Dateline: Canton, Ohio

 

 

When we accept Jesus as our personal Savior, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). This acts as proof that we belong to God. The Holy Spirit is God living within us (2 Corinthians 6:16). We are the new temple of God.

This idea of the Holy Spirit is a peculiar oddity in the Christian world. Very few Christians seem to truly understand the nature of this transformation and what it means to our walk with God.

It is this lack of understanding of the Holy Spirit that causes churches and Believers to seek God through physical means rather than seeking God through spiritual means. As a result, Christianity is divided into two primary groups, both mired in the physical realm:

1. The Emotional
   Those who pay too much attention to the Holy Spirit
2. The Ritualistic
   Those who pay almost no attention to the Holy Spirit

The first group, the Emotional, is sometimes called charismatic or Pentecostal. They adhere to the idea that we experience God through our emotions and feelings. They believe that an emotional response is evidence of encounters with God. Nearly everything is a miracle or miraculous in nature.

The second group, the Ritualistic, adheres to the idea of experiencing God through ritual and ceremony. The ritual produces the "feeling" (emotion) that they are encountering God. They believe that encounters with God take place through discipline and order. They tend to be legalistic in their approach to God. It is rare to hear them talking about something miraculous that God has done in their life.

The inherent problem in all this is that both approaches are mere baby steps to encountering a relationship with God.

Both divisions of Christian circles try to encounter God through physical means. Spiritual things can generate an emotional or even a disciplined, ordered response; however, the presence or absence of the physical does not indicate anything. It is our spirit that communicates with God, not our emotions or our rituals.

Faith is believing without seeing or paraphrased; Faith is believing without seeing, feeling, or knowing.

The non-denominational churches try to bridge the emotional and ritualistic gap by combining emotion and ritual into their church services. The problem with the non-denominational approach is that it is still deeply mired in the physical realm.

See My Article: The Holy Spirit

 

 

Now that we understand that God is living within us through the Holy Spirit, we can talk about how that changes us. Paul reveals what the Holy Spirit does to our lives:

James elaborates on this list:

The Holy Spirit develops these qualities within us. It starts small, but then, over time, they become the characteristics of our lives. It is the fruit of God living within us.

In my lifetime, I'm sure that I've heard at least a dozen sermons telling us, "good Christians want to develop these qualities (fruits of the Spirit) in their life." This teaching is entirely false and a total misunderstanding of the Holy Spirit.

When we plant a tomato seed, the fruit that develops is a tomato. The tomato doesn't go through the process of deciding whether to be a tomato or a banana. It doesn't choose anything. It becomes what was planted. So it is with the fruits of the Spirit. They are the natural outcome of God being planted within us. If we must strive to develop these things, God is probably not living within.

No one possesses these fruits perfectly because we are still creatures of flesh and blood. Sometimes we are mean and not gentle. Sometimes we are hateful and not loving. Sometimes we lose our temper and are not self-controlled. When this happens, it doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit isn't present. It means we are not yet perfected.

If one or more of the fruits are not developing in our lives, it may be a spiritual issue. Perhaps we are not spending time in prayer or reading our Bibles. Maybe we are not trusting God about a matter, making us short-tempered. Ask God to show you, and he will.

 

Love is the most significant of the qualities that the Holy Spirit produces within us. Paul says that without love, all of our other gifts and talents are useless (1 Corinthians 13:1). John tells us:

It's important to understand that God does not loving! God IS love. The compassion we have for others is the measure of how much God lives within us.

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The Greek word for joy here is 'chara,' which means 'joy, gladness, the awareness of God's favor.' It's the same word used in Matthew 25 in the Parable of the Bags of Gold:

Holy Spirit-joy comes from the recognition that no matter the obstacle, the trouble, and the loss, God has everything under control and is working in our lives. We can enter into the joy of our master at any moment or at every moment.

This Holy Spirit-joy is the joy that produces an immovable strength to stay the course regardless of the circumstances or challenges.

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The Greek word for peace in this verse is 'eiréné.' It means 'one, peace, quietness, wholeness, and rest.' It is much more than freedom from hostilities, commotions, and violence.

It is a "centered" existence, centered in the presence and power of God in our lives.

From Thayer's Greek Lexicon:
"the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is"

Peace and joy exist together. I don't think it is possible to have one without the other.

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The Greek word for patience in this verse is 'makrothumia.' It means 'long-suffering, patience, forbearance.' It is the long, patient endurance of pain, suffering, trouble, or provocation.

From Thayer's Greek Lexicon:
Patience, endurance, constancy, steadfastness, and perseverance, especially as shown in bearing troubles and ills

I know, from experience, that the amount of patience I have in my life is directly proportional to the amount of peace in my life.

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The Greek word for kindness in this verse is 'chréstotés.' It means 'goodness, uprightness, divine kindness, spirit-induced goodness.' Kindness and 'holiness' are closely linked in that they share the same traits and dispositions.

