Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church

Rom 5:1-5, Gal. 5:16-1:1

The teacher of a Sunday school class was trying to teach about miracles. "Suppose I stood on the roof of a ten-story building, lost my balance and fell off," the teacher explained. "Then, all of a sudden, in mid-air, a whirlwind swept me up and brought me safely to the ground. What word would we use to describe this?"

After a long pause a boy raised his hand and answered, "Luck?"

"True," the teacher responded, "But that's not the word I was thinking of. Let me try again. There I am on top of the ten-story building again, and I fall. A whirlwind catches me and places me safely on the ground. What word would describe this situation?"

A girl called out, "Accident?"

"Well, I suppose some might call it an accident," the teacher responded. "Let me try a third time. I'm on this tall building and fall only to be swept to safety by a whirlwind. What would be the word for my safely reaching the ground?"

The children shouted in unison, "Practice!"

I realized that for 20 years of my walk with Christ, I misread this passage in Galatians. I read the passage as essential-ly a contrast between two lists. The first list: fornication, impurity, idolatry, quarreling, drunkenness, etc., tells us all the things to avoid. The second list: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc. tells us what we are to practice. I basically reduced these lists to a group of dos and don'ts. But that is not what the apostle Paul had in mind at all.

The plane came in for a rough landing. It bounced hard and luggage flew all over the cabin. The embarrassed captain of the flight knew that he was supposed to stand at the door and greet the passengers as they departed, but worried about what people would say. Several were muttering and some were visibly sick as they walked off the plane, but nobody said anything directly to the pilot until the very last passenger. A little old lady shuffled slowly with her cane to the exit, turned to the captain and said, "That was the best landing I have ever experienced!" The pilot responded, "Thanks, Mom."

Did that mother have to work at enjoying her son's landing? My guess is that it just came naturally. I doubt she woke up that morning and had to remind herself to be kinder to her son. She is so proud of her pilot son that he can barely do any wrong in her eyes. With her obvious love for her son, her ability to be patient, appreciative and kind easily follows. This is how it is with the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

If we read Galatians as simply two lists, then we fail to notice the most important contrast in the passage. It is a contrast between works of the flesh and fruit of the Spirit‹plural and singular. Notice the verbs. "The works of the flesh areŠ." "The fruit of the Spirit isŠ." There are many works, but only one fruit.

How do we interpret the fact that the word for fruit is singular? If we do not notice that the word is singular we can get the wrong mental picture. We could see the fruit of the Spirit like an overflowing Thanksgiving cornucopia. Love is like an apple; patience is like an orange. Peace is like a peach and joy is like a banana. We see the horn of plenty with all kinds of different fruits. This is the wrong way to picture it.

Paul pictures the fruit of the Spirit as one fruit. Perhaps we can understand this better by mentally picturing a cluster of grapes. If we must see patience as separate from love and joy separate from peace, then let's picture them as individual grapes on the cluster, but realize they are still the same fruit. Some scholars have even suggested punctuating the sentence differently. They read it as, "The fruit of the Spirit is love; joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." In other words, the singular fruit is love and all the rest are simply different characteristics of love. Love is peaceful. Love is patient. Love is gentle. Love is kind. And so on.

Whether we picture a cluster of grapes or simply one fruit with different attributes, the important thing to remember is that all who belong to Christ are seeking the same goal: to be more like Jesus. Which leads us to another aspect of the contrast in Galatians 5. How do we become more like Jesus through the Holy Spirit? Is it by working at imitating Jesus? Are we supposed to try really hard to be more patient? Are we to exert effort in order to practice being kind?

This is where we appreciate the contrast between works and fruit. How do we develop works? By trying hard. How do we develop fruit? Certainly not by trying hard. When was the last time you watched an apple tree trying really hard to bear fruit? Fruit is not the result of our trying hard and putting in long hours of practice. Rather, fruit happens as a result of other factors being right. When a tree is nurtured and the branches remain connected so that the nutrients run properly from root to trunk and from trunk to limb, fruit is the effortless result. Jesus used this imagery in John 15 when he said that he is the vine and we are the branches. "Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me" (John 15:4). We bear fruit by staying in a loving connection with Jesus.

When one of our daughters was in third grade the teacher assigned the students to write a paragraph about their hopes for the future. Later, on Parent-Teacher Night we had a chance to wander through the room and see our children's papers. Kathy and I were surprised to read what our daughter had written. "When I grow up I want to be the mother of twins. When I grow up I do not plan to marry."

When we asked her about the paper it became obvious that she did not understand that there was a connection between her having children and her having a relationship with a man. She had no idea that bearing children is not something she could simply do by her own will.

Francis Schaeffer used Mary the mother of Jesus as an example of how a Christian receives the fruit of the Holy Spirit. He reminded his readers that Mary could receive God's promise that she would bear a son, but she could not make it come true on her own. "Šshe could have said, 'I now have the promises, so I will exert my force, my character, and my energy, to bring forth the promised thing. I have the promise. Now I will bring forth a child without a man.'" Dr. Schaeffer continued, "But with this response she never would have had the child. She could not bring forth a child without a man, by her own will, any more than any other girl could."

