Lesson 8 The Character of Christ

     When we realize that love is not a gift of the Spirit, but is actually the Giver of the gifts, then we learn somethings about the nature and the character of Christ.  The Holy Spirit is God Himself and is the Giver of life.  That life is the very life and nature of our Heavenly Father.
     The fruit of the Spirit is the fruit Jesus spoke about in John 15:5 (Amplified) and that fruit is what Jesus produced in His life and resurrection.  This fruit isn't what Paul spoke of in Galatians 5:22-23. 
     In John 15:5 (Amplified) we see that the fruit Jesus produced was the life of the Father in all who will believe and the fruit produced in Galatians 5 produces the character of this life.  Galatians 5:22-23 (Amplified) says, "But the fruit of the (Holy) Spirit (the work which His presence within accomplishes) is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, Gentleness (meekness, humility), self control (restraint, continence). Against such things there is no Law (that can bring a charge)."
     These things (fruits) are the very nature and character of the new life the Holy Spirit produces through our salvation in Jesus.  In the Law of Genesis 1:11-12 (Amplified), "God said, Let the earth put forth (tender) vegetation; plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to its kind, upon the earth. And it was so, the earth brought forth vegetation; plants yielding see according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good (suitable, admirable) and He approved it."
     We are called to reproduce the seed sown in us, which is the new birth in unbelievers.  1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) says, "You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm) but from one that is immortal by the everliving and lasting Word of God."
     When we go forth preaching the Word (seed) of God, that seed (Word) will bring forth the new birth to unbelievers.  It will produce the same new life in them that it did in us and make them part of the family of God, too, because "everything produces after kind."  This is the fruit Jesus spoke about in John 15.  A watermelon seed will produce another watermelon.  The meat of the watermelon is what entices people to eat it.  The whole purpose of the "fruit" of the melon, is to carry and nourish the seed within in.
     The "fruit" of the Spirit that we're to produce in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23) is to make the seed or the Word we minister attractive to the hearer so that they receive it and reproduce it in their own lives.  The only purpose for the fruit of the watermelon  (the rich, red, succulent meat of the melon)  is to carry the seed.
     We've never really given much attention to the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians and have failed to understand what Paul was saying.  The fruit of the Spirit in our lives, is the character of our Father that should be manifest in our lives to the world.  Instead of wrapping the seed in the character of Christ and making it attractive, we wrap it in religion and make in unattractive and unattainable.  We wrapped the seed of the new birth in how we dress, speak, worship and the Laws we insist on in our churches.
     These things aren't always a "meat" of the fruit we're to bear nor the seed we are to sow.  Remember the Parable of the sower in Mark 4?  Jesus said that the sower sows the Word.  If the fruit we sow isn't desirable to the hearer, then the seed (Word) falls on deaf ears or hard soil.  Jesus said in Mark 4:21 (Amplified), "Is the lamp brought in to be put under a peck measure, or under a bed, and not (to be put) on the lampstand?"  In other words, the sower it to be a light for those to whom he is speaking and is not to keep the seed (Word) darkened by something else.
     If we read this parable in the light of the Spirit in which it was spoken, then we are the ones who determine if the lamp is lifted high or placed under a darkened rule of religion.  We are the ones who are sowing the seed of the new birth now.  This seed (Word) is to produce in kind, the new birth Jesus spoke of in John 15.  The fruit of the Spirit spoke about in Galatians 5:22-23 is the nature and character of the Vine (Jesus) that makes the seed desirable to the hearer.
    Galatians 5:22-23is what we're to bring to pass in our lives as we yield to the life and leading of the Holy Spirit on a personal basis in our lives.  2Corinthians 3:17-18 (Amplified) says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom. And all us, as with unveiled face, (because we) continued to behold (in the Word of God) as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigures into His very Own Image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another, (for this comes) from the Lord (Who is) the Spirit."
     The above scripture perfectly reveals the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23 which is the character and nature of the Image of Jesus in our lives.  The fruit or character of Jesus and our Father, is the goodness or the meat of what we've become.  The new creature brings forth the enticing watermelon meat that makes our seed fall upon the hearts of man.  We're called to become bearers of the seed (the Word of reconciliation) and to bear the fruit, which is the Image of the Vine Who produces the fruit we've become.  The fruit is the life of God, the sons of God and the fruit of the vine.