Pick Up That Fruit Bowl
Galatians
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. (Galatians 5:13-15 NIV)
In chapters 3 and 4 of Galatians, Paul labours over an explanation that the law is not what justifies someone in God’s eyes. The law was what looked forward to redemption being purchased by Christ. It was not redemption itself. It was a guardian (Galatians 3:24), set over us until Jesus came and fulfilled the law's demands.
When Christ paid the price for our sin debt on the cross, He redeemed us – He set us free! Why would we stay sitting in our prison cell if the door has been flung open, and we can walk free? That’s what Paul was getting at through his argumentations against the legalists who had infiltrated the Galatian church and were leading free people back into the prison! And it’s what we talked about in the last journal entry.
So, what do we do when we step into the freedom that we’ve been called to (Galatians 5:13)? Can we do whatever we want to do?
That feels a bit like a trick question to me because it rests on our desires, and our desires before becoming part of God’s family and being filled with the Holy Spirit will be (or should be) different from the desires we have as disciples of Christ. We are no longer supposed to walk in the flesh but, instead, we are to walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16).
But what exactly does that mean? Does that mean we have a whole new set of rules to follow?
Some would have you believe so.
They might trot out their program of do’s and don’t’s and have you believing that you can only truly be a “good” or “true” Christian if you conform to their standards for hair, clothes, number of times you go to church, participation in various ministry activities, etc, etc, etc.
If that doesn’t sound like what the Judaizers were doing in Galatians to you, you haven’t been paying attention!
But we need to be careful here, too, to not just throw up our hands and declare that anything goes. The Christian life is not the Spiritual Wild West.
Paul actually does give us our boundaries. Take a look at chapter 5 and you’ll see him repeat it three times:
“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (v. 6)
“...rather, serve one another humbly in love.” (v. 13)
“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (v. 14)
Where have you heard that command from verse 14 before?
Yep, it was the second greatest commandment according to Jesus (see Mark 12:28-34). The first, of course, is to love God with all your heart, mind, and strength – basically with everything that you have. That’s the root. And it’s a two way relationship between us and God. He loves us, and we love Him… but then… because He loves us and we love Him, we, in turn, love others.
When a root is planted (aka we believe in Jesus) and power to grow is applied (aka we are filled with the Holy Spirit), we should then begin to produce fruit.
Everyone produces fruit from what they believe. Everyone. No matter what they believe.
Paul says this both in chapter 5 and 6.
He lists the acts of the flesh in chapter 5, verses 19 and 20. And then, he gives us this:
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. (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV)
And then, again, in chapter 6, he touches on what a root produces:
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to the flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8 NIV)
He then encourages us to not grow weary in doing good (v. 9) – to all, but especially to fellow believers (v. 10) – for our efforts will eventually produce a harvest.
Doing good = loving your neighbour.
That’s it.
That’s what we’re to be about now that we have freedom in Christ. And when we’re doing all that, the fruit of the Spirit will be evident in our lives.
So pick up that fruit bowl! Start expressing your faith through godly love. Start serving one another in love. Start loving your neighbour as yourself. And just watch that fruit bowl fill up with all the good things, aka the fruit that only being rooted in the Spirit can produce.