Life by the Spirit

​Text: Galatians 5:13-25
Service Date: 6.29.25
Sermon:

• “If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
• As I thought through the scripture for this week, this sentence grabbed my attention and stuck with me throughout the week. I believe that this is the thesis of this passage: if we are hateful and spiteful to each other, we are contributing to our own demise. But on the other hand, if we are compassionate and kind to each other, we are contributing to our development.
• That is going to be our focus for this service: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” A person who exhibits the fruit of the Spirit fulfills the law far better than a person who observes the rituals but has little love in his or her heart. That means that it is not our traditions or our rituals that God admires, in fact, it is our heart and our care for the people that we encounter throughout our days.
• When we treat people kindly and with compassion, we set off a ripple effect of love that will reverberate throughout time.
• Now, let’s come back to our opening verse, “If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” It is safe to say this outcome is brought by the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit. We see that in verses 20 and 21, where it states that acts of the flesh include “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness” just to name a few.  
• It is our internal disposition that frames our external impact of the world. If we are filled with hatred and envy then we are more likely to produce hatred and envy and the liking to the world, ultimately creating a world that devours us with that negativity.
• As Followers of Christ, we are called and expected to fill our lives with the Fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” That also means that we are expected to put that same energy out into the world to bring healing and redemption to the world.
• It is through our loving actions that the world is changed. It is through our love that people encounter the love of God. It is through our compassion that people are cared for.
• As we see in this week’s passage, our attitude influences our actions, and our actions impact the world at large.  Now, is the time that we need to reflect: are we the Christians that spread hatred and envy to the masses? Or are we the Christ followers that believe that God’s love brings redemption, so we express that love to our friends and our communities?
• As we conclude, let me quote from Fred Rogers, “If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you many never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”
• Let us pray:

Conclusion: Let us be people be people who exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in our daily lives, bringing love and redemption to the world at large.