Fruit of the Spirit

Today we will talk about the fruit of the Spirit. And here is

the first major difference in the spiritual gifts and spiritual fruit. All

of the spiritual fruit is for every believer. This fruit should be

actively growing in the life of every believer. You are to be known

by your spiritual fruit.

Matthew 7:15-20 “15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to

you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You

will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from

thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree

bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A

healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear

good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut

down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize

them by their fruits.”

Last week I said you shouldn’t just take my word for what the

Bible says. You have to read it for yourself to know if I am

teaching you correctly. When you do this, you are being a fruit

inspector. You are checking to see if I am bearing good fruit or

bad fruit. This is how many people are lead into false doctrine…

they don’t bother to see what the Bible says themselves,. So they

just go along with whatever the pastor (and I use that term

loosely) says.Ok, so this spiritual fruit seems to be pretty important, but why is

that?

Galatians 5:16-18 “16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will

not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its

desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these

are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the

things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you

are not under the Law.”

If you are being led by the Spirit you will be walking where He

leads. This is how you avoid what the Bible calls the desires or

works of the flesh. This is the major battle for every christian. Do

you live according to your flesh or according to what the Holy

Spirit is telling you. All of us as disciples of Jesus are called to

walk by the Spirit.

The works of the flesh are listed in the next verses of Galatians.

Galatians 5:19-21 “19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident,

which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery,

enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes,

dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing,

and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have

forewarned you, that those who practice such things will

not inherit the kingdom of God.”

These things seem like pretty obvious things, that as Christians

we should not be involved with. But you’d be surprised how

easy it is to let your flesh take over and slide right into some of

these things. When was the last time you allowed your flesh to

lead you into jealousy? How about an outburst of anger when

that car cut you off? And perhaps you can remember the last

time you had a dispute with someone? It probably wasn’t that

long ago was it?If you are living according to the flesh, you will find yourself under

the penalty of the spiritual laws. There will always be

consequences for breaking God’s spiritual laws. Remember, He

put them in place to keep you safe and show you how to live an

abundant successful spiritual life here on this physical earth.

When we are finished teaching about the fruit of the spirit in a

couple of weeks, we will spend some time on the works of the

flesh…and how to avoid them.

If we are not rooted in the word of God, when we find ourselves

in trouble, we will run back to the fleshly things that used to give

us comfort.

Well, I guess you are tired of me talking about all this spiritual fruit

without telling you what it actually is. Here goes.

Galatians 5:22-23 “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.”

Well, there it is. How does your life measure up? Are those

things being produced in abundance in your life? Do you see

some areas where your life is barren of spiritual fruit?

Fruit grows naturally and abundantly when the roots are

deep in the soil.

Colossians 2:6 “6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus

the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now

being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you

were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”

If you want spiritual fruit it’s all about going deeper in Christ.Remember all the Christmas trees we had in here last month?

The decorations we hang on a Christmas tree represent the fruit

hanging on a real tree. They make the tree look beautiful on the

outside. But don’t get too close or you will see that a lot of the

decorations are cheap and the tree is fake.

Let’s take a minute and think about them as a representation of a

Christian. A lot of Christians look great from a distance on the

outside, but their fruit isn’t real. They just see Jesus and the fruit

of the Spirit as decoration, because they don’t really understand

what it means to be a kingdom citizen who bears good spiritual

fruit.

They understood how to walk an isle and pray a prayer as a kid.

But that was it, they haven’t remained connected to Jesus, as the

true source of their life. They go to church once in a while, doing

their religious duty, but their spiritual life is a mess. They are just

living as an artificial tree with plastic decorations. The shiny

lights and fancy ornaments cover up a lot of major issues.

Do you remember the tree we had right here during

Christmas? If we took all the decorations off of that fake tree,

you would have seen what a mess it was.

As a matter of fact, before it came here, it was in a dumpster. We

had to cut all the lights off if it because they didn’t work. The

stand isn’t the right size so it had to be rigged to the wall, so it

would stand up straight. You see, it has no strength of its own,

because it’s fake, it has no roots into the ground like a real tree.

A Christian who is rooted in the soil of the word and has a

relationship with The Spirit will be drawing living water up

through their roots and be producing spiritual fruit in every

season…wether it’s a good season or a difficult one.A true Christian doesn’t need the fake decoration of religion,

because they have real spiritual fruit on their branches.

Do you see and understand the difference? Christians who don’t

understand how to live in the kingdom are like that tree. They

use the decoration of religion to hide the mess that their life is in.

The other thing about fruit is this. All fruit has seeds. That’s its

defining characteristic. Remember last week when. I said that a

tomato is a fruit? It’s categorized as a fruit because it has seeds

inside. This gives it the ability to reproduce itself. Everything a

fruit needs to produce more fruit is already inside of it. Once you

have enjoyed the fruit all you have to do is plant the seeds that

are left…and bingo, more fruit. Of course you have to work the

garden to keep bugs and disease away from the new plant.

