The Fruit of the Spirit of the Son

A Sermon for Pentecost, Sunday, June 8, 2025

Introduction

Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day when the Church commemorates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the birth of the Church, and the presence of God residing not just with his people but within them. Tongues of fire, mighty rushing winds, and languages from every nation—the scene described in Acts 2 is one of the most dramatic moments in all of Scripture.

But Pentecost isn’t simply a story of what occurred fifty days after Easter; it also proclaims what God is currently doing in his Church. The same Spirit that hovered over the waters of creation, guided Israel through the wilderness, descended upon Christ at his baptism, and descended upon the apostles like fire on Pentecost is still active in the Church today, not only around us but within us.

So today, we’re going to talk about the Holy Spirit.

When people discuss the Holy Spirit, they often veer off in one of two misguided directions. On the one hand, some Christians view the Holy Spirit as merely a power to be used for performing signs and wonders. Some churches this morning will focus their entire service on manifestations (real or contrived) of the Holy Spirit’s power without a single thought about the Spirit’s fruit.

On the other hand, some Christians view the Holy Spirit as merely a theological concept, something abstract and distant. They can define who the Holy Spirit is as the third person of the Trinity, but beyond that, they don’t have much use for him. In those churches, the Holy Spirit may be mentioned this morning, perhaps even emphasized, but then this Sunday will pass, and they’ll go right back to ignoring him.

The Holy Spirit is more than a cosmic power, and he is more than a theological idea. The Holy Spirit is the personal presence of the Father and the Son in and among the people of God.

In the Great Commission, Jesus said:

“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20).

And then what did he do? He left. He ascended into heaven. He said, “I am with you always,” and then he left. The Holy Spirit is how the risen Christ fulfills his promise to be with his people always. Christ reigns bodily in heaven, but from there he has poured out his Spirit on his people so that he can dwell with them unto the end of the age.

And this only works because the Holy Spirit is not just the Spirit of the Father; he is also the Spirit of the Son.

The Spirit of the Son

In the Nicene Creed, we say that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.” The latter half of this statement is the infamous Filioque Clause, which contributed to the Great Schism of the Western and Eastern churches in 1054. It’s important to note that the underlying issue between the East and the West was power, not theology. The East’s main contention wasn’t that adding “and the Son” was theologically inaccurate, but rather that the West had no authority to change the Creed unilaterally.

That the Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of the Son is rather obvious when we read the New Testament. Paul refers to the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of Jesus Christ” in Philippians 1:19, and Luke refers to the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of Jesus” in Acts 16:7. But the most obvious evidence in support of the Filioque comes from Galatians 4:6, where Paul writes:

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

So, when we ask for more of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, we aren’t just asking (I hope) for more power or more knowledge of some theological concept that we don’t fully understand. When we ask for more of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, what we are asking for is more of Jesus.

The Spirit of Transformation

We heard in 1 Corinthians 12 that the Spirit gives gifts—some speak in tongues, others teach, and others heal or prophesy. And we praise God for those gifts. But that is not my focus this morning. When God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel and promised to give his Spirit to his people, the focus wasn’t on power but on transformation. Ezekiel 36 says:

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules (36:26–27).

And once we recognize that the Spirit God has given us is also the Spirit of the Son, a clearer picture of that promised transformation begins to emerge.

God has placed His Spirit within us to transform us into Christ. This is precisely what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit (1 Cor 12:12–13).

So, if the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son (and He is), and if the Spirit of the Son has been poured into our hearts to transform us into Christ (and He has), then when we reach Galatians 5, we should hear what Paul says about the fruit of the Spirit differently.

The Fruit of the Spirit

It’s very easy to read what Paul says about the fruit of the Spirit in the sense of abstract virtues. And why not? For many Christians, the Holy Spirit is an abstract idea anyway. But what if we pull what Paul says about “the Spirit of the Son” from Gal 4 into Gal 5, and read the famous passage like this?

But the fruit of the Spirit [of the Son] is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (Gal 5:22–23).

Once we make this move, it becomes apparent that Paul’s list here is not a list of abstract virtues but rather a list of the virtues that Christ himself embodied. The Holy Spirit has been planted in the soil of our hearts to transform us into Christ, and the fruit of this labor is not abstract virtues but the virtues embodied by the Son whose Spirit now dwells within you.

So, if you want to know where the Spirit is at work, whether that’s within you or others, look for those people and places where people are loving selflessly and self-sacrificially, just like Jesus loved. Look for those people and places where there is true joy and peace, not as the world defines such things, but as Christ did. Look for those places and people where Christ’s patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are being manifested in the world, and that is where you will find the Spirit of the Son.

Conclusion

The Holy Spirit wants to transform your life. He wants to make you more like Jesus Christ. And he wants that not just for you, but for your family, friends, job, and community as well. The Holy Spirit wants to transform the world, but that transformation begins in your heart.

What we celebrate today is that the life of the risen Christ has been poured into our hearts through the power of His Holy Spirit. And where the Spirit is, there is transformation. Where the Spirit is, there is life. Where the Spirit is, there is fruitfulness.

If you want that transformation for yourself, for your family, for your friends, for this world, there are at least three things we must do.

1. We Must Ask for the Spirit’s Presence

The Holy Spirit is not a force to manipulate; he is a person to welcome and invite. Jesus says in Luke 11:

“How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).

If you want to live by the Spirit, if you want to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, start by asking for more of his presence in your life every single day.

2. We Must Abide in Christ

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son. The Holy Spirit does not come to lead us into abstract spirituality and virtue but into deeper union with Christ. In John 15, Jesus says,

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

The Spirit’s task is to unite us to Christ so that his resurrected life might flow into our lives and through us into the world around us. So open your Bibles and learn from God’s Holy Word, and not just on Sundays. Come to the Table with your brothers and sisters in Christ and share in his real presence. Walk with Christ on the way of the cross as his disciples. Do these things, and you will find that the fruit of his life will become abundant in yours.

3. We Must Walk in Community

1 Corinthians 12 reminds us that we are one body, and that the Spirit has given each of us gifts not for ourselves but for the common good. The fruit of the Spirit isn’t just a private project. It’s meant to be lived out in the life of the Church. Almost all of the fruit of the Spirit are relational. These virtues are lived out not in isolation but in community.

And that’s part of the miracle of Pentecost. The Spirit creates a people. People from every tribe and tongue. People with different gifts and different backgrounds, but we all share in one Spirit. Paul writes:

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body (1 Cor 12:13).

Pentecost reverses Babel and the Fall. Where there was confusion, now there is communion. Where there was division, now there is unity. Where there was a heart of stone that leads to death, now there’s a heart of flesh that leads to eternal life. That is transformation.

So let me ask you today:

Do you long to experience the fruit of the Spirit in your life?

Are there places where your heart still feels like a heart of stone and you ache for the Spirit’s transformation?

Do you want to be renewed and refreshed by the power of the Holy Spirit?

If that’s you this morning, then I want you to pray with me right now, and I’ll pause after each clause so you can say the words after me if you’d like.

Come, Holy Spirit. Fall afresh on me today. Transform my life. Bear your fruit in me. Give me a new heart. Make me more like Jesus.

Amen.