Are You Fruity?

There is the story of the little boy who used to escape his bedroom after being punished. He would crawl out of his bedroom window down an old fruit tree to the ground. One day his father told him he was going to chop down the fruit tree because it hadn’t borne any fruit for a number of years.

That evening, the boy and his friend bought a bushel of apples, and during the  night he tied those apples on the barren branches. The next morning , the man could not believe his eyes.  He said to his wife, “Honey, I just can’t believe it! That old tree hasn’t yielded any fruit for years, and now it is covered in apples. And, the most amazing thing is that it’s a pear tree. “

Our scripture is Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these thing!

The first thing to understand is:

• Only the HOLY SPIRIT can produce this kind of fruit.

As we learned over the past couple of months we can pretend to do these things

• We can pretend to love others
• We can pretend to have joy
• We can pretend to have patience
• We can pretend to be good
• We can pretend to be faithful
• We can pretend to be gentle
• We can pretend to have self-control.

The reality is only the HOLY SPIRIT can produce this fruit in our lives. No amount of human energy can produce this kind of fruit. You can try all you want. And keep trying all you want. The scriptures teach us we will always fall short. We can produce, cars, cell phones, and many other things.  But we cannot produce only what God can produce.

I am convinced  that God is not concerned about what we produce in this life. He says it is all filthy rags. If you remember from a few weeks ago Paul says they are all garbage compared to knowing Christ.

We want to produce:

• Good careers
• Good life
• Good children
• Good behaviors
• Good money

There is nothing wrong with any of those.  As I read the scriptures, I am learning that   God is not concerned with producing those things. Sinners and saints alike can produce those things. God wants to produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These things are what are important to Him.

How many of you have ever prayed for more patience? Have you ever wondered why you never get it? We usually pray, “Lord, give me patience; and give it to me right now!” We want it right now! I think we know this but It can’t happen, “right now!”

It can only be produced in you by the HOLY SPIRIT.

Children bring out the best and the worst in us. Having 5 kids – each one of them has helped me realize where I fall short. Each one of them has put me to the test. They have an uncanny way of bringing to the surface, areas that I need the Holy Spirit to produce in me. They also help me realize that we can’t produce this kind of fruit.

I have also learned that you can’t compartmentalize the fruit of the Spirit – they all work together. We can just say that I am going to work on patience today or that I am going to just work on gentleness today.

We pray for patience as if it is separated from the rest.  They are all intertwined. Take notice that it is the fruit of the spirit – Not fruits. They are all intertwined. Each one of them effects the others. They work together.

God wants to produce the fruit of the Spirit in us. It all goes together.  Each one affects the other. Producing fruit takes time. Just look at the amazing garden here at the church. Each seed has to die  to produce fruit.

It has to be planted, watered, weeded,  and picked. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could plant a garden and the next day – you had fresh fruit and vegetables. They haven’t yet figured out how to microwave a garden. It takes time to grow a garden. It takes a master gardener to weed stuff out of lives that steal our energy. It takes a Master Gardener to watch over plant and give that plant it needs to produce fruit.

It takes time and energy.

When you try to ripen fruit quickly, it loses it flavor. In America, tomatoes are usually picked unripened so they won’t  bruise during shipping. Then, before they are sold, these green tomato are sprayed with C02 gas to turn them red instantly. The outside of the tomato looks red, but when you bite into it – it taste green.

Do you see the spiritual parallel? We try to rush the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We take spiritual shortcuts. We use spiritual C02. We think God works in our timing and goes at our pace, thus,  we never grow up.

I met an older gentleman as I was walking around knocking on doors this past week. He had a nice collection of cars in his garage. He had an old BMW roadster, corvette and an old John Deere, antique tractor. As I was talking to him. He asked me, “pastor let me show you something. There is something I don’t  understand – I have the cross all around my house – he showed me all the crosses around the outside of his house. He even had a lighted cross in his window. After he showed me all the crosses around the house, he asked, “With all these crosses around my house – why do people break in and steal my stuff?” I promptly answered, “I don’t know.” As I listened to his story,  this man has never spiritually grown up. The cross to him was a magic wand. It was like a lucky rabbits foot.

I met another guy with cancer. Living alone. He had just gone through chemotherapy and was pretty weak.  I listened to his story. At the end of our conversation I offered to pray for him. He said, “sure, but God hasn’t been very good to me.” I simply reminded him that God was with him.

I met another guy, who sat me down gave me a hot dog and some water and asked me how was I doing.

What I liked about this second guy is that he was honest with me. God had disappointed him. God hadn’t healed him. In fact, according to Him, God hadn’t done anything to show Him that He loved him. He was wondering where God was at. The third guy was Jesus to me.

Forgive me for judging – but I believe I will see the second/third guy in heaven someday. I am not so sure about the first.

There are no short cuts to growing up! Some people refuse to grow up. They look mature but their life is shallow. We look at them and say ‘why don’t they just grow up!

I am pretty sure God says the same thing to us. Look at the nation of Israel – they  had seen miracle after miracle, after miracle. And they still couldn’t obey. Many of them refused to grow up and be God’s chosen people. And it feels like we are still doing the same thing today.

We refuse to let the Holy Spirit get rid of the weeds, the dead branches in our lives. These things steal our energy They kill us spiritually. Things that are just draining and stunting our growth.

John 15:1-2

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in the me that bears no fruit,  while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

The fruit John is speaking about is not good works. The fruit John is speaking about is not good results. The fruit John is speaking about is the fruit of spirit.

Pruning is painful. Pruning hurts. Pruning produces a mature life.

• Every obstacle that comes our way in life is an opportunity for God to prune our childishness out.
• Every trial that comes our way in life is to teach us what in life is really important.
• Every pain that comes our way in life is to prepare us to become more fruitful.

The story you are about to hear is a story about a young man who has allowed the Holy Spirit to do some pruning in his life. As you listen to his story, listen to how God can transform the “goodest” of people into a devout follower of Christ. This is just the beginning of Matt’s journey. Click here to hear his story.