Pat Adams
February 26 Lesson 13 Bearing the Fruit of Redemption
Devotional Reading: 2 Peter 1:3-8
Background Scripture: Galatians 5:2-6:18
Photo: Hemera Technologies / Photos.com / Thinkstock
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, 5 for each one should carry his own load.
6 Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Key Verse
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. —Galatians 5:22, 23
Lesson Aims
After participating in this lesson, each student will be able to:
1. Identify what is reaped by those who sow to the flesh and those who sow to the Spirit.
2. Explain the sowing and reaping principle.
3. Recite from memory “the fruit of the Spirit.”
Lesson Outline
Introduction
A. Farming, Ancient and Modern
B. Lesson Background
I. Traveling with the Spirit Galatians 5:22-26
A. Spiritual Crop (vv. 22-24)
B. Spiritual Journey (vv. 25, 26)
II. Restoring in the Spirit Galatians 6:1-5
A. Burdens of Others (vv. 1, 2)
Restoration in Meekness
B. Burdens of Our Own (vv. 3-5)
III. Harvesting from the Spirit Galatians 6:6-10
A. Bumper Crop of Life (vv. 6-8)
B. Bumper Crop of Good Deeds (vv. 9, 10)
Being Not Weary
Conclusion
A. Fruit on Display
B. Prayer
C. Thought to Remember
Introduction
A. Farming, Ancient and Modern
Technology has improved crop yields dramatically for the modern farmer. Technology also has decreased the man hours needed to attain those yields. Even so, the basics of farming have not changed over the centuries. For a crop like wheat, the field must be prepared by breaking up the dirt (plowing), seed must be spread (sowing), moisture must be provided (watering), invasive plants must be removed (weeding), and time must be given for the wheat to mature (growing).
These steps had been largely unchanged for centuries when Paul wrote to the Galatians. The small cities and towns of the intended recipients for his letter were not distant from the agricultural world of wheat, barley, etc. Many of the church members who heard his letter read undoubtedly were involved in farming on a seasonal or full-time basis. It is not surprising, then, that Paul and other Bible authors used farming activities to illustrate truths about God and the kingdom of God (for examples, see Proverbs 26:1; Hosea 6:11; Mark 4:26-29). Such is the case in this week’s lesson, as Paul uses the concepts of sowing and reaping to illustrate spiritual truths within the church.
B. Lesson Background
Paul’s letter to the Galatians is a masterful presentation of the Christian message, a message unfettered by the legalism of first-century Judaism. Paul’s immediate concern was to refute false teachers who claimed that Gentiles had to become Jews if they were to be Christian. In this view, the Jewish law was binding on Christ’s followers, and the synagogue was the gateway to the church. Paul shows in the first two chapters of Galatians that this was never his message and was not the consensus he reached with the leaders of the church in Jerusalem (Acts 15; Galatians 2:9).
In Galatians 3 and 4, Paul argues that Abraham was never under the Law of Moses, for he predated the lawgiver, Moses, by hundreds of years. Abraham’s relationship with God was based on faith, and his true heirs are people of faith, whether Jews or Gentiles. Paul equates law-keeping as a type of slavery and living by faith as freedom. He implored the Galatians to remain free in Christ and not to submit again to the bondage of the law (Galatians 5:1; compare 2 Corinthians 3:17).
In the final two chapters of Galatians, Paul expands on one of the greatest promises of living by faith: the blessings of the Holy Spirit. After discussing some obvious sins in Galatians 5:19-21, this is where today’s lesson opens.
I. Traveling with the Spirit
(Galatians 5:22-26)
A. Spiritual Crop (vv. 22-24)
22, 23. 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.
Paul wants his readers to understand that Christian behavior transcends any law. The Bible often pictures the results of our actions as fruit (examples: Proverbs 11:30; Micah 7:13; Matthew 12:33). Christians are to exhibit certain fruit, and these are the finest human qualities. The nine qualities listed are similar to other lists of virtues found in the New Testament (see Philippians 4:8; Colossians 3:12; James 3:17). Here, the nine may be divided conveniently into three groups of three.
Love, joy, peace are inner attitudes that manifest themselves in the way we live. Love is a godly quality, the attitude of the Father toward his wayward children (Romans 5:8). Elsewhere Paul advises that when we act with genuine love we are fulfilling the intent of the law (Romans 13:10). Paul sees love as the motivation for serving one another within the church (Galatians 5:13).
