All About Fruit! [Bite Size Theology Update]

Happy Left-Handers Day, all my southpaws out there! We hope that our Extended Edition episode on the Inclusivity and Exclusivity of Christianity last Friday helped you in thinking about the faith. If you haven’t had heard it yet or want to catch back up on a previous episode you may have missed, check out our library here!

There are a few announcements that seem to keep getting themselves delayed another week just before we make them, but we will be unveiling some new and exciting things in the near future that we are really hyped about! For those of you who love our Aaron’s Sports Corner segment on the Extended Edition, this news will appeal to you especially…

But that’s all a bit further down the road. Right now, we need to introduce our new series: The Fruits of the Spirit. Aaron’s introduction went up yesterday (Monday) and really sets the stage nicely for the next two weeks-worth of episodes. I think I speak for the whole Bite Size Theology team when I say that studying and writing these episodes has been both very challenging and very rewarding. Ideally, you all will feel that, too.

If you have appreciated the podcast so far and want to help us financially, visit our Patreon page here. We have quite a bit planned for our Patrons so, if you want to find out more, go check it out!

Last thing before we show you our upcoming schedule: next week’s Extended Edition. Before you see the word “Presentations” in the title and choose to sit that episode out, you should know that episode will be structured quite a bit like our Church History Stories episode. This time, however, John, Aaron, and I will each be looking at a church leader or ministry that is doing amazing work in Jesus’ name today. We will not, I repeat, we will not be doing academic presentations. The episode will have our regular bend towards the comedic and the informality that you all want!

Now let’s get on with our preview of the next two weeks of Bite Size Theology!

Week 1 (8/12-8/16):

Monday 8/12: Introduction to Fruits of the Spirit

By Aaron Lively

In the book of Galatians, Paul is writing what we often look back on as one of his most strongly-worded letters to a church. And the reason it was so strongly worded was because the church in Galatia was infiltrated by false teachers who convinced them that they needed to be circumcised in order to be in God’s kingdom, which is essentially the exact opposite of the gospel Paul preached to them, where their works of the law do not save them, but only Christ’s obedience to the law and his death and resurrection is what sets them free.

This context is important because the argument he’s establishing towards the end of the letter is that they now have freedom in Christ. But just because they’re no longer bound to the Old Testament law of circumcision doesn’t mean they are free to do things that will destroy them and undermine them. In Galatians 5 he says this: For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law…”

Tuesday 8/13: Fruits of the Spirit (Pt. 1) – Love

By John McCord

Wednesday 8/14: Fruits of the Spirit (Pt. 2) – Joy

By Sage Blalock

The second fruit that Paul names in Galatians 5:22 is joy. It’s a word we use often, but do we know what it actually means?

One of the most common ways to define joy is as a synonym for happiness. The problem is that there is a distinction between the two that makes all the difference in explaining why Paul chose joy instead.

Happiness is feeling good with how things are going at this very moment. It is completely contingent of circumstance. While it certainly feels better to be happy than the alternative, happiness is short-term and subject to change from moment to moment….

Thursday 8/15: Fruits of the Spirit (Pt. 3) – Peace

By Sage Blalock

Peace is truly a lost virtue in today’s society. In media, politics, and in our own lives, it often seems as though individuals who antagonize and stir up strife are the very people who advance the highest up the culture ladder. As a result, our country is deeply divided along lines of race, socioeconomic status, gender, and other key issues and differences. The state of our cultural debate on serious issues like gun violence all the way down to things as insignificant as our favorite college football teams is fundamentally fractured, characterized by open hatred and disdain for all who disagree with us.

This country, and the whole world in general, needs more people who embody the third fruit of the Spirit: peace. One definition of the word says that “peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence.” When we try to imagine what life would be like if more people acted in such a way as to promote peace, if we even can, we picture a world that has just a bit less stress that feels safer and more accommodating for those in need…

Friday 8/16: Fruits of the Spirit (Pt. 4) – Patience

By John McCord

Week 2 (8/19-8/23):

Monday 8/19: Fruits of the Spirit (Pt. 5) – Kindness

By Sage Blalock

Tuesday 8/20: Fruits of the Spirit (Pt. 6) – Goodness

By Aaron Lively

Wednesday 8/21: Fruits of the Spirit (Pt. 7) – Faithfulness

By Aaron Lively

Thursday 8/22: Fruits of the Spirit (Pt. 8) – Gentleness

By Sage Blalock

Friday 8/23: Extended Edition #13: Church Leader Presentations

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