Peace Within and Peace With Others

           Peace With People

Mark 9:50 “…have peace with one another.”
Romans 12:18 ^“If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men”
Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all people…”

In order to have peace with people, we must revisit the “Love Chapter” which is 1 Corinthians 13, specifically verses 4-7:

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, it is not puffed up. Does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Here is 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 from the Message translation:

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Peace with people requires love. We must love God, love people, and love ourselves. We demonstrate this love by taking the form of a servant rather than a master.
(See Mark 9:35 “…If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”) We

humble ourselves, not forcing our opinions on others, nor despising the other’s opinions. Peace demands that we leave vengeance to God, who will right all wrongs in His time.

Romans 12:19 “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.”
It’s not our job to “set the record straight” or fight for what we think rightfully belongs to us. Unfortunately, the church is full of examples of the absence of peace. It’s not our job to judge the world; we’d do better to make sure that we as individuals are walking in a way that reflects the Holy Spirit. It is absolutely necessary that we forgive when we feel that we’ve been wronged. It is absolutely necessary that we refuse to find a scapegoat when things don’t go our way. There are things in life that aren’t going to go our way. Sometimes it’s our own fault and sometimes it is someone else’s fault. But in that case, we have to forgive them (and forgive ourselves) and move on.


The passage in Galatians 5 that describe the fruit of the spirit, begins with what is not of the spirit but of the “flesh” Note that although these verses speak of many things including sexual immorality and even murder, the emphasis is on the fact that these “works of the flesh” are the polar opposites of the Fruit of the Spirit listed in verses 22 and 23. This list in verses 19-21 includes hatred, contentions outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, and dissentions. Galatians 5 concludes with

“Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

We’re to pursue peace, seek it, look for it, and find a way to maintain inner contentment and peace with other people. Obviously, if I’ve been working on controlling my temper, forgiving others of real or perceived injustices, refusing to hold a grudge, I can accomplish a certain amount of peace in my relationships with others. Romans 12:18 says “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”

This verse indicates that there are times when it’s not possible and there are times that the situation doesn’t depend on just my own peaceful state. As good as the word “peace” sounds, it could end up being unattained, or perhaps attained in an unpeaceful way. When we see someone being taken advantage of, are we to ignore it just for the sake of peace? Peace is a fruit of the Spirit listed with love and goodness. Sometimes we actually have to work to ensure goodness for others. There’s a slogan often used in civil protests that says, “No justice, No peace.” There is no peace for a given society if portions of the society fell their rights are trampled upon. Remember what God said to His people:

Isaiah 58:6-7:

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?       
The people were so proud of themselves, bragging that they have observed their “fasts.”They followed a religious “practice” of abstaining from food for a period of time. God responded that the kind of “fast” He wants is for us to free those that are unjustly imprisoned, provide the poor with food, clothing housing and opportunities. In other words, He wants us to share. He wants us to treat people right. He gave us His peace when He gave us His own Son. We can spread His peace to others when we act in true justice.
    

Peace of God and Peace With God

Peace: an absence of hostilities, harmonious relations, inner contentment, serenity

 This present world is filled with hostilities and harmonious relations seem to only exist in an idealistic imagination of someone who’s never watched the news. There is a huge misunderstanding about peace and God’s kingdom of peace. God’s present “kingdom of peace” is inside of us as individuals. Anyone who’s ever heard of Christmas knows the verse Luke 2:14 that says, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” So if that was over 2,000 years ago, where is the peace? Unfortunately this verse has been misstated. Modern translations render this verse as  “peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” All those who have accepted the gift of faith are qualified to be included in those with whom God is pleased.

