We are to love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. What do you think of when you think of love? Do you think of material things, family, or do you think of God, who is Love? “Are You Bearing Fruit;” is my hearts cry as I think of Love. I think of how I mistook enjoyment, lust, and appreciation for love for so long. I understand that love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, it is not boastful, or easily angered. I now know that Love is an action that endures and forgives. I understand God is Love, and I am able to love because He first loved me. I am reminded that I am God’s Husbandry when I meditate on “Love” and the concepts found therein. I remember that there are levels of love including brotherly, sensual, and the unconditional love that The Father has for us. His love nurtures us and allows us to flourish. Galatians 5 talks about the effects of various behaviors. Verses 19-21 speak about flesh led behaviors. In the King James version verse 22 starts by saying "But the fruit of the spirit is Love..." Showing us that if we walk in the Spirit, we will bear fruit and that will be validated through love. So, I ask you, “Are you bearing fruit?” Take a moment and think about this question. After all that has been said about love and the effects of love, what it does and what it does not do. What if I were to approach you in public somewhere and ask you this question, “Are You Bearing Fruit?” what thought would come to mind? Many replies are possible, but no matter what thought you would have it almost would not be a thought of love. Most people do not think of spiritual fruit when the word fruit is mentioned. For a considerable amount of time, I didn’t know what it meant to bear fruit. I would always ponder when I would hear the phrase, “God wants you to bear fruit,” and I had very little understanding of how to know if I was bearing fruit or not. I still can recall when I had the revelation that if you were a fruit-bearing believer, people could come to you and receive spiritual nourishment. Likewise, if people could not come to you, and be spiritually fed, then you were not bearing fruit. Think about this in the aspect of the fruit love, do people receive love when they come unto you? What fruits are you bearing if any?
What do you think about when you think about fruit? Do you think sweet, juicy, healthy, possibly vines, trees, farms? Do you think of a specific type of fruit, perhaps a strawberry, an apple, or an orange? No matter what thought you have it practically is not a thought of love. I am convinced that people do not think of spiritual fruit when fruit is mentioned.
Moreover, we certainly don’t think about love. What about seeds, do you think about the seeds and how one fruit may have many seeds and how one seed can be the beginning of an orchard. Imagine with me for a moment if you were given one seed and land and you were to provide for you and future generations to come through this land. You could plant your seed, water it and nurture it and it would produce a tree that would bear the fruit of its kind. Now you would have many seeds, and if you planted watered in cultivated these seeds, you would now have the beginning of an orchard or an orchard depending on the fruit. This multiplication is how our life as believers should be.
In the Beginning, God created every living thing and said be fruitful and multiply. Imagine with me for a moment that as believers we are “Love Trees,” and we are to be fruitful and to multiply. How would this happen? How do we multiply after our kind as “Love trees”? First, we do as Jesus commanded in Matthew 28 and go out teaching all of the commandments Jesus taught, baptizing and making disciples. Remember in Acts chapter two when the Holy Ghost fell upon the apostles, and they began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Many were amazed and began to repent and be baptized, and on the same day, about 3000 were added. This is how Love Trees should multiply, by the thousands daily. I don’t think I have multiplied by tens in my Christian walk, but I intend on fulfilling the purpose God created, and saved me for. We will multiply as Love Trees by walking according to the Spirit and denying the flesh. Living the way God created us to live. I love the way The Message Bible puts Galatians 5 beginning at verse 19:
“It is ,obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom. But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified."
This passage of scripture from this version clearly shows us how we should be living as believers. Warning us not to be selfishly driven. Wanting to please our flesh. Remember I said that as believers we are likened to a tree, The Message Bible compares our lives to an orchard, in an orchard, there are many trees, and inevitably a tree does not produce fruit for itself. Also, it is not enough that a tree only provides shade. A tree that bears fruit provides nourishment to those who seek to be fed. Think about a tree in all its fullness. Beginning at its roots that draw in what it needs to grow, flourish, and produce from the ground, which comes in by the sources as water then is transformed into sap which does precisely what it is supposed to do. The sap is in the trunk of the tree, which is covered by bark, and then there are limbs or branches, and on those branches, there are leaves and then (in most cases) there is fruit. As believers who are in Christ (the ground) our solid foundation, receive the word (the water), which produces sap in us (righteousness), we produce leaves (godliness), we should produce fruit (nourishment for the spiritually hungry.) How important is it that we bear fruit? As a Love Tree or any fruit tree for that matter, that is our purpose. How important is it to fulfill our God created purpose? This should be our number one priority. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 when he was a child, he did childish things, but when Paul became a man, he put away childish things. He then talks about how we will know when Christ returns what it really means to be like Christ, but now we only know in part. He follows this statement with verse 13, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” We know charity here is the Greek word agape which translates love.
