Good Fruit

Matthew 13:23 NKJV 

²³ But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Recently, my pastor has been teaching on bearing fruit and being a hearer AND a doer. This has brought up in me the desire to go deeper, not just in works, but in understanding. I don’t want to just hear the Word and have it fall away. I want to understand and be a doer of the Word. Being a hearer and a doer should yield results both inside and outside. Those results should be good fruit.

Matthew 13 says when we hear and understand the Word, we bear and produce. As I studied this, it became plain that to see good fruit, we must first genuinely bear it ourselves. In other words, we can only produce good fruit if we are truly bearing good fruit. 

To bear fruit means:

• The characteristics of Christ Jesus are on the inside- It is an inner man change.
• The fruit of the Spirit is evident
• God is glorified as the inner transformation of salvation yields visible results in life

~ Romans 6:4-6 / Galatians 5:22-23 / Hebrews 12:11 / Ephesians 5:9 / 2 Peter 1:5-7

To produce fruit means:

• There are visible outcomes of God’s work in you- actions that reflect Christ’s character and causing an impact on others (a harvest)
• Staying connected to the vine (Abiding), which produces actionable fruit 
• To have the power of the Lord and the boldness through Holy Spirit

~ John 8:31 / John 15: 1-8 / Acts 2:1-4 / Acts 4:29-30

First, we should bear fruit, then produce fruit. The Christlike character growing in us (inner man change) becomes real-life actions and a harvest of changed lives when we bear good fruit.

Matthew 7 highlights the clear difference between bearing good fruit and bad. Even in our efforts to serve Christ, we can still bear bad fruit if we are not first shaped by His character through the Holy Spirit living in us and if we are not abiding. Our calling is to move from living for ourselves to dying to self and living for Christ so others can genuinely encounter Him through our lives- by the fruit we bear. Without that inner work of the Spirit, our actions become either empty or even damaging. When we lack the fruit of the Spirit, the result is a bad harvest. The good fruit is only produced when we have the character of Christ.

We bear a good harvest of souls by remaining connected to the Vine, Jesus. Abiding in Him is essential, as Jesus makes clear in John 15. As the Vinedresser, God lovingly prunes and chastens us so that we can bear more fruit—more souls brought into a saving relationship with Him.  This pruning and discipline are ultimately for our good and the good of others. It keeps us on the path of holiness.

How do we bear fruit through the Spirit? It begins with dying to self.

John 12:24 NKJV 

²⁴ Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

Here we are the seed. Jesus is giving the example of results that happen when we die to self.

We are as wheat. Our sinful nature is very much alive when we first learn the word.

But falling on good ground should:

Produce death 

• Falling on good ground should lead us to a daily cross. Dying to self is not a one-time event but an ongoing surrender. As we yield our pride and our own way, Christ’s life becomes more visible in us.

Produce life (in Christ)

• Falling on good ground should make us witnesses. Wheat is grown for harvest and for seed; in the same way, our transformed lives are meant to nourish others and draw them to Christ.

Bear fruit (through Holy Spirit)

• It should also produce visible fruit. The Spirit’s inner work shows itself in love instead of bitterness, patience instead of irritability, gentleness instead of harshness. This is not self-made change, but the natural fruit of a surrendered life.

To bear fruit through the Spirit is to let God’s Word take root, break us, change us, and send us. As we die to self, the life of Christ is revealed, and our lives become a field of harvest for God’s glory. We are called to be fruitful (bear) and yield a harvest (produce).

My prayer is that we are hearers and a doers of the Word. I pray we consecrate and take time to abide in the vine, never leaving that place as we go forward to do as we are called—to follow Jesus and reap a harvest of souls. I pray we fill ourselves with Abba, with His Word, with His truth, and with His fruit by His Spirit in Jesus Name!

Promises for the Journey

Hebrews 13:20-21 AMP

²⁰ Now may the God of peace… ²¹ equip you with every good thing to carry out His will and strengthen you [making you complete and perfect as you ought to be], accomplishing in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Acts 4:29-31 NKJV

²⁹ Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, ³⁰ by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” ³¹ And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Matthew 7:15-20 NLT

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. ¹⁶ You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. ¹⁹ So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.