The Fruit of the Spirit
June 27, 2004
The Rev. Dr. Anthony J. Godlefski, Pastor
Montgomery United Methodist Church
Psalm 121
2 Kings 2: 1-2, 6-14
Galatians 5: 22-25
John 20: 19-23
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning!
What is the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Would you like to have the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life today? Let’s explore those questions this morning, shall we?
Welcome to mid-summer, a glorious time of year. From the shortest day on about the 21st of December up until now we’ve been waiting for this time. The days are at their longest. The earth is in full bloom. What a glorious, exciting time of year!
Not only that, but the produce aisle of your local supermarket is filled with the most wonderful fruit, isn’t it? It’s a joy just to walk down that aisle. The beautiful red of the watermelon, the golden yellow of the pineapple, the incredible sparkling red of the strawberry, the pungent taste of blueberry. I brought something to show you, a cantaloupe with some strawberries. You get the point.
Fruit – it’s nourishing, it’s delicious, and it’s beautiful. Artists draw it all the time. And it replenishes us. What a gift of God! think of it – God could have made fruit look like grey shoeboxes, but He didn’t. He made it beautiful and fragrant and nourishing and welcome everywhere.
In our Bible reading this morning, we hear St. Paul compare the gifts of God to fruit. Won’t you hear it again? Read with me, the fifth chapter of Galatians, the 22nd verse:
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Thus says the Word of the Lord. Even as God blesses us with the fruit of the earth in this mid-summer, His Holy Spirit blesses us with these spiritual fruits. Wouldn’t you like to have them in your spiritual life? Let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about how we can make these wonderful fruits of the Spirit grow in our lives.
You know, I have to tell you, the last time we visited this text together I think you may have heard me say, of all those fruits of the Spirit, which one was my least favorite. At that time, my least favorite was the last one, self-control. My understanding of it at the time was that it was like that cartoon of Hagar the Horrible. Hagar goes to the doctor and says, “Doctor, I don’t feel so good. What can I do to feel better?” And Dr. Zook, with his hood, says to Hagar, “Stop eating everything you like. Start eating everything you don’t like. Stop doing everything you like to do. And start doing everything you don’t like to do.” And Hagar says, “I don’t think I feel so bad anymore.”
Well, that’s what I used to think about that gift, but I’ve changed my mind. The fruit of the Holy Spirit that is self-control is a good and beautiful thing, because it simply means one thing – make the right decisions, with God’s help. Let God’s Holy Spirit inspire you to simply make the right decisions, the right thing for you, the right thing for those in your world. That’s what self-control really is, the ability to make good decisions.
Let’s talk about that some today. You know, fruit is fruit. Fruit isn’t made. Fruit isn’t produced in a finger snap. Fruit is sown. Fruit is grown. And fruit is known. How do we get all those rich fruits in our lives?
First of all, know that fruit is sown, sown from a seed. My question for you is, “What seeds are you planting in your life?” When my godson Dylan visits my house, if we have fruit, he always wants to save the seeds. If he’s been in the kitchen and I come back to the kitchen, I will not be surprised to find a peach pit in a glass of water. He says, “Can’t we save these seeds? We can grow a peach tree.” Or “We can grow an apple tree.” Or “We can grow an avocado.” He always wants to plant the seeds. Maybe you can relate.
Friends, fruit is sown. What do we plant in our lives? Ideas and thoughts are the seeds that will eventually grow in our lives. You are sensitive people. Treat yourselves well. Treat yourselves to positive ideas. Read your Bible until you find a seed that you need to have grow in your life. How are we doing with the movies and television shows that we watch? With the books we read? Treat yourselves well. Read positive thoughts. Read your Bible. Watch shows that are uplifting with your family, because seeds are sown.
Second, seeds are grown. Someone once said that “a thought repeated becomes an idea, repeated becomes a spoken word, repeated becomes an action, repeated becomes a habit, repeated becomes a way of life, repeated becomes who we are.” So be careful what you plant. You are a child of God. You are a person of worth. You are a person of dignity. What would you like to have grow in your garden? Choose your seeds carefully, as a person of God, a person of dignity, would.
Seeds are sown. Seeds are grown. And, seeds are known. Fruit is known. Jesus said, “By their fruit, you shall know them.” How would we like to be known? What kind of fruit would we like to have blossom in our lives? How would we like to have people remember us? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, when people spoke our names, they’d say, “That person is a person of love. That person is a person of joy, a person of peace. She’s so patient. He’s so kind. She’s so gentle. He’s so generous. She is so filled with faith. He is so thoughtful. That person really has mastered his spirit”? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have people say that of us? It all has to do with the choices we make and the seeds we plant in our hearts.
My invitation to you is to exercise the gift of self-control. Let God plant God’s seed in your heart. Give yourself some patience. And let it grow. And your life will be a beautiful one.
There is a story told about an old grandfather who was very wise and very patient. One day his wonderful grandson came to him and knelt at his feet and leaned his chin on Grandpa’s knee. Grandpa looked at him and said, “What’s the matter, my boy?” The boy was sad. He began to cry. The grandfather said, “Tell me about it, won’t you?”
The little boy said, “Grandpa, Daddy took me with him to the market to sell our vegetables. He told me that he’d get something special for me when we got there. So I went with him. When we got there, there was a little penknife that I’ve always wanted. Dad got it for me. I was so happy with it. I went outside to admire it in the sun. as I was looking at it, some bigger boys came around, and they started to tease me, Grandpa. They said bad things. They said I didn’t deserve to have a knife like that. One of the boys pushed me, and I fell over another one, and they were laughing. They took my knife and ran away. Grandpa, I hate them so.”
The grandfather gently stroked the boy’s head and thought of what to say. He said to his grandson, “You know, my boy, hate is a terrible thing. I, too, have been tempted to hate in my life those people who oppress things, those people who take advantage, those who take what they should not take. But I tell you this: Anger is hurting yourself and thinking it will hurt your enemy. It does not.”
He said, “My boy, I feel as though I have two animals living inside of me. One of them is a white horse with great wings. The white horse with great wings is loving and kind and gets along with everyone that it can. The white horse knows my best interests and affirms my best qualities. The white horse only fights when it absolutely must, and then only in the right way.
“But there is another animal that lives inside me, and it is the red wolf. The red wolf is angry all the time. The red wolf is provoked to anger at a second’s notice. The red wolf is suspicious; the red wolf flares at the least provocation. And both of them struggle for the control of my spirit.”
And the little boy said to his grandfather, “Which one wins, Grandpa? The red wolf or the white horse?”
And the grandfather said, “My boy, the one I feed.”
Which will we feed, dear friends? The choice is before us. Plant good seed, and watch it grow. Feed the spirit that lifts you up and that makes Jesus Christ proud.
God bless you. God loves you. I do, too. Have a blessed week. Amen.