True Fruit
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November 23, 2014 |
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 "Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy" (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).
Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
A hard-working farmer works diligently with expectation for abundant fruit. In any kind of works as well as farming, people work hard because they anticipate fruit from their efforts.
God repays us according to what we have sown and done; it's the law He established. Thus in the works of God we should bear fruit and we should be able to discern all things by its fruit. Let's look into true fruit that God desires in three aspects.
First, it is the fruit of the heart with which you love God truly
Those who love God receive titles and dedicate themselves to their duties to pay back the grace and love they received. They try to hold their love for God that they had in the beginning.
But some people care for other things more than their love for God. Here, 'other things' does not only refer to the good things of the world. We must also check whether or not we consider our positions and fame in being the leader to be more important.
We also should check if we have worked thinking that at a minimum we have to fulfill such duties in leadership positions in order to go to New Jerusalem. Of course, we should consider our duty very precious and also look forward to heavenly rewards. But, what God really wants from us, above all else, is our love for Him.
If we truly love God we will mind the unseen yet true things rather than just the things that are seen from the outside such as rewards or titles. We will also think about and pray about the reasons why we have been given the duty and what God wants from us through such a duty. We have to think and pray about what we should seek through our duty.
Then we will be able to receive the answer and that reason is that He wants our souls to prosper through the duty. He wants us to enlarge our heart vessels and increase our generosity and love. Most importantly, we can eventually become a man of whole spirit who resembles the Lord.
Accordingly, we should clearly understand what is primary and what is secondary and act accordingly. The primary point is that our souls should prosper. For our souls' prosperity, our flesh has to be put to death every day and spirit has to be renewed through the Spirit every day.
To 'die every day' is spiritual faithfulness. This spiritual faithfulness is more important than faithfulness for our duty itself. We can also bear the fruit of love in our hearts to truly love God through this spiritual faithfulness. Those who really love God will resemble God, become 'good' in His eyes, and share love with others.
Thus we need to look back upon whether or not we caused difficulties for others because we were more concerned about fulfilling our duty itself. We should check how much we look after others around us and how much we seek benefit for others. We must not offend others with words or hurt their feelings or make them stumble without knowing their hearts. We should not insist on our own opinion with our self-framework and righteousness and thus give hard time to others.
Moreover we mustn't say after troubling others, "I couldn't help it. It was to fulfill my duty." This just shows that we consider only the outward title without knowing the will of God in giving us the duty. Furthermore, we can't bear the fruit of true love for God this way. Therefore, I urge you to bear the fruit in your heart of truly loving God.
The second fruit is the fruit of blessing that you bear by receiving love from God
It is written in Romans 5:8 that God loved us first even when we were sinners. We didn't do anything to deserve the grace of salvation, but God first gave us His great love; He sacrificed His beloved Son to save us.
We didn't even know there was such great love, but God came to meet us first and forgave all our sins. We didn't have anything that was lovely in us, but God still gave us His great and amazing love. God loved us even when we didn't know Him and He gave us the blessing of salvation.
If we love this God who is full of love, then by extension, God will show us even greater love. To the extent that we bear the fruit of true love for God, we will receive God's love and bear the fruit of blessings. Moreover if we show the proof of our love by keeping His commandments, God will also give us blessing as the sign of His love for us.
For example, after we cast away a certain thing of the flesh with our love for God, the level of God's blessings on us will be completely different. We will be more prosperous and receive answers to our problems more quickly. Suppose you sowed 10 and harvested 15 with your labor in the past, but now you can even harvest 30 or 60 times what is sown. This is the fruit of blessing borne by receiving love from God.
In Manmin Central Church are many church workers who are dedicated to the kingdom of God with love for God. Some of them leave their house in the morning, visit other members, preach the gospel to people all day, and go back home in the evening. But at home they are busy preparing dinner for their family. After then they attend the Daniel Prayer Meeting.
Some others work hard during the day, and during the short spare time after work, they visit other members and gather in cell services. Why wouldn't God want to bless such lovely members? If there are workers who give out the aroma of true love for God, He will certainly bless them abundantly.
The third is the fruit of salvation of souls borne by your deeds of spiritual hearts
If we truly love God and receive His love, God who repays us according to what we've sown will send people to the groups or cells to which we belong. Then we will see revival.
Of course we still should try to let unbelieving people know God is our real Father with the heart of parents who look for lost children. We should make them know that God alone is the Father who gives us eternal life and true blessings. When they come, we have to prepare a spiritual resting place for them so that they can feel at home.
We have to embrace them with warm love so that their wounded hearts can be healed and their hardened hearts will be melted. To the extent that workers are well-prepared, God can work on the people. God gives them the Holy Spirit as a gift, renews their hearts, and leads them to salvation.
God wants us to become great vessels who can accept all kinds of people. He doesn't want us to cause hardship for others with our self-righteousness and frameworks. He wants us to save them with warm love and good deeds. God sends the souls to those workers who have prepared a spiritual resting place for them. Then they can see revival.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God surely shows the evidences of His love to those who love Him. This promise is sure and never fails. You cannot bear true fruit just with your own diligence and effort. Only the fruit given by God is true and perfect. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will love God truly, receive His love, bear abundant blessings, and lead many souls to salvation.
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