What is a Fruitful Christian and How Do We become One?
Nov 05, 2023
Bentley Baptist Church
Pr Alex Huggett
In this message we uncover the four types of fruit that Jesus seeks in us . These aren't just abstract concepts - they're the tangible evidence of God working within us, shaping our character and actions. We challenge ourselves and consider the space we've created for Christ in our lives. It's through this connection, this room we make for Him, that we can be fruitful in God's kingdom, and this episode will give you a fresh perspective on how to do just that.
In this message we uncover the four types of fruit that Jesus seeks in us . These aren't just abstract concepts - they're the tangible evidence of God working within us, shaping our character and actions. We challenge ourselves and consider the space we've created for Christ in our lives. It's through this connection, this room we make for Him, that we can be fruitful in God's kingdom, and this episode will give you a fresh perspective on how to do just that.
I'm not much of a gardener, but I've dabbled at different times, and I once tried growing zikinis, and we had a great harvest. It was so bountiful I thought I'll do it again. But when I tried again, no such luck. I tried everything I fertilized, I watered, I even hand pollinated the flowers, but nothing, and so in the end I had to pull up the plants.
Alex Huggett:
n our reading today, jesus said I appointed you to go and produce fruit, and in fact, being fruitful is so important to God that he said every branch in me that does not produce fruit, the Father removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. Jesus wants us to be fruitful Christians, but what does it mean? What does it mean to be fruitful in the kingdom of God? What sort of fruit are we meant to bear? What does that look like? What do you think? Well, fortunately, the New Testament has a thing or two to say about fruit and bearing fruit, and there are four types of fruit that Jesus is seeking in us. But before we look at them, let's just take a moment to pray. So, father, as we've heard your word this morning and as we come to just reflect on it now. I pray that you will guide my words, open our hearts to receive your word, and, father, may our lives be transformed by it and may we bear fruit as your people, In Jesus' name, amen. Well, when you think of bearing fruit, maybe, like me, your mind goes to Galatians 5, verse 22. And I do need to apologize I had slides for this morning but we had some technical issues. But Galatians 5, 22,. Don't worry about going there now We'll be looking at a number of verses, but there Paul writes about the fruit of the Spirit and he calls these love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Alex Huggett:
So what are the fruits of the Spirit? The fruit of the Spirit is the product of the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts, changing our lives. The fruit of the Spirit is the evidence that God is in dwelling us through His Spirit, living within us and changing our hearts. I didn't need to apologize, thank you. Fruit of the Spirit the work of God in our lives. Now, this isn't the only place we read about this sort of fruit, the fruit of a certain character and disposition.
Alex Huggett:
In Romans 6, chapter 6, verse 22,. Paul says we gain the fruit of sanctification, or holiness, when we're set free from sin and become servants of God. But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification and the outcome is eternal life. Now, whenever we read that we're sanctified, which just means we're made holy, there are two aspects to this, and one is that we're set apart for God. We are holy because we belong to a holy God. It's as simple as that. That's regardless of anything we do. If you are a Christian here today, you belong to God and you are holy before Him. But being holy brings a certain responsibility, also brings again a certain transformation, that we are bearing the fruit of sanctification and so we start to act in holy ways. That fruit putting off sin and putting on righteousness, and then righteousness itself is another fruit that God desires.
Alex Huggett:
Philippians 1, verses 9 to 11, and I pray this that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Well, what is the fruit of righteousness? Well, it's everything we've been looking at, but Paul particularly says knowledge of discernment to approve the things that are superior, the things that lead to purity and blamelessness before Christ. And this is what, in Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 8 to 10, paul calls the fruit of light, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness and truth, testing what is pleasing to the Lord. And so do you see how this works. You are light, and so the way you live should shine.
Alex Huggett:
Lifestyle, the way we live, flows from our identity in Christ, and so we see these cluster of fruits which all sort of point back to the same thing the fruit of the Spirit, the work of God in our lives, the fruit of sanctification, which is really the work of God in our lives, the fruit of righteousness and the fruit of the light. It's all God working in our lives, isn't it? But God in us, changing us and so that our life becomes consistent with His. And we might call this cluster of fruit, although it's the work of God in our lives, first and last, it actually results in good character, the way we act, the way we speak and conduct ourselves, and it's something God does in us, changes our hearts so that it affects the way we live. And so the first question this morning, as we consider bearing good fruit, is this how is your character before God? Are you bearing the good fruit of Godly character, of the Spirit, of sanctification, of righteousness, of the light? Well, a very closely related fruit to the fruit of good character and we've sort of been alluding to this is what John the Baptist called the fruit of repentance in Luke, chapter 3, verse 8. And in this he gives this an ominous warning produce fruit consistent with repentance. The act is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire, similar to what Jesus said. What, then, should we do? The crowds were asking him, and he replied to them the one who has two shirts must share with someone who has none, and the one who has food must do the same. Now, notice here that John doesn't only tell people to stop doing things, he will tell people to stop doing things. I left those verses out because I want to make this point here. But he also tells them to start doing things, and in this case it's notably sharing.
Alex Huggett:
Sometimes, as Christians, it's really easy for us to focus on the things we should not do and a Christian is someone who doesn't do bad things, and that is actually true. But we shouldn't and we shouldn't sin. We shouldn't sleep around, we shouldn't steal or cheat or lie, because sin leads to death and we are people of life. But Jesus didn't simply say don't sin. The fruit he seeks is the fruit of doing good. It's the fruit of good works, as Paul calls it in Colossians, chapter one, verse 10, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. And so, as we, the fruit we've been looking at has a very practical outcome.
