DIFFERENT FRUITS
I teased a couple attending our Wednesday evening Advent services to think of the fruit that Jesus is looking for on us, His tree. That would be my theme for Sunday, December 15th, as we looked at John - the way God uses the metaphor through John the Baptist. I told them it is only one fruit and it is not easy to see. There was a quick mention of the fruits of the Spirit from Paul and I hinted that it was not one of those.
After the sermon that Sunday, we had another long discussion. It became clear to us both that it is easy to mix metaphors on fruit. Paul and John the Baptist were talking about very different things. It is not helpful to us to think of every mention of “fruit” in the Bible through the lens of that easily illustrated Sunday school lesson on the fruits Paul describes in Galatians 5.
What other metaphors can be used in different ways? Just a month before the mixed metaphor was that of a lion. Paul used a prowling lion as a metaphor for the Devil, the psalmist and just about every other use of lion (Genesis 49:9) are depictions of God. Sure enough, the song after the message at 11:00 referred to the Lion of Judah.
The word, “fruit,” occurs 270 times in the Bible. Often it is a reference to actual fruit for an offering or provided by God in each season. But the overwhelming use of this metaphor in the Bible is a vineyard owner, or an olive tree, that was planted and created to bear one fruit.
The fruit Jesus planted you to produce is faith. Faith like that of John the Baptist. Faith that expects a Messiah. Faith that points to God. Faith that trusts the Messiah when He takes over your life and fills you with His spirit. Faith that welcomes the end of self. The death of your human nature and its rebellion. Faith that replaces your faith in self with faith in the spiritual presence of Christ. Faith that makes you a vessel for God’s will. Faith that not only anticipates the main character of the story, but knows He is already here!
This faith is indeed very different than that which Paul describes. Paul is mixing the metaphor. And to be fair, of all people, Paul should have known better. He is describing what the fruit of faith produces in us. He is not describing the source of life to begin with. Our dedication to worship is a good habit to form. The sacrifice of tithe or time can hint at God’s work in us. But there is only one fruit that gives life. That is and always will be simply our trust in God – faith.
In anticipation of what God does next,

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