Fruits of the Spirit – LOVE
1 Corinthians 13 1 John 4 v 7-13
‘ You won’t feel nothing until you feel it – that’s the power of love!’
Love is a powerful thing, not only celebrated in countless pop songs but found as a key theme in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
In the opening chapters of the Bible God gives Adam a wife and blesses the institution of marriage. The Lord Jesus taught His disciples, whether married or single, to love one another and demonstrated the most amazing love Himself when He laid down His life for us on the cross. The closing pages of the Bible speak of people of all backgrounds raised to live together in peace through the redeeming love of Jesus the Lamb.
Love is a powerful thing! And the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5 writes that one of the ‘fruits of the Spirit’, in other words one of the natural results of being a Christian, led and empowered by God, is to develop Christlike character. He gives a list of wonderful attributes and top of the list is love.
Let’s consider it under three headings:
A Divine Gift
A Transforming Influence
A Lifetime of Learning
First of all let’s realise and gratefully acknowledge love is a Divine Gift. Its source is God Himself. He built love into His creation ordaining marriage as a lifelong covenant between husband and wife in which children are conceived, born and reared in safety. Families and communities are built on love. Human beings flourish when we practise love.
And God’s love is profoundly seen in how, at our deepest need when we had sinned and alienated ourselves from Him, He graciously gave His Son to be our Saviour. ‘This is love!’ writes John – not us loving God. We don’t! We naturally disobey just like Adam and Eve and suffer separation. But God so loved His world, fallen as we are, He made a way to bring us home. And Jesus, God the Son, the Good Shepherd came seeking us when we were lost and laid down His life to save us. Knowing our sin and shame, He suffered to atone for it. Loving us, sinners as we are, He sends the Spirit to assure us we’re forgiven and help us become better people.
We don’t deserve it but this is grace, the Gift of God’s redeeming love.
Well next let’s consider love as a Transforming Influence.
Do we remember our parents warning us about ‘bad company’? They used to warn us not to hang around with or make friends with certain kinds of people because people influence us, sometimes in a bad way. We all tend to copy those we admire but not all role models are positive. We could easily pick up some bad habits.
Well the Holy Spirit is the opposite. The clue is in the name, He’s God the Holy Spirit, He comes to help us become holy, like Jesus. He helps us recognise and say no to the devil’s lies. He prompts us to embrace everything that is good and pleasing to God. To use Paul’s lists in Galatians 5 the Spirit living in us will help us reject things like ‘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’ and instead welcome things like ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’.
Fruit is not instant, it grows in season. It takes time in practise to overcome temptations and leave behind worldly habits but the more we listen to the Spirit, reading our Bibles, praying, attending worship, enjoying Christian friendship, the more God fills our hearts with Christlike thoughts and attitudes, replacing the bad stuff with good!
But yes, it takes time, a Lifetime of Learning. Ask anyone who’s been married a while and they’ll tell you, it takes more than passion and romance, it requires a daily commitment to practise things like the patience, kindness and forgiveness we read of in 1 Corinthians 13. That passage was originally written not for married couples but for a congregation where some members were not getting along. Corinth had some gifted speakers but a fractured fellowship. Members had some gifts of the Spirit but little of the fruit of Christlike character. They could talk about Jesus but weren’t living very like Him! They needed to learn more of how to love each other for His sake.
So we’re still learning, still growing everyday until by His grace we reach glory.
In closing, consider this. The New Testament speaks of the Lord Jesus as a Bridegroom and the Church as His beloved Bride. He would die for us. He did!
But now He lives in us by the Spirit and wants to teach us to love, patiently and sacrificially like Him. Let’s be willing to learn!
1 Corinthians 13 1 John 4 v 7-13
‘ You won’t feel nothing until you feel it – that’s the power of love!’
Love is a powerful thing, not only celebrated in countless pop songs but found as a key theme in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
In the opening chapters of the Bible God gives Adam a wife and blesses the institution of marriage. The Lord Jesus taught His disciples, whether married or single, to love one another and demonstrated the most amazing love Himself when He laid down His life for us on the cross. The closing pages of the Bible speak of people of all backgrounds raised to live together in peace through the redeeming love of Jesus the Lamb.
Love is a powerful thing! And the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5 writes that one of the ‘fruits of the Spirit’, in other words one of the natural results of being a Christian, led and empowered by God, is to develop Christlike character. He gives a list of wonderful attributes and top of the list is love.
Let’s consider it under three headings:
A Divine Gift
A Transforming Influence
A Lifetime of Learning
First of all let’s realise and gratefully acknowledge love is a Divine Gift. Its source is God Himself. He built love into His creation ordaining marriage as a lifelong covenant between husband and wife in which children are conceived, born and reared in safety. Families and communities are built on love. Human beings flourish when we practise love.
And God’s love is profoundly seen in how, at our deepest need when we had sinned and alienated ourselves from Him, He graciously gave His Son to be our Saviour. ‘This is love!’ writes John – not us loving God. We don’t! We naturally disobey just like Adam and Eve and suffer separation. But God so loved His world, fallen as we are, He made a way to bring us home. And Jesus, God the Son, the Good Shepherd came seeking us when we were lost and laid down His life to save us. Knowing our sin and shame, He suffered to atone for it. Loving us, sinners as we are, He sends the Spirit to assure us we’re forgiven and help us become better people.
We don’t deserve it but this is grace, the Gift of God’s redeeming love.
Well next let’s consider love as a Transforming Influence.
Do we remember our parents warning us about ‘bad company’? They used to warn us not to hang around with or make friends with certain kinds of people because people influence us, sometimes in a bad way. We all tend to copy those we admire but not all role models are positive. We could easily pick up some bad habits.
Well the Holy Spirit is the opposite. The clue is in the name, He’s God the Holy Spirit, He comes to help us become holy, like Jesus. He helps us recognise and say no to the devil’s lies. He prompts us to embrace everything that is good and pleasing to God. To use Paul’s lists in Galatians 5 the Spirit living in us will help us reject things like ‘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’ and instead welcome things like ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’.
Fruit is not instant, it grows in season. It takes time in practise to overcome temptations and leave behind worldly habits but the more we listen to the Spirit, reading our Bibles, praying, attending worship, enjoying Christian friendship, the more God fills our hearts with Christlike thoughts and attitudes, replacing the bad stuff with good!
But yes, it takes time, a Lifetime of Learning. Ask anyone who’s been married a while and they’ll tell you, it takes more than passion and romance, it requires a daily commitment to practise things like the patience, kindness and forgiveness we read of in 1 Corinthians 13. That passage was originally written not for married couples but for a congregation where some members were not getting along. Corinth had some gifted speakers but a fractured fellowship. Members had some gifts of the Spirit but little of the fruit of Christlike character. They could talk about Jesus but weren’t living very like Him! They needed to learn more of how to love each other for His sake.
So we’re still learning, still growing everyday until by His grace we reach glory.
In closing, consider this. The New Testament speaks of the Lord Jesus as a Bridegroom and the Church as His beloved Bride. He would die for us. He did!
But now He lives in us by the Spirit and wants to teach us to love, patiently and sacrificially like Him. Let’s be willing to learn!
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