Growing up in the city, I never really felt the need to distinguish between trees. (Granted, in El Paso we didn’t have that many trees to begin with, but that’s beside the point.) Growing up, my mother tried to teach me different kinds of trees when we’d visit family in East Texas, but the only two trees I could ever really distinguish from others was the chinaberry tree and the sweet gum tree.
The chinaberry tree I knew primarily from the chinaberry wars my cousins, my brother and I would have in our visits to East Texas. But the sweet gum tree was special. The leaves are shaped like five-point stars, and the seed pod has a distinctive shape. I don’t know if you’ve ever had porcupine meatballs (something my grandmother was good at cooking), but the sweet gum seed looked similar to a porcupine meatball—round with things sticking out in all directions from the sphere.
Other than that, I’m not really an aficionado of trees or plants. I do know, though, that trees and plants can be distinguished by their fruits and their leaves.
The Bible is filled with references to plants, fruit and seed. I assume part of that is that it was primarily an agrarian world in which the Bible was written. Jesus used references to plants and familiar animals in His lessons and parables. One particular passage I’ve often referred to is Jesus’ admonition against false prophets and discerning true from false prophets by the fruit they exhibit.
Paul refers to the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, and also mentions fruit of the Light in Ephesians 5:9.
If the fruit we bear is the distinguishing mark of the Christian in a world where many people make false claims, it would seem reasonable to have an understanding of what it is to be fruit-filled.
Fruit-Filled, not Fruitful
It is important to understand the difference between being fruit-filled and not fruitful. In Genesis 1, God tells His new creation, men and women, to be fruitful and multiply. Throughout the Gospels and the New Testament, we are encouraged to be faithful to live and share our faith and to make disciples as we go about our daily living. In this way, we become fruitful in bringing others to Jesus.
However, sharing the Gospel is not necessarily being fruit-filled. In Philippians 1:15-18, Paul writes about some who preach the Word for wrong reasons. He refers to such people as preaching out of “envy and rivalry” (v. 15). He notes such people preach out of “selfish ambition, not sincerely” and that such people want to stir up trouble for Paul (v. 17). Paul simply rejoices that the Gospel is preached, whatever the motives. It does need to be shown, however, that some people can share the Good News without living the Good News themselves.
It is possible to bring others to Jesus—be fruitful—without actually knowing Christ ourselves. That’s the warning at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, and it speaks also to Paul’s words in Philippians about motives. God is sufficient to use His word regardless of the person preaching it, but being fruitful is not the same as being fruit-filled. Being fruit-filled was Jesus’ distinguishing characteristic of the true prophet.
With that in mind, let us look at what the fruit-filled life is like.
The Fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22-23
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23a).
Christian men and women should have certain qualities about them that set them apart as belonging to Christ. In John 13:34-35, Jesus said the distinguishing quality is that we should love one another as He has loved us. This was His new commandment. Paul lists the above qualities of the fruit of the Spirit as something else each Christian should exhibit in our daily lives.
1.The first characteristic of the fruit is that of love. Again, Jesus’ new commandment speaks of this love. Paul also defines the qualities of this love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a. When we talk about this kind of love, we need to realize that this love is not an emotional state of being, but one of acting and being. When John states that “God is love” in 1 John 4:16, he is not referring to God having a warm, fuzzy feeling for us, but that this love is characterized by the way God relates to us and our world. It is this same type of love that must be evident in our lives.
How is this love distinguished? First, it is an unselfish love, an unconditional love. It is a love that is demonstrated. Paul defines it in 1 Corinthians 13 as being patient, kind, doesn’t envy, isn’t boastful nor proud. He says it isn’t rude, self-seeking, easily angered, nor does it “keep a record of wrongs.” He says love doesn’t delight in evil but rejoices with truth. Paul then explains some of the eternal aspects of love: always protecting, always trusting, always hoping and always persevering. In conclusion, Paul tells us love never fails.
It is this kind of love that must be a part of the character of every Christian.
2. The second characteristic of the fruit is joy. Joy is the ability to see God’s hand in all our circumstances. It is the ability to give thanks in all circumstances. Joy requires an abiding faith in God’s power, grace and direction. Our joy comes from Jesus: “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:9-11).
There are examples of joy-filled people throughout the Bible. Oddly enough, many of them demonstrate their joy in dire situations. Think of Joseph in Genesis. He was sold into slavery by his brothers, thrown into jail on the lies of his master’s wife, left in prison for a long time, then finally was set free and made the second most powerful man in all Egypt. In all this, he never lost sight of God working in his life. When the time came for revenge, Joseph saw no reason for it. He told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid” (Genesis 50:20-21a).
