Fruitful
Living
Joy
Session
2
The fruit of the spirit is….JOY
The
fruit of the spirit (or characteristics of Christians) – one fruit with 9
flavours (as with Mysterio Deliciosus)
- is summed up in Galatians 5: 13-26
(vv. 22-23) “But the fruit of the spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control.”
1
fruit, 3 in relation to God, 3 to each other, and 3 to self. All these flavours
should be appearing in Christians open to the Holy Spirit.
Checkpoint
1 – How are we doing on this journey of
exhibiting these flavours in our lives?
1. What is the key theme(s) of Galatians?
Galatia
is a region (read Acts 14ff) with diverse communities but one area of common
ground: it was shaped by converted Jews. In essence, to be a ‘true
Christian’ the gentile converts had to become Jewish in lifestyle and
behaviour. Paul countered this by saying the authentic gospel is by grace alone
(God’s bit) and is appropriated by faith (human response). So, central theme number 1 is that salvation
is by grace, through faith, and linked to it, central theme number 2, is
that liberty (or freedom) also comes from God.
2. What does ‘joy’ look like in ‘slam-dunk’
country?
Compare
with happiness. Being Happy is good, though we should resist the opposite
temptations of either being a ‘grinner’ or having a face like a wet weekend.
Happiness is temporal and is defined by circumstances; Joy (chara) is eternal and is rooted in God.
Ps 30:11; 1
Thess 1:6.
These describe joy given by the Holy Spirit.
Checkpoint
2 – Do we know real joy in our life?
3. What robs us of joy?
Paul gives us a long list (vv
19-21)
I’ve
found that there are often 2 main areas that rob me of Joy:
·
Unsurrendered areas of my life
·
Uncommanded areas of work