Be Fruit-full!

 

                                                                                                    

When God told Adam and Eve to “Be fruitful,” (Genesis 1:28), He was of course referring to having children. Yet I believe He also wanted the first husband and wife to have productive lives according to His will, tending to the beautiful garden and bountiful fruit trees, and having dominion over all the animals. 

Adam and Eve's disobedience and rebellion against God had severe consequences (Genesis 3). They were expelled from the garden; they had to work by the sweat of their brow just to eat, and they caused all mankind to be subject to the curse of sin, which is physical and spiritual death.

Thankfully, God had a plan for man's redemption since before the beginning of time. Jesus Christ, the perfect, sinless Lamb of God (John 1:29) and God Himself, came to earth in human form to die in our place, paying our sin debt in full. He then rose again on the third day, proving that He is God, and offering the gift of eternal life to all who trust Him as their Lord and Savior (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). 

Now that we are in this age of grace, we can also interpret “Be fruitful” to mean not only to be prolific and productive, but also to produce the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) so that people know we belong to Christ by our words, our works, our attitude, and our behavior (Luke 6:43-45).

When a man and woman marry, they have an opportunity for the light of Christ to shine, not only through each one individually, but through their new, combined family and community. Ideally, their marriage should portray the perfect union of Christ and His bride, the church (Ephesians 5:21-33). The wife should submit to her husband's Godly authority as the church submits to the perfect will of Christ. The husband should love his wife self-sacrificingly, even as Christ loved the church and died to save her.

For that to happen, each of the partners individually, and combined in the marriage, must have the fruit of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:9). This will keep us from the works of the flesh, which can destroy individual lives and a marriage through evil deeds and thoughts including adultery, hatred, anger, drunkenness, etc. It is a daily battle between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

We can’t work to produce the fruit of the Spirit. It is not naturally found within us, but it flows from us when we are saved, turn away from our sin, and put our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the only Way to Heaven. Then the Holy Spirit indwells us and produces this fruit, if we yield to Him and die to our sin nature (Galatians 5:14-16).

Love refers to “agape,” the self-sacrificing love best portrayed by Christ on the cross, shedding His blood to be the perfect sacrifice and complete payment for our sins (Matt. 26:27), and God the Father giving His only begotten Son so that sinners could be reconciled to Him (John 3:16). God is love, and if we know Him, we will love one another (I John 4:7-8)

Joy in the Lord can be constant even in times of trials and tribulation, no matter what the external circumstances. As born-again believers, we have reasons to be joyful (Philippians 4:4) – God loves us; He has forgiven our sins; He allows us the privilege of prayer 24/7, He has indwelled us with the Holy Spirit; He communicates with us through His Word; He has adopted us as His children and appointed us as His ambassadors, He will return for us, and we will live eternally with Him in Heaven (1 Peter 1:5-8).

Our peace, which passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7) comes from knowing that our sins are forgiven, that we are reconciled to God, that He works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28), and that we have eternal life in Him. (Romans 5:1-2)

The fruit of the Spirit we’ve spoken of so far are sweet and pleasant, but we can’t pick and choose which fruit of the Spirit we would like – they all come together when we are saved and the Holy Spirit indwells us. That’s why Paul refers to it as fruit of the Spirit, and not fruits of the Spirit. Some, like long-suffering, or patience, are not as pleasant, because they are the result of trials and tribulation (Romans 5: 3-5). 

But self-sacrificing love requires suffering, sometimes brought on by the one we love, or at least putting the other person’s needs ahead of our own. Self-sacrificing, agape love is patient, kind, seeking to meet the needs of the other person, always thinking the best of the other person, not expressing anger, being constant through all circumstances. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

The Greek word for gentleness in Galatians 5:22 is the same word which is translated kindness in 2 Corinthians 6:6. It means goodness, wanting to please others and to be pleased with what they do, mildness of temper, calmness of spirit, not easily flustered, polite, always putting the needs of others before your own (2 Corinthians 10:1, Psalm 18:35).

Goodness is another fruit of the Spirit expressing doing good for others, spiritually by educating them in the Word, and meeting their physical needs also (Romans 15:1-4; Exodus 34:6; Psalm 107:9).

Faith is the belief we must have in order to be saved and in order to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Our faith is in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Son of God, the perfect, holy sacrifice to pay for all our sins. In Galatians 5:22, the word “faith” also refers to trustworthiness, keeping your word and promises, keeping the secrets or confidences of others. God is faithful to keep His Word and His promises, and He is faithful and unchanging in His love for us, and we should strive to do the same (Psalm 119:90; Isaiah 25:1).

Believers are meek because their power and destiny are based on the indwelling Holy Spirit, not on their own strength, status, or circumstances (Matthew 5:5). Paul tells the believers that to be good ambassadors for Christ, they should be humble and meek, patient toward one another, and putting up with each other’s faults (Ephesians 4:1-2)

As Christians we have access to all the wisdom and power of God within us through the Holy Spirit, but when others ask us about it, we must answer meekly, not showing off that power, but sharing the truth with humility and love (1 Peter 3:15). Jesus could have summoned legions of angels to rescue Him from the cross and to destroy His enemies, but instead He went meekly like a sheep led to the slaughter.

If a wife who is saved is married to an unsaved husband, He may become saved through her meekness. He may see Christ in her not through displays of power, but because she lives a sanctified life, is submissive to the will of God and of her husband, and puts her husband's needs ahead of her own (1 Peter 3:1-4). In marriage, as in life, submission to the one in authority does not diminish our power but confirms it, and is pleasing to God.

