The Fruit of the Spirit
Pastor Tan Thai · Nov 17, 2013
This sermon explains the difference between spiritual gifts and the fruit of the Spirit, emphasizing that every believer needs and can bear all nine fruits. The fruit does not come automatically but requires obedience, abiding in God's Word, and maintaining a close relationship with Jesus Christ.
The sermon opens by urging the congregation to examine themselves rather than focus on others' shortcomings. The pastor clearly distinguishes between spiritual gifts and the fruit of the Spirit: gifts are given individually by God according to His will, while every believer needs and can bear all nine fruits. The word 'fruit' in Galatians 5:22 is singular, indicating that all nine characteristics flow from a single source — Jesus Christ.
The fruit of the Spirit is the truest and most unimpeachable evidence of a godly life. Through the humorous illustration of a boy tying apples onto a pear tree, the pastor underlines that no one can take a shortcut to bearing genuine fruit. Two essential conditions for fruitfulness are identified: meditating on God's Word (like a tree planted by streams of water in Psalm 1) and abiding in Jesus Christ (like a branch connected to the vine in John 15). Bearing fruit requires effort, patience according to God's timing, and the believer's obedience.
The nine fruits are organized into three groups: upward (love, joy, peace — reflecting the believer's relationship with God), outward (patience, kindness, goodness — expressed toward others), and inward (faithfulness, gentleness, self-control — belonging to inner character). The sermon focuses especially on agape love — unconditional love that is not driven by fleeting emotion but is a decision of the will, expressed through concrete action rather than mere words.
The pastor illustrates agape love through the moving story of Scotty and Tiffany Smiley. Scotty, a West Point graduate blinded by a bomb in Iraq, became furious at God and pushed away his wife. Yet Tiffany's love, rooted in the love of God, enabled her to love her husband unconditionally and persistently, eventually guiding him back to a normal life. This mirrors the 'despite' love of God — love that endures not because of conditions or emotions, but because God first loved us.
The sermon concludes with reflections on joy and peace in Christ. True joy is not dependent on circumstances but flows from a relationship with the Lord, wholly distinct from the world's pursuit of pleasure. The peace of God is not the absence of difficulties but the constant presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer's heart, as promised in John 14:27 and Isaiah 26:3.