The Fruitfulness of a Christian's Life

This morning, we're going to look at an area in every Christian's life, something that we do both instinctively, I say, the longer we are Christians, and intentionally, at least every Sunday. And that is to weigh up the relative satisfaction we have in our growth in Christ likeness. We weigh up the relative satisfaction we have in our growth in Christ likeness. In other words, the question we regularly will ask ourselves if we are true Christians is: is my life pleasing to God? And if not, where am I failing to live as God would want me to live?

The opening question I want to ask you this morning is, do you feel that sometimes? The tension, the frustration between who we want to be as a Christian and where you might find yourself today. We're going to look this morning at the letter to the Galatians chapter five, especially, and look at a passage that gets to the heart, well, of the heart. It explains what goes on in the deepest parts of us and explains that in every Christian, there exists a tension between being set free from slavery to sin and the entangling mess that sin and its remnants still play in our lives. In every Christian, there are two natures at work.

We will see a spirit directed nature and a sin weakened nature. Let's turn to Galatians 5:13-26. Galatians 5:13: "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: you shall love your neighbour as yourself."

"But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law."

"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things, there is no law."

"And 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 us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another." This is the word of the Lord. Paul begins chapter five with the overarching theme for this chapter, which is freedom.

It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Then, at the beginning of our text in verse 13, Paul again reiterates that he is wanting the Galatians to be free. "For you were called to freedom, brothers," he begins. But now the plot thickens. That freedom, he says, is not a licence to give expression to any strong desire or emotion.

This freedom actually binds you up again, but it ties you to the law of love. Or as Paul explains it, to the action to serve one another in love. And this has been God's intention all along, Paul says, in His law. Verse 14 tells us, "The whole law is fulfilled in one word: you shall love your neighbour as yourself." Now that seemingly was not happening in the Galatian churches who were proudly claiming that by keeping God's law in very specific areas, i.e., circumcision and the keeping of Jewish festivals, they were proudly claiming that by these things, they were coming closer to God.

Paul deflates them in an instant, however, when he says, "Your biting and devouring of each other proves to me that you are still very far from God." And that is what leads us into the sections verses 19 to 26, which is the focus this morning: the two natures at work in a Christian's heart. At any given point in our life, whether you are a Christian or not, you live by two natures. You live either by a sin led nature or a spirit led nature. There are only two options.

Either we gratify the spirit or we gratify the sinful nature, and not the spirit. And what we mean by the sinful nature is what Paul calls here the flesh. This flesh in the New Testament doesn't refer to our physical bodies. It doesn't refer to our transitory nature. It refers to the sin desiring aspect of ourselves.

When it is being compared here to the spirit, it is referring to our old existence before we came to faith. In Ephesians 4:22-24, Paul refers to this word flesh or in the Greek as a conflict between the old self versus the new. Flesh is the sin craving aspect of our condition as opposed to the God desiring aspect. In our human nature, sin has the power to rule unopposed. In our human nature, sin has the power to rule unopposed.

But when Christ came into our lives, when I, as a Christian, talk in that way, and I say Christ has come into my life through faith, it actually means the spirit of God has entered me. He now lives in me in such a way that a renewal has started that causes me to become a new creature as two Corinthians five will tell me. And yet, we find here that a conflict still lingers. Our tired hearts know this instinctively. The old nature and the new nature are opposed to one another, and there is a battle between the desires of the spirit and the desires of the flesh.

That term desire, that word, can be translated as lust. That is how strong this desire is. The spirit's nature lusts after the things of the spirit. Inside each of us as Christians, we find the sinful nature continuing to generate competing desires over and against the deep desire of our heart as a Christian, which is to love God and please Him. And after giving us this premise, Paul gives us two lists to explain the two natures.

In verses 19 to 21, we find a list of vices, and in verses 22 to 23, a list of virtues. Or in other words, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the spirit. Let's have a look at them now. Firstly, the works of the flesh. Unfortunately, so often, and I can attest to this, when we come to these sorts of passages, we can read over these words and not let them do the work that they are intended to do, which is to test us.

So what I would like us to do this morning, and it causes us to look at these things in a bit more detail, but Paul is, we're going to look at each of these statements here, these words, and reflect on them. Paul begins with three words in verse 19 that have to do with the works of the flesh in the area of sexuality. Sexual immorality means basically any sex outside the God ordained framework for sex, which is the context of marriage. Sex outside of marriage, whether that is adultery, cheating on your spouse outside of your marriage bond, or sex before marriage. Either way, that is sexual immorality.

