THE FRUIT, THE GIFTS, AND THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH
In the chart, THE SPIRITUALS, we noted that the Holy Spirit comes to
produce the character or the personality of Jesus in our lives. Remember, our
theme is that we have a complete perfect salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. God
does not leave it to happenstance for us to express the character of Jesus Christ,
but He gives to us the Holy Spirit. As we live in union with Christ, the Holy Spirit
will produce His fruit, the character of Jesus Christ, in us.
There is a difference in the bestowing of the fruit of the Spirit and of the
gifts of the Spirit. Fruit depends on the goodness of the individual; a gift depends
on the goodness of the giver. Jesus and the Holy Spirit bestow their gifts on
whomsoever they will. However, we are not given fruit. We bear fruit. As we
live in union with Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit, the Spirit reproduces
Christ in us. Therefore, in the day of judgment, by what will we be judged? By
how many gifts we have? No, but by the fruit we bear. Near the close of the
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them... Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name
done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you (Matt 7:22-23).
Even if we possess several gifts, if we do not bear fruit, we will be rejected
by Christ. Fruit is the result of a union of a believer with Christ, and we will be
known by the fruit we bear. If the tree is good, its fruit will be good. If you saw
me under an apple tree and heard me praying, "Oh, God, do not let my little apple
tree have cherries this year. Please let my little apple tree bear apples," you
would wonder about my sanity. You would think that I was acting very strangely,
praying for an apple tree to have apples and not some other kind of fruit. You
would probably say, "Hey, preacher, if you just give that little apple tree half a
chance, it will produce apples." Right? Isn't it just as strange for Christians to
pray, "Oh, Lord, please let me bear the fruit of the Spirit"? If you live in a right
relationship with God, you will produce fruit; you will express the character of
Jesus Christ.
PETER'S PREJUDICE
God will express the fruit of the Spirit through me, if I will let Him. However,
if I have prejudice in my heart, I may hinder the work of God. Consider the
experience of the Apostle Peter. God gave him three visions on the housetop. In
each of the three visions, God said, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou
common" (Acts 10:15). Three times God affirmed this to Peter. As a result of
the visions, Peter went to the house of Cornelius and spoke to the Gentiles. While
he preached, the Holy Spirit fell on them, and Peter rejoiced because the gift of the
Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles. Later he went to Jerusalem where
certain leaders of the church confronted him for going in to the Gentiles and eating
with them. Peter's defense was that God had given the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles;
therefore, how could he withstand God? As a result, the leaders glorified God
because the Gentiles had received eternal life (Acts 10:10-11:1-18). Peter then
went to Antioch, and what happened? He would not eat with the Gentiles. Either
because of fear or his old prejudice, he refused to eat with the Gentiles, and
Barnabas was carried away with the dissimulation. But, did not Peter have three
visions? Yes, God gave him three visions. Did he not preach to the Gentiles and
see the Holy Spirit fall on them? Yes, he did that. Did he not justify what he did
before the elders in the church at Jerusalem? Yes, he did that. However, when
he got to Antioch, fear gripped his heart, or prejudice arose again, and he forgot
all about God's love. He forgot all about visions. He forgot all about God's Word.
He let fear or prejudice grip him, thus the love of God would not flow through him.
It is not always easy to allow the Spirit to express the character of Christ through
us. However, if we live in union with God, Christ will be produced in us. The
Spirit of God will reproduce the nature of Christ. And love, which is the first facet
of the fruit of the spirit, will find expression in our lives.
THE NINE FACETS OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law (Gal. 5:22).
Since fruit is a singular word, some say there is just one fruit--love--and all
other qualities are just facets of love. Others say that all nine facets make up the
one fruit of the Spirit. Maybe one reason that Paul uses the singular word, fruit, is
that every Christian should have all nine characteristics of the fruit; therefore, one
may not say you have the fruit of love while I have the fruit of joy. Every child of
God should express all of the character traits of Christ, not just a special
one. Just as a tree will produce fruit after its own nature, so the child of God, will
produce the nature, the character, of Jesus Christ.
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