The quality of a good tree is the fruit it
bears. God compares His people with fruit trees that should bear much fruit.
The truth is that all of us are producing fruit but not all of our fruits are
wholesome.
Just like a healthy tree produces healthy
fruits, a mature Christian is supposed to produce spiritual fruits. In Luke
6:43-45 Jesus said, “A tree is identified
by its fruit.” As believers, we may be breathing but we’re not really
living if we’re not producing spiritual fruits.
In America, too many of us are closest
Christians. When everybody is coming out of their closet with something
immoral, we’re hiding! What’s up with that? We’ve become so politically
correct, and “tolerant” of others,
that we’ve surrendered and neglected to defend our own faith. Today, let’s talk about
bearing spiritual fruits.
First, let’s bear fruits at home. Our home is the most fertile ground for
bearing good fruit. Not only are we surrounded by loving people who are
cheering us on, but home is also an environment where fruit is produced
organically. When we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, we’re
nurturing an environment to produce good fruit. Galatians 5:33-23 lists nine fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
One way we can judge our spiritual maturity is to evaluate ourselves against
the Word of God. Are we operating in love? Do we have joy in our hearts and on
our faces? Are we patient and kind with
our spouse and children? If we’re not producing fruit in the loving environment
at home, it will be difficult to produce fruit elsewhere.
Next, we need to bear fruits at work. We spend almost half of our waking
hours in the marketplace. We get up early and work late to bring home a
paycheck and it is very commendable. However, if we are not producing spiritual
fruit at work, we’re suppressing our saltiness. When was the last time you
shared Christ at work? We’ve bought into the lie that we cannot bring our faith
to work. We also believed the lie that in order to share Christ, we have to hit
people on the head with the Bible or shoot scriptures out like a machine gun.
We’ve created prayer rooms for others but abandoned prayer ourselves. We don’t
have to be hostile or obnoxious to share our faith at work. However, if we
don’t stand for our faith, we’re going to fall for anything.
Third, we must bear fruits in our community. Jesus said, “Occupy until I come.” I heard of a church in California where
they’re sharing Christ with the dancers in the night club. They have eradicated
cancer within a certain radius of their church. They’re influencing their
community. However, the Church at large has no initiative in the
community. We’ve believed a lie that we can only bear fruits within the walls
of the church. Every week, we’re summoned to exalt the pastor and we’re beautifying
the building instead of glorifying Jesus and helping the hurting, sighing, and
dying. Let’s be involved in the chamber of commerce, mother’s clubs, little
leagues, major leagues, arts, entertainment, network groups etc. If you’re a
pastor, don’t just preach from the pulpit, go and serve in your neighborhood
through the week and they’ll follow you to your church on weekends.
Lastly, bear fruits in world missions. Jesus always had the world in mind. Every
believer should impact the world. If we don’t have world perspective, we’re
thinking too small. One reason we’re seeing such a drastic surge in terrorism
is because we’ve stopped proclaiming the Gospel to the world. In the absence of
the Good News, bad news prevails. Build International Ministries (www.buildinternational.org) and many others are taking Jesus to the
world. There are people like you who are impacting the world by partnering with
us. Pray, go, give, and bear fruit in world missions.
Friend, let us be intentional about bearing
spiritual fruits. Our lives are like vapor. We’re here for a very short time
but we can outlive ourselves by bearing spiritual fruits. When we bear fruits,
our descendants will continue the legacy of our faith. Are we going to exercise
our faith on which this country was founded on? Or are we going to be overrun
by others because we’re too timid to live out our faith at home, work, in our
communities, and the world? What kind of fruit we produce will determine what
kind of world our children will live in. Let us bear spiritual fruit!
Jesus said, "I
am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will
bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5
NIV).
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