FIRST CORINTHIANS 13
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. (NASB)
I Corinthians 13:4-8
Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited, arrogant and inflated with pride; it is not rude, unmannerly, and does not act unbecomingly. Love, God’s love in us, does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it, it pays no attention to a suffered wrong. It does not rejoice at injustice and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything without weakening. (THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE)
Love is the first quality listed in Galatians chapter 5. The best place to start our study on love is to go to 1 Corinthians 13.
We will start off with some insights from others and then I will have some comments at the end.
Paul begins with two positive aspects of love, love is patient, love is kind. The first is passive, not retaliating. The second is active, bestowing benefits.
This twofold opening statement stands as a daily challenge to every Christian! But the “descriptive definition” does not stop here but is followed with a series of primarily negative aspects of love; love never brags, is never arrogant and so on.
This description of “agape” should drive every believer to the foot of the Cross and to a complete surrender to our lord Jesus Christ, Who is the perfect fulfillment of “agape” and Who alone by His Spirit’s filling and control can enable us to work out this aspect of our salvation in fear and trembling to the glory of the Father.
Remember the context of the preceding three verses of this “crown jewel of Holy Scripture for there we learn that love is indispensable and is more important than eloquent communication, spiritual gifts, or personal sacrifice. We may have all the trappings of true religion but if we don’t have love, we don’t have anything at all.
The Corinthians were impatient with each other, suing each other, tolerating sin in the church, and creating problems because they did not have love. Paul emphasizes that whatever gifts and or qualities a believer may possess, they are nothing without love.
A. T. Robertson says that 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 pictures the character or conduct of love in a marvelous rhapsody.
Chrysostom adds that here Paul makes an outline of love’s matchless beauty, adorning its image with all aspects of virtue, as if with many colors brought together with precision.
C. F. Pfeiffer has an interesting comment writing that one might almost say that love is personified here, since the description is practically a description of the life and character of Jesus Christ. However, the picture is directly related to the Corinthians. The observance of the truths of this chapter would have solved their problems.
C. Hodge introduces this famous passage noting that almost all the instructions of the New Testament are suggested by some occasion and are adapted to it. This chapter is not a methodical dissertation on Christian love, but shows that grace is contrasted with the extraordinary gifts that the Corinthians valued inordinately. Therefore, the traits of love that are mentioned are those that contrasted with the Corinthians use of their gifts. They were impatient, discontented; envious, puffed up, selfish, indecorous, unmindful of the feelings and interests of others, suspicious, resentful, censorious. The apostle personifies love and places her before them and lists her graces not in logical order but as they occurred to him in contrast to the deformities of character that the Corinthians displayed.
John MacArthur explains that “agape love” is the greatest virtue of the Christian life. Yet that type of love was rare in pagan Greek literature. That’s because the traits of “agape” love portrays, unselfishness, self-giving, willful devotion, concern for the welfare of others, were mostly disdained in ancient Greek culture as signs of weakness. However, the New Testament declares “agape” to be the character trait around which all others revolve. The apostle John writes, “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16)
LOVE IS PATIENT
The word “patient” used here is the Greek word “makrothumeo.”
“Makrothumeo” describes manifesting a state of emotional calm or quietness in the face of provocation, misfortune or unfavorable circumstances. Love never says, “I’ve had enough.” It suffers indefinitely. It is longsuffering and continues in spite of conduct likely to quench it. This continuance often, but not always, shows itself in restraining anger.
“Makrothumeo” describes especially patience towards people who act unjustly toward us. Another verb meaning to be patient is “hupomeno” which describes patience under circumstances, although there can be some overlap for circumstances often involve people. In other words the emphasis of “makrothumeo” is not so much a call to patience with circumstances as to patience with people. The action indicated by both verbs is essential to development of our Christian character, for patience with people is just as important as patience with circumstances. Patience is the righteous standard God expects all believers to conform to no matter what person he places, or allows, into your life or whatever trying circumstance you might face.
W. E. Vine has this note on “makrothumeo” writing that longsuffering is that quality of self-restraint in the face of provocation which does not hastily retaliate nor promptly punish; it is the opposite of anger and is associated with mercy.
L. O. Richards adds that the word group “makrothumeo” and “makrothumia” focuses our attention on restraint: that capacity of self-control despite circumstances that might arouse the passions or cause agitation. In personal relationships, patience is forbearance. This is not so much a trait as a way of life. We keep on loving or forgiving despite provocation, as illustrated in Jesus’ pointed stories in Matthew 18.
P. W. Barnett notes that “makrothumeo” is a metaphorical word, literally “long burning,” as of a decent log burning for many hours in an open fire, as contrasted with light pine kindling that fizzes and sputters, sending showers of sparks in all directions.
Chrysotom, and early church father, said that “makrothumeo” is a word which is used of the man who is wronged and who has it easily in his power to avenge himself but will never do it.
J. Vernon McGee writes that the idea is “long-burning,” it burns a long time. We should not have a short fuse with our friends and Christian brothers. We should not make snap judgments.
Illustration of love is patient:
Paul Tan illustrates this trait writing that during the late 1500’s, Dr. Thomas Cooper edited a dictionary with the addition of 33.000 words and many other improvements. He had already been collecting materials for eight years when his wife, a rather difficult woman, went into his study one day while he was gone and burned all of his notes under the pretense of fearing that he would kill himself with study. Eight years of work, a pile of ashes! Dr. Cooper came home, saw the destruction, and asked who had done it. His wife told him boldly that she had done it. The patient man heaved a deep sigh and said, “Oh Dinah, Dinah, thou hast given a world of trouble!” Then he quietly sat down to another eight years of hard labor, to replace the notes which she had destroyed. Next time you thing you’ve arrived at being patient, Dr. Cooper’s example will give you something to imitate!
LOVE IS KIND
The idea is that the kind person is disposed to be useful or helpful, even seeking out the needs of the other person to selflessly meet those needs without expectation of being repaid in kind! This quality of love inclines one to be of good service to others.
The Greek word for “kind” used here is “chresteuomai,” which basically means to provide something beneficial for someone as an act of kindness. It is an attitude of being willing to help or assist rendering gracious, well-disposed service to others. It is active goodwill. It not only feels generous, but is generous. It also describes one’s “gentle in behavior.”
“Chresteuomai” is not merely passive but it is actively engaged in doing good to others. It’s the picture of a person who spontaneously seeks the good for others and shows it with friendly acts. It is considerate and helpful to others, is gently and mild and always ready to show compassion.
Matthew Henry describes this kindness as benign, bountiful; it is courteous and obliging. The law of kindness is in her lips; her heart is large, and her hand open. She is ready to show favors and to do good. She seeks to be useful; not only seizes on opportunities of doing good, but searched for them. This is her general character. She is patient under injuries, and apt and inclined to do all the good offices in her power. And under these two generals all the particulars of the character may be reduced.
Ray Pritchard has the following thoughts on a selfless love that is always kind writing that “chresteuomai” means something like “sweet usefulness.” Love is quick to help others and eager to reach out to those in need. Perhaps you have seen this famous quote:
“I shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it, or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”
Mark Twain called kindness “a language that the deaf ear can hear and the blind can read.”
In one of his news reports, Paul Harvey told about a man named Carl Coleman who was driving to work when a woman motorist, passing too close, snagged his fender and hers. Both cars stopped. The young woman surveying the damage was in tears. It was her fault, she admitted. But it was a new car, less than two days from the showroom. How was she ever going to face her husband? Mr. Coleman was sympathetic but explained they must not each other’s license number and automobile registration. The woman reached into the glove compartment of her to retrieve the documents in an envelope. And on the first paper to tumble out, in a heavy masculine scrawl, were these words: “In case of accident, remember, Honey, it’s you I love, not the car.”
John MacArthur notes that the first test of Christian kindness, and the test of every aspect of love, is the home. The Christian husband who acts like a Christian is kind to his wife and children. Christian brothers and sisters are kind to each other and to their parents. They have more than a kind feeling toward each other; they do kind, helpful things for each other, to the point of loving self-sacrifice, when necessary. For the Corinthians, kindness meant giving up their selfish jealous, spiteful, and proud attitudes and adopting the spirit of loving-kindness.
Now Paul begins a series of 8 negative definitions that do not spring from love, for love and jealousy, etc, are mutually exclusive. Where one is, the other cannot be.
LOVE IS NOT JEALOUS
The Greek word used for “jealous” is “zeloo” which means to be fervent, to “boil” with envy, to be jealous. It can used commendably to refer to a striving for something or showing zeal.
Whether “zeloo” is constructive zeal or destructive envy depends on the context. In 1 Corinthians 13:4 “zeloo” clearly is used in a bad sense of a hostile emotion based on resentment which is “heated or boiling” with envy, hatred or anger.
“Zeloo” in the bad sense can be manifest in two forms, one is which the person sets their heart on something that belongs to someone else or a second form in which one has intense feelings over another’s achievements or success.
A. C. Thiselton adds that “zeloo” applies the notion of burning or boiling metaphorically to burning or boiling emotions, stance, or will for earnest striving, for passionate zeal, or for burning envy. Whether it is constructive zeal or destructive envy depends on the context. The envy which is carried over from a status seeking, non-Christian Corinthian culture into the Christian church is not of the Holy Spirit, and is deemed to be incompatible with love, which does not begrudge the status and honor of another, but delights in it for the sake of the other.
Augustine wrote that the reason why love does not envy is because it is not puffed up. For where puffing up precedes, envy follows, because pride is the mother of envy.
John MacArthur writes that the second sort of jealousy is more than selfish; it is desiring evil for someone else. It is jealousy on the deepest, most corrupt, and destructive level. That is the jealousy Solomon uncovered in the woman who pretended to be a child’s mother. When her own infant son died, she secretly exchanged him for the baby of a friend who was staying with her. The true mother discovered what had happened and, when their dispute was taken before the king, he ordered the baby to be cut in half, a half to be given to each woman. The true mother pleaded for the baby to be spared, even if it meant losing possession of him. The false mother, however, would rather have had the baby killed than for the true mother to have him. (1 Kings 3:16-27)
William Barclay phrases it this way writing that there are two kinds of envy. The one covets the possessions of other people; and such envy is very difficult to avoid because it is a very human thing. The other is worse, it grudges the very fact that others should have what it has not; it does not so much want things for itself as wish that others had not got them. Meanness of soul can sink no further than that.
How significant is the sin of jealousy? Proverbs explains that “Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, but who can stand before jealousy? (Proverbs 27:4)
It is therefore not surprising to observe that the Bible is filled with illustrations that portray the disastrous effect of jealousy on personal relationships, beginning with Cain’s envy of Abel resulting in his murder of his own brother! (Genesis 4:3-8)
Moses records the jealousy of Joseph’s brothers writing:
And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind”
“Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, A wild beast devoured him. Then let us see what will become of his dreams.”
“Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; for he is our brother, our own. And his brothers listened to him. (Genesis 37:11, 20. 27)
In the New Testament Luke records other jealousy motivated acts (in Acts) writing that:
“The high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy and they laid hands on the apostles, and put them in a public jail. (Acts 5:17-18)
“But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.” (Acts 13:45)
What you are filled with clearly will control you.
When one is filled with jealousy, their actions are controlled by that green monster. Not surprisingly we see that the divine antidote for one fill with jealousy is to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Spirit borne Christian love does not manifest this attitude and this trait is never to be a part of the Christian’s “wardrobe.” Loves does not desire for itself the possessions of or control over people. A loving person is never jealous but is glad for the success of others, even if their success works against his own.
Ray Pritchard writes that jealousy is the sin of those who think others have too much and they have too little. By contrast, love is generous. It does not begrudge others their gifts. How do you respond to the good fortune of others? If they do better than you, if they prosper when you don’t, if their family seems happy while yours is torn apart, how will you react? If they achieve what you cannot, if they gain what you lack, if they win where you lose, then the truth will come out. Can you lose gracefully? Can you walk away from the contest without bitterness?
If you live long enough, you will probably find someone who does what you do better than you can do it. You will meet people with your talents and your gifts, only much more of them. You will find people who surpass you in every way. What will you do then? This one test of love. And if you live long enough, you are certain to encounter people who are less talented and less gifted than you in every way, yet they seem to catch all the breaks and end up ahead of you in the great game of life. How will you respond when an inferior person passes you by? This is even sterner test of love.
How do your react when other Christians receive blessings or benefits that we lack?
Do you allow the sparks of envy to burn and them to a full flame?
No one is more miserable than someone filled with jealousy or envy. They rob us of happiness and make our good accomplishments seem bad. Furthermore, they exact their own punishment.
On the wall of a chapel in Padua, an old city in northeastern Italy, hangs a painting by the Renaissance artist Giotto. The painter depicted envy with long ears that could hear every bit of news of another’s success. He also gave Envy the tongue of a serpent to poison the reputation of the one being envied. But if you could look at the painting carefully, you would notice that the tongue coils back and stings the eyes of the figure itself. Not only did Giotto picture envy being blind, but also as destroying itself with its own venomous evil.
If we resent the success and accomplishments of others and find ourselves striking out at them with damaging words or insidious innuendoes, we have a problem with jealousy. But God wants to administer the antidote of love. That alone will keep us from becoming jealousy’s victim.
LOVES DOES NOT BRAG
“Perpereuomai” is the Greek word for brag. It means to talk with conceit or to behave as a braggart or windbag, exhibiting self-display and employing rhetorical embellishments in extolling one’s self excessively.
Love does not try to prove itself and say, “Watch how loving I can be” but instead works behind the scenes.
Love does not parade it accomplishments. It does vaunt oneself so as to parade one’s imagined superiority over others.
Love does not vaunt itself even regarding gifts which it really possesses, which is clearly an indirect rebuke of those at Corinth who used their spiritual gifts for display. Love creates a self-effacing stance rather than giving in to the temptation to assume an air of superiority.
William Barclay writes that there is a self-effacing quality in love. True love will always be far more impressed with is own unworthiness that its own merit.
A. C. Thiselton comments that again the verb underlines the issue of status seeking and triumphalism at Corinth. Even believers seemed to have come to act the part of braggarts, which was at odds with cruciform, Christlike love.
S. J. Kistenmaker adds that such a person parades his embellished rhetoric to gain recognition. His behavior is marked by egotism, subservience toward superiors, and
Condescension toward subordinates. A braggart exhibits pride in himself and his accomplishments. But such bragging is devoid of love to God and to one’s fellow man, and is blatant sin. Further, bragging and arrogance go hand in hand.
John MacArthur has an interesting not explaining that bragging is the other side of jealousy. Jealousy is wanting what someone else has. Bragging is trying to make others jealous of what we have. Jealousy puts others down; bragging builds us up. It is ironic that, as much as most us dislike bragging in others, we are so inclined to brag ourselves. C. S. Lewis called bragging the “utmost evil.” It is the epitome of pride, which is the root of all sins. Bragging puts ourselves first. Everyone else, including God must therefore be of less importance to us. It is impossible to build ourselves up without putting others down. When we brag, we can be “up” only if others are down.
LOVE IS NOT ARROGANT
“Phusioo” is the Greek word for arrogant, which literally means to puff up like a pair of bellows, and is used figuratively to describe one who becomes “inflated”, proud, haughty or puffed up with pride.
It means to cause one to have an exaggerated self-conception.
William Barclay illustrates the complete opposite of arrogant writing that Napoleon always advocated the sanctity of the home and the obligation of public worship, for others. Of himself he said, “I am not a man life other men. The laws of morality to not apply to me.”
The really great man never thinks of his own importance. Carey, who began life as a cobbler, was one of the greatest missionaries and certainly one of the greatest linguist the world has ever seen. He translated at least parts of the Bible into no fewer that thirty-four Indian languages. When he came to India, he was regarded with dislike and contempt. At a dinner party a snob with the idea of humiliating him, said in a tone that everyone could hear. “I suppose, Mr. Carey, you once worked as a shoe maker.” “No, your lordship,” answered Carey, “not a shoe make, only a cobbler.” He did not even claim to make shoes, only to mend them. No one likes the “important” person. Man dressed in a little brief authority can be a sorry sight.
A. C. Thiselton comments that Paul hammers home the incompatibility of love as respect and concern for the welfare of the other and obsessions about the status and attention accorded to the self. How much behavior among believers and even ministers is actually “attention seeking” designed to impress others with one’s own supposed importance? Some “spiritual songs” may appear to encourage, rather than discourage, this preoccupation with the self rather than with others and with God.
