The Fallacy of the American Dream - Part 2

To be fruitful, not fruity!

Let’s take a stroll through the New Testament and read a little of what the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit have to say on the subject of fruitfulness.

Matt 3:7-9 But when John the Baptist saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. NIV

John had a way with words. He didn’t mince them. He was so consumed with zeal to prepare the people for the coming of the Lamb of God that he did not put up with any foolishness especially hypocrisy. If we say that we repent (turn around and away from what we were doing wrong and do what is right), then it should be evident in our life, our walk and our demeanor. It should be easily seen and recognized by those who encounter us. In other words, our lives should bear the fruit of our repentance.

John’s problem with Pharisees, the equivalent of our religious leadership today, was that they wanted to do all the right things to be seen by all the right people who would then in turn think the right thoughts about them even though there was nothing right in them. They were doing and saying all the nice religious things (putting out leaves) but they were filled with death.[i]

Matt 7:15-20 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. NIV

False prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing, coming to feed upon not feed the flock. The problem here is that they are gifted from the Father. This gifting is not revoked because of their eating habits.[ii] False prophets, false shepherds[iii] and their ilk hone their gifting to perfection because they must operate without anointing. This produces incredible results – large crusades, many healings, even confessions for salvation. But they do not produce good fruit - remember, that stuff that lasts forever. Unfortunately, these men and women seldom allow anyone to get close except for their “inner circle”. For if anyone did take a good, close look, they would be disappointed in the lack of fruit on that tree – lots of leaves (results) but no fruit.

Matt 12:33-37 "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." NIV

Luke 6:43-45 "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. NIV

There is good news and then there is bad news. First the bad news, whatever is in your heart is going to come out. Now the good news, whatever is in your heart is going to come out. What makes this revelation good or bad is not the revelation but the contents of what is being revealed – the heart. If our hearts are consumed with zeal for the Father’s house as were both John the Baptist and Jesus, when we speak it will be life. It will be fruit that nourishes and reproduces. However, if we are self-absorbed or interested more in what we can get than what we can give, this will reveal itself out of our own mouths as well.

John 15:1-9 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. NIV

Here, again, we see the result of not bearing fruit – you get cut off. Our difficulty with this lies in the timing. We want the cutting off to take place now but the Father has other ideas, which we will get to later. Depending on the condition of our fruitfulness, not fruitiness (Spirituality is not demonstrated in “spookiness”. This is not Casper the ghost.), the Father responds to either eradicate or irrigate. He will either bring the judgment that results in fire or discipline that results in maturity. We cannot bear fruit unless we remain connected to the Vine – Jesus. Connected to the Vine is not a casual, once a week for an hour, greeting as you pass on the way to the restroom kind of thing. It is an all-encompassing, totally absorbing hunger that will not be satiated by anything or anyone other than God.

Another interesting thing about fruit verses leaves: Fruit brings glory to the Father. Leaves or results bring glory to the tree or the one with the gift. Jesus states in this passage in John that it brings the Father glory for us to bear fruit and that we show ourselves to be His disciples if we bear much fruit. Not that we skimp along and just eek out a crop but that we bear much fruit. This puts me in mind of several other principles in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus defines the criteria by which all the world will know that we are His disciples and by which the world will know that He was indeed sent from the Father.

John 13:34-35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." NIV

John 17:20-23 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. NIV

All the world will know that we are the true devoted ones (disciples) of Jesus by our love for one another, not by the size of our sanctuary, or the number of times we are on television or even by the effectiveness of our programs. By the way, as we will see in a moment, love is fruit not leaves. Also, how will the world finally know that Jesus was sent from the Father? Will it be by the number of flyers for an upcoming crusade that we mailed out? Or will it be by the height of our steeple? (I know of a place where the churches actually tried to outdo one another in steeple height.) None of this will do it. Some of it may be useful, eventually, but the only thing that will accomplish this desire of the Father’s heart is the unity of His children. This unity will not be the result of some program or ministerial fellowship, but will occur when God’s people start bearing fruit, the peaceful fruit of righteousness.[iv] This cannot be programmed or legislated, nor will it be the product of a system. It can only be birthed out of relationships, relationships that bear fruit.

Not results but fruit!

In his letter to the church at Galatia…

Let me pause here for just a moment and make this comment. When Paul wrote these letters to the churches in these cities, there was only one church per city though it may have been meeting in a variety of homes or locations. If Paul were to write to the church in our city, first, he wouldn’t know where to send it. Secondly, the chances of a local assembly of people who call themselves Christians sharing that letter with the rest are pretty slim. The exception to that would be that they might schedule a seminar to present their idea of what the author was saying, for a fee. Paul would be appalled.

Continuing where I left off, in this letter, Paul encourages the Christians in Galatia and us, today, to walk in the Spirit as a way to keep from walking in the flesh. As someone put it once, “If you do the dos, you don’t have to worry about doing the don’ts.” He lists for us the works or the results of walking in the flesh and then simply states,

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”[v]

The fruit, the byproduct, of walking in the Spirit and not fulfilling the appetites of the flesh, is a life-giving cornucopia that has eternal benefit. Because it reflects the nature of Christ, it is what we shall ultimately become for when we see Him, we shall be like Him for we will see Him as He is.[vi] Without this fruit, anything and everything that we do is useless in the light of eternity.

Going back to the apostle Paul, he tells us very clearly that we can have all the spiritual gifts operating in and through our lives but unless the results (gifts) are accompanied by love (fruit), it is just a bunch of noise. If I can do the miraculous, and teach the very mysteries of God in a 16 part video series for only $49.95 but do not love, but am not laying down my life for His friends, I am of no importance in the Kingdom. I can even go so far as to establish a citywide feeding program for the homeless out of my own pocket, but unless I am bearing the fruit of love, it is an exercise in futility as far as eternity is concerned.[vii]

At the end of this teaching I have attached a fictitious letter from a missions board responding to the Apostle Paul’s application for appointment with them to the foreign field. I encourage you to read it through, keeping in mind that by the present-day standards of success in America, Paul would not be getting much television time.

---

[i] Matthew 23:27

[ii] Romans 11:29

[iii] Read Ezekiel 34 for a comparison of the false and true shepherds.

[iv] Philippians 1:9-11

[v] Galatians 5:22-23

[vi] 1 John 3:2

[vii] 1 Corinthians 13:1-3