In This Issue:
Producing Any Fruit?
Godly Fruit
Fruits of the Flesh
He Thought He Lost His Arrow
What One Tract Did
What Can You Lend?
Volume: 958 May 20, 2024
Theme: Christian Fruit
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Producing Any Fruit?
Bill Brinkworth
Jesus likens our relationship to God and Him as to grape vines. The vines are planted byand watered by the Father (John 15:1, I Cor. 3:9).
The vines represent Jesus and are cared for by Him (John 15:1). If we are saved and spiritually born into God’s family, we are the branches on the vine.
God’s watchful eye sees what, and if, we produce anything that He considers is good “fruit”. That “fruit” is what is done to bring honor and glory to God and what helps others come to know and serve Him better.
John 15 tells more about what Jesus said about “fruit”:
- It is impossible to have any spiritual fruit unless one is saved and in the “body of Christ” (vs. 2, 4).
- God removes branches that do not produce any “fruit” (vs. 2), although one does not lose their salvation. Many are professors of Christ but not yielders of what God requires of them.
Their power and help are taken away because they refuse to do what they are commanded. This is why so many who have been saved but do nothing for God have no answered prayer, changes in their lives, and or leadership from God. - God prunes (“purgeth”, vs. 2) those that are producing some Christian “fruits.” As a husbandman trims the branches of his fruit trees to get them to make more branches and more fruit, so does God allow testing and tribulation to produce more godly “fruits” in our lives.
- If a Christian does what the Scriptures commands, he will have answered prayer (vs. 7).
- God is honored and gets the glory when we produce “fruit”. Many look at a person and know what he was before he was saved, see how the Lord has changed his life, and know that it could only have been done by God.
Many claim to be Christians and even try to produce godly fruit. They do not fool the Father, and their hypocrisy and lack of genuine Christianity do not even fool the ungodly (vs. 6). They are like wild grapes that have little fruit. What they produce is very small, sour, and can be distinguished from a good, cultivated crop.
Examine your fruit. The Husbandman is also a fruit inspector. What does Jesus think about your “produce”?
“Sow little; produce little. Sow much; produce much for the glory of God.”
— Author Unknown
With godly guidance and spiritually correct decisions, one’s life can produce good, spiritual consequences, as defined in Galatians:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” Galatians 5:22-26
“If you’re waiting for something to turn up to do for the Lord, try your sleeves.”— Author Unknown
What we do is often viewed as our “fruit”. Here ares some “fruit” which the Bible says is produced from behavior that God’s leadership is not involved in:
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21
“The train of failure often runs on the track of laziness.”
He Thought He Lost His Arrow
W. Smith
A young boy once shot an arrow in the air. Its flight was so high that he soon lost sight of it and failed to find where it had landed. He spent a long time looking for the arrow in the meadow, but in vain.
Thirty years passed by. The boy was now a man and he visited the haunts of his boyhood. Walking around the meadow, he gazed at an oak that frequently sheltered him from the sun rays in his younger days. He paused under the old tree and found a curious feather protruding from a hollow in the tree. As he drew out the “feather,” he realized it was the arrow he thought was lost many years ago.
Is not this often true of the efforts of God’s children? They speak in the ears of sinners; they give a tract; they utter an exhortation, or tell someone about the things of God. They often do not see where their efforts’ “arrow” landed. It is impossible for them to track it as it enters the mysterious regions of one’s mind, and they too often deem it lost.
Often, it is not lost. It has done its work. Either in future years or in eternity, that effort, like the long-lost arrow, shall come back to its owner, bringing a blessing and even the reward of a duty faithfully performed.
While journeying in America, Dr. Coke attempted to ford a river. His horse lost its foothold, and he was carried down the stream.
The doctor narrowly escaped drowning by clinging to a branch that overhung the riverside. A neighboring lady helped him, sent someone to retrieve his horse, and other kindnesses. Just before he left her house, he gave her a tract about salvation.
For five years the doctor toiled on in the cause of Christ in England and America. Whether his tract had been destroyed or had pierced a human heart, he did not know. One day, a young man approached him at a mission conference and requested a couple minutes of the doctor’s time.
“Do you remember, sir, being nearly drowned in the river some five years ago?”
“I remember it quite well,” replied the doctor.
“Do you remember the widow lady at whose house you stayed after escaping from the river?”
“I do and shall never forget the kindness she showed me.”
“And do you remember giving her a tract when you bade her farewell?”
“I do not, but it is possible I did.”
“Yes, sir, you did leave a tract. That lady read it and was converted. She lent it to her neighbors, and many of them were saved also. Several of her children were also saved. A Bible society was formed, and still flourishes today.”
The statement moved the doctor to tears. The young many continued, “I have not quite told you all. I am her son. That tract led me to Christ. Now, sir, I am on my way to the mission field to reach others.”
We never know what fruits we can produce when we do the Master’s work.
“Better to wear out than to rust out.” — Cumberland
What Can You Lend?
Author Unknown
Peter lent a boat,
To save Jesus from the press;
Martha lent her home
With genuine kindliness.
One man lent a colt,
Another lent a room;
Some threw down their clothes,
And Joseph lent a tomb.
Simon lent his strength,
The cruel cross to bear;
Mary spice brought,
His body to prepare.
What have I to lend?
No boat! No house! No lands!
Yet, Lord, I gladly lend
The work of heart and hands.
“When a man turns to God desiring to serve Him, God directs the man’s attention to the world and its need.” — Brunner