WHAT EXACTLY DO WE MEAN BY "FRUIT"? Generally when we talk about fruit there are two kinds: internal soul transformation and external people impact.
- 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23; Galatians 5:22-23; Colossians 1:10.
A. Internal soul transformation.
- By this I mean that God is shaping you into Christlikeness. He wants you to reflect the character and love of Christ.
- He is constantly working to move you in that direction.
- It’s not that you become a different person; it’s that you become a better person.
- Galatians 5:22-23 refers to these internal things as the “fruit of the Spirit.”
B. External people impact.
- Not only is God working in us, but He’s also working through us.
- Accomplishments are nice (degrees, promotions, achievements), but the things that will outlast this world are the things that have an impact on people. People are God’s prized creation.
- Our goal is to move people either toward knowing Christ or growing in Christ. (One is for the unsaved; one for the saved.)
- Examples:
- Teaching a Sunday School class.
- Offering to pray for someone.
- Taking a meal to a neighbor.
- Sharing a testimony.
- Painting at the church or at a friend’s house.
- In general, doing things that enable you to show the love of Christ or that encourage someone to strengthen their faith.
- Not talking about a “Billy-Graham-crusade” moment where 5,000 people get saved all at once. It’s almost always one-on-one, one-by-one.
IS FRUITFULNESS HIDDEN OR OBVIOUS? It is not a secret thing, but rather a Jesus tree produces Jesus fruit.
- Matthew 7:15-20.
- Sometimes we might think that it’s impossible to know if you’re having an impact or not. That simply doesn’t line up with Jesus’ words.
- This is not to say that the fruit you bear is always going to be immediately obvious, but if you look at the general fruit of someone’s life, it will be abundantly obvious whether they are a good tree or a bad tree.
- Some might try to make this whole thing into some kind of mystery.
- “There’s no way to know whether you’re having an impact or not.”
- “We won’t know until we reach eternity if we’ve done any good.”
- It is true that we won’t know the full extent of our impact until we reach eternity, but the fact is that the general type of fruit our life is bearing should be pretty obvious to any attentive observer.
- The fruit reflects the tree; the fruit reflects the heart.
- “Jim, this passage almost makes it sound like fruitfulness is required.” Yes!
- Fruitfulness is a defining characteristic of a true Christian faith.
- Is He saying I’ll never make a mistake or mess up? No, because it’s inevitable that we’ll fall short sometimes.
- But the general fruit of our lives will be obvious.
- The problem is that we’ve come to excuse the fruitless “Christian” life as being normative. Sure, there’s no outward and inward sign of a change in your life, but somehow that’s ok. Jesus just wants us to believe in Him and we’ll be changed in eternity. No! He wants us to be transformed now.
- Why Don’t Most Expect This In Their Lives? One of the biggest reasons is that we have dumbed down “belief” to where it only means verbal agreement to a list of doctrine.
- The idea of being a Christian with no life change is a crock.
AREN'T MOST OF OUR LIVES A MIXED BAG OF FRUIT? We apparently are making at least two mistakes: (1) underestimating what Jesus’ power can do in and through us, and (2) overestimating the importance of being nice or accomplished.
- Matthew 7:17-18.
- There’s an objection that may be brewing in some of your minds: aren’t most lives a mixed bag of fruit? Isn’t Jesus’ statement here an exaggeration? That’s a fair question.
- This was a challenge for me to answer. It’s a tough question. I gave it quite a bit of thought and have two arguments that I want to share with you. They may help us have greater clarity.
- Let me share two arguments: one for the good being good and one for the bad being bad.
1. The good being good: we underestimate what Jesus’ power can do in and through us.
- We, as I said a moment ago, tend to “dumb down” faith to mere assent to a list of doctrine. We don’t expect genuine life change. We especially don’t expect transformative life change.
- I believe we’re aiming too low. I believe we’re expecting too little.
- We have been given a new heart, a new nature. We’ve been given the Holy Spirit to guide and direct. We have the ear of our Father in heaven, ready to give us all the resources we need for what we’re facing.
- We have all that we need to live victorious lives.
- It is God’s intent for us to be the representation of what His powerful grace can do. He intends for our lives to be transformed and impressive.
- We are living below our blessings. We have lost sight of how incredible His salvation is meant to be.
- It is a salvation that can produce a tree with an overwhelming good fruitfulness.
