In the fifth chapter of his letter to the churches in the region of Galatia, Paul, a church leader, spends some time talking about the fruit of the Spirit. In contrast to the evil deeds people tend to do when left on their own (he talks about those, too!), Paul is saying that if someone has God’s spirit within them, they will naturally become more like God. Just like an apple tree bears apples - it can’t help it - someone with God’s spirit inside them will bear God-apples, so to speak. So Paul lists some of the God-apples that he expects to see in God-followers:
I find it interesting that Paul chose the fruit analogy to talk about Christian character. I think there are at least two aspects of fruit that zero in on the meaning.
First, fruit naturally grows on fruit trees. In fact, being agriculturally ignorant, I can only tell what kind of tree it is when I see what kind of fruit is growing on it. In the same way that a tree is known by the fruit it produces, Jesus-followers are known by the God-apples they produce. And notice what this God fruit is - it’s not sermons preached or telling others about Jesus. It’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When we see someone with these characteristics, we’re probably looking at a God-tree.
Second, Paul calls these characteristics the fruit of the spirit, not the fruits. In other words, this isn’t the produce section at the grocery store where you may pick and choose which fruit you like. I like peaches better than apples, and I really don’t like pears at all. When it comes to God-apples, it’s a package deal. If I’m a God-tree, God’s spirit will be working to produce all of the fruit, not just my personal favorites. Some of this fruit grows a little more easily in me. I’m a pretty joyful person. Some of it is a real struggle. I’m not naturally gentle; in fact, sometimes I’m like the proverbial bull in the China shop. To continue the agricultural metaphor, God weeds, prunes, and fertilizes my heart to bring out the fruit. And sometimes that’s not pleasant or easy - the weeds have deep roots that don’t want to let go. But if I’m a God-tree and I’m going to produce God-apples, the master gardener is going to do his work. And if I’m not producing this fruit? Maybe I need to take a closer look to see whether I’m even in the orchard.
What about you? Which of these characteristics come easily for you? Which are harder? Where has God been weeding and pruning?
For generations - centuries and centuries - Christians have tried to nail down the essence of our faith. In times past, Church leaders drew up documents called “creeds”, which were statements of faith. Others said, “We don’t believe in creeds, we just follow the Bible!” - a good thought, but not necessarily useful as a teaching tool - not everything in the Bible is of equal value in terms of Christian faith, and it’s pretty overwhelming to tell someone interested in learning the basics of our faith to read the entire Bible. What is a simple outline of the message about Jesus that we can quickly share with those who are asking?
Paul, an early Christian leader, wrote a letter to some Christ-followers (Christians) in the ancient city of Corinth. This was a messy church - there were lots of people with lots of problems in the church, and they couldn’t seem to get along with one another at all. As Paul writes to correct them on so many issues, toward the end of his letter he calls them back to the basics of their faith. He’s told them several ways they need to change their thinking and their actions, but before he ends his letter, he wants to remind them emphatically of why any of the rest of his letter matters. He wants to remind them of what followers of Jesus believe. This is what he tells them:
1-2Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time— this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved. (I’m assuming, now, that your belief was the real thing and not a passing fancy, that you’re in this for good and holding fast.) 3-9The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don’t deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God’s church right out of existence. (1 Corinthians 15:1-8, The Message)
Paul boils the message of Jesus down to four points: he died, he was buried, he rose from the dead, and he appeared alive to his followers. There’s a lot more to say about Jesus and about our lives, but the main things (some translations say “things of first importance") are pretty simple. Death. Burial. Resurrection. Appearances. This is what we believe. If we can unite on these things, a lot of other things take care of themselves.
There’s an odd story about Jesus in the fifth chapter of the book of Mark in the Bible. Jesus and his twelve closest followers head across the lake in a boat, taking some time away from the crowds who are following Jesus. When they show up on the shore, they meet a guy who’s possessed by an evil spirit. He’s been living in a graveyard - actually, in the tombs. The villagers have tried to chain him up, but he breaks the chains. He’s howling, gashing himself with rocks, naked, bloody, hairy, and dirty.
