For this Reason: Go and be fruitful

For this reason: Go and be Fruitful

Col. 1:9-11

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[a] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,

Today we are going to focus on: “bearing fruit in every good work”. This sounds so simple and easy, but let’s take a better look. I would guess there are two types of people, and we can look at the status of your yard to find this out. The first type of people have a freshly manicured lawn with an abundance of flowers and bushes and fruit. It looks like we are at The Masters. The second type of people forget to water, there yard looks okay, but mainly everything you buy dies. The agricultural reality of your life might show you something about your spiritual life. Everyone has some area of their spiritual life where the grass isn’t as green as it could be. There isn’t as much fruit as you’d wish.

John 15:4 tells us “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me”.

The key to our scripture of Colossians isn’t to rely on our own might and power, it’s his glorious might. When we get our might and his might confused, we get burnt out. The deep intimacy that is possible with Jesus is the key to the green Master’s yard we all desire. We don’t have it in us to bear the fruit we are designed to bear, it’s a dependence on Jesus and the power that he can supply us.

When Paul writes to the church in Colossians, he tells them he has heard about the fruit they are bearing. They have love abounding in their community. Paul mentions “fruit” all throughout the letter’s he writes. There are trends we can see that help us grow in our understanding of scripture. The fruit of the Spirit might be the most well-known and possibly most mis-interpreted passage in scripture.

Galatians 5:19-21 says:

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

There are things on this list that seem easy to avoid, but others that seem more ingrained in us that require something to rectify them. Things like jealousy, and if I’m honest I struggled with this act of the flesh just this week. This passage tells us “Those that do these will not inherit the kingdom of God”. Jesus came to bring the Kingdom on God and abundance to each person, and what this passage is saying is that when we act in our flesh, we aren’t living in the fruitful abundance that God has planned for us. We are planting things in our yard that are killing everything else we’ve planted.

But, thankfully God also gives us the fruits of the spirit right after the acts of the flesh.

Galatians 5:22-24 says:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

The word tells us that the fruit of the Spirit are not a moral code to live by, they are things that can only come when you have the Holy Spirit living inside you that can give you the power to produce the fruit. The fact that they are fruits of the Spirit and not fruits of the flesh show us that apart from God they aren’t achievable. We must abide in God and remain in him for them to have the power to be released in our lives.

Will power is never enough to achieve fruit in our lives. We must call upon the help of our helper the Holy Spirit. We wake up every day with a limited amount of will power. If we are going to be transformed, it’s going to take more than we can give. This is the first step to bearing fruit, recognition of our limitations and acknowledgement of the power the Holy Spirit has in our lives are crucial. Then and only then can we bear fruit in our lives.

Galatians 5:25 says

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 

When we keep in step with the Spirit, we go at his pace and go in the direction and on the path he takes. We are not in control friends. We are on a walk with God. What would it look like if we slowed down and arranged our lives around walking and not running. What if we bucked cultural norms to be constantly busy, and notice what is shaping our souls so we can walk “in step” with the Spirit. Transformation is possible, through the power of God. When we contemplate and gaze at the power of the Holy Spirit and his glory in our lives, it slowly transforms us into his image.

Our time and attention are limited, and today I want you to think about how much you’re giving to Jesus. If we are to remain in him, we really need to give him our time. Honestly, I think most of us would say he doesn’t get enough of our time and attention.

Prayer is a constant awareness of the presence of God, we have the ability and the option to pray without ceasing. So, this week, let’s focus on remaining with God. If we practice being aware of his awareness of us, it will create so much more intimacy with him. As we take intentional steps to keep God before us, we will be more aware of the presence of God. Jesus is always present, it’s our job to pay attention.

Practically, this looks different for every person. One example is a practice of thinking about God every minute for one hour a day. Starting with this simple practice can help make you more aware of God’s presence in your life. Whatever you do, do it with a cheerful heart and don’t do it as a burden. We have access to God, approaching him with the awe and reverence we should. When we abide in him, we will bear fruit. The roses of my life can and will come out if I practice slowing down and encountering God, contemplating him and thinking of his glory.