DEMONSTRATING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

BIBLE PASSAGE: GALATIANS 5:22-23

• Picture taken from Google
• Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page
• Lesson ideas taken from: https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons

OCTOBER 23, 2022

 

MEMORY VERSE

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

GALATIANS 5:22-23

  INTRODUCTION:

Let’s ask our seatmate today, “What have you been up to?” We know that these past weeks our lesson is all about the fruit of the spirit and if we ask that question at this moment, it means how’s your spiritual. Did we face struggle within the past week? Did the old nature become evident?

Last Friday I heard a commotion from a neighbor. They had a great which caused the dogs kept on barking. We know how argument happens: There are cussing, hurting words, bad words that would literally hurt somebody’s feelings. I can say that based from their conversations, they’re not Christians. Imagine if those words come from the mouth of Christians. I had also seen Christian families went into fight but the difference is the Holy is there trying to control your emotions and lead you to confess and ask for forgiveness. We know the reality of life in this world; there’s no peacefulness unless your family has connection to the church that will be reminded by God’s words through sermon and bible lessons in Sunday School.

It's vital that Christians bear fruit in their lives—the fruit of the Spirit. But what does that fruit look like? Like we have learned from the past sermons of our pastors and lessons in our Sunday School, those are mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23.  In Jesus Christ we have the perfect example of what God's Spirit should produce in our lives. He perfectly exhibited all these wonderful traits of the Holy Spirit, not only during His entire earthly ministry, but also during His arrest, trial and crucifixion. Of course, Jesus was more than just a man—He was God in the flesh. As such, He showed His disciples what can be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit.

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  SHOWING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT BY HIS LIFE

 

The first fruit of the Holy Spirit listed in Galatians 5 is love. Jesus' entire ministry was characterized by love. And the greatest demonstration ever of that love was the sacrifice He made for all of us. Jesus, who was a divine Being with the Father (John 1:1), sacrificed His heavenly power and glory to become a human being and subject Himself to painful humiliation, suffering and death for the sake of mankind (Philippians 2:5-11).

Jesus emphasized the fruit of love at His last meal—often referred to as "the last supper"—with the disciples. Notice His words: "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love . . . This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends" (John 15:9-13).

Of course, these weren't mere words to Him. Jesus did lay down His life for His friends, serving as the supreme example of love.

The second listed fruit of the Holy Spirit is joy.  Amazingly, just before He suffered, instead of thinking of His own upcoming cruel suffering, He reminded His disciples that His joy would "remain in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:11). He told them that they would be sorrowful over His departure, but "your sorrow will be turned into joy," and that "your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you" (John 16:20-22).

This chapter concludes with Jesus reminding them that "in the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). And, after His resurrection, the first word Matthew records the resurrected Jesus as saying is "Rejoice!" (Matthew 28:9).

In spite of the terrible suffering Jesus endured for you and me, He counted it a joy to serve humanity by washing away our sins in His blood.

Jesus was also a man of peace, the next listed fruit. One of His very titles is the "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). He referred to this fruit of the Spirit at the last supper when He said: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). One of the first statements to His followers after the resurrection was "Peace be unto you" (Luke 24:36; John 20:19, 21).

And, in the coming Kingdom of God on earth, over which Christ will be King of Kings, there will be no end to the peace that will characterize His glorious reign (Isaiah 9:7; Romans 14:17).

Through Jesus examples, may our prayer in our spiritual lives that the fruit of the spirit can be seen or shown in or our lives.

2.  EXHIBITING FRUIT THROUGHOUT HIS MINISTRY

The fourth fruit of the Holy Spirit as listed in Galatians 5 is longsuffering. The Greek words translated "longsuffering" also encompass the meanings of patience and endurance.

 Jesus exhibited this fruit throughout His earthly ministry. The apostle Paul described an aspect of the ministry of Jesus this way: "Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." (1 Timothy 1:16). Even while suffering a painful death by crucifixion, Jesus exhibited the patient endurance to pray for those who were tormenting and killing Him (Luke 23:34).

 Gentleness, the next fruit on the list, was another hallmark of Jesus Christ's ministry. Paul noted this godly fruit as he wrote to Titus: "But when the gentleness (kindness) and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared . . . according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:4-5).

