Bearing Fruit, Luke 3:9/Galatians 5:19-23

Luke 3:9

And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Galatians 5:19-23

¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, ²⁰idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, ²¹envyings, 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.
²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

     Too often, I believe, when we hear the term "fruit" we automatically assume that it refers to some outward action, something that we can physically see or touch. We think of a reward as the fruit of someone's labor; we think of the work that God does through our lives as the fruit of our following and abiding in Him. And this is true. But if this is the only picture which we have in our minds regarding the fruit that we produce as believers-- that is, good works and the like-- then some of us are bound to stumble when we read verses like Luke 3:9, which says that every tree that doesn't bear fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
     It is true that our faith in God will naturally produce good works within our lives. The Bible even tells us this is true in the book of James. But it is also true that good works are not our ultimate goal, but knowing Christ is. So we cannot rightly judge the degree of one's relationship with God based on works, although it does give us some idea of a person's spiritual "temperature".
     God has endowed all of us with spiritual gifts, but they are all different as we are all different parts of one spiritual body, the body of Christ. Because this is so, not everyone's good works are going to look the same. And we all know you can't compare "apples to oranges". One person's life may produce an "orange", while another person's life produce "apples". And we all will produce different amounts of fruit-- that is, good works-- according to the abilities God gives us.

     But I believe that the type of fruit spoken of in Luke 3:9 is not the fruit of good works, because this would cause us to strive to do good works in our flesh and perhaps become competative. We would act out of impure motives many times, not trying to help people or bring glory to God's name or out of provocation of the Holy Spirit, but simply to make sure that we were doing something. No, rather, I believe that the fruit spoken of in Luke 3:9 is the fruit of the Spirit, as listed in Galatians 5:22-23.
     We are saved by grace, and not by works, and upon being saved are indwelt with the presence of God, the Holy Spirit. He works in our hearts to mold and shape us into the image and likeness of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. In doing so, the bad "fruit" is taken away, that fruit which is listed in Galatians 5:19-21, and it is replaced by the good fruit, as listed in Galatians 5:22-23. This is why God has told us in His word that the trees which do not produce good fruit will be cut down-- because the fruit of the Spirit is the good fruit, and to not have this fruit implies one does not have the Spirit, and all who do not have the Spirit are not born again, and Jesus said that we must be born again to inherit the kingdom of God (John 3:3).

     We needn't fear the wrath of God if we indeed have God's Spirit living in us, for He is the deposit given to us as assurance of eternal life. The Spirit of God will, in God's timing, change our lives and our hearts into the likeness of Christ, and good works will naturally result from this, but are not the goal of this. We needn't fear that we will be one of the trees cast down and thrown into the fires of hell if we can indeed see that the fruit of the Spirit is being produced in our lives: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. And God will work each of these in us according to His will and His timing. We need only to be concerned if none of these things are taking place within our hearts, for it is then that we have to ask ourselves, "Is God's Spirit really living in me? Am I really born again? Am I truly on my way to heaven, or am I deceiving myself?"