HOw to Bear Fruit by Meowmom

8/3/2019 HOw to Bear Fruit by Meowmom

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How to Bear Fruit ~ Christian Characterhttp://www.eons.com/blogs/entry/399112-How-to-Bear-Fruit-Christian-%20Character

posted over 4 years ago, updated 10 days later

What is growing in the Christian life all about? It begins with having a personal relationship with God,through accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It also involves learning about Jesus' character andmodeling our life after Him. Growing in character is referred to in the bible as bearing fruit.

In Johns gospel, Jesus said:

John 15:16"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and thatyour fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

Also Paul said in Romans 7:4 :Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that youmay be married to another to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

In the parable of the sower Jesus speaks about four categories of those that hear the Word. In thesecond and the third category were those ones that became unfruitful, while in the last one, in thecommendable one, is the one who hears the Word and understand it who indeed bears fruit andproduces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." (Matthew 13:23).

What God therefore intended for Christians was not just to believe but not change. To just be the same

kind of tree or to give the same kind of fruit they were giving before. Our fruitfulness does matter toGod. Let me repeat this: it is not Gods intention that you just flow through life. God created you aunique creature, He gifted YOU, yes you, uniquely, and he commissioned you to do one thing: to goforth and bring fruit.

We will soon see how this is done, but keep this in mind. God has gifted each and every child of Him,from the youngest to the oldest, from the poorest to the richest, from the illiterate to the most educated,He has gifted them uniquely and desires from them to bear much fruit. Here is what the Lord said,again in John 15:
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John 15:8By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit;

and John 15:1-2"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser..every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it

may bear more fruit.

The Father rejoices when His children produce fruit. See that He takes special care to prune, to cleanse,those that bring fruit so that they bring more! The Father does not want to just have vine branches He wants to have fruitful branches, no, ABOUNDANTLY fruitful branches, branches that give fruit totheir full potential.

Today many Christians are sitting idle in the sidelines, waiting for somebody else to run the show forthem. A professional, as they are not professionals. But Peter and the others - most of themfishermen - of the first century were not professionals in this sense. They didnt graduate from anyseminary nor did they need to! The only degree they had was the one in fishing!

There are others again that though they have believed, you can really see no change in their life. ButChristian life without change, Christian life without fruit is an oxymoron. And I dont mean with thisthat passionate Christians with zeal for God and His Word do not make mistakes. They do! Butpassionate Christians deny the call of the masses, that says follow the flow it is enough to go onSundays to church building, sit in a pew, sing songs and hear sermons, then go back home and forgetabout it till next Sunday.

Passionate Christians do not compromise. They do not settle for less. They look to God and they wantto grow in Him. They want to get closer and closer to Him and His Son. They want to manifest Christas much as possible in their lives. Passionate Christians have passion for fruit and vision for Christ.And the news is that God wants you to be one of them.

To be A PASSIONATE CHRISTIAN, or to say it differently, a Christian with passion for God. A warmone, not a lukewarm one (Revelation 3:15). To be a fruitful branch, blossoming and giving fruit in itsfull potential. This is what the Christian life is all about.

Fruit: What is it?Putting it simply I would say that fruit is a changed life, a Christ centred life, a life where we have diedto ourselves so that Christ will live through us (Galatians 2:19-20). A life that seeks to satisfy Godrather than self or people. A life whose central theme, focus and priority is God. Lets see what theScripture says:

Galatians 5:22-25But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, selfcontrol. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christs have crucified theflesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

By spirit here is meant the new man, Christ in us. Living according to the new man we produce theabove given fruit, the character the new man, Christ, has. And in Ephesians 2:10 we read:


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Ephesians 2:10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehandthat we should walk in them.

God has already prepared the good works in which we should walk; He has already gifted each one usuniquely, like a tree planted and destined to make fruit. All that we have to do is to walk in what Godhas already prepared. Doing this is destined to please the Father and bring forth fruit. Also I Peter 4:7-11 tells us:

I Peter 4: 7-11But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above allthings have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins." Be hospitable to oneanother without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewardsof the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyoneministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorifiedthrough Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

There are various things that this passage instructs to be. Be watchful in prayers. Have fervent lovefor one another. Be hospitable without grumbling. See also that it says that each one of us has receiveda gift from God. God has gifted uniquely each and every one of His children. As each of the body partsare unique and placed there with a function, so also each one of us: we have been placed by God in thebody of Christ, the church, and we have been gifted uniquely to function there (I Corinthians 12:12-27).

