Fruit of the Spirit - Love (and Mr. Rogers)

One of the nicest people to ever live was a preacher.  That makes me so happy because my profession has taken some hits over the years.  Did you know some of the following things about Mr. Rogers?  (These items were featured on CNN and researched by mental floss.)

The sweaters. Every one of the cardigans he wore on the show had been hand-knit by his mother.

He made thieves think twice. According to a TV Guide piece on him, Fred Rogers drove a plain old Impala for years. One day, however, the car was stolen from the street near the TV station. When Rogers filed a police report, the story was picked up by every newspaper, radio and media outlet around town.  Amazingly, within 48 hours the car was left in the exact spot where it was taken from, with an apology on the dashboard. It read, "If we'd known it was yours, we never would have taken it."

He watched his figure to the pound. In covering Rogers' daily routine (waking up at 5 a.m.; praying for a few hours for all of his friends and family; studying; writing, making calls and reaching out to every fan who took the time to write him; going for a morning swim; getting on a scale; then really starting his day), writer Tom Junod explained that Mr. Rogers weighed in at exactly 143 pounds every day for the last 30 years of his life.  He didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't eat the flesh of any animals, and was extremely disciplined in his daily routine. And while I'm not sure if any of that was because he'd mostly grown up a chubby, single child, Junod points out that Rogers found beauty in the number 143.  According to the piece, Rogers came "to see that number as a gift... because, as he says, "the number 143 means 'I love you.' It takes one letter to say 'I' and four letters to say 'love' and three letters to say 'you.' One hundred and forty-three."

He saved both public television and the VCR. Strange but true. When the government wanted to cut public television funds in 1969, the relatively unknown Mister Rogers went to Washington.  Almost straight out of a Frank Capra film, his 5-6 minute testimony on how TV had the potential to give kids hope and create more productive citizens was so simple but passionate that even the most gruff politicians were charmed. While the budget should have been cut, the funding instead jumped from $9 to $22 million.  Rogers also spoke to Congress, and swayed senators into voting to allow VCR's to record television shows from the home. It was a cantankerous debate at the time, but his argument was that recording a program like his allowed working parents to sit down with their children and watch shows as a family.

He could make a subway car full of strangers sing. Once while rushing to a New York meeting, there were no cabs available, so Rogers and one of his colleagues hopped on the subway. Esquire reported that the car was filled with people, and they assumed they wouldn't be noticed.  But when the crowd spotted Rogers, they all simultaneously burst into song, chanting "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood." The result made Rogers smile wide.

He got into TV because he hated TV. The first time he turned one on, he saw people angrily throwing pies in each other's faces. He immediately vowed to use the medium for better than that. Over the years he covered topics as varied as why kids shouldn't be scared of a haircut, or the bathroom drain (because you won't fit!), to divorce and war.

He was a perfectionist, and disliked ad libbing. He felt he owed it to children to make sure every word on his show was thought out.

You know Mister Rogers became Mister Rogers on purpose.  He made decisions in order to become the person that he was.  Just take his weight for example.  He wanted to be 143 so he weighed himself every...single...day.

We know this principle - if you want to be a good dad, you have be purposeful about your time with your kids, your words with your kids, your actions with your kids.  Right?  If you want to be a good friend - you have to be purposeful about your time with your friend, your words with your friend, and your actions with your friend.  You can apply that principle to your marriage, your parents, your grandkids, fellow church members, employees, and many other relationships.

So, let’s apply this same thing to our Christian lives.

Defining “successful christian living”

The succesful Christian life is a mystery to us.  We can look at Billy Graham, or Mother Theresa, or a senior saint from our own church.  We can look at missionaries, or other famous Christians.  But success in the Christian life is much tougher to define than simply stating a name.  Well, unless that name is Jesus.

Paul writes, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.”

As Christians our goal is Christlikeness, or to be like Jesus.  It’s not about growing a beard or wearing sandals and robes, it’s about being like Jesus on the inside.  Letting what drove him drive us.  We find out Jesus’ motivations in Philippians 2:5-8.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Our minds should be the same as that of Christ Jesus - the humble, serving, God in human flesh.

First, That’s not a goal that we will reach in this lifetime.  So if you don’t feel that you have to grow anymore in your Christian walk - you are completely wrong.  We all need to grow.  In fact, the further you are in your walk the more you will realize just how different you are than Christ Jesus.  So, we need to continue to grow as people following Jesus.

Second, That’s not a goal that we can conquer by ourselves or even with the help of others in the church or our families.  You are not strong enough to do it and you don’t have the expertise, fortitude, or skill to get their on your own.  That’s tough for many of us to realize.

