A lot of people don’t like fruitcake, but I’m not like a lot of people. I like fruitcake and as a believer so should you. The fruitcake that we are supposed to like is found in the book of Galatians and it’s made from “the fruit of the Spirit.” 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.” The cake made with the fruit of the Spirit is sweet and the first ingredient is love. We’ve talked a lot about love over the last several weeks, so tonight we are going to cover some of the other fruits in our spiritual fruitcake. The passage in Galatians begins with a warning label. Galatians 5:16-18 “16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” If you are walking according to the flesh, you will find yourself under the penalty of the spiritual laws. There will always be consequences to breaking God’s spiritual laws. Remember, He put them in place to keep you safe and show you how to have an abundant successful spiritual life here on earth. All you have to do is walk by the Spirit. If you are being led by the Spirit you will be eating a lot of fruitcake. And as we all know...you are what you eat.
Now before we go any farther, there is another cake we have to mention and it’s devil’s food cake. The ingredient list is made up from the works of the flesh. They are listed in the next verses of Galatians. Galatians 5:19-21 “19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” This devil’s food flesh cake seems sweet at first, but it is very bitter in the end. Surprisingly, a lot of people still love eating it. Even some of us who claim to be Christians enjoy a little piece of devil’s food once in a while. And it normally happens when we encounter a trial that tests our faith. If we are not rooted in the word of God, when we find ourselves in trouble, we will run back to the fleshly things that used to give us comfort. But what does the word say we are supposed to do when we encounter a trial. We are supposed to engage a fruit of the Spirit. James 1:2 “My brothers and sisters, think of the various tests you encounter as occasions for joy.” The way we are supposed to approach difficult circumstances is the opposite of the way we have been taught by this world’s system. Why would we consider a test an occasion for joy?
James 1:3-4 “After all, you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 Let this endurance complete its work so that you may be fully mature, complete, and lacking in nothing.” Think about it like this: How long have you been in your line of work? Would you say that everything has always been perfect or have you had some tough situations to deal with? Did you learn things and become better at your job after going through those situations? Are you now qualified to teach a new employee and help him avoid those same issues? At this point in our life as believers, God expects us to be able to live joyfully by faith not only for our benefit, but so we can be qualified to help others. Having joy during a tough time, is something that will certainly get the attention of those around us who don’t know Jesus. This will allow us the opportunity to share the reason for our joy with them. But...what do we do if our faith is not mature and we don’t know how to have joy and deal with things when our faith is tested? The answer is found in verse 5...and it’s WISDOM. James 1:5 “But anyone who needs wisdom should ask God, whose very nature is to give to everyone without a second thought, without keeping score. Wisdom will certainly be given to those who ask.” That seems like an odd change of subject, but it’s not. Let’s look at how wisdom helps our faith.
These verses from Proverbs chapter 8 talk about the nature of wisdom that comes from God. Proverbs 8:12 “I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence;I have found knowledge and discretion. 22 The Lord created me at the beginning of his way,before his deeds long in the past. 23 I was formed in ancient times, at the beginning, before the earth was. 27 I was there when he established the heavens,when he marked out the horizon on the deep sea, 29 when he set a limit for the sea, so the water couldn’t go beyond his command, when he marked out the earth’s foundations. 30 I was beside him as a master of crafts. I was having fun, smiling before him all the time, 35 Those who find me find life; they gain favor from the Lord.” If God created Wisdom first, to be with him during His work of creating everything that we see around us, then it’s safe to assume that Wisdom is something that we should seek to have as we go through our life. So how should we ask for Wisdom? James 1:6 “Whoever asks shouldn’t hesitate. They should ask in faith, without doubting. Whoever doubts is like the surf of the sea, tossed and turned by the wind. 7 People like that should never imagine that they will receive anything from the Lord. 8 They are double-minded, unstable in all their ways.” We should not doubt when we ask...We should ask in faith, because doubt brings about instability, but faith creates a firmly grounded stable life.
