August 26th, 2025
How many of you have eaten fruit you picked directly from a tree? It doesn’t taste the same as fruit from the produce section! When I was very young, we had a huge, old peach tree with the most incredible fruit. The tree cross-pollinated with a nearby pear tree creating sweet, unique peach-pears unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. The tree was ancient and a few years later, it got sick. It began to produce less and less fruit until finally it died and had to be cut down. This week, I’ve been thinking about that tree and the importance of fruit in our lives as believers. See, the quality of the fruit always reflects the health of the tree. We knew the tree was dying when the fruit stopped coming. That’s true in nature and in our lives!
Matthew 7:16-20 says,
“You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits.”
An unhealthy tree cannot produce a harvest of healthy fruit. We are called to bear fruit as we walk with Jesus and it’s our fruit that demonstrates the kingdom of God to the people around us.
Galatians 5:22-23 says,
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
The world will not know the nature of the Holy Spirit – the nature of God – until He is allowed to purely flow through the life of a believer. The Holy Spirit in us produces all nine of those fruits listed above, and that they cannot be produced any other way!
John 15:1-5 says,
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the Word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
It is only through abiding in Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit that we bear fruit. It’s not in our striving or effort. We don’t applaud trees that produce great harvests because they were the harder-working trees. That would be foolish! A healthy tree is doing what it was created to do when given the right conditions. With good soil, water, and the necessary sunlight, a tree will thrive and bear fruit without toiling. The verse above says a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit. However, in the kingdom, the quality of the tree has to do with where you are planted! When you repent of your sins and give Jesus your life, you are planted in Him and if you abide (or remain) in Him, fruit will naturally be produced!
Jeremiah 17:7-8 says,
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Fruit is the natural product of intimacy with Jesus, and it doesn’t come in seasons. We will not cease to bear fruit! There aren’t winters or droughts in Jesus. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When we remain in Him, our fruit will be constant!
We must abide in Jesus to produce good fruit. That’s why He said “you will recognize them by their fruit.” It’s only good, healthy fruit that will bring life and demonstrate God’s character and kingdom to the world around us!
We must be careful not to try to produce fruit in our own strength. Have you ever gone to someone’s home and seen a bowl full of fruit that looked mouth-watering…but turned out to be plastic? Some decorative fruit looks so good you have to touch it to know whether it’s real or not. This is true of the fruit of some people’s lives. It is possible to toil and strive and create something that looks like fruit but is something else entirely. The Pharisees and religious people of Jesus’ day are a good example of this.
Matthew 23:27-28 says,
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but, on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
The Pharisees did many of the things God instructed in His Word. They kept the law. They gave, fasted, prayed, and memorized Scripture. However, all of those acts were just that – acts. They were not abiding in the only vine that gives life. Even though they were producing something with the appearance of fruit, it was not. Plastic fruit has no nutrition, no life, and no seeds. It’s fake! In the same way, we will have nothing to give the world around us if we strive to look a certain way, rather than abiding in Jesus and allowing Him to produce fruit in us.
This week, I want to encourage you to rest in the truth that you can only bear fruit through abiding in Him. It’s a choice – a choice to be separate from the world and planted in Him alone, but it’s not something you’ll have to strive and toil for. It’s a choice to rest in faith that His Word in you will do what it says it will do! As believers, we are called to bear real, healthy, life-giving fruit, and it’s only through abiding in Jesus. Let your roots grow deeply in Him. Drink of the water only He can give. Allow the light of His Word to illuminate every area of your heart. As you do, real fruit will be produced. It’s a promise!
Matthew 7:16-20 says,
“You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits.”
An unhealthy tree cannot produce a harvest of healthy fruit. We are called to bear fruit as we walk with Jesus and it’s our fruit that demonstrates the kingdom of God to the people around us.
Galatians 5:22-23 says,
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
The world will not know the nature of the Holy Spirit – the nature of God – until He is allowed to purely flow through the life of a believer. The Holy Spirit in us produces all nine of those fruits listed above, and that they cannot be produced any other way!
John 15:1-5 says,
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the Word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
It is only through abiding in Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit that we bear fruit. It’s not in our striving or effort. We don’t applaud trees that produce great harvests because they were the harder-working trees. That would be foolish! A healthy tree is doing what it was created to do when given the right conditions. With good soil, water, and the necessary sunlight, a tree will thrive and bear fruit without toiling. The verse above says a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit. However, in the kingdom, the quality of the tree has to do with where you are planted! When you repent of your sins and give Jesus your life, you are planted in Him and if you abide (or remain) in Him, fruit will naturally be produced!
Jeremiah 17:7-8 says,
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Fruit is the natural product of intimacy with Jesus, and it doesn’t come in seasons. We will not cease to bear fruit! There aren’t winters or droughts in Jesus. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When we remain in Him, our fruit will be constant!
We must abide in Jesus to produce good fruit. That’s why He said “you will recognize them by their fruit.” It’s only good, healthy fruit that will bring life and demonstrate God’s character and kingdom to the world around us!
We must be careful not to try to produce fruit in our own strength. Have you ever gone to someone’s home and seen a bowl full of fruit that looked mouth-watering…but turned out to be plastic? Some decorative fruit looks so good you have to touch it to know whether it’s real or not. This is true of the fruit of some people’s lives. It is possible to toil and strive and create something that looks like fruit but is something else entirely. The Pharisees and religious people of Jesus’ day are a good example of this.
Matthew 23:27-28 says,
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but, on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
The Pharisees did many of the things God instructed in His Word. They kept the law. They gave, fasted, prayed, and memorized Scripture. However, all of those acts were just that – acts. They were not abiding in the only vine that gives life. Even though they were producing something with the appearance of fruit, it was not. Plastic fruit has no nutrition, no life, and no seeds. It’s fake! In the same way, we will have nothing to give the world around us if we strive to look a certain way, rather than abiding in Jesus and allowing Him to produce fruit in us.
This week, I want to encourage you to rest in the truth that you can only bear fruit through abiding in Him. It’s a choice – a choice to be separate from the world and planted in Him alone, but it’s not something you’ll have to strive and toil for. It’s a choice to rest in faith that His Word in you will do what it says it will do! As believers, we are called to bear real, healthy, life-giving fruit, and it’s only through abiding in Jesus. Let your roots grow deeply in Him. Drink of the water only He can give. Allow the light of His Word to illuminate every area of your heart. As you do, real fruit will be produced. It’s a promise!
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