Chapter 2: Do I Possess the Fruits of the Spirit?

Chapter Introduction

The next way we want to take a look at what the Bible says about how to tell about where we stand in our Christian growth deals with the type of fruit one produces. There are only two types of fruit that can possibly be produced from a Biblical perspective. But at the same time, there are three groups the Bible lumps together into these types of fruit. Those who produce good fruit are looked at favorably by God. As far as the Bible is concerned, those who produce no fruit are lumped together and considered the same as those who produce bad or rotten fruit.

When you look at it from the perspective of a husbandman or farmer, one can understand why Jesus in his parables lumps these two groups together. If you are a farmer whose livelihood depends on how much fruit you sell, there is no difference between a tree which produces no fruit and a tree which produces rotten fruit. Both trees are unprofitable and encumbers or ties up the ground. Since neither type of tree are profitable either of these types of trees would be replaced with a tree producing good fruit and be profitable. The farmer may try several things to turn an unprofitable tree into a profitable tree, but if changes don’t come quickly the patience of the farmer will quickly run out and the tree be cut down to make room for a tree which produces good fruit and is profitable.

It is from this perspective we will consider what the Bible has to say about trees producing either good or bad fruit and hopefully with the help of God we can study this subject and come to the understanding God is intending. It is my hope and prayer to only speak as do the oracles of God. Hopefully by the end of this chapter, we will better understand how to honestly judge ourselves regarding the fruit we produce and what says about our Christian growth.

Do I produce the good fruit a Christian should be producing?
One of the first things we can use to determine if we are growing spiritually or if we are still carnally minded is if we take an honest look at our Christian lives and see if we are producing any spiritual fruit (good fruit) or if we are just producing carnal fruit (bad fruit).

Christianity is a slow process hopefully involving a steady growth upward. I can guarantee a person does not go to sleep one night struggling with their carnal problems and sins and wake up the next morning a fully mature Christian. It is a slow process. This is a fact which needs to be recognized not only by the leadership of the local congregation, but also each Christian needs to have patience not only with other members, but with themselves as well.

James 3:17-18 "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."

Jesus gives some simple things to look at that show if we are starting to grow as Christians. While these are simple things, they are not simple to add. As a matter of fact without the help of the Holy Spirit in our Christian lives, it would be impossible to add them.

We learn in order for us to be guided by the wisdom from above, the thoughts we have needs to first of all be pure. Not only do we need to have holy thoughts which require we learn to bring our thoughts under control, but additionally this means our motives must be pure as well.

We must be peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated. Have we grown spiritually to the point we are at peace with other people. We need to be gentle with people as well. Are we known for our gentle nature or are people afraid to disagree with us? Are we easy to intreat? Which simply means do others find it easy to talk with us when they may disagree with us?

Are we full of mercy? In simple English, do we have compassion for others? Do we try to understand other people’s problems so we do not look down on them? Do we try to help them to overcome their problems?

We need to be without partiality which means we have learned to judge and treat each person the same based on what is right as laid out in the Bible? Without hypocrisy is basically the same as partiality except it deals with judging and treating ourselves the same as we judge or treat other people.

To sum it all up, we need to be known as a peacemaker. If we are always striving to bring peace between brethren, then we are producing the fruit of righteousness. The fruit of righteousness is based on having peace with the word of God.

Ephesians 5:9-13 "(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light."

Here we learn more about the fruit of the Spirit we must be producing if we are growing in the manner God would have us to grow. The fruit of righteousness must first be based on goodness, righteousness and truth. Goodness is the trait that reveals God in us, since all goodness comes from God. Righteousness is simply obeying the commandments of God and truth deals with making sure the things we do comes from the Bible.

Our lives need to be showing forth the things which are acceptable unto the Lord. We must have grown to the point we do not keep company with those who show forth the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather we reprove them.

We should be ashamed to even speak of those things which sinners do in secret, but when we reprove them, they are shown for the evil works they are by the light of the truth.

Galatians 5:22-26 "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."

As one continues to grow as a Christian, the number of fruit as well as the quality of this fruit continues to grow until eventually a mature Christian possess all of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. When a Christian reaches this stage in their Christian growth, they will not have to run around bragging about their fruit, the fruit will be obvious to everyone they come in contact with.

The list of the fruit of the Holy Spirit shown here in Galatians is love, joy, peace longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. If you possess these characteristics, not only will you notice the difference in your life, but everyone around you will notice the Christ-like nature in your life, whether they are Christians or not. When you have these traits as part of your nature, you will enjoy your walk with God and will be looking forward to the time you spend studying your Bible, assembling with your brethren, and anything that helps you to grow as a Christian. This is when you quit saying “Do I have to?” and begin looking forward with anticipation to spending time with Christians and helping your brethren.