Joy is often connected with the Holy Spirit (examples: Acts 13:52; Romans 14:17). Joy is godly happiness, caused by the awareness of our blessedness in the Lord (see Psalm 21:6). The Bible sees joy as a natural reaction to the one who is allowed to be in the presence of the Lord (Psalm 16:11), so we should expect joy in the life that is filled with the presence of God’s Spirit.
How to Say It
Cézanne Say-zahn.
Isaiah Eye-zay-uh.
Judaism Joo-duh-izz-um or Joo-day-izz-um.
Judaizing Joo-duh-ize-ing.
reciprocity reh-suh-prah-suh-tee.
Peace is also a central feature of the character of God (Romans 16:20; Philippians 4:7). This peace of God should be present in the life of the believer who trusts that God reigns supreme (Isaiah 52:7).
Patience, kindness, goodness, the second triad of spiritual fruit, can be understood as ways in which we are to relate to other people. All three serve as a witness to unbelievers in a way that may bring them to believe in God.
Patience describes a person who is willing to wait. This too is a quality of God. Peter even sees the patience of God as a core element of Paul’s letters (2 Peter 3:15). The longsuffering patience of God serves to give men and women an opportunity for salvation. Spiritual persons should be patient with both the saved and the unsaved. If we are not in the business of earning salvation by keeping the law, then we can patiently trust our futures to God through the Holy Spirit.
Kindness is the opposite of harsh treatment. We as sinners deserve to be treated harshly by God, yet he treats us kindly as a means of leading us to repentance (Romans 2:4). Likewise, Christians should treat others kindly, trusting that this will help lead unbelievers to a repentance.
Goodness may be seen as “good actualized.” It is more than abstractly wanting to be good; it is being good. This is goodness in relationship with others. It is not being good to yourself (as in “I love to spoil myself”). It is doing things that benefit others. Goodness is defined by a giving spirit, another quality of God (see Nehemiah 9:35).
Faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, the third triad, are personal virtues that should characterize people who have placed their trust in God. Faithfulness is the quality of personal reliability. Faithful people are those who keep their word, who do not give up, who are loyal to their friends and family. This, again, is a primary way of understanding God, for he is always faithful (see Isaiah 49:7; 1 Corinthians 1:9).
Visual for Lesson 13. Display this poster prominently as you work through the Into the Lesson segment on page 224.
Gentleness is a quality blessed by Jesus (translated meek in Matthew 5:5) and was central to the personality of Jesus himself (11:29). Gentleness is a kind of submissiveness, but not the weak, “milquetoast” kind. True gentle meekness comes from deep inner strength, in this case fueled by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Self-control applies to many contexts in life. For an interesting study, see Acts 24:25; 1 Corinthians 7:9; 9:25; Titus 1:8; and 2 Peter 1:6, where the Greek word behind the English translation occurs in both noun and verb forms.
What Do You Think?
When you consider how well you are producing the fruit of the Spirit, how would you describe your crop? How will you improve?
Talking Points for Your Discussion
Parched—dry, in need of nourishment
Tender shoots—just starting to break through
Weather distressed—contrary winds have wreaked havoc; in need of support
Firmly planted—growing and maturing
24. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
This verse refers back to “the acts of the sinful nature” as listed in Galatians 5:19-21, a list of horrible vices. To belong to Christ Jesus means we have the presence of the Holy Spirit. We have been crucified with him (see Galatians 2:20), and this means we have left our sinful desires and passions behind. We are no longer controlled by our own selfish wants, but by the Spirit of God and the desire to serve him.
B. Spiritual Journey (vv. 25, 26)
25. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
What is the difference between living by and keeping in step with the Spirit? For Paul, to live by the Spirit refers to our salvation. As believers we receive God’s Holy Spirit as a gift (Acts 2:38). We do nothing to earn this gift, as we do nothing to earn our salvation. We do have choices to make, however, regarding how we live our lives as believers. Paul is saying that if the Holy Spirit lives in you (and he does), then you are to conduct yourself in a way that honors this holy presence.
26. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
We should be on guard against slipping back into patterns of selfishness. Even if we are not engaging in the heinous “acts of the sinful nature,” we may fall to more insidious behaviors that are not pleasing to God. Paul’s short list here includes things that are all too common in churches and may have been characteristic of his Judaizing opponents. Being conceited is the empty smugness of a boastful person. Provoking and envying refer to the constant rivalries and fussing that are found in some churches. None of these is consistent with a person walking by the Spirit of Christ.