Thirdly, the good news, it’s not completely up to us and God has made for us a helper or counselor to take us from where we were before we accepted Christ as our Savior to where God wants to lead us.  Jesus brings that idea up in John chapter 14.  Pay close attention to what Jesus says here in John 14:15-26

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 

Very important.  What did He say there?  “If you love me.”  Strong words.  Very strong way to say that.  He follows it with “keep my commands.”  In our day, we have this false notion that Jesus just loves us where we are and that’s just fine.  No need to do anything about, just relax in the love of Christ.  No, “if you love me keep my commands.”  Big words.

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. 

Yes, the Holy Spirit.  The extenuation of Jesus and the Father.  The third in the Trinity.  Fully God as much as the Father and the Son are.  The Holy Spirit - called here an advocate, the helper, and the truth.

The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him

True right?  The world does not accept the invisible as real.

But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”  22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”  23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

He continues to present His case doesn’t he?  If you love me obey my teaching.  Seriously.  

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

There it is.  As Christians we are expected to become like more and more like Jesus.  Christlikeness is the destination and we purposely walk toward that goal.  AND, God lives within us and His Holy Spirit dwells within us, saved professing Followers and Believers in Jesus, to help us get to that point.

So, let me ask again, what is successful Christian living?

Our minds should be the same as Christ Jesus - humble, serving, loving

To get there we must follow the direction of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We know we are following the Spirit when we see it’s fruit in our lives.

A quick aside - I don’t preach a health and wealth gospel.  I know that God loves us more than we realize and that money and fame and health and beauty are not as important to Him as they are to us.  With that said, God loves us and if the fruit of the spirit is truely evident in our lives we will have a joy and peace that is unfound in most people and we will have a confidence that is completely unshakeable.

The Fruit of the Spirit

The fruit of the Spirit is found at the end of Paul’s letter to a bunch of struggling christians in the land of Galatia.  What’s so wonderful about it is that it comes into his letter right after he brings up great freedom that we have because of Christ living in us.  These Christians were starting to follow the old rules in order to please God.

Jesus said, if you love me - obey what I have taught you.  Paul taught this to the Galatians and they felt like it wasn’t enough.  They wanted to earn God’s favor, or please God through clearly established old testament rules.  Paul said, no, it is for freedom that Christ set you free.

Really this list that Paul gives the Galatians, and you and I, is meant to replace the rule-keeping way that they were backsliding into.  They wanted a clearly defined set of rules and commands to follow.  They wanted to know exactly where they stood with God.  Here is Paul’s list in Galatians 5:16-25:

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Can you imagine how frustrating that is?  It’s like asking someone a direct question and then getting a completely different type of answer than you wanted.  “Hey, honey do you want to go shopping with me?”  “Ummm, well I love you with all my heart and I want you to be happy.”  Short answer - ugh, I don’t want to go shopping but I want my wife to be happy and feel my love.

Do you catch what he’s written here?  Walk by the spirit and you won’t gratify the desires of the flesh.

 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So is he saying that if you are doing those things you are going to hell?  Hatred and jealousy are in there.  So is selfish ambition and envy.  That should cause us to at least get a little bit uncomfortable.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Thank you Paul.  You have given us a list.  We like lists.  They are tidy and we can check them off.  They are clear goals.  Fruit is something is evident quickly.  In fact Jesus said, “you know them by their fruit - good fruit comes from a good tree.”

Notice that these are not the “fruits” (plural) of the spirit.  They are the fruit of the spirit.  You can grow in each different form, but they are and all-in-one type of thing.  We will get into the different forms through the next few weeks.  Today we will begin and end with the first word mentioned - love.

Love - The first step and the overarching principle

Love.  We talk about is so much at church that the word has lost almost all meaning.  Love.  We say we love our children and we say that we love fried chicken.  Love.  So misunderstood.  The word corrupted and twisted.  We say that people having an affair were caught “making love.”  What a terrible misuse of the word.  Would you like to hear Jesus’ definition of love?  It’s in the scripture.  It’s not hidden and it happened in the least likely of sitatuations and the least likely of times.

All the disciples had gathered to celebrate the passover feast.  13 men including Jesus, Judas the betrayer, Peter, John, and the others.  It was night and they had finished a long journey to get there.  They gathered in the upper room and prepared for the feast.  One problem.  There wasn’t anyone there to wash their feet.  That was customary.  You couldn’t eat until it was finished.  They all looked around at eachother.  They were unable to continue until this was done.  Usually something like this was done by the youngest child of the least important slave in the house.  That person was not there.  So the scripture uses the words, “then Jesus showed them the full extent of His love” and he got down and washed their feet.

The word for love is agape.

Brian Wilkerson writes this about agape love.

Agape describes a love that is unconditional.  It is not contingent on the other person’s performance or desirability.  This love is also willfull.  It’s not a matter of a feelings or inclination, but rather a decision to act in another’s persons interest.  Finally, it’s sacrificial.  It costs you something to love in this way; it’s not just giving, but giving up for the sake of someone else.  We could say that agape love is acting in someone else’s interest 1) no matter who they are 2) no matter how you feel and 3) no matter what it costs.