“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22–23). The Apostle Paul wrote those words to a group of Christians who were giving him real trouble. He loved them, but some of them were contradicting the truth of the gospel of grace found in Jesus, and Paul knew how destructive that would be within the community of faith. His response was his letter to the Galatians which is part of the New Testament.
Even in the midst of real conflict, Paul communicated his love to those troubled Christians, emphasized over and over again the freedom we have in Jesus because of his grace-giving sacrifice for us, and warned those believers not to live under the lifeless rules and ungodly influence of the world. Instead, Paul reminded them (and us) to live according to the life God gives through His Spirit.
All of us who have been baptized into Jesus Christ have been forgiven by God and have been given His Spirit who dwells within us (Acts 2:38). God’s Spirit is constantly at work in those who give him room to shave away the remaining stubble of sin that irritates and infects us and those around us. In the place of our selfish, fleshly desires, the Spirit begins to plant the characteristics of our God who we know as Creator, Redeemer, Father, and Friend.
By the Spirit’s unseen power, as we cooperate with him by walking with God daily in the Word, in prayer, in worship and in service, we are transformed by God’s power from the inside out. As the Spirit does that gracious work within our hearts, we begin to show evidence that we are children of God by the way we act, the way we talk, the way we make Jesus more visible to the people around us. That’s what life in the Spirit is all about.
Sermon: Who Will We Imitate is by Caleb McCaughan
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