Fruit of The Spirit: Love, Joy

Jesus said we are to love our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. But what does that look like in the life of the follower of Christ in the 21st century?

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love," Paul writes that in Galatians 5:22. He's contrasting the spiritual life with the fleshly life. He has given to us a list of 17 horrible sins that come out from the flesh, and in contrast to the works of the flesh which lead to death, we have the fruit of the Spirit, the evidence of God's life. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love." Well, what does the word love mean? 

In the Greek language, there were four different words for love. There was the word eros, which means physical love. Nothing wrong with this; God manufactured it when He made the first man and woman. But it's not the highest kind of love and it needs to be controlled by the other forms of love. The word eros is not used anywhere in the New Testament. Then there is phileo love. Now this is the love of friendship, the brotherly love, the tender affection that friends have for one another. Philadelphia—brotherly love, phileo. There's the word storge, which is family love; it's not used in the New Testament. But the one that is used more than any other is agape. Agape love, which is God's divine love. 

Now agape love is not a feeling; it is an act of the will. Once you get a hold of this, it can transform your life. It is saying, "I am going to treat you the way God treats me." Now once you cross that hurdle, you have begun to climb the mountain. You see, there are people in our lives that we don't like, and we say, "God, by Your grace, I'm going to love them. When they tell lies, I'm going to tell the truth. When they do something mean, I'm going to do something kind. I'm going to treat them the way You treat me." Now that is what agape love is—an act of the will whereby we treat another person the way God treats us. 

Now an amazing thing happens. When you start treating people this way, you start to like them. Some little miracle begins to take place in your heart and you start to grow. You reach a new perspective on that person. You know, beneath the rugged, hard exterior of mean people is a broken heart just waiting for someone to show some love. This is the way Jesus treated people, even those who crucified him. Can you imagine while he was being crucified, he repeatedly prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"? 

You see, agape love, divine love, is undeserved love. You say, "Well, I can't love you, you haven't earned it." That's not agape love. You don't earn agape love. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. Suppose he had waited for us to be good? He never would have come and died. It's undeserved love. It's unchanging love. "What shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Romans 8:35. God's love toward me does not change, even when I disobey Him. 

You see, the love that we're talking about—the fruit of the Spirit is love—is God's love. It's undeserved love. If you love people because they love you, you're on the same level as the unsaved. Jesus said even the publicans and the sinners can do that. If we love people only for what we can get out of them, then we are sinning. It's undeserved love, it's unchanging love, it's love that is unexplainable, it's love that involves the total person, it's love that is an act of the will. It's not a feeling. It's the Holy Spirit of God reproducing in our hearts the very love of God. 

Why is love number one? Well, first of all, because God is love. Love describes the greatest person in the universe. God is love, and the more I love, the more I am like God. When people looked at the Lord Jesus Christ, they saw God. And what did they see? God is love—loving the lepers, touching them; loving the children, holding them in his arms; yes, even loving those who hated him and trying to win them to himself. Why is love first? Because love describes the greatest person: God is love. 1 John 4:8. 

Secondly, love is first because love is the greatest virtue. "And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13. Now why is the greatest of these love? I should think that faith would be greater; through faith you can move mountains. But Paul tells us in Galatians 5:6 that "faith worketh by love." If a person has faith to move mountains and doesn't have love to control him, that faith is going to become a devastating, destructive power. You see, we must have love to control the gifts that God has given to us. 

In fact, in Colossians chapter 3 and in verse 14, Paul tells us that it is love that binds everything else together. He's been talking about all of these beautiful virtues of the Christian life. Colossians 3:12: mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, forgiving one another. Those are marvelous virtues; I wish we had them in every congregation. But after naming all of those virtues he says, "And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection." It's love that ties it all together and keeps everything in our lives balanced. 

Love describes the greatest person, and love is the greatest virtue, and love is the greatest commandment. They came to Jesus and said, "What's the greatest commandment of all?" They were trying to trip him up, but he was ready for them. He said the greatest commandment of all is love the Lord your God, and the second is love your neighbor. The greatest commandment is love.

