Love_ 9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit (2)
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May 12, 2019 |
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 Senior Pastor Rev. Jaerock Lee
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Gal. 5:22-23
The 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit in Gal. 5 is a signpost in our Christian life, along with the Beatitudes in Matt. 5 and spiritual love in 1 Cor. 13.
We can check the extent to which we have borne the fruits of Spirit; our heart has been changed into truth; we cultivated the Lord's heart, and what level of faith we have attained. Let us delve into the first fruit of the 9 fruits, love.
1. The Greatest of the Fruits: Spiritual Love
Love can generally be categorized into fleshly love and spiritual love. Fleshly love seeks one's own and it changes over time. Spiritual love seeks others' benefits and never changes in any situation.
Now, what is the difference between love in 1 Cor. 13 and the fruit of love in Gal. 5? The fruit of love includes self-sacrifice. It is a higher-level love than the spiritual love in 1 Cor. 13. If we fully cultivate the fruit of love, it means we can sacrifice our life for others, and it means we can love everyone. We can give our life even for our enemies.
God created Adam and gave him spiritual love. He gave him the abundance of the Garden of Eden and gave him the authority to rule over everything. However, Adam never experienced hatred or fleshly love that changes over time. Thus, he didn't know the true value of God's spiritual love. After a long period of time, he took in the deceitfulness of the crafty serpent and in disobedience he ate of the forbidden fruit (Gen. 2:17, 3:1-6).
Finally, sin came into Adam's heart. He became a man of flesh who couldn't communicate with God. He couldn't remain in the Garden and was driven out to this earth.
While being cultivated on this earth (Gen. 3:23) all his descendants experience the relativity of things opposite to that of love such as hatred and jealousy. They become further and further removed from spiritual love. Today, it is very hard to find any spiritual love not to mention the fruit of love.
Even though you express it very much, fleshly love eventually changes according to the situations and benefits. People forget the grace they received and begin to complain. They even betray. They give only after they first receive. Or, they give only when it gives them some benefit. If you want something in return, or if you get disappointed when others don't give back to you, it is also a trait of fleshly love.
2. Giving One's Life
The love of each individual has limits. It is not easy to give your life even for those whom you love. However, God gave His only begotten Son to save the sinners. He is full of spiritual love (Romans 5:8).
Due to Adam's sin, all his descendants were destined to fall into the way of death. So, God sent His only begotten Son Jesus to this earth to redeem them from their sins (Rom. 6:23; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 9:22). Jesus died on the wooden cross instead of the sinners who were under the curse of the law, so anyone who believes can be saved.
God knew people would persecute and mock Jesus and eventually crucify Him. And yet, He sent Jesus to be crucified and confirmed His love toward us (1 John 4:9-10). The Savior Jesus also gave us His love in giving His life on the cross to redeem mankind from their sins.
God's love manifested through Jesus is the greatest love that never changes and that gives life.
3. Truthful Love Toward God
1 John 4:7-8 says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." If we understand God's love deep in our heart and not just in our head, we will love Him sincerely. Even when we face unbearable hardships, or when we lose everything we cherish, our heart will not be agitated.
Soon after the opening of the church, I almost lost all 3 of my daughters. During the Friday all-night service, they were sleeping in the house which was in the basement. They suffered carbon-monoxide gas poisoning along with a youth member. They inhaled the gas all night and had no chance of survival. However, I didn't resent God at all. But rather, I was thankful that my beloved children were in heaven where there are no tears, pain, or death.
But because the youth was a church member, I prayed God would revive him not to disgrace God. I prayed with my hand on him first, and then while I was praying for my 3rd daughter the young man woke up. While praying for the 2nd daughter the 3rd woke up, and the 2nd and 3rd came to as well. They are still healthy without any side effects and all 3 of them are serving God's kingdom as pastors.
If we truly love God, our love will not change in any situation. We'd only be faithful with all our life and just trust God's love completely. We wouldn't have any self-seeking when we take care of the souls; we'd just give everything without wanting anything in return. We'd genuinely sacrifice ourselves and give everything for others (1 John 3:16).
Since the opening of the church, I've gone through numerous trials in my walk of faith. I was betrayed by those who received grace from me and whom I treated like my family. Without fault or error I was groundlessly misunderstood by people and even accused by them.
And yet, I just committed all the situations to God. I prayed God would show them mercy and forgive them. I prayed even for those who caused hardships to the church and left, that they'd repent and come back. Even in the face of such trials I believed God loved me, so I loved those souls with God's love.
4. To Bear Fruit of Love
We can bear the fruit of love to the extent that we cultivate holiness by casting away sins and evil from our hearts. True love can stem from an evil-free heart. Love doesn't give hard times or lay burdens on others but only gives them peace. It serves others by giving them joy and making their souls prosper.
Moses loved the sons of Israel so much that he wanted to save them even if it meant his name would be blotted out of the Book of Life (Exo. 32:32).
The apostle Paul also suffered many persecutions and threats to his life from both the Jews and Gentiles, but his only concern was for the churches and believers (2 Cor. 11:23-29). He didn't put even his own life before others (Rom. 9:3). He confirmed his love by martyrdom (John 15:13).
Some say they love God and yet argue and quarrel with brothers in faith over trivial matters. Even if they are doing God's work, if they don't like something they hold hard feelings toward others. Some of them are numb about those souls that are spiritually dying.
I once professed I am willing to go to hell if I can save 1,000 souls by doing so. Of course, I know so very well what kind of place hell is, and personally, I wouldn't do anything that'd lead me to hell. However, if I can save the souls that would otherwise fall into hell, I would be willing to go there on their behalf.
Those souls might be the leaders or members of my church who couldn't go the way of truth even after hearing the word of truth and seeing powerful works. Or, they might be the souls that persecute our church based on their misunderstanding. They might be the poor souls that are suffering from wars and famine.
For this reason I am dedicating my whole life every day to save them just as Jesus died to save me. I know this is the most earnest desire of God the Father. My only concerns are to spread the gospel to more places; to let more souls believe by showing greater power; and to let them take hold of better heavenly places by showing the meaninglessness of this world.
Dear brothers and sisters, if you are full of God's love who gave His only begotten Son, you'd be able to love the souls of God with all your life. May you bear this fruit of love, go into the city of New Jerusalem, and share eternal love with God the Father and the Lord our bridegroom, I pray this in the name of the Lord.
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