"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.  The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."
(Galatians 5:16-26) (NIV)

   There once was a man who hurt his thumb at work so he went to his boss and he said, "Boss I've hurt my thumb."

   His boss said, "Well you had better go to the clinic."

   He'd never been to the clinic and his boss said, "You go down the street and you'll see this little building and it has a sign out front and it says, 'Clinic'.  That's a clue.  You go in there and they will help you."

   So he went down the street, found the little building with the sign out front that said "Clinic", and when he went in the front door there was a room with a desk and two chairs, but nobody there.

   But in that room there were two doors, one that said "ILLNESS" and one that said "INJURY".  He thought to himself, "Well I just hurt my thumb," so he went through "INJURY".

   And when he went through that door, there was a desk and two chairs but nobody there.

   But in that room there were two doors, one that said "EXTERNAL" and one that said "INTERNAL".  He thought to himself, "I just hurt my thumb," so he went through "EXTERNAL".

   When he went through that door, there was a desk and two chairs but nobody there.

   And there were two doors, one that said "SURGERY" and one that said "THERAPY".  So he went through "THERAPY"; "I just hurt my thumb."

   In the next room, there was a desk, and two chairs but nobody there!

   But there were two doors.  One that said "MAJOR" and one that said "MINOR".  So he went through "MINOR", saying, "I just hurt my thumb."

   And when he went through that door he ended up out on the street behind the clinic.

   So he goes back to work.  Later in the day, his boss sees him and says, "Did you go to the clinic?"

   He says, "Yes I did."

   "Well," asks the boss, "did they help you?"

   "Well, I don't know.  But," he said, "I can tell you this, they are the best-organized outfit I've ever seen."

   O my friends, if you look under the word "clinic" you might just see the word "church".  Because that's all we are, just an organized outfit - without the Spirit of the living God.

   The Holy Spirit is absolutely essential if we are to be the church of Jesus Christ.  If we are going to share the love of God with those outside the Church, if we are going to bear one another's burdens, if we are going to model the faith for our children, the Spirit of God is essential.

   We have discovered during the last three weeks in our studies that every believer has all of the Holy Spirit.  The question that persists is, "Does the Holy Spirit have all of you - does he have all of me?"  We are to be filled with the Spirit.

   This is a vital question for it is as the Holy Spirit dominates our lives that godliness and righteousness progress in our character.  This is what makes Christianity so fantastic - the Christian life is a divine work.  If you think Christianity is all about what you do for God, then you have a wrong understanding of Christianity.  It is not about what we do for God, it is exclusively as a consequence of what God does in us, for us, through us.

   It is as we enthrone the Holy Spirit in our lives, as we say to the Holy Spirit every morning, "Good morning Holy Spirit, how are you today?  I just want you to know that today we are going to do whatever you want to do.  Today I'm going to act as you would have me act."

   It is as we enthrone the Holy Spirit in our lives that the church becomes more than just an organized outfit and we as individuals become more like Jesus Christ.

   This truth is evident in our text today.  For here we learn about the fruit of the Spirit, that is the product of the Spirit, the outcome of having the Spirit indwell and control us every day of our lives.  What is the end product?  It is the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Simply put, the fruit of the Spirit is the character of Jesus Christ.  You see, God does not simply set his Son before us as a model to imitate.  No, he places his Holy Spirit in us in order to make us more like his Son.

   And it is as he dominates our lives and fills us with himself that we become more like him.

   The only legitimate evidence of the fullness and the activity of the Holy Spirit in any man, any woman, any boy, any girl is the person's character.  Some will say that it is speaking in tongues; others will say that it is worship that is always jumping up and down; others will say that healing is the only legitimate evidence of the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  But that is not Biblical, and therefore, not true.  Jesus said that his followers will be recognized "by their fruit." (Matthew 7:20).  And when that passage is twinned with the passage before us, we understand "fruit" to be character.  For the Holy Spirit's driving ambition is to glorify Christ, and he does that by reproducing the character of Christ in us.  The only legitimate evidence of the Holy Spirit in any person is in that person's character.  Am I more like Christ today than I was yesterday?  This is what the Holy Spirit living in us seeks to accomplish.

   Now there is a struggle here, because we have this new nature living in an old house, and the old house is what Scripture calls "the flesh", which we inherited from birth.  Our old nature will not die until we are placed in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.  That is why there is this constant battle within us.

   As Paul says in Galatians 5:17, "the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." (NIV)

   The Spirit of God has come to take control of your life.  He has come to set your character towards a different goal.  And your flesh says, "Not here, you won't.  I have been running this show for all these years, and I am not about to give it over to you."  The sinful nature of the flesh does not like the new resident.

   This is why it is vitally important for us to enthrone the Spirit, or be deliberate in our submitting to the Spirit, rather than the old self.  This is what Scripture encourages us to do in verse 16 and again in verse 25, "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." (Galatians 5:16) (NIV)

   Now this can be hard to do.  If you look at the list of the fruit of the old nature in verse 19, your first reaction would be one of disdain; it is a dirty list.  But if we were totally honest we would have to say that something in us, that is, our old nature, finds that list to be attractive.  To be honest with you, if I don't watch myself this list is exactly what I look for in a movie.

   In fact, this list is exactly the content of what we look for in entertainment.  It has been suggested that if you were a writer of a soap opera this text would be the one you need on your desk.  Because, if you can weave sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like into your story, you'll get your audience.

   Because, although we "tsk, tsk" about all of this, something inside of us, that old nature, which doesn't improve, enjoys it.  This is called the acts of the flesh.

