Title: Fruit of the Spirit (1)-Love
Contents
1 John 4:7-16
Fruit of the Spirit-① Love
Today is Pentecost Sunday. Jesus was on this earth for 40 days after his resurrection. The Resurrection is an incredible historical fact. So, the resurrected Jesus appeared directly to the disciples and enabled them to believe in the resurrection. And he made his disciples witnesses of the resurrection. As Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit, which the Father had promised. As Jesus said, the disciples gathered in Mark's upper room and prayed with longing hearts. I prayed earnestly for the Holy Spirit. It has been ten days since I prayed like that. It was Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Jesus was resurrected. The Holy Spirit descended on the place where the disciples were praying. In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit like fire and the Holy Spirit like wind came upon it. So the church community was born. We call this the event of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
The church community is inseparable from the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no church. Christians have an inseparable relationship with the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, you are not a Christian. When we first believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes into us.
The Holy Spirit comes into us and works. First, He regenerates us. Only by being born again can we call God our Father. Second, it seals us. Only when we receive our seal can we have the assurance of salvation and be a guarantee for going to heaven. Third, he baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Only through baptism can we become spiritually members of the body of Jesus, the church. Fourth, indwelling. When we say that the Holy Spirit dwells in us, it means that the Holy Spirit lives in us. If the Holy Spirit lives in us, sanctification occurs in us. Holy change takes place. You will live a holy life that resembles Jesus.
In order for us to become more like Jesus, the Holy Spirit within us must be alive and active. This is what we call the filling of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, if the Holy Spirit within us is suffocated, we will never be able to become like Jesus. This is what we call the quenching of the Holy Spirit. In order for us to live a good life of faith, if we want to become more like Jesus, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. “Do not get drunk, for this is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
In Acts 2, we can see that on the day of Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit came at the same time. Through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the church was born, and by being filled with the Holy Spirit, the church came to be governed, ruled and guided by the Holy Spirit.
People often say that a person's personality doesn't change very well. No matter how much education they receive, no matter how old they get, there are surprisingly many people who live with that evil character. That's why it seems to be saying that. Nothing in the world can easily change our character. But when the Holy Spirit comes into us, our personality changes, our values change, our thoughts change, our character changes, and our language changes. In a word, we believe that our inner world is changing in a holistic, innovative and qualitative way. If there is no such internal change, we must seriously examine whether the Holy Spirit really lives in us. Have you ever seen a man possessed by a demon? Even if a demon, who is just a creature, is possessed, you can see a huge change in that person. How much less, if the Holy Spirit, the holy God, has come into us and there is no change, the problem is serious. Either we are so stubborn that we resist change, or that the Holy Spirit is so incompetent.
The more we are filled with the Holy Spirit within us, the more we have the character of God. The disposition of God is called the “divine disposition” in 2 Peter 1:4 and the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” There is something that many people misunderstand in this verse. When asked, ‘How many fruits of the Spirit are there?’, most people answer, ‘Nine.’ But the fruit of the Spirit is singular. It means one. What are the fruits of the Spirit? It means the character of God. You can think of it as containing nine attributes of God's disposition. It's like a bunch of grapes on a bunch of grapes.
Today, in particular, I will talk about the fruit of love among the ‘fruits of the Spirit’. The word love appears a lot in today's text. Whether the word love is a verb or noun, it is 4 times in verse 7, 2 times in verse 8, 1 time in verse 9, 3 times in verse 10, 3 times in verse 11, 2 times in verse 12, 4 times in verse 16 , used a total of 19 times. In a word, the theme of today's text is "Let us love one another." In verses 7, 11, and 12 of the text, it is said three times that ‘we must love one another’. Today, in order for us to bear the fruit of love, which is the fruit of the Spirit, I would like to speak from two aspects of this time. One is ‘Why should we bear the fruit of love?’ and the other is ‘How should we bear the fruit of love?’.
First, the question is, ‘Why should we bear the fruit of love?’ There is reason to bear the fruit of love. The Apostle John explained the reason in the text as the Trinity.
First, because God the Father is love itself.
Let's read verses 8 and 16 together. God is the source of love. God is love itself. The essence of God is love. The God spoken of in the Bible is a God of love. The God shown in the history of Old Testament Israel, of course, also has the image of God judging sin, but he is fundamentally a God of love. The ‘parable of the prodigal son’ that we often speak of has become ‘the parable of the prodigal son’ because it focuses on the debauchery of the prodigal son. But what Jesus wanted to say in the parable of the prodigal son was the love of the Father who waited and forgave the prodigal son.
Second, because the Son Jesus showed love to the world.
Let's look at verses 9-10 together. All the activities of the God of love are activities of love. God does everything out of love. Why did God send Jesus into this world? Because I Love You. Why did God save us? Because I Love You. Why did God create hell? Because I Love You. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” “God demonstrates his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Third, because God the Holy Spirit has poured out love on us.
Let's look at verses 12-13 of the text together. Let's look at verse 16 together. The “God who dwells in us” in verse 12 is God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in us and pours out the love of God into our hearts and makes us know the love of God. “For the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us.”
In the text, the apostle John explained three reasons why we should bear the fruit of love in a trinity. Now, then, we need to think about the question, 'How should we bear the fruit of love?' How should I love?
First, we must be intimate with the God of love.
Let's look at verse 13. This is a verse related to God the Holy Spirit. Let's look at verse 15. It is a verse related to the saint Jesus. Let's look at verse 16. This is a verse related to God the Father. If you carefully observe verses 13, 15, and 16 of the text, you can see that the same expression is repeated three times. It says, “We abide in God, and God abides in us.” What does it mean? It means being very close to God spiritually, becoming one with God spiritually, and being spiritually united with God. This can also be referred to as a new union. When we are so intimately united with the God of love and become one, we can naturally bear the fruit of love. In John 15, Jesus said through the parable of the vine and the branches, “If he is in me and I in him, this man bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). You said.
Who we are close to is very important. If you get close to a liar, you end up becoming a liar. If you get close to a drinker, you end up becoming a drinker. When you get close to a critical person, you end up becoming a critical person. When we draw near to the God of love, we naturally bear the fruit of love.
Second, we must practice the new commandment.
Verse 7 says, “Let us love one another.” In verse 11, it says, “We also ought to love one another.” The expression ‘Let’s love one another’ is a kind of exhortation, while the expression ‘We ought to love one another’ is a kind of duty. The word 'should' has a very strong meaning of 'must have to'. It means that we must practice love just as a debtor must pay it off. During his public life, on the night before his crucifixion, Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment to love one another as a will. “I give you a new commandment: Love one another, love one another as I have loved you. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Are you a disciple of Jesus? Then we must love each other. You must keep the new commandments. Because it is a commandment given by the Lord as a command (1 John 4:21).
Third, we must serve one another in love.
tidy up.
We must bear the fruit of love. The reason is that God the Father is love, the Son Jesus showed that love on the cross, and God the Holy Spirit poured out that love on us. How can we bear the fruit of love? First, we must be intimate with the God of love. Second, we must practice the new commandment. Third, we must serve one another in love.