“Fruit of the Spirit - Love”

Hello and welcome to “Key to the Kingdom.” My name is Bret McCasland. When people see those who call themselves Christians, they immediately ask themselves a few questions. Does that person truly represent Jesus? Is that person obeying the teaching of the One they claim to follow? In other words, they want to know if that person who claims to be a Christian is really living like one. And perhaps the one thing they look for most often is whether or not a person demonstrates love in his or her life. Love is perhaps the most important quality a Christian can possess and to put on display. Others want to see if a Christian’s faith is real and authentic, and living a life of love is one of the most obvious ways to tell. Today on “Key to the Kingdom,” we will look at the importance of love in a Christian's life. There are many passages in the Bible which indicate how love is to be at the foundation of those who are following Jesus, and it is to be displayed in many different ways. I trust you will stay with us for the next few minutes as we study about what love is supposed to look like in those who call themselves Christians. I hope you will now open up your Bible and your heart as we begin to study together.  

A story is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 22. A teacher of the Law comes to Jesus and asks Him a question. We find these words beginning in that 22nd chapter and verse 37. <"What is the greatest command?" Jesus said, "'Love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."> These words are a summary of the teaching of the Old Testament. It is found in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5: <Love the Lord God with everything you have.> And also in Leviticus chapter 19, verse 18: <Love your neighbor as yourself.> And those are perhaps the most powerful and most important words Jesus ever spoke. There is nothing better than to love God and to love people. Oh, there are many other passages in the Bible which emphasize the giving of one's love and devotion to the Lord, and the second of those commands is not quite as prominent. However, according to Jesus, it is still the second most important. For a few minutes in our lesson today, I want us to think about what that commandment, that second commandment, looks like in the lives of people who follow Jesus Christ. In the letter called Galatians, the Apostle Paul wrote to some Christians who were living in the area called Galatia. They were struggling to live the kind of life that represented the Lord, and so the Apostle wrote out a list of nine qualities or nine characteristics that some people call the fruit of the Spirit. And he's basically pointing out, these are the kind of attitudes, the kind of behaviors, you need to be demonstrating in your life. He wrote these words in Galatians 5, beginning with verse 22. <"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things, there is no law."> Now together, those characteristics make up the people who belong to the Lord. And Paul encouraged his readers, then, and encourages us today, to pursue those nine different qualities or characteristics in our life, and then to pursue them as we live from one day to the next. Leading up to what he just wrote here in verses 22 and 23, he also wrote this in verse 13 of that 5th chapter. <You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."> The kind of love Paul had in mind is the same kind of love Jesus had in mind when He answered the question from that teacher of the Law. It is the love that we are to have for one another. It is, again, the second greatest commandment. It is the practical proof that we love and we accept one another as we ourselves have been loved and accepted by God. And it is the first of the nine fruit that Paul lists here in Galatians chapter 5. And when I think about that, I begin to consider why is love at the very top of the list? Perhaps it is because Jesus talked about it so very much. Paul wrote about it many times, in the other letters he wrote; and it is one of the most important qualities anybody who is a follower of Jesus Christ can possess in his or her life. Another apostle, named John, also wrote a great deal about love. Three times in his Gospel, John recorded Jesus commanding His disciples to love one another. Five times in 1st John he reminds us; this is a commandment that comes from God. Here are a few of those statements. John 15, verse 13: Jesus said, <"Greater love has no one than this; than to lay down one's life for one friends:"> Verses 12 and 17, <"Love each other as I have loved you,"> and, <"This is my command: Love each other."> John wrote these words in 1st John 3, verse 11. <For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: You should love one another.> Verse 17: <If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?> And then also chapter 4 verses 7 and 8: <Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love.> Those are just a few of the many times in Scripture where we find something being written or something being said about the importance of loving people. It really is a big deal to love the people whom God puts into our life. Back in Galatians chapter 5, we see the fruit of love as being the first thing people need to see when we are walking by the Holy Spirit. And that is the one thing that is to be found in all of our attitudes and in all of our actions. There are, I believe, at least three things we can notice today in regards to the importance of love and what that needs to look like. First of all, we need to understand that love is a matter of life and death. You know, that might sound like a dramatic statement; and yet it's true. We find it two times here in the letter of 1st John. First of all, in chapter 1, verse 5: <This is the message we have heard from the Lord and we declare it to you. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.> Well, John repeats that with an added command in chapter 3, beginning in verse 10: <Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. For this is the message you have heard from the beginning. We should love one another.