If You Love Me Part 4 - A Deeper Dive
Message Recap
This week we conclude our sermon series If You Love Me. We introduced the series by reflecting on Jesus’ words to the disciples, “If you love me, keep my commands.” John 14:15 (NIV). We learned that our love for Jesus should lead to some form of action. Saying we love Jesus is easy. However, being obedient as a demonstration of that love is much more difficult. We also considered how challenging the world makes it to follow the path Jesus laid out for us. Fortunately, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit, who lives and works within us to help us resist the world's temptations and remain obedient.
In the second week of our series, we continued by asking, “What commands are we expected to keep?” Based on his words recorded in the New Testament, Jesus issued over 1000 commands, and they fall within three themes: love, grace, and forgiving others. Using the parable of the wicked servant, we considered how grace, and by extension, forgiving others, demonstrates our love for Jesus. It is important to remember forgiveness does not excuse the act committed against us, but it does remove our right to collect on the debt or seek revenge for the harm done to us. God forgave us when asked, so we are expected to forgive others similarly. If we are to honor Jesus when he said, “If you love me, keep my commands.” (John 14:15 NIV), then we must be willing to forgive everyone - even those who are difficult to forgive. Again, the Holy Spirit guides us along a path of righteousness and helps us extend forgiveness.
Two weeks ago, we studied what Jesus taught were the greatest commandments: to love God, love others, and love ourselves. For Ocoee Oaks, these important words from Jesus drive everything we do. We also realize that the world and the dark forces surrounding us try desperately to distract us from our mission. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we remain diligent and focused.
We conclude our series by examining how we listen to the Holy Spirit. Returning to the core verse for this series, John 14:15-17, we are reminded that Jesus promised the gift of “another advocate” to help us and be with us forever. This Spirit of truth lives within each of us and guides us on the path of righteousness.
The Holy Spirit is the third part of the Trinity. God the Father worked through the prophets to guide and teach the people of the Old Testament. God the Son was Jesus, who came to earth and taught those who followed him. God the Spirit was given to the world after Jesus ascended to Heaven to guide those who believe in him until he returns.
When we listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance and truth and do not allow the world's noise to distract us, we cannot help but follow Jesus’ commands. We know we are listening to and following Jesus’ commands when we receive the fruit of the Spirit. The Apostle Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit in his letter to the Galatians:
“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
The fruit, the characteristics of a life committed to Jesus, results from our obedience to his commands. The fruit shows that the Holy Spirit is within us and at work guiding our lives. Sometimes we have difficulty seeing the characteristics Paul describes in our lives. We believe our lives are too busy and demanding to experience the fruit of the Spirit. Rest assured, God did not make the fruit of the Spirit dependent on our worldly circumstances.
How do we listen to the Holy Spirit when there is so much noise and distraction from the world? Outside forces often drown out the quiet inner voice that wants to guide us. Connecting with the Holy Spirit requires hard work, commitment, and making it a priority. It also takes confidence. Believing you are worthy of this gift is necessary to develop a deeper relationship with God through the Holy Spirit. John offers these words:
“27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
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The anointing John refers to is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus, only a chosen few, such as priests, prophets, and kings, were considered worthy of anointing. This position of privilege led the common people to believe only these select individuals could fully understand the heart of God. But, with Pentecost, all believers, regardless of their station, were privileged to receive the anointing - the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that guided the heroes of the Old Testament is the same Spirit that lives in us and is working to guide us.
How can we do a better job recognizing the Spirit’s guidance? First, we should spend time reading scripture. It is one thing to hear the Word proclaimed, but reading it for yourself allows you to dig in for greater understanding. Second, we must cultivate a deep relationship with God. It is not enough to simply know who God is. We need to find ways to understand the heart of God fully. We can achieve this by spending time in prayer. Not only speaking to God but also listening. Third, we must spend time in fellowship with other believers. While we can certainly learn about the nature of God in personal times of prayer and study, we expand our understanding by learning from others. Finally, we must make time to tune out the noise of the world. For some, that means unplugging from the distractive forces of social media and email. In Psalm 46, we are given insight that even the psalmist realized the importance of finding quiet time to connect with God when they wrote, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10 NIV).
King David offered a simple prayer in Psalm 143 that we can all use when we need a reminder to listen to the Holy Spirit:
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
lead me on level ground.
Fruit of the Spirit vs. Gifts of the Spirit
Earlier, we touched on Paul’s metaphor of the fruit of the Spirit as evidence that the Holy Spirit is within us. While he referred to fruit as a single item, he also listed multiple characteristics that made up the fruit (love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, etc.). These characteristics almost sound like the gifts of the Spirit that Paul describes in chapter 12 of his first letter to the Corinthians. Let’s clarify.
Paul’s use of fruit acknowledges that the Holy Spirit doesn’t necessarily appear all at once. Fruit, like a Christian’s faith, must grow and mature. The growing season for some fruit is very long, just as the maturing process of some Christians can take a lifetime. When an apple first appears on a tree, it is small and green. Over time it gets larger and begins to ripen. When fully mature, the apple is easily identifiable. Throughout the process, there is never any doubt about what kind of tree we’re looking at because we see an apple. The same can be said about the fruit of the Spirit. We are all in the midst of our growing season. None of us perfectly display the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, but if the Spirit is really in us, they are seen at some level. We are recognizable. As the theologian Jonathan Edwards observed, “You do not get one part of the fruit of the Spirit growing without all the parts growing.”
Gifts of the Spirit are also evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. As Paul explains, gifts include the ability to prophesy, preach, and heal. No one who receives the Holy Spirit receives all of the gifts. Yet, “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines” (1 Corinthians 12:11 NIV). It is up to us to determine our specific gifts and cultivate them to glorify God.
Regardless of the gifts we have received, as believers, we are called to abide in Christ and develop the same fruit of the Spirit. We each may receive different spiritual gifts, but we should each be known by the same fruit of the Spirit.