Sermon: The Fruit of the Spirit—Love

Good evening church.

It's a privilege to share this platform today with you all. Give thanks to the leadership of this church for this opportunity that I can stand and proclaim the gospel of our Lord and that we can together look into his word, but also admit I give glory to God for giving us life and even good weather that we can come here and experience his grace together. So this evening our text is going to come from Galatians, Galatians chapter five, verses 22 to 23,

I believe on the few Bibles on page 9 75, 9 75, we are continuing in our series of the fruit of the Spirit. And this evening you are going to look at the fruit of love, the fruit of love. Before we read the word, would you join me in prayer? As we draw near to God, let's pray. God eternal, the one who was the one, who is the one who will be forever. You have known us before the foundations of the earth. You have created us in your image and you have pursued us

in your love. Even though we rebelled against you, you have shown us love. From the first day the world existed. Even now we know you have shown us even before the world came into being. Today as we look into your word, we ask your Lord may you gify your word by your own power. And as I speak, oh Lord, may you gify your word even more. And as we, as I speak, I may speak only that which is from you and not from my thoughts.

But also may you be with us as we listen to your word that we may get that which your spirit wants us to hear. May you bless our time and may your grace be upon us this evening. We ask for this in Jesus' name, amen. Galatians five verses 22 to 23.

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such things there is no law. Amen. Paul has listed a number of things that are a result of yielding to the flesh and he talks a little bit about that and I think it was Evan Cruz, he had the same one on that one. And he talks about the works of the flesh. Now Paul, he shifts a little bit and he starts to explain the results

or the product of yielding to the spirit. You notice that he uses the metaphor of the fruit and he does this to illustrate the idea that the whole spirit produces character qualities in the lives of the believer that are visible and tangible just as the fruit is visible and tangible for all to see. Similarly, the fruit of the spirit is visible and tangible for other people, but also he wants to emphasize that the fruit of the spirit

is gradual. When someone plants a fruit tree, you do not expect that you plant in the morning and in the evening you start harvesting the fruit, whether it's peach or oranges, it takes a little bit of time. And so it takes time as well to develop the fruit of the spirit in the life of a believer. But also he wants us to know that the fruit is meant for the nourishment of other people. It is not meant for the tree itself.

You cannot expect the stem to partake of the fruit or the leaves. They do not partake of the fruit itself, but it is for the nourishment of others. And so the fruit of the spirit, it is not for our benefit for not for our personal benefit primarily, but also for the nourishment of other people as we reflect the character of Christ. So you see in Galatians, he's talking a little bit of some warnings here. He warns regarding the words of the flesh. He says they can destroy,

the liberty will enjoy in Christ. He says this in in Galatians five, verse 13 to 15. They can, they can prevent us from following the spirit and doing the things we wish. Galatians five 16 to 17 and he also says they keep us, they can keep us from inheriting the kingdom of God. That is in five verse 21. But then he also wrote concerning those that are led by the spirit, he says they're not under the law that is in particular the law of Moses.

That is uh, Galatians five 18. He also say they produce fruit against which there is no law, that is there is no condemnation. And he took that in Galatians 5 22 to 23, which is also our text this evening. First Corinthians 13, verse 13. It shows us that love is the greatest virtue. And here it appears on the first of this list of the fruit of the spirit. Don't Calvin said, love being the chief of all fruits of the Spirit ought to be carefully

cultivated for joy, peace, and patience. And the rest of the fruits all spring from love, whoever therefore is not devoted to the exercise of love and does not aim at it. Neglects as it were, the pursuit of all other virtues. No language can express how high we ought to value the grace and gift of love, which the Holy Spirit so abundantly pours out on us so that we may truly be the sons of God with whom himself is love.

