Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity , 2002
Galatians 5:16-24

The years I spent in rural Paraguay were rewarding in several ways. Living in a region of few material blessings helped me differentiate the trivial from the vital. Though Paraguay did not enjoy many modern amenities, they did benefit from a fruitful land and climate. Being semi-tropical, almost everything springs up. Kick a hole in the ground, drop a seed in it, cover it with your foot and, voila, it sprouts. No fertilizer or irrigation is needed. Besides citrus trees like grapefruit, tangerine and orange, grapevines thrive, as well as mango, chirimoya and guava; papaya and banana plants too can be found scattered over the countryside. Some of my most nostalgic memories have to do with fruit. Climbing up into the branches of a mango tree to devour fresh mangoes. Cutting off a bunch of bananas to hang in the kitchen. Breathing in the strong aroma of ripe guavas. Scooping the seeds out of a soft papaya. Reveling in the sweet piquancy of a chirimoya. There were days when I thought I was in Eden.

Our epistle lesson for this 14th Sunday after Trinity describes a more pleasing fruit, the fruit of the Spirit. If we belong to Christ, if our sins have been nailed to the cross, then this fruit will ripen in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We will walk in these things, and think about them. This is the fruit we will crave. It will form our character. Let's examine each of them one at a time.

Love

Love in the Bible is concerned with self-giving. It is more of a duty than a feeling. Its focus is not on getting, but on giving. Isn't this is a major factor in marriage? If we only try to get from our spouse ­ physical pleasure, approval, help, the doing of chores ­ the marriage will end up in trouble. On the other hand, if we wish only to give to our spouse without asking anything in return, the marriage will grow stronger. Feelings come and go. Our interest must be in the life of others and their needs.

How do we know what love is? Because God has loved us. "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16).

If you are worried that you do not love as much as you should, go to Calvary. Ask the Holy Spirit to make you more clearly see the love of God as shown in the death of Jesus Christ for you. If you can see the love of the cross, a response of gratitude will likely follow. You will want to love the Lord and give to Him. Then, Jesus will open your eyes to see the needs of others. By serving them, you show your love for Him.

Joy

Joy is the next facet of the Holy Spirit's fruit. In the Bible it is a command. St. Paul orders you, "Rejoice in the Lord always. " It is a commandment to obey! You cannot say, "I will rejoice when I feel like it", or, "I'll rejoice when life gets easier." No; you are to rejoice and seek joy here and now. If God gives a command, He will give also the grace to fulfill it.

In his book Desiring God author John Piper makes the case that many Christians have neglected the dimension of joy. In order to make up for this deficiency in the Church he coined the term "Christian hedonist." He asserts that Christians should become hedonists. That becomes a shocking statement when uttered out of context. In a biblical framework it makes sense because our exceeding joy and pleasure is God Himself. If He is our joy and we find our highest happiness in loving and worshipping Him, and by extension, loving and serving others, then there is no problem with this kind of hedonism. The Christian life is not a melancholy affair.

Furthermore, God Himself is full of joy and the root of God's joy is His sovereignty. Psalm 115:3 says, "Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases." Thus, the Triune God must be the happiest of all beings. Piper writes, and I quote:

"Can you imagine what it would be like if the God who ruled the world were not happy? What if God were given to grumbling and pouting and depression like some Jack-and-the-beanstalk giant in the sky? What if God were frustrated and despondent and gloomy and dismal and discontented and dejected? Could we join David and say, "O God, thou art my God, I seek thee; my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is" (Psalm 63:1)?

I don't think so. We would all relate to God like little children who have a frustrated, gloomy, dismal, discontented father. They can't enjoy him. They can only try not to bother him, and maybe try to work for him to earn some little favor.

Therefore if God is not a happy God, Christian Hedonism has no foundation. For the aim of the Christian Hedonist is to be happy in God, to delight in God, to cherish and enjoy his fellowship and favor. But children cannot enjoy the fellowship of their father if he is unhappy. Therefore the foundation of Christian Hedonism is the happiness of God." [Close quote.] Joy. Let's not be found guilty of neglecting this fruit.

Peace

Islam has a concept of peace. It is related to jihad . Mohammed divided the world in two. The dar al-Islam is the peaceful territory of Islam, where the sharia , or Islamic law reigns. What is the rest of the world? Dar al-Harb , the territory of war, controlled temporarily by Christians and other non-Moslems. Jihad , or holy war, is the necessary and permanent state of war waged against the dar al-Harb , which can only end when Christian culture is obliterated and the entire world submits to Islam. How should Christianity meet such a challenge? Justified war is an option according to both Scripture and Church Tradition (Romans 13:4). One of the marks of a fallen world are the tyrants who seek to expand their enslaving power. Hence, there is an appropriate time to defend the innocent and halt tyranny. The ruler must wisely decide when to beat swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4); and when to beat plowshares into swords (Joel 3:10).

On a personal level, Jesus Christ has given us peace. The Greek word eirene describes a tranquil serenity of heart. We have all known people who seem to have war raging in their hearts. That is not of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings peace. In the midst of death and danger, hardship and hatred, the man of God may rest in Christ. Look at Jesus during His passion. Consider the apostle Paul in his ministry. Romans 5:1 states, "since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And Romans 8:28, "all things work together for good to those who love God" Consequently, normal Christian faith will produce the fruit of peace.

Patience

Patience is needed in our relationships with each other, and especially in the parents' training of their children. The topic of patience was treated here in a homily not long ago. Patience has to do with the daily little deaths that we die in our service to others. These are positive deaths because they advance the kingdom of God.

