Bearing Spiritual Fruit - Part 2

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Thanks to the generosity of our supporters. Your donation today means great podcasts like this remain available to help people look to God daily. Please make your donation today at vision.org.au Dr. David Jeremiah explains why producing spiritual fruit means more than just the things you say and do outwardly.

It includes your interior life as well. Listen as David introduces the conclusion of his message, Bearing Spiritual Fruit. Fruit is a wonderful passage of scripture, this John 15 passage. It just outlines what it means to be fruitful. The Bible says if we don't bear any fruit, we're not of him. So there's no such thing as being a fruitless Christian. If you're a Christian, you will bear some fruit.

Some people bear more fruit, and some people bear much fruit, but there's no such thing as a non-fruit Christian. You'll have to have some evidence. You'll have to have some evidence in your life that Christ is living within you. Right now, let's finish up what we started yesterday. We're talking about bearing spiritual fruit, and we're studying John 15.

Let's begin. What I see God doing in my life often is this. He puts some kind of testing in my life, and as I begin to try to figure out what it's all about, he puts his finger on some stuff that I'm doing that I don't need to be doing. It's not bad stuff.

It's just not productive stuff. He says, I want you to stop doing that and use your energy here. It seems to me that the Christian life is just one continual rehearsal after rehearsal of that particular play, because as you become more productive, more opportunities come, more things are available. If you're not careful, if you're a person who doesn't like to say no, like I don't like to say no, you say yes, yes, yes, yes, and here's what you learn.

Every time you say yes to something, you say no to something else. What God wants to do through the pruning process is he wants you to be more fruitful. If you're already bearing fruit, he will send some tests along the way to make you even more productive, and when that happens, what you do is you back up. Maybe you take a little personal retreat and you say, Lord God, help me to evaluate what's going on in my life. And Lord, you have permission to just take the divine shears and cut off those things that are not productive so that my energy can be flowing into the areas of my life.

And I need to tell you, I have gone through that process many times in my life and so have many of you. The reason fruit bearing is important is because it's the motivation behind God's pruning. The reason he sends discipline to our life quite often is so that we can be more productive. Sometimes he uses the difficulties in our lives to open doors so that we have a greater sense of productivity and ministry. So, that's the next reason why fruit bearing is important. It is the motivation behind God's discipline. Now, notice, fourthly, fruit bearing is the method of touching other people. Now, watch carefully and think with me through the logic of this. In the Bible, we're told that we're to bear fruit. Why? So that we can pick the fruit and eat it ourselves?

No. What you will find out in studying the scripture is that fruit bearing is totally other centered. It's not about you, it's about others. How do you minister to other people?

In just a few moments, we're going to talk about some ideas. But listen now, if you're a fruit bearing Christian, the fruit in your life is going to touch other people. The fruit in your life is going to make a difference in the lives of other people. Just take some of the fruit of the Spirit, love. Well, you know, unless you're some kind of a weird person, you don't cause all that love to be turned inward on yourself. What is the fruit of love? It's touching other people with love.

So, when you are a fruit bearing person, you touch other people. I read about a woman who was giving a testimonial talk about a first aid class where she had received her training. And she said, there was this terrible accident in front of my house. A man was lying there with bones splintered, rolling around in pools of blood, his arteries were severed. He was in a state of shock, but I remembered my first aid instructions that if I put my head between my knees, I wouldn't faint.

I put my head between my knees and I didn't faint, and I am so grateful I took this class. That's the way a lot of people think about their Christian life. That God gives you this ability and this fruit so you can consume it on yourself.

But here's what happens. If you're a productive Christian, you will not be self-centered. You will be Christ-centered and other-centered. Jesus first, others second, and you third.

J-O-Y. That's how you get joy in your Christian life. So, fruit bearing is important because it's the means you have, the methods you have of touching other people.

And then, let me give you another reason. I want you to really understand how important this is before we go through four or five ways that you are fruitful and productive according to the Word of God. It is the manifestation of Christ to the world. How does the world see Christ? Have any of you here ever seen Christ personally? I haven't. I don't think anyone has. You say, well, he appeared at the foot of my bed when I was in the hospital.

