Day 2: The Fruit of Jesus and the Fruit of Our Labor.

The fruit of Jesus is the church, the people who are filled with His Spirit and baptized in His name. But His fruit is also reflected in them through the fruit of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit. It’s one thing to be merely connected, it’s another to be connected and alive. But what about the fruit of our labor? Our disciples? We can’t give them the Holy Ghost to produce the fruit of the Spirit, and we definitely can’t give them the Gifts of the Spirit.

The Fruit of Christ in Us

We should bear the fruit and gifts of Christ, bearing the hallmark of a mature Christian:

• Patience, gentleness, peace, love,  joy
• Wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, languages
• Holiness, faithfulness to fellowship and corporate worship, tithe and offering
• Personal devotions of prayer, study and fasting
• Disciple making

Some of the above are only given by Jesus, some are enabled by Jesus through His grace, and some are our Christian discipline.

The Fruit of Us in Our Disciples

So we keep saying “our disciples,” let’s bear in mind that these are people who are imitating the way you imitate Christ. The disciples of John were known by their baptism of repentance, and the disciples of Jesus were known by their baptism of repentance and baptism of the Holy Ghost. So “our” disciples are not the disciples of you and me, but we are making disciples of Jesus. As a result, they will bear the hallmark of the Fruit of Christ listed above, chief among them is making more disciples of Christ.

Final Thoughts—Moving the Mark

Most pastors are elated when a new member becomes faithful to weekly corporate worship, gives tithes and offerings and becomes involved. This is the explicitly stated goal of much church leadership, and there is nothing wrong with those goals, but we must begin to think differently about our target.

• Our target isn’t indoctrination into the functions of the corporate worship center, but rather creating Disciples of Christ.
• The world reproduces itself in others, so we can expect to reproduce ourselves into others as well.

Biblical Devotion

2 Timothy 2:13-14  But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.  (14) To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Galatians 5:16-25  But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  (17) For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.  (18) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (19) Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, (20) idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,  (21) envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  (23) gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (24) And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (25) If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:4-11  Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;  (5) and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;  (6) and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.  (7) To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (8) For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,  (9) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, (10) to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  (11) All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

1 Corinthians 14:1  Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.

Ephesians 4:17-24  Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.  (18) They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.  (19) They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. (20) But that is not the way you learned Christ!— (21)  assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, (22) to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,  (23) and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,  (24) and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

2 Corinthians 7:1  Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

1 Thessalonians 3:11-13  Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you,  (12) and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,  (13) so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Hebrews 9:1-15  Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.  (2)  For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place.  (3)  Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place,  (4) having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.  (5) Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. (6) These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties,  (7) but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. (8) By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing  (9) (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper,  (10) but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. (11) But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)  (12)  he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.  (13)  For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,  (14) how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.  (15) Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Colossians 4:2-6  Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.  (3) At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— (4)  that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. (5) Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. (6) Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.