But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
against such things there is no law…
Galatians 5:22-23
This week we have been studying the Fruit of the Spirit. When we are living in the Spirit, the fruit
that comes out of our lives will reflect the Holy Spirit, but when we are
living in our sinful nature, the fruit in our lives will reflect our sinful
nature.
When we become Christians, God has a desire for us to bear good fruit and bear a lot of it, to be
highly productive: Jesus said, This is to my Father's glory,
that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:8 Another time, Jesus says that we did not
choose Him, but He chose us and appointed us to go and bear fruit that will
last – eternal fruit!
Jesus gave us everything we need to produce good fruit and to produce a
lot of it, and that is to abide in Him.
We cannot produce spiritual fruit on our own. It only comes through a relationship with
Jesus. Just like the verse at the bottom
of the page says, a branch cannot bear fruit without the vine and we cannot
bear fruit without Jesus.
We also have to be careful that we don’t produce bad fruit. The Bible says Likewise
every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot
bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit” Matthew 7:17–18. In
other words, bad fruit is not the problem, but only a symptom of the problem.
We need to dig until we find the root of the problem, and then heal that. We can have a bad attitude, or let bitterness
or anger take root and then we produce rotten fruit instead of good fruit. We have to treat the root to save the whole
tree.
We are known by our fruit!
A tree cannot always be distinguished by its bark or leaves, but you can
always tell a tree by its fruit. You
cannot pick an orange from an apple tree, or grapes from a tomato vine. It is the same with us. Our actions prove what kind of person we
are. We can say we are a Christian, but
if there is no fruit in our life to prove it, people will see that and know we
are not truly living in the Spirit. Likewise
if we say we are a Christian but then produce bad fruit, people will
notice. We cannot disguise our
Christianity by pretending to be one thing and yet produce something totally
different in our daily lives.
When we are living in the Holy Spirit and allowing the Holy Spirit to
control our whole beings, these fruits will be evident to others around us.
Without God’s spirit, we are all flesh and raw human nature. But the Holy Spirit in us produces wonderful
virtues of godly character that is all the result of Him acting from within
us. Obedience to the Holy Spirit is what
produces fruit in our lives and when we are producing fruit that shows
growth. Spiritual maturity and growth
does not happen automatically. It takes
purposeful effort on our part to yield to the Holy Spirit. His desire for our lives is to produce good
fruit and a lot of it by abiding in Him.
Scripture to Claim:
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5