The fruit of the Spirit is the same. Everything you need to

reproduce more spiritual fruit is already inside you. It was put

there when you were saved and the Holy Spirit began dwelling in

you. This is how God has planted the seeds of this spiritual fruit

in every believer…and He’s looking for a harvest. No one plants

a seed without expecting a harvest.

This is not just true of church leaders and pastors. It’s true of all

believers. Every disciple of Jesus is expected to be producing

good spiritual fruit.

John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the

vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he

takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he

prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

That seems pretty harsh, right? That does not sound like the

“Jesus loves me, so I can do whatever I want” message. Let’s

see what else Jesus had to say about spiritual fruit.Matthew 21:43 “43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will

be taken away from you and given to a people producing its

fruits.”

Jesus was talking to the Pharisees when He said this. He

was telling the church leaders of His day, that they were not in

line for inheriting the kingdom. Instead He was giving it to

common people who would align themselves with His teaching

about what their life should look like.

The seriousness of this is illustrated in the book of Acts. Ananias

and his wife Sapphira were like this. They were the couple who

died after lying to the Holy Spirit. The church had just started

and everyone was excited to sell the extra property and houses

they had and give to the ministry, so everyone could benefit.

They understood that God was the owner and they just had

rulership over their stuff. When God wanted to shift the stuff to

someone else, they gladly brought it to the Apostles.

Everyone did this, except Ananias and Sapphire. They wanted to

be viewed as good Christians so they too sold a piece of

property and brought some of the money to the Apostles. The

problem is that they kept part of the money for themselves, but

they claimed they had brought it all. Peter told them they had

not lied to men, but to the Holy Spirit and then they fell dead.

They were living by the flesh…not the Spirit.

They are like a lot of Christians today who want to fit in at church,

but not fully surrender their life to God. They pretend to go along

with what the Bible says, but full surrender is not something they

are interested in.

When the word of what happened to Ananias and Sapphire got

around, the people in the early church were afraid and

understood how serious this was to God.Let me say this clearly. Playing church is dangerous game. It’s

time to get serious about your relationship with God. Being fully

surrendered is what God wants.

So, how are you doing with your spiritual fruit garden? Is it

producing a harvest or have the weeds taken over and damaged

the plant before it could turn into fruit?

For as long as I can remember, my dad has been a great

gardener. He can grow the best tomatoes…and makes it look

pretty easy. So, about 6 years ago I decided to grow some

tomatoes of my own, in the back yard. I had the plants in some

small pots at first. Then as they grew, I had to transplant them

into five gallon buckets because they had gotten too big for the

pots. I was pretty excited about this, because it was my first

attempt to grow tomatoes. I love garden fresh tomatoes in the

summer.

After they out grew the five gallon buckets, I had to transplant

them in the yard. At this point, the tomato plants developed lots

of blooms, which is a future indication of lots of tomatoes. You

see, each bloom turns into a tiny green tomato and then from

there they grow into large beautiful juicy red tomatoes. And from

there they are just moments away from being picked and

turned into a tomato sandwich.

That was the end game. I didn’t plant the tomato seeds to care

for them and then just let the birds eat the fruit of my labor. I had

a specific reason for planting the seeds. And God has a specific

reason that He’s put the seeds of spiritual fruit into you. He

expects a harvest.

So let me ask again. How is your spiritual fruit garden doing? Is

God getting a harvest yet? Is there any bloom that would

suggest that fruit is growing?In case you’re wondering how my tomato garden turned out, let

me tell you. After all the work I put in…the planting, the watering,

the fertilizing, the transplanting and bug control dust I applied. I

only got about three tomatoes that were only about an inch and a

half round. I ended up going to a real farmer and buying real

tomatoes so I could have my tomato sandwich.

My tomato plants had all of the external signs of producing a

great harvest, but something was wrong on the inside. They

never developed the way they should have internally. And I

didn’t know that until it was too late to do anything about it.

You see, I can’t tell if the spiritual fruit in you is healthy or not

while it’s still growing. You may look great on the outside, but

it is only at the time of harvest, that we see if there has been

anything wrong on the inside.

Luke 13:6-9 “6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree

planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and

found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three

years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I

find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And

he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around

it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year,

well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

Let me ask you one last time. How is your spiritual fruit garden

doing? Is God going to get a harvest this year? Let me remind

you again what this fruit is.

Galatians 5:22-23 “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.”Are these things growing in your life? Or do you struggle with

them? Maybe this is a new concept for you. Maybe you didn’t

realize that you could have these things as part of your life. Next

week we will go over each of them and talk about how to

develop each of them, so you will have the harvest that God is

looking for.