Fruit of a Christian
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
Two weeks ago, if you were with us I taught on Jesus cursing the fig tree. How this cursing of the fig tree was in connection to His cleansing of the temple, and it was Jesus pronouncing judgment on religion without substance. The Jewish leaders, and the people as a whole proclaimed to obtain a righteousness they had no fruit of.
The leaves on the fig tree during the time of passover when Jesus cursed it, would have been around the month of April. And at this time, the fig trees in Palestine would have its spring leaves, which means although it did not have the fully ripe figs that come in August and September, it should have what the Arabs called Kish, or “Winter fruit”. It was small, cherry sized edible fruit that would be in the leaf axils. If a tree had leaves but no fruit at this time, it means it would be barren all year. Jesus was preaching against a people who claimed to be righteous; but had no fruit of righteousness. They were BARREN.
After I preached this message, (Adrian asked us to go to ice-cream) TR and I began to talk about fruit. We hear a lot of people discuss the necessity of bearing fruit. But not a whole lot on just what exactly IS fruit? So tonight we are going to talk about what fruit is, what it isn’t, and how it comes to be.
3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
4 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.
5 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.
So before we can talk about FRUIT we MUST deal with verse 3. This is Jesus speaking, and He tells His disciples, ALREADY you are CLEAN because of the word that I have spoken to you.
The Greek word for clean here is Katharos and it implies being ceremonially clean or PURE. Think about this, Jesus has not yet been glorified. The jews live under a law that is full of ceremonial requirements and tradition. The Pharisees constantly concerned themselves with being ceremonially clean, yet inwardly they missed the mark. But the Jews knew that being clean required WORK. So, how could Jesus say that they were already clean? This is two-fold.
Maybe you’ve never really thought about it, but how could these disciples be pronounced clean, BEFORE the sacrifice of Jesus? Before His blood atoned for their sins?
The same way that Abraham was credited righteousness. The same way the saints of old found their spot in Hebrews 11. FAITH! Without FAITH it’s impossible to please God!
I often hear people wonder about salvation in the old testament. How did it work before Jesus? See, God has never changed. Just because the covenant changed, doesn’t mean that God has changed. He simply provided a better covenant, one that could permanently deal with sin once for all time. He has always been a God of Grace, and He has always been pleased and approached with faith.
Faith in what? Jesus hadn’t died yet. They couldn’t believe in His death and resurrection as we do today. FAITH IN HIS WORD! Faith that HE IS WHO HE SAYS HE IS! Faith in everything He has ever taught them. They followed Him, they believed in His word, and although at times they doubted, and although at times they sinned, their FAITH in Jesus, their listening and believing in HIS WORDS made them CLEAN! What is it Abraham believed that made him righteous? It was the promise of God, that came how? By the WORD OF THE LORD!
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
It’s God’s word that gives us new birth. New life. It’s so important for us to know this as we discuss fruit, because we think of fruit and we think of salvation. But we must understand that fruit is the evidence of salvation, not the source of salvation. Not contingent of salvation. I promise you this, there are seasons of our Christian walk that are less fruitful than others. It’s a shame for any true believer, because it grieves our hearts to have those seasons, but it’s true. Salvation brings fruit. But in seasons that we do not see surmountable harvest, it is not for us to say that a person is not saved. Because there was plenty of fruit in my life post conversion, but there were seasons early on in my walk, where from the outside i went to church, and i read my word everyday, but there was still this struggle with sin that no one saw. There wasn’t much fruit in that season. To finish my point let me show you this in Matthew.
Matthew 3:8 (ESV)
8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
That word keeping in the Greek means “pertaining to being fitting or proper in corresponding to what should be expected—‘proper, properly, fitting, worthy of, correspond to.’
So it denotes the sense of fruit, proper, fitting and worthy of repentance. Prove you have repented by your actions. But please understand repentance isn’t a one time event at conversion. Repentance is a lifestyle. That season in my life, where it looked like i should have been bearing fruit, but really there wasn’t much of a harvest as sin choked out the word in me, it wasn’t that i lost my salvation. It’s that i needed true REPENTANCE, not just the conviction i felt. Not just the condemnation i felt, not just the striving and the longing to walk free. I needed to truly repent. To walk away. I needed to realize i had the power in Christ to do so. But what you don’t see is that the fruit of my salvation in that situation, was how much my spirit hated the sin that entangled me. Hated the season i was in, and LONGED to be free from it. This is the war between born again spirit, and flesh.
If you can habitually live in sin, the evidence of your conversion is lacking!
Because for the true believer, sin will cause a war within you, causing you to fight and cling to Christ with all that you’ve got until you over come. I say all of this to say, that in the context of fruit, there are different seasons, different harvests, and different kinds, but they ALL flow from one thing.
Which leads us to our first point in,
What Is Fruit?
Love
Jesus tells us in John 15:4 “4 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.”
How do we know that this fruit is love?
Fruit is the PRODUCT of its SOURCE. Of its SEED. A HARVEST bearing the SEED of its SOURCE!
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
John, the same disciple who wrote the gospel of John had an incredible understanding on love. He was there with Jesus. He heard His teachings firsthand.
