By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. —Galatians 5:22-26

The same

that gave life to Adam, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, is available to you.

The Holy Spirit’s

is to empower the wholeness and holiness of life that God has always intended for us.

The Holy Spirit is given to us not so we can be more spiritual, but so we can become more

.

While we may have chosen to follow Jesus,

is often elusive.

We need to

to the Spirit in order to step into freedom.

The Problem of Individualism

In a profoundly individualistic culture, we misunderstand scriptures written to a much more

culture.

We tend to read biblical teachings as applying only to

individuals.

As a society, we think that we can separate our individual good from the

good.

When Paul says “you” in the New Testament, it’s most often plural—“

.”

Jesus created a

that became the church when the Holy Spirit filled them at Pentecost.

The New Testament is the story of

different people brought into right relationship with God and one another in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We cannot understand the kingdom of God if we think salvation is only about “

and Jesus.”

“The slogan of the Church’s life is ‘not without the other’; no I without a you, no I without a we.” —Archbishop Rowan Williams

We cannot experience wholeness outside of the

of faith.

The Fruit of Community

Many Christians are familiar with the fruit of the Spirit as a list of

virtues. (Galatians 5:22-23)

The Galatians wrestling with what it means for Jews and Gentiles to be the church

. (Galatians 5:13-15)

He contrasts life in the Spirit with life in the flesh. (Galatians 5:16-17)

“‘Flesh’ is the realm of autonomous fallen humanity, living at odds with God.” —Richard B. Hays, New Testament Scholar, Duke University (1948-2025)

In Paul’s list of works of the flesh, eight of the vices are

. (Galatians 5:19-21)

The fruit of the Spirit are gifts given for the building up of the

. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Paul is not telling the Galatian Christians to act a certain way, but

what the Spirit does in us.

We cannot

the fruit of the Spirit. They are purely the

Reveal Answer

of the Spirit.

To live in the community of the Spirit requires us to crucify

ways of living. (Galatians 5:24-26)

“For those of us who live in the modern, Western world, the Spirit brings freedom from bondage to ourselves, freeing us for love of others and from that widespread contemporary perversion of our humanity—narcissism.” —Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon

Table Manners

When the church gathers, a

is often at the center.

Jesus did much of his ministry at

, and the early church devoted itself to “the breaking of bread.” (Acts 2:42)

Meals teach us much of what it takes to live together: gratitude, contribution, sharing, and making sure everyone has

.

The central meal of Christian life is

, when we receive Christ through the Spirit’s gift.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father, now and forever. Amen.

At the table, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we who are many become

.

Action Steps

Pray for the

Oklahoma United Methodist churches who will gather this week.

Ask the Holy Spirit, “Where are you

me into community?”

My additional notes:

.