Matthew Henry adds that those who exhibit “agape” will do nothing out of a spirit of contention or vainglory. True love will give us an esteem of our brethren, and raise our value for them; and this will limit our esteem of ourselves, and prevent the tumors of self-conceit and arrogance. These ill qualities can never grow out of tender affections for the brethren, nor a diffusive benevolence.
LOVE DOES NOT ACT UNBECOMINGLY
“Act unbecomingly” comes from the Greek word “aschemoneo,” which means to behave in an ugly, indecent, unseemingly or unbecoming manner.
It means to be ill mannered or rude. This verb speaks of an act in defiance of social and moral standards, with resulting disgrace, embarrassment, and shame. It describes one who acts improperly or with rudeness. It means to behave unmannerly, disgracefully or dishonorably.
G. G. Findlay alluding to this verb writes that: Love imparts a delicacy of feeling beyond the rules of politeness.
A. C. Thiselton does not hold back commenting that love does not elbow its way into conversations, worship services, or public institutions in a disruptive, discourteous, attention-seeking way. The background here may allude to the intrusion of tongues or prophecies at inappropriate moments. But today it may also include any kind of monopolizing of a congregation’s time and attention in the service of the self; in the tone, style, and vocabulary adopted in notices or sermons, or worst of all, the minister over familiar chat show host or “prophet’ of ill mannered rebuke.
Steven Cole relates a tragic illustration. I read of a man who was generally lacking in manners. He never opened the car door for his wife. “She doesn’t have two broken are,” he would say. After many years of marriage, his wife died. At the funeral, as the pallbearers brought her casket out to the hearse, the husband was standing by the door. The funeral director, who knew the husband by name, called out to him and said, “Open the door for her, will you?” He reached for the car door and the, for one second, froze. He realized that he had never opened the door for her in life; now, in her death, it would be the first, last, and only time. A lifetime of regret came crashing down around him. Love is not rude.
LOVE DOES NOT SEEK ITS OWN
Seek its own means that the loveless person desires to have his or her own way, or the highway! Such selfish behavior is the polar opposite of sacrificial love. And the church at Corinth was rife with this sin for they were selfish in the extreme not sharing their food at love feasts, protecting their “rights” and even suing fellow believers in non-Christian setting and using their spiritual gifts not to benefit others but their own advantage.
They did not use their gifts to edify or build up the church but to try to build up themselves up.
Alan Redpath strikes a painful chord to most of us who have been married for any length of time writing that the secret of every discord in Christian homes, communities and churches is that we seek our own way and our own glory.
A. C.Thiselton adds that agape spells judgment on the life that centers round the ego and its interests. For when God’s agape I shed abroad in a man’s heart through the Holy Spirit his life thereby gains a new center. The emphasis is transferred from his own ego to Christ.
Elisabeth Elliot was once speaking on the subject of selfless love to an audience that included some young children who were sitting right in front of her. As she spoke, she wondered how she could make this plain to them, so that they could apply it. Later, she got a letter from one of those children, a six-year-old boy, who wrote, “ I am learning to lay down my life for my little sister. She has to take a nap in the afternoon. I don’t have to take a nap. But she can’t go to sleep unless I come and lay down beside her. So I lay down with my little sister.” That boy is learning to love! If husbands and wives, as well as children, would apply this verse as that little boy did, our homes would be free of conflict.
LOVE IS NOT PROVOKED
Figuratively “paroxuno,” the Greek word for provoked, came to mean to spur on, to cause to be upset, to stimulate as used in this verse to arouse of stir some to anger.
Paul is referring to sinful anger that is never provoked in one who is living out selfless, supernatural love. They are willing to endure slights and insults even as did the One Who is the essence of these attitudes of agape love. And it is His life in us as the Spirit of Christ that enables us to manifest this love, which is not possible in our own strength.
A. C. Thiselton notes that the heart of the word conveys the semantic force of to exasperate, to irritate, as metaphorical extensions of to make sharp, to make pointed, to make acid.
Virtually every lexicon and primary source indicates the notion of reaching a level of exasperation. But how does this express itself.
The English word “pique” combines the same range of nuances as the Greek: something between irritation and anger which takes offense because one’s self-regard has been dented, wounded, or punctured by some sharp point.
Love, Paul urges, does not become exasperated into pique, a transient feeling of wounded vanity, partly because patience delays exasperation and partly because of lack of self interest diverts a sense of self importance away from reacting on the ground of wounded pride: “it is not embittered by injuries, whether real or supposed.
J. B. Phillips paraphrases it well writing that love “in not touchy” which conveys the readiness of overreact on one’s own behalf.
Henry Drummond in “The Greatest Thing in the World” wrote the following about this negative trait noting that the peculiarity of ill temper is that it is the vice of the virtuous. It is often the one blot on an otherwise noble character. You know men who are but perfect, and women who would be entirely perfect, but for an easily ruffled, quick tempered, or “touch” disposition.
John MacArthur has some pithy thoughts regarding the individual who is easily provoked writing that the great colonial preacher and theologian Jonathan Edwards had a daughter with an uncontrollable temper. When a young man fell in love with her and asked her father for her hand in marriage, Dr. Edwards replied, “You can’t have her.” “But I love her and she loves me,” he protested. “It doesn’t matter” the father insisted. Asked why, he said, “Because she is not worthy of you.” “But she is a Christian isn’t she?” “Yes,” said Edwards, “but the grace of God can live with some people with whom no one else could ever live.”
Surely the number one reason both for mental and physical illness in our society today is the overwhelming preoccupation with our rights and the consequent lovelessness. When everyone is fighting for his own rights, no one can really succeed or be happy. Everyone grabs, not one gives, and everyone loses, even when one gets what he wants. Lovelessness can never win in any meaningful or lasting way. It always costs more that it gains.
We get angry when another person gains a privilege or recognition we want for ourselves, because it is our “right.” But to put our rights before our duty and before loving concern for others comes from self-centeredness and lovelessness. The loving person is more concerned about doing what he should and helping where he can that having what he things are his rights and his due. Love considers nothing it right and everything its obligation.
Telling our wives and husbands that we love them is not convincing if we continually get upset and angry at what they say or do. Telling our children that we love them is not convincing if we often yell at them for doing things that irritate us and interfere with our plans. It does no good to protest, “I lose my temper a lot, but it’s all over in a few minutes.” So is a nuclear bomb. A great deal of damage can be done in very short time. Temper is always destructive, and even small temper “bombs” can leave much hurt and damage, especially when they explode on a regular basis. Lovelessness is the cause of temper, and love is the only cure.
Love that takes a person out of himself and centers his attention on the well being of others is the only cure for self-centeredness
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (NASB)
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the work which His presence within accomplishes, is love, joy, (gladness), peace; patience, an even temper, forbearance, kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness, (meekness, humility); self-control (self-restraint, continence), against such things there is no law that can bring change. (The Amplified Bible)
In doing research for this series on the Fruit of the Spirit, I came across some articles by different people who give their interpretation of what the Fruit of the Spirit are. This will be my introduction to the series, and we will also take a look at this word “fruit.”
LEWIS JOHNSON writes the following summation of Galatians 5:22-23, which he classifies as the evidence of the leading of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:24)
“The evidence of the leading of the Spirit lies in a cluster of nine virtues that make up “the fruit of the Spirit.” This fruit is the product of the life of the Spirit in the believer. It is characterized by several interesting features.
First of all, in the fruit of the Spirit there is unity. We notice that the word “fruit” is in the singular. There is only one fruit of the Spirit, but it contains nine virtues. If one of the virtues is missing, then we do not have the fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit’s product is like a watermelon with nine flavors. Many commentators have suggested that the nine virtues illustrate the full-orbed, symmetrical character of the lord Jesus Christ. It is His life that the Spirit produces in the believer.
Second, the fruit of the Spirit possesses a notable harmony, the first triad of virtues being inward in nature, the second, outward, and the third upward.
Third, there is a necessity that believers have the fruit of the Spirit. The lack of the virtues indicates sin against the Holy Spirit who is engaged in producing the virtues in the lives of the saints.
Finally, in the concluding words of Galatians 5:23 there is an important point made by Paul. The Law of Moses finds no flaw in the fruit of the Spirit. The flesh may imitate or counterfeit certain of the virtues, but it can never produce them. The Spirit alone can do that, and the result satisfies all the demands of the moral law in the believer’s life. It is sometimes forgotten that life by the Spirit is not a lower standard that life by the moral law, or the Ten Commandments. It is, if anything a higher standard. Arthur Way has caught that in his rendering of Galatians 5:18, “But if you definitely surrender yourselves to the Spirit’s guidance, you are then not under the law, but ON A HIGHER PLANE.”
CHARLES SPURGEON says, “Brethren, the Spirit of God is not barren: if He were in you He must and will inevitably produce His own legitimate fruit.”
“Old leaves, if they remain upon the trees through the autumn and the winter, fall off in the spring.” We have seen a hedge all thick with dry leaves throughout the winder, and neither frost nor wind has removed the withered foliage, but the spring has soon made clearance. The new life dislodges the old, pushing it away as unsuitable to it. So our old corruptions are best removed by the growth of new graces. “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” It is as the new life buds and opens that the old worn-out things of our former state are compelled to quit their hold of us. Our wisdom lies in have new to God, that by the power of His Holy Spirit all our graces may be vigorous, and may exercise a sin-expelling power over our lives; the new leaves of grace pushing off our old sere affections and habits of sin.”
W. WIERSBE notes that the contrast between works and fruit is important. A machine in a factory works, and turns out a product, but it could never manufacture fruit. Fruit must grow out of life, and in the case of the believer, it is the life of the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). When you thing of “works” you think of effort, labor, strain, and toil; when you think of “fruit” you think of beauty, quietness, the unfolding of life. The flesh produces “dead works” (Hebrews 9:14), but the Spirit produces living fruit. And this fruit has in it the seed for still more fruit (Genesis 1:11). Love begets more love! Joy helps to produce more joy! Jesus is concerned that we produce “fruit, more fruit, much fruit” (John 15: 2, 5), because this is the way we glorify Him. The old nature cannot produce fruit, only the new nature can do that.
Wiersbe emphasizes that the fruit of the Spirit has purpose. We must remember that this fruit is produced to be eaten, not to be admired and put on display. People around us are starving for love, joy, peace, and all the other graces of the Spirit.
When they find them in our lives, they know that we have something they lack. We do not bear fruit for our own consumption; we bear fruit that others might be fed and helped, and that Christ might be glorified. The flesh may manufacture “results” that bring praise to us, but the flesh cannot bear fruit that brings glory to God. It takes patience, an atmosphere of the Spirit, walking in the light, the seed of the Word of God, and a sincere desire to honor Christ.
In short, the secret is the Holy Spirit. He alone can give us that “fifth freedom” freedom from sin and self. He enables us to fulfill the law of love, to overcome the flesh, and to bear fruit.
It is unfortunate that an overemphasis on gifts has led some Christians to neglect the grace of the Spirit. Building Christian character must take precedence over displaying special abilities.
MARTIN LUTHER comments that the Apostle Paul says not, the works of the Spirit, as he said the works of the flesh, but he adorns these Christian virtues with a more honorable name, calling them fruit of the Spirit. For they bring with them most excellent fruits and maximum usefulness, for they that have them give glory to God, and with the same do allure and provoke others to embrace the doctrine and faith of Christ.
LARRY RICHARDS, asks, “Have you ever noticed that along the banks of a stream the vegetation is always abundant and luxurious?
This is what the Bible says about us. As the Holy Spirit flows freely in our lives, a rich and beautiful character grows. We are filled with love, with joy, with peace. In every relationship we exhibit that patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that mark us as God’s own. There is no way, however much we plow and harrow, or cultivate and hoe our character, to produce this crop ourselves. This crop is produced by God the Holy Spirit, and only in those who live by Him.
He summarizes the Biblical concept of spiritual fruit writing that fruitfulness is a consistent concept in the Old Testament and the New Testament. The fruit God seeks in human beings is expressed in righteous and loving acts that bring peace and harmony to the individual and to society. But that fruit is foreign to sinful human nature. Energized by sinful passions, fallen humanity action in ways that harm and bring dissension. God’s solution is found in a personal relationship with Jesus and in the supernatural working of God’s Spirit within the believer. As we live in intimate, obedient relationship with Jesus, God’s Spirit energizes us as we produce the peaceable fruit of a righteousness that can come only from the Lord.
PHIL NEWTON introduces Galatians 5:22-24 with a question: Have you ever walked through a garbage dump?
I’m sure that none of us desire to take a casual stroll through mounds of garbage. But you almost get the feeling that you are doing this when you read through the list of the “deeds of the flesh” which Paul identifies in our context. I have noticed that in our day of environmental concerns companies which deal with garbage have changed the explanation of the work to “waste management.” They try to beautify their grounds surrounding garbage landfills. But whatever they do, they still have garbage. You still see and smell it.
Such is the case with the flesh. The unregenerate nature of man produces its characteristic deeds. An unbeliever can attempt to cover the “garbage” of sin in his life. He can give his actions new, improved names. But garbage is still garbage. Not so with the believer!
The contrast between the flesh and the Spirit are most evident when we observe what each produces. Neutrality does not exist between them. Those who remain in the flesh, the unregenerate condition, will generate the evidence of a life dominated by sin. In distinction, those who are in Christ will manifest the evidence of His character by the indwelling Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit is not an option for a Christian but the necessary evidence that a person is truly a Christian. Here we see the character of Christ being demonstrated through those whom He redeems.
C. NORMAL BARTLETT comments on Paul’s use of fruit in the singular writing that the use of the singular “fruit” instead of the plural “fruits” is instructive. It suggests the common root and interdependence of these several spiritual graces mentioned. They can be produced only in a life that is rooted in the spirit; they cannot be hung outwardly upon a life like the toys and ornaments on a Christmas tree. Fruitage in the Spirit requires rootage in the Spirit. As is has been well put:
CHRISTAIN CHARACTER IS CHRIST’S EXCELLENCY REPRODUCED BY THE SPIRIT IN A RENEWED LIFE.
To bring forth the fruit of the spirit is not only the Christian’s happy privilege; it is his bound duty as well. In a soul born of the Spirit there is to be fruit borne in the Spirit. The fact that we could do nothing to earn our salvation is by no means to be interpreted as implying that, having been saved by grace, we can do nothing to show our gratitude for the salvation we have received. Dare we be unmindful of the words of our Savior to the effect that our heavenly Father is glorified when we bring forth much fruit. “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples (John 15:8)
JOHN EADIE adds that in regard to the fruit, its origin is “the Spirit,” not man’s spirit, or the new and better mode of thinking and feeling to which men are formed by the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit Himself, the Author of all spiritual good. Those who are led by the Spirit not only do not do the works of the flesh, but they bring forth the fruit of the Spirit.
J. VERNON McGEE quips that our problem is that we offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, but when the altar gets hot, we crawl off. We are to abide in Christ if we are to produce fruit.
Paul is stating the principle of fruit-bearing so that we can understand it. The fruit is produced by yielding, by yielding to the sweet influences that are about us. I am not talking about the world and neither is Paul. We are to yield to the Holy Spirit who indwells us. The Holy Spirit wants to produce fruit; it is called the fruit of the Spirit.
With all of this in mind, let’s look at the word “fruit” and find out exactly what it means and what we are talking about.
The word fruit used in the New Testament comes from the Greek word “karpos.”
It can be used in its literal sense to refer to fruit, produce or offspring, which describes that which is produced by the inherent energy of a living organism.
When used figuratively, “karpos” describes the consequence of physical, mental, or spiritual action. In the New Testament the figurative use predominates, especially in the Gospels, where human actions and words are viewed as fruit growing out of a person’s essential being or character. This is also the way Paul uses “karpos” in the present passage, as an expression for desirable, righteous qualities in one’s life, the fruit of the Spirit.
If you will notice the word “fruit” is singular, not plural. One fruit manifest by 9 spiritual attitudes. Fruit in the singular also underscores the unit of the 9 spiritual attitudes, and emphasizes that all work together to produce a Christ like believer, our Lord Jesus Christ being the perfect manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit. Paul does not say fruits, as though portions of fruit might be present in the believer and other portions might not. Instead, the sense of wholeness and unity in will be manifest in the one born of God. By contrast the deeds of the flesh are plural, and they hardly represent unity, nor do they produce unity but only produce strife between me.
