Episode 2: Love: Abounding in Christ
Our passages today are from: Galations 5:22-23 and John 15:1-13
We're delving into the topic of love today - the first fruit listed in Galatians 5. It's big, it's weighty - and it's ultimately all about Jesus, who loved us and gave himself for us. We're looking at John 15 in this online Bible study for women. Is there someone you could meet up with to talk about this essential fruit of the Spirit?
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How does this picture in John 15 shape how we view fruitfulness?
What does it look like for our love to be shaped more and more by Jesus' love, and less by the world?
What are some specific situations in your everyday life that you'd like to pray for in light of this fruit?
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This episode is sponsored by Moody Publishers.
A Christian publisher, they aim to resource the church’s work of discipling all people, with titles spanning from Bible commentary and reference to spiritual and relational growth.
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The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Sarah: You're listening to the Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea podcast, the Bible Study podcast for everyday life. We're here for a 20 minute burst of Bible chat over a cup of tea and an English style biscuit as we open up the Bible and drive it to our hearts. Usually we're making our way through a specific book of the Bible, but this season we're diving deep into the fruit of the spirit together. Whether you've been listening for a while or have just found us, we are so pleased you're here.
Felicity: We're grateful to be partnering with Moody Publishers this season. If you've been listening to us for a while, you'll probably have heard me talk about my love for poetry. This book, Love Has a Story, 100 Meditations on the Enduring Love of God by Keena Aragon, is not a book of poetry, but it is written by a poet and it does have the occasional poem in it. More than that though, it is a series of deeply biblical, searingly honest meditations on God's love. I love the way Keena writes and have really appreciated having this book by my bedside for edifying dips into profound truth. Click the link in the show notes to pick up a copy for yourself.
Sarah: Welcome to Two Sisters in a Cup of Tea. My name is Sarah, I live in the UK. This is my sister Felicity, she lives in the States and it is a joy to be back for a new season where we're going to be delving into the fruit of the spirit together and this episode we're focusing on the first fruit, love. Felicity, I love that we get to do this again for a brand new season. What's in your cup of tea today?
Felicity: Well Sarah, it's just a classic, a classic Earl Grey today, but this is the best time of year for biscuits. Around here especially where biscuits are not aplenty in the supermarkets, but Christmas, New Year, feel like this box is of biscuits everywhere, shortbread and Aldi selection of continental biscuits. I mean there's joy in the house. I feel like just there's a joy in as someone comes in for a cup of tea, I can offer them a real biscuit. Yeah.
Sarah: Do feel like you can partake in that biscuit joy of being gluten free and all?
Felicity: No! I'm getting joy from watching others enjoy the biscuits and munching my... how fitting! Christ-like love for a biscuit.
So Sarah, we are doing something a bit different this season, aren't we? So could you just explain for our listeners so they can understand why are we doing something different? Usually we walk through a book of the Bible from start to finish but this time round a deep dive into the fruit of the Spirit. What's going on?
Sarah: Well, we couldn't quite land on what book to do next, could we? And I think the more we had conversations and the more we were praying about things, we were recognizing the real need to guard our hearts as we press record in these conversations. So we pray before we open the Bible, we pray before we press record, and so we always start our conversations having already prayed, and we're just very aware of our need to be gazing at Jesus more for our need to be applying this deeply to our hearts and our lives. And the more we thought about it, the more we thought actually something like this could just be really, really helpful for our own hearts. And we hope it's helpful for listeners as well who are listening into our conversations. But that's where we've decided to land this time. And I'm really excited actually. It's immensely challenging in some of the prep we've done for this, isn't it? And I'm really looking forward to getting into these conversations. So Natalie kicked us off last week, didn't she, with giving us some of the context of where these verses sit, the Fruit of the Spirit verses sit in Galatians chapter five, and she kind of gave us that context of Galatians. Felicity, just recap for us, please, the context of Galatians and how we're kind of then spring-boarding out of that.
Felicity: Absolutely. So Galatians is a book where Paul is really seeking to persuade this church, the church in Galatia, that seems to have a bit of an issue where they've kind of been all about the flesh, all about law and works and doing stuff in their own strength. And he's persuading them that, no, in Christ you have the spirit and so now you are walking by the spirit. And by the time we get to chapter five, we're kind of at the outworking of that. therefore, because you are of the spirit, not of the law, not of the flesh, you are able to bear the fruit of the Spirit. And so this is a kind of, it's a sweet spot really where it's like this is what it is to be a Christian because we have the Spirit of Christ, therefore this is what it looks like to live that out. Why don't I just read that for you? As ever, we are reading from the NIV and we're in chapter five of Galatians, verses 22 to 23, and this is what he says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. So this episode we're gonna home in on the first fruit of the Spirit there, love. And actually we wanna be, every time we think about the fruit of the Spirit over the course of the season, we're gonna be having a good long look at Jesus first. And so we're gonna actually flick now to John 15 verses 1 to 13 where we're gonna see Jesus in that upper room discourse, he's speaking to his disciples in those last moments before he goes to the cross and we get just an amazing picture of love. So Sarah, you got that for us?
