That very non-technical word, things, is the language of our text in verse 23. These things against such things. Galatians chapter 5. Let us hear now the word of God, reading verses 22 through 24. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades. The word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we continue to dig into the fruit of the Spirit, we do this realizing that putting on this fruit, putting on these things, is hard work. Indeed, only after we have been saved can we speak about truly doing any of these things. We are fallen sinners. None of these things comes easily to us. Even if we think we are good at them, then we must realize we are only starting to grow in these things. These are those things where the desires of the flesh will constantly be pulling us back, even as we saw in verse 17, that is the reality of our hearts. And so, as we continue to look into Galatians 5, let us be constantly remembering what came before this, which can be summarized in this way, that the hardest work The hardest work, the work of the very salvation of sinners, is already accomplished. The hardest work is the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross, dying for sinners, taking the curse upon himself. That is what the apostle has so diligently detailed before we get here, and that is appropriate. because to look at hard things and to seek to grow in them, it is always important to remember that the hardest thing has been done and accomplished by Jesus Christ. And one of the hard things about putting on the fruit of the spirit is that we must put them all on. We cannot say I am kind enough that it's okay for me to lose my patience sometimes. We cannot say that I am faithful enough that it is okay for me to not have the joy of Christ sometimes. No, we must grow in all of these things, and indeed, even as we can speak of them individually, even as the texts uses nine words refers to them as things in verse 23 there is such unity that they are called what fruit in the singular they are all one tree we might think of Jesus Christ speaking of by your fruits you shall know them but then what does he do he speaks about two trees a good tree and a bad tree there's one tree There's one good tree. There's one fruit of the spirit. They're all so connected that we must do them all together. An illustration of this is a beautiful painting with many various colors. And each color has its own purpose. Each color does have something distinct that it brings to the painting, but you need all of it together to make sense of the whole painting. You need all of it together for it to be beautiful. People of God, one of the things that's hard about the fruit of the Spirit is that We need to seek to grow in all of these things together. This is no easy task. And even here, we recognize that these nine words, these nine things, this is not an exhaustive list. There is much that scripture calls us to do. But again, we remember that the hardest work has already been done. And therefore, the Holy Spirit is in our hearts. And even as it is hard, it is possible because of the Spirit being at work in the heart of all believers. This then is our theme this morning, that we are to practice the fruit of the Spirit. even though it's hard. And we'll look at our hard in many ways. Patience are harder than we think. Kindness are impossible on our own, even as that's true for every truly good work, are impossible on our own. Goodness. Patience is hard in many ways. One of the ways that patience is hard is Heat of the moment tests of patience. When someone says something we do not want to hear, when a sudden and unexpected difficulty pops up, we are to be patient. And we understand there are some things that are urgent and need to be, we might say, urgently addressed. Maybe the way patience expresses itself there is that we do it quickly but calmly. But we can say it this way, that we are to be, if this was an English word, it would be a good word here, long-tempered. We are to be the opposite of short-tempered. We are to be patient in those moments that will test us. The car that cuts us off, person who we think has just ignored us, the disobedient child, the word that falls sharply upon our ears, even if we shouldn't have heard it that way. We are to be patient, patient in these testing moments, quick to overlook offense, quick to forgive. If words come that hurt us, they will likely come from those who are closest to us because all people are sinners and the people who are closest to us are the ones that we spend the most time with. We might say it this way in the context of the family of faith. If you do not feel like you have to be patient with other believers, it's probably because you are not spending enough time with your fellow sinful believers. This is why it's in the context of the local church that the apostle says just a couple pages over in the turning of pages of the New Testament in Ephesians chapter 4, this in verses 1 through 3, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Patience is difficult in testing moments. Patience is also difficult in the long-term trials of our life, in the long-term trials of our patience. I miss the old King James translation here, long-suffering. Although perhaps patience is a good word because it includes both being long-tempered in the short moments and being long-suffering in the long-standing trials. Long-suffering. We can have tests of patience that are tests of the moment, a word that comes to our ears, we can have tests of patience that last for years. Circumstances of our life, various things, unanswered prayers, we have tests that can last for years. And when we lose patience in either the testing moments or the long testing trials, It's part of our fallen condition to want to use the word, but. I know that I just lost my patience. What that person said wasn't very thoughtful. I know I just lost my patience, but I am worn out today. I know I lost patience with my situation, but I have been dealing with it for so long. I know