Fruit of the Spirit: Love (Galatians 5:22)

record and there we go. All right. Yesterday we talked about patience and I had I referenced uh the fruit of the spirit and I thought, hey, man, what a great thing to do. Let's let's just go spend the next u days talking about the fruit of the spirit. And so that's what we're going to do. We're going to cover uh one a day. Um, and so you're going to find the fruit of the spirit in Paul's letter to the church at Galatia. So, we're going to be in Galatians 5 and 22. And I hope you guys can see me, okay? Where I'm in this new office, and somehow out of all the office space here, there's no lights in my office.

The outlets work, but the electrician can't figure out why I had light and now I don't. So, I I So, hopefully you guys can see or at least seeing is not necessarily needed, but hearing. So anyway, so we've got uh Galatians 5:22 and let me read the text and it says, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." And obvious and and against such things there is no law. As the text finishes up and based on your version, some of these words might be a little different, but the meanings remain the same.

Like forbearance would be patience, right? So just based on your your translation, but but the but the text itself doesn't change. Um a couple of things. It's not called the fruits of the spirit. Even though they're they're each their own, right? And so you could I understand why people might use the term fruits because they're there's more than one. There's a plural plurality to it. But that's not that's not the way that it's described. And I guess here's why. when Christ comes into your heart, uh you're you're going to get the fruit of that, not the fruits of that.

And so the fruit of the spirit are these things. And so that's that's um I hate saying the correct way, man. I if someone's talking about the fruits of the spirit, I'm happy just the same, right? Um just as long as we're talking about it. So So the fruit of the spirit and so the but the fruit of the spirit is love. And so let's just let's just jump on love. Paul, Paul probably for very good reason picks that one first, right? We talk about God is love. And so this love in in this uh the word that they use in the English we have we have one word love, right?

I love puppies. I love Jen who who helps me on a daily basis. I love pizza. Um I love a good steak. I love my wife. I love my kids. We have one word love. But but in the Greek and in the Hebrew, we have four words for the word love. And those are very different. And the love that that uh that we're talking about in this particular case here is agape love. And I and I had the other loves up and I don't know what I did with them, but it's okay. Uh I think I have them memorized anyway. So let me get back to my screen so I can see everybody because that throws me off when I can't.

So we'll just do that. There we go. All right. So uh in this particular case, God is talking or Paul is using the the agape which is uh uh which is a selfless love. It's the love uh that God has for us. It's an unconditional love. It's a self- sacrificing love. It's a it's a love that is always it's a love that's always seeking the best for for for that person. and whether you whether that person you like or you don't like, whether they're a a foe or an enemy, um that's agape love. It's a it's a a love that never ends. And so this is the version of love that Paul uses when he speaks of the fruit of the spirit.

There are other loves. There's euros, which is the love that you have maybe for your wife. There is um sto love which is uh a love that you would have for pizza or puppies. Um there is familial love which is the love that you would have for your uncle, your aunt, your grandmother. And so they're very different in their nature. And so in other languages we they they break it out because love is different. you know, loving your wife and and and loving your children, although could be very similar, those are those are those can be different loves.

And so we use the euros word for for that love. It's probably where we get the word erotica from. So any rate, so agape love is the love that that um that Paul chooses here. And so it's the self-sacrificing. It's the always love. I heard a million times growing up from my mother that love thinks no evil. Uh, and I and I and I really I really th those were good words for me as I as I went through. And so this agape love, I believe, is what Paul is talking about here that it just covers everything, right? And that and that's that's the big thing.

So, first Corinthians, and I'll read this, really covers love. It covers kind of like what the definition of this agape love that Paul is talking about. And of course, he happens to write the the book of Corinthians as well too, to a different church, the church of Corinth. But love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth. It always protects. It always trusts.

It always hopes and it always perseveres. And I was thinking about this as I was rereading this text for this morning. And I was trying to think about this. I'm I I you know, business is a thing for me, right? It's like a it's it's a it's it's sadly I maybe I shouldn't say sadly. It's a part of my identity, right? I mean, it's who I am. It's it's fun for me. It's not, you know, some some people work at at UPS or FedEx or they're they're they're an insurance underwriter and and they love what they do and when they get home they work on cars or they they they scrapbook or whatever they might be.

And and business for me is a love. It's not just what I do during the day. It's a passion of mine. I'm I'm always reading things or thinking about things or trying to do things to make it better. And the reason why I'm bringing all this up is because I think about it in terms of how do I employ that kind of love when I am in a negotiation with a with an investor? My my purposes align differently from a dollars and and percentages perspective than theirs do. And so how how do I how do I align that kind of love in a business world when I have someone on the other side of the table for me?