1 Corinthians 13:4-13 "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."

The fruit of the Holy Spirit is considered as part of the agape type of love. If we have attained charity, we will indeed possess all of the fruit of the Spirit because not only are they necessary stepping stones to achieve love, the fruit of the Spirit is also characteristic of charity.

Charity (agape type love) is longsuffering and is kind, does not envy, does not build itself up over others, is not puffed up, does not behave itself in an unacceptable fashion, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things. All of those things God had given to help the Church in its infancy were temporary, only three things are permanent, faith, hope, and charity, but the greatest of these is charity.

If you have added love to your Christian life, you will be longsuffering (tolerant of the time it takes others to grow spiritually) and you will be kind, which means to be useful or helpful to others. You will not envy the attention given unto others. You will not build yourself up by tearing others down. You will not think of yourself as better than other people. You will not throw temper tantrums or act in a fashion will bring reproach on yourself or the Church. You will not fight for your own opinions when it will not build your brethren up. You will not get angry easily. You are one of the last to see evil in other people and you do not read evil into the motives of other people. You do not rejoice when bad things happen to anyone, but you rejoice only with the truth prevails. You put up with a lot from your younger brethren for their good. You have high hopes for everyone you study with or who you come in contact with. All of these traits are necessary for one to be able to truly claim they love their brethren and thus for them to claim they love God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son.

Philippians 1:10-11 "That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; 11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."

Paul writing to the Philippian brethren reminds them and us if we are spiritually minded we will study in order to make sure we know the difference between things that are excellent, God-like and things that are fruits of the flesh. If we are spiritually minded we are careful not to give offence to our brethren. This does not mean as many try to make it mean, we do not hurt their feelings. The term “to give offence” means to cause someone to do things they believe are sin. So a spiritually minded Christian tries very hard not to cause our weaker brethren to sin.

Hebrews 10:26-32 "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;"

We see another important reason for us to encourage one another to grow and to provoke each other to grow unto love and good works. The writer of Hebrews tells us to be ready always to encourage one another because if a Christian sins willfully, they lose their sacrifice for sin, Jesus Christ. The Jews were used to having multitude of sacrifices, so if they missed one it was no big deal. So they need to be reminded of the necessity of that one sacrifice for sins, if they rejected this sacrifice there was no other.

If I, knowing something is a sin, go ahead and do it, I am committing a willful sin, then according to John 12:48 I am not just rejecting a single verse, but I am rejecting Jesus Christ Himself. Thus I am rejecting my one sacrifice for sin. The rest of Hebrews 10:26-31 tells about the horror we as Christians should have when we realize we will face God without His Son as our sacrifice. After painting the terrible picture of what would await us in the future if we reject Jesus Christ the Lord as our sacrifice we see the Holy Spirit here gives us a glimmer of hope, when He tells us to “call to remembrance the former days when we used to walk and talk with God.”

Matthew 3:8 "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:"

We see just remembering from whence we have fallen is not enough, but also we need to repent, that is to have a change of mind which leads to a change of life. True repentance will cause us to bring forth certain fruits meet for repentance. But what are these fruits or works meet for repentance? This is not as some would have us believe works the leaders in a congregation should come up with. I think this can be shown logically, this means each sinner would have different works to do, depending on the wisdom or lack of wisdom in the leadership, for the same sin. All “fruits meet for repentance” means is if you have repented, you will quit doing the sin you committed. For example in the Church at Corinth when fornication was being committed, Paul commanded them to withdraw from the brother who was committing the fornication, but when he repented and brought forth fruits meet for repentance, or in simple English, when he repented and quit committing the fornication, he was to be accepted back without a waiting period to prove himself, but immediately because he said he had repented. If later, he showed he had not repented by committing fornication again, he would have to be withdrawn from again.

Do I Possess Bad Fruit?
If the type of fruit we are producing falls under the category of bad fruit we are going to be looking at or we are producing no fruit for the Lord, we see we are either in a condition of having fallen from grace or we have never obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine in the first place, which means we are not a child of God yet. We want to look to the word of God, the Holy Scriptures and learn what type of fruit God does not want a child of his to produce.

Luke 12:16-21 "And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Jesus, in Luke, shows an example of a man who represents a type of fruit. We see if a person, who has a lot of this world’s goods and does not have compassion for others, but instead they are greedy, is producing rotten or bad fruit. We can see being greedy is an example of producing bad fruit.