Now Paul was writing to a group of churches that had gotten into legalism. They thought you could measure your spirituality by rules and regulations. "We don't do this, and we don't do that, and we don't go here, and we don't talk to that person." And they were all wrapped up in legalistic regulations. Paul said, "Do you want to obey all of the law at one time? Then love." In fact, he says that in verse 14 of chapter 5 of Galatians: "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Galatians 5:14. When you love somebody, you don't want to do anything harmful. 

Now I'm going to make a suggestion to you. Now you pray about this and you try to put it into practice, and then let me know what happens. That person in your life who irritates and aggravates you—it might even be someone living in your own home—by the grace of God, commit that person to the Lord. And then say, "Father, help me to share sacrificing Christian love with this person. When this person is mean, help me to be kind. When this person is irritating and aggravating, help me to be gentle." Now just do that and depend upon the Holy Spirit of God to produce this fruit. 

You see, the fruit of the Spirit which is love includes all the other fruit of the Spirit. You take 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and just go down that list and you'll find all the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is joy—verse 6: "rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth." 1 Corinthians 13:6. The fruit of the Spirit is peace—1 Corinthians 13:7: "love beareth all things." The fruit of the Spirit is longsuffering—"love suffereth long." The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness or kindness—"love is kind." The fruit of the Spirit is goodness—"love envieth not." The fruit of the Spirit is faith and faithfulness—"love never faileth." The fruit of the Spirit is meekness—"love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up." The fruit of the Spirit is self-control—"love seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked." You read 1 Corinthians 13 and you'll find all of the fruit of the Spirit there, and they grow out of this beautiful thing called love. Remember now, God's love is not manufactured; it is reproduced in our lives through the Holy Spirit. It's a miracle that cannot be explained. But oh, what a joyful experience it is when the Holy Spirit of God pours out God's love through you, the chosen channel, to change a situation and to change another life.

"The fruit of the Spirit is joy." Galatians 5:22. But there was not much joy in the Galatian churches. In fact, there was anything but joy. In Galatians 5:15 we read, "But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another." There wasn't much joy in their meetings; they were competing with each other, trying to devour each other. Galatians 5:20: "Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another." That word provoking means challenging one another. It's the word that was used at the athletic contests. "I challenge you; I can run faster than you can. I can jump higher than you can. I can teach Sunday School better than you can. I can sing better than you can." Oh my, the fellowship in the Galatian church was really falling to pieces. Why? Because they were depending on law and not on grace. They had removed themselves from the sphere of grace and had moved into legalism. 

Legalism means I have some external standard I'm trying to reach, and I'm going to reach it by my own strength. But Paul tells us no, all the flesh can produce is works, and those works are not very good. But the Holy Spirit can produce fruit. Fruit comes from life. If you have the life of God within you, you can produce the fruit of God in your personality. All of the fruit of the Spirit describe various aspects of Christian personality, character. The fruit of the Spirit is love and the fruit of the Spirit is joy. 

What is joy? Joy is that inner confidence and peace and sense of adequacy that makes you able to face anything in life. The greatest joy book in the Bible is Philippians. Some 18 times Paul talks about joy and rejoicing. Joy in spite of circumstances. Joy in spite of people. Joy in spite of sacrifices. Throughout that little letter, Paul says you can have joy. Joy is that radiance of the Christian life because there is something down inside that says, "It's all right; God is with you." No need to complain, no need to give up. Joy is the opposite of discouragement. Joy is the opposite of complaining. No wonder Nehemiah 8:10 tells us "the joy of the Lord is our strength." 

Let's consider three facts about the fruit of the Spirit, joy. Fact number one: the source of this joy is the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 1:6: "And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost." The Holy Spirit of God is the one who produces joy in our lives. Did you know that God is joyful? The little book of Zephaniah 3:17, here's what it says: "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty"—now we believe that, He's a mighty God. "He will save"—oh, we believe that, He's a saving God. "He will rejoice over thee with joy." Zephaniah 3:17. Here He's saying God is a God of joy. He rejoices over His people. "He will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." Now He's talking about God the Father here. 