Consider Job. In all his suffering, he never gave up on God. He wanted to speak to God and find out why he was suffering, but he never questioned the just-ness of his suffering. His reply to his wife was, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10). Job endured the suffering, only to come to a deeper, more personal awareness of God.
Look at Paul and Silas in Philippi. They were wrongly accused, whipped by the authorities (an illegal act, because Paul was a Roman citizen), thrown into the deepest part of the jail in the city. In the midst of all this, Paul and Silas began to sing psalms and hymns of praise, giving thanks to God. As a result of their joy in the midst of painful circumstances, God worked through them to bring salvation to the jail keeper and his family.
Joy understands that the Christian faith is not a promise of sunny days and leisurely walks, of great riches and a life of luxury. The joy-filled believer realizes that Christ suffered, and we should expect tough times ourselves. When we encounter such times, we fall back in our faith in God and can see through the difficult times with joy in our hearts, knowing He is working in us to grow our faith and our hope.
3. The third facet of the fruit of the Spirit is peace.
The peace Jesus offers us is from Him—“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). The peace of Christ is a freedom from rancor with God. In Christ, we no longer are the enemies of God, but now we are the children of God. Because of this, we are at peace with the Father through the Son, and it is fulfilled by the indwelling presence of the Spirit bearing fruit in us.
But not only are we at peace with God. We are also called to be peacemakers. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). “Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness” (James 3:18).
Our task, then, as the peace of Christ infuses us, is to work to end conflict in our world. This is done through the ministry of reconciliation, and is made possible by the love of Christ that we are commanded to live out in our daily lives. This is why the turning of the cheek is so important, why the walking of the second mile is so necessary. The world seeks conflict; we respond with peace. As my mother used to tell me all the time, “It takes two to tango.” (Generally, these words were spoken in my efforts to be blameless in fighting with my brother.)
It takes courage to walk away from a fight, sometimes greater courage than to stand up and fight. Our natural inclination is to stand our ground. Certainly, when it comes to our faith and our beliefs, we stand firm. But in matters of lesser importance, we let the blows come and not respond. What did Jesus say as accusations came against Him on the night of His betrayal? Nothing. There was no need to fight the fight that was being offered. No words would do any good. Rather than cast pearls before swine, Jesus remained silent. We live at peace when conflict is all around us, secure in our relationship with the Father and filled by the power of the Holy Spirit.
4. The fourth facet of the fruit is patience, which means a willingness to wait on the Lord.
Years ago, I was pastoring a church on the Texas coast. My wife, out of the blue, told me she thought I should go to law school. I started taking steps. First, I let people who could do something about it know that I was open to moving to another church. Second, I began preparing for the LSAT, a test required to determine if a person is qualified for law school.
I did better than expected on my LSAT test, and I submitted applications for four Texas law schools—one in San Antonio, one in Austin, one in Lubbock and Baylor Law School in Waco. I was immediately accepted to the San Antonio school, immediately turned down in Austin, and was told I was on the waiting list at Lubbock and Baylor. I called both Lubbock and Waco and asked where I was on the list, and both schools said they didn’t have a list. (I have since spoken with someone who had knowledge of how Baylor did the “list,” and they didn’t have a list per se.)
I had told my church I was leaving to go to law school, but I had no idea where. The concern (worry?) woke me up one night, and I asked God what was going on with this. He led me to Isaiah 40:31, then to the entire chapter. I slept well that night, knowing that God had things under control.
My wife and I decided we would look for a place to live in San Antonio, since that was the one place that had said we could come to school there. We spent the entire day looking in vain for a place to live. Finally, we came home, picked up our children from a friend’s house, then home. On the way home, we passed the post office, so I stopped and got the day’s mail. There I found a letter from Baylor School of Law. The new quarter had begun, and I assumed it was a “sorry, we won’t let you in” letter. Instead, it was a letter that guaranteed me a place in their law school if I would delay my start until February of the next year.
There are times we believe we are ready for something to happen, even expecting something to happen. But we need to remember that God has to prepare us for His work. Sometimes, we are immediately ready to do what He bids. But just as often, there is a season of growth we need to experience before we are ready for the next step or phase. That’s why we need patience.
God has control of the situation. We can trust Him to make the plans known in His time. It simply requires patience on our part. And that patience is provided by the Spirit of God and is part of His fruit in our lives.
(c) 2018 Glynn Beaty