“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23
When we read the Bible, we don’t use only our reasoning; we also apply our imagination. Even a passage as simple as the one above lends itself to both faculties.
We can follow the apostle Paul’s logic without much difficulty. The Holy Spirit is the source of positive traits and behaviors in our lives. As we take on these characteristics, we improve who we are and how we treat others. No set of rules can hinder what the Spirit produces in us.
That’s a rational explanation of the meaning of those verses. But what about the artistic dimension? When I consider that aspect, I start contemplating “fruit” as, well, edible stuff. You know–apples, peaches, bananas. This picture doesn’t seem helpful for my spiritual life, but a bit of reflection reveals an insight.
Fruit resembles a sack lunch. God designed most fruit with seeds in the middle. (Others, like strawberries, have seeds on the outside.) If a seed gets planted in the right conditions, it will sprout another plant from which it grew.
But conditions aren’t always right. So God compensated by surrounding the seed with all the nutrients and energy (read, “sugar”) it needs. You could say that fruit is like a meal for a seed. And, thank God, it also feeds us!
But did I misidentify what fruit is? Over the years, I’ve read a bunch of books about church, ministry, and pastoral work. One of them, Natural Church Development by Christian Schwarz, gave me a different perspective. Schwarz claims that the ultimate fruit of an apple tree is another apple tree, not an apple.
For ministry, this means that church leaders need to focus on the actual goal. It’s wonderful if First Church has a thriving small group ministry.. Nothing wrong with with lots of testimonies about people getting connected, learning, and serving.
But according to Schwarz, the ultimate fruit of a small group is another small group. For that to happen, the members of the group would have to agree to that goal. The leaders of the group would be on the lookout for people willing to become leaders themselves. And the group would celebrate the launch of each new group.
Schwarz makes a great point about the ultimate goal of a ministry. We could say that the greatest fruit of a small group ministry is more small groups.
But if that’s the case, the ultimate fruit of the Spirit is–what? Another Holy Spirit? That doesn’t seem right! I like what Schwarz promotes, but it doesn’t seem to apply to Galatians 5:22-23.
When we look at an orange, we tend to think about the juicy meat. To get more oranges (forget shopping for the moment!), we could plant the seeds and see what sprouts. A fruit is not a tree. The tree may be the goal of a fruit, but it is not the fruit itself.
Fruit is a potential tree.
Since God wants Christians to bear the fruit of the Spirit, He wants us to think about our potential. Jesus is the tree, the Spirit is the life of the tree, and the seeds within the fruit of our character are the gospel. Remember, we’re thinking here about potential and hope rather than immediate fulfillment.
Paul lists nine qualities of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, and so on. When we assemble these virtues, what image strikes us? I realize that the fruit of the Spirit is the personality of Jesus Christ expressed in His church. People encounter Jesus when they meet Christians filled with kindness and self-control. And the Christians themselves grow in godliness.
The goal? God wants more Christians, more followers of His Son. But to get there, He needs to develop the life of Jesus within them. That’s what the Holy Spirit does.
The fruit of the Spirit is God’s plan for the health of His people. Make sure you’re enjoying your share!
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