context of this passage?

-Walk by the Spirit (v16)

-Flesh vs. Spirit (vv17-18)

-Works of the Flesh (vv19-21)

-Fruits of the Spirit (vv22-23)

-In Christ, the Flesh is dead (v24)

-Therefore, walk by the Spirit (vv25-26)

Whose Fruit?

-The fruit of the Spirit, meaning the Spirit’s fruit. This is one way by which we can know what God is like. These are attributes that describe Him. He is love, He is joy, etc. As we are conformed to the image of His Son, these are the attributes that will grow in us. We work out what God works in, and these are the attributes that He works in. Why? Because these are His attributes.

Works of the Flesh vs. Fruit of the Spirit

- These are juxtaposed against each other in a tidy way in this passage. We see a list for both, and a heading describing both: works and fruit. Works are associated with the Flesh, whereas fruit is associated with the Spirit. This is an important difference. What does this mean? The flesh desires to do something, to earn something, to perform works. What the flesh is attempting to earn is growth. We want to achieve our own maturity, our own self-enrichment. This is exactly opposite of what it means to be in the Spirit. Being in the Spirit means allowing the Spirit to work, to achieve something. It means giving up the desire to earn growth. Think of an apple tree. It needs sun and water to grow. Pruning helps direct the fruit, and concentrate the attributes of the fruit. But does the apple do anything to achieve or earn maturity or growth? No, growth and maturity come only after the gardener has tended to it. This is the work of the Spirit. The Spirit comes and prunes, waters, and tends the tree, bringing apples to maturity. This is what happens in our own lives. When we try to grow on our own, the works we perform are the list we read. These are all self-pleasing, self-satisfying actions. But against that is the work of the Spirit, which God is working into us as His children. We are being nurtured and tended to, pruned and watered. The outcome of that attention is fruit. Healthy fruit, ripe for use.

The Nature of the Fruit

- What is this fruit? Are they things I can do, I can practice? Can you sit down and tell yourself one day that you can be love? And the next day joy? Are these duties or descriptions? If duties can we do them? No. Can you do joy? Can you do kindness? You can be kind or act kindly. With some of the words it becomes obvious that they are descriptions. Kindness describes something, it attributes a set of conditions to someone or something. We say, “He exhibits kindness,” or “he displays kindness toward others.” “He displays love,” He displays patience.” One way in which we can think about this is like an art gallery. In an art gallery there are walls, and on the walls hang paintings, photographs, etc. We can say in a literal sense that the wall displays that piece of art. The wall exhibits a certain picture or painting. In reality when we say “the museum exhibits this or that”, we are not talking about the walls, we are talking about the curator, the person who chooses the art and puts it on the wall. So think of your self as the wall, and the Spirit is the curator, who chooses what he wishes to display on you. The Spirit will adorn you with these “paintings” each of which carry a certain set of attributes. All analogies break down at a certain point. The catch in this situation is that we are not as stationary or as complicit as a wall. We have a human nature that is prone to sin and rebellion. Paul talks about the flesh that he battles with every day, working in him to do things he does not want to do, and keeping him from doing things he wants to do. This is the life of sin that God is saving us from. By the power of Christ’s blood on the cross, and the subsequent resurrection from the dead, we as believers in that God-Man, are joined to Him, and are given a new heart; one that is able to look the old heart square in the eyes and say no. I am not going to hit my sister, even though I want to. I am not going to lie to my parents, even though I might get in trouble. I am not going send my brother away, even though he annoys me to no end. In Christ we have that ability to not sin. This is done by the Spirit of Christ who lives in us, and teaches us to turn from sin. As we submit ourselves to this Spirit, He conforms us to the image of the Son. As we become submissive, like a wall, allowing the curator to adorn us however he wishes, the Spirit adorns us with his art, the fruit of his hands. The paintings of love, joy, peace, etc, communicate the attitude and personality of the artist. As with a real painting, we come to know the artist by his work. Every artist has a definitive style, ie brushstrokes, color palate. We often can tell a artist simply by looking at one of his paintings. The same is true with the art of the Spirit. When the painting ‘love’ is displayed on the wall of your actions and attitudes, we are able to point to the artist and recognize the brushstrokes. The same is true with the list of the works of the flesh. When we display anger, envy and fighting, we are displaying the fruit of the our own making. That is the fruit of an evil, sinful nature. We become the curator and hang our own art on our own walls, and in doing so, rebel against the one who made the walls (us) in the first place. God made us to reflect His glory to the world. We fell in Adam and since then have desired nothing but to reflect our own glory, pittance that it is. When Christ came and saved us we were set free from bondage to that old man, though we still war with him. Through the Spirit we are enabled to do what we were created to do. We are enabled to display the art of God. We are enabled to exhibit the works of the Spirit’s hands. We are enabled to share with the world the divine and heavenly fruit.

Therefore walk in the Spirit

- This is what it means to turn aside from doing your own pleasures, and walk in the Spirit. Think about it like this. In the snow your feet make large footprints. Is it easy to walk in? You’re your feet sink every time you step? Have you ever walked in someone else’s footsteps in the snow? The other person packed the snow down with their feet, making it hard. Then when you walk on it, it is solid and easier to walk on. Think like that. We can walk through the snow in our own foot prints, or we can walk in the footprints the Spirit makes as He walks ahead of us, leading us. Walk in the light, as He is in the light. What does that mean in real life? Exhibit love to your sister. Display joy to your parents. Show patience with your brother. Be at peace with those who annoy you. Have the qualities of faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These are the pieces of art that the Spirit is working into you as you submit yourself to his hand. By these attributes the world will know who God is, and what He has done for you. He works these into, and we work them out. The Spirit plants the seeds of joy, and we watch as the grow in our actions and responses. So pray for them. Pray that the Lord would grant you a curator to display His fruit. Pray for a willing heart to accept the art chosen by that curator. The life that follows is glory and honor and gratitude to the God who saved you from pit, and took you from the mire. Know who He is, and give Him thanks. This is the best thing in life that we can do. Know who God is, and thank Him.