Grow Fruit Part 2 External Fruit
Grow Fruit Part 2: External Fruit
“Grow fruit” that is a task of a disciple of
Jesus. As a follower of Jesus, you are expected to grow fruit. If you are not
producing Kingdom Fruit, there is something wrong within your relationship with
God.
John 15:5 (NLT) & John 15:5 (MSG)
“Yes, I am
the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will
produce much fruit.” “When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation
intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant.”
“No fruit” is a warning to you; abundant fruit is
an assurance that you are following the example of Jesus. In part one, we
explored the internal fruit, empowered by the Holy Spirit the fruit results in
becoming more like Jesus. This fruit of the Spirit is the virtues of Jesus
Himself: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. The fruit
is an inner quality that has outward manifestations as we continue to grow deep
and grow up.
In part 2 we will consider external fruit, the
things that we do that bless the lives of others. Whereas the fruit of the
Spirit relates to who we are, the gifts of the Spirit relate to the things we
do. To be a disciple of Jesus is to serve, that service is the fruit that we
are exploring today.
Mark 10:45 (NLT) & John 13:17 (MSG)
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but
to serve others…” “If you understand what I'm telling you, act like it—and live
a blessed life.”
The gifts of the Spirit empower us to serve, to
encourage believers and to share the gospel with those who have not heard. What
you need to take away from this message is your life as a Christian is all
about serving others. If you are not
interested in using the resources and abilities God has blessed you with to
bless others, you are still immature in your faith.
We will first look at the Gifts of the Spirit and
then we will consider our natural aptitude and abilities that we have learned
that help us grow fruit.
“A gift of the Spirit is “a supernatural ability
or capacity given by God to enable the Christian to minister and to serve.” (Dunning,
https://dochr.org/2014/01/27/the-holy-spirit-and-his-gifts-part-i/).
Supernatural ability is a manifestation of
something outside our understanding of the laws of nature. If it’s natural we
expect it, we can understand it as we study it. Supernatural is unexpected and
defies our attempts to account for it. “In the scriptures, you will find four
passages in which lists these supernatural gifts:”
They are listed for you in your notes:
Rom.
12:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:4‑11; 1 Cor. 12:28; and Eph. 4:11… Other less important, but nevertheless
significant passages are 1 Cor. 1:5-7; 2 Cor. 8:7; 1 Thess. 5:20; 1 Tim. 4:14;
2 Tim. 1:6-7; Heb. 2:4: 1 Peter 4:10-11.” (Dunning, https://dochr.org/2014/01/27/the-holy-spirit-and-his-gifts-part-i/)
The passage from Romans lists 7 gifts: prophecy,
serving, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, and mercy.
1 Corinthians 12:8-10 passage lists and additional
8 gifts: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healings, miracles,
discernment, tongues and the interpretation of tongues.
Then Paul adds another 5 gifts in verses 28-30:
Apostle, Prophet, teacher, helps and administration. When Paul writes the
Ephesian believers he will add Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher.
As you read the scripture you will also find gifts
called Helps (1 Cor 12:28), martyrdom (1 Cor 13:3), Mercy (Rom 12:8), the
office of Missionary (Eph 3:6-8) and Voluntary Poverty (1 Cor 13:3).
In other places in scripture, there are abilities
and capacities that some consider being spiritual gifts: celibacy (1 Cor 7:7),
hospitality (1 Peter 4:9-10), intercession (Roman 8:26-27), craftsmanship (Ex
35:30-33), interpretation of dreams (Gen 43-50), and composing spiritual music,
poetry and prose.
It is not necessary to define these gifts for our
message today. They are supernatural impartations to accomplish God’s will. If
God has given you a gift the Holy Spirit will prompt you to use it if you are
following Jesus. In the older translations of scripture, the word “abiding”
paints that picture of an intimate and organic relationship, of following
Jesus.
The King James may have misinterpreted 1
Corinthians 12:31 rendering the Greek as “But covet earnestly the best gifts:
and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.” Even the more modern translation
the New International Version may have it wrong “But eagerly desire the greater
gifts.” It leaves the impression that we are to crave these gifts. This I feel
is incorrect. Besides who craves the gift of voluntary poverty? Like me, you
probably don’t think of voluntary poverty one of the best gifts. I have no
desire for the gift of martyrdom. I feel that Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase
gives us a clearer picture of what the author intends for us to understand.
Paul is talking about believers being the body of Christ and like in our human
bodies there are many parts that have very different functions, so it is with
God’s gifts in the Church. There seems to be a sense of competition amongst the
believers to proclaim they have a more important gift than another believer.
Paul’s teaching is to correct this kind of pride driven behavior
1 Corinthians 12:20-21 (MSG)
No part is important on its own. Can you imagine
Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling
Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"?
The rhetorical question, of course, is answered
no. Each person is necessary, they are given gifts and tasks to do by God
Himself for the benefit of others.
So Peterson paraphrases verse 31 to read: “And yet
some of you keep competing for so-called "important" parts. But now I
want to lay out a far better way for you”
(1 Cor 12:31 (MSG).
Paul then goes on to tell us that this better way
is LOVE.
1 Corinthians 13:3-7 (MSG)
“…no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I
do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for
others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't
strut, doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't
force itself on others, isn't always "me first,” doesn't fly off the
handle, doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others
grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts
God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the
end.
This is the secret to the gifts of the Spirit.