Sarah: I have indeed. Let's go. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Felicity: Big, big moment. And what a picture. That's the picture, isn't it? That actually we need to be fully kind of cognizant of as we go into thinking about the fruit of the Spirit. We have the vine, Jesus is the vine, and he says, abide in me as I abide in you. So that is what Natalie was talking to us about last week, that union with Christ. Because we are in Christ, we are therefore abiding in the vine. And as those who are abiding in the vine, he abides in us, so we are able to love like he loves. So he says in verse nine there, now remain in my love and then my command is this, love each other as I have loved you. Boom.
Sarah: Yeah, it's so helpful just to dwell on just a moment longer on that, the nature of fruitfulness though, isn't it? That actually apart from Christ we can do nothing, he says. And just to kind of, I think that just squashes so much of our kind of can do, kind of work, see kind of if I just try a little bit harder, I can just be that little bit more loving, I can just bear that little bit more fruit as a Christian. And he just says no to that, doesn't he? He says no, apart from me you can do nothing. I just think we really need to hear that as we enter into this season, that all that we desire, all that we long for in bearing fruit, is because Jesus is working in us and because we are rooting ourselves in the soil of his love in him, aren't we? And just kind of, think, well done him for using such a helpful illustration!
Felicity: Yeah. Well done, Jesus, yeah, that's so true. Also it works both ways, doesn't it? Because I think, you know, even just in those sentences we've had a command and we are going to hear a number of commands as we're thinking about the fruit of the Spirit. And our instinctive response to that is quite likely to be like just flattered by the fact we're not doing it. But what we have here is just a real picture of what has already happened. That we are abiding in Jesus and he is abiding in us. We do have the Spirit. So this is an ongoing work. It's not like project fruit of the Spirit now it begins. We're just gonna start trying to do all this stuff This is actually how God has been working in us before hand and this is how he continues to work in us and I think we can be encouraged in that there are obviously challenges in that because we're seeking to press more into Jesus and be more like him, but I think we need to hear both sides of that. Don't we?
Sarah: Yeah, definitely. And I think what he's saying here in relation to love is that our love is always going to be shaped by his love, isn't it? So as he says in verse 12, my command is this, love each other as I have loved you. That's, as we think about growing in love, that is what needs to shape our thinking and our dwelling on this, isn't it? His love is the thing that shapes our love of others. And he tells us that explicitly you need to love the way that I have loved you. And ultimately that takes us to the cross, but a couple of chapters back in John 13, he kind of shows the foot, he kind of says, I'm showing you the full extent of my love in the way that he's seeking to wash their feet and show their need to be loved, their need to receive his love. Even he washes Judas's feet, even though Judas was never, yeah, was never a follower in the end, was he? But just the fact that his love, his willing, his sacrificial, his gracious, eternal love is the thing that needs to shape the way that we love rather than the world's view of love.
Felicity: Yes, I think that's right. We've both enjoyed a book called The Character of Christ by Jonathan Landry-Cruz and he helpfully describes it as that the love that comes from the spirit is cruciform love. And Spurgeon also talks of that and says that this love was nurtured at the cross amidst the groans of an expiring God beneath the droppings of his blood. That is where this all stems from, it's the love of Christ. And so as we think about what it is to bear the fruit of the spirit, love, we are looking to have that shape of love, which is what the Bible would call kind of agape love. It's not got any benefit to the person who's doing the loving. It is entirely for the sake of the person who is being loved. That's been incredibly challenging to me, that it's not for my gain but it is purely for the gain of the other person.
Sarah: Which is so different to the way the world thinks about love, isn't it? In terms of that reciprocal nature and making me feel good in the way that even just kind of acts of love or acts of charity or whatever, it makes me feel good so I'll do more of that. But actually no, this is costly love that lays down one's life for one's friends. Costly love that images itself on Jesus' willing, sacrificial, pour out my life kind of love. But it's love that also brings joy. He says in verse 11, I've told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. So there's the overflow of seeking to lay down our lives and seeking to really practically think about what it looks like to be willingly, graciously loving in this kind of way is for our benefit. You know, it is for our benefit. We will receive joy in that, but it's contrary to what we imagine.
Felicity: I think that's right, isn't it? It's counter the way in which, and it might look very similar. I think that's the thing, isn't it? Lots of people are loving, but what is the heart behind the love? It is entirely concerned with the other person. Landry Cruz in that book says it really well, I think. He says, it's the person whom I love that has the need. I see their need and simply to benefit them, not because I'm gonna get anything out of it, I show them love. And so there's a purity to that which is Christ-like, which is different to the heart behind, well, just other sorts of love.
Sarah: And the reality in it that we can't kind of life hack our way into this kind of love because there's no shortcuts here in terms of developing this love. I can only become more Jesus-like in this love as I pray and as I look at him. The more that I'm enamoured by Jesus and how he loves me and how he shows his love, the more that I want and desire that love over a love that's more convenient because I think my temptation is just to couch the language of love because I'm doing it in my kind of comfort zone or in my kind of convenient box rather than actually thinking, Lord, how do I love like you in this situation with these people and this context? That's a whole another level of question isn't it to ask and to pray for that desire to love like Jesus loves.
