Fruit of the tree
Galatians 5:19–26
5:19–21
Walking according to the flesh is as simple as not believing the gospel. When we choose to guide our life according to our own opinions we are automatically living according to the flesh. The result of basing our life on our own independent understanding is outlined for us. When we live for self we will act like this. We will commit adultery and sexual immorality. We will be unclean.
Since we do not believe in the Lord Jesus we will believe in our own self which is idolatry. This leads to manipulating ourselves and other people which is the basis for witchcraft. When people do not bow down to our wishes or opinions we will hate them and strive with them. We will try to dominate other people and bring them under control.
This will inevitably lead to wrath which is anger on steroids. This leads to more division from other people and more strife. We will develop patterns of thinking which incorporate religion, psychology, and mass media but blasphemes God because it is a lying, cursed false world view.
All of this continues to escalate into murder, drunkenness and a life-long pursuit of escapism through constant stimulation and new experiences.
Where does all this lead? It leads to our own spiritual and physical death.
Those who live like this will never inherit anything in God’s Kingdom but are shut out from the presence of the Lord. They don’t know the Lord in this life and they will only move further away from the Lord in eternity.
God is light and love. What does separation from him mean? It means unending darkness and hatred. What is the practical definition of darkness? It means no clocks, no calendars, no way to tell where you are, no direction, no purpose, only regret and pain and anguish. Is that what you want?
All you need to do to inherit eternal darkness and anguish is reject the gospel. You can pretend to accept the gospel and add to it all your own opinions and cancel out the true gospel as well. Just turn away from the gospel and do your own thing. It is simple to live like this: everyone does.
The Lord gives us a choice. It is also simple to believe the gospel. Even a child can comprehend and believe the good news of Jesus Christ. It is not God’s will for anyone to perish but that everyone come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
5:22–26
Look at this list of the fruit of living in the Spirit. A man who walks in the Spirit has this list of qualities in ever increasing measure in his life. This spiritual fruit is not for the man himself but for those who come into contact with the spiritual man. These qualities help others to understand the gospel and come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first thing we see in the life of a spiritual man is love. This is not the kind of love we hear the world talking about. To the world and those who reject the gospel this kind of love appears to be hatred. This is how opposite the spiritual man is from the world system and unbelievers. His life seems like hate. It seems like darkness. The world calls what is evil good and they call what is good evil.
This love is different from the world’s love. This love exists within the boundaries of holiness, righteousness, and purity. This love is not necessarily an emotion, either. Instead, it is a commitment to the highest good of others and the universe. This is a self-denying, self-sacrificing love. It is mostly unknown in our modern world.
The joy here is also not the joy the world knows. Spiritual joy is consistent despite good or bad circumstances. This joy does not depend on provision or protection. It is a joy which can exist in a prison, or in a concentration camp, as many Christians in the past have demonstrated. This is the joy which comes through obedience and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is what the scriptures call “joy unspeakable”. It cannot be described by human words because it is not a joy which comes from man but it is the joy of the Lord. It gives us strength to endure tests, trials, and temptations.
From the fountain of joy comes a stream of peace and patience. We experience peace with God and from this a growing patience with men around us. Since God loved us then the least we can do is be patient with people who harass us. Patience is the fruit of the Spirit. James admonishes us to let patience have her perfect work in us so that we may be complete and entire lacking nothing.
Out of this stream of peace and patience flows a river of gentleness and meekness. As we walk in the Spirit our faith grows more and more.
We cannot create these qualities in our life. We cannot memorize the definitions of these words and hope to make goals to apply these qualities to our life. This fruit comes from the Holy Spirit living within us. Day after day, as we abide in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we will continue to bear the fruit of the Spirit. This fruit is to benefit those whom God wants to reach through us with the good news: Jesus Saves!