Luke 2:14 in The Message:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

 Luke 2:14 in the New International Version:

 Glory to God in the highest heaven,
 and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

 

Right now, God’s peace is inside of us as individuals. There will, however, be a time when this kingdom of peace will be an actual kingdom spoken of in Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His Shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  This kingdom of peace, when “the government will be upon His shoulder,” doesn’t occur until after the Second Coming of the Messiah, however in this time, right now we can have the peace of God in our individual lives.
That being said, however, doesn’t mean that the individual who has accepted the peace of God through faith in the finished work at the cross is not concerned with the state of other human beings. In gratitude to God, as a response to His great love for as individuals, we are inspired to lift up others. The peace of God in our lives fills us with compassion to help those in need. It also fills us with the desire to help remediate the damage we’ve done to our planet. Unfortunately, it seems that what the world sees “Christians” doing is just going to church. We do see individuals risking their own safety and comfort and going out into the world feeding the hungry, digging wells, providing medical services and promoting justice. True peace for the individual causes him to want peace for others. Those of us who haven’t yet found our own inspiration as to how we will spread the peace of God, are trusting that He Himself will open our eyes to our own gift for spreading His peace.

Peace Began with God

1 Corinthians 14:33 ^“For God is not the author of confusion but of peace…”

Philippians 4:9 “…the God of peace will be with you.”

1 Thessalonians 5:23 ^“ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely…”

All throughout the bible we read, “the God of Peace, the Prince of Peace, the author of peace, which lets us know peace is an attribute of God Himself. In fact, every time Jesus greeted His disciples (especially after His resurrection,) He greeted them with the word “peace.” The Hebrew word “Shalom” which is usually translated as peace, actually means “wholeness.” It includes good health, provision, and total well-being.  The implication here is that when Jesus greeted His disciples with the word “peace” He greeted them with more than just, “have an absence of hostilities” or “have inner contentment.” Instead, His greeting included, “Don’t be afraid,” “Be well,” Be prosperous,” and “have inner contentment.” Peace is not the absence of trouble. Peace is our dependency of God to work it all out and protect us in spite of trouble.

 

God Provided a Way for us to Have peace with Him

1 John 4:18-19  ^“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.  We love Him because He first loved us.”

Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Romans 5:10 “ For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

God gave us the opportunity to have peace with Him, to not be afraid of his wrath or punishment. Because He loves us with a perfect love, we have no need to fear. God punished our sins in the body of His own son. God demonstrated His great love for us by redeeming us from the penalty of sin and by declaring us righteous in His sight. If this sounds really simplistic, we must remember that a steep price was paid for this peace. Because we so often we hear the phrase, “Jesus died for our sins,” we’re almost tempted to treat this as a small thing. Jesus suffered public mocking and inhumane suffering even before He actually went to the cross. The prophet Isaiah told us what would happen to Him 700 years before the actual event. Isaiah 53:5-6  says “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement for our peace was upon Him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; And the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

 

The book of Matthew describes the actual events leading up to the crucifixion itself. Matthew 26:37 says that even before His arrest, in the garden of Gethsemane, “He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.” Luke 22:44 says “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”  Note how Jesus was first taken to the high priest, where he was abused by the temple guards there and then taken to the Roman governor, where he was mocked and beaten by the Roman guards in their private garrison, in addition to the public scourging:

Matthew 27:26-31 “Then they spat in His face and beat Him and other struck Him with the palms of their hands. (This describes His treatment at the hands of the temple guards, the servants of the religious leaders. Later, after Jesus had been turned over to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate who repeatedly said he found no fault with Jesus, still had Jesus scourged. The Roman scourge was a short whip of three straps with scraps of metal knotted in. This instrument would tear off the person’s flesh with each lash and there would be excessive bleeding.)  27. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium… 28. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand, And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30. Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. 31. And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.   

 

 

Having His Inner Peace

Psalm 119:165 “Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.”

Philippians 4:7 “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Inner Peace Gives us courage In addition to no longer having to fear of punishment for sin, inner peace includes freedom from fear of people or circumstances. Peace also includes contentment, and freedom from anxiety. This world is so full of people and circumstances that will cause us to live in constant fear. There’s the risk of getting killed by terrorists, the risk of contacting a fatal disease, the risk of losing our income, and the risk of losing those we love. In order to have relief from these fears, we have to accept the Holy Spirit’s gift of peace. We have to constantly remind ourselves that we belong to God. He’s the Creator of this entire universe and He loves us unconditionally. We also have to remember the promises in His word:

Psalm 91:5-7 “⁵ You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.”

Psalm 118:6 “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” This is reiterated in the New Testament in Hebrews 13:6 “So we can boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

Psalm 121:7-8 ^7 “The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
⁸ The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.”