And I just I don't know that I have the answer for that, but I just I just find it very interesting how Paul puts this and the agape love that there is. And so it says it's not self-seeking. Well, by the very definition, I need a better interest rate than what you're offering me or I I need more money for what you want to give me for a particular thing. And so in the business world, I'm trying to wrap my head around how do I do that? And I guess I'm just saying this because that's me in my role. And that may very well be you in your role and and how we apply this agape love to those people that are in and around our lives and the things that we do.

But it is evident and it is clear and the scripture is is there is no left or right. Paul says it always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes and it always perseveres. There is no left or right to those statements. He is being absolute in first Corinthians. This this is what he does. He he he puts this scripture and this is how it rolls out. And gosh, I I forgot to put what chapter and verse it is. I I'll get I'll get that for you guys for tomorrow. Um but any any rate, this is the first fruit of the spirit. This is love. And the last thing I'll say and and today and and although it applies to all of them that we're going to talk about going forward is and I'm leaving less time for us to have comment is uh is is that we can we increase in our ability for these.

That's our sanctification process. Just because you got saved yesterday does not mean that you're going to practice agape love the way that Paul outlines here. That doesn't make you less of a Christian. It tells you where your walk is. It's it's a it's a measure. It's a grade. It's a report card. And what do we need to work on? Yesterday we talked about patience. And Clyde and I clearly need to work on that. We're not perfect in that process. But thank God we have the Holy Spirit and we can go to him and say, "I need help in this. Guide me through this process.

Give me the wisdom that I need so that I can I can exercise agape love." So when the opportunity presents itself, I know how to express the love that I'm supposed to. All right. So thoughts, comments, suggestions? We got just a minute and a half. Well, the the thing what you pointed out is the the the translation, the different translation and what the original text was, which is I'm going back and forth with woman's and they they say that whatever Bible you read is great. I'm like, "Yeah, but the original text is the one because that could the the modern translation because of ignorance or whatever could be different what the original meaning was and it's kind of important to find out what was the original text.

Yeah. And it and it is, you know, that's a challenge for uh for a lot of people, you know, so everybody's in their in their in the and it, you know, some people are in 12th grade and some people are in fourth grade and and it's it it makes it tough because if you get a Strong's concordance, then you can go find out what version of love this is or what or or there might be four meanings to this other word and and sometimes we can take those things out of context. I I think the best thing though for everyone to understand what Aggie just said is that and and I kind of said it in the beginning, the the correct way to state it is the fruit of the spirit.

But listen, if you're if you're saying the fruits of the spirit, I'm okay with that, too. Why? Because you're talking about it. Because you're in it, because you're learning it, because it's important to you. And the correction and the right way can come as we go along. Like, you know, I I was part of that crowd that said, "Oh, don't don't pray for patience." But the real reality is you should pray for it, right? And I had to grow in that. So, thank you. That that is true. I don't believe that's something that we're going to be judged on. Yeah.

Again, you we only know what we know. And Aggie used the term ignorance and sometimes that can sh that can sound sharp, but the real reality is that's the perfect word for it because you didn't know something about a particular subject. That doesn't it's not an angry word. It's not a it's not we're looking down on you word. It's just an ignorance. you you didn't know that, but you were you were unschooled. And and really that's kind of what uh you know the text talks about when Peter stands up in front of the Sanhedrin that they recognized that these were unlearned men.

He was saying they were ignorant. They they didn't know but that it was clear that they had been with Christ. All right. Anybody else? 10 seconds. 10 seconds. All we got any other offer. All right. Let's bow our heads. Let's go to prayer. Father, thank you so much for today and and thank you for this fruit. Thank you to Thank you for letting us know that we're not all going to be perfect and that we and that we can continue to grow in this. And how do we do that? By constant communication with the Holy Spirit. By by allowing the spirit to lead our lives, not our flesh, not the sinful desire.

Uh Lord, we know that just before 5:22, Paul talks about the sinful nature. and and he talks about but instead of that that we should live by the fruit of the spirit. And so, Father, I just pray that we would read these that that we would continue them that maybe we even make sticky notes and put them on our dash or or put them on our cubicle at work or or put them on the bathroom mirror because each day we need to continue to grow and and and grow and walk in what the fruit of the spirit is, in what you have for us inside of us. And so, Father, I pray that we do just exactly that.

Guide us today. Watch over us. touch us, remind us, um encourage us. Father, we love you. We praise you. And in your son, Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. God bless. See you guys tomorrow. Have a great day. Have a good day. Thanks, Dwayne. Thank you. Thank you.

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly edited for readability.