Secondly, the word impurity, which is unnatural sexual practices, probably, and it most likely refers to things like unhome unwholesome sexual fantasy, homosexuality, and all of those aberrations. And then thirdly, Paul talks about sensuality, also translated in some translations as debauchery, which is uncontrolled sexual impulses. Quite simply, the obsession and the worship of sex. Three things in this list revolving sex.

If we think it was important, it's important to us today and not in any way in the past, think again. Across those three terms, the sinful nature is shown to corrupt the good gift of sex, breaking down the healthy parameters of it, like who you may share this intimate thing with, when you may engage in it, and what value you place in its joys. Verse 20 then lists another two marks of the sinful nature and it has to do with the area of false religion: idolatry and sorcery. Because the two are paired next to each other, idolatry with sorcery, probably refers more specifically to cultish and pagan religious practices that were standing against the Christian faith in this moment.

But today, things aren't very different. You could include this in the temptation that faces many Christians today, which is to absorb any and all new agey ideas. Things like the innocent horoscopes that we are willing to read or believe. Tarot cards, having your fortune read, white magic, and the like. Now, I think many long standing Christians would be aware to stay away from these things, even though some still engage in them in some extent.

But I think you can incorporate into this just the vague spirituality that exists. A spirituality that has nothing and doesn't want anything to be associated with organised religion, as the cliche goes. Vague beliefs that good people go to heaven. Vague beliefs that God is someone who never disagrees with me. A God that cannot hate me, that Jesus is a one way ticket to heaven.

That is a false religion. That is a pagan belief. That is not Christianity. So you could speak of idolatry and sorcery broadly to include all things that people believe are spiritual, but not actually based on God's word. That is what the sinful nature desires, Paul says.

Paul then tells the Galatian Christians to get away from those things. And then finally, verses 20 to 21 come to a collection of eight words, eight qualities describing how the flesh destroys relationships. Four of these, you'll notice, are attitudes of the heart, and four of them are destructive actions associated with those attitudes. First, enmity. These are hostile feelings.

Secondly, strife, an adversarial attitude towards others. Thirdly, jealousy, the desire that comes from a hungry ego. And then in verse 21, envy, which is close to jealousy, but more similar to coveting the desire to have what God has not given you. These are all the internal attitudes that wage against God's spirit in us and break down relationships as proof. Paul then lists the four qualities of the flesh in terms of relationships, which are actions.

Actions that break down relationships. Firstly, fits of anger, uncontrollable outbursts of rage, rivalry, competitive disunity, dissension, intentional divisiveness to cause separation, and fourthly, divisions, building a faction so that you can hate those not belonging to your group. Finally, there are two words that refer to substance abuse. Paul mentions drunkenness and orgies. The two, again, are linked in verse 21.

Now orgies are not sexual things in the way that people think of it today. They refer to drinking and eating in excess. The Roman period is famous for these orgies. They would eat and drink until they spewed, and then they would start again. Now, as gross as that sounds, you and I can probably think of parties that look similar.

At the heart of these two words, drunkenness and orgies, indulgent partying, so to speak, is, at the heart of that, the idea that the flesh is drawn to pleasure creating substances. In Paul's time, this was largely surrounding food and alcohol, but I think you can easily include any sort of drug. If you were to sum up the heart of the sin Paul is referring to in these two qualities, it is the sin of gluttony. Now, having listed all of these things, these marks of a nature led by the sinful corruption, the bible gives this stark warning to those who live like this. Verse 21: "You will not inherit the kingdom of God."

The life consumed by these actions proves that you are in fact an enemy of God. You will not enter His kingdom because you are an enemy. The desire of the flesh, therefore, is to love and crave these sort of things over and against the loving of God. But there is hope for humanity. There is a better way.

That is what Paul has alluded to when he talks about the serving of one another in love. Because while our ancestors have given us the condition that we have, our ancestors, Adam and Eve who have plunged us into sin by eating the fruit that doomed us all, there is a fruit that God now wants to give us that will undo that damage. The fruit of the Holy Spirit. After having listed the fruit that comes from the sinful nature, Paul lists all the virtues that will fill the life of someone renewed by the Holy Spirit through their faith in Jesus Christ.

And again, the temptation might be to skim over these words which look so two dimensional on paper, but each of them is a kilometre deep. You could write a sermon on each of them. Like the picture of a tree bulging with ripe and juicy fruit, that is the picture of the Christian life. It is a life filled with the following qualities, and I want to paraphrase William Hendriksen's helpful commentary on these terms. Love is the characteristic to serve a person for their good, not for the things that the person can bring to you.

