You are the fruit of the world!

Galatians 5:22-23 / Love

I love fruit. Apple orchard. Fruit plate for birthday meal growing up. Figured out why I loved it so much. Kansas is dry, Which means you get dry and one of the things that you hydrate with is…fruit. I was a sweaty Kansas kid, I wanted tasty hydration. Fruit was the ticket.

But its more than simple delectable hydration…

Liz Curtis Higgs was one of the best-known disc jockeys in America, and she lived quite a …wild life without God. In fact, the vulgar Howard Stern was the A.M. show, and Liz Curtis Higgs was the P.M. show. And one day Howard Stern said to Liz, “You know, you need to clean up your act.” Now, that really says something if Howard Stern is saying it.

And because Liz Curtis Higgs had been burned by so many men, and her heart had been broken…she became a militant, pagan feminist. But she had a Christian girlfriend who kept inviting her to church. So one day she said, “Okay, I will go to church one time and one time only.” So she went to church one time with her friend.

And that week, the pastor just happened to be teaching on the Bible verse that says, “Wives submit yourselves to your husbands.” Not exactly a good verse to start with a militant feminist.

And she got a little uptight, a little ticked, a little angry. But she continued to listen, and she actually heard the second part of the teaching….

You see, the second part says, “And husbands-you love and sacrifice yourself; you give yourself for your wives just as Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for the church and died for her.” When Liz heard that part, she leaned over to her friend and said with a little cynicism, “I’d gladly give myself to any man if I knew he would die for me.” And her friend leaned over and said, “Liz, there is man who loved you enough to die for you. His name is Jesus Christ. That’s how much he loves you.”

Liz dropped her guard, surrendered her life to God in love, and became a believer. Today she is a Christian author and speaker. (Rick Warren, “You Were Planned for God’s Pleasure,” Purpose Driven Life Campaign Resources)

Read Galatians 5:22-23

Christians believe in general and special revelation. General revelation is that which can be found in nature or history, for instance. Special revelation is found in the Bible, for instance. But whether it is nature or Scripture, we should always be asking of just about anything – “What does this teach us about God’s truth?… What does the Spirit want me to learn from this?”

Fruit in biology:

Fruits play a crucial role in the life cycle of plants by aiding in seed dispersal. Where the fruit goes, seeds go with it with the potential of more life, more fruit. Further, fruit encases/protects seeds during their development until they are mature enough to germinate.
One of the great things about love, then, are the seeds of love. They need to be spread, put into soil and grow…everywhere.
Fruits are rich in essential vitamins/minerals/dietary fiber. They provide a natural source of energy and nutrients for human health including vitamins A, C, and E, potassium, and antioxidants. So too, Christians. Necessary for human health and healthy culture.
Many fruits have high water content, which helps hydration levels in the body. The world gets dehydrated and dies without the fruit only the Spirit can provide.
Fruit is a significant part many economies. Olives are classified as fruit, for instance, and was central to the economy of the Holy Land at the time of Jesus. Christ-like disciples ought to be viewed, when we are biblically formed in hard work, integrity and honesty…to be helpful to the economic functioning of the world.

Fruit in the Bible:

It represents lite, fertility, God’s blessings. In Genesis God commands people to be fruitful and multiply. Fruit needs to proliferate, spread.

In the NT fruit came from branches attached to Jesus. These branches needed to be pruned if they were not producing the fruit expected of them. Paul to the churches of Galatia talks about this fruit which is really just a great picture of Christlikeness.
Fruit is not negotiable for the Christian. In Mt 3 and Lk 3, John the Baptist warns that every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Throughout the Bible, fruit is mentioned as part of God’s provision for His people. The Promised Land is described as a land flowing with milk and honey, abundant in fruits. But from the Promised Land and its people, the whole world would be blessed. Fruit is not to hoard, but to give away. (Dt 8:7-8).

Your pastor prays the fruit of love over your life every twenty days or so. I pray, simply, that God would bless you and make you love this day (the day I am praying that fruit of the Spirit over you).

When I pray “love” — what am I praying for?

Love in our culture is gushy feelings, basically. Love in the Bible is something far different. The main OT word is hesed from which the NT word of agape gets its meaning:

Hesed/unfailing love – Used in the Bible 250x, in the Psalms 127 times. Hesed is not found in any other Semitic language…it’s unique to the Hebrew language…translated in the OT as mercy, unfailing love, steadfast love, lovingkindness. TWOT has it as “obstinate love.”

Hesed carries the idea of passionate, devoted loyalty of a superior to an inferior, especially when it is undeserved.
Hebrews: this God is different from all other gods… all other gods are looking out for what they can get from their worshippers, this God is looking for what he can pour out on his worshippers – affection, compassion, concern and guidance.
Hesed is not something you feel, hesed is something you do. And God does for us so we can be holy as he is holy…share His character. (Oswalt, On Being a Christian)

“Socrates could not conceive of love that was primarily concerned with that the lover could do for the loved rather than what the lover could acquire from the loved. To Socrates love is self-oriented and concerned with how the other can satisfy the needs of the lover…

“Jesus embodies the OT revelation of God’s hesed, or ‘steadfast love,’ seen in God’s faithful love relationship in which the lover loves not for what can be acquired, but for what can be given to meet the needs of the beloved. In fact, giving is the lover’s greatest joy…. (Dennis Kinlaw)

Every week I want to give you at least one good example of Jesus to illustrate what we are talking about in this list.

Notice how John introduces this scene in 13:1: “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”

That’s a very curious expression: “the full extent of his love.”

Footwashing was a menial job, but it had to be done.
The person in the room who shouldn’t have done it was Jesus. He was the rabbi. There is no evidence anywhere in ancient literature of a rabbi stooping to wash his disciple’s feet. But we know Him as God. God decided that night to do something menial for His disciples – one who He knew would deny Him in the next few hours and another that had already betrayed Him.
But… “He [Jesus] got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that he poured water into a basin to wash his disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”
The sum total of the scene seems to be this as Jesus interacts with Peter: Unless you are willing to serve and to be served, to love and to be loved, you cannot be my disciple.