Bearing Fruit while using the Gifts and the Armor...
so we don't violate 1 Corinthians 13

In this paper I want to stress the importance of bearing fruit in all of our use of the natural Gifts, the supernatural Gifts, and the Armor of God. I will define the Fruit of the Sprit by Galatians 5:22. I will then proceeded to look at how we might use the natural gifts (Romans 12) or supernatural gifts (1 Corinthians 12) of the Spirit to bear fruit or not to bear fruit. I will do the same for the Armor of God, showing how it's use may or may not bear fruit. Lastly I will try to show how any activity that is done without bearing fruit is hollow, empty or worthless defined by 1 Corinthians 13. Others may be blessed but as we stand before the Lord we will find this activity lacking His eternal value. Fruit!

First lets get an idea of what the Fruit of the Spirit are. Galatians 5:22 gives a great place to start defining what fruit is. How does Jesus see fruit?

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

As a further definition of the fruit of Love consider I Corinthians 13:4

"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."

Therefore whatever we do we want to make sure that all of our activity in life is producing these things in us and the people we are involved with..... whether our family & friends or the acquaintance at work and the stranger on the street. We know that Jesus is thrilled when our activity also produces patience, joy, self-control or humility. He wants to produce that in all the people around us and in us personally too.

The book of Romans says that we all have different gifts. There are gifts of service, teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership, showing mercy, gift helps, administration etc... I distinguish these from the supernatural gifts only because we, as western Americans or Europeans, have our world view split in two. I think that comes from Greek influences. I do not think the Bible or the Jewish writers have that division in their minds. In the Hebrew mind set the natural world and the supernatural world flow together and co-exist. How could it be otherwise for them? God intervened in many supernatural ways in the History of Israel. Jesus did the same. He was not only preaching but healing the sick and casting out demons. The natural gift of teaching was functioning with the supernatural gift of healing.

The natural gifts:

"We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully... And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets... those able to help others, those with gifts of administration..." Romans 12:6 ,28

The Supernatural Gifts:

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines." 1 Corinthians 12:7

The thing to consider is this:
When you are administering the church finances ... are you bearing the fruit of joy, love or patience?

When you are praying for someone to be physically healed ... are you bearing the fruit of gentleness or love?

When you are teaching or preaching ... are you bearing the fruit of humility?

When you are giving a prophetic word ... are you bearing the fruit of humility? (I know I repeated this one)

When you are serving ... are you grumbling or bearing the fruit of peace and joy?

When you are operating in the gift of faith ... are you bearing the fruit of faithfulness?

When you are giving ... are you doing that joyfully? or begrudgingly?

When you are giving a message of wisdom or a word of knowledge ... is love your goal? or selfish ambition? Or the desire to be know and seen, valued for a gift?

We need to consider if we are bearing fruit or just 'getting results' while we use our gifts. Read 1 Corinthians 13 below:

"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

God may use our gift to bless someone else but we have no reward before Him. To put this another way... if we have joy using a natural or supernatural gift because it builds up another person - won't our reward possibly be that He has joy that we used it in such a manner? Perhaps our reward is that we see JOY break out in the master's face? Radiant joy and delight?

All in all I doubt that the 'rewards' in Heaven are treasures in any conventional sense. The treasures might be the people that are saved for all eternity and the joy that brings to the heart of God! Regardless, the passage in 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that any activity - even faith that can move mountains or martyrdom gains us nothing before God if we do it without love! Amazing! If we do the ultimate and give our very lives as martyrs but we do it without the primary motivation being love it counts for nothing. And this applies to everything else. All our use of natural or supernatural gifts must come from the Holy Spirit. If He is the source and motivation then we will naturally bear fruit during these activities. Anything we do from serving the poor, to giving money, to evangelism, church growth, being a pastor or an elder must be seen in the context of bearing fruit rather than 'getting results' if it is to be valued in front of Jesus!

Now consider the Armor of God:

"Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." Ephesians 6:14

When you are speaking the truth of God (the Belt) which is the Holy Scripture.... are you doing that in such a way that you make people feel horrible, condemned with no hope, completely alienated from God or in such a way that helps people see their eternal need, God's longing to forgive them and bless them as they respond to Him?

When you think about the fact that you wear the very righteousness of Christ over your chest (the Breastplate) do you act with arrogance toward others looking down on them in their sin? or does it inspire you with humility so that you are always going out of your way to encourage, care for and point people to Jesus?

When you attempt to preach the gospel and share Christ (the Shoes of Gospel of Peace) do you act as if you know it all driving your words down their throats or do you interact with patience, kindness and humility to share your understanding of the truth? We can be firm while sharing the truth about Jesus without being belligerent or arrogant.

While using any of the armor we can bear good fruit or bad fruit. We can use the very word of God to damage people or to bear the fruit or love, self-control or goodness. If even the word of God can be used in an arrogant way how much more the other gifts? More importantly lets consider how each piece of the Armor can be used rightly! God doesn't rejoice that we merely use our natural gifts, supernatural gift or the armor.... but He rejoices when we use them and bear fruit at the same time. The fruit are a description of His personality and character. If we use the gifts and armor in this way we are merely saying that we want to be just like Him! He is patient, so we want to be patient. He is good, so we want to be good. He is self-controlled, so we want to be self-controlled. He is loving, so we want to be loving. And that IS worship - so much more than a song.

Conclusion:

Whether we use the gifts of the Spirit or the Armor of God we know that the way to gauge Holy Spirit's work through each action or activity is whether there is fruit that is borne through the process. The Holy Spirit always creates His fruit during His activity. Let's stay in step with Him.