A Fruitful Life (Col. 1:10b)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/1/2017 9:44 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                    Focus:  “A Fruitful Life”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Colossians 1:10b

            Message of the verse:  “so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

            I first want to quote Ephesians 2:8-10 with emphasis on verse ten:  “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Emphasis added)

            As we compare the last part of verse ten of Colossians chapter one with Ephesians 2:10, they both talk about good works that are performed by believers, and I have mentioned many times that I believe that it is not a stretch to believe that God has chosen good works for individual believers to perform in the power of the Holy Spirit so that all the glory will be given to the Lord once we do what He has planned for us to do.

            We also see the word “fruit” in the last part of verse ten and for those of you who have been following our SD’s from the gospel of John will remember that as we are in the 15^th chapter of John that the first part of chapter fifteen also speaks about bearing fruit through the power of, well actually the whole trinity.  God being the vinedresser, Jesus Christ being the branches, and I don’t think it is a stretch to see that what flows between the vine and the branches is the Holy Spirit giving power to believers to once again do what God wants them to do.

            Now we have been talking about knowledge and we can see from this last part of verse ten that fruitfulness also is a result of knowledge for we have to understand the Bible which gives us knowledge in order to do the things that God wants us to do.

            Let us look at Romans 7:4“Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.” 

            John MacArthur writes “The Bible defines ‘fruit’ in various ways.  Here Paul speaks of ‘bearing fruit in every good work.’  Converts are referred to as fruit.  Paul spoke of the household of Stephanas as the ‘first fruits of Achaia’ (1 Cor. 16:15).  He also desired some fruit among the Romans (1:13).  Hebrews 13:15 defines praise as fruit:  “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that gives thanks to His name.’  Giving money can also be fruit (Rom. 15:26-28).  Godly living is fruit, as indicated when the writer of Hebrews tells us that God’s discipline produces in us ‘the peaceful fruit of righteousness’ (Heb. 12:11).  Finally, the holy attitudes mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23 are referred to as ‘the fruit of the Spirit.’”

            The following produces fruit in a believers’ life:  First we have to have a union with Christ “4  "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5).” 

            Next we have to have wisdom as this is a necessary prerequisite for us bearing fruit.  James 3:17 “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.”  Lack of fruit production is caused by a lack of wisdom.

            Thirdly we have to a diligent effort on the Christian’s part as this is required and Peter 1:5-8 addresses this last point which we will close with:

            “5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1/1/2017 10:13 PM