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Don’t Expect to Find Apples on Pear Trees

Fruit—who doesn’t like fruit! My mouth starts to water just thinking about it, especially mangos. Madison Avenue is willing to bet most people like fruit, because they put big money into advertising all kinds of fruit flavored or fruit scented products, from yoghurt to furniture polish.

While there’s fruit, as in apples, bananas, and of course, mangos, we also use the word fruit when we mean the product or result of some effort or condition. For instance, you might say your new car is “the fruit of your labors,” meaning the result of your hard work. Or you might give up a plan that didn’t seem to work, explaining that “it wasn’t very fruitful.”

The fruit we’re going to talk about in the next few programs is not the kind of fruit you eat, it’s the result or product of something—in this case, the good things that come from having the Holy Spirit in your life. Today is the first in a ten-part series in which we’re going to take a closer look at what the Bible has to say about fruit--the Fruit of the Spirit.

The most familiar Bible passage about the Fruit of the Spirit was written by the apostle Paul in Galatians 5:22, 23. Before this series is over, you’re going to have these verses memorized. Here, I’ll read them for you: “But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (NKJV).

That’s quite a list, isn’t it? Who wouldn’t want to have any one or all of these qualities in their life? And do you know, that’s exactly what God’s wish is for you. He wants you to have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So if you want it, and we know that God wants it for you, it sounds like a win-win proposition to me.

As we begin our study about the Fruit of the Spirit, there are four points we need to keep in mind. The first point is obvious but very important and that is you can tell what kind of tree you have by the fruit that grows on it. I told you it was obvious. This reminds me of a story a man told on himself. Well, actually he told it on his brother, too. He confessed that every now and then when he was a youngster, he and his brother would be sent to their room when they had been bad. But this punishment wasn’t very effective, because the boys figured out a way to escape. There just happened to be a big, old fruit tree right outside their bedroom window.

So when they had misbehaved and were sent to their room, which was on the second floor above the back porch, they would climb out the window, onto the branches, and down the tree. From there, they would go across the back yard, over the fence, and into the fields, where they would play ball for a while. Then they would come back over the fence, across the back yard, up the tree, onto the roof, and in the window, and no one ever knew they were gone, or so they thought.

One day they overheard Dad saying to Mom, "Mary, this old fruit tree hasn't borne fruit in years. Tomorrow morning I'm going to cut it down." Needless to say, the boys were horrified. Their avenue of escape was about to disappear. They needed a plan, and they came up with one, as only young, mischievous boys can.

That night, they appeared to go to bed early, only to get up after a short time. They gathered together all the money they had saved, went out the window, down the tree, and into town, where they bought all the apples they could find and some black cotton string. When they returned home, they took the string and tied the apples onto every branch they could reach. The old tree looked absolutely fruitful. Then they went to bed and waited for their father to get up in the morning.

Father got up and went outside. He soon came back in, excitedly calling out, "Mary! Mary! It's the most incredible thing I've ever seen! That old tree that hasn't borne fruit in years is covered with apples! You’ve got to come see this; it’s absolutely covered with big, red, apples! I don't believe it! And it's a pear tree!"

Friend, of course apples grow on apple trees and pears grow on pear trees. Isn’t it fair to assume, then, that others will know what kind of person you are by your fruit? They’ll be able to tell if you’re genuine or if you’re trying to tie good fruit onto a bad life.

The second point is that real fruit trees grow slowly but surely. You can buy a beautiful plastic tree that looks like the real thing. And it will sit on your patio forever just as pretty as you please. But it’s as fake as fake can be. On the other hand, when you buy a living, healthy fruit tree, you expect it to mature and grow. The point is, if we want to grow real fruit in our lives, we can expect that the process will take time.

If you’ve visited a nursery that sells plants, you’ll see foliage at all stages. There are mature plants, seedlings, and cuttings that are just getting started. People are like that, too. In the Christian life, not everyone is at the same stage at the same time. Some may be in the bud stage. Others may have opened into beautiful, fragrant, blossoms. Still others are like hard, unripe fruit which over time will grow and develop to full maturity.

But each stage of growth, although it may be as yet incomplete, can be perfect. And you can expect the Fruit of the Spirit to grow slowly but surely over your entire lifetime.

The third point is what I call the nurture effect. In order to have a good crop of apples, there must be the right mix of good weather, an adequate amount of water, and, of course, some fertilizer.

Not enough sun, too little water, and no fertilizer, and you will have a poor crop. A scorching sun, too much water, and fertilizer burn will also result in a poor crop and may even kill the plant. Proper nurture and protection is a must in growing apples, and it’s the same in growing a Christian character.

A good horticulturist knows how to make the best of the stresses his plants are exposed to. He prunes and mulches the stock so that the stems will harden and develop resistance to the freezing weather to come. I’ve been told that oranges will be even sweeter if they’re exposed to a light frost just around harvest time.

We’re going to discover in this series that, as the Fruit of the Spirit grows in our lives, our characters will be sweeter and more resistant to evil--not just in spite of the trials and tribulations that come our way, but because of them.

The fourth point is the most important of all, because without it there can be no fruit at all. Here it is. A branch that breaks off from the stem will not bear fruit. Jesus said this plainly in John 15:4, 5: “Dwell in me, as I in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, but only if it remains united with the vine; no more can you bear fruit, unless you remain united with me. I am the vine and you are the branches. He who dwells in me, as I dwell in him, bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing” (NEB).

So then, the four points to keep in mind as we study the Fruit of the Spirit are: 1) Just as you can tell a tree by its fruit, so you can tell a Christian by the kind of person they are. 2) Real trees will grow. In the same way, growing a Christian character is an on-going process. 3) Fruit will come as we employ the nurture factor. We must feed and protect the Christian life. And finally, 4) We will grow and produce the Fruit of the Spirit only if we stay connected to Jesus.

And how do we do that? The answer, friend, is by talking to Him in prayer and by letting Him talk to us by reading His Word.

Learning how the Fruit of the Spirit grows is another way of understanding how to develop a Christ-like character. We want to be like Jesus from the inside out. This is why this series is entitled, “It’s What You Are That Counts.” Contrary to what the two young brothers thought, a pear tree doesn’t produce apples.

Jesus died for us, not only to forgive our sins but to make it possible for us to be changed from the inside out. It’s exciting to realize that we don’t have to pretend to be like Christ, we can be really, from the heart, like Him as we live and walk with Him day by day. And let me tell you, the first ones to see the difference will be the members of your family.

As you live and grow in Christ through prayer and His word, a total transformation will take place which will make you a deep down, from-the-heart Christian. Unless, of course, you think tying on plastic fruit is good enough. But you won’t fool the Master Gardener, or anyone else, for that matter.