II. Restoring in the Spirit
(Galatians 6:1-5)
A. Burdens of Others (vv. 1, 2)
1. Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
A foundational principle in the church is that those who are stronger should help those who are weaker (see Acts 20:35). Christian leaders should be stronger in their spiritual walk and maturity, and this strength is to be extended to help restore a wayward brother or sister (compare Jude 23).
Paul offers a warning, though, of two pitfalls that the one who undertakes a ministry of restoration should be aware. One danger is being too rough on the one who has fallen. If the restoration process is too firm (lacking gentleness) for the context of the problem, then the erring brother or sister could be driven away permanently (compare 2 Corinthians 2:5-11).
The second danger is that the restorer may be tempted and fall into the same sin. As a firefighter is endangered when entering a house fire to rescue a child, so the spiritual leader who attempts to restore a fallen member may be burned.
Restoration in Meekness
When I was in graduate school many years ago, I attended a church that was a delight to my wife and me spiritually, a church that encouraged us in Christian maturity. We gained many friends there, some of whom we still have contact with some 40 years later.
But there was one woman in that church who was rather forthright in her ways of Christian confrontation. If she became aware that someone in the congregation had slipped from the high standard of spiritual purity, she would write that person a letter of rigorous chastisement. The letters were often abrasive and hurtful. She probably caused more spiritual harm than good. The leaders of the congregation tried to tone down her strident corrections, but she was adamant that she was only trying to remind people of their higher calling.
In retrospect, it seems that this woman herself was misguided. Paul’s admonition to the Galatians is that the process of restoration ought to be done with meekness. The woman’s letters came across as “holier than thou,” causing hurt and alienation as a result. We are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), not in rage or denunciation. —J. B. N.
2. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Although not stated, the law of Christ is usually understood as the Golden Rule taught by Jesus: that we should do to others as we would have them do to us (Luke 6:31). This is called the principle of loving reciprocity. When a fellow Christian has burdens, life issues that are weighing heavily, those who are spiritually mature should help that person as they would want to be helped.
It is this mutual burden-bearing that gives strength to the body of Christ. If those in need are neglected or ignored, then the church is not fulfilling its purpose of being a refuge from the storms of life. As Martin Luther said, “Christians must have strong shoulders and mighty bones” when it comes to helping weaker brothers and sisters.
What Do You Think?
When do you most find it difficult to bear the burdens of others? How do you distinguish between when it is appropriate and inappropriate to bear the burden of another?
Talking Points for Your Discussion
Culture of “rugged individualism”
Desire to avoid promoting laziness (2 Thessalonians 3:10)
Pride (Luke 10:31, 32)
Desire to avoid risking self (Matthew 25:7-9)
B. Burdens of Our Own (vv. 3-5)
3. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
This verse describes what is perhaps the biggest danger to spiritual leaders. Some may develop an inflated view of themselves, thinking they are something. Paul is implying that this may even lead to the neglect of the needs of others, since such leaders might think themselves too good for such ministry. This is self-deception, for we are all equal in the sight of God (remember Galatians 3:28). In that sense, we are all nothing, unable to save ourselves without help. We cannot be saved from damnation without the grace of God, and we likewise need the help of fellow believers to make it through life’s troubles.
4, 5. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.
It may seem contradictory for Paul to command us to share in the burdens of others (v. 2, above) and then call each person to carry his own load. Paul is speaking specifically to spiritual leaders here, reinforcing the danger of arrogance in church leaders. Paul commands each such leader to test his own actions. Sadly, some find pleasure in leadership only when they are being praised by others. Paul assures them that such praise is empty; as each strives to test his own actions, the leader will not look to another for evaluation.
A frequent theme of Paul is that his ministry is not based on human approval. His job is to be a servant of God, not to be a people pleaser (Galatians 1:10; compare 1 Thessalonians 2:4). Leaders must have a higher standard than crowd approval, else they risk disaster for themselves and great collateral damage for their flock.
It is in this context that each must carry his or her own load. Leaders are not leading if their actions result in a downward spiral of sin. They must watch their own lives carefully, for they are surely being watched by others.
III. Harvesting from the Spirit
(Galatians 6:6-10)
A. Bumper Crop of Life (vv. 6-8)
6. Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.
The way that a believer shares with an instructor is to share materially, to provide monetary or other support for the teachers of the church (see 1 Corinthians 9:14). Some Christians contend that it is wrong for a church to pay a person who does the tasks of ministry. This is not the attitude that Paul reflects here. Yet this is not a roundabout way of Paul asking the Galatians to send him money. It is more likely an admonition for them to take care of those who have given up their jobs in order to serve the church full-time. If they have received good, solid teaching, they are obligated to share with their teachers.
