Fruit for Thought

May 4

Read: Phil. 3:1-11

Fruit for Thought

Our FLESH is constantly competing with the Spirit as the locale or “person” that we are placing our confidence in. In the end, the thought that our “flesh” combined with a list of “rules” could ever accomplish the work in us that God has planned for us is ludicrous. This bent is revealed in us when we are more comfortable with the idea that remaining under a list of rules is a more preferable / feasible / “likely” strategy to guide us than is the indwelling presence of God and our new heart / Spirit / nature that he has put in us. We would rather trust the rules and our fleshly efforts than the “new creation” that he has made. If you won’t listen to Jesus when he leads you in life, what makes you think you are going to listen to the laws that God gave Moses when he walked down mount Sinai!? It becomes quite clear that we trust our flesh - “have confidence in our flesh” -more so than we do the Spirit of God + new creation in Christ that we are / have within us! Take a look at this in the scriptures:

“…though I (Paul) myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more…But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ…” Phil. 3:4,7-9

There is a contrast between the flesh / world and the way of the people of God which is called life “in the Spirit”. The flesh is consistently working to seat your confidence in your worldly smarts, power, or social status… what you know, what you have, what you can do (how strong you are or fast or able to jump or whatever) or even what other people think of you! This is NOT how Christ works… just look:

“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to the flesh, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” 1 Cor. 1:26

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Sam. 16:7

“And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” Luke 16:15

To fixate on the performance of our flesh, or to anchor your hope in the effectiveness of prohibitions and commands is to place confidence in the “flesh”. To fixate on JESUS and to walk in the Spirit is to trust HIS work IN YOU… to trust HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS not your own. To trust the new creation he has made you. A tree will always bear fruit in accordance with the type of tree that it is. Jesus says so: “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit.” (Luke 6:43,44) The orange tree will never “willpower” itself into bearing apples… no lists of prohibitions or commandments issued to it will enable it to bear apples. (I am not sure that an orange tree even wants to bear apples!) Orange trees bear oranges… apple trees bear apples. Flesh births flesh and Spirit births spirit. (cf. John 3) What would it look like to put our confidence in Jesus’ ability to transform the type of tree that we are… to birth spiritual fruit in and through us. What would it look like to start walking in step with the Spirit… asking Jesus what it is he is calling us to? What if we started to trust Jesus and take him at his word when he told us who he made us to be and what he was doing in us? Here is some very good news… not even wrongly placed confidence in the flesh or the law can STOP the work of Jesus in you IF you are his!

Wouldn’t it be shocking to find out that the burden of our own efforts trying to keep laws that had been fulfilled by Christ was actually SLOWING US DOWN in our growth and walk with Jesus? What if we were to discover that the fruit we are bearing ACTUALLY comes from Christ and who HE made us… and it had nothing to do with our efforts or the mandates we attempt to follow? What if God truly has made us “new trees” who are growing up and into bearing the new fruit that will come from us by the nature of who we are in Christ? There are a lot of things that effect growth and fruit bearing in a tree, but nothing can change the core nature / identity of a tree other than the creator God who made it! Which would you want to trust more? Your flesh or the Spirit? Your own efforts or the efforts of Christ? What sort of “rest” would you find or participate in if you were no longer under the law of a “sabbath”? Would it be more or less? Has the law of the “sabbath” brought you genuine rest? How generous would you find yourself to be if you were no longer under any sort of law to give 10%… or 20%… or any specific %? Is it the law that is making you less “stingy”? Is your legalistic % of giving yielding more or less fruit in the Kingdom of God? What if those “laws” went away and you were faced with actions motivated by who you are in Christ? What if Christ IN YOU is actually better at guiding you than you + a set of rules is? Just some food for thought… or should I say fruit for thought? Love you guys. - JDP