Well, thank God for that. If that's what you think, I'm not going to get in your head about that. But I'm just saying that Jesus Christ does not make personal manifestations in this particular time. How does he manifest himself? He manifests himself through Christians.

I remember reading a book one time that talked about the church. Is Christ body number two? His body number one is what he walked around in when he was on this earth when he went back to heaven. He said, now the church is my body. This is body number two. And it's through body number two that we manifest the presence of Christ in the world.

I was on a talk show in Dallas. I was a little nervous about it because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. But I've gotten to the place where I just pray this prayer, and Don and I pray this prayer. Oh, Lord God, help us to bring the presence of Christ into this situation.

Isn't that what we're called to do? And when you bear fruit, that's what you do. You take the presence of Christ, and what is fruit? It is everything that's Christ-like. If you're a fruit-bearing Christian, you're becoming more and more like Christ. So whatever you do in whatever situation you walk into, whatever environment you find yourself in, you are viewed as Christ by those people. Whatever Christ they know, they will know through you.

It is through your fruitfulness that you bring Christ into the situations of people's lives. Woodrow Wilson, former president of the United States, had a favorite limerick that went like this. He was not a very attractive person according to history. He used to recite this little poem.

It went like this. I know how ugly I are. I know my face ain't no star. But I don't mind it because I'm behind it. It's the fellow in front who gets the jar, you know? And that's kind of the way it is for a lot of Christians, isn't it?

It's the fellow in front who gets the jar. And I'm afraid that the many Christians who have never gone into the Word of God to find out what it says and to live what God says we're to live in terms of fruitfulness, I think sometimes to the watching world it's quite a jar. They hear us talk about being Christians, but sometimes they don't see much of Christ in us. And I say that humbly because it's true of me and I know it's true of all of us at one time or another. Amen?

Don't we all have to say that? That oftentimes in situations we don't exemplify the Spirit of Christ. Well, one last reason why this is important, and you might think, well, He's given the whole message on why it's important when He's going to talk about what it is. The last reason it's important is because it is the means of glorifying the Father. Notice what it says in John chapter 15 and verse 8, and this is so powerful in my mind. By this my Father is glorified, now watch this, that you bear much fruit so you will be my disciples. The Westminster Catechism, which many of you studied in churches, says that the first priority of man is to glorify God. But how many sermons have you ever heard about how to glorify God?

I've read a couple of books and I've heard a few sermons, but it's not talked about very much. And a lot of people just say, well, glorify God, but they don't tell you how. But here's a verse that tells you one thing you can do to glorify God. It says, by this my Father is glorified. How? That you bear much fruit.

What does that mean? That you become a productive Christian. When you are a productive Christian, you bring glory to the Father. Now, if being a productive Christian is being Christ-like, can't you see how that would bring glory to the Father? When you become like Christ, who is God the Father's son, you bring glory to the Father. Just think about it, parents.

Just think about it yourself. When was the last time somebody came up to you and said something good about one of your kids? Some of you are scratching your head and you're trying to remember how far back it was. But most of you have had that experience. You go someplace and your children are on display and someone comes up and says to you, boy, he's a fine young man.

She's a fine young woman. What happens to you? What happens to you when that takes place? Something swells up inside of you, doesn't it? Are you glorified in that process?

Amen. Because they're your product. They're the product of your parenting. Now watch. When we bear fruit, which is the Christ-likeness in our lives, we bring glory to the Father because people see in us that which he has imputed to us through his righteousness. And they see in us the evidence of our relationship to the Father. Oh, you must belong to God.

Wonderful. Well, you say, Pastor Jeremiah, what in the world does it mean to be fruitful? And I'm going to give you a little outline that I've written in the front of my Bible. And I hope you'll never forget it because while it doesn't cover all of the things that are involved in fruitfulness, it covers a lot of them. It's real easy to remember if you just follow through with me.

Here it is. First of all, it's character what you are. Fruit is character what you are. In Galatians chapter 5, we are told that we are to bear the fruit of the Spirit, right?

Are you guys with me on this? What is the fruit of the Spirit? It is love, joy, peace, gentleness, long-suffering, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, self-control. This is what happens when you're filled with the Spirit of God. This is how you are.