> For John, walking in the light and walking in love were two of the very most basic and essential parts of being a true follower of Jesus Christ. He also makes it very clear that love for others is also an essential part of receiving eternal life with God. Here are these words from verse 14: <We know that we have passed from death to life because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.> For John, love for one another really is a matter of life and death. It is that serious in his mind. Faith in God, through His son, Jesus Christ, and love for one another, go hand in hand. His teaching revolves around the fact that eternal life is received by faith, but then it is demonstrated by love. And we understand that, don't we? How tragic it is for those who have received God's gift of eternal life, and yet they refuse to love the people in their life. You know, when you visit a church, or perhaps when you are attending the church that you are a member of, and you go to that church, you exchange interaction with other people, one of the first things perhaps you notice is whether or not the people are welcoming and friendly. It's an indication as to whether or not they are living a life of love. And we have those exchanges with those people, or maybe we don't. And based upon those types of examples, those types of interactions, we choose to either be a part of that particular church or we choose to go somewhere else. And all of it is based upon the love that is demonstrated by people. Do we feel loved when we walk in the door? Do other people exchange greetings and kindness and encourage other people, who come to visit our particular church. You know, other people recognize that. They pick up on it. And no doubt for the most part, all of us are looking for a place where we can receive love and where we can offer love to other people. You know, when we put our love into action it is the assurance that God's presence is within us. It is evidence of the Holy Spirit at work. Yet, on the other hand, when we don't show love for one another, but when we fuss or when we fight among ourselves, it demonstrates that we have no love; and, we may even remain in death. So for John, love really is a matter of life and death. Here's a second thing I want us to notice: Love is a matter of our faith. The passages from John's Gospel were written to Christians living some 60 years after Jesus spoke to them, and yet they were to be put into place as those people lived out their faith. And the point John made about loving one another is echoed by another writer, and that is James, who happens to be a brother of Jesus. And he wrote words to some first century or first generation Christians, only 15 years or so after Jesus spoke to them. He also had something very important to say about loving one another. Here are these words from James chapter 2, beginning with verse 14. <What good is it, my brothers and sisters? If someone claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.> Jesus, John, James, the Apostle Paul, all seem to be in agreement. They all stress the importance of loving one another if we claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And that love is not just a feeling that we have toward someone or to a group of people, but rather that is something we do. It is an action. It is something that we demonstrate because of the love that we have for people. Here are some more words from the Apostle John, 1st John chapter 3, beginning with verse 23. <This is His command: to believe in the name of His son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us.> This is one command, but it is stated in two ways. We are commanded to not only believe in the name of God's Son, but we are also commanded to love one another. In other words, if we do the first, and that is believe in Jesus, then naturally, we will do the second: We will love people. And yet, on the other hand, if we are not doing the second, loving people, then in reality we don't believe in Jesus. Those two things are very closely tied together. James wrote, faith without deeds is dead. Now, John wrote, faith without love is dead. If we are not showing love for one another, we are simply not obeying the commands of our Lord. We might even ask ourselves, What are some ways that I can show love to other people? How can I obey the commands of the Lord by loving those whom He puts before me? You know, I really hope that as true followers of Jesus that our faith is making a difference in the way we live. Other people are recognizing whether or not we even belong to Jesus Christ as they see us demonstrating or not demonstrating our love. Here's a third thing for us to consider: Love is a matter of representing Jesus. John wrote these words in 1st John, beginning in chapter 4 verse 7. <Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.> Thirteen times the word love, or a form of it, is used in the verses we just read. You know, any love we share with others is a demonstration of God's love for us. And so through these words, John is seeking to motivate to encourage and to inspire us to imitate that same kind of love in our relationships with other people. He draws our attention to Jesus dying upon the cross. And obviously, Jesus’ death on the cross is the ultimate expression of God's great love. That was Jesus. That was the Father's one and only Son, and Jesus went to the cross and died on our behalf. And that perhaps is the greatest attribute of God's love, when He sent Jesus to do that very thing. The Apostle Paul wrote these words in Romans 8 and verse 32: <Our Heavenly Father did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all.