Bearing Fruit for His Glory

Robert A. Haggard

Description

The fruit of the Holy Spirit is indispensable in our lives as believers. We should seek first the Person of Jesus Christ and allow His Spirit to cultivate the fruit within us to the glory of God the Father.
This book discusses the indispensability of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer in Jesus Christ. The author, Robert A. Haggard, beseeches the reader to seek the Person of Jesus Christ -- to know and love Him -- and to expect the fruit of His Spirit that glorifies God the Father as a byproduct of that close relationship. The author’s main purposes in this book are: 1) That it would glorify God; 2) That it would edify its readers; and 3) That it would inject life into its readers.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Living
• Inspirational
• Philosophie et théologie
• Jesús de Nazaret
• God
• Jesus
• Vine
• Holy Spirit
• Jésus-Christ
• Spirit
• Fruit

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 26 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664271692
• Langue: English

Extrait

BEARING FRUIT for HIS GLORY
 
 
 
 
What God Wants to Do In and Through Us
 
 
 
 
ROBERT A. HAGGARD
 
 
 

 
 
Copyright © 2022 Robert A. Haggard.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
 
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
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Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®
 
Scripture marked (KJV) taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
 
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7170-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7171-5 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7169-2 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022912486
 
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 07/21/2022
CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter One The Indwelling Holy Spirit
Chapter Two Love
Chapter Three Joy
Chapter Four Peace
Chapter Five Patience
Chapter Six Kindness
Chapter Seven Goodness
Chapter Eight Faithfulness
Chapter Nine Gentleness
Chapter Ten Self-Control
Chapter Eleven Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Appendix 1: The Athanasian Creed
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control. Against such things there is no law.
—Galatians 5:22–23
INTRODUCTION
My desire to give full expression to the crucial importance and indispensability of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life began many years ago. There are many examples I could give, but one sticks out in my mind most strikingly. I recall one particular high school basketball game I was watching between two private Christian schools. It was a home game for the school all my daughters were attending. Our coach considered Christian character more important than winning. Unfortunately, the opposing team’s coach apparently did not.
The difference in the character of the two coaches and, not surprisingly, their players was diametric. The foul mouths and poor sportsmanship that emanated from the opposing coach and players were embarrassing. If you had asked both coaches and probably all the players on each team, they all would have said they were born-again Christians. I don’t question their faith, but I strongly disagree with their apparent view of the Christian life.
Many Christians and Christian denominations emphasize the act of salvation to the near exclusion of subsequent behavior. To be sure, salvation is absolutely necessary to enter this eternal kingdom, but as many have stated over the years, if God intended only that, He could have gently drowned each of us at baptism so He wouldn’t have risked the certainty of our future sins, bad mistakes, and unwise decisions.
Jesus, speaking to His disciples in Matthew 7:15–20, says, “Watch out for the false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them” (emphasis mine).
Lest we assume from this that only non-Christians can bear bad fruit (Jesus is likely using some hyperbole above), James, speaking to believers regarding the taming of the tongue, says, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be . Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water” (James 3:9–12, emphasis mine).
To be sure, salvation is by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8–9), and without that, we cannot become Christians. Where does that lead us, however? “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (Rom. 5:1–2). We go from grace to grace. And where does grace take us? “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled [self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23)], upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own [goodness is another fruit of the Holy Spirit [(Gal. 5:22–23)], eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:11–14). God, by His grace, builds in us an eagerness to produce good fruit in His kingdom.
It’s a shame that much of the church hasn’t understood these verses fully or just hasn’t taken them seriously. How many of us consistently love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt. 19:19)? Or even more—love each other as He has loved us (John 15:12)? Do we rejoice (fruit of joy) in the Lord always (Phil. 4:4)? How many of us are kept in perfect peace (Isa. 26:3)? Do many of us have great endurance and patience (Col. 1:11)? How many of us always try to be kind to each other (1 Thess. 5:15)? Are we always eager to do what is good (Titus 2:14)? Are we faithful even to the point of death (Rev. 2:10)? Is our gentleness evident to all (Phil. 4:5)? Do we sometimes allow Satan to tempt us because of our lack of self-control (1 Cor. 7:5)? If the fruit of the Holy Spirit were evident in the lives of those in the body of Christ even a little more than it is, our witness would be powerful.
What is the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Some consider it exclusively the nine “fruits” listed in Galatians 5:22–23—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Note that the list is introduced as fruit (singular). The Greek word karpos in this passage means fruit—literally or figuratively. It is followed by the Greek verb esti , which means “is” (third person, singular). Hence, in a sense these nine characteristics are considered as one. God intends for us to have all of them together as one. I believe this is very important.
I recall as a young Christian in the late 1970s and early 1980s during the charismatic movement that people (myself included) were very enthusiastic about receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We often talked about certain people having this or that gift. I don’t believe God wants it to be that way with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. He wants each of us to have all the fruit, not just one or a few. Fruit has to do with character, and God’s ultimate purpose for us is to build His character in each of us (see Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 1:4), thereby bringing utmost glory to Him and the most optimal effectiveness in spreading the gospel to a world that is in desperate need to hear it in all its fullness. If each of us had one or two “fruits” of the Holy Spirit and not all of them, we might have Christians who were kind but not patient or joyful but without goodness. This wouldn’t represent Jesus Christ well to a world that needs to know the real Jesus.
I don’t believe these nine “fruits” listed in Galatians 5:22–23 are the only fruit of the Holy Spirit. The following list of fruit (twenty-six in number) is perhaps not exhaustive, but it gives more of an idea of the vastness of fruit God wants to produce in each of us (see Rom. 5:3–5; 14:17; 15:4; 1 Cor. 4:20; 2 Cor. 4:15; 6:6–7; 7:11; 8:7; 9:10–11; Gal. 5:22–23; Eph. 5:9; Col. 2:7; 3:12, 16; 1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 1:7; 2; 2:22; James 1:2–4; 2 Peter 1:5–7). These include brotherly love, character, compassion, eager desire (and earnestness) to do good, faith, faithfulness, generosity, gentleness (meekness), godliness, gratitude (thankfulness), hope, humility, indignati