In Galatians 5:22, “the fruit of the Spirit “is.” The verb “is” is in the present tense which indicates that this process of fruit bearing is continuous. It doesn’t end.
Just as natural fruit needs to be cultivated, so does spiritual fruit needs to be watered and fed the Word in the soil and atmosphere of the Spirit. And so Paul is very practical explaining that, “If we live by the Spirit let us also walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25).
Fruit is the manifestations of the character of Christ in the lives of believers in consequence of His ministry of the Word among them and of the care of the believers for poor, for this is the fruit, or outward expression of love, attesting its reality, and of the care of laborers in the gospel, for this is the fruit, or outward expression of thankfulness to God for spiritual blessings enjoyed, attesting its reality.
The fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of believers per se, but the fruit which the Holy Spirit produces in and through the lives of believers as they walk in His grace and power. And His fruit is always the outward manifestations of the yielded believer’s inner life.
It is a clear marker of spiritual life, a sure proof that one has experience genuine conversion. A profession of faith in Christ cannot produce holy fruit. Only a genuine possession of the life of Christ can produce supernatural fruit.
Even as the flesh of unbelievers will always produce deeds of the flesh, so too believers now indwelt by the Spirit will always produce some good fruit. It is not unexpected that one aspect of the 9 fold fruit might be better than others, but the point is that all are present in every believer. Our lord’s desire for each believer is produce a “bumper crop” as He explained to His disciples in John 15:8: “By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”
The amount of fruit borne by believers is dependent on one’s willingness to “abide in Jesus for as He said in John 15:5: “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can to nothing.” In Galatians 5:25 abiding translates to yielding to and living by or walking by the Spirit as opposed to the flesh.
Jesus explained to His audience that true inner character, and evidence of a new heart, a spiritually circumcised heart, is recognized by a person’s good fruit or conversely bad fruits, the only possible product of an unregenerate heart. When a tree is rotten it naturally produces rotten fruit. But when indwelling Spirit of God begins to express His mighty power in the inner being of believers, good, God glorifying things begin to happen. The nature of God Himself begins to manifest Himself in our lives and the result is the fruit of the Spirit.
Consider these two passages of Scripture:
Matthew 7:17-19
"Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 12:33
"Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.
John 15:2
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit (karpos) He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit (karpos), He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit (karpos) of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.... “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit (karpos), and so prove to be My disciples. “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit (karpos), and that your fruit (karpos) would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you."
Jesus takes the image of the vine, with God as gardener, from Isaiah. We believers are carefully tended by the Father, pruned and cared for that we may "bear much fruit." Fruitfulness is possible, he said, if we remain in Him and His words remain in us. The point Jesus is making is that fruitfulness is rooted in our personal relationship with Him, and our personal relationship with Him is maintained by living His words: "If you obey My commands you will remain in My love"
John 15:10. God has chosen us. It is His intention that we be fruitful. It is for this reason that He has given us the most intimate of relationships and Jesus' own words to guide us, and it is our responsibility to walk in close fellowship with our Lord.
Newton comments that the fruit of the Spirit distinguishes the person who makes a profession of faith, acts excited about the lord for few weeks or months, then fades away. One of our lord’s parables clearly explains this:
“And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.” (Matthew 13:20-21)
There may be a sense of joy, but it is temporary. There may be a love for others but it is temporary. It is in the demands of life, with all of its harshness and difficulties, that you see the true evidence of the character of Christ in someone’s life. The Christian is not like an “annual” plant which produces fruit for a while, then forever fades away. He has the spirit of a perennial, so that year after year, the same radiant fruit comes forth from his life.
Bearing fruit is natural for fruit trees. They need not strain to produce fruit. You never find a grove of apple or peach trees attending conferences on bearing fruit. Nor do you find fruit trees manipulating one another with browbeating words in attempts to convince a tree to produce fruit. The most natural thing in the world is for a fruit tree to bear its own fruit.
Hear the word of the Lord: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...." The prepositional phrase demonstrates the origin of the character of Christ in the life of the believer, the Holy Spirit. Such character is born through the regenerating and indwelling power of the Spirit in the life of the believer. In regeneration the Holy Spirit changes the nature of the sinner so that his new desire and passion is for Christ, rather than for sin.
Why must he be regenerated? Vaughan explains, "No stream can of itself ascend higher than its source; no nature can transcend itself in the manifestation of its energies, and if man is really dead in trespasses and sins, he can put forth no energy containing in it the element of real holiness, or true spiritual life". A person who merely 'makes a decision for Christ' but has not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit will find himself living in frustration while trying to produce a character which is not of his nature. Jesus told Nicodemus that "Unless a man is born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). The idea of "enter" means to experience or to see firsthand. Jesus explains that to be "born again" is to be born of the Holy Spirit (John 3:6). Apart from such a radical work of the Holy Spirit a sinner will never believe the gospel and repent of his sins. He will never experience the saving work of Christ personally. How can we describe the Spirit's work of regeneration so that the new believer begins to give evidence of a totally different character of soul and life?
It is a profound and radical change in the whole existing moral nature of the man. It makes him a new creature in Christ; it renews his nature; it re-colors his character; it transforms his will; it re-moulds his whole system of thinking, feeling, and acting. It gives him new objects to live for; new rules to live by; new principles to impel to action; and new sensibilities to success or failure in the progress and development of that new life. The new nature by the Spirit is unlike the old nature of the flesh. That is Paul's whole premise in this portion of Galatians. What the Holy Spirit does is to so change a sinner's nature that the most natural fruit of this person's life is the character of Christ. Is this true of you?
What is the fruit if it is not the character of Jesus Christ being manifested in the life of those whom He has redeemed?
Who has loved as has our Lord? Who has manifested joy supremely as Jesus Christ, "who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising its shame" (Hebrews 12:2). Who has walked with perfect peace as our Lord or demonstrated such depths of patience?
What is the Godhead doing in everyone saved by grace?
Our Triune God is reproducing the same character which Christ naturally manifested in this world by giving us a new nature through the Holy Spirit's work. We see this so clearly in Paul's explanation of the dimensions of God's saving work in Romans 8:29, "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren." By the birthing power of the Spirit and the ongoing work of sanctification, the life of the believer is continually "conformed to the image" of Jesus Christ. Such conforming manifests the fruit of the Spirit, the character of Christ.
In the following lessons in our series on the Fruit of the Spirit, we are going to take a look at each one of the 9 spiritual qualities one by one and discover what they are, and how they should be manifested in our lives.
I was at a chapel service prior to going to work as a prayer counselor at CBN, and Gordon Robertson was the speaker. He asked us the question that I am going to ask you, “If the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit belong to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is in you, then where are the fruit and gifts of the Spirit?”
They are in you. They came in you the day you made Jesus the Lord of your life.
There is a difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul made a list of essential qualities that make up the character of the King:
LOVE
JOY
PEACE
PATIENCE
KINDNESS
GOODNESS
FAITHFULNESS
GENTLENESS
SELF-CONTROL
Myles Munroe writes in his book, “The Most Important Person on Earth”:
“Any true manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth will have these characteristics. Paul referred to these qualities as “the fruit of the Spirit.” He was saying, wherever the Holy Spirit was, these qualities should be evident, indicating that the culture of the King was present.
Paul used this particular analogy of fruit because fruit doesn’t appear overnight; it develops over time, and he wanted them to know that they would have cultivate the culture of the King in their lives, under the example and leading of the Holy Spirit. First, the Holy Spirit teaches us the nature of the original government in heaven. Then He shows us that, because He lives within us, we have this original nature and need to manifest it in our lives. This is what is like in the Garden of Eden.
When you received the Holy Spirit, you also received the seed of kingdom nature. You develop this seed by putting into your life the kingdom elements that allow it to grow. For example, and apple tree doesn’t have to “work” to produce fruit. The seeds if the fruit are within it, and eventually, through a process of maturity, enabled by elements as the nutrients in the ground and sunlight, what is on the inside of the tree becomes manifested on its branches. The spiritual that enable the fruit to grow in our lives are maintaining a continual connection with the King, learning the Scriptures of the kingdom, and yielding to direction of the Holy Spirit in our lives. (John 15)(Matthew 5)
Just as apples are a natural outgrowth of apple trees, the fruit of the Spirit becomes a natural development in the life of a kingdom citizen because he is reflecting the nature of his King. For example, one of the fruits of the Spirit is goodness. It is therefore natural for us to be good if we are in the kingdom. If we are not good, we are unnatural. The Holy Spirit connects us to our original nature, which is true life for us as human beings.
The qualities or fruit of the Spirit embody the King’s culture so that, first of all, we see that is a culture of love, a culture of joy, and a culture of peace. Imagine a culture filled with all the qualities in the above list! It’s our culture to be faithful, to be loyal to our commitments. It’s our culture to be gentle. We’re never brash or rude with other people. As Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” It’s our culture to be self-controlled. We never lose control of our tempers or our desires. No matter what happens in our lives, we sill live out and exhibit all these qualities.
The qualities or fruit of the Spirit are not only what the King does; they are what He is. The King doesn’t only act in love; He is love. He doesn’t only demonstrate peace; He is peace. And every aspect of the King’s nature is what we are to be in our essence, as well. This is what Jesus meant when He said, as recorded in the book of Matthew, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
We need to realize that we are to reflect the nature of our heavenly Father.”
To see the nature of our heavenly Father, all you have to do is look at Jesus. One of His disciples asked a question, “Show us the Father?” Jesus’ rely was that if you have seen Me you have seen the Father. Jesus is the exact representation of His Father’s nature. If someone were to ask you, “Show me Jesus,” we should be able to answer him or her; “If you have seen me you have seen Jesus.” We should be the exact representation of His nature.
Myles Munroe goes on to say, “There is a big difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit have to do with the character of the King. It is the development of the King’s nature in us. The gifts have to do with the power of the King. (1 Corinthians 12)
One is character, the other is ability, but both are necessary for the kingdom life.
With these gifts comes great responsibility. Character is more important than power because it protects our use of that power. It keeps us from using it for the wrong motivations and purpose. It prevents us from using our power to hurt others rather than to help them. Everyone wants power, and when we are offered it, we don't often think about the need to regulate it. Many people seek the power without realizing how critical it is for them to develop the essential qualities of the kingdom at the same time. It is easier to receive the gifts of the Spirit that it is to develop the fruit of the Spirit. It is easier to obtain the power of God that it is to develop the character of God. Therefore, we must develop the qualities, such as love, kindness, and self-control, because the will moderate our use of the gifts.
Both the qualities and the gifts are important, therefore, but the qualities are vital because power without character is dangerous. A balance between the two is a challenge for all kingdom citizens. I believe this is why Jesus spent three-and-a-half years teaching His disciples how to live, how to think, and how to act as kingdom citizens.”
Two things come to mind. First, remember how James and John wanted to call fire down from heaven on the Samaritans that wouldn’t let Jesus pass through their country. This would have been an abuse of power. Second, remember how Paul instructed Timothy not to appoint a new Christian into a leadership position. Think of the consequences in that situation.
Jesus trained them first and then they received the power through the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.”
Several years ago, a religious painter painted two pictures of Jesus Christ and hung them together in a gallery.
The first picture was of the Jewish Christ; the one we are accustomed to seeing when see pictures of the Lord.
It was very beautifully done and would bring a sense of inspiration and worship to anyone who would look at it.
Next to that traditional picture of Christ, the artist hung a picture he had painted of the Lord Jesus Christ disfigured and ugly.
It was a misrepresentation of the genuineness of the Lord.
The artist was asked why he had painted these two pictures.
He said, “The first picture is Christ as He really is. The second is the Christ the world sees when they look at His Church. Those who represent Him in the world.”
The world does not see Christ physically as the disciples saw Him.
They see Christ through His body, which is the Church, made up of believers.
In studying the fruit of the Spirit we will be brought face to face with the kind of life God expects us to live if we are truly representing Him in the world.
This kind of living is supernatural, seeming impossible. In fact, it is impossible. This kind of life can only be lived with the help of the Holy Spirit.
In this series on The Fruit of the Spirit, we are going to take a look at each one and what it means to us as Christians.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (NASB)
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the work which His presence within accomplishes, is love, joy, (gladness), peace; patience, an even temper, forbearance, kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness, (meekness, humility); self-control (self-restraint, continence), against such things there is no law that can bring change. (The Amplified Bible)
In doing research for this series on the Fruit of the Spirit, I came across some articles by different people who give their interpretation of what the Fruit of the Spirit are. This will be my introduction to the series, and we will also take a look at this word “fruit.”
LEWIS JOHNSON writes the following summation of Galatians 5:22-23, which he classifies as the evidence of the leading of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:24)
“The evidence of the leading of the Spirit lies in a cluster of nine virtues that make up “the fruit of the Spirit.” This fruit is the product of the life of the Spirit in the believer. It is characterized by several interesting features.
First of all, in the fruit of the Spirit there is unity. We notice that the word “fruit” is in the singular. There is only one fruit of the Spirit, but it contains nine virtues. If one of the virtues is missing, then we do not have the fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit’s product is like a watermelon with nine flavors. Many commentators have suggested that the nine virtues illustrate the full-orbed, symmetrical character of the lord Jesus Christ. It is His life that the Spirit produces in the believer.
Second, the fruit of the Spirit possesses a notable harmony, the first triad of virtues being inward in nature, the second, outward, and the third upward.
Third, there is a necessity that believers have the fruit of the Spirit. The lack of the virtues indicates sin against the Holy Spirit who is engaged in producing the virtues in the lives of the saints.
Finally, in the concluding words of Galatians 5:23 there is an important point made by Paul. The Law of Moses finds no flaw in the fruit of the Spirit. The flesh may imitate or counterfeit certain of the virtues, but it can never produce them. The Spirit alone can do that, and the result satisfies all the demands of the moral law in the believer’s life. It is sometimes forgotten that life by the Spirit is not a lower standard that life by the moral law, or the Ten Commandments. It is, if anything a higher standard. Arthur Way has caught that in his rendering of Galatians 5:18, “But if you definitely surrender yourselves to the Spirit’s guidance, you are then not under the law, but ON A HIGHER PLANE.”
CHARLES SPURGEON says, “Brethren, the Spirit of God is not barren: if He were in you He must and will inevitably produce His own legitimate fruit.”
“Old leaves, if they remain upon the trees through the autumn and the winter, fall off in the spring.” We have seen a hedge all thick with dry leaves throughout the winder, and neither frost nor wind has removed the withered foliage, but the spring has soon made clearance. The new life dislodges the old, pushing it away as unsuitable to it. So our old corruptions are best removed by the growth of new graces. “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” It is as the new life buds and opens that the old worn-out things of our former state are compelled to quit their hold of us. Our wisdom lies in have new to God, that by the power of His Holy Spirit all our graces may be vigorous, and may exercise a sin-expelling power over our lives; the new leaves of grace pushing off our old sere affections and habits of sin.”
W. WIERSBE notes that the contrast between works and fruit is important. A machine in a factory works, and turns out a product, but it could never manufacture fruit. Fruit must grow out of life, and in the case of the believer, it is the life of the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). When you thing of “works” you think of effort, labor, strain, and toil; when you think of “fruit” you think of beauty, quietness, the unfolding of life. The flesh produces “dead works” (Hebrews 9:14), but the Spirit produces living fruit. And this fruit has in it the seed for still more fruit (Genesis 1:11). Love begets more love! Joy helps to produce more joy! Jesus is concerned that we produce “fruit, more fruit, much fruit” (John 15: 2, 5), because this is the way we glorify Him. The old nature cannot produce fruit, only the new nature can do that.
Wiersbe emphasizes that the fruit of the Spirit has purpose. We must remember that this fruit is produced to be eaten, not to be admired and put on display. People around us are starving for love, joy, peace, and all the other graces of the Spirit.
When they find them in our lives, they know that we have something they lack. We do not bear fruit for our own consumption; we bear fruit that others might be fed and helped, and that Christ might be glorified. The flesh may manufacture “results” that bring praise to us, but the flesh cannot bear fruit that brings glory to God. It takes patience, an atmosphere of the Spirit, walking in the light, the seed of the Word of God, and a sincere desire to honor Christ.