If anyone is CONNECTED to the GOD of LOVE, who truly IS LOVE, THEN HE WILL LOVE! If you don’t love, you don’t know God. You are one of those branches who are broken off and thrown into the fire.
Think about this, what is the one thing morally that a Christian can do, that the unbeliever simply can’t? LOVE GOD! We don’t do it perfectly, but we love God because He first loved US!
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
God opens your heart and pours in His love, and our faith is simply a response to the love made available by grace. The fruit we will bear if we are connected to Christ is LOVE because God IS LOVE. Not only will bearing fruit mean we love God, but also that we love PEOPLE! Think about the missionary! Risking their life, going around the world to live uncomfortably! Why? For the sake of the gospel! LOVE!
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
This is the FRUIT of having passed from death to life! Have you ever met someone who just hates people? Who’s just miserably crooked and corrupt and heartless? They have no LOVE because severed from Christ LOVE is IMPOSSIBLE!
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
You can say what you want, but without love for your brothers you have no fruit of salvation. Scripture makes it clear that the fruit a christian MUST BEAR IS LOVE!
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
THIS IS HOW WE KNOW WHO IS TRULY A DISCIPLE!
Let me finish this point with a passage straight off the lips of Jesus.
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’
45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
First we must see that as Jesus is judging their eternity, He invites in the righteous in and acknowledges what they’ve done. Now we know that scripture NEVER contradicts itself. And the Word makes it clear we are not saved by works. We are saved by grace through faith alone. So what is the significance of mentioning what the righteous had done, and what the unrighteous had not done? Jesus was showing the EFFECTS of salvation. NOT THE CAUSE BUT THE EFFECT!
The core message here is that
GOD’S PEOPLE WILL LOVE OTHERS AND GOOD WORKS WILL RESULT FROM OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SHEPHERD.
It’s all about LOVE! Think about love. Really think about it. God IS love. The first time love is mentioned in the bible is Genesis 22. That’s interesting. It wasn’t in the garden, it wasn’t during creation. It was when God told Abraham to take his son, his only son WHOME HE LOVES and offer him as a burnt offering. This is the first time LOVE is mentioned, and listen to what Isaac says afterwards.
He says father, here’s the wood, here’s the fire. Where is the offering? Abraham said GOD WILL PROVIDE FOR HIMSELF A LAMB FOR THE BURNT OFFERING! Abraham spoke prophetically. It is no coincidence that Christ is alluded to at the first mention of love.
What man could not do, is give a perfect sacrifice. And just as God stopped Abraham from his deed and provided a sacrifice for Himself by a ram caught in the thicket. How did God show His love for us?
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
This is how God shows His love for us. But how do we show our love for God? By DYING TO SELF. By loving the brethren.
THE FRUIT THAT WE WILL BEAR IF WE ARE TRULY CONNECTED TO CHRIST IS LOVE!
Isn’t it interesting? We bear fruit because of our SOURCE, which is CHRIST. Jesus said His WORD has made us clean. Jesus is the WORD so the same WORD that CLEANSES US, causes us to BEAR FRUIT! And that fruit, which every other fruit stems from, IS LOVE!
Please understand this. Jesus told us to remain in Him, abide in Him, dwell in Him. If you’re a Christian here today, and you look and reflect and say, “my love walk is lacking”, as at times all of us do. Take a look and see just how connected your life has been to the Word of God. How much time are you allowing yourself to be consumed by His word. This isn’t about reading a certain amount to please God by some dead work, this is about being intimately connected to Him. If you lack in love, you’re lacking in your time in God’s word. You’re lacking in time in His presence. You’re allowing yourself to be consumed with the things of this world. And that’s easy to do. We must cling to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
So what is fruit? 1. Fruit is LOVE.
2. People
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The first scripture here seems obvious. But this is the command of Christ. The last thing He told the disciples, that we see in scripture, before ascending to the Father.
Why as believers would we go and make disciples? Why would we teach them to observe all that He has commanded us? What would cause us to do this? The Apostle Paul says it’s the love of Christ.
14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;
15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
The love of Christ compels, or controls us. It causes us to go out and to tell others about what He has done. See, fruit always is rooted in love. The love of Christ lavished on us, and the love we have in response to Him. When you’re connected to Christ you will have the desire to disciple others, because of Christ’ great love, out of your love for God, and your love for others.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,
5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,
6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
These Colossians heard the word of truth, the gospel, and they came to faith in Christ. And in their faith in Christ, they developed a love for the saints that was so strong it was HEARD ABOUT by others. Why did they have this love? Because of the HOPE laid up for them in heaven. See the fruit of their faith was love, but not just love for PEOPLE! The PEOPLE of God!
This all came from the Word of Truth, and verse 6 tells us that the Word of Truth goes forth and in the whole world it BEARS FRUIT AND INCREASES! How does it increase? It increases love in and among people, but it increases numerically, in DISCIPLES! The fruit of a true disciple will be the multiplication of other DISCIPLES!