Picture this: Jesus and his twelve followers get out of the boat and move up the shore, and this guy comes running down to the beach to meet them. I see the twelve friends backing away; “Uh, Jesus, I’m ready to go now!” But Jesus remains calm, and this man runs up to him and kneels on the sand before him. He screams at Jesus to leave him alone. “Don’t torture me, Son of the Most High God!” As the conversation continues, the man says that there are many evil spirits in him, and the spirits beg Jesus to let them go into a nearby herd of pigs. Jesus permits them to go, and they enter the pigs, who immediately run off a cliff into the water and drown.
Naturally, the pig keepers aren’t thrilled about this. They run back to the village and tell everyone what happened, and a bunch of folks come to see for themselves. They find this howling, bloody outcast sitting there talking with Jesus. He’s fully clothed and perfectly sane. The people of the village are terrified, and beg Jesus to go away. As he’s leaving, the man he rescued wants to come with him, and that’s the heart of the matter for today. Jesus says “Go back to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you and how he has been merciful to you.” The man goes throughout the whole region telling everyone what God has done for him.
What a story! I imagine everyone hung on his words, eager to learn what had brought about such a change in his life. And what a story to tell of God’s goodness.
Jesus is still in the business of setting the oppressed free and showing mercy. Your story may not be quite as dramatic as this guy’s, but I encourage you to tell it anyway. How has Jesus made a difference in your life? How has he shown you mercy? Tell the story.
Following Jesus isn’t always easy - or even easy at all. When we make a commitment to follow him, we don’t get a “get out of jail free” card, or an “exempt from life’s problems” stamp. In our faith community at The Well, we have people struggling with health issues. We have people struggling with financial and job issues. We have people struggling with relationships. We have people who are grieving. In other words, we are a community of people living life.
This isn’t new. God’s people have always wrestled with the challenges of life and the balance of faith. In fact, the Bible has a book of worship poems called psalms, and a bunch of these psalms address the pain of life from a God-following perspective. Jesus himself recited the poetry of the psalms during his darkest hours. Here’s one that speaks to me, Psalm 13 (from the New Living Translation of the Bible):
O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
How long will you look the other way?
How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
with sorrow in my heart every day?
How long will my enemy have the upper hand?
Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!
Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.
Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”
Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.
But I trust in your unfailing love.
I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
I will sing to the Lord
because he is good to me.
This poem was written by a king in his time of trouble. He feels abandoned by God in the midst of his struggle. He knows God is there, but he can’t see how God is there in the midst of his pain. But even in that pain and those trials, he has faith - he trusts that God is at work even though he can’t see God at work.
So what makes following Jesus any different from any other way of life? What makes Christian life worth the effort? Our faith life is one of hope. We believe that God is at work even when we can’t see him. We believe that God loves us and that he has our best interest at heart regardless of our circumstances. And we believe that this life isn’t all that there is.
Our faith isn’t about us and our circumstances, it’s about God. We worship him because he’s God, not because of what we get out of it. We didn’t enter our way of life for good times and great snacks, we are on this journey because we believe that Jesus came to reveal God to us and to fill us with grace and truth.
We know that God loves us, even in the hard times. And if we’re following the footsteps of Jesus, we know that he, too, suffered in this life. And like Jesus, we want to be faithful regardless of personal cost and regardless of life’s situations.
This is kind of hard to write about. It’s no easy answer if you’re in the midst of suffering - perhaps the better words there are that God knows and he cares. If you’d like some company for your journey, you are welcome at The Well.
We invite you to join us for the Alpha Course, beginning in September. This 10-week, free course is an opportunity to explore the foundations of the Christian faith. Whether you belong to another world religion, have no faith, or are thinking of becoming a Christian, we’d love to have you join us for this course. Stay tuned for more details.
In the fifth chapter of his letter to the churches in the region of Galatia, Paul, a church leader, spends some time talking about the fruit of the Spirit. In contrast to the evil deeds people tend to do when left on their own (he talks about those, too!), Paul is saying that if someone has God’s spirit within them, they will naturally become more like God. Just like an apple tree bears apples - it can’t help it - someone with God’s spirit inside them will bear God-apples, so to speak. So Paul lists some of the God-apples that he expects to see in God-followers: