Time for a fruit inspection
A little self-reflection is always in order
To cross a state border into California (a questionable endeavor, in my opinion, but to each his own), you will likely be stopped at a fruit inspection station, or more accurately an agricultural inspection station. They’ll take a good look at any produce or plants in your vehicle, and if there’s any chance it looks like your fruit is “bad” – i.e., infected with something that could spread across California’s agriculture industry and wipe it out – they’ll confiscate it.
But a fruit inspection is actually an excellent idea for all of us, every now and then. The Bible has a lot to say about the fruit we bear (or do not bear), and we are wise to consider how we’re doing.
First things first. Everyone bears fruit – of some kind.
For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.— Romans 7:5
Fruit for death! Thankfully, the verse immediately before this explains the vastly superior alternative:
So, my brothers, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. — Romans 7:4
Ah, that’s better. Fruit for God! But… what does that mean? The New Testament writers give us a lot to chew on regarding fruit (gotta love the fruit puns), like this passage where Paul tells the Philippians how he prays for them.
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in full knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and without fault until the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. — Philippians 1:9-11
Or this passage, where he’s teaching the Ephesians.
…for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of that light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth)… — Ephesians 5:8-9
So we’re starting to see that this fruit for God includes things like righteousness and goodness. If only there was a way God could help us obtain those characteristics that embody the fruit that glorifies Him. Oh wait…
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. — Galatians 5:22-23
God the Holy Spirit literally lives within us, if we belong to Him. He is always ready to bless us with His fruit. All we have to do is submit to Him. When we allow Him to grow this fruit in our lives, we glorify God. But how does it glorify Him? The answer to that also answers the question of why He gifts us with this fruit.
Hint: It’s not about us
We’re gifted with love – to love others.
With joy – to share with others.
With peace – to comfort others.
With patience – to show to others.
With kindness – to offer others.
With goodness – to reflect God to others.
With faithfulness – to be an example for others.
With gentleness – to appeal to others.
With self-control – to display to others.
These gifts bless us personally, no doubt, but they are given primarily to be used in service to others.
On the other hand…if we are characterized by anger, bitterness, complaining, controlling, worry, and grumpiness – well, those are all examples of bad, rotten fruit.
Inspect your fruit! And while you’re at it, inspect the fruit of anyone you might consider following. In Matthew, Jesus issued a sobering warning:
Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. — Matthew 7:15-20
This passage also indicates the fate of those “bad trees” that bear bad fruit – they are destroyed. This is a matter for careful self-reflection, as is the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:3-9 (and Jesus’ explanation of the parable in Matthew 13:18-23.)
Can we bear fruit if the evil one snatches the seed away? If it has no firm root and falls away? If the world and wealth choke it out?
This is deadly serious, as author Francis Chan notes:
Do not assume you are the good soil. Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live? Do you see evidence of God’s kingdom in your life? Or are you choking it out slowly by spending too much time, energy, money, and thought on the things of this world? — Francis Chan, Crazy Love
The only way to follow Jesus is going all in. Following Him so closely that you can hear His voice. This means immersing yourself in His Word continually, and doing what it says.
May we indeed be the good soil, not allowing the world to choke out the good seed that grows the good fruit, but instead allowing God to ignite our hearts with passion for Him – passion that colors every moment of our lives so we can’t help but be radically changed by His presence and power within us.
Fruit categories
One more way to think about fruit is looking at the areas where God allows us to be fruitful. Author Del Tackett sees three of them:
Physically – having children, literally the fruit of our womb (Genesis 1:28, Psalm 127:3-5, Psalm 128:3)
Vocationally – bringing glory to God through the work of our hands and minds (Psalm 128:2)
Ministerially – making disciples (Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:19-20)
But what about other people’s fruit?
Since this is so important – are we ever to examine the fruit production of our fellow disciples? And if so, how?
Brothers, even if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each of you looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. — Galatians 6:1
I like this insight on the passage above, and what it says about our role in examining the fruit of our brothers and sisters (italics are mine):
Jesus does not say we should not examine the lives of others. But we should do so only with a careful eye cast toward ourselves… Jesus wants disciples to be a moral encouragement to one another, but there is a proper way to go about it. There is a crying need for humility, an awareness that all of us are learning to walk more closely with God. To help another see clearly, we need to wash out our own eyes first. — Intervarsity Press New Testament Commentary
A crying need for humility, indeed. We must always be in a mode of examining our own hearts before we say a word (or perhaps even think a thought).
Also, if we’re going to judge a tree’s fruit, we don’t look at just one moment but at the tree’s entire period of production. ” Every one of us would be most unhappy to have all of our fruit up for discussion, as we all have “particular moments” where we did not manifest His fruit very well!
The idea of “period of production” is also wise because it means some time should go by before we jump into what we might perceive as needed correction. And even then, whatever is done or said is also fruit – we need to ensure that it is in keeping with what Jesus is asking us to bear. And we need to heed His wisdom here, too:
You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. — Matthew 7:5
Washing out our own eyes is crucial to avoiding hypocrisy, and that’s a good warning that comes just before Jesus issues another warning about fruit, later in that same chapter of Matthew. In Matthew 7:15-20 He’s talking about carefully examining the fruit of those we might follow.
This instruction applies to which church/pastor we join with, as well as other Bible teachers or leaders whose work we read, study, listen to, or watch. Or as Jesus put it, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” To avoid that, we must prayerfully conduct our fruit inspections.
Let’s aim for this
Ultimately our goal – in bearing fruit or considering others’ – is to apply His wisdom as we seek to obey His Word, which we can only do if we are in His Word, on the regular:
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the way of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of Yahweh,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers. — Psalm 1:1-3