You're loving. You're filled with joy. So fruitfulness is, first of all, your character.

It's who you are. You say, how do I know if I'm a fruitful Christian? Well, do you have any of God's love and God's joy and God's kindness and God's gentleness and God's self-control given to you by the Holy Spirit? Do you have any evidence of that in your life? Well, if you do, that's one way to be fruitful. Fruitfulness is character what you are. Then secondly, fruitfulness is conduct what you do. You know, we do some things that demonstrate our fruitfulness. Over in the book of Romans, Paul writing to the Romans said, For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.

What fruit had you then in those things whereof you were now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been made free from sin and become servants to God, now watch this, you have your fruit unto holiness. What that means is that the things we do, it's not just who we are, but it's the conduct.

It's what we do. That's an evidence of our fruitfulness. You know, how we live, our conduct, our behavior, our lifestyle. Do you think a Christian's conduct, behavior, and lifestyle should be any different than those who don't know Christ?

Well, perhaps just a little bit here and there, don't you think? If there's evidence in your life that Jesus Christ has made his mark on you in the things that you do, that's another way to be fruitful. It's character, what you are.

It's conduct, what you do. And thirdly, it is... Now, you're going to think I made this up, but it's right here in the Bible. It's contributions, what you give. Did you know that the Bible tells us that when we give to God, that is fruit.

Did you know that? That's an evidence of our character and our conduct, the giving that we do to God. It says over in Romans chapter 15, Paul performed this thing and sealed it to them, and he sealed to them this fruit. He's talking about giving. When I put my check in an envelope and I give it to the church or to the things God has directed me to give it to, that is an evidence of my genuine Christ, because Christ is a giver, isn't he? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Christ is the epitome of giving.

When I give, according to the Scripture, I am evidencing my fruitfulness. You say, well, I've been a Christian all my life and I never have given a dime to the church. Well, you ought to worry about that. I don't worry about it, because it's not up to me to worry about it. But you ought to worry about it, because if you can be in love with Christ and in love with this church and never want to do anything to invest in it, something's wrong.

Why? The Bible says where your heart is, your treasure is. And the Bible says that when you contribute, you demonstrate your fruitfulness. And there are other Scriptures I could use to illustrate that, but for the sake of time, we'll go on to the next one.

It is not only character, what you are, and conduct, what you do, and contributions, what you give. It is communication, what you say. Now, watch what it says in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 15. Therefore, by him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Did you know that what you say is fruitful?

Did you know that? What's in your heart comes out in bucketfuls from your mouth. If you have Christ in your heart and you're trusting in the Holy Spirit to give you direction in your life, if Christ is in your heart, is it going to come out in your mouth?

Absolutely. It's going to change your speech. And here is the verse that's talking about giving praise to God. It's really a passage on worship. As you enter into worship, that's an evidence of your fruitfulness, your productivity as a Christian. Did you know that people who aren't Christians don't like to worship? Have you ever noticed that? But when Christ comes and he begins to change your life and make old things new, you just well up within sight, and you have to worship.

There's got to be an outlet for it. And that praise and that worship and that speech, according to the Bible, is fruitfulness. So it's character, what you are. It's conduct, what you do. It's contributions, what you give.

It's communication, what you say. And finally, and this is the one everybody always talks about first, it's converts who you win. Did you know the Bible says that when you win someone to Jesus Christ, that person becomes your fruit?

The evidence of your fruit. It says in Proverbs 11 30, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that win his souls is wise. Now I grew up in a church and in a culture where the only kind of fruitfulness anybody ever talked about was, have you won anybody to Jesus? Most people I knew couldn't answer that question very positively because they, number one, they never tried, and number two, they never succeeded.

How many of you know if you don't try, you don't usually succeed? And they never learned how. And a lot of times people won't witness because they're afraid. And so I went to churches often. I hear pastors get up and they make you feel so guilty if you hadn't won anybody to Jesus. And they would say that was the only way you can demonstrate that you're a Christian. Well, that's just not true. I've given you four other ways.