7, 8. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
The word Paul uses to refer to mocking God is very descriptive. It is based on the word for nose and implies to “turn up one’s nose” to God. While the danger of such an action is obvious, Paul indicates that some do this in the way they sow, or invest their lives. If they have turned up the nose to God and invested in gratification of their sinful passions and lusts, the return on investment will be destruction. Lest we misunderstand what is meant by this, Paul includes the parallel opposite (antithesis): the one who invests in the things of the Spirit will be rewarded with eternal life.
The import of these contrasting results is not to say that some thumb their nose at God and then go their merry way in sin. It is saying, rather, that yielding to our sinful passions is to mock God. Do we want the bountiful harvest of salvation or the poison crop of destruction?
What Do You Think?
In what way can you best “sow to the Spirit” today?
Talking Points for Your Discussion
In the way you spend money
In the way you invest quiet time with God
In the way you invest in the life of the church
In the way you invest yourself one on one with another Christian
B. Bumper Crop of Good Deeds (vv. 9, 10)
9. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
The instant news coverage of every worldwide disaster has caused many to give up helping. Social scientists describe this problem as compassion fatigue. Every church is in danger of coming down with compassion fatigue, even in relation to its own community. Those in need, sometimes dire need, are always with us (compare John 12:8).
Paul gives us hope when this gets us down: there will be a reward for those many good deeds, those acts of compassion. It may come back in the form of someone attracted to a church where compassion is practiced. It may come back many years later when we learn of our help being a turning point in someone’s life. Or it may not be rewarded until we face God and hear him say, “Well done!”
What Do You Think?
How can we avoid developing “compassion fatigue”? Why is it important to do so?
Talking Points for Your Discussion
The “rescuer complex”
Recognizing the relationship between physical and spiritual fatigue
Being Not Weary
John Wesley (1703-1791) was one of the major leaders of the eighteenth century Evangelical Revival in England. He had a single-minded devotion to the cause of Christ. His long life gave him opportunities of service few have matched. He rode his horse over most of England, as well as Scotland along with numerous trips to Ireland, as a traveling evangelist. It is estimated that he rode about 8,000 miles a year during his active ministry, totaling over 250,000 miles during his lifetime.
He wrote thousands of letters, many of them while riding his horse. He also edited many of his books while riding. No one has been able to estimate the total number of his sermons. He often preached every day, sometimes as many as eight times a day. It is certain that he often preached over a thousand sermons a year.
If there is anyone since the time of the apostles who was not weary in well doing, it was John Wesley. He continues to be an example. —J. B. N.
10. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Paul finishes this section by recognizing a certain priority in our acts of kindness and burden-bearing. While we are called to have compassion upon all people, our attention should be given first to those who belong to the family of believers. As would be the case with any normal family, limited resources are given first to close relatives. If a church truly functions as a family, it will be aware when a brother or sister is in need, even if such a person is too proud to ask for help. This is the time to step up and “carry each other’s burdens,” as a testimony to all. In so doing, we are truly walking in the Spirit and showing the fruit of the Spirit.
Conclusion
A. Fruit on Display
In a famous art museum near my home, there is a painting by the French painter Paul Cézanne (1839-1906). A central feature of this painting is a bowl of fruit, as in many of the still-life works of this artist. I have spent many minutes pondering this painting, and one thing always impresses me: if taken very literally, Cézanne’s perspective seems off-kilter. This is because the artist attempts to provide a level of depth perception for the viewer. The bowl of fruit is presented as if you are looking down on it and looking at if from the side at the same time.
When we consider the spiritual fruit of a Christian, we should expect tangible, observable results. It should not be a flat, lifeless view. It should have depth and vitality. The fruit of our lives should provide nourishment and encouragement to others. Unlike the painter’s unchanging still-life bowl of fruit, however, our lives should be ever blossoming and providing seed for fruitful work of ministry.
B. Prayer
O Lord, we are weary and burdened. May we find refuge in your arms. In so doing, may we shoulder some of the stress of others who are overwhelmed. May your Spirit give us the strength we need for this ministry. In Jesus’ name, amen.
C. Thought to Remember
Ours is a journey of faith and growth in the Holy Spirit.
—Standard Lesson Commentary 2011-2012 (NIV)