Jesus was kind to everyone except the ruling class of religious leaders.

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The Greek word for goodness in this verse is 'agathosune.' It means 'intrinsic goodness, especially as a personal quality, with stress on the kindly (rather than the righteous,) side of goodness.' It is the goodness that comes from God alone, showing itself in spiritual and moral excellence.

This is not the "goodness" prevalent in the modern church today. The contemporary church loves to do good works ostensibly in the name of Jesus. More often than not, it is doing good work so that they can feel good about themselves. This is not goodness!

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The Greek word for faithfulness in this verse is 'pistis.' It means 'faith, belief, trust, confidence, fidelity, steadfast loyalty.' This type of faithfulness is always a gift from God. It is never something that people can produce.

It is the faithfulness that a mother demonstrates to her children regardless of what they have done or what they have become. She can never abandon them. It is the kind of friend that all of us want to have. It is the spouse all of us want to marry.

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The Greek word for gentleness in this verse is 'prautés.' It means 'mildness, divine-meekness, gentle-strength which expresses power with reserve and gentleness.'

The root word 'pra' is difficult to translate. It means exercising God's strength under God's control. I am reminded of the verse:

Matthew 11:29 has been the source of strength for so many. It illustrates the divine meekness and the divine power we possess when the Holy Spirit is active in our lives. It is a great verse to memorize and a great verse to remember in times of trouble.

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The Greek word for self-control is 'egkrateia.' It means 'self-mastery, self-restraint, continence.' It is dominion from within. It is Spirit-control and can only be accomplished through the Holy Spirit. Solomon was aware of the value of mastering self-control:

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The Greek word for pure is 'hagnos.' It means 'holy, sacred, free from ceremonial defilement.' The term indicates 'in a condition prepared for worship.' The Holy Spirit changes our inner being to seek out purity.

Filling our heads with negative thoughts and information is not generally accepted or tolerated by the Holy Spirit. Sooner or later, he will purge our desire for these things from our thoughts. The more we yield to his power, the faster the change will be.

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The Greek word for peace-loving is 'eirénikos.' It means 'disposed to peace, peaceable, loving peace.' This definition includes the idea of possessing the skills of making peace under the influence of the Holy Spirit - almost a spiritual gift.

A similar Greek word, 'eirenikós,' is called a cognate. It means 'God's gift of wholeness which results from knowing (discerning) the Lord's will and obeying it.'

Jesus addressed this fruit in the Sermon on the Mount:

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The Greek word for accommodating in this verse is 'eupeithes.' It means 'compliant, ready to obey, constantly attendant.' James 3:17 is the only place in the Bible the word is ever used.

Though we have very little understanding of this particular 'wisdom from heaven,' I think it is safe to say that 'accommodating' carries with it the idea of being 'ready to serve.'

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The Greek word for mercy in this verse is 'eleos.' It means 'compassion, pity.' Over and over again, throughout the Bible, God holds mercy to be one of the greatest attributes of godliness and holiness. There are many references where God says, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" (i.e., Matthew 12:7), and mercy is a critical component of the Law (i.e., Matthew 23:23).

God has shown each of us a great deal of mercy - compassion completely undeserved. Mercy is similar to love. If we don't have mercy, then we don't have God either because God is mercy. God is NOT merciful; God IS mercy.

Since the age of Enlightenment, mercy has been a spiritual fruit often missing from the church. This is because the church lost sight of the person of the Holy Spirit. It is something we, as Christians, need to develop all over again. Only the Holy Spirit can produce the spirit of mercy in our lives and our churches.

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The Greek word for impartial is 'adiakritos.' It means 'indistinguishable, without uncertainty, unambiguous, undivided.' It's difficult to understand the full context of this heavenly wisdom because the only reference to the word in the Bible is James 3:17.

The Holy Spirit produces within us impartiality, but we do not know what this is about. Impartiality toward others? Toward Christians? Toward events?

The word means the opposite of doubting (i.e., James 1:6) and judgment (i.e., 1 Corinthians 11:29).

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The Greek word for sincere is 'anupokritos.' It means 'unfeigned, without hypocrisy, genuine.' It indicates sincere behavior free from selfish motives.

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Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24, introduces additional qualities of Spirit-led Christians. There is no way to see these characteristics other than as fruits of the Spirit. We can see this throughout the New Testament.

Paul says things like:

Fruits of the Spirit are characteristics of Christians operating under the influence of the Holy Spirit. These fruits are probably exceedingly numerous and probably also somewhat customized to certain peoples' personalities.

 

We experience God through our spirits. He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit at almost any time. However, he speaks to us mostly during prayer and Bible reading. This is why prayer and Bible reading are essential to the Christian life.

Look for the fruits of the Spirit in your life and see God working.

 

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