The Believer And Fruit Bearing (2) – Redemption Daily Devotional 2 July 2021
Redemption Daily Devotional 2 July 2021 Message
Topic: The Believer And Fruit Bearing (2)
Scriptures: Matt.5:13-16; 15:8-14; John 15:2; Gal.5:22-25; Eph.5:8-13
Key Verse: Every branch in me that BEARETH NOT FRUIT, he TAKETH AWAY; and every BRANCH that BEARETH FRUIT he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. John 15:2
CHRIST MESSAGE TO THE BELIEVERS ON FRUIT BEARING
It is worth noting that fruit bearing is not only the harvest of souls through evangelism or any other means. It also includes the manifestation of the virtues of the Christlike life in your life as a believer. This includes your character, being the light of the world, evidence of the fruit of the spirit as outlined in Gal.5:22-23 etc.
Jesus was emphatic, firm, detailed and thorough without any tolerance in addressing the believers and religious men of His days.
X-RAY OF CHRIST’S MESSAGE TO VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF BELIEVERS.
1. Matt 23:1-27. To the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes, who in their respect were renown religious leaders, Christ’s expectation was high. Paradoxically, they did not match their office with the expected outcome of fruit bearing. Hence Christ equally did not spare them. He had a special vocabulary of hard words such as Blind leaders, hypocrites, generation of vipers, woe, full of extortion, whited sepulchre, full of dead men’s bones and uncleanness etc specially reserved for use whenever He was addressing them.
Furthermore, in illustrating His message to them He said, ” either make the tree good and his fruit good : or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt” Matt.12:33. In summary, they did not represent the God they claimed to work for otherwise the fruits could have been the same. No mango tree will bear guavas as fruits.
2. John 6:53-60, 66. To the multitude that thronged Him to hear His messages, he knew they were sinners and Believers ( mixed multitude) hence His approach was comely. He embraced them took time to lay the foundation of the word precept upon precept, line upon line and when He was satisfied and expected to see their fruits change, He stepped up with the demands. At one of such hot moments ( yet with the kindest vocabulary) ALL ABANDONED HIM but CHRIST DID NOT CHANGE neither did He water down the word of bears genuine fruits. No doctor will dilute the concentration of an injection in an attempt to make the patient feel good.
3. Matt. 18:1-5; John 6:67, 70; 15:2; 21:10-17: To His Apostles: He knew there was a legacy that needed to be passed on to the entire world. They were to be Beacons of Hope to a dying world. He prayed passionately for the sustenance of the fruits. At one time, Peter led over 50% of them into massive backsliding but when they bounced back, they became firebrands for God , unstoppable and too hot to remain silent without preaching the word. They moved Jerusalem and the world with the Gospel. Their fruits did abide. Acts 2:37-43.
4. TO JUDAS ISCARIOT: John 6:70-71; 12:1-6; 13:21-27; 15:16. The pains of investment without gain , 3 1/2 years of daily toiling without fruits, the agony of an unfulfilled soul, one that lived in Bethlehem but drank of the waters of the well of Samaria, a city that is broken down without walls. He had equal opportunities to have written an epistle in his favor but like the fig tree he resisted every attempt to bear fruits. With all the training he had, sufficient to make him a graduate lecturer in Divinity yet He bore no fruits. Like the fruitless fig tree Jesus did not make any pretense in cutting him down addressing him as a devil.
5. TO THE WOMAN AT THE WELL OF SAMARIA. John 4:1-42. A renown sinner, obviously frustrated by life’s prevailing hurdles, her leaves did not only blossom like those of a fig tree, it had some glittering effects ( hence one husband after the other) yet life was fruitless. she seemed to have given up of ever finding a reason to be happy in life and hence any suggestion on this wise could sell effectively. Jesus knew her predicament. Beyond the fruitless glittering.
Read Also: The Believer And Fruit Bearing (1)
The Believer And Fruit Bearing (2) – Redemption Daily Devotional 2 July 2021 was written By Redemption Ministries Worldwide, Church of the FirstBorn
