One thing we should be sure when we exam the Fruit of the Spirit, every Christian has the seed inside of them, and that seed should grow. This is one of the most important lessons that we learn about the Fruit of the Spirit.
3 – The Manifestation of the Fruit
The Spirit after bringing salvation, forgiveness, and redemption to our lives, will continue to work in us to change us in the image of Christ.
When we received Christ in our lives, His seed was planted in our hearts by the Spirit, and now He is working to make that seed to produce its fruits. When we become Christian, the Spirit of God comes to our life and His mission is to transform us, so we will talk, think, and behave like Christ.
Definition of seeds: “a small, round, or oval object produced by a plant and from which, when it is planted, a new plant can grow.”
The seeds contain everything that the plant is. All the potentials are there.
This is what we learn about our growth:
Rom. 8:9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
Rom. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Rom. 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
Eph. 3:16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Eph. 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
Paul is saying in these texts that the Spirit is working and producing transformations in us so we can look like Christ. The goal is for us to behave and to look like Jesus. So, the Fruit of the Spirit is Jesus
The purpose of the Spirit in our lives is to transform us in the image of Christ. He planted the seed of Christ inside of us. That seed needs to be nurtured to grow. That is the process that we all are going through right now.
The text that describes the Fruit is in “Galatians 5: 22-23
“Gal. 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
These nine characteristics are simple and condensed traits, attributes, and qualities of Jesus’ character that were supposed to manifest in the lives of His disciples.
In Antioch for the first time the disciples were called Christians (they looked like Christ, small Christs).
“Acts 11:26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.”
That is the goal, the purpose, for you and for me.
Have a blessed week,
Pastor Lucas