So how’s my crop looking? Each year, farmers and gardeners carefully cultivate in order to produce their harvest. What they plant will be what appears in the row.
They amend the soil. They water. They add fertilizer. They do everything they can in order reap a bountiful and beautiful harvest at the end of the season.
According to Paul in his letter to the Galatians, God is doing the same in each one of us. Here the apostle calls it “the fruit of the Spirit” (v23).
He’s just told us of the weeds that will sprout when God’s Spirit is not in control of our lives. Things like “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these” (Gal 5:19-21).
These “works of the flesh” will choke out the crop God is trying to grow in and through us.
Throughout His Word, we read that God is working His supernatural 4H project in His kids.
That’s the point of Jesus’ parable of the soils (Mt 13:1-23). In this illustration, God’s seed, the Gospel, produces fruit relative to the type of soil on which it lands.
Jesus tells His boys that when the Good News takes root in lives of surrendered believers, “he indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
Elsewhere, Christ teaches that the harvest produced corresponds to what was planted (Lk 6:43-45). “For each tree is known by its fruit.”
And in John, Jesus teaches His crew that the only way to insure any significant harvest is to remain connected to our Savior (Jn 15:1-11).
He draws the parallel of a vineyard. “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
So what kind of fruit is God looking to grow in our lives? I’m so glad you asked. Paul describes it here. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (v23).
The first thing I need to remember is that this is ONE FRUIT! These are not separate crops in separate fields. “Fruit” is actually singular.
How does this work? Well, the best idea is probably to go back to the picture Jesus paints in John 15. Think of grapes on a vine.
The fruit of the Spirit is a cluster of these traits that God is producing in our lives. I don’t have one without the other.
I can be assured that if the Spirit has created love and joy in my life then He’s also created faithfulness and gentleness. There will not be one without the other.
So if I see some of these being produced in my life, I can be assured that all are being produced. They’re there, whether we feel them or not.
These are also things that don’t come naturally to me. Born a sinner, I’m looking out for number one. It’s all about self-preservation. That’s EXACTLY the kind of stuff Paul is talking about in the previous verses.
When life is all about me, myself and I, that’s my flesh doing what it does best. Self-centered. Self-service. Self-absorption. Self-worship.
But when God saves me and places His Holy Spirit in me, crazy things begin happening. I begin exhibiting traits that are completely foreign to the old me. Traits like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
One other point that I need to remember is that these are EXACTLY the characteristics of my Savior. Jesus lived a life of self-sacrificial love. He literally had the joy of the Lord as His strength.
He was (and is!) incredibly patient (He not only dealt with those 12 knuckleheads but with me too!). Christ is continually and overwhelming kind to us (Eph 2:7). Is He good? PUH-LEEZE!!! There’s none better!
His faithfulness not only reaches to the heavens (Ps 36:6), but He’s faithful when we’re not (2Tim 2:13). Jesus is unbelievably gentle. Remember how He loved hanging out with little kids (Lk 18:16) or dealt tenderly with the bruised and battered (Jn 8:3-11)?
My Savior is the model of self-control and that’s seen continually throughout His Passion.
In much the same as the list of Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-10) and Paul’s glorious portrait of godly love (1Cor 13), these are traits that describe the radical Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth.
So when this fruit is showing up in my life, this is actually Jesus working THROUGH me.
Once again, Eugene Peterson does an incredible job of allowing us to take a fresh look at a passage through a different lens. Here’s how he paraphrases these verses in the Message.
“He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard--things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely” (Gal 5:22-23 MSG).
Love. Affection for others.
Joy. Exuberance about life.
Peace. Serenity.
Patience. A willingness to stick with things.
Kindness. A sense of compassion in the heart.
Goodness. A conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.
Faithfulness. Loyal commitments.
Gentleness. Not needing to force our way in life
Self-control. Able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
God has certainly produced some of each of these in my life. The ones that seem most prevalent (that were in NO way there before) are love, patience, faithfulness and self-control.
In the flesh, I only care about myself. But in the power of God’s Spirit, suddenly I find myself concerned about others ahead of me.
That can only be God at work. My natural tendency is to give up quickly on people and projects the moment they get hard. I start but never finish. I am anything but patient and loyal.
Again, that has changed. Hmm, I wonder what happened? And my natural tendency is to be disorganized and slack.
But look who’s suddenly and significantly in self-control. That MUST be God’s Spirit at work in me. I certainly couldn't do that on my own.
Finally, the best way to allow God to have His work in my life and continue His divine fruit production is to keep my eyes locked on Jesus (Heb 12:2).
The moment I start looking in the mirror to see how I’m doing, I begin to fall in love with myself all over again.
This isn’t about me. This is about Jesus. When I stay focused on Him and connected to Him, God will have no problem producing His crop. Even in such worthless soil!
©2012
Jay Jennings
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