In Greek, there's four ways in which they try to describe love. They would use the word eros, that would talk about passionate love. Uh, that is a desire for longing between two different people of the opposite sex. And then they would talk also about failure or others they would like to say Philo or Philadelphia is, uh, Philadelphia here in the usa, Philadelphia somewhere there. But it would mean friendship, that affectionate love that you'd find in a family or between

friends. Uh, maybe some of you you have common friends. I see you'll hang together. There's that failure kind of love between the two or a group of you. And then they'll talk about toge. This is a natural affection like that found between a parent and a child. As you are lifting that child, you are nesting that child. They will describe that, ah, that's toge. But then they would also use the word agape. Now this one, they would describe that love which is unconditional,

unselfish. Sacrificial that is just so giving. And when they see that, they would say that's agape. So Paul, when describing this love here, when he says the fruit of the spirit is love, the word that he uses uses the word agape. And this is the love which our father in heaven showed us when Christ his own son beared our sin on the cross. John three 16 talks much about that. You see, God doesn't expect to give love and then to expect that he

receives it. Whether we give him back or not, he just gives that, that is the agape love that the possible he is trying to communicate. We love because He first loved us first John four 19. And once we understand love, we are commanded now to emulate it. Now we have read Galatians there, but I will run back and forth also to Romans five, verse five, which will be running back and forth tonight. It reads, God has poured out, eh,

God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us. God has poured out his love into our hearts by the spirit whom he has given us. See here.

Alright. All right. Uh, I was not getting the signal. I thought they were talking about my tie. Maybe

so. Alright, um, anyway, we we will continue there. Uh, see we're saying that love is not just a human virtue. It is a divine gift. It is our, it is a consequence of our coming to faith in Jesus. Love is a transformative power that can change our hearts and desires while anyone can be able to demonstrate love in the world. The fruit of the spirit as described in this passage, is distinct from that kind of human love. The fruit of love that is produced by the spirit is that agape,

that sacrificial love that is not dependent on your emotion or your feeling, but it is moved by the spirit. It moves your act, it moves your will and then your love sacrificially. As we submit ourselves to the whole spirit and allow him to work in our life, he produces and cultivate this fruit of love. You should notice it is not something that we can create ourselves or produce by our own strength, but it is given by the spirit the kind of love that is

possible for unbelievers. It is that natural human form which is largely based on human motives. Human emotions are not driven by the divine nature or the spiritual nature coming from inside of them. The focus of true region. The main question of true religion is this, where is your heart? Where is your heart? And according to Romans eight, verse five to eight, apart from the Holy Spirit, humans have a nature that is inclined towards sinful desires.

And those sinful desires cannot please God. They cannot please God. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the spirit as we yield ourselves to him and seek to be transformed by him. Now unbelievers, they can express certain kind of love you can see, but it is because they bear the image. And so they have that a little bit in them. But it is not possible for them to bear the fruit of the spirit because they have not yielded, they have not given their life. They are,

they do not have faith in Christ. So their kind of love does not come from the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, first Corinthians two of verse 14 tells us that the natural man, an unbeliever who is not spiritually des descend, cannot understand the spirit, cannot understand the things of the spirit because they're spiritually descend. The spirit gives us access to the divine nature of God and enables us to live a life according to his ways and then to bear his fruit

through aga love. This love that Paul is talking about. It is selfless, it is sacrificial, it is unconditional. It is the love which Christ demonstrated on the cross. As we grow in love, we become more and more like Christ cause we begin to reflect the character of Christ and our life testifies now through love, that practical love, that Agapi love, we are conformed more and more daily to his image. We are created in God's image,

but our actions have to be conformed, have to be transformed. And God works in our hearts first so that we are transformed in into the image of Christ. See, when this transformation is taking place, when this power is happening in our life, by the fruit of the love produced by the spirit, our character changes as well. Our in in inner nature, our inner man changes. One person said if you try to change your outward appearance,

but without changing your inward appearance, that is something that is going to end you into frustration. It is something today you can see very common maybe here, we don't have this in Malawi, but here in the US is, I think it's common what is called uh, plastic surgery. So people change their face or something, they look young than there, but inwardly there's no transformation there. So you can try to change your outward appearances,

but if the spirit has not worked in inside of you, there is always frustration at the end because it is only a plastic transformation that is happening in your life. It is not genuine. It is not real and admir, it'll fail. And then one person who said, we are not served by fruit. We are served by faith, but not by fruitless faith. So when we grow in Christ, our growth of faith of fruitfulness is evidence of the wake of Christ

in our life. I used to work in an organization where we did a lot of, a lot of, uh, activities with farmers. We did so many things, sports, education, irrigation, solar, a number of things. But one of the things we did with the farmers was, uh, grafting of the fruit trees. So we would take maybe a lemon uh, plant and then we would take the wheat and orange and then try to graft together and just produce something amazing, but also so many different kinds.