And what Peter tells us here is simply one thing: FUNCTION! God has not gifted certain individualsonly; He has not gifted just your pastor or priest. This passage does not refer to a specific group ofpeople within the Christian community. In contrast it refers to all Christians, including you! See alsothat it says minister it to one another. This gift was not given to lay dormant! It was given forministering to one another. I minister to you, you minister to me.

Today we are using the word minister, to describe somebody with a rather clerical role. So the pastoror priest in the local community of believers is called minister. Is he the only one that is supposed tominister, while all others that are not pastors or priests or generally in a clerical role are supposed onlyto be ministered, yet never to minister? This is the idea that implicitly or explicitly seems to be residentin many minds. Well, the news is that this is not an idea that originated in God nor is it an ideasupported by the Scriptures!

The idea the Scriptures promote is the following: each one of us has uniquely been gifted by God andhas uniquely be placed in the body of Christ. There is no such thing as clergy and laity in the Scripture.As the Scripture tells us, all of us are priests to God. See how wonderfully Peter puts it:

I Peter 2:9But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you


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may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

and I Peter 2:5you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritualsacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Each one of us is expected to function in his gift, ministering to one another. What I Peter 4:7-11 tellsus is get busy with what God has gifted you with. Focus on your gift and exercise it. It is not a matterof whether you have a ministry or not, because you do have one! This is a fact! And what Peter saysis, get busy with it, get busy ministering according to your gift.

Again however though the above are fruits and it may appear that by getting busy doing or walking wewill produce fruit, this is not the whole picture. Getting-busy-doing our gifting presupposes a livingrelationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. As Philippians 1:9-11 tells us:

Philippians 1:9-11And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, thatyou may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the dayof Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praiseof God.

The fruits of righteousness are by Jesus Christ not by our power. In addition their result is the gloryand praise of God. As Jesus explains in John 15, He is the vine and we are the branches:

John 15:4-5, 8"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neithercan you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I inhim, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."By this My Father is glorified, that youbear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Bringing forth fruit, presupposes that we are abiding in the Vine. And we are not the Vine. Christ is! Weare the branches. It is impossible for a branch to bring forth fruit, unless it abides in the vine. So alsowith us. It is our union with Christ, that can make us, the branches, to bring forth fruit. The branchesare in this case nothing else than a way for the vine to bring fruit. As we are abiding in Christ, He willbe manifested through us; the Vine will live through us and will produce fruit.

Ministering and pursuing the good works that God prepared for us presupposes therefore a passionaterelationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we want to please. The focus is not so much on theworks themselves but in Christ, and through our union with Christ, as we are abiding in Christ, byJesus Christ as Philippians said, the fruit is coming forth.

Moving a little further on this, Christ spoke of false prophets and He said that we will know them bytheir fruit.


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Matthew 7:15-20"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheeps clothing, but inwardly they are ravenouswolves. "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs fromthistles? "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. "A good tree cannotbear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down

and thrown into the fire. "Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

The Word speaks of false prophets (Matthew 7:15), false Christs (Matthew 24:24), false apostles (2Corinthians 11:13), false brethren (Galatians 2:4, 2 Corinthians 11:20), false teachers (2 Peter 2:1),deceitful workers (2 Corinthians 11:13). There is something to know people such as these ones and thisis fruit! And good fruit can only come by Jesus Christ. Any other tree, though it may speak aboutGod or even Christ, can only produce false fruit.

I would like therefore to encourage you my dear brother and sister to pursue God with all your heart; topassionately pursue to grow in your relationship with our living Lord and then get busy doing whateverHe has prepared for you. The fruit of the spirit, is called like this because the tree is the Spirit, the newnature, Christ in us. Abide in Christ for He who abides in Christ and Christ in him can only bring forthone thing: much fruit!

Rerence: The Journal of Bible Accuracy

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HOw to Bear Fruit by Meowmom