   So, there is this battle going on in us, but the good news is we do not need to live by the demands of the old nature.  God has given us a powerful opponent to the flesh, and that is the Holy Spirit.  In fact, the Holy Spirit is such a powerful opponent to the flesh that there is no need for the law.  Verse 18 says, "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law." (NIV)

   You see, the Galatians were trying to live the Christian life by keeping a set of rules, by the law.  The problem with the law is that it doesn't give us the power to obey; it only makes us aware of the rules and punishes us when we break them.  So if we try to live the Christian life by keeping a set of rules through sheer determination, then we are doomed to failure.  All the law can do is condemn.  It can give you the guidelines, but it cannot give you the power to follow the guidelines.

   You are not only doomed to failure but you are doomed to have an experience of Christianity that will be a real drag.  As you seek to fulfill the laws and the regulations, Christianity becomes a burden rather than a joyful, life-giving relationship with the living God.

   In the words of Tony Evans, "When the Holy Spirit takes over, we don't function by law.  We function by relationship.  That's why we need the Spirit.  Many of us are faltering because we are trying to do in our own might what only God, the Holy Spirit, can do in and through us."¹

   Now, in contrast to the acts of the sinful nature, we have the fruit of the SPIRIT.  These qualities are actually alien to us.  We recognize that this is a beautiful list.  If we were to go across the street to any of the Frisbee games, or ball games, outside here - maybe to someone who is not a Christian and ask, "What do you think of this list?"  That person would say, "That's a wonderful list."

   But to be honest, there's something mundane about this list.  I mean, if you were a scriptwriter for a soap opera and you worked your story around love, joy, peace, you would lose your job; you would certainly lose your audience.  Why?  Because these are actually alien to us.  This is the fruit of the SPIRIT, not the fruit of human natural interest.

   Yet, every one of these is the goal for every one of us.

   You will also notice that what we have here is the fruit of the Spirit and not the FRUITS of the Spirit.  This is not a plural statement but a singular statement.  The fruit of the Spirit is, not the fruit of the Spirit are.  In other words, Paul's not saying that there are some people who, because of the Holy Spirit, are loving, and that there are others who are joyful, others who are peaceful, others who are kind, and others who are self controlled and so on.  But rather, these nine qualities are the expression of the ONE character of the Lord Jesus Christ.  In fact, as we have seen, we can sum it up with that one word, the fruit of the Spirit is character.  And we can be more precise than that; the fruit of the Spirit is the character of Christ.

   The only legitimate test of the reality of Christ, and the fullness of his spirit in your life and mine, is the expression of his character.

   For this last point I am indebted to the teaching of Charles Price, who points out that Paul says that it is the fruit of the spirit, and not the flowers of the Spirit.  There's a difference isn't there?  Flowers make a place look nice.  Every week Maureen takes great care to provide flowers for us, here on the table, to remind us of the beauty and creativity of God.  Flowers make the place look nice.

   Now these qualities are not the flowers of the Spirit, simply designed to make Christians nice people to have around, the result of which would be to have people say, "It's nice to have Christian neighbours because they are polite, they don't play their music at 1 o'clock in the morning at full volume, and they don't park their cars on your lawn.  It's nice to employ Christians because they start on time, and they don't cheat."

   They are nice people to have around, so that people say, "If the world was full of people like this, it would be a marvellous place."  That's not what it's all about.  That's just being flowers.

   What is fruit for?  Fruit has an altogether different function doesn't it?  We don't say, "This place is looking a little drab; we really should hang up some bananas."  That wouldn't help.  When do we need fruit?  You say, "I'm hungry, give me an apple."

   Fruit is for eating, for consumption, for feeding.  The fruit of the Spirit is not designed to enable Christians to impress the neighbours with what nice people they are.  The fruit of the Spirit is designed to feed hungry people, hungry for love, hungry for your kindness, your patience - to experience the benefit of our joy, instead of misery.

   There are some who differentiate between the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit by suggesting that the fruit of the Spirit is about being, and the gifts of the Spirit are about doing.   The fruit of the Spirit enables us to be.  But that's not helpful.  How can you be loving?  I mean, if you lock someone in a box and they can be loving, what good is that?  These fruits are for doing, for feeding.

   Charles Price used to say to his children as they went out the door in the morning, "Be good."  But then he realized that wasn't helpful.  I mean, they could be good lying in bed asleep at night; that's being good.  Instead he has learned to say to them, "Do some good today, won't you?" ²

   Because you see, there are folks who will never come into this building, who are hungry for someone to love them.  Hungry for the kindness and the gentleness and the faithfulness and the patience which we can feed them, the fruit of the Spirit.

   Well, this is my last chance speak to you for some time.  I am going away for a study leave.  For some of you, by the time I get back to preach on the first of July, you'll be gone to your cottages and summer holidays.  I can leave you with no better words than verse 25, since we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit.

   That means that we need to depend on the Holy Spirit.  When you walk, you put your weight down on your legs one leg at a time.  Dependence in walking means you are trusting your legs to hold you up.  Walking in the Spirit means you are depending on the Holy Spirit to hold you up.

   My friends, while I'm gone, while you are on the dock this summer, while you are sitting under a summer night sky, meditate on this verse; give your self completely to the Holy Spirit.  Depend on the Holy Spirit to produce the character of Christ in you.  To be sure, we have all of the Holy Spirit, but does he have all of you.

   Answer that question with a "yes" and then we as a church will be more than a well-organized outfit; we will be the church of the living God feeding a hungry world with the fruit of the Spirit.

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - May 2001

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