We, we did like experiment, all these things, but then other times would take a desirable character of the same fruit, maybe an orange fruit and then graft it with another orange fruit that is also desirable so that we eliminate the one that is weaker and then we produce a better crop. That's what we used to do and it was enjoyable to see the outcome of this. But you see, when the Holy Spirit comes and waits in your life,

it does not take a part of you that is good. It does not take a love that you have. Maybe somebody has said to you that you are so much loving. No, no, no. The Holy Spirit does not take that desirable character you have and then brings his own desirable character to produce his fruit. No, no. He roos it all out. Whatever you have, he takes it all away. And then he plants a new seed in you, a new fruit in you that grows and glorifies God because

your good love, your maximum good is still sinful, is still drawn to the world. And so when the spirit transforms you, you begin to reflect the character of Christ. When you love, you truly, truly love because you do not expect to get back. But you are giving because you have been given as we read in First John there that we love because he first loved us.

One of the things I did not like when I was young was going to the doctor's office was get the injunction. It was so painful. And you see it's just a little bit of an injection, a small pill there in the fluid, but it heals the whole body. The fruit of the spirit does not come as an injection. It is not a small injection into your into your body. It is a whole new outpouring. Our, our passage in Romans five is five years say God has poured out. Yeah,

he has poured out his love into our hearts, which he has given us by the Holy Spirit. So it is not an injection, it is not a grafting, but it is a whole total transformation that the spirit works in your life. If you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit will produce this fruit in you. If you are not in Christ, you will have the idea of love. You'll know what love looks like, you'll have an idea, but it does not come from God and it'll ultimately lead to

destruction. The core is to first tend to Christ because this love is supernatural children. Listen, some of you are young here. This love is not hereditary. You cannot inherit it from your good and loving parents. You cannot inherit it from your good and loving grandparents. It is not self generated either. You cannot generated within yourself, but also for the intellectual. You cannot achieve this by taking a course anywhere.

It is only given by the spirit. And so we are dependent because the spirit truly changes our hearts. It does not come from any one of us. You see, the fruit of love transforms the heart of the individual. He works in your life personally, not only a Cory as a body that we must express love as a body, but he works individually where you are seated there just one person whether you are related or not, but the spirit works individually. It is pointed.

You see, that's why sometimes you can have the whole family coming together at church. Even not just once, maybe a number of years even, but you display different character traits in your life as you grow. Cause the spirit is working individually in each and every person's life. He wants us to grow coly, but he works to the individual. And so the core here is to examine ourselves, is to examine yourself. Is your life being transformed?

Is your heart being transformed? Can you see the differences when you look back a few years back in your Christian life? Can you see that today your love has grown the way you love yesterday? Or is it at the same or is it drawing backwards? The core for you is to see that the fruit of the spirit of love transforms your heart. But not only that, the fruit also transforms our relationships. Love has the power to transform our relationship with others.

It stems out from the relationship with God. First the question that first John, uh, John asked in first John four 20, he says, how can you love God? How can you love God whom you have not seen? And yet you'll have and yet you cannot love man Pharaoh man whom you see, you claim God I love you. You do not see God physically, but you see your Pharaoh man physically. And then he asks, how can you say you love God whom you cannot see?

But you do not love Pharaoh, human being whom you can see. You see this love it works in testifying to our relationship with Christ. Jesus said in John 13, verse 35, by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Our love for each other is a powerful witness to the world out there. Um, our path, witness of our relationship with Christ. When we love one another sacrificially unconditionally.

