Fruit Season

Dear friends in Christ, grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Next Sunday is the 4th of July, and in the likely event that you will not be worshipping with just the three of us…Linda, Jane and me, I thought I would share with you a story from the 4th of July celebrations of my childhoods. They were almost always spent with extended family; either with my grandparents at their cabin on the St. Croix, or with my mother’s relatives on the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota. The highlight every 4th of July…I mean EVERY 4th of July…was watermelon. This will sound backwards in today’s emphasis on healthful eating, but it was only after we finished eating our greasy hamburgers, mayonnaise-laced potato salad, corn on the cob with butter dripping from the plastic corn-holders, and as much Coke and Pepsi as we could drink; only then we could have watermelon. But only one piece! Didn’t want to get a stomach ache, you know. I think it was then when I decided that there should never be limit on watermelon, or strawberries, or cherries, or blueberries, or peaches.

When Marsha and I moved our family to Oregon, summer was fruit season, and because you could pick your own fruit, it was cheap. I recall one 4th of July week-end when Marsha and Kindra were coming to Minnesota for her parents’ wedding anniversary and Kyle and I stayed in Oregon for his baseball schedule. On Friday, we went out and picked 40pounds of Queen Anne Cherries; you would know them as black cherries in the Midwest. Forty pounds: ten bucks. And over the next three days, we ate the whole basket, sitting on the deck and spitting pits into the yard. Needless to say, our stomachs were rumbling, and our tongues were raw, and on Monday, so were our bottoms. I amended my theory about no limit on fruit, and now it says this: “Fruit Season can be dangerous.”

In our lesson from Galatians today, Paul is speaking about fruit – in this case, fruit of the Spirit – and he writes that there is no law against such things. There is no limit to the fruit Paul is describing. You can’t be faulted for over-indulging in this sort of fruit. And so, on a summer Sunday morning, at the front end of fruit season in Minnesota, it seems like a good day for a brief lesson on the Fruit of the Spirit. It’s a simple outline, just three points, but hopefully it will be food for thought for you as you enjoy all that God holds for us in the coming days of summer.

The first point is this: we are free. The gospel has made us free from the Law that both guided and bound the Jews for centuries. There were, of course, the Ten Commandments, but also there were 613 mosaic rules to follow, and the unnumbered, unwritten rules that were used to keep Jewish people in line, and to keep non-Jews outside the club. Rules for eating, rules for washing, rules for working, rules for resting; there were rules for everything! But now Paul says we are free of all rules! Literally, the rules, while perhaps good for the order of community, cannot keep us out of the Kingdom of God. This is the freedom of our Christian lives.

Oswald Hoffman, the longtime preacher on The Lutheran Hour once told the story of Mac the dog, a giant German Shepherd that they kept chained to the front porch. He wore a path at the edge of the yard where the chain would let him reach, as he chased mail carriers, paper boys, and kids on bikes. But one day, someone let Mac out but forgot to attach the chain. When Hoffman came home late in the day, there was Mac, running in the yard, but only to his usual limit. “Oh Mac,” Hoffman muttered, “you are free and didn’t even know it so you’re living like you’re bound.”

Essentially, Paul tells us the same thing; we’re free of the rules that bound the Jews, and yet we carry around with us guilt and shame. But then Paul warns us about the risk of being enslaved by other gods. The suggestion is this: if you are free, if Christ has taken off the yoke of slavery, don’t put it back on again. That’s the second point of the sermon outline: Why would we choose to be enslaved to the bad habits, addictive behaviors, and dangerous practices of the sinful life? Paul lists the “deeds of the flesh,” the things that God would forgive us for, but that are ridiculously stupid to pursue.

The first three have to do with sexual passion; they are Fornication, impurity and licentiousness. The next two deeds involve a new age spirituality that is present in every age; Idolatry Sorcery, magic, witchcraft, horoscopes.

Then the next eight deeds of the flesh all have to do with conflict in human relationships; they include enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy.

Finally, Paul addresses the habits that are distasteful, rude, and inconsiderate, the actions of drunkenness and carousing. The common thread among all of these deeds of the flesh is that “it’s all about us!” They display just how selfish, self-centered and self-gratifying we sinful people can be. And Paul says that if this is the way we live our lives, we will not inherit the Kingdom of God. It’s not a works-righteousness thing. It is that deeds of the flesh are the evidence that we are not in relationship with Jesus Christ.

Compare that list with what Paul calls the Fruit of the Spirit. Notice that there are not several fruits, but rather, there is one fruit, with many parts, suggesting that if we are in Christ, we all have this fruit. It includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The deeds of the flesh are self-serving; the fruit of the spirit is about serving others. They are about loving others, spreading joy to others, showing peace and patience and kindness to others. Only those who are no longer consumed with self-gratification are able to exhibit such qualities. The fruit of the spirit is not something we do, it is who we are. As people who know we are loved and forgiven, we are no longer bound by the yoke of sin; now we are guided by the gentle yoke of grace.

So what do we do with Paul’s contrasting lists of deeds and fruit; of law and grace? Perhaps the words of Alvin Rogness would provide an insight. Writes Dr. Rogness:

“Law without forgiveness breeds defiance; Forgiveness without law elicits indifference.”

We need God’s rules and laws to warn us of the danger and cunning attractions that can put the yoke of slavery back on our shoulders. But we need the constant message of grace that frees us to be children of God. That is what the Word of God is; law and grace together as God’s hand guiding our living and ensuring our place in the Kingdom of God.

In these lazy days of fruit season, I want to encourage you to close each day by taking an inventory of your actions. Not to beat yourself up for being rude, or angry, or jealous, or crude. But rather, to review how the fruit of God’s spirit has been evident in you. “God, where was I patient today? To whom was I kind? Who felt the joy because of something I said or did? Where did my generosity show?” Take time to examine the fruit of your life, and to thank the owner of the vineyard, whose death and resurrection has made us free. Thanks be to God. Amen.

©2010 Steven Molin