If Jesus is the Vine, and we are the branches on that Vine, then the fruit that Jesus is looking for, the fruit that we are supposed to be bearing, is Jesus Fruit. Jesus Fruit? What is Jesus Fruit? Where do we find Jesus Fruit in the Bible?
The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ Spirit…the Fruit of the Spirit is therefore the Fruit of Jesus…the Fruit of the Spirit is Jesus Fruit. If we are connected to The Vine, who is Jesus, then we will bear Jesus Fruit…and Jesus Fruit is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
I had always heard about the Fruit of the Spirit…I’d even preached about the Fruit of the Spirit…and I’d figured out what Fruit of the Spirit that I was good at bearing. I decided the Fruit I bear is love, kindness, and gentleness, and that is pretty much good enough. I mean don’t you think so…three out of nine…that’s a third of the different fruits of the Spirit. Didn’t Paul say that not everyone gets every gift, but that God allots to each person what they need to contribute to the Body of Christ, the Church, as a whole? Yes…we get the whole “if the whole body were an eye” or “if the whole body were hearing” imagery from 1st Corinthians. However, Spiritual Gifts and the Fruit of the Spirit are not synonymous…they are two different things. Spiritual Gifts vary from person to person…Spiritual Fruit does not.
Where I was challenged with this realization was the challenge to go back and read the passage…not just base it on what I always heard or always thought. When we go back and look at the two verses, and pay attention to the grammar that Paul used, we find that the Fruit of the Spirit, or Jesus Fruit, is all-inclusive. Paul does not say, “the Fruits of the Spirit are” or even “the Fruit of the Spirit are,” Paul writes, “The Fruit of the Spirit IS…” The Fruit of the Spirit, Jesus Fruit, IS “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
What difference does that make? It makes a world of difference. We can be the most loving person, but if we act out of control then we are not bearing Jesus Fruit. We can be full of joy, but if we are tight-fisted and greedy, then we are not bearing the Fruit of the Spirit. If we feel like we have found peace, but that peace is the result of fear and hostility, then we aren’t and don’t have Jesus Fruit hanging from us. If we are truly connected to The Vine, truly connected to Jesus, truly in tune with the nourishment that the Spirit is pouring into us, then we will bear Jesus Fruit! If we are truly connected to The Vine and bearing Jesus Fruit, then we will look more like a Fruit Salad than a basket of apples. If we are connected to the Vine, we will love, have joy, find peace, have patience, show kindness, be generous, be faithful, be gentle, have self-control.
Are we not there yet? Most of us are not. We are trying…we are striving…We have to remember that we don’t plant an apple tree and expect a harvest of apples the same year…Jesus has planted His Spirit within us…and as time goes on, as long as we make sure that we are seeking nourishment through worship, through study, through prayer, through fellowship, and through service, then we will continue to grow into the Jesus Fruit Bearing Branches we were meant to be.
(LEE ROY PITTARD III)