We’ve all seen news footage or photos of a car that’s hit a large tree. The result is always the same...the car is destroyed...but the tree is still standing strong. That’s because the car was out of control and unstable but the tree was firmly rooted to the ground. In the same way, our faith should be grounded through God’s wisdom. So that when unstable doubt crashes against our firm faith, we can be assured that the doubt will be destroyed, but our faith will remain standing strong. Colossians 2:6-7 “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” Fruit grows naturally and abundantly when the roots are deep in the soil. Look at this Christmas tree and let’s think about it as a representation of a Christian. A lot of Christians look great from the outside, but their fruit isn’t real. They just see Jesus and the fruit of the Spirit as decoration, because they don’t really understand what it means to live in the kingdom. They understood how to walk an isle and pray a prayer as a kid. But that was it, they haven’t remained connected to Jesus, as the true source of their life. They go to church once a week doing their religious duty, but their spiritual life is a mess. They are just living as an artificial tree with plastic decorations. The shiny lights and fancy ornaments cover up a lot of major issues. If we took all the decorations off of this fake tree, you’d see what a mess it actually is.
As a matter of fact, before it came here, it was in a dumpster. We had to cut all the lights off if it because they didn’t work. The stand isn’t the right size so it had to be rigged so it would stand up straight. You see, it has no strength of its own, because it’s fake, it has no roots into the ground like a real tree. A Christian who is rooted in the soil of the word and has a relationship with The Spirit will be drawing living water up through their roots and be producing spiritual fruit in every season...whether it’s a good season or a difficult one. A true Christian doesn’t need the fake decoration of religion, because they have real spiritual fruit on their branches. Do you see and understand the difference? Christians who don’t understand how to live in the kingdom are like this tree. They use the decoration of religion to hide the mess that their life is in. I believe Ananias and his wife Sapphira were like this. They were the couple in the 5th chapter of Acts who died after lying to the Holy Spirit. The church had just started and everyone was excited to sell the extra property and houses they had and give to the ministry, so everyone could benefit. They understood that God was the owner and they just had rulership over their stuff. When God wanted to shift the stuff to someone else, they gladly brought it to the Apostles. Everyone did this, except Ananias and Sapphire. They wanted to be viewed as good Christians so they too sold a piece of property and brought some of the money to the Apostles. The problem is that they kept part of the money for themselves, but they claimed they had brought it all. Peter told them they had not lied to men, but to the Holy Spirit and then they fell dead. They were living by the flesh...not the Spirit.
They are like a lot of Christians today who want to fit in at church, but not fully surrender their life or finances to God. They pretend to go along with what the Bible says, but full surrender is not something they are interested in. When the word of what happened to Ananias and Sapphire got around, the people in the early church were afraid and understood how serious this was to God. Let me say this clearly. Playing church is dangerous game. It’s time to get serious about your relationship with God. Being fully surrendered is what God wants. Let’s look at the next fruit. It’s peace. Jesus said in John 14: 27 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Jesus had a choice to make just like you: Do I go through with the mission that God has given me...or not? He already had peace about what He was going to have to do, and that allowed Him to follow through with a hard assignment. As a matter of fact, a lot of times even though you have peace from God about a situation, it may still be a difficult thing to go through. That’s where following the TRUTH of God’s word comes into play. Jesus had peace based on His priority of doing what God the Father wanted. He based it on the truth of God’s plan for His life, not on the current difficult situation He found Himself in. Just before He was betrayed, He prayed, “not My will, but Yours be done.”
In the John 14 verse we read that the peace He gives is not like the world’s peace...as long as the situation is peaceful, you’ll have peace. That’s the way the world gives peace, but Jesus says that’s not the way His peace works. His peace is there despite your situation, not because of it. Let’s look at Colossians 3:15. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” It says that the peace of God should rule your heart. The idea of ruling is the same as an umpire in baseball. He waits behind the batter and watches what pitch is thrown and then he makes the call if it’s a strike or not. The batter has to abide by the ruling made by the umpire. That’s what the Peace of God does for us. It waits to make the call in our heart about choices that are thrown at us, that we should abide by. Right after we are told to let the peace of God rule in our hearts, Colossians 3:16 says “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, If we will spend time in the Word, we can learn to hear his still small voice and recognize that gut feeling of His peace that directs us towards the choices we should be making. This verse says you will actually have enough wisdom to teach others. That's it. Just stay in His word. There is no other magic formula to having joy and peace that I can share with you. The more you are in His word, seeking Him, the more you will begin to hear His wisdom and the more that wisdom will transform your life.
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