The Fruit of the Spirit: The Path That Leads to Loving as Jesus Loved

By Steve Langford

Jesus and the apostle Paul both identified love as the distinguishing mark of the follower of Jesus. In his description of the fruit of the Spirit, Paul described how it is possible to love the way Jesus loved. But how do we love in this profound way?

The Fruit of the Spirit explores the nine interrelated traits of the fruit of the Spirit as the path that leads to loving the way that Jesus loved. The nine traits Paul identified—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—are interrelated and interdependent. Love is the number-one trait and the goal of the Spirit's work. Joy and peace are the inner disposition out of which love flows. The next five traits describe what love looks like in relationships. The final trait, self-control, is the key that make the others possible.

By learning about the interrelation between these traits and the barriers to them that are inherent in our human nature, you, too, can understand how the Spirit moves between these barriers—what Paul called "the flesh"—and empowers us to love as Jesus loved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973652953

Steve Langford

Dr. Steve Langford—also known as Pastor Steve—has dedicated his adult life to the study and teaching of scripture in the local church with a focus on spiritual formation. In the spiritual communities in which he has walked, he is known as a gifted teacher with a prophetic spirit. He served as a pastor for fifty years, first in Baptist life and then as an ordained elder in the Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Since retiring in 2019, he serves—in addition to his writing—as a spiritual guide, Bible study teacher, and Bowen Family Systems coach/counselor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Howard Payne University along with master’s and doctor of ministry degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His postdoctoral work has been in Bowen Family System Theory with an applied focus on spiritual formation and leadership in the local church. Pastor Steve is married to Etta, his wife of fifty-three years. They have three adult sons and four grandchildren.

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Copyright © 2019 Steve Langford.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-5294-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-5293-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-5295-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019901458

WestBow Press rev. date: 2/20/2019

CONTENTS

Preface

Galatians 5:13–26

Chapter 1     The Fruit of the Spirit versus the Works of

the Flesh

Chapter 2     The Path to Loving as Jesus Loved

Chapter 3     Love, Joy, and Peace: The Spirit with Which We Live

Chapter 4     The Fruit of the Spirit Is Love

Chapter 5     The Fruit of the Spirit Is Joy

Chapter 6     The Fruit of the Spirit Is Peace

Chapter 7     The Fruit of the Spirit Is Grace-Based Relationships

Chapter 8     The Fruit of the Spirit Is Self-control

Chapter 9     Keep in Step with the Spirit

Chapter 10   Anne’s Story

Chapter 11   Praying the Fruit of the Spirit

Postlude

Small Group Study Guide

About the Author

Endnotes

To Etta, who has shared the journey with me and loved me as Jesus loved

PREFACE

The distinguishing mark of the life and ministry of Jesus was love: self-giving, servant love.¹ Jesus also identified such love as the identifying mark of his followers (John 13:34–35). The apostle Paul echoed the teachings of Jesus. Paul also identified Jesus’s love as the distinguishing mark of the follower of Jesus.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul identified love as the number one characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23). In his letter to the Corinthian church, he identified love as the indispensable element of living as a follower of Jesus (1 Corinthians 13). Reason would suggest, then, that such love would be the distinguishing characteristic of the followers of Jesus today as well as the distinguishing characteristic of churches, the communities of Christ’s followers.

In the fruit of the Spirit, Paul not only identified love as the number one characteristic of a follower of Jesus, he also explained how such love is possible in the life of every follower of Jesus. Love can be the defining mark of the follower of Jesus through the empowering work of the Spirit. This book is an exploration of the fruit of the Spirit that Paul identified: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It probes the interrelated nature of the nine traits Paul identified and how they work together to enable the follower of Jesus to love as Jesus loved.

This book is offered with the prayer that the followers of Jesus today will be known by their self-giving, servant love. The fruit of the Spirit is the secret to doing so.

GALATIANS 5:13–26

²

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.

For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.

For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

CHAPTER 1

The Fruit of the Spirit versus the Works of the Flesh

Paul’s identification of the fruit of the Spirit is the central part of a larger teaching. The path that leads to loving as Jesus loved cuts through the landscape of this larger passage. Thus, this larger context guides our understanding of the fruit of the Spirit.

The Flesh and the Works of the Flesh

The nine traits Paul identified as the fruit of the Spirit stand in marked contrast to what Paul called the flesh. Paul emphasized this contrast with the words with which he introduced the fruit of the Spirit: by contrast. This contrast gives us clues for understanding Paul’s thinking in the fruit of the