Passage: Galatians 5:22-26

The Big Idea

The works of the flesh come from a factory: noisy, smoky, grinding and easy to produce. The fruit of the Spirit grows in a garden, quietly, over time, and only from God. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control aren’t a to-do list to work on. They’re what Jesus’ life looks like flowing through a branch that abides in the Vine.

Flesh and Spirit

Paul has told us to walk by the Spirit, and we won’t carry out the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-18). What’s already in our flesh is obvious; he described it in verses 19-21.

Now he describes something completely different: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23).

Fruit Is Better Than Gifts

God wants us to bear spiritual fruit. Not just coast through life. Not just be comfortable.
Not just have spiritual gifts.
Fruit is better than gifts. We all know very gifted people with very little character to back it up.
Paul says that if he spoke in the tongues of men and angels, had prophetic powers, understood all mysteries, had faith to move mountains, gave everything to the poor and even gave his body to be burned, but didn’t have love, he’d be nothing but a clanging cymbal, and it would profit him nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Love is the fruit of the Spirit. It’s not something we can manufacture ourselves!
What we can produce on our own was that ugly list in verses 19-21.
A gift can be given in a moment. Character takes a long time to develop: His character, developed in us over a lifetime.

A Factory or a Garden?

It isn’t even hard to produce the works of the flesh. They’re the natural factories of our lives: noisy, smoky, ugly, dirty, grinding, straining, full of friction.
A garden is different. You can’t even see the progress happening.
Spiritual fruit must come from the work of God. Any other way, and you become a factory.
God isn’t just looking for human niceness. Some unbelievers are nicer than others. He’s looking for fruit of the Spirit.
Sadly, some churches are religious factories.

Planted by the water

The righteous person is like a tree planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in its season, with leaves that don’t wither (Psalm 1:3).

That tree is fruitful because of what’s in the water.
It’s a great picture of God working in and through our lives to produce fruit.

Those planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of our God. They’ll still bear fruit in old age; they’ll stay fresh and green (Psalm 92:13-14).

That makes me think of my dad.
The opposite is sad: growing old and bitter.
God has a plan to keep us fresh and flourishing. It should never be “been there, done that.”

Abide in the Vine

Jesus said He is the vine and we are the branches. Whoever abides in Him, and He in them, bears much fruit, because apart from Him we can do nothing. The Father is glorified when we bear much fruit and so show we are His disciples (John 15:5, 8).

The key to fruit is the Vine.
It’s not about us. It’s about Him.
Not “Be all the branch you can be!”
Picture branches giving other branches pep talks!
You can’t expect a branch to grow on its own, cut off and lying on a table or a stage.
It’s futile to expect growth when you aren’t abiding. We depend on Christ for spiritual fruit just as a branch depends on the vine for every single grape.
It’s all about relationship, His life flowing through ours.
You can’t be pursuing a deep connection with Jesus and not have fruit in your life. Fruitlessness is a clear sign of a lack of dependence.

You died to the Law through the body of Christ so that you could belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God (Romans 7:4).

We bear this fruit for God. It pleases Him. It makes Him happy.

Paul prays that we’d be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1:11).

How? Through Jesus Christ, His presence and activity in our lives.
He’s fully able to produce it.

Having been set free from sin and having become God’s servants, the fruit you get leads to holiness, and its end is eternal life (Romans 6:22).

This is personal, practical, real holiness.
You aren’t just forgiven. You’re a saint who lives a holy life through God.

Not a To-Do List

This isn’t a list of things to work on day to day. We can desire them, but we can’t produce them.

Notice how the works of the flesh relate to love:

Sexual immorality, impurity and sensuality are counterfeits of love between people.
Idolatry and sorcery are counterfeits of love for God.
Hatred, strife, jealousy, anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, divisions, envy and murder are the opposites of love.
Drunkenness and wild partying are sad attempts to fill a void only love can fill.

Love

It flows from the very heart of God.
It isn’t God thinking, “What a lovable guy!”
It has nothing to do with how much we deserve it.
It’s His character to truly love us in our sinful state.

While we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Hardly anyone would die for a righteous person, though maybe someone would dare to die for a good person. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6-8).

The price paid shows the great love of the Father, not how valuable we are. It isn’t, “How worthy am I?” It’s, “How loving is He!”

And this agape love is available for us to love others. Hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5).

It’s a heavenly resource that brings new life and a new ability to love others.
This is the fruit of the Spirit flowing out of us.
Training and tools for ministry have their place, but they can give a false sense of ability. You can try every tool and idea and still fail without the love of God. We need to wait on the Lord.

Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us (Ephesians 5:1-2). Above all, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony (Colossians 3:14).