Love is the prime virtue for Paul, as we know from one Corinthians 13. Love is the thing that has led Paul to give this list of virtues. Love stands at the top of all of these virtues. And you can see in these first three statements, love, joy and peace, that they are attitudes of the heart, even as the other ones become actions. Love, joy and peace, and at the front of it is love.

Love is the characteristic to serve a person for their good. For example, if you say, I love God, then you serve God for His intrinsic worth, not what He gives to you. That is true love for God. Same goes for the people in our lives. Joy is the delight in the majesty of who God is and the beauty of what He has done for you.

Joy is not happiness. Joy is not happiness because happiness is contingent upon your circumstances. Joy is tied up with God and therefore, it can exist in all situations. Peace is a confidence and rest in the wisdom and control of God rather than in your own control. Peace replaces anxiety and worry.

Patience, and now we get to some of the actions. Patience is the ability to face trouble without blowing up or hitting out. Its opposite is the resentment of God or others. Kindness is the ability to serve others in a way which rejoices with their joy. I want you to think about that again.

Kindness is the ability to serve others in a way which rejoices with their joy. It comes from a place of deep security yourself. It is the opposite of envy, which leaves me unable to rejoice in another's joy. Goodness is moral and spiritual excellence.

In its present context of being placed between the words kindness and faithfulness, it could refer probably to a generosity of the heart. Faithfulness is to be steadfast and truly reliable, true to your word. It is the opposite of being a friend only in good times or a Christian when you are blessed or in trouble. Gentleness is humility and self forgetfulness. It is the opposite of being superior or self absorbed.

And lastly, self control, which is the ability to keep yourself in check. Given the list of the vices of the sinful nature, things like immorality, or fits of anger, or drunkenness, the spirit led self control, which ends this list, makes perfect sense. It is the ability to say no when you know it's a no and yes when you know it's a yes. If you like, I want you to take a photo of this so that we can remember these things for our lives. Why does Paul use the word fruit when it comes to a Christian's life?

If you know Paul's writings, you know that Paul always chose his metaphors carefully and this is no exception. Here, again, Tim Keller has been helpful in thinking about this metaphor. Firstly, like fruit, Christian growth is gradual. I have a cherry tomato plant outside on my patio, which I've been watering for the best part of a year. And I haven't seen any fruit.

And then, all of a sudden, I noticed a red little tinge here and there. And then, the more I looked and observed, I saw, wow, there's actually a lot of fruit on this plant, but it happened so slowly and silently and gradually, that it took me by surprise when finally, there were these little balls hanging from it. The life of Christian growth is a life of maturing gradually in Christ. Sometimes, you become a Christian by faith, your thoughts and your behaviours change instantly and there are many people in this church that will attest to that. But then, there are probably many more areas in your life that you might only realise after years.

Wow. A few years ago, I would never have been so patient or so self controlled as I was in that situation. And it is in that moment only that you realise the steady growth of the fruit of the spirit in you. Fruit grows gradually. Christian growth is gradual.

Secondly, the growth of the fruit is inevitable. For a Christian, the fruit of the spirit is not a case of if, but when. Like a plant rooted in good soil with plenty of water, if someone has the spirit in them, their fruit will grow. There is incredible growing potential in a plant, and we've seen examples of this. A weed growing through the crack in a pavement.

Logically, all your money would be on the concrete to win that battle. Yet, through the in built desire to grow in that little seed, it must grow. It will grow when the opportunity arises and it will grow irresistibly. Like those incredible pictures of trees that split rocks in half with their constant pressure to grow, for the believer in Christ bearing the fruit of the spirit is inevitable. You will bear this fruit.

It may not always feel like it, but this is your encouragement this morning, that you may think your sin is a slab like concrete. A slab of immovable desire, but the Holy Spirit's power is promised to conquer any obstacle and His fruit will grow. Thirdly, this fruit has roots. The fruit of the spirit is not simply about the external traits of these qualities. Although, you can easily fake the fruit of the spirit from time to time.

You can fake them. Temperamentally, you may be someone that is non confrontational, and so it may look like you are a peaceful person. Temperamentally, you may be assertive, and you may look very faithful and true. But do apples on a tree make the tree alive? No.

You can tie apples to a dead tree's branches and it wouldn't be alive. A living tree produces apples consistently. And like Jesus said, a good tree will produce good fruit. And so the life of the spirit inside us produces this fruit. The fruit doesn't give the life, however.

They are a sign that the tree is alive. A fake Christian may act patiently from time to time, but inside, they are still dead in their sin. The root of the fruit is the spirit. And then finally, the growth of the spirit's fruit is simultaneous. The Greek word for fruit found here in verse 22 is singular.