1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,
2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
This is just what a Christian does, we teach and instruct others. God’s free gift of Grace, strengthens and encourages us and motivates us to tell others the good news. The gospel is nearly too good to be true, and when you truly grasp the depths of the riches and the greatness of the grace of God, you will have no choice but to tell others. There is a gift, a free gift, it is the greatest gift that has ever been given, it is an eternal gift, and it can be YOURS if only you surrender!
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Why is People, and their discipleship a fruit of being connected to Jesus? Because the Holy Spirit indwells you, He lives inside of you, giving you power from on high and He will urge you, encourage you, lead you, and empower you to be a witness for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It’s just what happens.
So what is fruit? It is love, it is people, and it is
3. Qualities of the Spirit
When you are connected to Christ, when the Holy Spirit indwells your body, He will cultivate these qualities inside of you. Some may think, “obviously”. Of course I was coming to Galatians 5 for a message about fruit! But as Christians, can we truly say that all of these qualities are always evident in our life? Really think about it. Let’s look at them
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Notice the first quality the Spirit imparts to the Christian is LOVE! I believe you can easily look at all of these qualities and find them rooted in love. The love of Christ for us, and the love we have for Him.
But we need to ask ourselves. Am I always bearing these fruits in a way that is entirely evident? Are we always joyful? Are we always at peace, or do we battle anxiety? Are we patient, are we always willing to wait? Are we king and good? Are we always faithful to God? Are we always gentle with our spouse or our children? Do we always resist sin and exercise self-control?
If these are the fruits of the Spirit, and these are qualities a Christian has, why aren’t they always on display? If I am not displaying these things consistently, must i question my salvation? No my friend, but we must question our discipline. Let’s look at what Paul says just two verses later.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
If you look at this scripture in the Greek, the sentence is structured heavily in reference to a relationship with the Spirit. This is about following the Spirit and allowing Him to be the rule or standard we conform to. These are the qualities He gives, and these are the qualities that should be our rule and standard for life.
According to the Louw Nida Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains, the sentence structure could more understandably be translated this way, “Since the Spirit gives us life, we should also allow Him to control our lives.”
When we notice this fruit is not abundantly evident, we must see in what ways we are resisting the Spirit. In what ways are we not following, in what ways are we not yielding. Not in a way of evaluating our works to see if we are truly saved; but evaluating the evidence of how well we are submitting to the Spirit BECAUSE we are saved, and connected to Jesus we will bear fruit. There is times Jesus said we will be pruned so that we may bear more fruit. So let us look to the dead things in our lives, and hand them over to the vinedresser that they may be cut away, and we bear fruit more abundantly.
When you get born again, from that imperishable seed that was planted immediately springs up signs of life! I was so on fire for God when i got born again, i was repenting and slowly but surely removing things from my life. These are the initial signs of life, the firstfruits of LOVING GOD! But i didn’t immediately display the mature fruits of the Spirit. They are yours, and they are available the minute you get born again; but there is choice involved.
Galatians 5:16 (ESV)
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
The verb here for walk means walk, go, or to literally KEEP ON WALKING. There is a continual process of the believer where we must consistently choose to depend upon the Spirit. The spirit does not automatically force us to produce these things in our heart. But when we choose to yield to Him, the promise is we WILL NOT EVER GRATIFY THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH. We do not do this perfectly, because we do not always choose to yield to the Spirit. But while inspecting fruit it is important that we remember the echos of Matthew 7 and never take it upon ourselves to judge others salvation. God is the judge of that. There are times, we as believers do not yield to the Spirit, and therefore we act in a manner contrary to our new nature. But the true believer will always cling to Christ, never living comfortably in habitual sin, for 1 John tells us it is impossible. Why is it impossible? Because we have a new nature. We once were comfortable in darkness, but His Seed that remains in us despises the darkness. But the Spirit is at war with the flesh and the flesh with the Spirit, which is why we must CHOOSE to yield to the Spirit. And in those times of yieldings we will see the evidence of these qualities the Spirit cultivates in us.
To sum up tonights message, we need only one word. Love. Connected to Christ we will love. We will love God, we will love others, and this love will lead us to yield to the Spirit and bear the fruit of walking in Him. Will this be done perfectly? Yes, but only once, and it happened 2,000 years ago when Jesus walked the earth. For you and I, It is the battle we must war until Jesus returns to take us home. We will not bear this fruit perfectly, but one thing is for sure. If you are in Christ, you will love in a way others simply cannot. And today, if you look and see a lacking love walk, and lacking qualities of the Spirit, we simply must repent. We must vow to yield our lives to the Spirit and allow Him to control our every day. I close with this.
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
We must ensure as Christians we do not drift over into routine. Dead works, of checking off our spiritual to-do list. We can have all the works in the world, but if it’s not done out of LOVE, then it wasn’t of God, and it certainly wasn’t for God. God is love, and the fruit of a Christian is love that comes forth only from a relationship with Him.
Seek God, spend time in His word and in prayer, ask the Spirit to lead you and listen to His promptings. Find the lost and share the gospel, ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to those He wants you to disciple. And do as 1 Corinthians 14:1 tells us..
PURSUE LOVE