Are You Bearing The Right Fruit? Part 4
Are You Bearing The Right Fruit? (Part 4)
If I were to ask, ‘What’s so great about being a Christian or the advantage of being a Christian’ I am sure that most of you could give me a good answer.
First of all and most important is the fact that Jesus saves our eternal life from the fires of hell. Jesus told the people that He is the way, the truth and the live and that no one can get to heaven and His Father except thru Him. (John 14:6) So He encouraged those people by telling them to enter thru the narrow gate or narrow road. Because wide is the road that leads to destruction (that is eternal destruction – hell), but narrow is the road that leads to life (Heaven). So if we put our trust and faith in Jesus and accept Him as our Savior and the new Lord of our life and allow Him to remove our past sin in the waters of baptism, God will forgive is and redeem us so we can have the hope of heaven.
But there is so much more in having a relationship with Jesus and being a Christian. Until we go to be with Him in Heaven, He told us that after we were cleansed of our sin that God’s own Spirit would come and live inside us. His spirit in us would be proof of the fact that we are His and Jesus told us that the Spirit would help us, teach us and comfort us and so much more. John 14:15-20 “15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
& John 16:7-14 “I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
In this series of lessons, I have talked about our complex nature – the fact that there is more to us than what the eye can see. We are a triune being:
– In essence we are a spirit (we are created in God’s image which is a spirit)
– We have a soul. This is who we are as an individual.
– And for now we live in this body
What has complicated matters is the fact that our body and mind of flesh loves to be comforted and pampered, and is very selfish and greedy. It wants what it wants when it wants it, whereas our spirit is more in tune with God and what He wants and what He knows is best for our life..
Now the decisions we make or what we actually choose to do with our life depends on who we listen to, our mind of flesh, or our spirit.
Unfortunately when it comes down to doing good and choosing what is the best course for our life, Jesus said that our spirit may be willing to do what is right and good, but the flesh is weak.
And so that’s one of the primary reasons why I believe He sent His Holy Spirit into us, to help us grow and mature, to strengthen us so that we can become what God the Father designed us to be. But what I find interesting is the fact that He doesn’t force His will on us, rather like a loving parent or teacher, He is there to help and guide us especially if we turn to Him and listen to Him.
And the more in-tune we are with the Spirit, or the more we walk in the spirit, the more we will grow and mature and become what we are meant to be, and the peace of mind we have in our life
Sad to say but there are many Christians that do not take advantage of what they have been so blessed with. Many quite literally grieve the Holy Spirit because they choose to ignore and even go against His promptings . Some even go as far as to quench the Spirit or burying what the Spirit prompts them to do.
We all know Christians who seemingly have pushed God and His will aside and simply chose to do their own thing. It’s like they ignore, bury or quench that voice that speaks to them from inside, from their conscious telling them the right things to do. And quite frankly I think that is sad.
I would like to share a story with you from Jesus’ life Matt. 21:18-19 “18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19
Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!”Immediately the tree withered.”
Almost seems mean on Jesus’ part to strike out like He did against this tree, but let me explain. Years ago my dad had a fig tree growing in his hothouse. As the tree grew and put out new leaves, fig blossoms budded and flowered under each leaf producing fruit as it grew. As Jesus looked out and saw this fig tree from a distance it looked good. But when He got closer He did not find any figs. The tree did not do anything but use up the nutrients in the soil and it did not bear any fruit. It may have looked good from a distance but that’s all.
The lesson here is that there are some Christians like this. They may look good from a distance (going to church every time the door is open, they carry around a big Bible, always listening to Christian music), looking great from a distance. But then when to get up close you can’t find any fruit, the kind of fruit a genuine, healthy Christian should bear. They are will to be fed and take, but they don’t produce good fruit.
I hope that you are beginning to see how important it is to God that you bear the right fruit, and don’t come across as a phony, or it may result in a curse.
In Matt. 12:33 Jesus said, “33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.”
You will know if a person is walking in the spirit or if they are carnal, or of the flesh, by their fruit. You can even know if you are walking in the spirit or not as well depending on what kind of fruit you bear in your life. You don’t have to be spiritual genus to figure this out, just look at the fruit.
What as some unwholesome things you don’t want to see in yourself or other Christians Galatians 5:19-21 put it this way. “19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” NIV
The Easy to Read Version translate it this way, “19 The wrong things the sinful self does are clear: committing sexual sin, being morally bad, doing all kinds of shameful things, 20 worshiping false gods, taking part in witchcraft, hating people, causing trouble, being jealous, angry or selfish, causing people to argue and divide into separate groups, 21 being filled with envy, getting drunk, having wild parties, and doing other things like this.
Simply put, if you find yourself regularly doing anything evil or ungodly it’s a good indication you are not walking in the Spirit.
But the person who does walk in the way God bears good fruit. Here in Galatians we are told what we will experience in our own life if follow God’s promptings, if we walk according to the Spirit. Paul says, 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
I don’t know about you, but my prayer is that the Lord would help me to bear or have this kind of fruit in my life.
But as you probably already know, we do not just automatically bear these fruits. In Galatians 5:24-25, Paul writes: “24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
If you really want to follow God’s lead, and eventually bear and enjoy the fruit God would have your bear, Paul tell us you are going to have to die to some things. You need crucify or put to death some self centered carnal things that are part of your life.
– Do you have a problem with drinking too much and get drunk or are you addicted to something else? Paul said you need to stop it, or kill that habit.
– Do you have a problem with getting upset and envying what others have when you do not or are you greedy, then you need stop it, or kill that habit.
– Do you have a tendency to gossip, or argue, or cause others to get upset and argue, or do you complain all the time? If so then you need to stop and crucify those bad habits, because things these are not of God, rather bad fruit of a selfish life. And that will only lead to a life of misery and condemnation.
But you may think, “I can’t stop, its too hard for me.” It may be too hard for you to do it on your own but you are not alone. You have God’s Spirit living inside you to help you. Instead you need to say, ‘I may not be able to do this Lord, but I know that with you help, I can.’
Each morning before you get out of bed lie there for a minute and offer yourself up to God as a living sacrifice and ask for God Spirit to help you thru out the day.
He will let you know when you are getting off track, and when He does you need to do your best with His help to get back on track asap. And if you know that you struggle with a particular sin, go to His word and study every verse you can on the subject . His word will not only teach you it will convict you. Eventually whatever that problem is, it will go away with His help. He will set you free and you will be free indeed!
(Sermon series based on material produced by J. Myers)
For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566
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