In short, the secret is the Holy Spirit. He alone can give us that “fifth freedom” freedom from sin and self. He enables us to fulfill the law of love, to overcome the flesh, and to bear fruit.
It is unfortunate that an overemphasis on gifts has led some Christians to neglect the grace of the Spirit. Building Christian character must take precedence over displaying special abilities.
MARTIN LUTHER comments that the Apostle Paul says not, the works of the Spirit, as he said the works of the flesh, but he adorns these Christian virtues with a more honorable name, calling them fruit of the Spirit. For they bring with them most excellent fruits and maximum usefulness, for they that have them give glory to God, and with the same do allure and provoke others to embrace the doctrine and faith of Christ.
LARRY RICHARDS, asks, “Have you ever noticed that along the banks of a stream the vegetation is always abundant and luxurious?
This is what the Bible says about us. As the Holy Spirit flows freely in our lives, a rich and beautiful character grows. We are filled with love, with joy, with peace. In every relationship we exhibit that patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that mark us as God’s own. There is no way, however much we plow and harrow, or cultivate and hoe our character, to produce this crop ourselves. This crop is produced by God the Holy Spirit, and only in those who live by Him.
He summarizes the Biblical concept of spiritual fruit writing that fruitfulness is a consistent concept in the Old Testament and the New Testament. The fruit God seeks in human beings is expressed in righteous and loving acts that bring peace and harmony to the individual and to society. But that fruit is foreign to sinful human nature. Energized by sinful passions, fallen humanity action in ways that harm and bring dissension. God’s solution is found in a personal relationship with Jesus and in the supernatural working of God’s Spirit within the believer. As we live in intimate, obedient relationship with Jesus, God’s Spirit energizes us as we produce the peaceable fruit of a righteousness that can come only from the Lord.
PHIL NEWTON introduces Galatians 5:22-24 with a question: Have you ever walked through a garbage dump?
I’m sure that none of us desire to take a casual stroll through mounds of garbage. But you almost get the feeling that you are doing this when you read through the list of the “deeds of the flesh” which Paul identifies in our context. I have noticed that in our day of environmental concerns companies which deal with garbage have changed the explanation of the work to “waste management.” They try to beautify their grounds surrounding garbage landfills. But whatever they do, they still have garbage. You still see and smell it.
Such is the case with the flesh. The unregenerate nature of man produces its characteristic deeds. An unbeliever can attempt to cover the “garbage” of sin in his life. He can give his actions new, improved names. But garbage is still garbage. Not so with the believer!
The contrast between the flesh and the Spirit are most evident when we observe what each produces. Neutrality does not exist between them. Those who remain in the flesh, the unregenerate condition, will generate the evidence of a life dominated by sin. In distinction, those who are in Christ will manifest the evidence of His character by the indwelling Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit is not an option for a Christian but the necessary evidence that a person is truly a Christian. Here we see the character of Christ being demonstrated through those whom He redeems.
C. NORMAL BARTLETT comments on Paul’s use of fruit in the singular writing that the use of the singular “fruit” instead of the plural “fruits” is instructive. It suggests the common root and interdependence of these several spiritual graces mentioned. They can be produced only in a life that is rooted in the spirit; they cannot be hung outwardly upon a life like the toys and ornaments on a Christmas tree. Fruitage in the Spirit requires rootage in the Spirit. As is has been well put:
CHRISTAIN CHARACTER IS CHRIST’S EXCELLENCY REPRODUCED BY THE SPIRIT IN A RENEWED LIFE.
To bring forth the fruit of the spirit is not only the Christian’s happy privilege; it is his bound duty as well. In a soul born of the Spirit there is to be fruit borne in the Spirit. The fact that we could do nothing to earn our salvation is by no means to be interpreted as implying that, having been saved by grace, we can do nothing to show our gratitude for the salvation we have received. Dare we be unmindful of the words of our Savior to the effect that our heavenly Father is glorified when we bring forth much fruit. “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples (John 15:8)
JOHN EADIE adds that in regard to the fruit, its origin is “the Spirit,” not man’s spirit, or the new and better mode of thinking and feeling to which men are formed by the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit Himself, the Author of all spiritual good. Those who are led by the Spirit not only do not do the works of the flesh, but they bring forth the fruit of the Spirit.
J. VERNON McGEE quips that our problem is that we offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, but when the altar gets hot, we crawl off. We are to abide in Christ if we are to produce fruit.
Paul is stating the principle of fruit-bearing so that we can understand it. The fruit is produced by yielding, by yielding to the sweet influences that are about us. I am not talking about the world and neither is Paul. We are to yield to the Holy Spirit who indwells us. The Holy Spirit wants to produce fruit; it is called the fruit of the Spirit.
With all of this in mind, let’s look at the word “fruit” and find out exactly what it means and what we are talking about.
The word fruit used in the New Testament comes from the Greek word “karpos.”
It can be used in its literal sense to refer to fruit, produce or offspring, which describes that which is produced by the inherent energy of a living organism.
When used figuratively, “karpos” describes the consequence of physical, mental, or spiritual action. In the New Testament the figurative use predominates, especially in the Gospels, where human actions and words are viewed as fruit growing out of a person’s essential being or character. This is also the way Paul uses “karpos” in the present passage, as an expression for desirable, righteous qualities in one’s life, the fruit of the Spirit.
If you will notice the word “fruit” is singular, not plural. One fruit manifest by 9 spiritual attitudes. Fruit in the singular also underscores the unit of the 9 spiritual attitudes, and emphasizes that all work together to produce a Christ like believer, our Lord Jesus Christ being the perfect manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit. Paul does not say fruits, as though portions of fruit might be present in the believer and other portions might not. Instead, the sense of wholeness and unity in will be manifest in the one born of God. By contrast the deeds of the flesh are plural, and they hardly represent unity, nor do they produce unity but only produce strife between me.
In Galatians 5:22, “the fruit of the Spirit “is.” The verb “is” is in the present tense which indicates that this process of fruit bearing is continuous. It doesn’t end.
Just as natural fruit needs to be cultivated, so does spiritual fruit needs to be watered and fed the Word in the soil and atmosphere of the Spirit. And so Paul is very practical explaining that, “If we live by the Spirit let us also walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25).
Fruit is the manifestations of the character of Christ in the lives of believers in consequence of His ministry of the Word among them and of the care of the believers for poor, for this is the fruit, or outward expression of love, attesting its reality, and of the care of laborers in the gospel, for this is the fruit, or outward expression of thankfulness to God for spiritual blessings enjoyed, attesting its reality.
The fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of believers per se, but the fruit which the Holy Spirit produces in and through the lives of believers as they walk in His grace and power. And His fruit is always the outward manifestations of the yielded believer’s inner life.
It is a clear marker of spiritual life, a sure proof that one has experience genuine conversion. A profession of faith in Christ cannot produce holy fruit. Only a genuine possession of the life of Christ can produce supernatural fruit.
Even as the flesh of unbelievers will always produce deeds of the flesh, so too believers now indwelt by the Spirit will always produce some good fruit. It is not unexpected that one aspect of the 9 fold fruit might be better than others, but the point is that all are present in every believer. Our lord’s desire for each believer is produce a “bumper crop” as He explained to His disciples in John 15:8: “By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”
The amount of fruit borne by believers is dependent on one’s willingness to “abide in Jesus for as He said in John 15:5: “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can to nothing.” In Galatians 5:25 abiding translates to yielding to and living by or walking by the Spirit as opposed to the flesh.
Jesus explained to His audience that true inner character, and evidence of a new heart, a spiritually circumcised heart, is recognized by a person’s good fruit or conversely bad fruits, the only possible product of an unregenerate heart. When a tree is rotten it naturally produces rotten fruit. But when indwelling Spirit of God begins to express His mighty power in the inner being of believers, good, God glorifying things begin to happen. The nature of God Himself begins to manifest Himself in our lives and the result is the fruit of the Spirit.
Consider these two passages of Scripture:
Matthew 7:17-19
"Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 12:33
"Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.
John 15:2
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit (karpos) He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit (karpos), He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit (karpos) of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.... “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit (karpos), and so prove to be My disciples. “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit (karpos), and that your fruit (karpos) would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you."
Jesus takes the image of the vine, with God as gardener, from Isaiah. We believers are carefully tended by the Father, pruned and cared for that we may "bear much fruit." Fruitfulness is possible, he said, if we remain in Him and His words remain in us. The point Jesus is making is that fruitfulness is rooted in our personal relationship with Him, and our personal relationship with Him is maintained by living His words: "If you obey My commands you will remain in My love"
John 15:10. God has chosen us. It is His intention that we be fruitful. It is for this reason that He has given us the most intimate of relationships and Jesus' own words to guide us, and it is our responsibility to walk in close fellowship with our Lord.
Newton comments that the fruit of the Spirit distinguishes the person who makes a profession of faith, acts excited about the lord for few weeks or months, then fades away. One of our lord’s parables clearly explains this:
“And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.” (Matthew 13:20-21)
There may be a sense of joy, but it is temporary. There may be a love for others but it is temporary. It is in the demands of life, with all of its harshness and difficulties, that you see the true evidence of the character of Christ in someone’s life. The Christian is not like an “annual” plant which produces fruit for a while, then forever fades away. He has the spirit of a perennial, so that year after year, the same radiant fruit comes forth from his life.
Bearing fruit is natural for fruit trees. They need not strain to produce fruit. You never find a grove of apple or peach trees attending conferences on bearing fruit. Nor do you find fruit trees manipulating one another with browbeating words in attempts to convince a tree to produce fruit. The most natural thing in the world is for a fruit tree to bear its own fruit.
Hear the word of the Lord: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...." The prepositional phrase demonstrates the origin of the character of Christ in the life of the believer, the Holy Spirit. Such character is born through the regenerating and indwelling power of the Spirit in the life of the believer. In regeneration the Holy Spirit changes the nature of the sinner so that his new desire and passion is for Christ, rather than for sin.
Why must he be regenerated? Vaughan explains, "No stream can of itself ascend higher than its source; no nature can transcend itself in the manifestation of its energies, and if man is really dead in trespasses and sins, he can put forth no energy containing in it the element of real holiness, or true spiritual life". A person who merely 'makes a decision for Christ' but has not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit will find himself living in frustration while trying to produce a character which is not of his nature. Jesus told Nicodemus that "Unless a man is born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). The idea of "enter" means to experience or to see firsthand. Jesus explains that to be "born again" is to be born of the Holy Spirit (John 3:6). Apart from such a radical work of the Holy Spirit a sinner will never believe the gospel and repent of his sins. He will never experience the saving work of Christ personally. How can we describe the Spirit's work of regeneration so that the new believer begins to give evidence of a totally different character of soul and life?
It is a profound and radical change in the whole existing moral nature of the man. It makes him a new creature in Christ; it renews his nature; it re-colors his character; it transforms his will; it re-moulds his whole system of thinking, feeling, and acting. It gives him new objects to live for; new rules to live by; new principles to impel to action; and new sensibilities to success or failure in the progress and development of that new life. The new nature by the Spirit is unlike the old nature of the flesh. That is Paul's whole premise in this portion of Galatians. What the Holy Spirit does is to so change a sinner's nature that the most natural fruit of this person's life is the character of Christ. Is this true of you?
What is the fruit if it is not the character of Jesus Christ being manifested in the life of those whom He has redeemed?
Who has loved as has our Lord? Who has manifested joy supremely as Jesus Christ, "who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising its shame" (Hebrews 12:2). Who has walked with perfect peace as our Lord or demonstrated such depths of patience?
What is the Godhead doing in everyone saved by grace?
Our Triune God is reproducing the same character which Christ naturally manifested in this world by giving us a new nature through the Holy Spirit's work. We see this so clearly in Paul's explanation of the dimensions of God's saving work in Romans 8:29, "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren." By the birthing power of the Spirit and the ongoing work of sanctification, the life of the believer is continually "conformed to the image" of Jesus Christ. Such conforming manifests the fruit of the Spirit, the character of Christ.
In the following lessons in our series on the Fruit of the Spirit, we are going to take a look at each one of the 9 spiritual qualities one by one and discover what they are, and how they should be manifested in our lives.
I was at a chapel service prior to going to work as a prayer counselor at CBN, and Gordon Robertson was the speaker. He asked us the question that I am going to ask you, “If the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit belong to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is in you, then where are the fruit and gifts of the Spirit?”
They are in you. They came in you the day you made Jesus the Lord of your life.
There is a difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul made a list of essential qualities that make up the character of the King:
LOVE
JOY
PEACE
PATIENCE
KINDNESS
GOODNESS
FAITHFULNESS
GENTLENESS
SELF-CONTROL
Myles Munroe writes in his book, “The Most Important Person on Earth”:
“Any true manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth will have these characteristics. Paul referred to these qualities as “the fruit of the Spirit.” He was saying, wherever the Holy Spirit was, these qualities should be evident, indicating that the culture of the King was present.
Paul used this particular analogy of fruit because fruit doesn’t appear overnight; it develops over time, and he wanted them to know that they would have cultivate the culture of the King in their lives, under the example and leading of the Holy Spirit. First, the Holy Spirit teaches us the nature of the original government in heaven. Then He shows us that, because He lives within us, we have this original nature and need to manifest it in our lives. This is what is like in the Garden of Eden.
When you received the Holy Spirit, you also received the seed of kingdom nature. You develop this seed by putting into your life the kingdom elements that allow it to grow. For example, and apple tree doesn’t have to “work” to produce fruit. The seeds if the fruit are within it, and eventually, through a process of maturity, enabled by elements as the nutrients in the ground and sunlight, what is on the inside of the tree becomes manifested on its branches. The spiritual that enable the fruit to grow in our lives are maintaining a continual connection with the King, learning the Scriptures of the kingdom, and yielding to direction of the Holy Spirit in our lives. (John 15)(Matthew 5)
Just as apples are a natural outgrowth of apple trees, the fruit of the Spirit becomes a natural development in the life of a kingdom citizen because he is reflecting the nature of his King. For example, one of the fruits of the Spirit is goodness. It is therefore natural for us to be good if we are in the kingdom. If we are not good, we are unnatural. The Holy Spirit connects us to our original nature, which is true life for us as human beings.
The qualities or fruit of the Spirit embody the King’s culture so that, first of all, we see that is a culture of love, a culture of joy, and a culture of peace. Imagine a culture filled with all the qualities in the above list! It’s our culture to be faithful, to be loyal to our commitments. It’s our culture to be gentle. We’re never brash or rude with other people. As Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” It’s our culture to be self-controlled. We never lose control of our tempers or our desires. No matter what happens in our lives, we sill live out and exhibit all these qualities.
The qualities or fruit of the Spirit are not only what the King does; they are what He is. The King doesn’t only act in love; He is love. He doesn’t only demonstrate peace; He is peace. And every aspect of the King’s nature is what we are to be in our essence, as well. This is what Jesus meant when He said, as recorded in the book of Matthew, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
We need to realize that we are to reflect the nature of our heavenly Father.”
To see the nature of our heavenly Father, all you have to do is look at Jesus. One of His disciples asked a question, “Show us the Father?” Jesus’ rely was that if you have seen Me you have seen the Father. Jesus is the exact representation of His Father’s nature. If someone were to ask you, “Show me Jesus,” we should be able to answer him or her; “If you have seen me you have seen Jesus.” We should be the exact representation of His nature.
Myles Munroe goes on to say, “There is a big difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit have to do with the character of the King. It is the development of the King’s nature in us. The gifts have to do with the power of the King. (1 Corinthians 12)
One is character, the other is ability, but both are necessary for the kingdom life.
With these gifts comes great responsibility. Character is more important than power because it protects our use of that power. It keeps us from using it for the wrong motivations and purpose. It prevents us from using our power to hurt others rather than to help them. Everyone wants power, and when we are offered it, we don't often think about the need to regulate it. Many people seek the power without realizing how critical it is for them to develop the essential qualities of the kingdom at the same time. It is easier to receive the gifts of the Spirit that it is to develop the fruit of the Spirit. It is easier to obtain the power of God that it is to develop the character of God. Therefore, we must develop the qualities, such as love, kindness, and self-control, because the will moderate our use of the gifts.
Both the qualities and the gifts are important, therefore, but the qualities are vital because power without character is dangerous. A balance between the two is a challenge for all kingdom citizens. I believe this is why Jesus spent three-and-a-half years teaching His disciples how to live, how to think, and how to act as kingdom citizens.”
