Fruit Matters....in the most serious way. You might want to look up these verses as I suspect they are underlined by now if you have been reading here for any length of time - (Matt. 3:10; 7:17-20; Luke 13:6-9)

“And by their fruit...you will know them.” - Jesus

"But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23- Amp)

Have you discovered yet...that we don’t (nor can we) produce this fruit on our own; rather it is the byproduct of abiding in Jesus. There is no other way...outside of abiding in Him.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

And here I go again with: ‘want to know if you are truly abiding in Jesus? Start out with these ‘markers’ – You will be walking like Jesus walked, keeping the commandments of God...and no longer sinning because you’ve been born of God’. (1 John 2:3-6; 3:4-9; 5:18).

But what about all those noble things you have done to ‘glorify God’...in spite of your sinful wretched self and ways? Well...what about those folks in Matt. 7:21-23 and 1 Cor. 13:1-3?

Do you know how we bring true glory and honor to God? - “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:8)

I know that many of us were sincerely encouraged, and taught that we should be ‘fruit conscious and work on developing such fruit’ as listed in Gal. 5:22-23. “This week kids...let’s work on bearing the fruit of kindness, etc.”...

But the truth of the matter is...we can’t...’work on producing fruit’ in our lives, the kind of fruit God is looking for, because for the most part...we’ve had it all backwards. Allow me to explain...

Fruit in the ‘natural’ world...comes about when something first ‘dies’. Jesus used this illustration to lay the groundwork to teach us how He would bring forth ‘spiritual fruit’ in our lives...provided we learn to abide in Him (as opposed to just saying you ‘believe’ in Him after ‘accepting Him as personal Savior’).

“Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)

Do you know Jesus teaches that the only way to ‘find life’...is to ‘lose yours’, and it involves ‘taking up a cross” and following Him; not just ‘saying Lord, Lord’.

“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it” (Luke 9:23-24)

Jesus shared something similar with that rich young ruler who said he was interested in finding eternal life...but it proved to be too steep a cost for him as we read: “Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 10:21) The young man turned and walked away.

When we first come to Jesus, He (by His Holy Spirit) begins to lead and guide us; but contrary to popular teachings today...it is not down a pathway to ‘fulfilling your destiny’ in life so you can do ‘great things for the kingdom of God’. He will actually begin to lead you to...’die...to self’. (No wonder many of His followers turned away and no longer followed Him- John 6:66.). That might also explain His comment about this being a ‘narrow path that only a few find...and choose to travel. (Matt. 7:13-14)

Paul writes: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Rom. 8:13-14)

And this is how ‘fruit’ is produced in our lives. We don’t bear the fruit of kindness because we become self-conscious of trying harder to be kinder. He leads us into situations where we are tested (to expose the unkindness that is in us) in order that we confess it, turn from it (repentance) and die to it (as we ‘deny’ ourselves’). And when we successfully do this, aided by His grace to stand in those fiery tests...something beautiful rises from the ashes...the fruit of kindness. In other words...”It is no longer you who lives...but Christ living in you...” (**Provided you are 'crucified' with Him first**)  (Gal. 2:20).

I don’t know who needs to hear this...but none of us ‘have it within us’...to "love others"...unless we have His nature fully residing in us. And here’s the good news: He’s waiting to do that...impart His nature by His grace so we can ‘love others as He first loved us (2 Pet. 1:2-4). And as we allow Him to ‘increase’....as we surrender to His lordship by doing what He asks of us (Luke 6:46)...we see how this ‘old man’...the ‘I, me’ will ‘decrease’ (John 3:30) as we ‘put it to death’...once and for all. And that is exactly what those who ‘belong to Christ have done’ (Gal. 5:24) so they can ‘do the will of God’ (1 Pet. 4:1-2). And yes, there will be some ‘suffering’ involved...but not to the point in which Jesus suffered as He laid down His life for us. (Heb. 12:4; Rom. 5:8; John 15:12)

You might spend some extra time today looking up those passages I gave you; then meet me back here tomorrow.