Now we know that God the Son sang when he was on earth; and after they had sung a hymn at the Last Supper, they went out to the garden. Our Lord Jesus sang when he was on earth. The Holy Spirit sings. Ephesians chapter 5 tells us that when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you're going to sing and make melody in your heart. So God the Son rejoices and sings, and God the Holy Spirit rejoices and sings, and here in Zephaniah 3:17 we are told that God the Father rejoices and sings. He's like a loving father who rejoices over his children. Yes, our God is a joyful God, but to look at some of His children, you would never know this. 

When our Lord was here on earth, I read in Luke 10:21 that he rejoiced in the Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ is called a man of sorrows—I know that—acquainted with grief, but he was a joyful person. He said to his disciples, "My joy I give to you." The Pharisees were very solemn; Jesus was joyful, and Jesus attracted the publicans and the sinners. The source of this joy is God, through the Holy Spirit working within our lives.

Now the law cannot give joy. If you put yourself under rules and regulations—legalism—whether it be a legalistic Christian leader or a legalistic book or a legalistic religious system, you will have no joy. You see, the law cannot give you joy, but the Holy Spirit can give you joy. The source of this joy is the Holy Spirit. Oh, keep in mind your Father in heaven is a joyful God. Yes, there are times we break His heart, there are times that He, as it were, weeps over us, but our God is a joyful God and He wants this joy to be shared with us. 

Now what kind of joy is it? When we talk about Christian joy, what are we talking about? Well, number one, it is a joy that is spiritual; it doesn't depend upon material or physical things. Romans 14:17: "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." You see, some of the people in Rome thought that you had to follow special diets or you couldn't be a happy Christian. Paul said no, the kingdom of God doesn't depend upon diets or days, rules or regulations. It depends on righteousness—you get that by faith in Christ; peace—therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God; and joy in the Holy Ghost. 

Secondly, it is inward; it does not depend upon outward circumstances. Did you ever stop to think that you cannot control most of the circumstances in your life? You cannot control other people. You cannot control the weather, the economy, the traffic, and yet these are the things that we fret over. But there's one thing you can control and only you can control—you know what it is? The kingdom in your heart down inside. And this is why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7:4: "Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful"—now get these last words—"in all our tribulation." Joyful in tribulation? Well, when you have the joy of the Holy Spirit, it is a spiritual thing, not a carnal thing. It is an inward experience; it does not depend upon outward circumstances. 

Our Lord said the same thing to his disciples, John 16:20: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy." John 16:20. "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." What's he saying here? Well, he's saying that we do have our trials and our testings and our tribulations. There are times when we wonder, "Does God really care?" But this woman who's giving birth to the child—look at her now, listen to what he says: the same baby who gave her pain gave her joy. You see, he doesn't say "I'm going to replace your sorrow with joy," he says "I'm going to transform your sorrow into joy." The very thing that is bringing you pain will one day bring you joy. 

Oh, it's a marvelous experience. By the way, you are the only one who can rob yourself of joy. If somebody else can rob you of your joy, then you don't have joy. But if you have the joy of the Lord down inside through the Holy Spirit, it's a permanent thing, not a temporary thing. It's an inward experience that doesn't depend upon outward circumstances; in fact, it is a miracle experience. The outward circumstances that bring pain, ultimately that pain is transformed into joy. 

Now the world does not understand this. The world can't figure out how we can have such joy when we lack some of the things they think are so necessary. You can't buy joy. How do you get joy? Number one, abiding in Jesus Christ. If we abide in Him, that joy is produced by the Holy Spirit. Number two, prayer. The Lord Jesus said, "Now you haven't asked anything, now you ask and receive that your joy may be full." John 16:24. Prayer is a great source of joy. Oh, how many times the believer goes to his knees in prayer with a broken, burdened heart, and he gets up from his knees filled with joy in the Lord. The Word of God gives us joy. And looking for Jesus to return—the blessed hope, the happy hope, the joyful hope of one day seeing the Lord. The source of this joy: the Holy Spirit. The character of this joy: we've described it. The secret of this joy: walking with the Lord and letting the Spirit produce the fruit.