It is the fruit of the spirit, not the fruits of the spirit. That's very interesting. All these very different virtues and characteristics make up this one singular fruit of the Holy Spirit. If you want to think of it in a picture, it is one giant apple that fills a tree. What I think this means is that all the characteristics that I mentioned here grow together as one fruit.

And so you cannot say as a Christian, I've been given the fruit of peace, but the fruit of self control, I don't have. Now, all of these qualities will be growing in your heart if the spirit of God is in you. The growth of the fruits of the spirit is simultaneous. While you grow in love, you are growing in peace and kindness and gentleness and self control. So in finishing, friend, I want to ask you, do you know whether this is true for you?

That the fruit of the spirit is exemplified in your life? Are you uneasy with a lack of fruit? If your old nature still indulges in some of the works of the flesh, how do you know whether you have the power to move from the darkness of sin into the beauty of love and joy and peace? Well, Paul finishes by saying that it comes, this fruit, from how you stand in relation to Christ. Those who belong to Christ Jesus, Paul says in verse 24, have crucified the flesh with His desires and passions.

If you have decided to belong to Jesus genuinely, therefore, you have been given the power to crucify the sinful nature with its passions. Crucifying that sinful nature means it has been killed. In day to day living, practically, it means you will be actively desiring and working towards strangling, mortifying, as the old English would say, killing daily those things that lead to sin. As we are reminded of the works of the flesh, we have to ask ourselves not just what we do, but why we do what is wrong. We disobey God in order to get something we feel we must have.

Whether that is sexual promiscuity or fantasy, whether that is envy or strife, it is about the false desires of our heart. Why do we pursue these things? Because it's a way in which we satisfy ourselves and we act like our own god. That is why it directly opposes the desire of the spirit who knows that He is God. Ultimately, crucifying the sinful nature says, when you adopt that and believe that, you say, Lord, my heart thinks that I must have these things in my life.

If I don't have them, I have no enjoyment or satisfaction. And when you come to truly believe, you say, I realise these are fake saviours. I want to remember what You mean to me, God, that I am complete only because of Your sacrifice on the cross where You healed me and made me whole. By Your spirit, I will reflect on Your love for me until these weaknesses in my life lose their power over my soul. And so with David, like we started this morning, we can praise the one who has given strength to our souls.

This is why Paul writes in verse 25, since we live by the spirit, this is how he concludes, let us keep in step with the spirit. This is the way forward for you today as a Christian and it's more simple than obedience. If the role of the spirit, as Jesus said, is to glorify Christ and to remind us of Him, we keep in step with the spirit by remembering Christ and bringing glory to Him in our lives. And so this is a process and yet, Paul also says it is a finished action. You have crucified the sinful nature.

Notice how Paul gives the imperative after that though. You have crucified the sinful nature, and then he says, but keep in step with the spirit. Imagine marching in an army. The spirit is the one in front who sets the rhythm and the tempo. We keep in step with that rhythm.

Because of Jesus' gracious death for our sin, the great comfort in our battle against sin is that we are in that parade. Our sin hasn't disqualified us, but in order to be blessed in this life, we are instructed to stay in the rhythm of His grace. So we must worship Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit, adoring Him until our hearts find Him more beautiful, more worthy than the desires we feel we must have. This morning, you may have noticed in our bulletin, or this week as we send it out, we've started putting the Heidelberg Catechism. The end of that first question and answer says that the spirit of Jesus, the spirit that Jesus has sent will make me wholeheartedly willing to live for Him.

Wholeheartedly willing to live for Him. As we wait and work towards developing the fruit of the spirit in us, we must continue to put to death that old nature so that we can make room for more of the fruit of the spirit to grow. And as you find that fruit growing, you'll realise that you are becoming more and more the person that deep down in your renewed heart, you long to be. Let's pray. Father, this is our life.

Summed up in these words. These are the things that we should give most of our attention to. What does our life look like, if it isn't marked with love, joy and peace? What a horror that sort of life is. And God, with renewed hearts, we know that that is not something we want.

Spirit, we pray for Your power to irresistibly, inevitably, powerfully, gradually work in our lives to produce the fruit that only You can bear in us. Where it hurts, where it frustrates, where it opposes our weak and sinful nature, Lord, we pray for that self control and patience, for that peace and that joy to learn what we must learn, to grow where we must grow. Help us, Lord, from today not to forget this vision that You have for us. Thank You, that Your name, by Your spirit, is associated with this command. And as we began this morning to realise that Your mercy and Your grace to us is because of who You are.

Help us to take confidence that You cannot let Yourself down and therefore, will not let us down. O create in us a new heart, a steadfast spirit. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.