Fruit of the Spirit: The Way of Emmaus and Chrysalis

By Cathi Eberly

What kind of fruit are you bearing for Christ?

The apostle Paul uses the term “fruit of the Spirit” to describe traits of the Holy Spirit that should be evident in every Christian. The fruit we bear indicates how much we resemble Jesus, our model and mentor.

The fruit of the Spirit, listed in Galatians 5:22-23, include:

love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
gentleness
self-control

The fruit of the Spirit should also be characteristic of each Emmaus or Chrysalis team, Board of Directors or standing committee, and Emmaus or Chrysalis community. It is a good standard communities can use to evaluate their leadership styles and practices.

This booklet looks at each fruit of the Spirit and helps Emmaus and Chrysalis leaders learn how to spread the Spirit-filled attitudes and behaviors. The goal is to for leaders to demonstrate Christlike attitudes and behaviors in such a way that pilgrims/butterflies will desire this fruit and go deeper in their own relationship with Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Upper Room Books
• Release date: Jul 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9780835811750

Book preview

I Fruit Inspection

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Galatians 5:22-23

The spirit in which The Walk to Emmaus and Chrysalis are conducted is none other than the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5:22-26, Paul lists characteristics of the Holy Spirit manifested in people’s attitudes and behavior, which he calls fruit of the Spirit. We can inspect the fruit that we bear by how much we resemble Jesus, our model and mentor. Do we truly believe that God loves us so much that he sent his only son Jesus to do what we could not do for ourselves? Has the gospel gone deep in our being and produced fruit?

This fruit also represents the character of an Emmaus or Chrysalis team, Emmaus Board of Directors and the Chrysalis standing committee, and the Emmaus/Chrysalis communities, properly formed in the spirit of Jesus Christ. This is the fruit we want the pilgrims and caterpillars to feast on throughout the weekend and Fourth-Day members to celebrate for a lifetime. The fruit of the Spirit serves as a good backdrop for communities to evaluate their leadership styles and practices that may or may not be congruent with the intent of The Walk to Emmaus. Leaders can cultivate among team members, board members, and community members a readiness to embrace the quality of community life that the Holy Spirit brings by reviewing and inspecting these fruit of the Spirit.

We know that the Holy Spirit is a gift from God, that it cannot be taught but is given. When we surrendered and accepted Christ as our Savior, we received the Holy Spirit—it’s in us. The spirit is not a feeling of camaraderie or a group that works well together and cares for one another (although that helps). It takes the Holy Spirit moving and filling each member to form a body that fulfills the purpose to glorify God and to be used as an instrument of God’s grace.

In this book, we will look at the fruit of the Spirit as listed in Galatians 5:22-23, and how we get the Holy Spirit out so others will see beautiful, ripe fruit that is so sweet they will want to taste and see that it is good. The fruit of the Spirit has always come out of Jesus. These fruit are the communicable attributes of God, the fruit that we can catch by being in intimate relationship with Christ. So let’s go to the fruit bowl together to inspect the fruit, to see what each is and what it isn’t, and to see the counterfeits of the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Next topic: II Love

II Love

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Galatians 5:22-23

Previous topic: I Fruit Inspection

Next topic: III Joy

Daring to Be Vulnerable

Imagine a world where everyone’s primary desire is to love others rather than to get more love for himself or herself? Imagine giving more love than you’d ever expect or desire to receive. To love is to be vulnerable and risk rejection, to move toward others and patiently endure suffering. In other words, it’s not possible on our own—not based on what I have done, am doing, or might do in the future. On the other hand, it is possible