Fruits of the Spirit: Love

By:  Dale Weckbacher                   

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

(ESV)

With all the news of kneeling or standing before sporting events, missile launches in North Korea, and of course the eternal sport of Trump bashing, media continues to ignore one significant issue occurring in the United States.  I am speaking of a record number of homicides in Chicago in 2016 of 762, up 57% from last year.  (1)  2017 does not appear to be much better with 519 homicides as of September 29.  (2)  While issues like the threat of war in Korea, and global terrorism are serious, I wanted to take time to bring attention to those murdered in Chicago and the families grieving their loss.

What these items have in common is they create an atmosphere of fear.  I am sure many living in Chicago fear going out, thus becoming prisoners in their own homes.  The only cure for this epidemic of hatred is love.

The first fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 is love.  However, this is not a love as the world defines it which is a love based upon feelings.  Instead the love mentioned in scripture is an all-encompassing love from God.  It is not a love based upon feelings for God even loves those that reject His Son and even loves those that had His Son crucified on the cross (John 3:16).  The basis of God’s love is not feelings for if it was, why would he love those that caused him great grief by crucifying his Only Son.  (3)

While the love of God is unconditionally given, its reception is conditional for the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ (John 14:6) and to receive salvation one must acknowledge Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 10:9-10).  God’s love is also not void of hatred but instead is a hatred directed at sin with a purpose of exposing sin, giving individuals an opportunity to repent and receive God’s gift of salvation. 

Rob Hoskins, a man who grew up in Beirut is all too familiar with violence and hatred.  In his August 2, 2016 article appearing in Goodnews Florida, he posits the cause of the escalating violence and hatred in the world to othering.  According to philosopher Michael Foucault, othering occurs “When we see ourselves as members of a group described as “we,” and other people are formed into a different membership we call “they.”  (4)  To phrase it another way, class warfare is a root cause of the escalating hatred in the world.  Add to the equation, instantaneous communication among groups using social media and we see an acceleration of the spread of hatred. 

Demonstrating the fruit of Godly love however does not mean we as Christians are just to sit idly by and not react out of love but instead means showing the fruit of love as Jesus did.  Matthew 21:12-17 records the account of Jesus clearing the temple.  Since Jesus is God (John 1:1) and since God is love (1 John 4:7-8), Jesus anger in the Temple did not violate his perfect love.  Instead Jesus directed his anger at the sin of the merchants in the Temple who had turned the Temple where God’s presence on earth dwelt into a “den of thieves” to quote Jesus. 

To show the fruit of the spirit of love in our lives we must,

1)      End any hatred directed at individuals in our own lives – In the New Covenant, God no longer dwells in a building but he dwells in the hearts of those who have accepted Jesus as their savior (1Corinthians 6:19-20).  The sin of hatred in our hearts is like the greed in the hearts of the merchants in the Temple and something we must overturn in our lives.

2)      Not fear speaking out against divisive hatred in our world spurred on by division of people into classes and instead share the message of the Gospel that God loves all of humanity and unconditionally sent His Son to die for them.  Instead of division, we must show the fruit of love by offering others, even those we perceive as enemies (Luke 6:27), the opportunity to accept God’s gift of salvation.

3)      Stop the divisiveness within the church for that is how we show the world the love of Christ (John 13:34-35)

A world full of hate with people living in fear needs to see and eat of the fruit of God’s love.  We, God’s people are the trees that must bear that fruit (Galatians 5:22).  However, if we ourselves harbor hate in our lives, fear speaking out against divisive hatred in our society, or allow division to cripple our churches, the world will starve due to a lack of supply of the fruit of love. 

Next Wednesday we will look at the fruit of joy.

1. Fox News. Chicago records 762 homicides in 2016, up 57 percent from previous year. www.foxnews.com. [Online] Fox News, January 1, 2017. [Cited: September 30, 2017.] http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/01/01/1-chicagos-bloodiest-years-ends-with-762-homicides.html.

2. DNA Info. Chicago Murders. www.dnainfo.com. [Online] DNA Info, September 29, 2017. [Cited: September 30, 2017.] https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/2017-chicago-murders.

3. Driskell, Robert. How Does God’s Love differ from the World’s Definition of Love? www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com. [Online] What Christians Want To KNow. [Cited: September 30, 2017.] https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/how-does-gods-love-differ-from-the-worlds-definition-of-love/.

4. Hoskins, Rob. A Biblical View of our Escalating Culture of Violence. www.goodnewsfl.org. [Online] Goodnews Florida, August 2, 2016. [Cited: September 30, 2017.] https://www.goodnewsfl.org/biblical-view-escalating-culture-violence/.