The Fruit of the Spirit is Love

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The Fruit of the Spirit is Love

Galatians 5:13-25; March 1, 2024; Don Willeman

March 3, 2024 • Don Willeman • Galatians 5:13–25

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Love knows no limits to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that stands when all else has fallen.”

~Elizabeth Elliot (1926-2015), Christian missionary, author, and speaker

“[The] kingdom may be inherited [only] by the children of the King; and such are all believers in Christ, for through union with him and by virtue of his redeeming act they have become Abraham’s true offspring and God sons and heirs according to the promise…. But God’s reign or rule is moral in nature; those who consistently behave in ways that are opposed to God’s nature…show thereby that they have not accepted God’s rule through Christ in their lives.”

~R.Y.K. Fung, professor at China Graduate School of Theology (Hong Kong)

“…the Holy Spirit…puts…eagerness of unconstrained love into the heart…. That is why faith alone makes someone just and fulfills the law; faith it is that brings the Holy Spirit through the merits of Christ. The Spirit, in turn, renders the heart glad and free, as the law demands. Then good works proceed from faith itself.”

~Martin Luther (1483-1546) in his Romans Commentary

“There are two kinds of peacemakers in the modern world; and they are both…a nuisance. The first peacemaker is the man who goes about saying that he agrees with everybody. He confuses everybody. The second peacemaker is the man who goes about saying that everybody agrees with him. He enrages everybody. Between the two of them they produce a hundred times more disputes and distractions than we poor pugnacious people would ever have thought of in our lives.”

“Latter-day skepticism is fond of calling itself progressive; but skepticism is really reactionary. Skepticism goes back; it attempts to unsettle what has already been settled. Instead of trying to break up new fields with its plough, it simply tries to break up the plough.”

~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer

“It has become an unquestioned moral assumption…that people should be free. What that means in the popular mind and popular culture is that people should be permitted, if not actually enabled, to do what they want. This is almost always joined with the assumption that what people do want is to enjoy pleasure. Sometimes they speak of ‘happiness,’ but that term has little meaning to most folk other than feeling good…. From this we get our overall culture of sensuality, in which people are almost totally governed by their feelings.”

~Dallas Willard (1935-2013), professor of philosophy at USC

SERMON PASSAGE

Galatians 5:13-25 (ESV)

Galatians 5

1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

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. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 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. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 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. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Galatians 6

1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.

The Fulfillment of Karma. The Flood of Grace.

August 18, 2024 • Don Willeman • Galatians 3:23—4:7

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “My grand objection to the religious system still held by many who declare themselves orthodox Churchmen. . . is, that it tends to render Christianity so much a system of prohibitions rather than of privilege and hopes, and thus the injunction to rejoice, so strongly enforced in the New Testament, is practically neglected, and Religion is made to wear a forbidding and gloomy air and not one of peace and hope and joy.” ~William Wilberforce (1759-1833), social reformer credited with the abolition of slavery in the British Empire “I suddenly saw that someone could use all the language of…Christianity, and yet the center was fundamentally the self…. And God is auxiliary to that…. I also saw that quite a lot of…Christianity can easily slip, can become centered in me…, and not in the glory of God" ~Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), British theologian “Whenever you…argue within yourself how God is to be found—a God that justifies and accepts sinners: then know that there is no other God beside this man Christ Jesus…. [W]hen any of us shall have to wrestle with the law, sin, and death, and all other evils, we must look upon no other God, but only this God incarnate and clothed with man’s nature.” ~Martin Luther (1483-1546) in his Galatians Commentary “…at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma…. It’s clear to me it’s at the very heart of the universe…. And yet along comes this thing called Grace…. Grace defies logic. Love interrupts…the consequences of your actions. ….I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sin onto the Cross….” ~Bono of U2 fame “Thesis 26: The law says, ‘do this,’ and it is never done. Grace says, ‘believe in this,’ and everything is already done.” ~Marin Luther in his Heidelberg Disputation (1518) “To see the law by Christ fulfilled, and hear His pardoning voice, Changes a slave into a child, and duty into choice.” ~William Cowper (1731-1800), famed English poet in his “Love Constrained Obedience” SERMON PASSAGE Galatians 3:23-4:7 (ESV) Galatians 3 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. Galatians 4 1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