Here is the mystery of the fruit of the Spirit. It happens not by our trying to make it happen, but rather as a result of putting our efforts into loving God. If we want to become fruitful for God, we must make love with God. We do this through prayer and worship, service and devotion. Instead of working at being patient and kind, we put our efforts into falling in love with Jesus and letting his Spirit infuse us with the fruit of the Spirit.

The opposite of this is the works of the flesh. We might think that works of the flesh are only by people who reject God and choose to live in sin. Ironically, these works can result from people with good intentions. We think we are being good and trying to help, only to discover that we are farther from God instead of closer to God. How can works of the flesh result from good intentions?

In C. S. Lewis' book The Four Loves, he comments on one kind of love, affection, which shows up naturally in families. He describes a mother who genuinely loves her children. However, this mother has a desperate need to be needed by the family. In his story, he describes the family of Mrs. Fidget which has brightened up a great deal since her funeral. While she was alive, she insisted on making their clothes, but it was a style the family did not like. They are now wearing their own clothes. Mrs. Fidget insisted on preparing a hot meal every evening, even though her family preferred cold meals in the summer months. She even protected her "sickly" daughter from enjoying strenuous activities. The daughter is now very active. This mother who "worked her fingers to the bone" was actually taking more care of her own need for attention. Lewis concludes, "The Vicar says Mrs. Fidget is now at rest. Let us hope she is. What's quite certain is that her family is." Others might call it love, but the Bible calls this works of the flesh.

Edgar Lee Masters wrote a penetrating insightful example of this same truth. In his book, Spoon River Anthology, he records the words on the tombstones in a fictional community known as Spoon River. By reading the tombstones we learn the truth about the relationships in the town. One of my favorites is the tombstone for Constance Hately. It reads as follows:

You praise my self-sacrifice, Spoon River,

In rearing Irene and Mary,

Orphans of my older sister!

And you censure Irene and Mary

For their contempt for me!

But praise not my self-sacrifice,

And censure not their contempt;

I reared them, I cared for them, true enough!‹

But I poisoned my benefactions

With constant reminders of their dependence.

In other words, the works of the flesh are often the result of our trying to fix others. We think it is our duty to make them do what we know is right. We become frustrated that they will not accept our solutions to their problems. We work hard at doing what we think God wants done, only to be mystified at the rejection we feel from others.

Flesh or Spirit? Works or fruit? Many or one? This passage is filled with contrasts. What would it look like if we were to bring in the fruit of the Holy Spirit instead of the works of the flesh? I think of John Woolman.

It is sad that so few of us are familiar with The Journal of John Woolman. This is one of the classics of American spirituality. Written in the 1700s, it was very well known in its day. Ralph Waldo Emerson declared, "I find more wisdom in these pages than in any other book written since the days of the apostles." A famous British author, Charles Lamb, spoke of Woolman's journal as the only American book he had ever read twice.

In the journal we sense the intention of John Woolman to belong entirely to Jesus Christ. He sought to love God on a daily basis. He also believed it was central to Christianity to seek the Holy Spirit. He writes at one point about his "increasing care to attend to that Holy Spirit." He wishes that more people who drew up their wills would "attend with singleness of heart to this Heavenly Instructor, which so opens and enlarges the mind that men love their neighbors as themselves."

John Woolman drew up wills for people as a source of his income. He was a rabid abolitionist. He hated slavery and felt it was a scourge on the earth and totally against God's desires for how people ought to treat each other. Thus, he sometimes ended up in conflict with his own conscience when drawing up a will where slaves were being passed from an owner to the heirs. How could he stand up for what he believed was right and yet do it in ways that were gracious and showed the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Should he simply turn down all business that involved slaves? He prayed and sought to remain in love with Jesus. The issue, however, did not go away. In fact, he found himself in a very difficult situation when a seriously ill man asked John Woolman to draw up a will that included a slave being passed to one of his children.

John Woolman listened to the man and took notes regarding the distribution of the estate. He then worked diligently, putting all the information into the appropriate legal format for the will. Except the portion regarding the slave. He returned to the ill man and read the will. Then he explained calmly that he had left out the portion about the slave because he did not believe in slavery. He told the man that he would not charge for any of the work since he had not finished the will, and suggested that someone else could finish it. Then the man asked John Woolman why he did not believe in slavery and led by the Holy Spirit, Woolman explained his views. After some time in serious conversation the man decided to set the slave free and Woolman completed the will.

Don't get me wrong. Living for God involves effort. However, it is not the effort to try and make ourselves good. Neither is it the effort to try and fix others. Instead it is the effort to stay in love with Jesus. It is the effort of asking the Holy Spirit to fill us. Out of this loving, connected relationship comes the fruit of the Spirit.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

The fruit of the Spirit is the way God's Spirit transforms our personality, illustrated in Galatians 5:22-23. Which of these illustrations would you like to see more in your life?

What do you need to do to develop a more loving relationship with God?

Bruce identifies a "work of the flesh" as a person who wants to be good by fixing others. Have you experienced a situation like this?

Have you had a challenge of work responsibilities conflicting with what you feel is the call of the Spirit? How have you handled the situation?