Sons of Galilee​

Christian Fruit

 

"You did not choose me, but I chose you

and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit

and that your fruit should abide"

-John 15:16

 

All true Christians bear fruit..

 

Christ is all our righteousness, He imputes righteousness to those who believe. But those who believe are designed to bear fruit as He says in John 15:8

 

"By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit

 

and so prove to be My disciples." 

 

Fruit needs fertile soil to grow, so does the fruit that we produce to God. Many rightly claim that the soil wherein all spiritual fruit grows is humility. Humility is not walking around with a head bowed and avoiding eye contact; rather it's realizing our true spiritual state and ackowledging it before God. In the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7, the very first thing Jesus says is:

 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" 

-Matthew 5:3

 

This is not being simply monetarily poor, there are plenty of poor people who despise God. Instead it's being poor in spirit. Webster-Miriam's online dictionary defines poor as:

 

"not having enough money for the basic things that people need to live properly"

 

But when we apply this to our spiritual condition what this means is not thinking we have enough to make it to Heaven on our own; realizing we are not spiritually self-sufficient; acknowledging that in ourselves we don't have what we need to procure God's blessings; much less make it to Heaven. It's being a spiritual beggar to God and boldly asking God for what we know we do not deserve: forgiveness and salvation through Jesus. 

 

Think you're not so bad? You try hard enough that you expect God to honor your attempts? And you know people who are worse sinners? You are simply middle-class in spirit. This Scripture doesn't apply to you. Yours is not the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

In order to bear fruit, we must be born again, as Ephesians 5:9 says:

 

"But now that you have been set free from sin and have

become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification

and its end, eternal life"

-Romans 6:22

 

Spiritual Fruit can be anything that consists of the following attributes:

 

"the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true"

-Ephesians 5:9

 

More specifically the fruit we will consider here is called Fruit of the Spirit. 

 

The ground in which good fruit grows must be fertile, and the plant is fed by nutrients, water and sunlight. The same can be said for a Christian, they need to realize that God alone is their only hope, and they are saved by grace apart from works unto good works. They need to read the word of God and abide by it. And they need to get involved with a local body of believers that they can spiritually grow in.

 

"And I will give you shepherds after My own heart, 

who will feed you with knowledge and understanding"

-Jeremiah 3:15

 

Be aware! If any of these elements are missing the believer risks becoming unfruitful. By not acknowledging spiritual truth we start to become puffed up and start thinking we are better than others. By not reading the Word our spirits starve in the same way our physical bodies would if we didn't give it the proper nutrients. By not becoming a part of a local body of believers we miss out on fellowship, and opportunities to learn, grow, and serve others (bearing spiritual fruit). We also miss out on the accountability that other believers provide. This can lead to isolation and increased attacks from the flesh, the world, and Satan. 

 

In Jesus' intimate revelation to believers in John chapter 15, He tells us that bearing fuit isn't a matter of just going out and trying to produce it on our own, instead it only comes through abiding in Him, and He plainly tells us how to do so:

 

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser."

 

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away,

and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may

bear more fruit." 

 

So a believers life is all about bearing fruit to God, inasmuch as Jesus said that those who do not bear fruit the Father removes, and those who do are pruned so that they bear more fruit. But the Lord Jesus continues and explains exactly how to do this:

 

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself,

unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

 

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."

 

Included is a serious warning for apostates:

 

"If anyone does not abide in Me he is thrown away

like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered,

thrown into the fire, and burned."

 

Then Jesus explains:

 

"By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit

and so prove to be My disciples." 

 

So we find Jesus explaining that bearing fruit will prove whether the listeners are truly Disciples. He says this again in another place to those whom had just believed Him:

 

"So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, 

“If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples"

-John 8:31

 

The Scripture explicitly explains this relationship between true discipleship and fruit. So just like in Luke 13 and Matthew 7, not everyone who professes faith in Christ will get into Heaven, however, those who have been genuinely born again will repent and bear Fruit, proving that they are true disciples. John makes this abundantly clear when he explains apostasy:

 

"They went out from us, but they were not of us;

for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.

 

But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us"

-1 John 2:19

 

But lets get to the practical truth of bearing fruit. We are required to bring forth fruit, but yet we cannot manufacture this fruit. So what do we do?

 

"Abide in My love.

If you keep My commandments,

you will abide in My love"

 

So now we find the real way that we can do our part, by abiding in Christ. We abide in Christ by keeping His commands, we are connected to The Vine, and we will naturally bear forth fruit to God. There are many practical commands of Christ, none more effectual and practical than the Sermon on the mount found in Matthew Chapters 5-7. We should all read and absorb these into our mind and life. And of course this command is paramount:

 

"Jesus answered them, 

“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”"

-John 6:29

 

As we said before there are many types of fruit in the believers life and can manifest itself in anything that is "good and right and true" (Ephesians 5:9). But  the most important kind is what's referred to as Fruit of the Spirit.

 

What is the fruit of the Spirit?

It is simply evidence of The Holy Spirit's presence. 

 

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." -Galatians 5:22,23

 

 

"Love" is exuded from us when we know the The Lord because:

 

"we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. 

 

God is Love,

and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him"

-1 John 4:16

 

"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is Love."

-1 John 4:8

(love is not just a feeling: Read 1 Corinthians 13 which describes Love's attributes) 

 

 

"Joy" comes from fellowship with the Lord Jesus:

 

"Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again

and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy"

- John 16:22

 

 

"Peace" comes from knowing God:

 

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You,
because he trusts in You"

-Isaiah 26:3

 

 

"Longsuffering" or "patience" comes from God's presence

 

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him" 

"Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land."

-Psalm 37:7,9

 

 

"Kindness" comes from experiencing the one who is Kind:

 

"Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
 My lips shall praise You"

-Psalm 63:3

 

 

"Goodness" comes from us when we have tasted that God is Good and take refuge in Him:

 

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
 Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"

-Psalm 34:8

 

 

"Faithfulness" is is what we become because we know Him who is faithful:

 

"I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.

And you shall know the Lord"

-Hosea 2:20

 

 

"Gentleness" comes from knowing the great gentleness of God:

 

"You have given me the shield of your Salvation,
and your gentleness made me great"

-2 Samuel 22:36

 

 

"Self-control" is a trait that comes from walking with The Spirit of God:

 

"But I say, walk by the Spirit,

and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh"

-Galatians 5:16

 

"for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control"

-2 Timothy 1:7

 

 

So as we reviewed these 9 traits that are known as the "Fruit of the Spirit" we can identify that these characteristics are only found by cultivating a relationship with the Lord. And allowing The Holy Spirit to transform our lives. As we grow closer to the Lord and discover how amazing and beautiful He is we begin to realize how terrible we are and desire even more to be transformed. 

 

Christian Fruit is the evidence of an exchanged life. Intimacy with Christ, and therefore Christ-likeness, it is the central motive around which all of our existence should revolve. As the Scripture says:

 

"I have been crucified with Christ.

 

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

 

And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, 

who loved me and gave Himself for me"

-Galatians 2:20