Isaiah 54:17 “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.

Inner Peace Gives us Contentment

One of the things that rob us of peace is the idea that we have to have more things. God did promise us in Matthew 6:33 to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things would be added unto us.” We know that “things” in this particular context, is referring to clothing, shelter, and food, since the previous verses in that chapter deal with how God feeds the birds of the air and how He clothes the grass with beautiful flowers.

^{Matthew 6:25} “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I have to admit that I have trouble with this idea of wanting. All day long, my thoughts play an ongoing recording of “I want new clothes, I want a new phone, I want a tablet, I want to update the bathroom. I want a Coach bag. And of course, I want a new car.” Every time that recording starts to play, I have to remind myself that “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The recording stops for that moment and then later it comes back. We live in a society that tells us that we have to have more. The commercials on television make us think that everyone has these particular things but us. If we’re walking in the fruit of the Spirit, we’re not supposed to give in to the idea that we need more and more things in order to be fulfilled. The Bible speaks to us about having contentment:

Philippians 4:11 “…for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.”

^{Hebrews 13:5 “}Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””

^{1 Timothy6:6 “}Now godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. ⁸ And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. ⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

1 Timothy 6:10 “for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” is a verse that has been misconstrued and misquoted over many years. We need money to buy goods and services and we need money in order to give to the poor. In fact, in Ecclesiastes 10:19, Solomon said that “money answers everything.” What Paul wrote to Timothy about money has to do with greed. He points out that people’s “love of money” has caused them to basically ruin their own lives. Thinking about money all the time is truly a “peace destroyer.” The word “covetousness” is defined as inordinately or wrongly desirous of wealth or possessions; greedy. Jesus, in Mark 7: 22 listed covetousness as one of the things that defile people alongside things like thefts, deceit, lewdness, and blasphemy.  The Bible tells us that we are supposed to be fed, sheltered, clothed, and have money to donate to charities and to churches. However, we are not to love money and we’re certainly not to trade our peace for money. The Bible says that God’s grace (His unmerited favor towards us) will cause us to receive all we need and to have enough left over to help others.

2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”



The Bible also tells us that if we have a need, we’re to ask God through prayer, being sure to give thanks, and that we will receive peace, His peace which passes all

understanding. Is the answer to our request “peacefulness while we wait” or is the answer God’s peace itself?

Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Showing God our love

   Showing God our love

Part of the definition of love involves caring about the well-being of another. We know that God’s well-being is already established, so a sensible interpretation of caring about God’s well-being is caring about pleasing Him. We know that God experiences pleasure. Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that He “rejoices over us with singing.” One of the obvious ways we show our love to God is by praising Him. Hebrews 13:15 says, “…let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

 We must also accept His great love for us, which includes accepting and valuing ourselves.

If we ever question our own self-worth, we have to remember that according to Genesis 1: 26, “God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” Further, He sent His own Son to redeem us from the condemnation which was the result of man’s disobedience. Romans 5:8 tells us that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And according to Ephesians 1:6 “He made us accepted in the Beloved.” Eugene H. Peterson expressed this concept so beautifully in The Message:

Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

We must rely on Him, the way a child relies on her parent. Jesus said that unless we became like little children we would not enter His kingdom. We have to humble ourselves before Him, seeking His will above our own.

There’s a verse in Psalm 34 that says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” I always thought this meant that if I delighted in Him, He would give me whatever I wanted. However, I just learned that the desires He’ll give me are the desires He wants for me. In other words, He’ll change my mind about what I thought I wanted. His desire according to Matthew 6:33 is that I “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things would be added to me.”

Another way we show our love to God is by being grateful.

We show Him our love by trusting Him, believing what He said in His word and believing in His good plans that He has for us.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Keeping God’s Commandments as proof of our love for Him

I’ve heard many ministers say that the way we show our love to God is by keeping His commandments. Jesus said to His disciples many times “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keep them, it is he who loves Me…”

John 14:23 “…if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word…”

John 15:10 “If you keep My commandments you will abide in My love…”

John 15:12 “This is My commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.”