We bear the testimony to the love of Christ and his work in our lives. This aga love has got the power to transform us internally and externally, internally in our hearts and externally in relation to our, uh, friends and relatives as we meet them elsewhere in the world. It is not just the plastic one that I described earlier, but this is both internal and external. You see, because he teaches us to view people the way Christ views

them, the love of Christ sees sinners as those in need of his grace and mercy and care and need of redemption. And therefore he shows the mercy. Christ is love, sees believers as his own brothers and sisters. And so he brings them closer to his inner workings, giving them the privileges he shares as the son of God and all who have been adopted into the family of God. All of them, all of you who are in the family of God.

He teaches you to be exemplary according to how he loves his people. But this kind of love teaches us to put others first. Not myself first. It is not a me first it is others first you first. And also to serve them with humility. You see, the spirit grows a love in us that is heavenward. It does not grow in love in us that is earth so that we begin to love the things of the earth. No, no, no. It does not grow a love in us so that we begin to clinging

and to hold on to the blessings which he has given us. Rather he grows our affections heavenward because he says, no. I has seen no ear has said neither has any mind conceived what the Lord has prepared for those who love him. All hearted. Just imagine that this we have not seen, we have not even imagined what God has prepared. So the love that the spirit produces, he cannot produce that. You should love the things that you can see, that you can hear about,

that you can imagine that is earth. But the spirit in his love, he produces that love that points you heaven. And what so that all the things that are three, you do not clinging onto them. You do not hold onto them as your priority. But in turn you aim at giving more. You aim at sharing more. You aimed at caring more and loving more because the mindset that you have is heavenward. And as you do that, you become an effective witness to the world.

You become an effective witness and the relationships around you, they also begin to be transformed because you begin to have compassion on others and they will see that this person, this kind of love that he's presenting it is unique. It does not come from him or her. Paul is teaching on other beloved in first Corinthians 13. He demonstrates that love is selfless, love is patient, love is kind and bears all things. True love is not based on personal feelings or personal gain,

but on commitment to care and save others truthfully. If you say you have love and all that, it does it draw everyone and everything else to yourself. Maybe you need God's mercy to show you what true love is so that you can actually bear the fruit of love. But you see also we need to point this out. Sometimes you may not see that the fruit of love is growing in you. Children sometimes they do not see that they are growing, but uh,

a long distant grandparent or an uncle comes into their home and they say, oh Robert, you have grown. And Robert immediately surprised, oh, have I now he realizes that he's actually growing. But we can see, but I do not see sometimes too in the lives of the believer, you might be growing but because of other things you may not see. And also you may actually think that you are growing in love and yet you are not. For those of you who are married, you can just ask your spouse.

Yeah, I don't know what you call each other honey dear. Oh, uh, maybe you call each other the first name or maybe you have an acronym, something like that. Just ask your spouse, am I growing in love? Uh, they'll tell you, but just be prepared. Yeah, be be ready. That, uh, what do you say? You, you'll be able to take it, but they'll tell you whether you are growing in love or not. Because the relationships around you are transformed by the fruit of love.

It is not just within you. This love, it breaks down barriers. It brings unity. It forgives without an apology. It does not say, I will forgive you if you say sorry, I'll forgive you if you support my favorite team. I'll forgive you if you become one of my own political party, uh, members. I'll forgive you if you move to Malawi. No, I say, but love is a foundation of healthy and fulfilling relationships. Someone said, one of my mentors, he said,

our final apologetic is our transformed lives and relationships. Our final defense of the Christian faith is our transformed lives and relationships. Oh, but how we long for that day, the day in which there is no hatred, hatred over one another. No brother and sister, his brother and sister, when all shall become one and bear the sin of selfishness no more. When true love shall reign and all relationships will be genuine

and real, we long for that day and we cry. We sing that song. Mar Arthur, come Lord Jesus, dear Believer today, brother and sister, is your love transforming the relationships around you in your home, in your place of business, in your workplace? What about fellow believers? Can they truly say that? Yes, the love of God flows from within your life. That's what the fruit of love does in our lives. Day by day we grow day by day there is no staff member in the kingdom of