Matthew 7:15-20 "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."

Jesus warns against false prophets who appear as sheep, as true followers of God, but in reality they are wolves, animals which prey on a flock of sheep. Jesus goes on to let us know how you can tell a ravening wolf from a sheep. It is simply by their fruits, their deeds. A good tree brings forth good fruits and a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruits. What Jesus is saying is we should not look on the outward man, because that tells us nothing about whom the man really is. If you have someone who is always involved in dividing the Church, and wanting people to accept their word for the way things are, they are like the ravening wolves which prey on the Church, the corrupt tree which produces evil fruit.

What is the difference between producing good fruit and bad fruit?
Matthew 21:43 "Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."

Jesus again speaking warns the Jews of His day that they should not count upon the fact they descended from Abraham to see them through. If they did not produce good fruit themselves to the glory of God, they would lose their place in the Kingdom of God and it would be given to the Gentiles who by producing good fruit, showed themselves to be the true children of Abraham. But we as Christians need to apply this as a warning to ourselves, if we do not continue growing as Christians and keep producing good spiritual fruit for God we can also lose our place in the Kingdom of Heaven, the Church.

Galatians 5:19-23 "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."

We have here an incomplete list of the works or fruits of the flesh. I say incomplete, because while many sinful behaviors are listed here, the list ends with the words such like indicating the writer knows there are perhaps many more lusts of the flesh that are not named. But this list is extensive enough for each of us to compare our lives by. We need to honestly judge ourselves when we compare our lives to this wicked list. Many times, things we would not consider as really bad, God has shown through direct action how much he hates them. For example, what is the difference between a Christian today exaggerating how much they give, perhaps saying they are giving 15% of their income when they are really giving 10% and what Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, did when they lied to the Holy Spirit and kept back part of the price of the land they had sold and said they had given everything?

Ephesians 5:6-8 "Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:"

We must always be on guard against any man, whether he is a trusted friend, an Evangelist, an Elder, a teacher, or just an average Christian, because any one can become tempted and be drawn away by the trappings of vain glory and vain words, words that are not based entirely on the truth. If we allow ourselves to be taken in by these men we become targets of the wrath of God. We are to be very careful we do not allow ourselves to become entrapped again by darkness. We need to be very careful because now we are the children of light in the Lord, we must make sure we walk as children of the light.

Chapter Summary

1. Do I possess the fruit of the Spirit?
2. Do I possess the fruits of the flesh?
3. I am still carnally minded if I am controlled by my feelings and emotions.
4. I am still carnally minded if I am not controlled by the word of God?
5. I am still carnally minded if I am too sensitive and I get my feelings hurt easily.
6. I am still carnally minded if my motives are not pure.
7. I am still carnally minded if I am not gentle and peaceable when dealing with other people.
8. I am still carnally minded if others find me difficult to talk to when they disagree with me.
9. I am still carnally minded if I treat different people differently when they do the same thing.
10. I am still carnally minded if I treat other people different when they do the same as I do.
11. If I am not a peacemaker, I am not following Christ like I should.
12. If I am spiritually minded, I will reprove the works of Darkness.
13. If I am spiritually minded, I take joy when truth is triumphant.
14. If I am spiritually minded, I am longsuffering with others.
15. If I am spiritually minded, agape type love is evident in my life.
16. If I am spiritually minded, I do not throw temper tantrums and act in an unseemingly fashion
17. If I am spiritually minded, I do not become angry easily.
18. If I am spiritually minded, I do not read evil into other people’s motives.
19. If I am spiritually minded, I do not seek my own way over that of other people.
20. If I am spiritually minded, I have put aside childish things.
21. If I am spiritually minded, I do not cause other people to sin.
22. If I am spiritually minded, I try to not sin willfully.
23. If I am spiritually minded, I examine myself honestly by the Holy Scriptures.
24. If I am spiritually minded, I am not greedy of my possessions but share them with others.
25. If I am spiritually minded, I do not judge men by outward appearance but by their fruits.
26. If I am spiritually minded, I judge myself continually to see if I am still in the faith.
27. If I am spiritually minded, I judge myself to be sure fruits of the flesh do not come back.
28. If I am spiritually minded, I recognize the fact I can be tempted to sin.
29. If I am spiritually minded, whenever I am tempted, I stop and look for the way of escape.
30. If I am spiritually minded, I continually search the scriptures in order I am not deceived by vain words.
31. If I am spiritually minded, I remember who I am and I walk as a child of God.