 It’s important to remember what the most important commandment was the one given by Jesus before He went to the cross: love one another! The most important way we show God our love is by obeying His command that we love one another. In order to have and abide in the fruit of the Spirit is to first have the Holy Spirit inside. If we’re ruled by God’s Spirit, we will easily overcome the temptations to lie, cheat, steal, engage in idolatry, disobey our parents, etc. Remember when the Ten Commandments were given to Moses on Mount Sinai, they were also given an out: they could present animals to the priest for sacrifice once a year to be cleansed from sin. Thank God that when Jesus, the perfect sacrifice for sin, was offered up, our sins are forever forgiven by the blood that He shed. Once accepting Christ into our hearts and being filled with the Holy Spirit, we are redeemed from the penalty of sin. The Bible says that the commandment to love each other is the fulfillment of all the earlier commandments.

Romans 13:9 “⁹ For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

 

How do we love God?

There is a story in Luke 7, verses 36-50 that tell how Jesus was invited to the home of a Pharisee to eat. This incident is also mentioned in Matthew 26: 6-13 and Mark 14: 3-9.

The version in the gospel of Luke is longer and more detailed. Jesus had been invited to the home of a Pharisee called “Simon the leper.” While there, a woman expressly stated to be a sinner, began to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Afterwards, she began to anoint His feet with fragrant oil from an alabaster box. The Pharisee host inwardly criticized this display, thinking to himself, “If this man, Jesus, was really a prophet, He would know this woman touching Him was a sinner.” Jesus, knowing the Pharisee’s thoughts, told him a parable:

Luke 7:41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii (one hundred weeks worth of wages), and the other fifty (ten weeks worth of wages). 42. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” 43. Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He (Jesus) said to him, “You have rightly judged.” 47. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

It appears that the act of showing love is what allowed this woman’s sins to be forgiven. She never confessed anything, she never made any promises. She showed her love and her sins were forgiven. Sometimes when we read the command throughout the Bible that we are to love the Lord with all our hearts, souls, and minds, it almost seems like such a harsh command: Deuteronomy 6:5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Jesus actually calls this the greatest commandment in exchange with a lawyer in Matthew 22.

Matthew 22: 35 Then one of them, (one of the Pharisees), a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36. Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37. Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38. This is the first and great commandment. 39. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”  See Mark 12:28-31 and Luke 10:25-28 for their accounts of this exchange.

This command isn’t harsh at all when you consider that God has provided the way for us to love Him: It is to receive the great love He has for us!

 1 John 4:10 tells us that “ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Verse 19 in that same chapter says, “We love God because He first loved us.” Max Lucado wrote in (in Today’s Word, March 14, 2014), “The love of God is born within Him, not from what we find in us.”

Yet, I want to love God with all my heart, with all my soul, with my entire mind both in response to His great love for me and because of who He is. He is the sovereign creator of the universe. He holds the planets, the galaxies, and the seasons. He created man from the dust of the ground and breathed life into us.  How do I separate loving God for what He does from loving God for who He is? When I list who God is to me, the list is almost indistinguishable from what God does for me. He is my redeemer, my Father, my healer, my savior, my friend, my provider, and my protector. Because God is high above us, we can’t show Him love the way we would show love to a friend or family member, say by buying them a gift or doing them a favor. We can only express our love through praise and worship and submit ourselves to Him so that we can receive more of His attributes. Going back to the woman with the alabaster box in Luke 7, she showed her love and her sins were forgiven. Conversely, her sins were forgiven because she showed love. Her tears showed her genuine repentance and adoration. Her anointing Jesus with the expensive perfume was her praise and adoration.

The Fruit of the Spirit revised May 16, 2014

The Fruit of the Spirit revised May 16, 2014

 I am not a minister and I’ve never been to seminary, but I’ve been very curious about the fruit of the Spirit, and decided to share what I’ve learned from the Bible about exactly what the phrase, “the fruit of the Spirit,” means.

 For the longest time I thought the “fruit” were rewards. For example, Jesus stated at the end of the parable of the sower and the seed in Matthew 13:23: “But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” Did that mean some received one hundred blessings, thirty thousand dollars? A better house? Better health? A longer life? Better relationships?