This is the fifth way. It's character, what you are. It's conduct, what you do. It's contributions, what you give. It's conversations, what you say. And it's converts, who you win.

Now let me just suggest something to you. If you do one, two, three, and four, I promise you somewhere along the way, five will happen. Amen?

Isn't that true? If we concentrate on five at the exclusion of one through four, quite often nothing happens. If you're trying to win people to Jesus Christ and your character, your conduct, your contributions, and your conversation is wrong, you aren't gonna be very productive. But if you understand that this is a well-rounded concept and basically the best way to define it is this, to be fruitful, to be productive is to be like Christ, to be Christ-like in your life.

And all five of these things and many more are a part of it. But if you are walking with the Lord and it's changed your character and you're walking with the Lord and it's changed your conduct and you're sensitive to the Lord and it's changed your spirit of generosity and you're walking with the Lord and your lips are now bearing the fruit of righteousness and praise and conversation, somewhere along the way somebody's gonna come up to you and say, why are you like you are? And the door will be wide open for you just in a humble way to tell them about Jesus Christ or invite them to come to your church or whatever. Now, you say, Pastor Jeremiah, I can only think of one person in my whole life that I know of that came to Christ because of anything I did. Let me remind you of something very powerful, that whenever you win someone and they're your fruit, in that fruit are the seeds of more fruit. Have you ever thought of that? In every piece of fruit there are seeds of more fruit.

If you took all of the seeds out of the fruit and planted them, you would have a multiplication of the fruit you are consuming. So every time you win someone to Christ, you have no idea what God's going to do. If you've only won one person to Christ in your whole life, maybe you've only influenced one person for Christ in your whole life, you have no idea what God might be up to in that person's life and I could give you illustration after illustration of people who went to the mission field. I think of a man by the name of Smith who went to Africa, George Smith, and after a very short mission to this country, he was forced to leave and he only led one person to Christ all the time he was on the mission field.

It was a very, very poor old woman. George Smith died a short time after that while on his knees praying for Africa and yet people say as they went back and studied it that from that one convert he won, an entire explosion of missions in Africa took place. It's not about keeping score. You know, sometimes, have you ever been around Christians? You think they take scalps? Have you ever noticed that? You know, how many did you win?

How many did you win? Well, it's really not about that. It's about being faithful to Almighty God, praying for the opportunities, but this is a very important message to go alongside of that because if our lives are not productive, if we're not living like we should, doing what we should do, saying what we should say, giving as we should give, and asking God to bless our lives when the opportunities come, we won't be prepared to take them. But when they do come, He may lead us to one person and who knows what could happen. Have you ever thought about who the person was that led Billy Graham to Christ or who the person was that led D.L. Moody to Christ or some of the other great evangelists? Maybe that's the only person they ever won, but through that one person, they won a whole world. So God is not calling us to take records and keep score but God is calling us to be productive.

Is that true? Does He call us to that? He's called us to that because that's the way we demonstrate who we are. That's the way we gauge our growth. That's the way we understand what God is doing in our life through the discipline that comes our way.

That's the way we can bring glory to His name. When we see in our lives the imprint of Jesus Christ, that's being fruitful, however great or small it may be. Is there any evidence of that in your life? Someone said one time, if you should be indicted as a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? And if there is no evidence in your life that Jesus Christ is a part of what's going on, maybe this would be a good day for you to really get serious about finding out whether or not you truly are a Christian.

Because I am absolutely convinced you can't be a Christian and not have some evidence of it somewhere. Doesn't mean you have to be a holy-ther-thou saint, perfect, nobody's perfect, especially the pastor. But it means that Jesus is making a difference in your life. Amen? He's making a difference in your life. Amen.

Amen. Well, I hope you are encouraged and strengthened and motivated now that you understand what it means to bear fruit as a Christian. Tomorrow we're going to look into the book of Colossians and we're going to discuss committing your life to growth. Right here on Turning Point, I hope you'll join us as we open our Bibles together to the third chapter of Colossians.

We'll see you right here tomorrow. Music Our message today originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Dr David Jeremiah, the Senior Pastor. Would you like to tell us how Turning Point ministers to you?

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