Two things come to mind. First, remember how James and John wanted to call fire down from heaven on the Samaritans that wouldn’t let Jesus pass through their country. This would have been an abuse of power. Second, remember how Paul instructed Timothy not to appoint a new Christian into a leadership position. Think of the consequences in that situation.
Jesus trained them first and then they received the power through the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.”
Several years ago, a religious painter painted two pictures of Jesus Christ and hung them together in a gallery.
The first picture was of the Jewish Christ; the one we are accustomed to seeing when see pictures of the Lord.
It was very beautifully done and would bring a sense of inspiration and worship to anyone who would look at it.
Next to that traditional picture of Christ, the artist hung a picture he had painted of the Lord Jesus Christ disfigured and ugly.
It was a misrepresentation of the genuineness of the Lord.
The artist was asked why he had painted these two pictures.
He said, “The first picture is Christ as He really is. The second is the Christ the world sees when they look at His Church. Those who represent Him in the world.”
The world does not see Christ physically as the disciples saw Him.
They see Christ through His body, which is the Church, made up of believers.
In studying the fruit of the Spirit we will be brought face to face with the kind of life God expects us to live if we are truly representing Him in the world.
This kind of living is supernatural, seeming impossible. In fact, it is impossible. This kind of life can only be lived with the help of the Holy Spirit.
In this series on The Fruit of the Spirit, we are going to take a look at each one and what it means to us as Christians.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Kingdom Assignments and Patterns
By Eddie Smith
Kingdom assignments move us toward Kingdom purpose and ultimately to complete our Kingdom potential.
I was reared in a pastor’s home. As a preacher’s kid, adults would often ask, “Are you going to be a preacher like your dad?” In my natural struggle to discover my own identity as an individual, rather than as my parent’s child, I would always answer, “no.” I was going to be a commercial artist.
The day I registered for college, I heard about a full music scholarship being offered. I had intended to study art, but decided that I could study music and add on the art classes. As a result, I auditioned and I was given a full music scholarship. As a musician in a Christian college all the “preacher boys” wanted me to assist them with their revivals and crusades. So, I faithfully took the assignments as they came. Clearly, I had not escaped life in the ministry.
After a year and one-half in college I joined the U.S. Navy. After testing, they determined that I was perfectly suited for the job—chaplain’s assistant. So, during a three-year period I found myself working for approximately 150 Navy chaplains of various denominations. I set up for their worship services, scheduled their counseling appointments, and assisted them in their ministries. I had still to escape ministry life.
After an honorable discharge from the Navy, I went back to college and from there took assignments directing local church music. From there I moved into nightlife street evangelism on Sunset Strip, Christian coffeehouse ministry in Houston, and eventually itinerant music evangelism. You guessed it. I was still living the life of a minister. I served as an executive director for three crusade evangelists, setting up their stadium crusades and training their altar workers. After sixteen years in evangelism and 14 years in local church ministry—part of that time as senior pastor, Alice and I began our current ministry 1993. I've yet to discover “the exit” from Christian ministry.
As I look back over my life, to this point, I can see how Kingdom assignments God's given me form a beautiful mosaic in my life. Individually they may say little. However, woven together, they form a tapestry and a pattern that is a clue to my Kingdom purpose.
From the beginning God has purposed that I would experience ministry on many levels to equip me to minister to leaders of various denominations and nationalities.
Kingdom Potential
Your Kingdom potential is the highest value Christ can achieve through your surrendered life. It is the Spirit’s greatest accomplishment through your personality, your sense of humor, your soul (mind, will, and emotion), and your physical body. Your Kingdom potential is ultimately the primary reason you're here.
Most Christians know they're to receive the Holy Spirit. But like a forgetful person who walks into a room and says, "Now what did I come in here for?" They don't know what they're supposed to do or how they're to do it.
Friend, God is not some ethereal vapor. He's a lovely, thoughtful person with intention. Every thought God thinks and every action He takes is in concert with His divine eternal purposes. His activity is specific. He's as intentional regarding a single cell of your body, as He is the occupation you pursue. Scripture records that He's counted every hair on your head. At the time of the teaching, a human hair was the smallest known quantity relating to human existence! If Jesus were teaching that today he might say that God has numbered the atoms that make up your body. (I don't know what's smaller. And don't e-mail me. I don't want to know.)
Two-thirds of God's revelation to us of Himself is as an intercessor. The Holy Spirit is an intercessor according to Romans 8, and the Son is an intercessor according to Hebrews 7. Two-thirds of Jesus' earthly life was spent in intercession. God “is into” intercession. Our unlimited God chooses to limit His activity to partner with praying people. We could say that a person or a church must become a house of prayer to fully partner with God and reach its Kingdom potential.
One of the greatest joys Alice and I’ve experienced has been on Christmas mornings. In the late fall, when our children were young, we’d begin listening extra closely to them. We’d their responses to television ads, store displays, and toy catalogs. Why? We hoped we’d discover what they wanted for Christmas.
Soon the day would come when Alice and I would compare notes. Each would share with the other what we felt our kids wanted, what would be good for them to receive, and what we can actually afford. It was always a special feeling when these three things coincided.
Over the next few weeks we’d locate the items, shop for the best prices, make the purchases, and then came the hardest part. Where would we hide the gifts? Once that was settled, we’d wait expectantly for Christmas morning—or, as was the custom in Alice's family, Christmas Eve.
That evening, after a huge celebratory meal, one of the adults would distract the kids while the rest of us placed the previously hidden toys around the tree. Then, when everything was ready and the stage was set, we would call everyone together in the living room where we’d sing Christmas carols, read the Christmas story once again to remind ourselves what Christmas was really about, pray and exchange gifts.
What fun it was to watch the faces of our children (and now our grandchildren) as they opened those colorful packages which contained their hoped for toys. The look of delight in their eyes was all the “thanks” we ever really needed.
Your heavenly Father takes special delight in the surprised look in your eyes when good things come, things that you’ve longed for and for which you’ve earnestly prayed.
At this point in human history, we should listen more closely than ever to the Father to hear what He says in His Word and in our hearts. We should take note of what He really desires to do. We should ask Him to reveal His purposes to us so we can be His effective Kingdom partners.
Moses did that. The Psalmist said, “He (God) made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.” The Children of Israel knew God’s deeds (what God did). But Moses knew God’s ways (why God did it). Why do you suppose this was the case? Was Moses simply smarter than the others? Was it because he was “a minister” and they weren’t? No, that’s not it at all. Moses knew God’s ways because He sought to please God, and he asked to know God’s ways. In Exodus 33:13 Moses prayed, “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you…” And the Lord answered Him in the next verse saying, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And although God spoke to others in riddles, He spoke to Moses face-to-face. So says, Numbers 12:7-8. If you know the ways of God you can rest, even in the midst of tribulation!
Scripture records, “God testified concerning him, ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do’” (Acts 13:22). David also knew the ways of God. Why? Was it because he was a nationally known giant-killer or a king? No. Was it because he was a talented “Israel’s Got Talent” harpist? No. It was because he knew, moment to moment, what was on God’s heart.
David knew God’s ways for the same reason Moses did. Psalm 25:4 records David’s prayer, “Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths.” Pray the Jabez prayer? Sure. Go for it. But you might also consider praying the Moses prayer, and the David prayer, “Lord, show me your ways!”
We can only pray Kingdom prayers, prayers that are prayed with understanding as God gives us Kingdom understanding! And as God’s appointed day nears, so will our excitement and His.
Like any good parent, God loves giving His children what they truly want. Perhaps we should pray,
“Lord, make me to want, only what you want. Cause me to see only what you see, and feel only what you feel in every matter, with every person, and concerning every situation for which I am called to pray. May my heart be so in tune with yours that the very prayers that I pray will have originated in heaven.”
The Kingdom was central to Jesus’ teachings. He said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” So we should also interpret our earthly existence and experiences in the light of the Kingdom.
Our challenge begins with understanding what achievement really means. If we define achievement in terms of health, wealth, fame, and earthly success (you know, things that moths, rust, and thieves can ruin), then we limit what God can do through us. Truth is, God can give us surpassing Kingdom achievement without any of those things.
An example would be a poor widow with a young son. The widow worked long hours cleaning houses to feed her family. She attended church regularly, but never served on a committee, held a position of leadership, or made a visible difference in the life of the church. What did God think of her achievement?
After her husband died, in her grief she prayed and asked the Lord how she should live her Christian life. She told Him she couldn’t devote many hours to volunteer ministry service, though she wanted to. She could provide large financial gifts to her church. God told her that her primary responsibility was to raise her young son to love and obey Him. She did this with all her heart. She devoted every available minute to this one task.
Her son grew to become a famous evangelist who led thousands of people to the Lord. What did God think of her achievement? The now elderly widow prayed, obeyed and trusted God with the results.
What does God think of your achievements? What does He ask of you? The lady in this story began with an understanding what she could not do, but ended understanding what she could do—reach her Kingdom potential, and prepare her son to reach his!
ABOUT EDDIE SMITH,
Eddie, along with his wife Alice, are intercessors. You can visit their website at
http://www.eddieandalice.com/
Eddie and Alice offer a F-R-E-E-E-E 52-week school of prayer at: http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1024616944&msgid=31025419&act=X4L6&c=82062&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.TeachMeToPray.com
My comments.
Who has impacted your life?
Whose life or lives have you impacted?
I would like to hear how you answer these two questions, and I would like to publish them in connection with this article as an encouragement to others. If you do not want your name published, I can use your initials or first name.
I am going to wait a few days before publishing the responses to give everyone an opportunity to respond, and then I will publish them all at one time.
Send your input to ephesians4teacher@hotmail.com
By Eddie Smith
Kingdom assignments move us toward Kingdom purpose and ultimately to complete our Kingdom potential.
I was reared in a pastor’s home. As a preacher’s kid, adults would often ask, “Are you going to be a preacher like your dad?” In my natural struggle to discover my own identity as an individual, rather than as my parent’s child, I would always answer, “no.” I was going to be a commercial artist.
The day I registered for college, I heard about a full music scholarship being offered. I had intended to study art, but decided that I could study music and add on the art classes. As a result, I auditioned and I was given a full music scholarship. As a musician in a Christian college all the “preacher boys” wanted me to assist them with their revivals and crusades. So, I faithfully took the assignments as they came. Clearly, I had not escaped life in the ministry.
After a year and one-half in college I joined the U.S. Navy. After testing, they determined that I was perfectly suited for the job—chaplain’s assistant. So, during a three-year period I found myself working for approximately 150 Navy chaplains of various denominations. I set up for their worship services, scheduled their counseling appointments, and assisted them in their ministries. I had still to escape ministry life.
After an honorable discharge from the Navy, I went back to college and from there took assignments directing local church music. From there I moved into nightlife street evangelism on Sunset Strip, Christian coffeehouse ministry in Houston, and eventually itinerant music evangelism. You guessed it. I was still living the life of a minister. I served as an executive director for three crusade evangelists, setting up their stadium crusades and training their altar workers. After sixteen years in evangelism and 14 years in local church ministry—part of that time as senior pastor, Alice and I began our current ministry 1993. I've yet to discover “the exit” from Christian ministry.
As I look back over my life, to this point, I can see how Kingdom assignments God's given me form a beautiful mosaic in my life. Individually they may say little. However, woven together, they form a tapestry and a pattern that is a clue to my Kingdom purpose.
From the beginning God has purposed that I would experience ministry on many levels to equip me to minister to leaders of various denominations and nationalities.
Kingdom Potential
Your Kingdom potential is the highest value Christ can achieve through your surrendered life. It is the Spirit’s greatest accomplishment through your personality, your sense of humor, your soul (mind, will, and emotion), and your physical body. Your Kingdom potential is ultimately the primary reason you're here.
Most Christians know they're to receive the Holy Spirit. But like a forgetful person who walks into a room and says, "Now what did I come in here for?" They don't know what they're supposed to do or how they're to do it.
Friend, God is not some ethereal vapor. He's a lovely, thoughtful person with intention. Every thought God thinks and every action He takes is in concert with His divine eternal purposes. His activity is specific. He's as intentional regarding a single cell of your body, as He is the occupation you pursue. Scripture records that He's counted every hair on your head. At the time of the teaching, a human hair was the smallest known quantity relating to human existence! If Jesus were teaching that today he might say that God has numbered the atoms that make up your body. (I don't know what's smaller. And don't e-mail me. I don't want to know.
Two-thirds of God's revelation to us of Himself is as an intercessor. The Holy Spirit is an intercessor according to Romans 8, and the Son is an intercessor according to Hebrews 7. Two-thirds of Jesus' earthly life was spent in intercession. God “is into” intercession. Our unlimited God chooses to limit His activity to partner with praying people. We could say that a person or a church must become a house of prayer to fully partner with God and reach its Kingdom potential.
One of the greatest joys Alice and I’ve experienced has been on Christmas mornings. In the late fall, when our children were young, we’d begin listening extra closely to them. We’d their responses to television ads, store displays, and toy catalogs. Why? We hoped we’d discover what they wanted for Christmas.
Soon the day would come when Alice and I would compare notes. Each would share with the other what we felt our kids wanted, what would be good for them to receive, and what we can actually afford. It was always a special feeling when these three things coincided.
Over the next few weeks we’d locate the items, shop for the best prices, make the purchases, and then came the hardest part. Where would we hide the gifts? Once that was settled, we’d wait expectantly for Christmas morning—or, as was the custom in Alice's family, Christmas Eve.
That evening, after a huge celebratory meal, one of the adults would distract the kids while the rest of us placed the previously hidden toys around the tree. Then, when everything was ready and the stage was set, we would call everyone together in the living room where we’d sing Christmas carols, read the Christmas story once again to remind ourselves what Christmas was really about, pray and exchange gifts.
What fun it was to watch the faces of our children (and now our grandchildren) as they opened those colorful packages which contained their hoped for toys. The look of delight in their eyes was all the “thanks” we ever really needed.
Your heavenly Father takes special delight in the surprised look in your eyes when good things come, things that you’ve longed for and for which you’ve earnestly prayed.
At this point in human history, we should listen more closely than ever to the Father to hear what He says in His Word and in our hearts. We should take note of what He really desires to do. We should ask Him to reveal His purposes to us so we can be His effective Kingdom partners.
Moses did that. The Psalmist said, “He (God) made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.” The Children of Israel knew God’s deeds (what God did). But Moses knew God’s ways (why God did it). Why do you suppose this was the case? Was Moses simply smarter than the others? Was it because he was “a minister” and they weren’t? No, that’s not it at all. Moses knew God’s ways because He sought to please God, and he asked to know God’s ways. In Exodus 33:13 Moses prayed, “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you…” And the Lord answered Him in the next verse saying, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And although God spoke to others in riddles, He spoke to Moses face-to-face. So says, Numbers 12:7-8. If you know the ways of God you can rest, even in the midst of tribulation!
Scripture records, “God testified concerning him, ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do’” (Acts 13:22). David also knew the ways of God. Why? Was it because he was a nationally known giant-killer or a king? No. Was it because he was a talented “Israel’s Got Talent” harpist? No. It was because he knew, moment to moment, what was on God’s heart.
David knew God’s ways for the same reason Moses did. Psalm 25:4 records David’s prayer, “Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths.” Pray the Jabez prayer? Sure. Go for it. But you might also consider praying the Moses prayer, and the David prayer, “Lord, show me your ways!”
We can only pray Kingdom prayers, prayers that are prayed with understanding as God gives us Kingdom understanding! And as God’s appointed day nears, so will our excitement and His.
Like any good parent, God loves giving His children what they truly want. Perhaps we should pray,
“Lord, make me to want, only what you want. Cause me to see only what you see, and feel only what you feel in every matter, with every person, and concerning every situation for which I am called to pray. May my heart be so in tune with yours that the very prayers that I pray will have originated in heaven.”
The Kingdom was central to Jesus’ teachings. He said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” So we should also interpret our earthly existence and experiences in the light of the Kingdom.
Our challenge begins with understanding what achievement really means. If we define achievement in terms of health, wealth, fame, and earthly success (you know, things that moths, rust, and thieves can ruin), then we limit what God can do through us. Truth is, God can give us surpassing Kingdom achievement without any of those things.
An example would be a poor widow with a young son. The widow worked long hours cleaning houses to feed her family. She attended church regularly, but never served on a committee, held a position of leadership, or made a visible difference in the life of the church. What did God think of her achievement?
