Fruitful Living

Sermon for Pentecost 6, Year C (Proper 9)

Galatians 6:1-10

You have a lovely bowl of fruit on your kitchen table.  It looks good. Occasionally you catch the pleasing aroma of apple, pear, banana, orange, mandarin, or in summer, peach, apricot, nectarine or mango. The fruit not only looks good; it is good for you – vitamins, fibre and so on.  But is that fruit really any good to you unless you eat it?

Galatians 5 describes a lovely ‘bowl of fruit’ called ‘the fruit of the Spirit’.  These fruit of the Spirit are the character qualities which the Holy Spirit grows on the lives of people who have been saved by faith in Jesus, who have been welcomed as children in God’s family through baptism into Christ, and have found freedom in Christ. 

If we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our lives, God will also help us to bear spiritual fruit. That is what St. Paul describes in Galatians 5:22-23: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

It too is a lovely bowl of fruit.  The words have a nice ring to them.  They are positive, peaceful and perhaps even a little bit sentimental.  But is this fruit any good to you unless you actually use it?  The real ‘health benefits’ of the fruit of the Spirit are realized only as this bowl of fruit is handed around, shared and sampled in the lives of believers.  In that sense, Galatians 6 is not the conclusion to Paul’s letter, but the climax. By faith in Christ we are free – not free to live as we like, but free to share real spiritual fruit with real members of God’s family.

The fruit of the Spirit will show in our concern for others and their needs.  St. Paul writes: If someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.  You may notice people who are caught up in sinful habits, apart from their daily faults and failings.  You may notice that a brother or sister in Christ is engaging in some of the acts of the sinful nature that Paul described in Galatians 5;19-21: sexual immorality, putting material things before God, ongoing hatred or fits of anger, dishonest business dealings, drunkenness and so on.  It could be a trap that looks relatively harmless, like a family who are becoming less and less regular at worship because they are becoming more and more involved in sport, or the student who is beginning to express doubts about his or her faith.

What do we do if we notice someone is ‘caught in a trap of sin’?  Do we ignore it, or hope someone else will do something about it? To give this some perspective: What would we do if we found our favourite family pet caught in a trap someone had set?  Our love and concern would lead us to try and release it gently without doing any more harm.  How much more would our love for others cause us to do whatever we could to gently restore any fellow believer who may be caught in sin?  This would call us to exercise of the spiritual fruit of love, patience and gentleness (or humility).

Our concern that our fellow believers recognize their sin, are forgiven and restored is matched also by our concern for the struggles and burdens they face in life.  Some are lonely, sick, hospitalized, shut in, depressed, exhausted, struggling under the weight of personal or family difficulties, or financial hardship.  What do we do about it? Do we ignore it and think only of ourselves? Do we simply tell the elders or the pastor? No! We should share some of the fruit of the Spirit instead!

St. Paul writes: Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ (6:2).  Christ carried all our burdens in his body to the cross and then said to us: Love one another as I have loved you. That is ‘the law of Christ’. By bearing one another’s burdens we allow the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, the fruit of joy in them as they experience Christ through our loving words and actions, and the fruit of peace that enables them to rest in Christ despite the troubles in their world.

Our concern for our fellow believers is also matched by our loving concern for our spiritual leaders.  St. Paul writes: Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor (6:6).  What are these good things? They are not material provisions so much as spiritual encouragement – the encouragement of knowing that those who are taught the word of God value it, honour the preaching and hearing of it, make the most of opportunities to grow in it.  This ensures that the ‘sowers’ of the word also share in its spiritual ‘harvest’ and in the spiritual fruit of goodness.

St. Paul concludes this section of his letter with some general advice: Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers (6:10). There is always opportunity, so let’s grab it!  Let us always be looking for ways to enrich the life of others and the health of our church family with the fruit which the Spirit gives. Our willingness to ‘do good to all people’ is not exclusive to the church family but, as the saying goes, “Charity begins at home.”

This word of encouragement concerning our love for others, however, is only half the story. The other half has to do with the effect that God’s spiritual fruit has on our own lives.  While watching out for others we may forget to ‘watch our own back’ and may fall prey to temptation.  So to each word of encouragement, Paul adds an appropriate word of warning.

While we are gently setting others free from the trap of sin in their lives, St. Paul warns: But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted (6:1). ‘Don’t become entangled in the net of sin yourselves.’  We may be so upset at what others are doing that we need to ask the Spirit for self-control and patience.  We may be tempted to think we are better than these ‘sinners’, and so need to pray for the humility to say, “There but by the grace of God, go I!”

While we are carrying one another’s burdens, St. Paul also warns: If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions (6:3, 4). Again the temptation is to become proud, and so we pray for humility. 
The Spirit helps us remember that the only thing that makes us want to bear one another burdens is the knowledge that we are nothing by ourselves, and that we are something only because of the grace of God in Christ Jesus.  Christ has borne our burdens in his body on the cross.

While we are sharing good things with the ‘sowers’ of the word, St. Paul warns us to be careful what we sow and reap in our own lives:  7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life (6:7, 8).  Let’s not lose integrity by saying one thing and doing another. As the saying goes, “You reap what you sow.” God can see through facades.  The final harvest will tell whether we were looking to gratify the desires of our own selfish human nature or whether we were genuinely trying to be guided by God’s Spirit. So let us pray for faithfulness, integrity and self-control so that, in reaching out to others, we too reap eternal life.

While doing good to all, especially those in the family of believers, St. Paul warns: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (6:9). Let us eat the fruit of patience and faithful persistence ourselves as we seek to share the fruit of God’s Spirit with others.  Let’s never get tired of sharing spiritual fruit and looking for a spiritual harvest.

The Holy Spirit has provided a nice bowl of fruit.  But let’s not just admire it, sample its aroma, and talk about its health benefits.  Let’s cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our own lives, and take every opportunity to share it with others. Let’s enjoy some really fruitful living.  Amen.