But this isn’t something we copy or manufacture. Love is from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever doesn’t love doesn’t know God, because God is love (1 John 4:7-8). He is the source.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, and all the others are facets of that love: what it looks like when you’re loving, filled with the Spirit.

Joy

One of the greatest marketing strategies ever used is to portray Satan’s kingdom as where the fun is, and God’s kingdom as a place of gloom and misery. But the fruit of the Spirit is joy.

It’s inner spiritual happiness that doesn’t depend on circumstances. It’s always available, no matter what’s happening, because it comes from the Spirit.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice (Philippians 4:4)!
It’s joy in the Lord. We have it when we focus on Him. In the middle of the mess, when you look to God, you’ll find joy.
Jesus experienced sorrow and joy. Joy was always available to Him.
Though you haven’t seen Him, you love Him; though you don’t see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8).
Sometimes we just don’t have words for how wonderful God is. (Maybe that’s part of why He gives some people the gift of tongues, so they don’t explode with all that joy!)
The joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10).
Jesus said He told us these things so that His joy would be in us, and our joy would be full (John 15:11).
The Bible says you have the opportunity to be full of joy. Let Him bear His fruit in your life.
You can’t dig joy up inside yourself. It can’t be found. It has to be grown.

People try all kinds of ways to beat sorrow and depression. Some of those, like caring for your health or getting good counsel and medical care, can be genuine gifts from God, and there’s no shame in them. But no human method can produce the fruit of joy. That comes only as the Spirit grows it in us. The deepest answer is Jesus, as we die to self and let Him live His life in us.

Peace

This is peace with God and peace with people. It’s a positive peace, full of blessing and goodness, not just the absence of fighting.

Safety isn’t found in the absence of danger, but in the presence of God.

Don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).

Patience

Patience (longsuffering) means you can keep love, joy and peace over a long stretch of time, even when people and events annoy you. God isn’t quickly irritated with us, so we shouldn’t be quickly irritated with others.

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other, just as Christ forgave you (Colossians 3:12-13).

Kindness and Goodness

These two are closely connected. About the only difference is that goodness carries the added idea of generosity. Just being kind, really kind, only comes from the Spirit.

Faithfulness

The Spirit produces faithfulness in us, both to God and to people. As Leon Morris noted, the ability to serve God faithfully through the years and through life’s temptations isn’t something we achieve by heroic virtue. It comes from the Spirit.

Gentleness

Gentleness means being teachable, not having a superior attitude, not demanding your rights. It isn’t timidity or passivity. Barclay described the gentle person as someone who is always angry at the right time and never at the wrong time.

Jesus invites us to take His yoke and learn from Him, because He is gentle and humble in heart, and we’ll find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:29).

Gentleness doesn’t demand “the respect I deserve.” Spurgeon asked what respect is really due to poor creatures like us. If any of us got the “proper respect” we deserved, we wouldn’t like it for long. What we usually want, he said, is flattery. If we got what we deserved, we’d be in the lowest hell!

Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, didn’t cling to equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, and humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8).

Self-Control

This isn’t self-discipline. It’s a fruit of the Spirit: being in control of yourself all the time. Never spiraling out of control. Not a roller coaster of emotions, but a calm, steady life of dependence on Jesus.

It isn’t self managing self. It’s self under the control of the Holy Spirit.

“Against such things there is no law.” This is God’s will for our lives, a living product of the Holy Spirit.

Renouncing the Flesh (Galatians 5:24-26)

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another.

“Those who belong to Christ.” It’s a relationship of belonging.

We say no to self. That’s humble repentance.
Jesus said that if anyone wants to follow Him, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Him. Whoever tries to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus’ sake will save it (Luke 9:23-24).
If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8:13).
Put to death what is earthly in you (Colossians 3:5).
The flesh wants to be the source and power of our daily living.
Paul said he has been crucified with Christ; it’s no longer he who lives, but Christ lives in him (Galatians 2:20).
What blocks the fruit of the Spirit is the flesh.

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

You were saved by this Spirit.
Jesus said it’s the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. His words are spirit and life (John 6:63).
Just reading that is crucifying to the flesh. Agreeing with it drives the nails in!

“Let us not become conceited.” That’s pride. The pride of life isn’t from the Father but from the world (1 John 2:16). Pride automatically quenches the Holy Spirit in your life.

The Way to Grow

What the Law couldn’t do, because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, to deal with sin. He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4).

There is a way to grow in godliness: walk by the Spirit.
My ability only gets in the way. My flesh, my resources, were weak.
But His life in me is strong.

Grace Takeaway

You can’t manufacture the fruit of the Spirit, and you don’t have to. Stop running the factory. Abide in the Vine, stay planted by the water, and let the Spirit grow His love, joy and peace in you, quietly, season by season. The fruit is His, and so is the glory.

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A Garden or a Factory: The Fruit of the Spirit