After her husband died, in her grief she prayed and asked the Lord how she should live her Christian life. She told Him she couldn’t devote many hours to volunteer ministry service, though she wanted to. She could provide large financial gifts to her church. God told her that her primary responsibility was to raise her young son to love and obey Him. She did this with all her heart. She devoted every available minute to this one task.
Her son grew to become a famous evangelist who led thousands of people to the Lord. What did God think of her achievement? The now elderly widow prayed, obeyed and trusted God with the results.
What does God think of your achievements? What does He ask of you? The lady in this story began with an understanding what she could not do, but ended understanding what she could do—reach her Kingdom potential, and prepare her son to reach his!
ABOUT EDDIE SMITH,
Eddie, along with his wife Alice, are intercessors. You can visit their website at
http://www.eddieandalice.com/
Eddie and Alice offer a F-R-E-E-E-E 52-week school of prayer at: http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1024616944&msgid=31025419&act=X4L6&c=82062&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.TeachMeToPray.com
My comments.
Who has impacted your life?
Whose life or lives have you impacted?
I would like to hear how you answer these two questions, and I would like to publish them in connection with this article as an encouragement to others. If you do not want your name published, I can use your initials or first name.
I am going to wait a few days before publishing the responses to give everyone an opportunity to respond, and then I will publish them all at one time.
Send your input to ephesians4teacher@hotmail.com
Monday, April 20, 2009
QUENCHING THE SPIRIT
I Thessalonians 5:19
What does it mean to “quench the Spirit?”
First of all, we need to define the word “quench”
The American Heritage Dictionary defines “quench as:
1. To put out (a fire, for example); extinguish.
2. To suppress; squelch.
3. To put an end to; destroy.
The Greek word for “quench” is “sbennumi” which means to quench or extinguish as one does to a light or fire. Figuratively, as used in this verse, it means to dampen, stifle, hinder, repress, or prevent the Spirit from exerting His effect or performing His work in the believer. Clearly the reference is not to the person of the Spirit Himself, for He is eternal God and can never be extinguished. The reference is His activity in our hearts.
“Do not quench the Spirit” is a combination of a negative particle (me) with the present imperative, which suggest that the recipients are being told to stop something they have already begun (quenching the Spirit).
It is interesting to note that the verb “sbennumi” is in the second person plural, as are all the commands in verses 19-22, indicating that each command is intended for the entire membership of the Thessalonian church. The first two commands are negative (5:19-20) and the remaining three are positive (5:21; 22)
The command could be paraphrased something like this:
“Stop putting out the fire (of the Holy Spirit). Stop hindering and repressing the Holy Spirit, for in so doing you are preventing Him from exerting His full influence?”
There is a parallel warning in Ephesians where in the context of allowing unwholesome words to proceed from their mouth, Paul command the saints “do not grieve (present imperative + a negative = stop doing this implying that were doing it) the Holy Spirit of God, by Whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)
I have selected some individuals who have written on this subject to better illustrate to you what the word means.
EDWARD D. HIEBERT comments that the figure of quenching the Spirit points to His sudden and vehement activities in human hearts. It implies “His gifts of warmth for the heart, and light for the mind and His power to kindle the human spirit.
Since fire is always put out by something outside itself, this prohibition is directed against some hindrance to the Spirit’s operation in their midst. It is not indicated whether they are quenching the Spirit in themselves or in others. Both thoughts may be included in this general injunction, yet the connection with I Thessalonians 5:20 seems to indicate that the suppression of prophetic utterances in the assembly was primarily in view.
The precise situation in the Thessalonian church calling forth this injunction is not clear. Many interpreters hold that it arose out the operation of the charismatic gifts in the Thessalonian church.
The general character of the prohibition would certainly leave room for a wider interpretation. Anything that might be permitted in their assembly, or in their own hearts, which was contrary to the nature and work of the Spirit would quench His operation. The Spirit’s fire is quenched whenever His presence is ignored and His promptings are suppressed and rejected, or the fervor He kindles in the heart is dampened by unspiritual attitudes, criticisms, or actions. Certain any toleration of immorality and idleness, against which they have be warned would quench the Spirit’s working in their midst.
They must not allow the operations of the Spirit to be suppressed wither through yielding to the impulses of the flesh or by imposing a mechanical order upon the services that would hamper the free movements of the Spirit.
DAVID JEREMIAH agrees asking, “Do you know what is means to quench the Holy Spirit? What do you do when you quench your thirst? You drink some water and the thirst is put away. When you quench a fire, you put it out, you smother it. How do you quench the Spirit of God? You quench the Spirit of God by not doing something He tells you to do. When you walk in the Spirit and are filled with the Spirit, you don’t want to quench Him. When He tells you do something, you do it.”
F. F. BRUCE feels that as the context goes on to make plain, the activity chiefly in view here is prophecy. In this respect the Spirit may be quenched when the prophet refuses to utter the message he has been given, or when others try to prevent him from uttering it. A good example of the former is Jeremiah’s attempt to speak no more in Yahweh’s name, when the word held back became, as he said, “a burning fire shut up in my bones” (Jeremiah 20:9), which could not be quenched or controlled. An example of the latter is found in Amos 2:12, where the people of Israel are condemned because they” commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy.’”
W. E. VINE writes that as fire is always extinguished from without itself the meaning seems to be “do not prevent or obstruct the manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s power in others.” Here the tense is present continuous, hence the meaning is “desist from quenching” rather than “do not begin to quench.” With this injunction may be compared that in I Thessalonians 4:8, which is aimed against any refusal to obey Him as this is against any refusal to listen to Him.
The peace, order, and edification of the saints were evidence of the ministry of the Spirit among them, but if, through ignorance of His ways, or through failure to recognize, or refusal to submit to, them, or through impatience with the ignorance or self-will of others, the Spirit were quenched, these happy results would be absent. For there was always the danger that the impulses of the flesh might usurp the place of the energy of the Spirit in the assembly, and the endeavor to restrain this evil by natural means would have the effect of hindering His ministry also. Apparently then, this injunction was intended to warn believers against the substitution of a mechanical order for the restraints of the Spirit.
JOHN WALVOORD writes that it may be concluded that quenching the Holy Spirit is to suppress, stifle, or otherwise obstruct the ministry of the Spirit to the individual. In a word it is saying, “No,” and replacing the will of the Spirit with the will of the individual. This, in brief, is the whole issue of morality, whether man will accomplish what he wants to do or whether his life is surrendered and yielded to the will of God.
RAY STEDMAN in his down to earth style feels that verses 19 and 20 give simple commands: Do not ignore the Spirit’s prompting (verse 19) and do not despise the Scripture’s wisdom (verse 20). The Spirit’s prompting always come in two areas: Stop doing what is wrong, and start doing what is right. If you are a Christian at all you are familiar with the inner feeling that says, “God wants you to do something,” or “God wants you to stop doing something.” We all have felt this inner guidance. What the apostle is saying is, “Give into those feelings.” When the Spirit prompts you to show love to somebody, do it, do not hold back. I once heard of a man who said, “Sometimes when I think of how my wife works and blesses me, it’s all I can do to keep from telling her that I love her!” There is a man being guided by the Spirit, but he is quenching the Spirit. Do not do that. Go ahead and tell her you love her. You may have to pick her off the floor afterward, but do not quench the Sprit!
G. L. GREEN writes that the verb “shennumi” at times describes and action that makes something disappear completely, such as a person’s very existence when death comes, but elsewhere it carries the more moderate meaning of “to attenuate” or “to restrict” something. The exact nuance Paul has in mind is not easy to ascertain, but the first sense is the most likely in the context of prophecy. Some Thessalonians appear to have attempted to prohibit manifestation of the Spirit in their church. Since the presence of the Holy Spirit in the community is compared with fire, and the verb “to quench” would aptly describe the attempt to eliminate these manifestations. On the other side, Paul exhorts Timothy about the Spirit’s activity in his life by saying, “Fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). The manifestations of the Spirit’s presence are for the good of the community and for that reason should not be eliminated.
M. MILLS takes similar approach writing that quenching the Spirit means nullifying His power in your life, for you manifestly cannot extinguish Him on a universal basis! How do you nullify His power? Well, simply by living an unsanctified life, for if you profane your vessel He, who is perfectly pure, will not reside in it. But how do I remedy it when I sin and profane my vessel? I John 1:8-9 answers this, for if I confess my sin God will forgive me.
J. VERNON MCGEE writes that to quench the Spirit means that you refuse to do the will of God; that is, you are not listening to the Holy Spirit. You refuse to let the Holy Spirit be your Guide to lead you. You and I quench the Holy Spire when we take matters into our own hands. This is the same teaching that Paul gave to the Ephesian believers: “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). You cannot grieve a thing; you grieve a Person. The Holy Spirit is a Person, and He is grieved by sin in our lives. Also, He is quenched when we step out of the will of God.
We can sum up of this with this story: BE SAFE – NOT SORRY
Two young women lost their lives in a fire that swept through their apartment as they slept. Their home was equipped with a smoke detector that was in good working order, but it hadn’t gone off.
Why?
Fire inspectors concluded that the device had been deactivated for a part the night before. The unit had been disconnected to keep it from sounding off because of the smoke from cooking and candles.
In Acts 5 we have another example of two people who apparently deactivated an alarm system that could have saved their lives. Ananias and Sapphira must have quenched the Holy Spirit by turning a deaf ear to their consciences, believing they had plenty of good reasons for doing what they did. But their action cost them their lives.
We need to realize that the Holy Spirit was not given to annoy us like a sensitive smoke detector. He doesn’t sound false alarms. When He activates our conscience by bringing to mind a principle or warning from God’s word, it is really His love and wisdom in action.
By weighing the warnings of His love against the cost of our foolishness, we will soon realize that it is always better to be safe than sorry.
M. R. DeHAAN II (Our Daily Bread)
Can we be forgiven for quenching the Holy Spirit?
I believe that we can we truly acknowledge what we have been doing and repent.
How do we quench the Spirit?
A. B. Simpson has some interesting thoughts about what it means to quench the Spirit writing that if it has reference, perhaps, mainly to the hindrance we offer to His work in others, rather than to our resistance of His personal dealing with our own souls.
Among the various hindrance which we may offer to the Holy Spirit may be mentioned such as these:
1. We may refuse to obey His impulses in us when He bids us to speak or act for Him.
We may be conscious of a distinct impression of the Spirit of God bidding us to testify for Christ, and by disobedience, or timidity, or procrastination, we may quench His working, both in our own soul and in the heart of another.
2. We may suppress His voice in others, either by using our authority to restrain His messages, when He speaks through His servants or refusing to allow the liberty of testimony.
Many hold the reins of ecclesiastical authority unduly, and thus lose the free and effectual working of the Holy Ghost in their churches and in their work.
There is ales direct way, however, of politely silencing Him by forcing Him out, and so filling the atmosphere with the spirit of stiffness, criticism, and certain air or respectability and rigidness that He gently withdraws from the uncongenial scene, and refuses to thrust His message upon unwilling hearts.
3. The Spirit may be grieved by the method of public worship in a congregation.
It may be so stiff and formal that there is no room for His spontaneous working, or so full of worldly and unscriptural elements as to repel and offend Him from taking any part in a pompous ritual. An operatic choir and ritualistic service will effectually quench all the fire of God’s altar, and send the gentle dove to seek a simpler nest.
4. The Spirit may be quenched by the preacher, and his spirit and method.
His own manner may be so intellectual and self-conscious, and his own spirit so thoroughly cold and vain that the Holy Ghost is neither recognized nor known in his work. His sermons may be on themes in which the Spirit has no interest, for He only witnesses to the Holy Scriptures and the person of Christ, and wearily turns away from the discussion of philosophy, and stale show of critical brilliancy over the questions of the day or the speculations of man’s own vain reason.
Perhaps his address is so rigidly written down that the Holy Spirit could not find an opportunity for even a suggestion, if He so desired, and His prompting and leading so coolly set aside by a course of elaborate preparation which leaves no room for God.
5. The spirit of error in the teachings of the pulpit will always quench the Holy Spirit.
He is jealous of His own inspired Word and when vain man attempts to set it aside He looks on with indignation, and exposes such teachers to humiliation and failure.
The spirit of self-assertion and self-consciousness is always fatal to the free working of the Holy Spirit.
When a man stands up in the sacred desk to air his eloquence and call attention to his intellectual brilliancy, or to preach himself in any sense, he will always be deserted by the Holy Spirit. He uses the things “that are not to naught the things that are.” And before we can expect to become the instruments of His power, we must wholly cease from self and be lost in the person and glory of Jesus.
6. The spirit of pride, fashion and worldly display in the pews, is just as fatal as ambition in the pulpit.
Such an atmosphere seems to freeze out the spirit of devotion, and erect on the throne of the lowly Nazarene a goddess of carnal pride and pleasure, life the foul Venus that the Parisian mob set up in the Madeline at Paris in the days of the revolution, as an object of worship. From such an atmosphere the Holy Ghost turns away grieved and disgusted.
7. The quickening and reviving influences of the Holy Ghost are often quenched in the very hour of promise by wrong methods in the work of Christ’s church.
How often, on the eve of a real revival, the minds of the people have been led away by some public entertainment in connection with the house of God, or its after-fruits withered by a series of unholy fairs and secular bids for money, and the introduction of the broker and the cattle-vender into the cleansed temple of Jehovah, as in the days of Christ.
8. The spirit of criticism and controversy is fatal to the working of the Holy Ghost.
The gentle dove will not remain in an atmosphere of strife. If we would cherish His power we must possess His love, and frown down all wrangling gossip, evil speaking, malice, envy, and public controversy in the preaching of the Word.
Sometimes a single word of criticism after an impressive service will dispel all its blessed influence upon the heart of some interested hearer, and counteract the gracious work that would have resulted in the salvation of the soul.
A frivolous Christian woman returning one night from church with her unsaved husband was laughing lightly at some of the mistakes and eccentricities of the speaker. Suddenly she felt his arm trembling; she looked in his face and his tears were falling. He gently turned to her, and said, ‘Pray for me, I have seen myself tonight as I never did before.” She suddenly awoke with an awful shudder to realize that she had been frivolously wrecking his soul's salvation, and quenching the Holy Ghost.
And so, public controversy is as fatal to the Spirit’s working as personal criticism.
It is when the children of God unite at the feet of Jesus, and together seek His blessing, that He comes in all the fullness of His life –power.
The Spirit may be quenched in the hearts of our friends by unwise counsel, or ungodly influence.
The little child may be discouraged from seeking Christ by a worldly parent, or the ignorant assumption that it is too young to be a Christian, or too busy with its studies, or its social enjoyments, for such things.
The attractions of the world and claims and pressures of business may be interposed in the way of some seeking heart, and we find in eternity that we put a stumbling block in our friend’s way, from which he fell into perdition.
Let us be very careful lest, in our willfulness and pride, we not only miss ourselves the inner chamber of the kingdom of heaven, but hinder those that would enter from going in.
Oh! if we would cherish the faintest breath of life in the rescued waif that has been snatched from a watery grave, if we could fan the expiring flame of life in a friend’s bosom, let us be careful lest we quench the spark of everlasting life in a human soul, and stand at the last, responsible for the murder of immortal beings, and crimson with the blood of souls.
Quench not the Spirit! (A. B. Simpson. Walking in the Spirit)
Are you quenching the Holy Spirit?
DAN WILSON
EPHESIANS 4 TEACHER
ephesians4teacher@hotmail.com
I Thessalonians 5:19
What does it mean to “quench the Spirit?”
First of all, we need to define the word “quench”
The American Heritage Dictionary defines “quench as:
1. To put out (a fire, for example); extinguish.
2. To suppress; squelch.
3. To put an end to; destroy.
The Greek word for “quench” is “sbennumi” which means to quench or extinguish as one does to a light or fire. Figuratively, as used in this verse, it means to dampen, stifle, hinder, repress, or prevent the Spirit from exerting His effect or performing His work in the believer. Clearly the reference is not to the person of the Spirit Himself, for He is eternal God and can never be extinguished. The reference is His activity in our hearts.
“Do not quench the Spirit” is a combination of a negative particle (me) with the present imperative, which suggest that the recipients are being told to stop something they have already begun (quenching the Spirit).