The Gentleness of Jesus

June 23, 2024 • Don Willeman • Galatians 5:22–23, Ephesians 4:29, Philippians 2:3–8, Matthew 12:18–21, Matthew 11:28–30

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “Oh! that gentleness! how far more potent is it than force!” ~Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855), novelist and poet in Jane Eyre “Meek. Humble. Gentle. Jesus is not trigger-happy. Not harsh, reactionary, easily exasperated. He is the most understanding person in the universe. The posture most natural to him is not a pointed finger but open arms … You don’t need to unburden or collect yourself and then come to Jesus. Your very burden is what qualifies you to come.” “When you come to Christ for mercy and love and help in your anguish and perplexity and sinfulness, you are going with the flow of his own deepest wishes, not against them.” ~Dane Ortlund in Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers “Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.” ~Irving Berlin (1888-1989), famed songwriter “People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.” ~John C. Maxwell, author and speaker “As we come to grips with our own selfishness and stupidity, we make friends with the impostor and accept that we are impoverished and broken and realize that, if we were not, we would be God. The art of gentleness toward ourselves leads to being gentle with others – and is a natural prerequisite for our presence to God in prayer.” ~Brennan Manning (1934-2013), author and clergy “The power of just mercy is that it belongs to the undeserving. It’s when mercy is least expected that it’s most potent.” ~Bryan Stevenson, lawyer, activist, and professor at NYU School of Law SERMON PASSAGE selected passages Galatians 5 (ESV) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Proverbs 15 (NIV) 1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. 2 The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly. Ephesians 4 (ESV) 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Philippians 2 (NIV) 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Matthew 12 (ESV) [said of Jesus, as quoted from Isaiah 43:1-3] 18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. 19 He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; 20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; 21 and in his name the Gentiles will hope.” Matthew 11 (ESV) [Jesus speaking] 28 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The Faithfulness of God

June 9, 2024 • Don Willeman • Galatians 5:22–23

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “God is God. Because he is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what he is up to.” “If you dwell on your own feelings…, then you’re likely to have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Our feelings are very fleeting and ephemeral, aren’t they? We can't depend on them for five minutes at a time. But dwelling on the love, faithfulness, and mercy of God is always safe.” ~Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015), author and speaker whose husband was killed bringing the gospel to the Auca people of eastern Ecuador “If you look to Christ for your beginnings, beware of looking to yourself for your endings. He is Alpha, see to it you make Him Omega, also.” “[The] faithfulness of God is the foundation and cornerstone of our hope of final perseverance. The saints shall persevere in holiness, because God perseveres in grace. He perseveres to bless, and therefore believers persevere in being blessed. He continues to keep His people, and therefore they continue to keep His commandments.” “There is no attribute of God more comforting to His children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe troubles, they believe that Sovereignty hath ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all.” “It is folly to think the Lord provides grace for every trouble but the one you are in today…. As sure as God puts His children in the furnace of affliction, He will be with them in it.” “Do not become self-sufficient. Self-sufficiency is Satan’s net where he catches men, like poor silly fish, and destroys them. Be not self-sufficient. The way to grow strong in Christ is to become weak in yourself. God pours no power into man’s heart till man’s power is all poured out. Live, then, daily, a life of dependence on the grace of God.” ~Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), famed London preacher “You may be tempted to believe that God has changed because your circumstances have, but if that were the case, he wouldn’t be God. He’d be you.” ~Jackie Hill Perry in Holier Than Thou: How God’s Holiness Helps Us Trust Him SERMON PASSAGE Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV) Galatians 5 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Deuteronomy 7 6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today. Isaiah 41 10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 1 Thessalonians 5 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. Hebrews 6 13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself…. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 12 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?... 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.