Temperance means power or control over the sin nature, including tendencies toward sexual immorality, drinking alcohol, using other intoxicating substances, angry outbursts, and overindulgence. Galatians 5:23 says “Against such there is no law,” meaning that we will never get in trouble by using too much self-control. Temperance is a stepping stone to patience, godliness, and self-sacrificing love (2 Peter 1: 5-8).

All the fruit of the Spirit represent qualities of Jesus Christ Himself. The nine words emphasize different aspects of these qualities, but they are all interrelated and based on self-sacrificing love. Similarly, all the names of God emphasize His different attributes, but they all describe the same God. When we are saved, all these qualities enter our heart through the indwelling Holy Spirit, but we don’t always show these qualities because our sin nature fights against them.

In marriage as in life, we will show the fruit of the Spirit if we die to self and yield to the Holy Spirit, loving God and loving one another, doing His will and putting the needs of the other person ahead of our own. In a Christ-centered marriage, the wife can submit to her husband because the husband loves her completely and with a spirit of self-sacrifice.

Ephesians 5: 22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.

Copyright 2011 Laurie Collett

Edited, expanded, and reposted from the archives

Triplets of Spirit: Know, Seek, Find

 

Art by The Catholic Guy 2012

In God we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17: 28). We depend on Him completely for our very existence, whether we are unsaved (natural man), saved and yielded to the Holy Spirit (spiritual man), or saved but serving our own fleshly desires (carnal man; Romans 8:5-14; 1 Corinthians 2:14; 3:1).

These planes of being determine our eternal destiny: hell for the unsaved or natural man; Heaven with rewards for the spiritual man; and Heaven but with loss of rewards for the carnal man. But praise God, He does not want any to perish (2 Peter 3:9). He designed us in His image (Genesis 1:26) to want to know Him, to look for Him, and to find Him (Acts 17: 27).

That is why life before we were in Christ felt so empty, and why we continually looked for comfort in false religions (Jeremiah 7:9), humanistic philosophies (Colossians 2:8), and modern-day idols (Leviticus 26:1; 2 Kings 17:12; 1 Chronicles 16:26; etc.) such as money (1 Timothy 6:10), power, and substance abuse (Proverbs 20:1). But God made us, and we cannot ourselves make gods of gold, silver, or stone and expect them to have any power (Acts 17: 29; Habakkuk 2:19).

The day is coming when God will judge all those who misplaced their faith in false idols, rejecting His Son Whom God ordained and of Whom He gave proof to all men by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17: 31).

Before we were saved by placing our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6), we were children of the devil. Our spirit reflected the nature of Satan, who then was our spiritual father (John 8:44). But once we were saved, we were born again (John 3:3-8) as children of God (1 John 3:1), our spirit progressively shaped into His image during our earthly journey (Romans 12:2).

While we were still lost, we were dead in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:22), but when we are born again, He “quickens” us, or makes us alive (John 5:21; 6:63; Romans 4:17; 8:11), to walk in the Spirit (Romans 8:1,4; Galatians 5:16,25), as a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15), in newness of life (Romans 6:4).

When we are born again, He elevates us to a new plane of being. We are then born not of blood (for it is a spiritual and not a physical rebirth), nor of the will of the flesh or of man (for we are no longer motivated solely by our own desires), but of God (John 1:13). He gave us physical life; He gave us Spirit-filled life as we were born again; and He will make us perfectly into His image in our glorified bodies that we receive at the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:38-54).

Jesus said that we are to live or abide in Him, like the branches live on the vine, so that we can bear fruit and receive His blessings through prayer. If we abide in His love, we will love one another, and our joy in Him will be full (John 15:5-17).

God created each of us as a unique life (1 Peter 4:19), which we should offer back to Him as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). He sustains us with what we need to survive, grow and thrive through our earthly life (Psalm 55:22; 3:5), and He redeemed us from our sins to reconcile us to His Holy Self (Job 19:25; Psalm 19:14; Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

We should now move for His glory, not our own, as we go, baptize, and teach all nations (Matthew 28:19). We should now use our mouths not for idle words (Matthew 12:36), but to praise (Psalm 150:6; etc.), thank (1 Thessalonians 5:18; Ephesians 5:20), and pray to Him (1 Thessalonians 5:17). 

Our thoughts, words and deeds should encourage (Romans 12:15), exhort (Hebrews 3:13), and edify fellow believers (Romans 14:19; 15:2), for we have become His witnesses (Acts 1:8), colaborers (1 Corinthians 3:9), and ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20).

As we move in Him, He empowers us as soldiers (2 Timothy 2:3-4) to fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12); as athletes (1 Corinthians 9:24-25) to run with patience the race that He set before us (Hebrews 12:1); and as victors through Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57) to finish the course (2 Timothy 4:7). Whatever we do should be in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him (Colossians 3:17).

When we have our being in Him, our personhood is in His image. Our identity is now as God’s child (1 John 3:1), friend to Jesus (John 15:14), and Christ’s bride as a member of His church (Ephesians 5:23-32). In this status we have forgiveness of sins (justification; Romans 5:18), abundant life (sanctification; John 10:10; 1 Corinthians 1:30), and eternal life (glorification; John 3:16; Romans 8:17, 30).

As joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), we share in His inheritance, we receive a new name (Revelation 2:17), and He is preparing a mansion (John 14:2) for each of us! We even have a new address: in heavenly places with Christ during this life (Ephesians 1:3), present with the Lord in Heaven after physical death (2 Corinthians 5:8), and in the New Jerusalem throughout eternity (Revelation 21:2).

Praise God that in Him we live, move, and have our being! May we embrace new life as we are born again, be Spirit-moved as He guides our actions, and rest in our new identity in Him!

© 2015 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives