The Fruit of the Spirit: Love—Part 2

The Fruit of the Spirit:  Love—Part 2

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)
^“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

Last week I wrote, “The first attribute mentioned in the fruit of the Spirit is love.  Many times in Scripture, the first mentioned in a list is foundational to the rest of the list.  We can see that in the list of the fruit of the Spirit.  Love is foundational to all the others.”  The Greek word translated as love in Galatians 5 is agape.  “Agape has been defined as “selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love.  This is the love that Christ has for His bride, the Church.  It is also the love that we are to show toward one another.”

The ancient Greeks used four words that have been translated into English as “love”.  Besides agape, the Greeks used eros, phila, and storge.  

Eros is named for the Greek god of love of the same name.  It refers to sexual relationships.  Although the word eros, is not used in the Bible, the Word of God does outline and set the boundaries for eros.  The Song of Solomon is a beautiful description of the erotic relationship in marriage.  In the Song, we see the deep, growing and abiding relationship between Solomon and the Shulamite that comes when eros is founded in agape, founded in and restricted to the covenant of marriage.

  

Paul writes, “But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am; but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” (1 Corinthians 7:8-9 NKJV) Paul is writing to Christians indwelt by the agape of the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, this passage as well describes eros as founded in agape. 

 

Philia means “brotherly affection.’’  Philia is the relationship between close friends.  As we grow in our relationship with the Lord, we find more and more that our deepest relationships are with our brothers and sisters in the Lord.  Paul’s salutation in most of his epistles is “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  The spiritual depth of such a greeting can be comprehended only by those of like mind and spirit.  It is philia founded in agape.  

“Philadelphia”, in Greek, means the “city of brotherly love.”  We know that as it pertains to the city in Pennsylvania.  How often do we see that in the letter to the church at Philadelphia in Asia Minor?  "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens": I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”( Revelation 3:7-8 NKJV).

Because they kept the word of God, the word based on agape, God placed a spiritual opened door of blessing before the Christians in Philadelphia.  

The fourth word translated as love is storge.  Storge describes the natural love between parents and their children.  Storge, not founded in agape, many times becomes distorted.  A scripture often misunderstood is, "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12 NKJV).  Some have taken this scripture to mean that children must do whatever their parents tell them even if it goes against the other commandments.  That behavior is not storge founded in agape. 

A description of storge founded in agape appears in Ephesians:  “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth." And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:1-4 NKJV)  

1 Corthinians 14:1 advises us to “pursue love (agape.)  Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35 NKJV).  The world will know we are Christians by our love relationships, each one founded in agape.

Fruit of the Spirit: Love

Fruit of the Spirit:  Love

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV) :  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

       The first attribute mentioned in the fruit of the Spirit is love.  Many times in Scripture, the first mentioned in a list is foundational to the rest of the list.  We can see that in the list of the fruit of the Spirit.  Love is foundational to all the others.  1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NKJV) declares, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”

      None of the good things that we might do have any significance if they are not done in love.  The original Greek word in both the above texts is agape. Agape has been defined as “selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love.” (http://christianity.about.com/od/glossary/a/Agape.htm)  This is the love that Christ has for His bride, the Church.  It is also the love that we are to show toward one another.  

         Agape also refers to “love feasts.”  In that context we see that agape implies covenant.  In the Biblical culture, covenants were sealed with a feast.  The Lord’s Supper that we receive is a covenant meal wherein we reaffirm our covenant with our Lord and with one another.  In the Bible, a covenant is sacred, a bond that cannot be broken.  We use the word more casually in our experience.  Check the following website for more information about Biblical covenant: http://www.traviscase.org/Sermons/Covenants/CovenantRelationship.html

 

         Love has little to do with emotions, hearts and flowers, rings and things.  Love is a covenant, an eternal commitment between two parties.  In our western culture, we have generally lost the concept of love as covenant.  We have adopted the Greco-Roman concept of Eros/Cupid.  In both the Greek and Roman cultures, Eros or Cupid is pictured as a blind child.  The symbolism is that of a foolish child blinded by his emotions.  God’s love for us, agape, is not blind.  His love sees us as we are and loves us anyhow.  That is the way we are to love one another.  That is mature love.

        A love scripture on which to meditate:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NKJV) “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”

            Now, read the verses this way:  “My love for others is patient and kind; my love for others keeps me from envy.  My love does not allow me to call attention to myself.  My love is not prideful.  Because of my love for others, I will be polite; I will not seek to have my own way all of the time; I will not be easily provoked into argument and anger; I will think good thoughts toward others; I will not rejoice in sinfulness; I will rejoice in the truth, no matter how painful it may be; I will bear all things, believe all things the Lord has spoken, hope all things and endure all things.  Because of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in my life, my love toward God and others is an eternal covenant.”  

           None of us is there yet, but with the indwelling Holy Spirit directing our lives, we are on a journey whose destination is agape, the first fruit of the Spirit

The Fruit of the Spirit

The Fruit of the Spirit

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV): “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

            “Fruit” is defined as the sweet and fleshy product of a plant that contains seed and can be eaten as food.  Therefore, fruit is living, and pleasant.  Fruit contains seed to reproduce life and nutrients to sustain that life.  The fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives is living and pleasant.  It, too, contains the seed to reproduce itself in our lives and in the lives of others and is nourishing to sustain that fruit in our lives.  

            Because the Holy Spirit indwells the life of every believer, the fruit of the Spirit is implanted in our spirits at the moment we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  However, like fruit in the natural, fruit in the Spirit must be cultivated.  Our hearts must be fertile soil, rich with living out the promises of God. Fruit, whether natural or spiritual, must be watered in order to grow and reproduce.  Ephesians 5:26 describes the Church as sanctified and cleansed with the washing of water by the word. The Word of God is living water that cleanses, refreshes and energizes our spirits. Time spent in the Word invigorates our spirit man just as a delightful spring rain invigorates the orchard.

            Just as a natural fruit tree must be pruned to achieve maximum production, pruning is necessary in the spiritual growth process of the each Christian.  Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1-2 NKJV).  The pruning process may seem painful in the moment, but the result is eternal fruitfulness. 

            As believers, we have received the fruit of the Spirit.  The question is will we allow the Holy Spirit to nurture that fruit within us?  Will we walk faithfully in the promises and hope of the Lord?  Will we be nurtured, cleansed and sanctified by the Word of God?  Will we mature and reproduce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and in the lives of others?  Will we, by faith, sustain the fruit of the Spirit in spite of our circumstances?  Please note that each question above begins with “will”.  The answer then lies in our free will either to accept the cultivation of the Spirit or to reject that cultivation and continue in the unfruitful experiences of our past.  

  In the moment of creation, the first commandment the Lord gave to man was to be fruitful.  Because God had breathed His spirit into man, being fruitful has relevance both in the natural and in the spiritual.  During this new season, let us covenant with our Lord and allow Him to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our lives so that we might be spirit filled, life-giving and nurturing in our daily lives and activities.

Walking in Wisdom

Walking in Wisdom

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

            Across our nation and across the planet, Christians are praying for governmental leaders to walk in wisdom, for heads of state to govern in wisdom and for God to rain down wisdom upon us. We cry out, plead and yearn for wisdom to surround, to guide and to direct the decisions made by administrations.  Little have we realized the source of and pathway to wisdom.  We repeat Proverbs 1:7, yet pay little attention to it in our lives as believers. Forgetting that the scriptures are a handbook for Christians, we often stand in judgment of others rather than in examination our own lives. 

Verse 1:7 is the theme of the book of Proverbs: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7 NKJV). 

“The fear of the Lord” does not mean that we should be afraid of our God who has told us numerous times in His word that we are not to be afraid.  In Hebrew, the word that has been translated as “fear” means to have a moral reverence for.  It means that we understand and accept that the moral truths of God (not necessarily the moral truths as interpreted by man) are the standards for leading us into the love, truth, peace and joy of our Lord.  When we compromise God’s moral principles, we compromise wisdom.  Many Christians have become foolish in turning aside from holy principles (principles that will lead to health and happiness in our lives).

It is that moral reverence for the Lord that is the beginning, or foundation, of wisdom.  That foundation resides in us because the Holy Spirit of God resides in us.  When we Christians turn away from the morality of God, we actually quench the power of the Holy Spirit In our lives.  In I Thessalonians 5:19 (NKJV), Paul spoke to the church saying, “Do not quench the Spirit.” 

From moral reverence for who God is comes knowledge of the Holy One and understanding that gives insight into life. 

Proverbs 9:10 (NKJV) repeats the theme: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.  In this verse, the word translated “beginning” means a perquisite. In other words, we cannot have wisdom without a moral reverence (fear) of the Lord.  Therefore, wisdom must first emanate from the heart of believers, radiate out into the world, and bring glory to the Kingdom of God.

Before we pray for wisdom for our leaders, we must first seek wisdom in our own lives and speak that wisdom into the world.  We must keep in mind that God does not dwell in the problems; He dwells in the solutions.  Wisdom has a positive outlook.  Wisdom has a heart of gratitude.  Wisdom trusts in the provision and protection of God. 

Jesus spoke to believers when He said, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16 NKJV).

Wisdom allows our light to shine and bring glory to our Father in heaven.