“Bear Fruit in Every Good Work” – Galatians 5:22-26; Ephesians 5:8-10

There are probably as many kinds of fruit in our world as there are kinds of people. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that each fruit is probably someone’s favorite. Whether peaches, apples, grapes or pears, there are people who like them.

Not all fruit grow from trees. There are pineapples and grapes, to name two. For the most part, though, fruit grow on trees. The Bible makes reference to trees and fruits, and the references are usually significant.

For instance, in Genesis 2, we learn that Adam was allowed to eat fruits from any tree in the garden except for one. In Genesis 3, we learn the consequences of disobeying God when Adam and Eve eat from that tree.

Jesus referred to fruits and trees as well. One of the miracles Jesus did was when He cursed a fig tree for failing to bear any fruit. He did it as a lesson to His disciples and to us that God expects us to bear fruit in keeping with the Spirit that lives within us.

In Paul’s prayer for the Colossians, the second thing he mentioned after praying that they live worthy of their calling was that they bear fruit in every good work. Today, we will consider what it means to bear fruit in the context of our walk with Christ.

Background

The letter to the Galatians is written as a strong argument against the false religion being preached to the church there. The false teaching was that salvation required not just a faith in Christ but adherence to the Mosaic law. Unlike most of Paul’s letter, there is no kind words and prayer for the Galatians at the beginning. Instead, Paul breaks into a full-throated statement of astonishment: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6-7a). He then proceeds to give the church a reminder of some of the recent history of the church and the message that was preached to them by the apostle himself. Paul spends the first part of the letter contrasting the grace of the gospel with the acts required of the law.

In today’s passage, Paul has spent the previous discussing the sinful nature and the need to live by the Spirit. In these verses, Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit and focuses on what it means to bear this fruit.

As Jesus was concluding the Sermon on the Mount, He gave a warning against false prophets who “come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15). He told those who were listening that the way to distinguish between false and true prophets was by the fruit they bore.

What Jesus was saying is that there are a lot of people in our world who profess to follow Christ. They use the language of the church to some degree, but there is something that is slightly off about them. It is in the unguarded moment that the wolf slips through the sheep’s clothing. It is when they show their real fruit that lets us know their message is false because they themselves are false.

Central Truth: Disciples are known by our fruit.

The fruit of the Spirit:

1. Are the result of our sanctification (Gal. 5:22-23)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

There are three aspects of our salvation experience. The first is justification—that is, the forgiveness of our sins and our being born into God’s family. The second aspect is sanctification—that is God working in our lives to transform us more into His likeness in our world. The third is glorification—when we will be transported into Christ’s presence for all eternity. The fruit of the Spirit are a result of our justification and is expressed in our sanctification.

It is important to realize that the fruit of the Spirit is singular, even though it is expressed with many different words expressing different ways of seeing and living in our world. The reason the fruit is singular, though, is because each of these characteristics are a result of the Spirit living within us. The Spirit that entered us on the day of our salvation and is working now in making us more like Christ. This fruit that Paul describes are seen in Christ and are seen in those who follow Him as Savior and Lord.

While each of these characteristics are fairly easy to understand, it is a good idea to refresh our memory. “Love” is the Christ-like way of acting in our world. The unconditional love that is Christ’s love is not so much an emotion as it is a way of acting. “Joy” is looking past the circumstances and focusing on the grace extended to us by God in Christ. It is knowing we are His regardless what is going on around us. “Peace” is the assurance that we are one with God by His grace, and we seek to extend that same reconciliation to those around us by being peacemakers.

“Patience” is giving each other the benefit of the doubt, of extending hope that they will grow in Christ. “Kindness” is the activity of patience. “Goodness” is generosity of spirit and purse. “Faithfulness” is being trustworthy and reliable. “Gentleness” is the willingness to extend the hand of forgiveness to those who seem on the surface to be unworthy of it.

