“10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”
Colossians 1:10-12 (NIV84)
On Day 42 we looked in the Bible at other verses that mention “bearing fruit” and other verses that help us define “good.”
On Day 21 we read from the following passage of Scripture with an emphasis on “the desires of the sinful nature.” Today I want to take a closer look at the fruit.
Spirit-Fruit
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Galatians 5:16-26 (ESV)
The first Spirit-fruit in the list is love. Let’s start there.
Love
The English word “love” appears 235 times in the New Testament in the ESV. The Greek agapé (as in Gal. 5:22) appears 116 times, nine times in I Corinthians 13 alone. I Cor. 13 is a good place to go when contemplating the meaning of love, but today I want to go to some of Jesus’ own words about love recorded in the Gospel of John.
Love & Laying Down Your Life
“For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again.”
John 10:17 (ESV)
God the Father loves Jesus for laying down His life.
In John 10:11-18, Jesus says He is the Good Shepherd and uses a form of “lay down” five times in those verses. As “the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11), Jesus chooses to lay down His life for those who follow Him, believe in Him, and listen to His voice, as well as those who will follow, believe, and listen in the future (like us!). God loves Jesus’ obedience, humility, and self-sacrifice.
Love prizes obedience to God, humility, and self-sacrifice for the good of others.
Love & Eternal Life
“Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
John 12:25 (ESV)
The love of Jesus is not about loving your life in this world; the love of Jesus keeps its eyes on eternity.
Love as He Has Loved
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34-35 (ESV)
Jesus’ love is others-focused AND God-honoring. There are many definitions of love floating around in our culture. Some of this “love” is self-love in disguise. Some “love” seems others-focused, but is really just approving of sin so as not to hurt feelings. Jesus says to love as He has loved: He put God’s will ahead of His own; He put the eternal good of others ahead of His good; He confronted sin, offending many, because sin is THE BIG PROBLEM.
Jesus’ love cares that sin hurts, harms, kills, and separates people from the Holy God who created them and loves them. He loves us too much to leave us in our sin. If we love others like Jesus loves them, we will not want them left in their sin, either, and we will not want to sin against them.
Love & His Words
“Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. And the word that you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.'”
John 14:23-24 (ESV)
Loving Jesus = Keeping His words
Again, the love of God and Jesus cannot be separated from obedience. When we say we are loving, but we’re not doing what God and Jesus have told us to do through Scripture, we are lying or deceived. When we don’t know what God and Jesus have told us in Scripture, then we don’t know and can’t know if we’re being loving or not!
Love is obedience to God’s Word.
Love & Rejoicing in Hope
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28You heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.”
John 14:27-29 (ESV)
Faith over feelings, anyone? Jesus is telling His disciples that if they truly loved Him, they would rejoice that He was going to the Father by way of arrest, trial, the cross, the grave, the resurrection. Yes, He was going to leave them, but only for a few days at first. Then, when He left them by ascension into heaven, He was going to send His own Spirit to live in them, so they would never be without His presence again. Then, on His final return, they would live in the presence of Jesus and the Father for all eternity.
Jesus knew His disciples would experience a myriad of feelings about what was about to take place, mostly negative. But the love of Jesus is so far beyond mere emotion! Avoiding negative feelings was clearly never a goal of Jesus.
He said, “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced” because God’s plan for salvation was about to hit the gas pedal! We know the gospel story from the other side of it; not living through it, but having all the benefits of it. We, too, should rejoice in the hope of His return and the knowledge that we already have eternal life through Him, no matter what negative feelings or difficult circumstances we find ourselves in today.
Love rejoices in the hope of eternity.
Love & Service
“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ He said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’
He said to him a second time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ He said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’
He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me?’ Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ and he said to Him, ‘Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.'”
John 21:15-17 (ESV)
Feeding lambs and sheep-tending are humble callings. This exchange happened after Peter denied Christ three times, most likely out of both fear and pride. Feeding the sheep of the Good Shepherd would require strong faith and great humility. This is the love we are called to bear by the work of the Spirit in and through us.
We love Jesus by serving Him sacrificially.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.”
John 15:12-14 (ESV)
Day 43 PRAYER:
Father God,
Thank You for revealing Yourself to us through Jesus Your Son and through Your Word.
We pray You will help us gain a greater understanding of what love means to You so that we may be able to love like Jesus.
In the Scripture we read today, we saw that Your love prizes obedience to You, humility, and self-sacrifice for the good of others. This clearly isn’t the “follow your feelings” love so prevalent in our culture.
We have also seen that Your love: keeps its eyes on eternity, confronts sin head on, obeys Your Word, rejoices in the hope of eternity, and serves Jesus sacrificially.
Lord God, may we remain teachable before You. Continue to instruct us in Your truth as we study Your Word with patience and diligence. May we come to a full, working understanding of Your love so we may obey and glorify You by loving You, loving our fellow believers, and loving our neighbors according to Your definition of love.
May the Holy Spirit bear the fruit of love through our surrendered lives!
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
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