There giving and use is to manifest God’s love to others. Paul tells us we are
to love extravagantly (1 Corinthians 13:
13). To
reiterate, the gifts of the Spirit are a supernatural impartation, you do not
acquire any of them through natural means. They are given to you so that you
can be a blessing to others.
Now I will take a liberty and expand our
understanding of the Gifts of the Spirit to include the talents and abilities,
knowledge, wisdom and experience you have gained through natural means. You
redeem all your know-how for the Kingdom by using it to serve others. You
haven’t gone through all you have, learned what you have to keep it to
yourself, you are to use it to bless others.
1 Corinthians 12:7 (NLT) & Romans 12:6 (NIV)
“A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can
help each other.” “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.”
So we move from specific lists in Scripture to
more unique gifts, your gifts. These gifts involve your personality, your
aptitudes, your abilities. The skills you have acquired, trained yourself up
in. For me, one of the most prized of
gifts deals with listening and discernment. So many people are hurting and
really what they need is someone to listen to them and witness their suffering,
and God graciously brings resolution to the one listened to. Most people need
to be taught how to listen, and listening must be practiced so that the skill
is honed and becomes helpful to others. Listening is a gift even if it has to
be learned just as much as the supernatural gifting of a word of knowledge. There
is something that you can do to help others (Romans 12:6). Gifts help you to
love, to respect the other and seek to meet their need, doing so you bless
them, blessing others is the fruit you are expected to grow.
To produce fruit decide to be a blessing to
others.
Fear and a lack of confidence that is rooted in
your egoism keep you from producing fruit.
To grow up we have to starve out egoism, we have to move beyond being
controlled by what we want, when we want, the way we want, and allow the Holy
Spirit to guide us. In our faith community, the power of egoism to hijack your
best intentions is broken in the second work of grace. The first work is your
justification, the second work is your sanctification.
Are you ready for a little Wesleyan theology
lesson? It is God’s will that every person finds themselves in a right
relationship with Him. We are born estranged from God, we require something we
cannot do for ourselves, that something is reconciliation. Since we are born
estranged the Holy Spirit empowers each and every person with prevenient grace
that awakens us to our spiritual need to be connected to God and draws us to a
connecting experience. When we come to a place in our journey where we
acknowledge we are estranged because of the sin in our lives and believe the
gospel that Jesus died to make it possible for our sins to be forgiven and our estrangement
to God reconciled, we make a commitment to become a disciple of Jesus. When we
ask God to accept us as His own three things happen: God forgives us of our
sins, reconciles our estrangement to Him by adopting us into His family, and
indwells us through the Holy Spirit. This is what we mean by justification. In Jesus the Father finds grounds to justify
us and make us spiritually alive. We are declared right with God. Justification
is what we call that first work of grace. Acknowledge, Believe, Commit and Ask,
God will see the sincerity of your desire and you will experience justifying
grace.
Sanctification begins in the moment of
Justification. Sanctification describes the work of the Holy Spirit in
transforming us into the likeness of Jesus. God has declared you to be
righteous, sanctifying grace is the empowerment to make you so. As you mature
spiritually, as you grow up in the faith, you will come to recognize that there
is a conflict inside, a sort of civil war (Galatians 5:17). You desire to do
God’s will, sometimes you do, but sometimes you don’t, and when you don’t it
bothers you terribly.
Romans 7:15 (MSG)
What I don't understand about myself is that I
decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise.
[With a proper interpretation of this text we know
that Paul is describing the life of a person awakened by the Spirit and not
someone who is already a believer. This passage is often used to explain the
struggle a believer experiences prior to entire sanctification, I think we can
only do so with very strenuous qualifications.]
It is egoism that hijacks your God intentions and
you fail to accomplish what you know is God’s will. When the Holy Spirit
reveals this happening in your life, it is an invitation to acknowledge this
conflict between your will and God’s will. In acknowledging, you repent, you
want no more of this up and down, back and forth, roller coaster Christianity,
and you consecrate yourself to God’s purposes. For lack of a better term, we
say the Holy Spirit sanctifies you, breaks the power of egoism to hijack your
best intentions. Now when you are tempted, you find the power to choose to
follow God instead of being drawn away from God will. The old way of egoism
will kick and scream, but you are now the one who decides what you will do or
not do. Now fear and a lack of confidence cannot persuade you to keep to
yourself, to play the part of the quiet church mouse. We are admonished to be
active in caring for others.
Philippians 2:3-4 (MSG) & Philippians 2:4
(NIV)
“Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk
your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be
obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend
a helping hand.” “Each of you should look not only to your own interests but
also to the interests of others.”
Is there something keeping you from producing
fruit? Have you experienced God’s justifying grace believing the gospel? Do you
have an intimate and organic relationship with Jesus? Has the Holy Spirit
empowered you with sanctifying grace to break the power of egoism to hijack
your best intentions? If you would like to discuss your answers to those
questions I would enjoy dialoguing with you.
The things that you do to help others are the
fruit you are expected to grow. A task of a disciple of Jesus is to produce an
abundance of fruit. Kingdom fruit is harvested as you bless others with what
God has empowered you to do. To be a disciple of Jesus is to serve. God supernaturally equips us to serve, and
God has provided natural means for you and me to acquire skills to bless others.
Making a difference for others is the fruit you are expected to produce. What
is your harvest looking like?
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