Bearing Fruit 1

Genesis 2:4-8

There is no question that life and growth and all that is in the earth are beyond our own making. All that exists is there because God has ordained that it be there. If we were not present still life would exist and things would grow.

Genesis presents the story of God’s creation. What did God make? What did God do with man?

Verses 4 through 7 tell us that God created all that exists. It also tells us that God created humanity. But in verse 8 we see God placing man – humanity – into the garden. What was the reason for this?

We exist in the midst of God’s work. And we exist for a reason. Part of our relationship with God and God’s creation is to enjoy all that God has made, but part of this relationship is that we tend to what has been made. God has placed humanity to exist within His garden and we are to help in producing the fruit of God’s creation.

But this concept goes beyond the physical plants and animals that God made. We are also part of God’s kingdom, part of the work that the Lord does in the world. This involves ministry and dealing with all other people that God has made.

God’s creation – His garden – is more than just green and flowering plants. It is more than just the animals that roam the earth. God has made us to care for one another. To do the work of God we must produce our own fruit. That fruit is not always something you can touch and taste.

The fruit of our labors, the fruit we are supposed to bear, is the good work of caring for others, having compassion on other people, helping the needy and sharing the love that God has given us. If we will be successful in bearing fruit for the kingdom of God we must be certain that we are rooted in the love of God. God must be the source and center of all that we do and how we work with others.

DAILY CHALLENGE: What fruit can you bear for God?

Ready the Ground 5

Luke 6:43-45

When I was very young my mother had a small flower garden at the side of our front porch. One spring some showy plants began to sprout and grow, so she tended to them – watering them, fertilizing them and pulling the weeds around them. Soon they grew to be strong and hardy plants towering above all the other flowers in the garden.

Then one day a friend stopped by the house to visit. Since he was good at gardening my mother asked him if he recognized what type of flowers those big plants were. He did. Weeds.

We may consider ourselves to be good people when in fact we may be lacking in our spiritual goodness. We may think that we are good enough – not really bad people – when in fact there is room to improve in our faith.

What does Jesus say about the fruit that different plants produce? What does a good person bring to life? Where does this goodness come from?

It is plain from the parable of the sower and from this statement from Jesus that God desires that we produce goodness in our lives. If we will be good, holy and righteous people then that goodness will be in our hearts. And if there is holy goodness in our hearts, that goodness will flow out from us as the good spiritual fruit we are called to produce.

Goodness and holiness is not always an automatic thing with all people. We may not be aware of what is truly in our hearts. In our heads we may think we are good, but in our hearts we may be lacking the goodness God desires.

To accept the love and grace from God and then have that goodness grow and flow from us, we must tend our spirituality. We must prepare the soil of our souls to receive God’s goodness. And when we receive the goodness from God we must tend it like a garden, growing that goodness, increasing our ability to be holy and caring.

If we can live a life that more closely follows the teaching of Christ we can become the good people we should. And if we become those good people then that goodness will be the good fruit of love for others flowing out from the abundant garden of love within us.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you produce good fruit?

Egkrateia 4

Romans 13:11-14

There is something wonderful about the dawn of a new day. The first light of the morning sun seems to bring hope and happiness. The uncertainty and fears of darkness are gone and we are presented a clear vision.

A member of our previous church was once in Egypt on a tour of the Holy Land when violence broke out at the hotel. The uprising included military force – automatic weapons and tanks! She said that her group huddled against an outside courtyard wall all through the harrowing night as they listened to gunfire streaking overhead. When the next day dawned, she said, everyone inexplicably stood up. They all had a sense of hope in spite of the continued fighting.

In his letter to the believers in Rome, people who were struggling against persecution and a very uncertain future, Paul has an urgent message. What is Paul urging in verse 11? What is near? What are we instructed to do in verses 12 and 13? What instruction is in verse 14?

Many people approach their faith with very little conviction or sense of urgency about it all. Many seem to act as if they are too busy to take the time to worry about believing in God. Perhaps they think there will be plenty of time for that when they get older – when they retire, when the kids are grown and gone.

But Paul points out the urgency we need to have with our faith. The day is today; the hour is now for us to begin walking in step with the Holy Spirit. Each day of living for ourselves and living to gratify our human desires takes us further from God.

The dawn of salvation and new hope – hope for our souls – is here and now. The new day of living out the fruit of the Spirit is in front of us.