“Self-control” is the awareness and willingness to put our own desires and wants to the side in favor of seeking and letting Christ live through us. As we have repeatedly said, while the gospel is a message of salvation by grace, how we live in it requires us to make conscious decisions to willfully follow Christ. This is a daily, sometimes moment by moment, decision.

The apostle wrote that there are no laws describing or requiring this fruit of the Spirit. The reason there is no law is because these aspects of living under the Spirit’s leadership is something that occurs as a result of our living Him. Just as a lemon tree naturally begins forth lemons when it bears fruit, so the Christian bears the fruit of the Spirit in our daily lives.

2. Reflect our letting Christ live through us (Gal. 5:24-26)

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Paul makes three short, declarative statements in these verses. They really aren’t open for discussion or debate. These are truths that are evident in all who profess Christ and follow Him.

The first is, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” These passions and desires are described in vs. 19-21, and a quick glance shows that the passions and desires of the sinful nature are in sharp contrast to the fruit of the Spirit. Paul concluded his list the sinful nature by saying, “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (v. 21). As followers of Christ, our desire and our commitment is to live according to His good will. One of the ways we do that is to let the fruit of the Spirit be evident in us.

The second is, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” In other words, because the Spirit of God is living in us, we must decide to let Him guide us. We follow His leadership. Think of travelling to a foreign country. One of the first things a person should do when he or she gets to that country is to find someone who knows the place and hire that person as a guide. The traveler will trust the guide to lead him or her to the better places in the country and to keep the traveler out of harm’s way. That is one of the roles of the Spirit, to guide us through a sinful world and keep us out of harm’s way.

The third is, “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Jesus calls us to be peacemakers, and He calls us to take on His humble nature. As followers of Christ, we realize that God’s grace is what separates us from those who are not in Christ, and we seek to extend that grace to others. Toward that end, we seek to live in peace with those around us, in order that we may express God’s love to them as He did to us.

Living in the Spirit, exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, results in specific commitments on our parts to follow His leadership and to work toward reconciling the world to Him.

3. Lets our light shine in the world (Eph. 5:8-10)

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.

In this passage, Paul has again chosen to contrast life before or without Christ and live in Him now. He reminded the Ephesians that they were once children of darkness, but now they live in the light that is Christ Jesus. His message is to live as children of light. He then parenthetically lists three fruit of the light. This fruit of the light is not different from the fruit of the Spirit of Galatians, but rather an extension. The same Spirit that bears fruit in us also is the source of the light within us, and the fruit of the light are also a part of who we are.

The fruit of the light are goodness, righteousness and truth. The goodness is that which is part of the fruit of the Spirt. “Righteousness” is to walk in the correct way that God calls us to live by, being found in the right in our decisions and actions. “Truth” is honesty, integrity and the basis of our relationship with Christ. In John, Jesus told us if we hold to His teachings we are really His disciples, then we will know the truth and the truth will set us free (cf. John 8:31-32). Later, Jesus told the disciples, “I am the way the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). Because we are children of light, because we follow Jesus and keep His commands, we are to speak and live the truth, not letting lies become a part of our selves or our message.

Paul concluded by telling his readers and us that as children of light we are to find out what pleases Christ. Implied in that is not only that we learn what Christ finds pleasing, but that we carry that our in our daily living as we let the Spirit live through us.

Conclusion

There are two trees I learned about visiting my grandparents and cousins in Marshall, Texas. One was the chinaberry tree, and the other was the sweetgum tree. We used the chinaberrys as ammunition, throwing them at each other as we played “war.” In order to get more ammo, we had to recognize the fruit of the tree. The sweetgum is a favorite tree because the seed pods—the fruit—are distinctive as are the leaves of the tree.

We know trees in part because of the fruit they bear. People can discern whether or not we are children of the Lord by the fruit we bear, and we can discern genuine and false prophets by that same fruit.

Everyone bears fruit. The question we ask today is: “Which fruit are you bearing?”