Sweet or Sour

“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in knowledge of God.” Colossians 1:10

What type of fruit describes you?

Are you a coconut?

Are you a watermelon?

Are you a grape?

Are you a lemon?

Are you a peach?

Are you an apple?

Are you a banana?

Is your fruit sweet or sour?

Supposedly everyone has a fruit that matches their personality. But what about the fruit that matches our witness as a child of God; a Christian?

Colossians 1:10 says: “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in knowledge of God.”

In this verse, Paul stresses that God’s holy people in Colossae be fruitful in every good work.  

Healthy trees produce fruit! Matthew 7:17-18NLT says: “A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.” And if we are to be healthy Christians, we should also bear fruit that brings blessings.

What are some practical ways to be fruitful?

1. Remain in Christ. John 15:4-5,8: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”

Verse 4 of John 15 says that we abide(remain) in him, and he abides(remains) in us. We are connected. Jesus said that he is the true vine. He is true wisdom, true love and true in every way. There are many things that pose as truth to us, but only Jesus Christ is true.

If you are a believer, you are in him. You are united to him. You are connected to the life-giving branch. We can experience this connection more and more as we grow in him. We can become more and more fruitful.

2. Remember you are Free. Galatians 5:1, 13: “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.”

Freedom comes with calling to live as servants to our neighbors. It comes with a calling to turn from our inward looking, selfish nature and turn outwards with a servant heart towards the world as Christ does for us. 

Paul uses the battle between the flesh and spirit in our lives to explain what this freedom means for us. Flesh for Paul is not merely the physical body and its desires, but the whole self under the power of sin, with its self-serving desires and motives. Our flesh makes us only consider ourselves, to only care for what is in it for us, and we are never satisfied, it seems, never have enough esteem, status, wealth, pleasure, or whatever else it we are seeking. Christ frees us from this sinful self, and we are free to let the fruit of the Spirit grow and work through us.  

3. Exercise your Faith. 1 John 5:4ESV: “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”

When we’re reliant on God, then we are strengthened by His power. And if we are focused exclusively on Him, our faith is being made perfect. We are becoming like Paul. God is teaching us contentment so that we can be happy and assured no matter what happens.

This will make you a more diligent, committed, and disciplined person.

The fruit on your tree will reveal what type of tree you are. Luke 6:43-44a says: “‘A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit.’”

What Fruit Should We Strive For? If we look at Galatians 5, we have an answer.

In Galatians 5:19-23, Paul lists what is of the flesh and what is of the Spirit.  “We know what the works of the flesh are,” he says, “and if you do those things, you won’t go to heaven. But if you have the Spirit, you have his fruit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” 

Notice that Paul says, “The fruit of the Spirit is…”  He doesn’t say, “The fruits of the Spirit are…”  The noun fruit and its corresponding verb is singular.  They come as a package deal. If you have Christ, you have the Spirit; if you have the Spirit, you get all his fruit — the expression of what he is doing in your heart that will overflow from motives, intentions, and thoughts into actions, words, and attitudes.

So let us all strive “to walk in a manner worthy of  the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10).  

Let us strive to have the fruit of the Spirit manifested in our lives.   

It happens when we kill sin.  

It happens when we sing unto the Lord a new song.  

It happens when we love our neighbor as ourselves.  

It happens when we suffer well.  

It happens when we increase in our knowledge of God.  

It happens when we are distraught and we run to the living fountain that gives the water of life without price.  

It happens when we trust that the sovereign God who began a good work in us will finish what he has started.  

It happens when we believe that God will work in us what is pleasing to his sight.

So maybe the question should be and I leave you with this:

What kind of fruit do you want to produce?

#iyfsos