And living out the fruit of the Spirit requires egkrateia – self-control. We should take on this aspect of the fruit of the Spirit now, not some distant day in our uncertain future. Now is the time to live out self-control, to shed ourselves of the physical and temporary desires and pleasures of the flesh. Now is the time to clothe ourselves in Jesus and begin living as mature Christians – holy and beloved of God, able to live out all the parts of the fruit of the Spirit.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you exercise spiritual self-control in your faith life today?

Egkrateia 3

Matthew 20:17-19

I think it takes a lot of courage to go to the health clinic and get shots to prevent various diseases. Of course I feel that way, because I am faced with that prospect now – I need to get a vaccination. It takes courage to go do something that you know will be painful. Yet, knowing that what will be done is ultimately for the good, makes it a little easier to have that kind of self-control.

As we prepare for Holy Week and the celebration of Jesus entering Jerusalem, we have this passage from Matthew. What does Jesus tell his disciples? What is the ultimate good that will come of it?

I think it is evident throughout the Gospels that Jesus knew what he was doing and was in complete control of what was happening. He knew what was waiting for him in Jerusalem. And what was waiting for him was much more terrible than a hypodermic needle.

He knew what he would be going through, and certainly there was a part of him that dreaded it (see Matthew 26:39). But he was able to live out the fruit of the Spirit. He was able to live out agape love, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness – all because he was able to live out egkrateia. He had self-control and was able to set himself aside and do what was ultimately the best for everyone else.

Because Jesus had self-control he was able to give himself up sacrificially so that you would be spared from death and hell.

While each of us may not be faced with a sacrifice that requires our very lives, still, as Christians, we are supposed to live a sacrificial life. In so doing we frequently will be faced with the knowledge that we will need to give up something or take on something that we may find uncomfortable.

What is required is our own egkrateia. We are required to have enough self-control that we can willingly accept the pain and discomfort of serving God and others. We need to willingly step out of our comfort zones – sometimes emotional, sometimes psychological, sometimes physical – and be uncomfortable for the ultimate good of God or to help others in need.

DAILY CHALLENGE: Which comfort zone are you being called out of for the kingdom of God?

Egkrateia 2

1 Corinthians 10:23-24

“Thou shalt not” seems to be the phrase that comes to mind for most people when they think of being a Christian.

Billy Joel even has a line from a song that says, “I would rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.” Being a true believer of Jesus Christ is often perceived as a life with no happiness, no joy, no fun.

But Paul presents an interesting take on things in his letter to the church at Corinth. What is allowed? Although permissible, is everything beneficial? Is everything constructive? What should we seek?

We have some pretty simple statements here regarding the life of a Christian. Everything is permissible. He says it not just once, but twice. Everything is permissible. Now, before we go off on a sinning spree, we must realize the context in which Paul was writing.

He was addressing some situations that the Corinthian church was facing. They were living as believers in a society of idol worshipers and questions arose as to whether or not specific foods or articles of clothing were acceptable. They wondered if certain social practices should be observed by the believers or shunned by them.

We may have similar issues confronting us today. What is the Christian stance on alcohol and tobacco? What about certain clothes? Can a Christian read the Harry Potter books?

According to Paul everything is permissible. As Christians we can do what we want to do. We aren’t limited by rules and regulations as far as foods we eat, the clothes we wear or social behavior. BUT – not everything is beneficial or constructive.

We have no rules on food and clothing other than the rule that those who exhibit the fruit of the Spirit will display self-control. Part of self-control, egkrateia, is being able to avoid those things that are not beneficial – avoiding them not because they are not permitted, but avoiding them because we know they do not help. As Christians living out egkrateia we need to focus on the good of others, and not ourselves.

DAILY CHALLENGE: Is there anything in your life that needs to be removed because it is not beneficial?

Egkrateia 1

James 4:1-3

In my early teen years I always wanted a job that allowed me to go through a door marked “Authorized Personnel Only.” What an intriguing sign! I wanted so much to be one of those special people who could go where others do not.

Over the years I have had several jobs that allowed me access to places where others were not permitted. You aren’t missing much.
Most people agree that nothing is more valuable or intriguing than those things that we cannot have. James addresses the problems of desiring what we do not have. What causes conflict? What do people do in an attempt to get what they do not have? According to James, why are we lacking? Why do we not receive?