 “Later, I thought that I was “bearing fruit” when friends accepted my invitation to come to church. I was really excited and happy about that, actually thinking, “Yeah, yeah, I’m bearing fruit!” When those people came a couple of times and didn’t come back, I was deflated and realized that couldn’t mean what the “fruit of the Spirit was all about.

I had read Galatians 5:22-23 many times but I never realized that the “fruit” were actually described in detail:

 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, Against such there is no law. The original King James Version says, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness faith, meekness, temperance.’ Having the attributes of the Spirit spelled out in this way, I see that both of my interpretations: one of rewards, the other of trying to bring people into the church was both self-centered. Amazingly, however, and this is due to the goodness and generosity of God, the real fruit of the Spirit can actually lead to actual life rewards and really influence  people to come into the fellowship of faith. After all, Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

One of the definitions of fruit is “anything produced or accruing; product, result, or effect; return or profit”

“The Spirit” refers to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, the Spirit of God, and the presence of God in our lives. The fruit of the Spirit, then, is the presence of God in our lives that produces certain characteristics or attributes. The Spirit of God is the promise given by Jesus before He went to the cross. The Spirit gives power and reveals truth. He is the Helper and the Comforter and He helps us to “remember” what Jesus taught while on earth.

 Jesus said, in John 14:16-17, “I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – 17. the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you, and will be in you.”

In John 15:26, Jesus said, “But when the Helper comes, who I will send to you from the Father, He will testify of Me.”  He continued in John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak and tell.”

The very phrase in Galatians 5:22 that begins, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” seems to be grammatically incorrect. It seems that it should say, “the fruits (being plural), however, the very first “fruit” is “love.” All the other attributes stem from and are contained in the word “love.” Therefore the sentence could stop with “the fruit of the Spirit is love.”

I now think that the fruit of the Spirit are actually attributes of God Himself that He deposits into us. After all, He created us in His own image and likeness according to Genesis 1:26-27. The very breath we breathe came from Him. Genesis 2:7 says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” The circumstances in our lives sometimes cause us to forget that we were created in His image and likeness and that we have His sacred breath in our lives. But God, knowing that we would need a reminder, in fact a guarantee, sent us His Son.  John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

 When we accept God’s great gift of salvation, we are immediately filled with the Holy Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is restored in us, the way God first intended. However, just as we don’t feel that we’ve been converted overnight when we receive Christ, (when in fact we are converted,) we don’t always immediately feel or appear as though we’ve received the attributes of the Spirit until we’ve been on our journey for a while. Usually, we look back and think, “Wow I remember when I used to get angry so easily and now I don’t. I’ve really changed.” In spite of being able to look back over our lives and see our progress, sometimes we’re still shocked when we find out that we’re still holding on to some of our old ways of being easily offended, quick to lash out in anger, quick to find fault, and quick to blame other people for our problems. At those times, we think, "Uh oh, I haven't really changed at all." This is a mistake. What we ought to think is, "I haven't fully changed yet." In Philippians 1:6, God promised to continue the good work He started in us. Of course, when we “catch” ourselves thinking that ungenerous thought, we’re now equipped to see that it’s wrong and to at least make the effort to refrain from such thinking.

Having the results of the Spirit in our lives means that we have these inner-qualities:  love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance and also that we act with these qualities as we relate to each other.  The results then, aren’t just attributes, but they are also actions. The results of the Spirit effect how we feel about each other, how we talk to each other, how we show respect for each other, and how we believe in the goodness of each other. These results not only improve how we see each other and treat each other but also how we see God and how we see ourselves. Do we see God as good? Do we see Him as gentle? Do we see ourselves as peaceful?

God is the originator of the qualities described in the fruit of the Spirit:

Love:  Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Joy:  Zephaniah 3:17: “The LORD your God in you midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Peace:  1 Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints”

Longsuffering:  Exodus 34:6 “…The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth”

Gentleness:  Matthew 11:29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Goodness:  Psalm 145:9 “The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.”

Faith:  Hebrews 12:2: Faith “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher (perfecter) of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Meekness:  Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.”

Temperance:  Exodus 32:14 “So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.”

