PEELED - 1

Welcome to our new series "Peeled."

We are examining the Fruit of the Spirit and discovering characteristics of a life changed by Christ.

Here’s what we know about fruit, fruit is never grown overnight, it must be cultivated.

Picture your life like a piece of fruit. When you are peeled is the fruit sweet or sour?

We are peeling back the layers of the Fruit of the Spirit.

Many say “fruits,” however there are not 9 “fruits” of the Spirit, the Fruit of the Spirit has 9 characteristics, 9 layers if you will.

One Fruit with 9 elements.

These Fruit taken together make up the character of Christ.

Some people try to pick and choose their way through the Fruit of the Spirit. Many pray and ask God to “give” them the fruit of the Spirit. Gifts are given. Fruit is cultivated.

Galatians 5:22-23 NLT But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

1. Fruit is Cultivated.

Fruit is never grown overnight, it is cultivated.

Spiritual fruit is often developed in our lives in the midst of difficulties.

Want to see if you are bearing the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Notice how you respond in difficult times. Trials and tests help find a person. How you react under pressure is the real you.

As we go through trials and difficulties in life, we may not realize it but trusting in God during these times allows spiritual fruit to be cultivated in our lives.

The Chinese Bamboo Tree

In the Far East the Asian people plant a tree known as the Chinese Bamboo. During the first four years they water and fertilize the plant despite seeing little or no results. Then during the fifth year, they again water and fertilize the tree - and in five weeks' time the tree grows ninety feet! The obvious question to ask is: Did the Chinese bamboo tree grow ninety feet in five weeks, or did it grow ninety feet in five years? The answer is: It grew ninety feet in five years.

You see if at any time during those five years the people would have stopped watering and fertilizing the tree, it would have died. Many times our dreams and plans appear as if they are going nowhere, and we are tempted to give up and quit trying. But on the contrary, we must keep watering and fertilizing those dreams and plans God's placed inside us. Because we know that if we do not quit, if we show perseverance and endurance, we will also reap a harvest.

So many times we run when we face difficulties. Or we decide this church is not for us, or we become offended, bitter, jealous or even filled with hate.

What we fail to realize is that perhaps God allowed us to go through this difficulty to develop fruit in our life. When we run away, or get upset, we miss a chance to build our character.

We grow in the tough times, not the easy times. If we run from the difficult times we will seriously hinder our growth.

Fruit is never grown overnight, it is cultivated.

Spiritual fruit is often developed in our lives in the midst of difficulties.

2. The Fruit of the Spirit is appetizing.

Just reading this list of spiritual disciplines should cause you to desire to allow the Holy Spirit to produce these graces in your life.

Not only should we desire these spiritual disciplines in our lives, but as we reflect Christ, others should desires what they see in us.

The Fruit of the Spirit is appetizing!

Is your life so sweetened with fruit that people are drawn to the farmer? People are drawn to the One who is cultivating your life?

When we live a life full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control people will say, “Where did you get that, and how can I get it too?”

The fruit of the Spirit is the gateway to salvation for many who would not enter the church. They begin to see Christianity lived out through us and want what we have, which leads to an opportunity to talk about Jesus.

Galatians 5:22-23 NLT But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

The fruit of the Spirit is just that, fruit produced through the Spirit. We cannot produce this fruit on our own. As we remain in Jesus, we begin to see a harvest of fruit in our actions and attitudes that are evidences we are connected to Christ.

The Purpose of the fruit of the Spirit is for us to be more like Christ.

One writer said, “The fruit of the spirit is a picture of perfection.”

Another writer said, “The fruit of the spirit is the essence of the character of Christ.”

The Fruit of the Spirit are the character qualities found in Christ.

John 15:4-5, 8 NLT Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

⁵ “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”

⁸ When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

When we are made new in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit then begins a work in us to change us from the inside out to make us more like Christ.

The fruit of the Spirit is developmental.

We are always a work in progress.

The Holy Spirit takes us where we are and begins to shape and form us into the character of Christ.

He takes us where we are and helps us begin to grow into who He desires us to be.

Galatians 5:22-23 NLT But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Let’s peel back the layers and unpack the Fruit of the Spirit.

Today we will come to understand the foundational layer of Love.

3. Love – Agape

Agape – means an undefeatable benevolence that always seeks the highest good of the other person no matter what he does.

Agape is the self-giving love that gives freely without asking anything in return.

Agape is love by choice.  Agape describes the nature of God.

Illus: Agape Love

The Greek word agape (love) seems to have been virtually a Christian invention—a new word for a new thing (apart from about twenty occurrences in the Greek version of the Old Testament, it is almost non-existent before the New Testament). Agape draws it’s meaning directly from the revelation of God in Christ. It is not a form of natural affection, however, intense, but a supernatural fruit of the Spirit. It is a matter of will rather than feeling (for Christians must love even those they dislike—Matt. 5:44-48). It is the basic element in Christ-likeness. Your Father Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986, page for March 10

It has been said that love is not simply the first Fruit of the Spirit, instead love is the Fruit of the Spirit. Everything else in Paul’s list comes from love.

What exactly is this thing called “love?”

Among the great disciplines that characterized the life of Jesus, was His determination to practice genuine love toward those He encountered.

As Christians, as Christ followers, we must learn to see life as full of opportunities to love and to let love live.

1 John 3:16 NIV This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

How do we learn to love?

Love is not learned in isolation. We learn to love by being around irritating, imperfect people.

In ancient Hebrew the definition of love is “I give”.

[Hebrew] – ahav/ahab – (v.) to provide and protect what is given as a privilege.

The Greek equivalent is agapao - The Love of God – God’s love toward man. – And agape – charity, unconditional benevolent love.

Working definition of love: recognizing a need in someone’s life and having the means necessary to meet that need. Love is giving.

John 3:16 NIV "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

1 John 4:7-12 NIV Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

God desires for us to learn to love like He loves.

Our love for others should not be to earn a badge or for approval.

We should love others simply out of our commitment to Christ.

He loves us, so we love others. 

What matters most to God? Of all the precepts, principles and doctrines in Scripture, what matters most?

Galatians 5:6 CEV If you are a follower of Christ Jesus… All that matters is your faith that makes you love others.

Matthew 22:35-40 NIV One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" ³⁷ Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

The key word is “love”. What matters most, when it all comes down to it is this word called love.

John 13:34-35 NIV "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

1 John 3:10 NIV This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

Ephesians 5:1-2 NIV84 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

“Live a Life of Love” = Let Love Live = Love Wins

1 Corinthians 13:1-8 NIV84 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails.

Paul not only describes the characteristics of Christ, he is also describing what our lives will look like when we live a life of love reflecting the character of Christ.

Our lives must reflect the character of Christ.

What is the character of Christ?

Galatians 5:22-23 NLT But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

The foundation of the character of Christ is love.

But how are we supposed to love people?

Paul’s prescription for how to love:

Romans 12:9-21 NLT Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. ¹⁰ Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. ¹¹ Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. ¹² Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. ¹³ When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. ¹⁵ Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

¹⁷ Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. ¹⁸ Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

¹⁹ Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.

²⁰ Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them.

If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”

²¹ Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

So how are you doing?

Can you love like Jesus loved?

Do you love people like Paul described loving people?

Why do we make loving people so hard?

How can you begin loving people like Jesus loved people?

Loving people begins with knowing without a doubt that God loves us.