On Wednesday Evenings we have been hosting an awesome Bible study at the E and B coffee shop. It’s about living the virtuous Christian life. What we are trying to do is go through Galatians 5 to learn how Christians show the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.
These verses tell us a lot about how Christians want to live. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness Gentleness, and self-control.
Since we are discussing the identity of our God and how that affects us…I think you will be surprised to notice that there are a whole lot of passages about who the Father is…a whole lot of passages about who God the Son is…but usually when we talk about God the Spirit the Bible speaks about Him in a different way.
Most of the time the Bible doesn’t talk about who the Spirit is… but instead what the Spirit does.
This verse is no different explaining what sort of works the Spirit puts into the hearts of people.
Maybe as you look at a verse like this you feel a little bit overwhelmed. That’s because usually our problem with the identity of the Spirit is that we often don’t like the work he does in us.
You might say yourself – patience? Love? I don’t feel like being that for THAT person.
In fact usually as human beings we forget that this fruit of the Spirit is something that God gives not something that we work and earn.
So listen for a moment to how Luther describes the work Holy Spirit. He calls us by the Gospel, enlightens us with his gifts, sanctifies and keeps us in the one true faith.
See it’s hard to be a Christian. It’s impossible to know God on our own because of Sin. But this verse shows you the Spirit’s work. The Spirit helps you to know the Father and the Son. He works so that as you know them you see forgiveness and live their love in the world.
Trinity Sunday. I hope that as you leave today you have a review or a better knowledge of who your God is. We’ve studied the different persons. As we put it all together what is most beautiful though is that in the Trinity we see the exact sort of God we need. He lacks nothing – he understands everything. For every struggle, every sin, every want, and every desire God is who he is. Three in one. But he is those things so that he can supply all that you need for eternity.