It is interesting to note that the verb “sbennumi” is in the second person plural, as are all the commands in verses 19-22, indicating that each command is intended for the entire membership of the Thessalonian church. The first two commands are negative (5:19-20) and the remaining three are positive (5:21; 22)
The command could be paraphrased something like this:
“Stop putting out the fire (of the Holy Spirit). Stop hindering and repressing the Holy Spirit, for in so doing you are preventing Him from exerting His full influence?”
There is a parallel warning in Ephesians where in the context of allowing unwholesome words to proceed from their mouth, Paul command the saints “do not grieve (present imperative + a negative = stop doing this implying that were doing it) the Holy Spirit of God, by Whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)
I have selected some individuals who have written on this subject to better illustrate to you what the word means.
EDWARD D. HIEBERT comments that the figure of quenching the Spirit points to His sudden and vehement activities in human hearts. It implies “His gifts of warmth for the heart, and light for the mind and His power to kindle the human spirit.
Since fire is always put out by something outside itself, this prohibition is directed against some hindrance to the Spirit’s operation in their midst. It is not indicated whether they are quenching the Spirit in themselves or in others. Both thoughts may be included in this general injunction, yet the connection with I Thessalonians 5:20 seems to indicate that the suppression of prophetic utterances in the assembly was primarily in view.
The precise situation in the Thessalonian church calling forth this injunction is not clear. Many interpreters hold that it arose out the operation of the charismatic gifts in the Thessalonian church.
The general character of the prohibition would certainly leave room for a wider interpretation. Anything that might be permitted in their assembly, or in their own hearts, which was contrary to the nature and work of the Spirit would quench His operation. The Spirit’s fire is quenched whenever His presence is ignored and His promptings are suppressed and rejected, or the fervor He kindles in the heart is dampened by unspiritual attitudes, criticisms, or actions. Certain any toleration of immorality and idleness, against which they have be warned would quench the Spirit’s working in their midst.
They must not allow the operations of the Spirit to be suppressed wither through yielding to the impulses of the flesh or by imposing a mechanical order upon the services that would hamper the free movements of the Spirit.
DAVID JEREMIAH agrees asking, “Do you know what is means to quench the Holy Spirit? What do you do when you quench your thirst? You drink some water and the thirst is put away. When you quench a fire, you put it out, you smother it. How do you quench the Spirit of God? You quench the Spirit of God by not doing something He tells you to do. When you walk in the Spirit and are filled with the Spirit, you don’t want to quench Him. When He tells you do something, you do it.”
F. F. BRUCE feels that as the context goes on to make plain, the activity chiefly in view here is prophecy. In this respect the Spirit may be quenched when the prophet refuses to utter the message he has been given, or when others try to prevent him from uttering it. A good example of the former is Jeremiah’s attempt to speak no more in Yahweh’s name, when the word held back became, as he said, “a burning fire shut up in my bones” (Jeremiah 20:9), which could not be quenched or controlled. An example of the latter is found in Amos 2:12, where the people of Israel are condemned because they” commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy.’”
W. E. VINE writes that as fire is always extinguished from without itself the meaning seems to be “do not prevent or obstruct the manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s power in others.” Here the tense is present continuous, hence the meaning is “desist from quenching” rather than “do not begin to quench.” With this injunction may be compared that in I Thessalonians 4:8, which is aimed against any refusal to obey Him as this is against any refusal to listen to Him.
The peace, order, and edification of the saints were evidence of the ministry of the Spirit among them, but if, through ignorance of His ways, or through failure to recognize, or refusal to submit to, them, or through impatience with the ignorance or self-will of others, the Spirit were quenched, these happy results would be absent. For there was always the danger that the impulses of the flesh might usurp the place of the energy of the Spirit in the assembly, and the endeavor to restrain this evil by natural means would have the effect of hindering His ministry also. Apparently then, this injunction was intended to warn believers against the substitution of a mechanical order for the restraints of the Spirit.
JOHN WALVOORD writes that it may be concluded that quenching the Holy Spirit is to suppress, stifle, or otherwise obstruct the ministry of the Spirit to the individual. In a word it is saying, “No,” and replacing the will of the Spirit with the will of the individual. This, in brief, is the whole issue of morality, whether man will accomplish what he wants to do or whether his life is surrendered and yielded to the will of God.
RAY STEDMAN in his down to earth style feels that verses 19 and 20 give simple commands: Do not ignore the Spirit’s prompting (verse 19) and do not despise the Scripture’s wisdom (verse 20). The Spirit’s prompting always come in two areas: Stop doing what is wrong, and start doing what is right. If you are a Christian at all you are familiar with the inner feeling that says, “God wants you to do something,” or “God wants you to stop doing something.” We all have felt this inner guidance. What the apostle is saying is, “Give into those feelings.” When the Spirit prompts you to show love to somebody, do it, do not hold back. I once heard of a man who said, “Sometimes when I think of how my wife works and blesses me, it’s all I can do to keep from telling her that I love her!” There is a man being guided by the Spirit, but he is quenching the Spirit. Do not do that. Go ahead and tell her you love her. You may have to pick her off the floor afterward, but do not quench the Sprit!
G. L. GREEN writes that the verb “shennumi” at times describes and action that makes something disappear completely, such as a person’s very existence when death comes, but elsewhere it carries the more moderate meaning of “to attenuate” or “to restrict” something. The exact nuance Paul has in mind is not easy to ascertain, but the first sense is the most likely in the context of prophecy. Some Thessalonians appear to have attempted to prohibit manifestation of the Spirit in their church. Since the presence of the Holy Spirit in the community is compared with fire, and the verb “to quench” would aptly describe the attempt to eliminate these manifestations. On the other side, Paul exhorts Timothy about the Spirit’s activity in his life by saying, “Fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). The manifestations of the Spirit’s presence are for the good of the community and for that reason should not be eliminated.
M. MILLS takes similar approach writing that quenching the Spirit means nullifying His power in your life, for you manifestly cannot extinguish Him on a universal basis! How do you nullify His power? Well, simply by living an unsanctified life, for if you profane your vessel He, who is perfectly pure, will not reside in it. But how do I remedy it when I sin and profane my vessel? I John 1:8-9 answers this, for if I confess my sin God will forgive me.
J. VERNON MCGEE writes that to quench the Spirit means that you refuse to do the will of God; that is, you are not listening to the Holy Spirit. You refuse to let the Holy Spirit be your Guide to lead you. You and I quench the Holy Spire when we take matters into our own hands. This is the same teaching that Paul gave to the Ephesian believers: “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). You cannot grieve a thing; you grieve a Person. The Holy Spirit is a Person, and He is grieved by sin in our lives. Also, He is quenched when we step out of the will of God.
We can sum up of this with this story: BE SAFE – NOT SORRY
Two young women lost their lives in a fire that swept through their apartment as they slept. Their home was equipped with a smoke detector that was in good working order, but it hadn’t gone off.
Why?
Fire inspectors concluded that the device had been deactivated for a part the night before. The unit had been disconnected to keep it from sounding off because of the smoke from cooking and candles.
In Acts 5 we have another example of two people who apparently deactivated an alarm system that could have saved their lives. Ananias and Sapphira must have quenched the Holy Spirit by turning a deaf ear to their consciences, believing they had plenty of good reasons for doing what they did. But their action cost them their lives.
We need to realize that the Holy Spirit was not given to annoy us like a sensitive smoke detector. He doesn’t sound false alarms. When He activates our conscience by bringing to mind a principle or warning from God’s word, it is really His love and wisdom in action.
By weighing the warnings of His love against the cost of our foolishness, we will soon realize that it is always better to be safe than sorry.
M. R. DeHAAN II (Our Daily Bread)
Can we be forgiven for quenching the Holy Spirit?
I believe that we can we truly acknowledge what we have been doing and repent.
How do we quench the Spirit?
A. B. Simpson has some interesting thoughts about what it means to quench the Spirit writing that if it has reference, perhaps, mainly to the hindrance we offer to His work in others, rather than to our resistance of His personal dealing with our own souls.
Among the various hindrance which we may offer to the Holy Spirit may be mentioned such as these:
1. We may refuse to obey His impulses in us when He bids us to speak or act for Him.
We may be conscious of a distinct impression of the Spirit of God bidding us to testify for Christ, and by disobedience, or timidity, or procrastination, we may quench His working, both in our own soul and in the heart of another.
2. We may suppress His voice in others, either by using our authority to restrain His messages, when He speaks through His servants or refusing to allow the liberty of testimony.
Many hold the reins of ecclesiastical authority unduly, and thus lose the free and effectual working of the Holy Ghost in their churches and in their work.
There is ales direct way, however, of politely silencing Him by forcing Him out, and so filling the atmosphere with the spirit of stiffness, criticism, and certain air or respectability and rigidness that He gently withdraws from the uncongenial scene, and refuses to thrust His message upon unwilling hearts.
3. The Spirit may be grieved by the method of public worship in a congregation.
It may be so stiff and formal that there is no room for His spontaneous working, or so full of worldly and unscriptural elements as to repel and offend Him from taking any part in a pompous ritual. An operatic choir and ritualistic service will effectually quench all the fire of God’s altar, and send the gentle dove to seek a simpler nest.
4. The Spirit may be quenched by the preacher, and his spirit and method.
His own manner may be so intellectual and self-conscious, and his own spirit so thoroughly cold and vain that the Holy Ghost is neither recognized nor known in his work. His sermons may be on themes in which the Spirit has no interest, for He only witnesses to the Holy Scriptures and the person of Christ, and wearily turns away from the discussion of philosophy, and stale show of critical brilliancy over the questions of the day or the speculations of man’s own vain reason.
Perhaps his address is so rigidly written down that the Holy Spirit could not find an opportunity for even a suggestion, if He so desired, and His prompting and leading so coolly set aside by a course of elaborate preparation which leaves no room for God.
5. The spirit of error in the teachings of the pulpit will always quench the Holy Spirit.
He is jealous of His own inspired Word and when vain man attempts to set it aside He looks on with indignation, and exposes such teachers to humiliation and failure.
The spirit of self-assertion and self-consciousness is always fatal to the free working of the Holy Spirit.
When a man stands up in the sacred desk to air his eloquence and call attention to his intellectual brilliancy, or to preach himself in any sense, he will always be deserted by the Holy Spirit. He uses the things “that are not to naught the things that are.” And before we can expect to become the instruments of His power, we must wholly cease from self and be lost in the person and glory of Jesus.
6. The spirit of pride, fashion and worldly display in the pews, is just as fatal as ambition in the pulpit.
Such an atmosphere seems to freeze out the spirit of devotion, and erect on the throne of the lowly Nazarene a goddess of carnal pride and pleasure, life the foul Venus that the Parisian mob set up in the Madeline at Paris in the days of the revolution, as an object of worship. From such an atmosphere the Holy Ghost turns away grieved and disgusted.
7. The quickening and reviving influences of the Holy Ghost are often quenched in the very hour of promise by wrong methods in the work of Christ’s church.
How often, on the eve of a real revival, the minds of the people have been led away by some public entertainment in connection with the house of God, or its after-fruits withered by a series of unholy fairs and secular bids for money, and the introduction of the broker and the cattle-vender into the cleansed temple of Jehovah, as in the days of Christ.
8. The spirit of criticism and controversy is fatal to the working of the Holy Ghost.
The gentle dove will not remain in an atmosphere of strife. If we would cherish His power we must possess His love, and frown down all wrangling gossip, evil speaking, malice, envy, and public controversy in the preaching of the Word.
Sometimes a single word of criticism after an impressive service will dispel all its blessed influence upon the heart of some interested hearer, and counteract the gracious work that would have resulted in the salvation of the soul.
A frivolous Christian woman returning one night from church with her unsaved husband was laughing lightly at some of the mistakes and eccentricities of the speaker. Suddenly she felt his arm trembling; she looked in his face and his tears were falling. He gently turned to her, and said, ‘Pray for me, I have seen myself tonight as I never did before.” She suddenly awoke with an awful shudder to realize that she had been frivolously wrecking his soul's salvation, and quenching the Holy Ghost.
And so, public controversy is as fatal to the Spirit’s working as personal criticism.
It is when the children of God unite at the feet of Jesus, and together seek His blessing, that He comes in all the fullness of His life –power.
The Spirit may be quenched in the hearts of our friends by unwise counsel, or ungodly influence.
The little child may be discouraged from seeking Christ by a worldly parent, or the ignorant assumption that it is too young to be a Christian, or too busy with its studies, or its social enjoyments, for such things.
The attractions of the world and claims and pressures of business may be interposed in the way of some seeking heart, and we find in eternity that we put a stumbling block in our friend’s way, from which he fell into perdition.
Let us be very careful lest, in our willfulness and pride, we not only miss ourselves the inner chamber of the kingdom of heaven, but hinder those that would enter from going in.
Oh! if we would cherish the faintest breath of life in the rescued waif that has been snatched from a watery grave, if we could fan the expiring flame of life in a friend’s bosom, let us be careful lest we quench the spark of everlasting life in a human soul, and stand at the last, responsible for the murder of immortal beings, and crimson with the blood of souls.
Quench not the Spirit! (A. B. Simpson. Walking in the Spirit)
Are you quenching the Holy Spirit?
DAN WILSON
EPHESIANS 4 TEACHER
ephesians4teacher@hotmail.com
Saturday, March 21, 2009
YOU ARE THE PROPHET OF YOUR LIFE
PART 5
BY KENNETH COPELAND
JUDGEMENT DAY
Those words can stir up a lot of wild ideas in people’s minds, about what they think might happen on that day, especially, when they consider all they could possibly be judged for.
But in Matthew 12:36-37, Jesus made it quite clear. What happens on Judgment Day all comes down to the words we speak now.
“But I say to you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.”
On the day of judgment, God will not judge us by some far out revelation or standard. He will simply hit the replay button and we will hear the words we have been speaking for the past 30, 40 or 50 years. And we will be judged by those words. That’s because we were created to speak words that are backed with the authority to change the sickness, the lack and the darkness of this world. We were created to speak with the voice of faith.
Understanding the power and responsibility of the voice of faith begins with seeing that it is rooted in the principle of sowing and reaping, or seedtime and harvest, which Genesis 6:22 tells us is a spiritual law that applies to everything in life.
Based on this principle, Galatians 6:7 warns us, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.”
The Judgment Day warning we read from Matthew 12:36-37 is based on the fact that our words are seeds. Because they function under the principle of seedtime and harvest, our words, as seeds, contain spiritual force and power. Once we speak them, they take root in our lives, grow up and come to pass, whether we realize it or not. What they produce is up to us.
Matthew 12:34-35 says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of the heart brings for evil things.”
We are the prophets of our own lives. It is our words, not someone else’s that determine our future. The words we speak affect our health, our wealth, and our place in eternity. What we say today determines where we will end up tomorrow.
WORDS PRODUCE
Throughout this series, we have used Matthew 12:34-37 as our foundational Scripture. But now, as we conclude our study, I want us to read Luke’s account of the same teaching. It’s found in Luke 6:43-45:
“A good tree brings not forth corrupt fruit; neither does a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is know by its own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings for fruit that which is evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
What’s common here about the fruit of a tree and grapes from a vine is they are all the product of seed. But, notice that Jesus also included within the same flow of teaching the treasure, or fruit, that is produced from a man’s heart. How is that fruit produced? Through the seeds of his mouth, words. Good words. Evil words. Each fruit produces after its own kind.
This is why after Jesus taught His disciples these principles, He went on to ask them, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46)
In other words, He was saying, “I have been telling you all along that you have what you say, still, you continue to go off and say whatever you want to say, talking out of your flesh, and it is producing evil fruit!”
In Mark 4:24, Jesus told those who were following Him to “take heed to what you hear.” He was teaching them the concept of hearing every word they heard, and considering every word they allowed to get into their ears.
Why was that so important? Because words head straight for the spirit, or innermost being, of a man. And once they reach the heart, the eventually come out of the mouth as seed.
You see, words are carriers. On one hand, they have the power and ability to carry faith. God’s Word’s, for instance is fill with His faith.
The Bible also tells us that God’s Word is full of healing: “The Lord sent His word and it healed them, the Word is life to those who find it and health to all their flesh.”
(Psalm 107:20; Proverbs 4:22)
But there is another side to this issue of words being carriers. Words can also carry fear, hatred, anger and so on. Once such words get into the heart, they can cause great pain in the soul, sickness in the body, even death.
