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Facets of Fruit: Love How does the bible talk about what love really looks like, and why is it important to cultivate this facet of the fruit of the Spirit? How do we practically do that? Show Notes: I don’t usually talk about my personal life on this show, but I feel like some explanation of why I’ve been off air for two months is needed, especially for those of you who don’t know me personally. The short of it is I got a new job! After two years of searching, I finally landed a full-time job at a Christian camp. I’m program manager, which is a fancy way of saying I plan and make happen most of the things that come to mind when you say “camp.” I’m loving it, but starting at the beginning of the busiest season was not conducive to making a weekly podcast. But now summer is over, and I look forward to getting back in the habit of writing regularly and podcasting for you all. At the beginning of the summer, we started a series on the fruit of the Spirit. Right after that first episode, someone contacted me to say that I had said “fruits of the Spirit” when it really should be “fruit of the Spirit.” After some research, I have to agree and correct my mistake. Though different facets of this fruit might grow more at varying points in our lives, it’s all one fruit from one Spirit. The whole set is a package deal, and you can’t pick and choose what you want. That said, we’re going to dive into looking at the first facet of fruit mentioned in Galatians 5: love. From reading his letters and gospel, one can easily see that the apostle John was a very tenderhearted, easy-going soul. And he was passionate about love, both from God to us, from us to God, and from us to each other. All of these are a part of producing the love of the Spirit. Let’s read a chunk from 1 John to see how he explains what love is: 1 John 4:7-5:5, “Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us. “This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given assurance to us from His Spirit. And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent His Son as the world’s Savior. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. “In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, for we are as He is in this world. There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because He first loved us. “If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen. And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him. This is how we know that we love God’s children when we love God and obey His commands. For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden, because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. And who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Alright, that was a lot, so let’s break it down a bit. Love is from God, and only those who have been born again are capable of love. That reiterates what I said back in the first episode of this series about non-believers not exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit. Love consists of sacrificing for the good of others. God showed his love for us that way on the cross, and we ought to show love to others that way. When we do this, we are making God visible. Though God is spirit and can’t be seen, when we act like He does, we make the invisible visible. The next two paragraphs I talked about back in episode 17, and the short summary is that when we show the love of God to other people, it is evidence to ourselves that we are believers, which drives out fear in our lives. This is because, as the next bit says, those who love God will inevitably love their brother, which is not just a reference to biological family but also other believers. In the final section, from the beginning of chapter five, John ties all the loves together. Those who love the Father love Jesus. We love those around us by loving God and obeying Him, which are one in the same. When we obey God, we are loving Him. Lest we think that’s just legalism and can’t work, John says that the commands are for our good; by obeying, following, and believing Jesus, we conquer the world, that is sin and death and it’s hold. Okay, so loving people is good. Loving other believers is even better because, as John says in John 13:35, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Our love for other people is testimony to the power of God, since no one can love the way we do without the presence of the Spirit of God. But how does obeying God equal loving people? I used to think of showing love as this ambiguous, ethereal THING that just happens sometimes. It’s good, but it’s hard to predict and harder to make happen. When you try, people don’t always feel loved, so then it doesn’t work. Then I learned that love is meeting people’s needs, and that helped immensely. It gave me solid things to look for and do, and it explained why people can be loved but not necessarily feel it in the moment. Even still, there was still something a bit ambiguous about it. Maybe “ambiguous” is the wrong word. It didn’t feel neatly tied in a bow and fully interconnected with the rest of my theology. Something was missing. John fits in the final piece. Every single thing that we do in obedience to God is loving toward other people. When we spend time with Him, it makes us better people to be around. When we memorize scripture, it prepares us to speak truth into the lives of our brothers and sisters. When we use our money wisely, it allows us to give to those in need. When we forgive, it frees those who have grieved us, demonstrates to those around us what forgiveness looks like, and heals our own souls so that we can be better used by God in the lives of others going forward. Nothing you do is private. I know this is contrary to the Western way of thinking. We value individualism, independent achievement, and personal freedom so much. I think we’ve been taught a compromise. Your life isn’t private and your own because God sees everything, and everything matters to Him. While that’s true, it’s not the whole truth. Everything you do has ramifications outside yourself. Everything. How much time you spend in front of screens (and I’m preaching to myself here, too), what kinds of foods you eat, and whether or not you are in good physical shape has direct effects on those around you. Maybe you can’t see them because they’re effects that are missing. Maybe God is calling you to start going to a gym, and at that gym, He has someone for you to witness to or disciple. You don’t see any negative effects by ignoring His instructions, but that’s because you haven’t met that person yet. We can’t see all ends. That’s why we have the Holy Spirit and listen to what He says. He’s sovereign, not us. So what are some practical steps we can take to cooperate with God in growing the facet of fruit called “love?” Step one: pray. I don’t know if you’ve realized this yet, but step one is always pray. Pray that God would open your eyes to three things: if there is anyone who you are being particularly unloving toward and if so, that He would change your heart toward them and give you opportunities to show them God’s love; those around you who have needs that you can fill, whether that’s through a kind word, money, or some other form of support; areas you are disobeying Him that are affecting others in ways you may or may not realize. Step two: if God reveals something in your life that needs to change, tell someone else about it. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it is always easier to defeat sin and follow God in community. Always. Step three: follow through. Do what God’s called you to do. Step four: keep a record. You may or may not be into journaling, but it is so cool to look back and see where God has worked and how it turned out. I always think I’m going to remember when God shows up and does something incredible, but I’m often wrong. I don’t want to forget, because when we remember what God has done, it has two affects. It helps us to trust Him more in the future, and it enables us to encourage others in their walk and trust in God because of our stories. Thanks for joining me today. I hope you had a fantastic summer. Thanks for being patient with me while I was away. Next week I’m going to tackle the facet of fruit called “joy.” I hope you’ll join me then.