The last aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. In the Greek it is egkrateia (pronounced en-KRAH-tay-ah) and means precisely what we might suspect. Egkrateia is the ability to be master over yourself, to put other’s needs before your own, to control your own desires, to discipline yourself to do what is right and thus resist temptation.

Living in step with the Spirit, exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit, means displaying all the aspects that we have seen, not just one or two. But I believe if we can exhibit all the fruit of the Spirit, then we will have self-control. And the reverse is true. If we have self-control we will be able to live out the fruit of the Spirit.

What causes pain and stress in your life? Perhaps desiring things that you do not have or should not have can cause stress. And if you go to God with your requests yet do not receive what you have asked for, could it be that the reason you have asked is selfish and not Godly?

If we are to be true Christians who are able to walk in step with the Holy Spirit of God, then we must have control over ourselves. We must be able to control our desires and wants. Our desires should be only for those things that we need to continue in serving God, not just those things that advance us socially or bring pleasure and satisfaction in selfish ways.

God is willing and anxious, I believe, to give us all good things. He does not want us to do without, to be deprived, to be lacking. But it all comes down to our motivation and how we will manage our resources. To exhibit the fruit of the Spirit we must exercise egkrateia over ourselves, controlling our desires and keeping our focus on the work of God.

DAILY CHALLENGE: What do you desire most? Are your desires for God’s kingdom or for selfish reasons?

Praotes 4

Isaiah 61:1

Sometimes when facing the difficulties of life, we don’t need a solution as much as we need a sympathetic ear. I have heard so often that when a person loses a loved one there is no way to stop the grief, but what is appreciated is when you grieve with them. So often gentleness – praotes – takes on small forms but has profound effect.

This passage from Isaiah is the passage Jesus read in the synagogue to let people know that he had come as the Messiah (Luke 4:16-21). What power is at work? For what purpose is he anointed? What is he sent to do?

This passage is not a prophecy of war and conquest. It is not a prediction of overwhelming change. The Spirit of God anoints so that good news can be preached. Freedom and release will be proclaimed, and those who are suffering sorrows – the broken-hearted – will not have their troubles removed or solved, but will be bound up, supported, encouraged.

All of these actions seem so simple, yet they will have an everlasting effect. This is the essence of praotes. Living out gentleness means doing the small, courteous things that God has taught us to do. Praotes is expressing God’s love in small ways, supporting, caring, and persisting in the agape love we share.

Praotes is being strong when others are weak. It is being a leader when others feel lost. But most importantly it is letting God be the One who is in control, rather than ourselves. Then we will know that the gentle things we do will truly help those in need.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you bind up the broken-hearted?

Pistis 5

John 14:8-14

We’ve heard the expression before – “I’d give anything to have that new car.” Or, “I’ll do anything for you, because I love you.” We can toss the word “anything” around in our promises and our pledges, but in truth “anything” is usually beyond what we mean or beyond our abilities.

In John 14 Jesus is speaking frankly with his disciples, preparing them for when he will no longer be with them. He tells them that if they know Jesus then they know the Father. What does Philip want? What does Jesus mean by verse 9? According to verse 11, if they can’t believe his words what can they believe? What pledges are made in verses 12-14?

The last three verses of this section are the ones that light a fire in my heart and soul as a pastor. I would hope they could light a fire in every believer. In my mind, if we ignore what is pledged here we are just like the people in Nazareth from the reading in Mark (Mark 6:1-6). If we don’t approach these words from Jesus with the faithfulness that we are supposed to be living, then we are passing on the miracles that God offers.

Verse 12 tells us that we are supposed to be doing ministry. We are supposed to pick up where Jesus left off and carry forward in the good work of rescuing souls, healing the sick, feeding the hungry and caring for the deprived. And yet we overlook the fact Jesus said that we can do “even greater things than these.”

We have the opportunity to live out the true faithfulness we should be exhibiting. If we ask for anything from Jesus – anything! – as long as it is meant to bring glory to God, then Jesus will make certain we get what we need. How can we pass that up?

Yet, so many do. In fact, most people pass it up. And they pass it up, not because God can’t deliver, but simply because they cannot live the faithfulness we are supposed to be living.

If we can claim the faithfulness – pistis – of living out the fruit of the Spirit we can see world-changing miracles performed by God. We can lay claim to the “anything” Jesus offers.

DAILY CHALLENGE: What is the “anything” you need from Jesus?