> How difficult that must have been. What a sacrifice it was for God to offer His Son for your sake and for mine, so that we could experience the love of God, so we could experience that promise of eternal life with Him. The cross of Christ is not just the means by which we are saved it is also the model by which we are to live. You know, at times we find, perhaps, it is difficult to love some of the people God puts into our life. I suppose we can all relate to that. Something just doesn't click. Something just doesn't connect with certain people. In fact, we may not even like certain people. We don't want to spend time with them. We don't like being around them. And that's understandable. That happens to all of us. But there is a difference between liking someone and loving someone. We may not like them, but we are still commanded to love them. And the inspiration to do that goes all the way back to the cross of Christ. Jesus is and He has always been the source of all love. There are many people in this world who do not believe there is God. They don't believe a man named Jesus was sent to this earth as His Father's representative to die upon the cross for all people. And it's hard for those people to understand that kind of love. And I get that. It just doesn't resonate with some people. Why would a loving father send his son to die for the sake of other people? And yet, by faith, we believe. We too may not understand that, but by faith we believe that's exactly what happened. That's what God did because of His amazing love for us. And because of that great love, then we respond in the same way. We have been so impacted by God's love for us that it makes a difference in how we live. That love is not terminal with us, but we are then inspired to share that same kind of love with the people who have never experienced God's love. In other words, God's love demonstrated to us is not to end with us. If we truly want to act upon our faith in the Lord then we will be the source through which God's love flows to other people. And as John has pointed out in the passage we just read, it is a spiritually deadly thing when Christians do not love one another. It flies in the face of our very existence as God's children. And our mission up on this earth is to be disciples of Jesus Christ and then to help make others become disciples of Jesus Christ. And all of that begins by demonstrating the same kind of love that God has for us in the giving of His Son. And that is probably why the Apostle Paul included love as the number one thing in regards to the fruit of the Spirit, back in Galatians chapter 5. When we love one another it demonstrates our eternal life and our saving faith really does mean something to us. The story is told of a Christian lady from Puerto Rico who lived in New York City. And even though she spoke very little English, she wanted to do something to help the church. And so the minister said, “Why don't you ride on one of those busses that goes around town, picks up children and brings them here to the church building, and minister to those people;” and so she chose to do that. She immediately found one young boy who seemed to be overlooked and somewhat neglected, and she befriended him. She spent time with him. And she, through her broken English, said to him every day, or every Sunday, “I love you and Jesus loves you, too.” And finally, after hearing those words so many times, he responded and he said, “I love you, too.” That was on a Sunday afternoon, and that night that young boy's body was found underneath the apartment stairs. His life was taken by his own mother. I love you and Jesus loves you were some of the last words that young boy ever heard. There are people, from young children to older adults, living in our cities, our villages, and our neighborhoods where we live who need our love and who need our attention. They need to hear that God loves them and that we love them, too. And God forbid if something were to happen to us today; but if that was the case, then what would be some of the last words that we would ever speak? Or maybe more importantly, what would be the last thing people remember about us? I would encourage us all, today, to think very carefully about how we can demonstrate the love of God to the people He puts into our life.

Some of the trees you see behind me, perhaps, are fruit trees. I'm not sure. It is winter time as I film this and I can't tell for sure what kind of trees those are or what kind of fruit will be displayed. But when the spring comes, the summertime comes, there will be flowers and leaves and fruit on those trees, and then we can see for sure the identity of that tree. But if something were to happen between now and springtime, and, whatever it is, those trees don't begin to produce fruit then we know there's a problem. When I think about that I realize, as Christians, when we become a child of God we are given the Holy Spirit. And part of the gift of the Spirit is that we have fruit in our life that is to be shown to other people. In Galatians chapter 5, there is a list of nine fruit, or characteristics, that we are to have and which are to be displayed to other people. The very first fruit is that of love. As Christians, we love the people whom God puts into our life. We love one another. We love those who are overlooked and neglected by this world. And when we demonstrate that love it identifies us with Jesus Christ, and people can see that. I really hope these trees produce the kind of fruit they are supposed to produce at just the right time. But I really hope that we, as Christians, produce the kind of fruit that we are supposed to be producing. God has given that fruit to us. We have every measure of the fruit we need. And it is important that we demonstrate the fruit, especially to the fruit of love, in all of our relationships with other people.

Thank you for watching “Key to the Kingdom.’ I trust this message on love made us think about how we can demonstrate that most important quality in our day to day lives. Many people in this world need to see the love of the Lord, and they might be looking to us to find it. If you would like to view or to listen to this message again, I encourage you to go to our website. It is keytothekingdom.com. It, along with many other lessons, is there and can be downloaded in a variety of ways. There is no charge and certainly there is no obligation to do any of that. There are other resources on the site that might be of interest. One minute and two minute devotional thoughts, along with several different Bible studies are also available. A free phone app can be downloaded onto smart-phones. All of these mass media options will hopefully assist you in your daily walk with the Lord. I want to thank you again for being a part of today's program, and I encourage you to consider joining us again next time as we continue to study the Bible on “Key to the Kingdom.”