If you spend a lot of time around people who constantly speak words of fear, worry, sickness, poverty, profanity and obscenity, or they have a negative attitude, all that mess will eventually get into your spirit. It will fill your spirit with doubt and unbelief.
Of course, it’s fine to love those people who talk that way. But pray for them and then get away from them, even if they’re believers. Go find people who talk faith. Spend time with Christians who have an “I can because God can!” mind set.
The Apostle Paul told Timothy that words of faith nourish (1 Timothy 4:6). So go where your ears and your heart will be filled with faith words, words that will nourish your spirit and produce good fruit!
Remember, out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth speaks. What’s in your heart, good or evil, will come out of your mouth. And it’s what comes out of your mouth that determines your future.
CHANGE FROM THE GROUND UP
How do we used words to go from living a life full of sickness and disease to living a life of divine health, or from living paycheck to paycheck to have more than enough?
This answer is in understanding the voice of faith.
As we have already seen, the words we speak in our lifetime are powerful and have eternal results. That’s because all physical matter has spiritual roots. Everything that happens in this earth can be traced back to the spiritual realm. Therefore, if we want to change something in the natural realm, really change it, we must begin in the spiritual realm, and that’s where our words come into play.
The words we speak are spiritual first, then physical. That is, they affect the spiritual realm before they affect the physical. We saw the cycle earlier. Words go into our hearts, through our ears, and come out of our mouths as seeds. Once we speak them, they take root, grow, and produce fruit.
Now, with that in mind, we also need to understand that there are two fundamental spiritual laws that govern everything in this material environment. We find these laws listed in Romans 8:1-2.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Everything in the physical realm, including man, has a spiritual overlord, or spiritual head. That spiritual head is either God or Satan. While Jesus is Head over the law of the Spirit of life, Satan is head over the law of sin and death.
In fact, the Bible call Satan the “god of this world’ (2 Corinthians 4:4). He became god of this world the moment Adam committed high treason against God in the Garden of Eden. By rebelling against God, Adam handed over his God-given authority in this earth to the devil.
But, thank God, Jesus came along and defeated Satan and restored that authority.
What you and I need to know, then, is how to access your rightful authority.
Ephesians 1:18-23 says:
“That you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and very name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”
The moment we received Jesus as our Lord, we were “born again.” We were born of the Spirit of spiritual overlord and became children of the kingdom of light, having been translated from the kingdom of darkness. At that moment, the devil was no longer our god.
What’s more, in that same instance, we were given the very same authority in heaven and earth that Jesus has. He is the Head, and we are His Body. We don’t have one kind of authority and He another. No. It’s the same.
So, as we read in Ephesians, all principalities, all powers, all might, all names, all things, are under our feet.
There is a catch, though. We must exercise that authority.
Certainly, as believers, we have been made free from the law of sin and death. But that law is still in full operation in this earth. Its effects are all around us, and they are constantly trying to overtake us.
Therefore, we must constantly exercise our authority. We must constantly speak with the voice of faith.
If we are going to change anything in this world that is influenced and driven by the law of sin and death, sickness, disease, lack, debt, poverty, jealousy, strife, then we must go to it spiritual root and cut off its source of life. Once we do, the physical aspects of it will change.
EXERCISE FAITH – WORK YOUR MOUTH
The voice of faith, that is, faith filled words spoken out of our mouths, dominate the law of sin and death, as well as all the forces ruled by Satan.
In Daniel 10:11-12, we see, in part, the impact of our words in the spiritual realm:
“O Daniel, for to you I am now sent, for from the first day that you set your mind and heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come as a consequence of (and in response to) your words.” (The Amplified Bible)
Here was an angel sent by God to Daniel, and he was basically saying, “I’ve come because of your words. If you hadn’t been talking, I would not be here.” Clearly, Daniel’s words made a difference.
But notice what else the angel said: “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days.” (Verse 13)
Evil, demonic spirits have assignments given them by Satan to attempt to rule over nations, regions, cities, families, businesses and so on. In fact, at this very moment, there are wicked spirits on assignment to rule over everything you do. In verse 13, the angel talking to Daniel was actually referring to an evil spirit that reigned over all Persia.
Now, taking this point a step further, in Matthew 18:18, Jesus said, “Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
There is nothing in heaven, where God resides, that we could bind if we wanted to. There’s nothing there that needs binding. So which heaven was Jesus talking about?
The Bible talks about the atmospheric heaven that is just above the earth. That’s the “heaven” where the binding and loosing occurs. That’s the heaven where principalities and powers, spiritual beings, were ruling and warring in Daniel’s day.
Today, however, in that same atmosphere the devil no longer has any authority. He has fallen to the earth and is bound here until God gets ready to redo his earth. Nonetheless, demonic forces still get away with a certain amount of activity, particularly when Christians do not pray or exercise their authority.
FAITH WORD RULE!
Jesus, plus His Body, that’s us, plus His angels and all the heavenly host, dominate the law of sin and death, Satan, and all his principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness of this world. But we can only dominate those forces of darkness by releasing power through our faith filled words.
Hebrews 1:4 (The Amplified Bible) asks the question: “Are not the angels all ministering spirits (servants) sent out in the service (of God for the assistance) of those who are to inherit salvation?” Yes, we have all the resources of heaven ready to move on our behalf.
Yes, we have all authority in both heaven and earth. That includes authority over Satan and every devil, buy the Name of Jesus. But no angel in heaven will move, or can move, and no devil will bow its knee until we open our mouths.
Psalm 103:20 says, “Bless the lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.”
When the angels of heaven hear the Word of God, they do it!
How do they hear that Word?
From out mouths!
Angels hearken to the voice of the Word, and we are that voice. We are the voice of God’s Word. We are the voice of Jesus in the earth, just as He is our voice in heaven. (Hebrews 3:1)
We are in a position to activate all of heaven and earth.
That’s why we must refuse to bow the knee of our confession to sin, sickness, demons or fear.
That’s why we must refuse to bow by putting the law of sin and death in our mouths.
We must fed on the Word of God by putting it in our ears, in our eyes and in our hearts.
Romans 10:17 tell us that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” It is the Word of God; the voice of faith, coming out of our mouths that dominates the law of sin and death.
We are like kings holding court. On one side is Jesus, His angels and all the powers of heaven. On the other side is Satan and his devils, and everything else associated with the law of sin and death.
We stand in the middle.
The devil says, You’re sick, You’re broke, You’re hopeless!
Jesus says, “By My stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24), My God shall supply all your need (Philippians 4:19)”
The question is, what will you say?
My friend, no matter what you are facing in this natural realm, you are the deciding factor.
What you say will determine the outcome, because you are the prophet of your own life.
So fill your heart with the Word of God, then speak boldly with the voice of faith.
Determine that your voice will make the difference today!
PART 5
BY KENNETH COPELAND
JUDGEMENT DAY
Those words can stir up a lot of wild ideas in people’s minds, about what they think might happen on that day, especially, when they consider all they could possibly be judged for.
But in Matthew 12:36-37, Jesus made it quite clear. What happens on Judgment Day all comes down to the words we speak now.
“But I say to you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.”
On the day of judgment, God will not judge us by some far out revelation or standard. He will simply hit the replay button and we will hear the words we have been speaking for the past 30, 40 or 50 years. And we will be judged by those words. That’s because we were created to speak words that are backed with the authority to change the sickness, the lack and the darkness of this world. We were created to speak with the voice of faith.
Understanding the power and responsibility of the voice of faith begins with seeing that it is rooted in the principle of sowing and reaping, or seedtime and harvest, which Genesis 6:22 tells us is a spiritual law that applies to everything in life.
Based on this principle, Galatians 6:7 warns us, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.”
The Judgment Day warning we read from Matthew 12:36-37 is based on the fact that our words are seeds. Because they function under the principle of seedtime and harvest, our words, as seeds, contain spiritual force and power. Once we speak them, they take root in our lives, grow up and come to pass, whether we realize it or not. What they produce is up to us.
Matthew 12:34-35 says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of the heart brings for evil things.”
We are the prophets of our own lives. It is our words, not someone else’s that determine our future. The words we speak affect our health, our wealth, and our place in eternity. What we say today determines where we will end up tomorrow.
WORDS PRODUCE
Throughout this series, we have used Matthew 12:34-37 as our foundational Scripture. But now, as we conclude our study, I want us to read Luke’s account of the same teaching. It’s found in Luke 6:43-45:
“A good tree brings not forth corrupt fruit; neither does a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is know by its own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings for fruit that which is evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
What’s common here about the fruit of a tree and grapes from a vine is they are all the product of seed. But, notice that Jesus also included within the same flow of teaching the treasure, or fruit, that is produced from a man’s heart. How is that fruit produced? Through the seeds of his mouth, words. Good words. Evil words. Each fruit produces after its own kind.
This is why after Jesus taught His disciples these principles, He went on to ask them, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46)
In other words, He was saying, “I have been telling you all along that you have what you say, still, you continue to go off and say whatever you want to say, talking out of your flesh, and it is producing evil fruit!”
In Mark 4:24, Jesus told those who were following Him to “take heed to what you hear.” He was teaching them the concept of hearing every word they heard, and considering every word they allowed to get into their ears.
Why was that so important? Because words head straight for the spirit, or innermost being, of a man. And once they reach the heart, the eventually come out of the mouth as seed.
You see, words are carriers. On one hand, they have the power and ability to carry faith. God’s Word’s, for instance is fill with His faith.
The Bible also tells us that God’s Word is full of healing: “The Lord sent His word and it healed them, the Word is life to those who find it and health to all their flesh.”
(Psalm 107:20; Proverbs 4:22)
But there is another side to this issue of words being carriers. Words can also carry fear, hatred, anger and so on. Once such words get into the heart, they can cause great pain in the soul, sickness in the body, even death.
If you spend a lot of time around people who constantly speak words of fear, worry, sickness, poverty, profanity and obscenity, or they have a negative attitude, all that mess will eventually get into your spirit. It will fill your spirit with doubt and unbelief.
Of course, it’s fine to love those people who talk that way. But pray for them and then get away from them, even if they’re believers. Go find people who talk faith. Spend time with Christians who have an “I can because God can!” mind set.
The Apostle Paul told Timothy that words of faith nourish (1 Timothy 4:6). So go where your ears and your heart will be filled with faith words, words that will nourish your spirit and produce good fruit!
Remember, out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth speaks. What’s in your heart, good or evil, will come out of your mouth. And it’s what comes out of your mouth that determines your future.
CHANGE FROM THE GROUND UP
How do we used words to go from living a life full of sickness and disease to living a life of divine health, or from living paycheck to paycheck to have more than enough?
This answer is in understanding the voice of faith.
As we have already seen, the words we speak in our lifetime are powerful and have eternal results. That’s because all physical matter has spiritual roots. Everything that happens in this earth can be traced back to the spiritual realm. Therefore, if we want to change something in the natural realm, really change it, we must begin in the spiritual realm, and that’s where our words come into play.
The words we speak are spiritual first, then physical. That is, they affect the spiritual realm before they affect the physical. We saw the cycle earlier. Words go into our hearts, through our ears, and come out of our mouths as seeds. Once we speak them, they take root, grow, and produce fruit.
Now, with that in mind, we also need to understand that there are two fundamental spiritual laws that govern everything in this material environment. We find these laws listed in Romans 8:1-2.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Everything in the physical realm, including man, has a spiritual overlord, or spiritual head. That spiritual head is either God or Satan. While Jesus is Head over the law of the Spirit of life, Satan is head over the law of sin and death.
In fact, the Bible call Satan the “god of this world’ (2 Corinthians 4:4). He became god of this world the moment Adam committed high treason against God in the Garden of Eden. By rebelling against God, Adam handed over his God-given authority in this earth to the devil.
But, thank God, Jesus came along and defeated Satan and restored that authority.
What you and I need to know, then, is how to access your rightful authority.
Ephesians 1:18-23 says:
“That you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and very name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”
The moment we received Jesus as our Lord, we were “born again.” We were born of the Spirit of spiritual overlord and became children of the kingdom of light, having been translated from the kingdom of darkness. At that moment, the devil was no longer our god.
What’s more, in that same instance, we were given the very same authority in heaven and earth that Jesus has. He is the Head, and we are His Body. We don’t have one kind of authority and He another. No. It’s the same.
So, as we read in Ephesians, all principalities, all powers, all might, all names, all things, are under our feet.
There is a catch, though. We must exercise that authority.
Certainly, as believers, we have been made free from the law of sin and death. But that law is still in full operation in this earth. Its effects are all around us, and they are constantly trying to overtake us.
Therefore, we must constantly exercise our authority. We must constantly speak with the voice of faith.
If we are going to change anything in this world that is influenced and driven by the law of sin and death, sickness, disease, lack, debt, poverty, jealousy, strife, then we must go to it spiritual root and cut off its source of life. Once we do, the physical aspects of it will change.
EXERCISE FAITH – WORK YOUR MOUTH
The voice of faith, that is, faith filled words spoken out of our mouths, dominate the law of sin and death, as well as all the forces ruled by Satan.
In Daniel 10:11-12, we see, in part, the impact of our words in the spiritual realm:
“O Daniel, for to you I am now sent, for from the first day that you set your mind and heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come as a consequence of (and in response to) your words.” (The Amplified Bible)
Here was an angel sent by God to Daniel, and he was basically saying, “I’ve come because of your words. If you hadn’t been talking, I would not be here.” Clearly, Daniel’s words made a difference.
But notice what else the angel said: “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days.” (Verse 13)
Evil, demonic spirits have assignments given them by Satan to attempt to rule over nations, regions, cities, families, businesses and so on. In fact, at this very moment, there are wicked spirits on assignment to rule over everything you do. In verse 13, the angel talking to Daniel was actually referring to an evil spirit that reigned over all Persia.
Now, taking this point a step further, in Matthew 18:18, Jesus said, “Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
There is nothing in heaven, where God resides, that we could bind if we wanted to. There’s nothing there that needs binding. So which heaven was Jesus talking about?
The Bible talks about the atmospheric heaven that is just above the earth. That’s the “heaven” where the binding and loosing occurs. That’s the heaven where principalities and powers, spiritual beings, were ruling and warring in Daniel’s day.
Today, however, in that same atmosphere the devil no longer has any authority. He has fallen to the earth and is bound here until God gets ready to redo his earth. Nonetheless, demonic forces still get away with a certain amount of activity, particularly when Christians do not pray or exercise their authority.
FAITH WORD RULE!
Jesus, plus His Body, that’s us, plus His angels and all the heavenly host, dominate the law of sin and death, Satan, and all his principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness of this world. But we can only dominate those forces of darkness by releasing power through our faith filled words.
Hebrews 1:4 (The Amplified Bible) asks the question: “Are not the angels all ministering spirits (servants) sent out in the service (of God for the assistance) of those who are to inherit salvation?” Yes, we have all the resources of heaven ready to move on our behalf.
Yes, we have all authority in both heaven and earth. That includes authority over Satan and every devil, buy the Name of Jesus. But no angel in heaven will move, or can move, and no devil will bow its knee until we open our mouths.
Psalm 103:20 says, “Bless the lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.”
When the angels of heaven hear the Word of God, they do it!
How do they hear that Word?
From out mouths!
Angels hearken to the voice of the Word, and we are that voice. We are the voice of God’s Word. We are the voice of Jesus in the earth, just as He is our voice in heaven. (Hebrews 3:1)
We are in a position to activate all of heaven and earth.
That’s why we must refuse to bow the knee of our confession to sin, sickness, demons or fear.
That’s why we must refuse to bow by putting the law of sin and death in our mouths.
We must fed on the Word of God by putting it in our ears, in our eyes and in our hearts.
Romans 10:17 tell us that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” It is the Word of God; the voice of faith, coming out of our mouths that dominates the law of sin and death.
We are like kings holding court. On one side is Jesus, His angels and all the powers of heaven. On the other side is Satan and his devils, and everything else associated with the law of sin and death.
We stand in the middle.
The devil says, You’re sick, You’re broke, You’re hopeless!
Jesus says, “By My stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24), My God shall supply all your need (Philippians 4:19)”
The question is, what will you say?
My friend, no matter what you are facing in this natural realm, you are the deciding factor.
What you say will determine the outcome, because you are the prophet of your own life.
So fill your heart with the Word of God, then speak boldly with the voice of faith.
Determine that your voice will make the difference today!
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