Alex Huggett:
The fruit of the Spirit is love, and what are we commanded to do? We are commanded to love one another. The fruit of the Spirit is peace, and Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers. And don't we need peacemakers in our world today? The fruit of the Spirit is patience, and the Scriptures tell us to be patient with those who are weak. The fruit of the Spirit is kindness, and Jesus said blessed are the merciful. And Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 10, says For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared ahead of us to do. So God has good works for you to do, good things he wants you to do. Do you know what they are? Are you bearing the fruit of good works? Well, very briefly, there's two more sorts of good works I want to talk about, slightly different, because godly character and good works aren't the only kinds of fruit that Jesus seeks.
Alex Huggett:
And in Colossians, chapter 1, verse 6, paul says the Gospel is bearing fruit. All over the world People are becoming followers of Jesus. And in John, chapter 4, verses 34 to 36, jesus said to his disciples my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. Don't you say there are still four more months and then comes the harvest. Listen to what I'm telling you. Open your eyes and look at the fields, because they are ready for harvest. The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper can rejoice together. Harvest fields are so ready. Jesus said that the reapers and the sowers can barely keep up with one another. And Jesus' great joy is to see the fruit of the Gospel being harvested, to see people won for the kingdom of God, souls being saved for eternal life.
Alex Huggett:
And Francis leaves us with a very potent but very simple challenge Are we bearing the fruit of the Gospel? Are we telling people the good news about Jesus and the kingdom of God, and are we seeing people become followers of Jesus? Are we seeing souls won for the kingdom of God? Are we bearing the fruit of the Gospel? Well, there's one final kind of fruit that the New Testament talks about Hebrews, chapter 13, verses 14 to 15, says we do not have an enduring city here. Instead, we seek the one that is to come. Therefore, through Him, let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise. That is the fruit of lips that confesses name. So the fruit of praise is the response of the Christian who has their hope fixed on that eternal city, the New Jerusalem, where God dwells with His people.
Alex Huggett:
We live in troubled times, don't we? And some of you have first hand experience of that trouble. I grew up during the Cold War, when people thought we were on the brink of World War III and nuclear annihilation. Let me tell you, this year feels far more of a danger of that than it did in the 1980s when I was growing up. But Christians are a people who seek the good of this world, and that's true. We seek good now, but our hope is not now. Our hope is the life to come, and that's where our hearts are set. We look to the world to come as our final home. We work for world peace, but our hope is not in world peace now, but in the Prince of peace for all eternity.
Alex Huggett:
And as we bear the fruit of Godly character and good works and the gospel, so the fruit of praise to our awesome God increases. Friends, do your lives reflect this? Do your lives bear the fruit of praise? Praise a feature of your life as you pray and meditate on the things of God. And, of course, if you come to church, we praise God when we're here. But praising God isn't just the music we sing or the prayers we pray in church. It's a disposition, a sort of a leaning into God and the way we live once again.
Alex Huggett:
So Jesus is looking for fruit from His people, the fruit of the Spirit and Godly character, the fruit of good works, the fruit of the Gospel, the fruit of praise, and say how are you doing? Are you bearing good fruit? And maybe you're thinking actually, tick, tick, tick, tick, I'm doing pretty good, just remembering that if you are, that's the work of God in you, it's not you doing it, it's the overflow, and that's great. But maybe, like me, you probably feel a bit more mixed. You know, sometimes the fruit looks OK, sometimes I'm not so sure.
Alex Huggett:
So the question is, how do we become more fruitful then? How do we bear better fruit? Well, one of the things I've noticed about gardening is that my plants really don't have a choice in what sort of fruit they bear. My bad zucchini is not withstanding Plants just sort of grow and, depending where they are, decides what sort of fruit they bear. It's the conditions. My zucchini plants can't decide to be fruitful, it just happens when usually they have fertile soil, sunshine, water and the right pollinators, when the conditions are right. And it's the same for us. But we're not quite as passive as my zucchini plants, because Jesus says there is something we can do to be more fruitful, and it's not to try harder to be more fruitful, it's to put ourselves in the right place where we can bear fruit.
Alex Huggett:
So let's read John, chapter 15 again, just verses 4 to 8. He says remain in me and I in you, just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine. Neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire and they're burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples. What word pops up again and again and again remain in me. Maybe some of the other translations have a bide in me.
Alex Huggett:
When we abide in Christ, we will abound in fruitfulness, and so if you don't feel like you're abounding in good fruit, as Christ wants to, you wants you to be, here's the key and the question for us Really not. Are you bearing fruit? That's a symptom. Are you abiding in Christ? Have you created space in your life, your time and your attention for Christ to remain in you? And he says, for my word, his teaching, his gospel to remain in me? Is your heart prepared like the good soil that Jesus talks about in the parable of the flower, the four different kinds of soil where some produces a pretty pathetic crop but some produces a fruitful crop? Or are your roots planted, in his word, like a tree besides streams of water, like he talks about in Psalm 1? Remain in Christ and let him dwell in you, and you will bear fruit.
Alex Huggett:
Jesus has appointed us to bear fruit, so let's be a people who abide in him, so that we may abound in fruitfulness. Let's pray, and then I'm going to invite you, ahi, to come and just give a summary of that, if he's brave enough to do so In Korean. Father, we thank you that you have called us to a very simple process of being fruitful. Lord, I pray that you will just challenge us in the coming week to take stock of our lives and where we have perhaps gotten so busy or distracted that we don't have time for you. Lord, help us to repent and create that space so that we can abide in you and you in us. So where we've become disappointed, perhaps just tired, please help us to find our rest in you, because in resting in you that's where we abide, in you and, lord, you do the work in us to make our lives fruitful. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.