Christ Integration Camp

While we have established that Paul is referring to one fruit and not multiple fruits, it is still important to have a closer look at each characteristic that Paul lists in Galatians 5:22-23. Let’s review the Bible verse.

Read Bible Verse:

• But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Read:

• Love is the first characteristic that is listed. It should come as no surprise that Paul lists it first given his emphasize on the primacy of love in his other letters (1 Corinthians 13:13; Ephesians 5:2; Colossians 3:14), and that the entire Bible relies on the basis of Love. As people who have experienced the love of God through the grace of Christ, we too should love others. The sacrificial love of Christ is the type of love we are called to as Christians; love that finds its source in God alone. “Love is a spiritual anchor of truth in relationship with God and neighbor”.
• As those who have been filled with the Spirit, we are called to show this selfless love to all people. Love is a fruit of the Spirit and a command from God. Since we are believers, we are now walking in the Spirit, and one fruit of the Spirit is love. God commands us to love Him and one another as He has loved us. You should know that you have the ability to love as God loves when His Spirit lives within you and as you abide in Him.
• Let’s talk about the word abide…who thinks they can tell me the definition of abide. The dictionary defines abide as a continual, hour-by-hour nature to it, a constant looking to Jesus through the Scriptures. To abide in Christ daily requires dependence upon the Holy Spirit in which we do three things: Walk by faith, Spend focused time, Engage in intentional actions
• After we believe and trust in Jesus Christ, He gives us the Holy Spirit, who lives within us. It is the Spirit who produces this fruit in us as we abide in Him, and apart from Him, these things would be impossible for us to have in their purest form. This does not mean it is always easy to show these characteristics in our lives, but it does mean we are now able to respond in love or self-control or patience in difficult situations because we have the Spirit within us.
• So how do we know what love looks like? (Allow time for response.) We know what love is by looking to God. First John 4:7-11 says this, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” Chapter 3 verses 16 and 18 state, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers…let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”