If I Could Tell You One Thing...Relationships (Galatians 5:22-23)

These were group-time lessons used for Cornerstone's Family Camp. The room was split into three groups. The speaker introduced the topic (Key Idea) the led the groups through a series of questions and then had them brainstorm actions. Each topic took 20 minutes.

Key Idea
God changes us so that he can change the world.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23

The external signs of the change God has made in us are sometimes called fruit. They are new attitudes. The new attitudes lead to new habits. The new habits lead to new behaviors. It is not a linear, straightforward process. It proceeds in leaps ahead, false starts, wrong turns and backtracking, but those who have been followers of Jesus for can see that they are no longer the people they were.

But those changes in attitude (called ‘fruit’) are not the end goal. In gardening, fruit has a purpose. It is the seed-bearer. It is meant to be the nutritional encapsulation of the seed which nurtures it to life in a new, sometimes harsh environment.

The seed is the word of God. Our ‘fruit’ are the seed bearers. As in Jesus’ parable of the sower (Matthew 13), God is scattering the ‘seed’ but he is doing it through his people, who wrap that seed in the ‘fruit’ of godly, loving attitudes.

When you love, when you show joy, when you live at peace, when you ‘patient’, when you are kind, when you are good, when you are faithful, when you are gentle and when you restrain yourself, you are making a home for the word of God in someone’s heart.

Not every spent fruit has a happy ending. Some seeds die. But it is true that if there are no spent fruit, then there are fewer nurtured seeds. And, if fewer nurtured seeds, then there is no harvest.

Questions
These are questions you should ask yourself about this passage:

Why do you think Paul used the term ‘fruit’ to describe these God-enabled attitudes?

Compare with Col. 3:19-21. What characterizes these ‘anti-fruit’? What is the result?

Who do you think are bickering in this church? (cf. Col. 5:26)

Why does Paul use the term ‘crucify’ (vs. 24)? If crucified, why do we struggle so much with our sin?

Actions
Do a roll-call of your relationships. What kind of ‘fruit’ have been typically displayed in each (if any!)? Which of the fruit do you most need?