The Fruit of Faith
Galatians
5:6
Introduction:
Galatians
context: turning to a false gospel that
is centered on keeping the Law. They
were considering getting circumcised and following the Law of Moses.
The greatest command: Love the Lord and love your neighbor… (Mark
12:30)
Love is the only debt we have left to pay (Rom
13:8)
Love fulfills the Law (Rom 13:10)
They will all know we are disciples of Jesus
by the love we have for each other (John 13:35)
Love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22)
Love chapter:
1 Cor. 13
#1: The Foundation of Love: We are Loved by God
First
we should note that solid foundation of our love. And what is it? It is that we are loved by God. The reason we love is because we are loved by
God. Let us demonstrate the testimony of
Scripture of the fact that we are loved by God.
John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His
one and only Son…”. And Romans
5:5 says, “God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He
has given us.” Now turn with me
to 1 John 4 and let’s read a couple verses together: 9-10, 16a, 19. What we are seeing here is that God loved us
first. Now watch because this is all
going to come around back to Galatians 5:6.
But one more place before we go there.
Turn to Ephesians 2:4.
This love that
God has is experienced only by those who have a new standing in Christ. And this is how all of this relates to
Galatians 5:6. Paul says “For
IN CHRIST JESUS…” Don’t go any
further than that right there. That phrase
“in
Christ Jesus” is referring to Christians, to believers, people who have
put their trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. As a result of therefore of that faith, God
has regenerated us – caused us to be born again – by the Holy Spirit. We are no longer “in sin”, but, we are “in
Christ”. We are those who will not be
penalized for our sin, but, we have now and forever been pardoned. Simply put, Paul is giving instructions for
believers to follow – not unbelievers. I
would even go as far to say that the only ones who can express this kind of
love are those who are “in Christ” because this love comes from the Holy
Spirit, and the only ones with the Holy Spirit are Christians.
Are you in
Christ? If not, then you are in your sins
in God’s eyes. God still charges you
with your sins. But if you look to Jesus
and put your faith in Him then God will no longer charge you for your
sins. You will no longer be “in” your
sins, but, rather, you will be “in” Christ Jesus. You will have a completely new standing
before God. You will have a brand new
position in front of Him. Your position
will be in Christ. That means that all
the perfection and all the righteousness and all the merit of Jesus Christ will
be credited to your account. So when God
looks at your account He no longer sees sin, for which He must judge, but,
rather He will see the righteousness of Christ.
Here are 2
Applications. First, do you know God by His love? When you imagine God do you imagine Him in
the same way He is described in Scripture – as a God who has an unyielding love
for you?
Secondly, do you
look at Christians as those who are “in Christ”? When you look at each other here, do you say
to yourself, “There goes another
man/woman whom God loves. There goes
another one of those people who are credited with perfect righteousness before
God. That person is ‘in Christ’” I dare say that how we love each
other is directly related to how well we see how much we’ve been loved by God. And if we are to love more, then, it requires
that we see more how much God loves us.
We must believe God that when He says in His Word that He loves us, we
must believe Him. God has given us a
foundation to love by giving us His love.
#2: Religion does not Produce Love
Secondly,
Love is not produced by Religion.
Specifically, in Paul’s words to the Galatians, Love is not produced by
keeping the Law of God. Note what Paul
says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any
value...” It won’t have any
value. In other words, it is worthless,
and won’t count for anything before God.
Now, you might be asking, “Why does he mention
circumcision? What is he saying?” Well, let’s look at the verses before
starting in verse 1. [Read]
Circumcision
was the sign that God gave the Jewish people.
Every Jew, according to the Law that God gave the Jews, was to be
circumcised on the 8th day after he was born. It was a physical sign to mark them as the
chosen, covenant people of God. It was a
marker for them to remind them of the covenant God had made with them through
Moses. They were to obey the Law and
there would be blessings, and, if they did not then there would be curses.
