II Peter 1:1-12

One of the great joys of the Christian life is the fulfilling experience of walking with the Lord and becoming more like our blessed Master. One way we can measure our Christian development is to check ourselves on the fruit of the Spirit we are challenged to produce.

Every Christian is to bear all of the fruit of the Spirit. What does it mean to bear the fruit of the Spirit? In Galatians 5:22-23, we are given a list of nine qualities we call the fruit of the Spirit. These are not the fruits of the Spirit, but the fruit of the Spirit. We do not have an option to say, “I will bear some of the fruits, and someone else can bear some of the others.” The term is singular; thus, the product of a Christ-centered life is this fruit, or the nine specific qualities that are to be common to every believer.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

By carefully considering the nine elements of Galatians 5:22-23 that constitute the fruit of the Spirit, we discover these qualities are made possible in the life of the Christian only by the inward working of the Holy Spirit, and they are ours for the enrichment of Christian living and to help us grow in several important relationships.

We will consider the fruit in clusters of three.

• The fruit of the Spirit that helps us in our relationship to God
  • Love
    • This is the foundation stone of all of the other qualities
    • If love is missing, all other qualities will be missing
    • Ephesians 3:19 “and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
      • Expressing Christ’s love for us
      • Expressing a Christ-like love to others
  • Joy
    • I Peter 1:8 “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,”
      • We have joy in the Lord even in adversity
      • Joy sustains us and encourages us in battle
  • Peace
    • Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The first cluster of fruit is love, joy, and peace, which help us to grow in our relationship to God.

• The fruit of the Spirit that helps us in our social relationships
  • Longsuffering
    • Patience towards those who aggravate us
    • Slowness to anger
      • This is one of the evident attributes of God
      • Sometimes our greatest achievement is not in what we do, but what we refrain from doing
  • Gentleness
    • Kindly disposition toward our neighbor
      • Such gentleness is a reflection of Christ toward us
  • Goodness
    • It was said of our Lord that He went about doing good

The Holy Spirit gives us the virtues that we need to help us be Christ-like in our relationships with others.

• The fruit of the Spirit that helps us in our relationship to ourselves
  • Faithfulness
    • This was a virtue that the disciples received at Pentecost
      • Prior, they ran away and hid
      • After, they stood faithful to the truth and their convictions
  • Meekness
    • One of the least desired and unpopular of all virtues
      • Wrong connotation
    • It was said of Moses that he was meek above all men who were upon the face of the Earth
      • Meek not weak
    • A meek person is a person who has himself under control
      • Meekness is anger on a leash
  • Temperance of self-control
    • I Corinthians 9:25 “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”

Each of these virtues helps our personal Christian development.

Therefore, to live as Christ intended, each of us is to bear the complete fruit of the Spirit. We must always remember that these virtues are not man-made, but are produced in us by the Holy Spirit. It is given to enrich our lives and help us in our relationships with everyone. These virtues will show just to the extent we allow the Holy Spirit control so that He can produce the fruit. This requires daily yielding to His will.