Love is the greatest, Paul says, and what was he talking about in chapter 13; how gifts and abilities are worthless without love. “Love or Die” or in other words bear fruit or die. As a Love Tree, we need to provide love to and for others. We have to stay connected to God through the True Vine which is Christ. Also, in this current explanation, Christ is our roots and solid foundation. Many believers know how important it is to have faith. We know that without faith it is impossible to please God. Also, we know the power of faith, In Matthew 21:21 and 22 it says;
“Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."
Nevertheless, what was done to the fig tree? Remember in verses 17-19, Jesus returns from Bethany and sees a fig tree along the way, and there’s leaves only and no fruit. Jesus said to the tree, “Let no fruit ever grow on you again.” Also, the scripture says presently or immediately the fig tree withered away. This action demonstrates how Jesus, who only does what The Father does and only says what The Father says, feels about living things that do not fulfill its purpose. “Love or Die” Remember I said that we are Love Trees and our righteousness is our sap, and our leaves are our godliness. How godly can we be without love, when God is Love. We are living in a perilous time, and we can see all of the evidence of an approaching end, 2 Timothy 3:1-7 says;
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
What is the truth? The truth is we were created for a reason, and that reason is for God’s pleasure. We can only please God if we have faith and if we have faith, meaning that if we believe He exists then we will have reverence for Him and His word and we will love one another as we love ourselves. After reading this passage from the letter to Timothy, we should be able to see that we are unquestionably in the last days. The part I want to point out is verse 5, “having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” The Fig tree had a form of life the leaves, but no fruit so, therefore, was of no purpose to the hungry who in this case was Jesus, but who are those that hunger amongst us? Do we bear fruit for them or are we failing to serve our purpose? Do we only have a form of godliness, but we deny the power of faith to have its perfect work through our actions.
God by way of the Holy Spirit gives us the power and the ability to produce the fruit. Jesus said he is the true vine and the Father is the Husbandman, and anyone who does not bear fruit the Father will take away, and he who bears fruit will be cleansed so that he can bear more fruit. This fruit is the spiritual fruit that we will bear if we abide in the word and the word in us. Verse eight says when we do this that the Father is glorified and by this that you bear much fruit, so you will be disciples of Christ and verse 9, and 10 say;
“As the Father loved Me, I also loved you. Remain in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love."
We don't want to be like the fig tree, having a form of godliness but bearing no fruit. As believers, if we have hope and faith but no love, no fruit, we can repent and go to the word and reconnect to the vine. We don’t want to be withered away or even worse burnt up in the fire; we must cleave to that which is good and hate that which is evil, being devoted to one another with brotherly love. “Are you Bearing Fruit?” If not; Remember from whence you have fallen and repent; that is what Jesus said to the Church at Ephesus, and he told them to return to their first works and deeds or else He would come quickly and remove our, I mean their candlestick. As believers, we are expected to love one another and strangers including evil doers and our enemies, as Christ loved us. This commandment was given by Christ Himself, and He said that we should love one another even as He loved us, and by this, all men will know that we are His disciples, if we love one another. Jesus is our foundation; the water is the word, seek after righteousness, abiding in the word.
We need to study Love because God is Love. We do need to pray to know the love of Christ and that our love for others increases. We do need to imitate Christ allowing ourselves to be taught and then teach others to love as he loved, a self-sacrificing love. The word of God tells us to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. Teaching as Paul said, “a more excellent way.” Becoming an example of as we model love, imitating Jesus, who loved us so much that he gave up his life for us, not allowing our love to go to wither away. Dressing it and keeping it so that we can bear fruit. Practicing love, that is applying it to our lives over and over preparing for Christ return. We must observe to keep the commandments; love is inseparable from obedience. The fruit of the Spirit is, Love and love manifest itself in patience, kindness, hope, endurance, trust, and in truth. Scripture tells us that if we don’t love, we don’t know God because God is Love. Love covers all sins (Proverbs 10:12), there is no fear in love because perfect love casteth out fear (1 John 4:18) And if you walk not after the flesh but in the Spirit, you will bear fruit (Galatians 5:19-22).