The Church especially needs patience as she confronts the world. Due to Satan and sin, the world teems with conflict, disease and war. The free world had to deal with fascism and communism in the last century. Now we find ourselves in a vicious confrontation with Islamic terror. We are tempted to despair and become impatient. Could this be the reason for the wild-eyed preoccupation with the last days, the end of the world, antichrist and the tribulation? If it is, it is a mark of childish impatience? God is patient, and we need to be patient. God does not look at time as we look at it (2 Peter 3:8). With Him a thousand years is as one day. We must try to look at time and history with His eyes. God waits for the Church to baptize and disciple the nations (Matt. 28:18). That is our task. How long will it take? We do not know. Christ may come in a thousand years or one hundred thousand years. That is not our business. Our business is to wait patiently for God to act in His own good time. In the meantime we get on with the work of conquering the cultures for Christ by means of the Holy Spirit's power in the Church, the preaching of the Word, the celebration of the Sacraments.

Kindness

Matthew Henry defines kindness as, "a sweetness of temper, especially towards our inferiors, as disposes us to be affable and courteous, and easy to be entreated when any have wronged us."

That is a pretty good comment. What does it mean? We see the image of God in others and we honor it with kindness. Our kindness prevents us from becoming easily offended; when we are offended we get over it quickly. We easily forgive the hurts of others and humbly apologize when we do the hurting. Mockery and teasing are unacceptable. We are ready with a kind word for others. We practice courtesy and good manners on the road, at the table, and in our homes. Ephesians 4:32 says, "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."

Goodness

Goodness is the opposite of envy and malice. What is envy? I suffer envy when I see someone else enjoying what I do not have. In envy I attempt to destroy it. For instance, one sister couldn't stand her sister's long pretty hair, so while her sister was not looking she took a pair of scissors and cut it off. Jonathan Edwards once said, "An envious Christian, a malicious Christian, a cold and hard-hearted Christian, is the greatest absurdity and contradiction. It is as if one should speak of dark brightness, or a false truth." Goodness is the reverse of envy. Goodness uses generosity to advance the happiness of others. One form of generosity is fair and kind judgment of others. Instead of assuming the worst motives for wrongs done to us, we assume the best-case analysis. We judge charitably, nor overreacting. Very rarely do people do people intend to hurt us as badly as they possibly can. Bad As I Can Be is the title of Dennis Rodman's book. This former basketball clown may treat you as "bad as he can," but he would be the exception.

Faithfulness

This fruit is different from justifying faith. St. Paul is not referring to the person who trusts in God, but the person who can be trusted. That is the meaning of faithfulness. Being reliable, someone people can count on.

We can count on God, and through the work of the Spirit in us, we are to grow into people who can be trusted. God must be able to count on us to do honestly the work that He gives us to do. Others should be able to count on us to keep our word, to work hard, and to be in every way reliable.

Then, we must be faithful in the unseen duties of private prayer and Bible-reading. Why is the cause of Christ so weak in the world today? Where is it being defeated? Surely the answer is that one place of defeat is in the homes of Christians. It ought to be easy to be faithful in such simple matters. But we all know by experience how difficult it is. The majority of those who call themselves Christians never really pray at all. Few give even as much as ten minutes a day to God. Then we are surprised that we do not make progress in the Christian life, that we are weak in the moment of temptation. Until we are faithful in this matter, we will not make progress in the other areas.

Gentleness

Here is a characteristic closely connected with humility. A Christian will not even get off the starting line if he does not achieve a degree of humility. Plants cannot grow without nitrogen. Christian character cannot grow without humility.

And let's be clear, gentleness does not mean wimpiness. Christian gentleness does not negate passion, courage or strength. Actually, in ancient times the term was used to describe a person in whom strength and gentleness went together. A good dentist is like that. He is gentle in treating an infected molar, but uses strength to extract it. The brain surgeon exercises the utmost delicacy to correct damaged brain tissue, but before getting to the brain he must lift off the skull and pull it back in order to have access to the cerebrum. Jesus kept His strength under control, and it is He whom we emulate.

Self-Control

Self-control has to do with mental and physical discipline. St. Paul says, "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection" (1 Corinthians 9:27) If we find self-control difficult in big things, let us start with small things. Many people complain that they cannot control their thoughts when they pray. They get distracted. Television is part of the problem. It results in a short attention span. Then this question: "How many things in a day do you really do with the whole of your mind and attention?" Most things we do with only half our minds. Listening to music, writing a letter, reading a book. Is it surprising that, when we pray, we pray with only half our minds? A good habit is to do simple things with the whole of our minds.

Tidiness is a factor often overlooked with discipline. Here I'm preaching to myself. It is simply a fact that I do not accomplish as much when my table is a mess. Time is wasted hunting for letters and papers, because I have not taken the trouble to put them in the right place when they arrived. Christianity is holistic and accepts the reality that the physical environment affects our soul. There is a connection between keeping our homes tidy and keeping our souls in order too. Thus, Christian discipline will try to maintain both internal and external order.

The fruit of the Spirit has nine flavors. It is lovely and desirable. However, that fruit will not ripen in your life if you remain passive. You must actively occupy yourself in living it until it becomes a part of your character. Each and every day you ruthlessly turn away from the things of the flesh and with passion and discipline turn towards the things of the Spirit. Do you want the fruit of the Spirit to develop in your life? Actively pursue it. Depend upon God's Spirit to produce it.

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