Loving God, Our Neighbor, and Ourselves with Spiritual Fruit

Jesus answered an important question.

Matthew 22:36-40:
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Jesus spoke of our three “loves” in life. God is our first love through His Son. Love for our neighbor is second as we serve and minister. We must also love ourselves. We put ourselves last in service, yet that love is the foundation for loving our neighbor. When we believe on Christ, we are born again and have spiritual fruit in our lives. This fruit follows the same pattern as the “love” Jesus spoke of: God first, others second, we are willing to be third.

Galatians 5:22,23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

First, spiritual fruit is the basis of our relationship with the Father through His Son: love, joy, peace. Secondly, spiritual fruit helps us in our relationships with our neighbors: longsuffering, gentleness, goodness. Lastly, spiritual fruit will help us build up ourselves as believers: faith, meekness, temperance. Let’s look at each of these three ways to love with the support of spiritual fruit that we bear for Christ.

Our Relationship with the Father: Love, Joy, Peace

LOVE

God is love.

1 John 4:8,16:
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

We have the Father’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 3:17,19:
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love.
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Ephesians 5:2,25:
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.

Ephesians 6:23:
Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The foundational fruit in our lives is our love for God and others because God first loved us.

1 John 4:19:
We love him, because he first loved us.

JOY

Our joy is full when we have fellowship with the Father through His Son.

John 16:23,24:
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

1 John 1:3,4:
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Our hope in Christ gives us joy unspeakable.

1 Peter 1:8:
Whom [Jesus Christ] having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

PEACE

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:1:
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:2:
Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:14:
For he [Christ] is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.

These three–love, joy, and peace–seem to build on each other. God’s love is the foundation for our fellowship with Him and our service to others. As we love the Father and serve others, we are filled with joy. And that joy gives us steadfast assurance and peace in challenging daily situations.

Our Relationships with Our Neighbors: Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness

LONGSUFFERING

Our fellowship with the Father through Christ gives us love, joy, and peace. These are spiritual fruits we enjoy because we are filled with holy spirit. Ministers work together with God to serve others. Part of their service is to be patient and longsuffering with those they serve. This spiritual fruit is vital for ministers.

2 Corinthians 6:1,4,6:
We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost [holy spirit], by love unfeigned.

We maintain our spiritual unity in the body of Christ as we are longsuffering with each other.

Ephesians 4:2:
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.

This is part of what we are to “put on” as we live with our neighbors.

Colossians 3:12:
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.

GENTLENESS

Like longsuffering, gentleness is a required fruit to serve and minister to our neighbor.

2 Corinthians 6:6:
By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness [gentleness], by the Holy Ghost [holy spirit], by love unfeigned.

This is another quality that we are to “put on” as we live with our neighbors.

Colossians 3:12:
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness [gentleness], humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.

GOODNESS

Our spiritual goodness in Christ is what enables us to warn and support each other.

Romans 15:14:
And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish [warn by putting the Word in mind] one another.

Fruit is what can be seen. Goodness is a spiritual fruit, and also shows that we are walking in the light.

Ephesians 5:9:
For the fruit of the Spirit [light] is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.

These three–longsuffering, gentleness, goodness–also seem to build on each other. It is our longsuffering patience that allows us day after day to care for others based on our relationship with our Father through His Son. Then we are gentle and kind as we serve. And that opens doors for us to show God’s true goodness in action to others.

Building Up Ourselves as Believers: Faith, Meekness, Temperance

FAITH

Our fellowship with the Father allows us to truly serve our neighbor. The apostles asked Jesus how to build up their faith. He said it was like a mustard seed. It was “self-contained” with all the power and growth potential within itself. With faith, we can bring to pass the impossible.

Luke 17:5,6:
And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

Paul helped believers grow in faith as they heard the gospel of Christ. Their believing and trust in God blossomed as they believed what Paul taught. They also had spiritual faith as a fruit in their lives.

2 Corinthians 10:14,15:
…for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:
Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men’s labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly.

Believers can build themselves up in faith by praying in the spirit, which is speaking in tongues, according to I Corinthians 14:14,15.

Jude 1:20:
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost [holy spirit].

MEEKNESS

Paul was meek and humble because of the “new man,” Christ in him. He had the spiritual meekness of Christ, which allowed him to grow and build himself up.

2 Corinthians 10:1:
Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you.

Having the spiritual fruit of meekness works hand in hand with believing the Scriptures. The Word becomes “engrafted” inside of us, like a plant that grows.

James 1:21:
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

Our spiritual meekness allows us to be built up so that we can maintain spiritual unity with each other.

Ephesians 4:2:
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.

Meekness as a spiritual fruit is required to being able to learn and grow how to help others.

2 Timothy 2:25:
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.

TEMPERANCE

Paul exercised great self-control as a bondslave of Jesus Christ. When sharing the gospel, he didn’t let his mind run on, but carefully listened to the Holy Spirit and spoke what was right.

Acts 24:25:
And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.

Believers are to have a knowledge of God and His Son. With that foundation, we allow the spiritual fruit of temperance to build us up unto patience and godliness.

2 Peter 1:6:
And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness.

Finally, these three–faith, meekness, temperance–seem to build beautifully on each other. When we are born again with the faith of Christ, we are able to meekly listen to the Father and build self-control in service to others. We can truly love ourselves because of what God has done for us in Christ, then build with meekness to live for Him.

God allows us to see spiritual fruit when we are born again. This fruit keeps us lovingly knit to our Father and His Son. This fruit also gives us the strength and wisdom to minister to and to serve our neighbor. And this spiritual fruit builds us up so that we are equipped to live a Christ-centered life.