God. You do not get a badge that now I have attained. But day by day, you keep on growing. You keep on relying on the Holy Spirit and it transforms because when the Holy Spirit is in your life, you cannot be the same. You'll never be the same. When you come to church, you'll never be the same. Either you draw closer to God or you are stubborn and you draw a little bit away. But the core is to yield because Christ laid down his life for his

friends. He hung on the cross in the utmost living deed of love. He died for those who saw no need of redemption. He died for those who were waiting for the savior as well. And as he hung on the cross, he had you and my and and I in his mind when he said, my God, my God, why has, why have you forsaken me? He had you under immersed in his love. That was the atmos deed of love that we can, uh, we can look back to. He loved prodigal lavishly,

giving out his all. He did not love in part for his death and sacrifice had to be complete and perfect. He did not love grudgingly because his sacrifice had to be without blemish as well. He cried out on the cross and said, tell Lester it is finished. No more alienation from God, no more separation but love manifest. And on the third day, this is the blessing in Christian life. On the third day, Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He did not just rise,

but he rose Tri Han tree. And when heroes sin is defeated, death is defeated. There's no more hatred but love poured out, love poured out in Christ. And you see out of the grave comes the heart of Jesus, the holiness of Jesus, the righteousness of Jesus, and again the love, the agape love of Jesus. And so today that love God has poured it into your lives as Romans five five was saying there he has poured that into the lives, into our hearts.

For those of us who believe in Christ, that love which Christ lived is poured out. So if you are in Christ, how then can you not love? How then can you hate another person? How then can you not forgive? Eh, the core is the same. Just as Moses, one of the best passages or one of the my favorite passages was all the passages are best. Should be careful there. But it says, just as Moses lifted up the spen in the wilderness,

so must the son of man be lifted up That everyone, everyone who looks to Christ in faith and believe in him will be saved. The core for you as well today dear friend, is to look and to Christ. Are you in Christ but you are struggling to love? Look Christ, he's your first love. Are you not in Christ today? You struggle to define love. Even in our time when there's so many definitions of what love truly is. The core is the same. Look unto Christ and you will be shown.

What true life is that love which streams flows out of you like streams of living water and goes unto other people. That's the beauty of the gospel. And finally this evening, love transforms our communities. See, love is a powerful force that can transform our communities, our love as believers. It is not for the benefit of only the believing folk, but also for the world out there. The love that we show to other people is a powerful tool that can bring

unbelievers unto Christ. When uns see the love that we have for one another, they see a reflection of Christ's love and it can be a powerful witness to them. In John 1723, Jesus prayed for his disciples saying, I in them and you in me, may they be brought to complete unity, to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. As we demonstrate love and unity, we bear a witness to the world,

that we follow Christ and we reflect his character, we reflect his nature. Additionally, in Matthew five, verse 16, Jesus says, retro light shine before others that they may see the good deeds and godify your Father in heaven, we sing that song, this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. And here Christ says, let it shine before others. That mean they, they may see the good deeds.

Not to say this one has love, no, no, no, but to glorify God, to glorify God in heaven. That's where a true love leads unbelievers. To

see through love we can make a transforming impact in the world around us. It demonstrates the power of the gospel. When we love others as Christ loves us, we demonstrate the transforming power of the gospel, that it actually changes our hearts, it changes our relationships. And so it can also change the communities that is around us because this love, remember it is not given as an injection. It is not given like a grafting that the Holy Spirit takes

a desirable character of you. No. It is poured out by Christ your love taken away everything you know about yourself, but being implanted with a new seed that the Holy Spirit gives in you, he brings birth to this fruit of love in your life. You see, there's uh, one person who said God loves himself. God loves himself. I know he was say what? What do I say? But it's actually true. God loves himself. But this is not a selfish love. You can say I love myself, the Holy Trinity, I,

me, myself, and I. No, not that one. This is an love which existed in God in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is a love which existed before the foundations of the earth before everything came into being. There was perfect love that existed in the Godhead. That love that God loves within the Godhead himself. That love which was shown in the incarnate Son at the baptism of Jesus and in the wilderness, at the transfiguration,