But, Paul’s
ministry dealt extensively with the all important point that Christ is the end
of the Law. The Law of Moses has no
claim upon a believer. There is no
obligation to obey the Law of Moses for any Christian. Romans 10:4 says “Christ is the end of the Law so
that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” We do not live to obey the Law because Christ
has put an end to it. Why was it
given? Paul answers that in 2
places: Galatians 3:24 and Romans
3:20. [Read both passages]. The Law was given to make people understand
they are sinners and therefore need a Savior.
The Law pointed to Christ and leads people to Christ. Once someone goes to Christ, they leave the
Law behind. Notice Paul’s words to the
Galatians in 3:1-5 [Read]. The problem
here is they started out with Christ, and from that point on should have left
the Law behind. But, now that they were
in Christ they were returning to the Law.
Paul says, “Did you receive the Spirit of God by obeying the Law? NO!”
Here is a really important application:
The Holy Spirit does not lead a person to follow the Law.
This
issue of circumcision provides a principle for us: Outward obedience to religion counts for
nothing before God. What outwardly
religious things – while good – do we do that we are depending on for God to
accept us? Attending church? Baptism?
Giving? Serving? Communion?
If
we are operating on Law, be it the Law of Moses or our own created rules, then
this will not lead to love. Point: Religion leads to self-righteousness, not
love. It’s performance based. Religion is the merit that I try to earn
through my personal effort to impress God with my religion. Religion causes us to look down on others and
live a life where we measure ourselves and others by performance. Religion does not produce love.
#3: Love is the Expression of Faith
Lastly,
Love is the Expression of Faith. Notice
Galatians 5:6, when it says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision counts for anything. The
only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Notice that it is faith contrasted with
religion. Religion does not produce
love, but, faith does. Faith is the soil
from which love grows. Love springs from
faith. Faith and love are coupled
together so often in Scripture because of the close relationship between the
two. Turn with me to Ephesians 1:15;
Colossians 1:4-5; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Timothy 1:4-5; Philemon 4; 1 Peter
1:22.
Love
is the crowning jewel of the Christian life.
It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22). It is not a debt to the Law, but, to love
that we are left with (Romans 13:8).
Love is said to be the fulfillment of the Law (Rom 13:10). Love is both the 1st and the 2nd
greatest command: love God 1st,
and love your neighbor 2nd (Mark 12:30). And we are to love the brotherhood – that is
we are to have a special, sacred love for other Christians (John 13:34-35; Gal.
6:10). J. B. Stoney said “The greatest
proof of our love for Christ is that we care for those who belong to Him.” Francis Schaeffer said (pg 204)
It
is our faith that is expressed through love.
If we want to demonstrate our faith, then chiefly we must love. But faith in what? Why does faith bring about love? Because it is God’s love for me, as He
expressed in giving His Son over to death for my sins, that I believe and have
faith in. And since a person becomes
like the deity he worships, I will become loving like this God I worship is loving.
Simon Greenleaf,
one of the founders of Harvard Law School, and who is responsible for the
principles of how a court of law evaluates evidence, wrote this in his powerful
essay “The Testimony of the Evangelists”:
“The object of man’s worship,
whatever it be, will naturally be his standard of perfection…this character he
endeavors himself to attain..to acquire every attribute of his deity … it is
the inevitable consequence of sincere and constant worship.”
Now what all this
means is that the way in which I understand God to be and what I worship Him to
be, will bring about in me those attributes I worship Him for. In other words, we become like the God we
worship. We reflect in ourselves the
idea of God that we have – whether it is accurate or not, whether it is true or
false, real or imagined. So, if I
understand God to be loving, and I understand God has loved me, so much that He
sacrificed His own Son for me, then as I worship Him as that loving God and
understand Him to be that kind of God then the “inevitable consequence of
sincere and constant worship” in my life will be that I become loving LIKE Him.
Can you see how
important then Ephesians 3:17-20 is? Gro
Conclusion:
Remember that
1) God has loved us and we are in
Christ, 2) Outward religious devotion does not promote real love, and 3) Love
is expressed through faith.
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