Being it
This week's study is on Galatians 5:22-26:
These verses come as part of Paul's letter to the Galatian church. He scolds them for being slavish followers of the Old Testament law while lacking a certain Christ-likeness. He warns them also about the results of not being Christ-centered, which is the long list of character flaws I think I've mentioned before. And now in these verses, he tells what a Christ-focused person turns out to be. They are a true representative of Christ, and I can tell you from personal experience that that alone can be a powerful evangelism tool.
There are plenty of supernatural things that are fruit of the Spirit. Those are not what Paul is talking about here. There are prophesies, injuries and diseases getting healed, and deliverance from demon possession happening in the church, both in his time, and in ours. I've seen these things myself, and I know people who do missionary work who have seen it even more dramatically where people don't have access to western health care. If there's a sure way to convince someone that God is real without speaking their language, "signs and wonders" are that way.
What Paul is talking about here is Christ-like character. It is a selflessness, a relaxed peacefulness, a discipline despite the cost that people get when they've become serious Christians. That's not to say that people in other religions, even atheists, can't have these traits. I've met some very good irreligious and non-Christian people. But if you're telling people about Christ's power to transform, to redeem bad things, and you're drug-addicted, rude, selfish, unfaithful, lazy, miserable, and constantly agitated, people are naturally going to ask themselves "Where is this power you keep talking about?"
The tricky part is that you can't fake these things any more than you can fake miracles. People are going to find out that you were pretending to be faithful or disciplined or selfless the same as they're going to find out that you paid your cousin to pretend he was paralyzed so he could get out of the wheelchair when you prayed for him. "Whatever is hidden will be revealed," and there is no time in history where that is more true than it is today. Paul is not telling us that Christ wants us to put on the happy face and fake it till we make it. The Gospel isn't a message about Christ's power to watch us transform ourselves.
I don't have much from that list of fruits of the spirit. The couple I believe I do have are not things I've trained myself to have. You may find yourself in the same situation. But we can probably also think of people we know who have gained these things. There are people who have even become Christians just because they saw someone else who had these traits, and they knew they wanted whatever that other person had. To me, that's a much more effective evangelism policy than chasing someone up three flights of stairs shouting "Have you heard about the four spiritual laws?!" (I do believe in traditional evangelism too, but that's a tale for another day.)
So how do we get the fruit of the Spirit, if we can't change ourselves enough to make a difference? The seemingly obvious answer is "from The Spirit." We have to go to where Christ went, and seek these things in prayer and contemplation. If these are the fruit of the Holy Spirit, we need to put ourselves someplace where we are in contact with that Spirit. Prayer and contemplation is sometimes the "bed rest and fluids" of our Christian lives, and sometimes it's invasive surgery. I don't believe anything gets fixed without it.
I think it's difficult to be an ambassador for Christ without the traits people associate with him. It would be like being an American ambassador without speaking English. People are eventually going to suspect you're a fraud. Again, these are not things we can do ourselves any more than the illiterate American ambassador could fake being fluent in English. They take time, intensity, and living in the place we claim to represent.
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.
These verses come as part of Paul's letter to the Galatian church. He scolds them for being slavish followers of the Old Testament law while lacking a certain Christ-likeness. He warns them also about the results of not being Christ-centered, which is the long list of character flaws I think I've mentioned before. And now in these verses, he tells what a Christ-focused person turns out to be. They are a true representative of Christ, and I can tell you from personal experience that that alone can be a powerful evangelism tool.
There are plenty of supernatural things that are fruit of the Spirit. Those are not what Paul is talking about here. There are prophesies, injuries and diseases getting healed, and deliverance from demon possession happening in the church, both in his time, and in ours. I've seen these things myself, and I know people who do missionary work who have seen it even more dramatically where people don't have access to western health care. If there's a sure way to convince someone that God is real without speaking their language, "signs and wonders" are that way.
What Paul is talking about here is Christ-like character. It is a selflessness, a relaxed peacefulness, a discipline despite the cost that people get when they've become serious Christians. That's not to say that people in other religions, even atheists, can't have these traits. I've met some very good irreligious and non-Christian people. But if you're telling people about Christ's power to transform, to redeem bad things, and you're drug-addicted, rude, selfish, unfaithful, lazy, miserable, and constantly agitated, people are naturally going to ask themselves "Where is this power you keep talking about?"
The tricky part is that you can't fake these things any more than you can fake miracles. People are going to find out that you were pretending to be faithful or disciplined or selfless the same as they're going to find out that you paid your cousin to pretend he was paralyzed so he could get out of the wheelchair when you prayed for him. "Whatever is hidden will be revealed," and there is no time in history where that is more true than it is today. Paul is not telling us that Christ wants us to put on the happy face and fake it till we make it. The Gospel isn't a message about Christ's power to watch us transform ourselves.
I don't have much from that list of fruits of the spirit. The couple I believe I do have are not things I've trained myself to have. You may find yourself in the same situation. But we can probably also think of people we know who have gained these things. There are people who have even become Christians just because they saw someone else who had these traits, and they knew they wanted whatever that other person had. To me, that's a much more effective evangelism policy than chasing someone up three flights of stairs shouting "Have you heard about the four spiritual laws?!" (I do believe in traditional evangelism too, but that's a tale for another day.)
So how do we get the fruit of the Spirit, if we can't change ourselves enough to make a difference? The seemingly obvious answer is "from The Spirit." We have to go to where Christ went, and seek these things in prayer and contemplation. If these are the fruit of the Holy Spirit, we need to put ourselves someplace where we are in contact with that Spirit. Prayer and contemplation is sometimes the "bed rest and fluids" of our Christian lives, and sometimes it's invasive surgery. I don't believe anything gets fixed without it.
I think it's difficult to be an ambassador for Christ without the traits people associate with him. It would be like being an American ambassador without speaking English. People are eventually going to suspect you're a fraud. Again, these are not things we can do ourselves any more than the illiterate American ambassador could fake being fluent in English. They take time, intensity, and living in the place we claim to represent.
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