The fruit of the Spirit are the qualities of God. As we cultivate God's presence in our lives, we actually take on His qualities. People begin to notice our peaceful natures and our inclinations to see things from the other's point of view. People notice that we're not complaining all the time and looking at people's faults. Some people say we're pleasant company. Of course, people who love to engage in vicious gossip and character assassination will find us to be quite boring.

The fruit of the Spirit are also inter-relational. Where there is love, joy, and peace, there is longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, and temperance. Note the above scriptures and the ones below that show this inter-relation.

            Colossians 3: 12-15: “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13. bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do 14. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”

 

The fruit of the Spirit is different from the gifts of the Spirit described in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. These gifts are not given to all believers, they are specific gifts to individuals. However the fruit of the Spirit is given to all of us.  In 1 Corinthians 13:8 Paul wrote that the gifts will pass away, but love remains. Note that both faith and love are included in both the fruit and the gifts. The fruit of the Spirit is given to us by the presence of God Himself. These gifts fine-tune us, taking us out of our selfish ways and helping us to truly love God, ourselves, and others.

 

The Fruit: Next is Joy

Joy

 

Definition of Joy:

1. the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation
2. a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated.

 

Joy is the second fruit named in the fruit of the Spirit. Remember the fruit of the Spirit is the result of having God’s Spirit inside. All of the fruit of the Spirit were first created by God and are qualities of God. The fruit of the Spirit are also all inter-related. Love will give you joy, joy will give you peace, it takes faith to live in kindness, self-control leads to gentleness. Joy, the second fruit, can only exist because of love, the first fruit.

 

Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

 

God has joy over us, He delights in doing good for us. I love the fact that He rejoices over us with singing. This is a far cry from the angry God we were taught about in the past. Our God loves us and He wants us to have joy in Him. This doesn’t mean that all of our days will be one big party, but it does mean that although we have to go through issues and losses, the joy of the LORD is still our strength. (Neh.8:10). I have been challenged in the area of trying to maintain God’s joy in my life. I guess the only way to  honestly have joy is to trust that there will be a good outcome in all circumstances. I talked to someone recently about having hope. This person felt that hope was an empty concept and that only hard work would improve a person’s life. I really didn’t know how to convey to him that we had to have hope, life has too many variables to depend on your own hard work alone. Hope is just having a positive expectation of good things happening in your life. What I didn’t realize at that time was that hope actually came from God.

 

Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

 

God wants us to have joy in Him at all times and He actually provides the way to have this joy by giving us hope. God is to be our source of joy continually.

 

Psalm 16:11 “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

I want to have the sustained and unconditional joy expressed by the prophet Habakkuk. He expresses that even though his livelihood is diminished and he’s even threatened with the possibility of starvation, he would still rejoice in the LORD.

 

Habakkuk 3:17-18 ”Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls-18. Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

 

We can’t have joy or even hope unless we are willing to trust God, that He has His best in mind for us. It takes patience to get to where He wants us to be. Sometimes when I am going through trials, I actually think to myself, “Where is the joy?” According to Scripture joy always seems to be on the other side of something: the other side of pain, the other side of weeping, the other side of waiting. Note the following:

 

Psalm 30:5 “For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”

 

John 16:20-21 “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

 

Even our Lord Jesus had to suffer before coming into the joy of being back in the presence of the Father:

 

Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

 

Not only are we expected to maintain joy during trials, looking forward to the other side of the pain, we are also to rejoice: the action of joy. Most of this rejoicing is to be in active praise to God:

 

Psalm 98: 4-6 “ Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Bring forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. Sing to the LORD with the harp, With the harp and the sound of a psalm, 6. With trumpets and the sound of a horn; Shout joyfully before the LORD , the King.”

 

Psalm 100:1-2 “Make a joyful shout to the LORD all you lands! 2. Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.”

 

Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always, Again I will say, rejoice!

 

1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Rejoice always”

 

There was a time in my life when I had no respect for “church people.” I would see them pouring into churches on Sunday mornings, dressed in their fancy clothes, carrying their Bibles and their tambourines, and I would think to myself, “it’s just another kind of “partying.”  Back then that was a negative thought for me, but now it’s a positive thought: “It is another kind of “partying.” It’s rejoicing in praise to a perfect Father in heaven, who loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for my sins and He protects me and provides for me every single day!” Am I perfect? No. Does He love me? Yes. The real “action” of joy for the believer is to join in with other believers in rejoicing and praising God. We are social beings, God made us this way. “Having a good time” for the believer is in rejoicing with others within a group.