 Christ's act of healing the ear of the high priest's servant Malchus even while being arrested is an incredible example of His gentleness even under very difficult circumstances! Instead of worrying about Himself and His approaching pain, He reacted with gentleness (kindness) and compassion to Malchus' injury and immediately healed his ear, making the man whole again (Luke 22:51).

 The next fruit of the Holy Spirit listed is goodness. When Peter summarized the ministry of Jesus, the ministry of which he was an actual witness, he stated: "Jesus of Nazareth . . . went about doing good" (Acts 10:38). And Jesus, regarding His supreme sacrifice, referred to Himself as the good Shepherd who "gives His life for the sheep" (John 10:11).

 The next fruit is faith or faithfulness. Jesus had total trust and confidence in God the Father, and He was Himself faithful to the responsibility the Father gave to Him. Even as He stated that He was in anguish due to His impending crucifixion, He resolved to stay with the plan of redemption to the very end. He summarized His mission in John 12:27: "For this purpose I came to this hour." He continues to serve His Church today as "a merciful and faithful High Priest" (Hebrews 2:17).

TAGALOG: JOHN 12:27 “Ako'y nababagabag ngayon. Sasabihin ko bang, ‘Ama, iligtas mo ako sa oras na ito?’ Hindi! Sapagkat ito ang dahilan kung bakit ako naparito.

 Meekness is listed next. Jesus declared that He was "meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

 Toward the end of His ministry, He came to Jerusalem on a donkey, fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy that the King would come "meek and sitting upon an ass" (Matthew 21:5). “Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.”

 The last fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5 is temperance the ability to control one's behavior. Jesus, as the One to whom the Father committed judgment (John 5:22), could have called down enormous power at any time against His enemies. But instead He exercised self-control throughout His ministry.

TAGALOG: JOHN 5:22 Sapagka't ang Ama'y hindi humahatol sa kanino mang tao, kundi ipinagkaloob niya sa Anak ang buong paghatol;

 One example of this is found in Matthew 26:53-54. When Peter was trying to take things into his own hands, Christ reminded Peter that if He wished, He could call in "more than twelve legions of angels"—tens of thousands—to deal with those who were abusing Him. Instead, He stayed true to His calling, exercised godly self-control and allowed Himself to be arrested and crucified.

“Hindi mo ba alam na kung hihingi ako ng tulong sa aking Ama ay papadalhan agad niya ako ng higit sa labindalawang batalyon ng mga anghel? ⁵⁴ Ngunit paano matutupad ang mga Kasulatan na nagsasabing ito'y dapat mangyari?” (MATT. 26:53-54)

3.  WE SHOULD SHOW THE SAME FRUIT

Jesus Christ not only exemplified all the fruit of the Holy Spirit throughout His ministry, but He has made it possible for us to produce the same spiritual fruit as well. As His true followers, He expects us to abide in Him and bear much fruit (John 15:4, 8). Indeed, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus will live His godly way of life through us if we are yielded to Him (Galatians 2:20) our minds.

 

Following His example, the converted children of God will be manifesting the fruit of the Spirit

 

I will give examples of situations in the Bible that would help us realize that even the early Christians had struggles too:

·        2 Samuel 16: 5-13 – Shimei cursed David but he responded in the right way. What fruit of the spirit does this apply?

·        Numbers 12 - Moses, too, was described as incomparably meek. We read about it in Numbers 12. Moses is leading the nation of Israel and his older siblings launch a verbal attack against him, laced with envy, regarding his Cushite wife. During the encounter we see a stillness from Moses, in which he doesn’t defend himself instead God defended him.

Numbers 12:3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

·        Job 1: 21 – He went through hard times but still he said, Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (longsuffering)

·        Nehemiah 4 - Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem to rebuilds its walls after the exodus. While he and others were building the wall, armies from nearby came and started to attack them! Nehemiah showed self-control and didn’t fight back. Instead, he stationed some of his men to be guards while the others worked. Nehemiah knew that God would protect them. He acted calmly and with self-control. 

 

CONCLUSION:

We can't "try harder" in our attempts to be more spiritual. We can't say, "I'm going to be especially loving today so that I can demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit." That doesn't work. Instead, when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives and transform our hearts, we naturally display the fruit of the Spirit in the same way that apples naturally grow on apple trees when they are healthy and mature.

The more we surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit, the more we produce those characteristics that define a follower of Christ: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. We offer all of these as evidence that we are truly being transformed by God's Spirit within us.