Life is all about Bearing Fruit...
not results, activity, accomplishments or numbers!

In this section I want to establish that the context for all of 'life' is fruit and not necessarily 'activity.' Activities may be done in such a way that they bear fruit or such a way that they do not bear fruit. Fruit determines the true value of the things we do. I will give the basis of this way of looking at life from Jesus' words in Luke 6, Matthew 7 & John 15. I will define fruit from Galatians 5:22. Lastly I will consider how we might be tempted to do various activities without bearing the fruit of the Spirit and hence suffer the loss described in I Corinthians 13. The loss is called 'empty works' or 'dead works' compared to life-giving works. In the end we want to bear fruit for one reason... because we want to be like Jesus!

In Luke 6 Jesus give the context for our lives: fruit! Jesus makes it very simple - people are like trees, don't get distracted by all the various activities they are doing, look at the fruit of their lives. Fruit is a natural by product of the tree. Matthew 7 covers some of the same ground when Jesus tells people how to distinguish between true prophets and false prophets.

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:43

"By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 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... Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."
Matt 7:15

Ok, but what is 'fruit?' Let's look at Galatians 5:22

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."

Don't confuse bearing fruit with trying to 'do good deeds' to earn your way into Heaven. The scripture is clear that we are given the gift of eternal life as we admit the evil things we have done and ask for God's forgiveness seeing that Jesus died on the cross bearing our sins for us. He was punished for our sins so we don't have to be punished for them. Once we come into relationship with the Father based on Jesus' sacrifice we are saved! We are on our way to Heaven. Now, while we live on the earth, God gives us various moral commands. We do these (sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing and repenting) because we want to be like Him.... not to earn what He has already given us! Obedience to God's commands flows out of the acceptance that we already have. One of Satan's most wicked traps is trying to get Christians to work for what they already have as a gift. The enemy tries to get Christians to try to 'be good enough' to enter Heaven when they are already saved. They spend all their time focused on the law trying to earn the forgiveness that God has already generously given them as a wonderful gift. They feel like slaves while they are already sons & daughters! Bearing fruit flows out of the believer's life as he or she communes with Jesus. And this is what John 15 says... as we abide, dwell or remain with Jesus fruit is the natural outcome!

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. John 15:1

All this is so easy to understand. As you know that you are loved, you begin to love others! Simple. Once you know that Jesus' love is never going to be taken away from you (John 10: 27-30 & Hebrews 13:5), you are safe enough to begin loving others. And that is fruit bearing!

Look at what 1 Corinthians 13:4 says about love:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

I don't want to suggest that this is 'effortless.' We choose to obey God or not. However their is a huge difference between being purposeful and striving. We are called to be intentional or purposeful in obeying Jesus. We are not called to strive relentlessly constantly fearing that we are not doing enough. There is spiritual health in simple devotion and obedience to Jesus.

Lastly, consider this quote from an unknown source: "Are you getting results or bearing fruit?"
We need to consider the many things that we do and evaluate them based on fruit not 'results.' Results may be accomplishing a particular agenda, getting large numbers of people to do something, making Jesus' words known to people etc... but in all our doing we need to make sure we are bearing fruit - or else it is worthless. If we fulfill big strategies for the Kingdom, gather large numbers of people to church, or tell people what Jesus said BUT we don't bear the fruit of the Spirit while we are doing these things... it is worthless:

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:1

This is not to say that we should stop these activities. We need to learn how to bear fruit through our various activities. God calls each person to particular tasks. However we MUST also abide with Jesus so that we bear fruit at the same time.... where is the love, the joy, the peace in your agenda? Where is the patience, the kindness, and the goodness in your church growth? Where is faithfulness, the gentleness and the self-control in your evangelism? "Are you getting results or bearing fruit?"

Consider one more thing about the fruit of love:
Remember that 1 John 4:8 says that "God is love". Therefore 1 Corinthians 13:4 is a description of God:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:4

Try replacing 'love' with 'God' in this passage (because "God is love." - 1st John 4:8,16):

God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud. God is not rude, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God never fails.

Conclusion:

Life is about bearing the fruit of the Spirit not about accomplishing certain things or about activity - no matter how Godly that activity may seem. The fruit of the Spirit are a character description of God. God is love, is joyful, is peaceful, is patient, is kind, is good, is faithful, is gentle and He is self-controlled. God has revealed that He wants us to be like Him.

Our goal in obeying the commandments is to become like Him... not to earn salvation which He has already given us as a free gift ! And Jesus said, "This is my command: Love each other." John 15:17 Let's not turn all of Jesus' words from the gospels into a 2nd law (1st law was the 10 commandments) by which we try to earn what God gives freely in Jesus' death and resurrection. Let's obey His command because we know He loves us and we want to be like Him!