Felicity: And I think that that develops as we have a more robust view of Christ's love. So the more we spend time dwelling on the cross and dwelling on the person of Christ, something we've talked about as we've got into this season is how we'd love it if as we get to the end of our studies in the fruit of the spirit that Jesus becomes more familiar. So you look, you read the gospels and you think, yeah, that's it. That's the embodiment, Jesus is the person on whom I'm modelling myself, not just by example, but actually he's the means of that as well, by the Spirit. And so I think there's something in just working hard to have a right view of Christ's sacrificial, willing, gracious love and seeking to outwork that as we go about our own lives. I've found that as I've been sort of trying to ground this in my reality, that I'm tempted to think kind of outside of you know, go and find someone different to love, go and find the really needy people I know are around who I don't really come into contact with, maybe I should make contact, whatever it is. And that is a right and a good thing, but actually, there's just a very normal reality to the people who share my house with me, the people who I encounter in my neighbourhood, in the church family, like wherever it may be. And so allowing it to shape our everyday loving interactions, I think that's where the challenge is.
Sarah: Yeah, and allowing it to get, yeah, to go deep into the crevices of life in that, it? And I think, so to kind of pick up Paul's famous passage in 1 Corinthians as we just kind of continue to drive this to our own hearts. I've been trying to memorize this over the last couple of weeks to just kind of embed this in my heart and mind and what really strikes me. So this is 1 Corinthians 13 where the beginning of the chapter he's talking about, you can do all these things but if you don't have love you are like a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. And then he goes as far to say you can have the gift of prophecy or you can have a faith as big as mountains, but actually if you don't have love, you are nothing. And it's the same kind of refrain of without Christ, you are nothing. You can't do anything. You can do all these loving acts, but if you don't have love, you gain nothing through it. And then he says, it's very kind of gritty and real. says, love is patient. Love is kind. does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonour others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. It doesn't delight in evil, but it rejoices with the truth. It protects, always trusts, it hopes, it perseveres. Love never fails. And the more that you dwell on that description of love, more we see our, I see my lack and the more I'm driven to the cross again, more to see the glories of Jesus embodying this in its fullness and that is it, isn't it? We glory in the fact that Jesus walked through this earth being able to love like this and then lay down his life for us. So that by his spirit we may somehow be able to bear something, a taste of this love towards others and that just boggles my brain that that that is a reality that by his spirit we can even touch on being like this. That's amazing isn't it?
Felicity: Yeah, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing, isn't it? And you know, I think we can recognise it in people. We recognise it in Jesus, and we also recognise it in those who are following closely with him. And that's an encouragement, isn't it? Because we are seeking to follow Jesus. I've been enjoying, well both of us have been enjoying some Tim Keller sermons on the fruit of the Spirit and he has a moment where he says, if you want to heal your heart and be loving, you need to look at Jesus, read the gospels and contemplate what he is doing. And that's it, isn't it? Because we feel it, we're like, I'm just not there, like what? I don't look like this, but actually, okay, well I do want to heal my heart, I wanna be loving like this. Let's look at Jesus. And that 1 Corinthians, those verses, they are a picture of Jesus aren't they? And it's so wonderfully, that is true, this is right, and by the fruit of the spirit, no, by the spirit we may bear. By the fruit.
Sarah: can't buy this fruit, only buy the Spirit and you need to pray don't we? Like this just like causes us to pray like Lord do I desire this kind of love? Yes of course I do because I'm the recipient of it and so we pray and we ask the Holy Spirit to bear that fruit and to continue bearing that fruit because actually what we've been saying all along the beginning of this episode and from last week's as well is that this is happening if I have the spirit indwelling in me I am bearing fruit that's the reality but I want that fruit more and more to be shaped by Jesus and less and less like the world and the kind of world worldly desires and so it's praying to that end isn't it
Felicity: Yeah, very much so. Why don't you pray that for us, Sarah, as we wrap this up?
Sarah: Yes, I will. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much that we are the recipients of such extraordinary, willing, sacrificial, gracious and eternal love. Lord, we pray, please grow that love in us. We long that we would bear the fruit of your love to those around us we long, Lord, that we would be shaped more and more by this cruciform love, this love that lays down life for friends, this love that seeks to just give and not receive in return, this love that is wholly shaped by the Lord Jesus. We praise you that he's not only our model, but he is also our enabler by your spirit. Lord, please grow us to the praise of your glory, we pray. Amen.
Felicity: Amen. It's good to be getting into it Sarah, isn't it? I'm excited. challenging but encouraging. Thanks for joining us this far. Do check out our resources page on the website. We've mentioned, even just there, we've mentioned a couple of resources that have helped us and you can see more of what's helped us as we've begun to think through the fruit of the Spirit. And we will look forward to seeing you next time as we get into the next one. Joy.
Sarah: Joy, see you then, bye bye.
Felicity: See you then.
This season is sponsored by Moody Publishers.
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