I lost patience with my child, but he or she has just been so difficult today. These are all excuses we might give to cover up our impatience. But both in testing moments and in long trials, we are called to be patient. We will not always succeed. Even Job eventually lost his patience. But it is the difficult hard fruit that we are called to grow in. Children, do you know the old song about Herbert the snail? Have patience, have patience. Don't be in such a hurry. When you get impatient, you only start to worry. Remember, remember that God is patient too. And think of all the times when others have to wait for you. Now, I had to look up this song. I had no idea where it came from. It comes from an album that's quite well known, or at least it sold a lot of copies. I never heard of it except for this one song. But one of the things I like about that song is that it's about a snail. So it's not only the words, it's that it's about a snail. You see, We know that animals are good for teaching us lessons. This is within the inspired pages of scripture. And so explicitly we are told that the ant teaches us how to be diligent. The ant teaches us how to work hard. So Solomon speaks of this in the Proverbs. And certainly there are other animal kingdom lessons that we can learn, even if they're not all spelled out on the pages of scripture. And so there are some animals that are, busy and always moving. There are others that are quick and powerful. There are others that are slow and gentle. The ant can teach us about diligence and self-control, the last fruit of the spirit, and maybe we'll turn to that passage in Proverbs next week. The snail can teach us about patience and endurance, can't it? The snail that moves slowly, but still makes it from place to place, can teach us how to slow down. How to slow down our heart rate, slow down our reactions, slow down our words when we don't want to slow down. Think of how the snail moves diligently but slowly. Think of the snail that was called to the ark When God miraculously brought all the animals onto the ark, we know animals don't have thoughts in the same way that we do, but that was probably a pretty easy call for the wolves to hear. One male, one female, wolves can travel long distances in a short amount of time, there's probably no problem. We heard the call, we're gonna get to that ark, we're gonna go up the ramp. What about the snails? That was not an easy task, was it? The Lord tasked one male snail and one female snail to make it to the ark. It's probably a lot more difficult than for some of the other animals, but they made it. So even Charles Spurgeon once said, by perseverance, the snail reached the ark. People of God, we can learn from ants and we can learn from snails. Some of us maybe need to spend more time watching ants, some maybe more time watching snails. If you're like me, you can learn lessons from both of them. Hard lessons, humbling lessons. Maybe we don't want to admit that we need to learn from a snail, but people of God, we are called to grow in patience. The tests of a moment, the long trials of many years and everything in between. Let's come, people of God, to our second point, our harder-than-we-think kindness. And let us begin here by thinking about how closely these two things, kindness and patience, how closely these two things, these two parts of the fruit of the Spirit are. For I know that in my heart, when I become impatient with others, it's very difficult to be kind toward others. If we become impatient with someone who's testing our patience, intentionally or unintentionally, it becomes difficult to be kind. Our sinful nature pops up and says, but I've not been treated fairly by this person. I have just cause to be impatient here. That's how we think. But if we use the word, but, let us say, but God. Remembering that God is patient and kind, has done the hardest work, can help us grow in these things, even though they are hard. Ephesians chapter two emphasizes the kindness of God in our salvation. Ephesians 2 beginning at verse 4, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loves us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised up with him and seated with him in the heavenly places so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Other passages would emphasize God's patience in dealing with us, even the patience in that the plan did not come to fruition until the proper moment, Ephesians 1, or we might think of the very patience of Jesus Christ upon the cross itself. And so the Apostle Peter emphasizes that. The Apostle Peter emphasizes that in 1 Peter 2, verses, In 1 Peter 2 verse 23, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins on his body, on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. people of God, the patience of God and the kindness of God meet in our salvation. The hardest work has already been done. God does also show patience even to the unbeliever, though it is of a different kind. It is the patience of forbearance and it is a patience which will not last forever. So we read in Romans 2 verse 4, regarding the patience of God to those who do not repent, to those who think they can escape judgment? Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? God is also patient and kind with the unbeliever, but it is a different type of patience and kindness, repent. and believe as God forbears with you before it is too late. Surely though, when we see that kindness of God in a special way, when we have repented and that ought to lead us to be kind to others, that is the very point of the parable of the ungrateful servant. The servant has been forgiven so much debt by God and yet he was not willing to be patient and kind with those who owed him but a little. He had not learned that God has done the hardest task. And so we must be ready and willing to do the hard tasks with those who we relate to. It is not easy to be ready to forgive others. To let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away, as it says in Ephesians 4 31. To always be kind to one another, tender hearted, as that passage continues. It's not easy to never speak badly of others. It's not easy to put all malice away. It's not easy to not think badly of others, ever. These are the kinds of things that our sinful nature convinces us is sometimes okay, but the fruit of the spirit calls us to a constant state of kindness. It is true that kindness does occasionally involve confrontation. Nathan was being kind when he confronted David, but of course that was a severe situation. Time and time again, we are called to forbear, to overlook the offense, to have glory in overlooking the offense, as it says in Proverbs 19, 11. So often kindness is not confrontation, but it's looking to the interests of others before the interests of ourselves, Philippians chapter two. These are all hard things. It's hard to put away malice. It's hard to overlook offense. It's hard to think of others before we think of ourselves. These are the kinds of things where if we think we are good at them, we are probably deceiving ourselves. To really be constantly kind-hearted to others is very hard, but by the Spirit, we can begin to grow in these things. Let us come now to our third point, our impossible on our own goodness. Now we talked about the close relationship of patience and kindness, especially with God's patience and kindness. Surely kindness and goodness are also closely related, perhaps even more closely to the point where they're really interchangeable. And so we might say that one is focused on what our attitude should be towards others, how we think about others, and the other would be focused on what we do for others. And then, since these words are interchangeable in both the Greek and the English, we might say which one is which. We've focused on our attitude towards others, that we must be kind-hearted. And our second point, now we're gonna focus on what we do to others. And since the Greek word could be translated generosity, which is more of an action-focused word, we're following that pattern here this morning. We are to be generous to others. We are to be quick to do acts of goodness. And these are things that we must always seek out opportunities to do. These are things which, when we do them, must always be done for the glory of God. No wonder, then, we can say, even as we can say this with each part of the fruit of the Spirit, that it is impossible on our own. It is impossible on our own. But we are to be always seeking these opportunities, always doing them for the glory of God. Now, what are some good deeds? What are some good deeds? When scripture speaks about good deeds, and we'll look at one list and one implied list in a moment, listen to the fact that these are not extraordinary things. Doing a good deed does not mean climbing a tree to the very top point to save someone's cat or something like that. It's simple, everyday things. And so, for example, we have a list of good deeds referring to widows that should be put on the rolls in 1 Timothy 5, verse 10. In 1 Timothy 5, verse 10. They should be those who are having a reputation for good works. If she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, has devoted herself to every good work. Those are We might say ordinary things in the sense that those are things we're called to do every day, are they not? We might also think of Tabitha, also called Dorcas in Acts chapter 9. She is described as one who is full of good works and acts of charity in Acts 9 verse 26. A few verses later, the Apostle Peter goes to her funeral. He is about to raise her from the dead. The Spirit is at work in mighty ways confirming the word of the very first going out. But as he's sitting there in the funeral, it says this, all the widows stood beside him, that is Peter, weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. In other words, she made things for people and she spent time with people. spending time with widows, with those who need a listening ear. You see, a list of good deeds is things like listening to someone, showing attention to a child, even when they say one more time, push me on the swings, watch me go down the slide. It's taking time to pay attention to someone. to say thank you, to ask how are you really doing, to say to those closest to us, I love you. No wonder the apostle says in Galatians 6 verse 9, do not grow weary of doing good. You see, if good deeds were just some spectacular thing that might come across our path once every six months or so, we wouldn't need to be worried about growing weary and doing good. But doing good is paying attention to the people around us every day. It's putting the phone down and picking our face up. It's asking questions of care. It's giving words of encouragement. This is good. And doing all this for the glory of God, doing all of this constantly without growing weary, it is impossible on our own. just as every part of what God calls us to is something that we can finally never do on our own. These are hard things, but our human relationships will be full of harmony if we grow in putting these middle three fruits of the Spirit into practice. We will then endure adversity with patience. We will be kindhearted and ready to be helpful. We will put that readiness into action with day by day good and generous acts of service to others. But as it is hard, as it is hard, we come back again and again to this, that we do it for God's glory, who has already done the hardest thing for us. When we forgive, we forgive as those who have been forgiven so much more. When we show kindness, we show kindness as those who have been shown so much more kindness. When we would give any generous gift or listening ear, we do it as those who have received so much more generous love from our God and Savior. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, Help us as a slowly growing plant to grow in these hard things, to do it for you and in light of what you have done, the hardest work for us. You are patient. You are kind. You are good. We pray then in Jesus' name, Amen.