Fruit of Love
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October 25, 2015 |
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 Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).
The 'Beatitudes' in chapter five of Matthew, 'spiritual love' in chapter thirteen of 1 Corinthians, and the 'Nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit' together make up one of the guide posts that helps us evaluate where we are in our faith. Now let's look into the fruits of the Holy Spirit and delve into one of them, love.
1. What is the fruit of the Holy Spirit?
Fruit is the outcome of having sown the seed, the budding, and the blooming of the flower. Similarly, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are the fruits that are borne when the Holy Spirit comes into our heart.
God gives the gift of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of those who accept the Lord. Upon receiving the Holy Spirit, the dead spirit is revived. The Holy Spirit lets us know about sin, righteousness, and judgment. He helps us cast off sins and lawlessness and live in righteousness. He leads us to follow a life in Christ with faith and have the hope of gaining the kingdom of Heaven. As we obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our Christian life, our spirit begins to grow.
Not everybody who has received the Holy Spirit bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We can bear those fruits only when we obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like a generator. When the generator runs, it generates electricity. Here, if the light bulbs are connected to the generator, the bulbs will shine the light. The darkness goes away because light has come. Likewise, when the Holy Spirit works in us, the things of the darkness, which belong to flesh, will go away. Light will come into our hearts and we will bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
But we have to remember that for the light bulb to shine its light we don't just connect the bulb to the generator. We have to run this generator. In order for this generator to operate, we have to be on the alert and pray ardently. We also have to obey His guidance and practice the truth.
By this process we are following the desires of the Holy Spirit. When we diligently follow them, we will have the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Being full of the Spirit, our heart will change through the truth, and to that extent we will bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit. But when we try to follow the desires of the Holy Spirit, there is another kind of desire that hinders us. It is the desire of the flesh. The desire of the flesh tries to follow the things opposite in nature to the desire of the Holy Spirit. It leads us to follow the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of this life. When we follow the desires of the flesh, the Holy Spirit groans in our hearts. That's why we suffer from the disquiet in our heart.
That is why Galatians 5:16-17 says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." If we follow the desires of the flesh, the consequences will be sins, lawlessness and works of the flesh. If we commit works of the flesh, we will eventually depart from the way of salvation (Galatians 5:19-21). We can reap the fruit of eternal life only when we follow the Holy Spirit (Galatians 6:8).
2. Love, the first fruit of the Holy Spirit
People of the world who do not believe in God also use the word 'love' a lot. But the love of the worldly people is the fleshly love that perishes and changes. On the contrary, the love that belongs to God is spiritual love which is truthful and forever unchanging.
When God created Adam, the love that He gave Adam was spiritual love. But Adam's spirit died because he disobeyed the Word of God. He corrupted into the flesh. From that time on, the love of people began to change into fleshly love.
A long time has passed since then, and today it is very difficult to find true spiritual love. There are so many people who make declarations of their love. But their love changes as time passes. They only have fleshly love with which they seek their own and follow their lust.
This is the case with the love between a husband and a wife. At first, they say they will love each other forever and they say they cannot live without the other person. Before, they tried to do what their spouse wanted them to do, but now if their spouse does not follow their desires, they give a hard time to their spouse. Today divorce is common. Soon they marry another person. Still, every time, they say they truly love the other person.
It's the same with the love between parents and children. But as the world becomes more wicked, it's rare to find parents who sacrifice their lives, even for their own children. If something is not beneficial for them, parents and children even have enmity amongst themselves.
The same goes with the love among brothers or friends. When favorable conditions are met, and when they share the same opinions, the love is sustained. But when the conditions change, the love can change at any time as well. This means they had only with a desire to receive. All this is fleshly love.
Then what is spiritual love? In 1 Corinthians chapter 13 we can find what true love is like. This is the true love that God really wants us to have.
The love that is one of the fruits of the Spirit is at a higher level than the spiritual love in 1 Corinthians 13. It is the love that encompasses sacrificial love which is the love sufficient even to give one's life. With this love one can give his life for God, for His kingdom and righteousness. The highest level of love is the love with which one can give his life even for his enemies who hate him.
3. In order to bear the fruit of love
God first gave us such love. Our Lord also loved us even to the point that He gave His life for us when we were yet sinners. If we know this love not just as knowledge but realize from heart what kind of love God gave to us, we can truly love God, too.
If we have true love towards God, our love and trust in God will not change no matter what the situation. It is the same towards other souls. We will love other souls with true love if we have true love towards God (1 John 3:16).
We will not have any desire to seek our own benefit. We will not want anything in return even if we give everything we have. But this kind of true love is cultivated in you to the extent that you cast off flesh from you.
In the Bible, we can see what kind of love the patriarchs cultivated. Moses wanted to save the sons of Israel, even if it meant his name would be blotted out of the book of life (Exodus 32:32). The apostle Paul said in Romans 9:3, "For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." When Stephen was being stoned he prayed saying, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them" (Acts 7:60).
How much of this kind of love has been borne in you? How much do you love God, the Lord, and brothers and sisters in Christ? Once I professed before you, "If I can save just one thousand people, I would be willing to go to Hell in their place." I know very well what kind of place Hell is. But if I can save the souls who are falling into Hell, I am willing to make that choice.
Just as Jesus died for us, I can give my life for those people. I don't love with words. I give my life and all my energy for them each day to lead them to salvation because I love them more than my life. I only think about how I can preach the gospel in more places; how I can make more souls believe in God by showing greater power; how I can let them understand the world is meaningless and let them take hold of better heavenly dwelling places.
How much of the love of God, who has given His only begotten Son, is inscribed in your heart? If you are filled with that love, you will also love God. You will love the souls with your true heart.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I urge you as God's children to cast off all fleshly love which seeks one's own, desires to receive back, and changes. Instead, cultivate spiritual love, which is true and with which one can unconditionally give sacrifice of even oneself.
I pray in the name of the Lord that by doing so, you will achieve the heart of the Lord and the perfect love, enter New Jerusalem, and share eternal love with God forever.
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