The people in the Old Testament had a lot of rules and a lot of days that they had to set aside for worship, but these weren’t to be days of somberness, they were to be days of celebration:

Zechariah 8:19  “Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘The fast of the fourth month,
The fast of the fifth,
The fast of the seventh,
And the fast of the tenth,
Shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts
For the house of Judah.
Therefore love truth and peace.’”

 

 There was a time when David was unable to go to the temple because he was hiding in the desert from his enemies. Just by remembering the times he attended worship sustained him in his time of loneliness.

Psalm 42:4 “When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the multitude;
I went with them to the house of God,

With the voice of joy and praise,
With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.”

Sometimes, in the privacy of our own home, feelings of loneliness and feeling overwhelmed by our problems causes us to “forget our joy.” I find that listening to music will lift my mood. The songwriters and musicians have been blessed with the gift of providing a vehicle for restoring joy. Singing, dancing, and clapping my hands even when I’m alone, causes me to remember the presence of God and the joy He has given me. We can enjoy God’s presence while quietly doing a crossword puzzle, taking a walk or working on a craft project. He said He’d never leave us or forsake us. We can have the joy of His presence at any time.

 Day by Day Joy

Not only are we to actively praise God with singing and music, we’re to rejoice in our everyday living, ever thankful for a chance to make a living and having food to eat. King Solomon examined every part of life, and after coming to the conclusion that it was all “vanity,” summed it up in the following verses:

 

Ecclesiastes 3:22 “So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?”

 

Ecclesiastes 5: 18-19 “Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. 19. As for every man God has given riches and wealth and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor-this is the gift of God.

 

Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.”

 

In the book of Isaiah, even though it was prophesized that Jerusalem would be sacked and the Israelites would be taken into captivity, they were promised that their ordeal would end and that they would be restored:

 

Isaiah 61: 1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tiding to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound. 2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3. To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteous, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

Isaiah 61:7 “Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs.”

 

Isaiah 65:22 “They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands “

 

So, we’ve seen that God wants us to praise Him with joy, He wants us to enjoy the work of our labor, and He’s promised that even after a terrible ordeal we might have to go through, “everlasting joy shall be ours.” In spite of all this, the most important reason to have joy as expressed by Jesus in the New Testament, is that “our names are written in heaven.” In Luke 10, Jesus had sent out seventy ambassadors two by two into the towns he would be visiting. When the seventy workers returned from their assignment, they were all excited about what they were able to accomplish, even demonic spirits were defeated before them. Jesus responded that their joy was misplaced:

 

Luke 10:20 “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Verse 21 goes on to say, “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit…”

 

There is a time to mourn

 

It’s impossible to talk about joy without considering that in life there is a time to mourn. Solomon wrote in the books of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs that appropriate time is to be given to respectfully mourn the loss of life. Note how the Israelites wept for Moses:

 

Deuteronomy 34:8 “And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended.

 

In Ecclesiastes 3:1 King Solomon wrote, “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven. Verse 4 says, “A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance.”

Proverbs 25:20 “Like one who takes away a garment in cold weather, And like vinegar on soda, Is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.”

 

Even Jesus wept (John 11:35) along with the people when he saw the grieving over the death of Lazarus, even though He knew that He would raise Lazarus from the dead.

 

Romans 12:15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”

 

Jesus wept along with the people who wept for Lazarus. We grieve when we lose our love ones and we express our sympathy when we hear of the loss of life of others. The Bible tells us that yes, we suffer grief, we share sympathy and we mourn the loss of life, we are not to become overwhelmed with sorrow as though we have no hope.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

So joy, the second fruit named in the fruit of the Spirit is a quality of God, it was given to us by God, He wants us to praise Him joyfully with music and singing, He wants us to rejoice in the benefits we derive from working, He wants us to rejoice because on the other side of any trial, there is joy, and most of all, He wants us to rejoice because our names are written in heaven. He instructs us to mourn at appropriate times but our underlying state should be a state of joy in Him.