2. The bad being bad: overestimating the importance of being nice or accomplished.
- It seems harsh for Jesus to say that someone is bearing bad fruit. Again, wouldn’t most lives be a mixed bag?
- Many of the non-Christians that we know are nice. They have degrees or other accomplishments. How can Jesus say they are bearing bad fruit?
- It’s key to start by going to back to the definition I gave earlier about what fruit is. Fruit is not just being nice or just being accomplished. Remember what the definition is? It’s becoming like Christ ourselves and pointing people toward Christ. That’s important to understand: it’s not just being pleasant or accomplishing things – it’s becoming like Christ and pointing people toward Christ.
- When you understand that, it becomes clearer. Even if a person is accomplishing a lot in their life, if it’s not things that make them like Christ or point people to Christ, that’s not good fruit. Even if a person is generally nice to be around, if they’re not pointing people to Christ, that’s not good fruit.
- Good fruit is things that are eternal. It’s things that will last beyond this life. It’s not a “good life” the way we usually define the “good life”: I had a decent marriage, got a couple kids raised, worked a job, and lived the American Dream. We are to live for the Kingdom of God, not the American Dream.
- Is This An Overstatement? Apparently not, because the rest of the chapter is Jesus talking about false believers.
- Matthew 7:21-27.
- He concludes the Sermon on the Mount with more talk about false believers.
- First, He says that not everyone who claims Him is a true believer, but the one who obeys His teaching.
- Second, He says that the difference between a life that is solid and withstands the storms of life and the one that collapses is being a person who “hears My words and puts them into practice.”
- In both cases, we are faced with the reality of nonbelievers bearing the brunt of judgment.
- If there is no discernible fruit in your life, you need to do some soul-searching.
HOW DO I BEAR MORE FRUIT? You can’t force fruit or manipulate fruit – it comes from who you are.
- John 15:1-8.
- Now, I’m not going to go in depth with this in this message because we’ll be focusing a whole sermon on this subject later in this sermon series, but it’s important that you have an idea about how this works before we finish this morning.
- With all we’ve been talking about with fruitfulness, it’s easy to think that the problem is that you’re not trying hard enough. John 15, though, tells us that that’s not the right answer.
- Fruit is something that flows naturally from who God has made us to be. I will explain in more detail in that upcoming sermon how exactly that works. But suffice it to say for this morning that it comes from who you are – specifically, who God has transformed you into.
- Let me just point you in the right direction with a challenge question this morning.
- [Put in outline] True or false: “I am passionate about knowing and obeying Jesus’ teaching.”
- That is an absolutely crucial question when it comes to fruitfulness (for reasons I’ll explain in that upcoming sermon).
- Are you passionate about knowing and obeying Jesus’ teaching?
- If you’re not reading the Bible every day, the answer is probably “No.”
- If you’re not eager to have God reveal where you’re falling short so you can grow there, the answer is probably “No.”
- If you don’t believe that Jesus was smart and wise and therefore it’s always a good idea to do what He said, the answer is probably “No.”
- Notice I didn’t say, “Do you come to church?”
- I didn’t say, “Do you think Jesus is great?”
- I didn’t even ask, “Are you a Christian?”
- Because when it comes to fruitfulness, those are not the main questions. The main question is whether you’re passionate about knowing and obeying what Jesus taught.
- If you are, then you’re on the path toward fruitfulness. If you’re not, then you’re almost certainly not on the path toward fruitfulness.
HOW SHOULD I TAKE THIS TRUTH? It can either be depressing or exciting.
- There are at least two ways to take the truths I’ve shared this morning: they can be depressing or exciting.
A. Depressing.
- Maybe you’re depressed by this sermon.
- You’re sitting there thinking, “I’m not sure how much of an impact my life is having. I’m not sure how much fruit I’m bearing.” And you’re depressed because you’re not sure if you’ve got what God is looking for.
- I want to encourage you to take a different approach this morning.
B. Exciting.
- A better way to think about what I’ve shared this morning is to see it as exciting.
- How is it exciting?
- Simple: this truth (that God wants great fruit in our lives) is one that He wants for your life. Think about that: God wants to partner with you to make your life one that doesn’t just bear a little fruit, but is overwhelmingly fruitful. That’s exciting! How can I be a part of that? How can I tap into that?
- If you want to leave a legacy, if you want to make a difference, if you want to touch lives, if you want to be like Christ, then this truth means that God wants to help you to do that. That’s exciting!
