Fruit

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  AS the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so 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, he bears much fruit.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.  Just as the father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love (John 15:1-9)."

Often times 'fruit' is thought to be action or obedience; that fruit can be measured by how much we are serving God.  We make ourselves feel better by assessing the fruit in our lives such as; how many people we talked to, how often we read the bible, how often we go to church, how many times we don't do the things we know we aren't supposed to do.  We look at the outward manifestation that is obedience and feel either proud or ashamed by what we are 'producing'.  If our assessment of our works isn't as high as we think they ought to be, we respond by trying harder, finding ways to serve and express outward manifestations of God's presence in our lives. This type of mindset is that of slave, or someone under the law; but we are friends of God (John 15:15) and freed from the law (Galatians 2:19).

Scripture teaches that fruit is not an outward manifestation of service, but an inward manifestation of character.  "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness (Matthew 7:23).'" These people were obedient to service but still Jesus did not know them.  The gifts of the spirit are different than the fruit of the spirit.  God desires something more than obedience, something greater; He desires relationship. Looking again at the passage from John 15, God's command is, 'Abide in me and I will abide in you.'  A branch cannot force itself to produce fruit, rather its only job is to stay attached to the vine. When our main goal is to be with God, to seek his face and his presence, then we begin to produce true fruit.  

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23)."  Fruit has everything to do with our character, our very nature.  God doesn't want to create people who can serve and merely fulfill a purpose, rather he wants to transplant our very nature.  This is an uncomfortable reality, because it is easy for us to be obedient without having the heart of Jesus; in other words we are very good at faking it.  We can dance during the fast songs, raise our hands during the slow songs, know all the right answers, serve others, and fool everyone to think that we are good Christians that are close to God while never actually being transformed from within.  God doesn't want slaves, he wants new people that can be in relationship with him.  He calls us to be transformed by the power of Jesus, not just motivated by it. God wants to give us a new nature, not just a new appearance.

We can only be transformed into His likeness by being with Him.  That is why he calls us to abide in him and he will abide in us.  Likwise James 4:8 says, 'Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.' When we get close to the Fathers heart we are transformed into his likeness.  The closer we are the more we become like Him.  We need Him to renew our minds so that we no longer ask, 'How can I serve you', but instead state, 'God I want to know you'.  When God is the ultimate goal, when knowing him and being with him is our purpose in life, we become like Him and fruit is produced in is.  It just so happens that when our character does become like His that we begin to love like he loves, we have compassion on those he has compassion on, and we do what we see our father doing (John 5:19).  The 'fruit' we bear because of the intimacy we have with the father, results in outward manifestations of love and service, not the other way around. 

Do you want God to change your character? Do you actually want to be like Jesus?  Ask yourself if this is really your hearts desire.  Or do you just want to get by, to do what you think you need to in order to gain his approval? Do you only want to control your actions by being obedient, or be radically stripped and transformed by the presence of God?  Do you want to know God or merely serve Him? Paul says he does not want a righteousness that comes from the law but that come through Faith in Jesus (Philippians 3:9).

John 15 expresses the depths to which God goes to make our character like His own.  Not only will he cut away branches in us that do not bear fruit, but even the branches that do bear fruit he will prune.  Even our semi-good branches need refining.  Romans 5 shows how some character attributes can only be given through suffering; if his image in us is our ultimate goal then we rejoice in our suffering.  "We exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through he Holy Spirit who has given to us (Romans 5:3-5)."  When we have true fruit as our goal, that is transformation from being in His presence, then we will exalt in our suffering!! That is a crazy transformation of the mind that can only be achieved by spending time with God! If we are obedience minded then we will always take suffering as a setback rather than an opportunity to know God and be known by Him. 

God we want to know you, give us your heart, your mind, and more of your Holy Spirit.  Strip away the dead branches in our lives, and prune the ones that already bear fruit.  Let our relationship be known by our fruit, that is the fruit of the spirit.

 If I am producing things contrary to the Spirit it is a reflection of my lack of intimacy with the father.  If I am naturally producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, this is a reflection of the intimacy that I have with Him.  There is no middle ground, either I am spending time with my Father and as a result being pruned and cut to produce the fruit of the Spirit, or He does not know me and I am producing things contrary to the Spirit.  My outward actions can disguise the inward character. The true mark of our character is what we do and think about when we are all by ourselves.  What do you produce when you are alone?

"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits.  Grapes are not gathered form thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  So then, you will know them by their fruits."