Luke 13:6-9 [6] He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. [7] Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, “Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ [8] But he answered and said to him, “Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. [9] And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.”‘
As disciples of Christ, we are expected by God to bear fruit. Unfortunately, we live in an era where the message coming from most of our pulpits gives believers an average life; people are not provoked to step up their game and aspire to live a life that reveals Christ.
There is a dimension called the fruit of the Spirit. This is one of the Holy Spirit’s assignments in our lives. This dimension has a lot to do with one’s rootedness in Christ or their degree of intimacy with the Lord.
Matthew 7:20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Our fruit life tells us whose nature is at work in us and not the gifts. The test of any man or woman who claims to be a disciple of Jesus is in their fruit life. This is one of the basic parameters you have to use in these last days because there is so much pollution and contamination on the pulpits.
Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Our testimony must be to glorify Jesus: every single day, the Lord expects us to give up something of ourselves and receive something of Him.
Salvation relies on two foundations: the substitution and the crucifixion work of Christ.
The substitution work of Christ is where He was punished and died for you; He satisfied the demand for justice by absorbing the wrath and judgment of God on your behalf.
When you come to Jesus, what should have come on you is now accounted for in what He did. As long as you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and saviour, your daily cry should be to look like Him. That is the substitutionary life of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 [14] For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; [15] and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Substitution affords you what is of God. The Bible says, “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength;…” (Isaiah 40:31). The righteousness, joy, peace, etc. we have are His, but this is not the ultimate goal of our salvation journey.
We must understand and re-emphasise the dimension of crucifixion where you and I died with the Lord. Crucifixion demands that you no longer live for yourself but for Him who died for us.
The reason the Holy Spirit and His virtues have been placed inside of us is so that we may live for Christ by the power of the Spirit who dwells in us.
As MJF, our cry should be sanctification and consecration that we may become more like Jesus. When we have the mindset in us that we no longer live for ourselves, nobody will push us around to do what we are meant to do. Our service to God will flow from a place of gratitude.
In Leviticus 6:10-13, the priest would take out the ashes each morning from the altar and put them in new wood and a new sacrifice. The same thing applies to us; we must lay ourselves as sacrifices at the altar every morning.
That must be the life of a believer who understands what salvation is all about. The more our level of consecration increases, the more of God’s glory and presence that is made manifest in our lives, not power.
Further Study
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Galatians 2:20
2 Corinthians 11:4
Isaiah 40:31
STAY BLESSED AND HIGHLY FAVORED. WE LOVE YOU.
PASTOR BEN OCHOLA.