in the cross, in the resurrection, in the time of the apostles through the Holy Spirit, even in our time here that already existed before the foundation of the world. He did not need to create man to show his love. There was no need. He don't need that. But he created man anyway, out of his agape love, out of his sacrificial love and that cost him his son. Those of you who are parents here, I don't know if you can give your son

to be given to other people for a sacrifice. Yeah, but you know, not even the people that you love, but the enemies, your enemies. That's what costs God here because of his immense great love. You see, that's the outpouring of love. That's the love that God has poured out in our heart through the Holy Spirit and it transforms the entire community. He that love is born of God. John says, it is by love that we receive and that we do all things.

That God commands this love, we show it to men, but we also show it to the Lord. It is by love that we manifest what an impact God has made in our life. It is also by love that we show that we are the Lord's disciples. Indeed. And in truth, if I can have all faith, if I can have all kinds of faith to command, there's a great lakes here in Michigan. If I can command all the great lakes to move to Malawi so that you cannot come

there and and visit the ABA Peninsula. If I can have all faith to Mount Mount Rushmore to go and plant itself in Malawi, in plantar so that you can just come and visit there. If I can have all kinds of faith, even to just move all of you, but I do not have love if I have all that faith but do not have love, Paul says it is absolutely nothing. Eh, my former coach used to say, it is zero children, zero times zero. He, good word,

zero out of 10. He used to say that. So if I have all this faith, I can do all kinds of things, but then I do not have love. It is absolutely nothing. The Holy Spirit uses the means in producing this fruit in our lives. The neglect of the of the means impacts our fruitlessness. And it does so in the community around you, you see it uses the means. The means are always there. It's like the electricity is always flowing,

but you must turn on the the iron. In order to iron your clothes, you must turn on the toaster. So it is with the means that the Holy Spirit uses. You have to grow in this. You have to meditate on the word every day. You have to think of what does the Bible say? You have to think of how do I apply this in my life that's using the means that God is coming, uh, is bringing into your life regularly. Examining yourself, examining yourself, knowing also that you have a limit,

uh, in your own examination because you have a limited capacity. And so you are dependent in God, but every time you want to be in the presence of God, you want to be in the relationship with God because your life is so manifest, is so great in his presence and also because your mindset is towards heaven but not earth. And that is what the Spirit does in our lives. The question is not am I able to articulate the gospel of systematically well,

am I able to communicate the gospel well? But the question is, does my life make other people want to believe the gospel? That's how a community is transformed. It is a means. In closing here I'll just say it is all this is coming because of your identity that you have in Christ right now. Paul has said, you will once in these things that is the works of the flesh. You will once in these things. Now he says, take them off, take them away.

And then he says, put this on. And you see, overall everything that we put, he describes that love binds everything in unity. Everything in unity. Bren, this is not an excitation as uh, Alistair Begg said, this is not an excitation to say, pull up your socks. Pull up your socks and love more. Go out and love more. This is not what this is about. Rather, this is a reminder of the work that the Holy Spirit is working to produce

in your life. And there is a difference in knowing about love in having an idea about love, but in living that love experientially, having the spirit's love boiling from within you. That is the wake of the spirit. And when the Holy Spirit produces the fruit in you, it it'll transform your heart. It'll transform your relationships. It'll transform the communities around you and it'll move you to love extravagantly. It'll move you to love sacrificially and also to love and

regrettably, but to the glory of God alone. Amen. You join me in prayer. Father, you have created us in your image, which is in your love, in your care. And even though we rebelled against you, you continue to love us and you continue to show us. But also there is so much that we do not see that you have prepared for us. And that is your immense love, that despite all our weaknesses, your love still transforms, your love still works and the fruit of love,

this produced by the Spirit or Lord, we pray, may you help us to see that you are giving it birth in our hearts so that we can live it experientially and lives around us can be transformed. May your name be gRED in this day. May your name be gRED in this church. May your name be gRED in the Michigan area, but also in the world at large or to the glory of your name. We ask all this in Jesus name, our Amen.