Latest / Finding God at Work / 1: Fruitful Work

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1: Fruitful Work · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  We are kicking off our new series with
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  this episode, Fruitful Work, Working in the Fruit
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  of the Spirit.
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  And if you've been following Jesus for some
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  time, or you've read the New Testament, you've
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  spent some time in church, you've probably realized
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  that fruit is one of the predominant metaphors
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  in the Bible for describing human beings and
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  their relationship with God.
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  It shows up in the Old Testament, it
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  shows up in the New Testament, it shows
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  up in the teaching of Jesus, it shows
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  up in the teaching of Paul, there's a
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  lot of different variations on it.
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  Jesus talks about good trees and bad trees,
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  Jesus talks about abiding in the vine, vines
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  bearing fruit, Paul talks about the fruit of
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  the spirit in Galatians.
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  And so, because this is one of those
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  scriptural motifs that shows up again and again
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  and again, it's one that's worth paying attention
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  to and trying to wrap our minds and
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  more importantly our hearts around it so that
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  we can bear fruit like God wants us
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  to so that we can bear his kind
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  of life in our interactions at work and
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  everywhere else in life.
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  Just like with our last series, I'm going
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  to be asking a question to help guide
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  our thoughts throughout this series.
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  And the question for our Fruitful Work series
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  is this, what kind of fruit am I
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  bearing at work?
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  Because we're not necessarily always bearing the fruit
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  that we wish we would.
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  That's hard to admit, but we know it's
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  true.
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  And what if it's possible to bear the
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  kind of fruit that we really want to,
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  that God wants us to bear and that
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  we deeply long to bear?
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  But first, before we dig into that, we
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  need to lay some groundwork.
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  So we're going to structure this podcast episode
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  by episode according to the fruit of the
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  spirit passage from Paul's letter to the Galatians,
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  chapter 5, verses 22-23.
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  So let me read that, and then we're
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  going to talk about some basic fruit-bearing
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  ideas in this episode just to lay the
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  backdrop.
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  So this is starting with verse 22.
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  But the fruit of the spirit is love,
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  joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
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  self-control.
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  Against such things, there is no law.
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  Those two verses are so powerful.
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  They've been set to music and meditated on
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  and written about many, many times over the
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  centuries because of their power.
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  Just reading that list, those nine parts of
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  the fruit of the spirit is a teaching
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  in itself.
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  And if you've never had the chance to
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  memorize those two verses, I encourage you to
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  do that.
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  The nine parts of the spirit are just
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  nine words, right?
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  And the first part is, but the fruit
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  of the spirit is.
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  So that's pretty easy, right?
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  So but the fruit of the spirit is,
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  and then nine words.
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  And so that is a powerful practice, even
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  to just bring those words to mind in
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  the middle of your work day, in the
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  middle of a difficult interaction.
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  Oh, what is the fruit of the spirit
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  again?
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  Oh, it's love, it's joy, it's peace, it's
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  patience.
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  And so that's something that we're also going
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  to lean into in terms of how we
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  structure this series.
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  We're going to have one episode on each
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  of those parts of the fruit of the
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  spirit.
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  But we're going to go through the list
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  backwards.
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  So we're going to start with self-control
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  and then gentleness and then faithfulness and work
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  backwards and end with love.
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  One reason for that is that love is
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  the one that sums up all of the
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  other ones.
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  Love is the integrating virtue, the virtue that
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  binds everything else together, as Paul says in
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  a different passage.
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  And so we are working towards the climax
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  of love, which I feel like is something
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  to look forward to in the way that
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  we structure the episodes.
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  The other thing is that self-control, which
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  is the last one on the list, is
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  my least favorite part of the fruit of
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  the spirit.
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  A lot of these sound fun, joy sounds
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  fun, peace sounds great.
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  Goodness is good, obviously, right?
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  But self-control, self-control, that's a tough
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  one.
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  That's like the dentist appointment part of the
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  fruit of the spirit, right?
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  Like, you know, you got to go, but
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  really self-control.
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  So I figure let's just get it over
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  with.
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  Let's do our first of the nine episodes
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  on that one.
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  So we will get to that in a
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  couple episodes.
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  We got some groundwork we got to cover
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  first, starting with this episode, looking at where
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  else in the Bible does this metaphor of
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  fruit show up.
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  One place that may immediately come to mind
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  is it shows up in Genesis, in the
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  account of the sin of Adam and Eve.
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  So it's a critical moment in human life
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  with God.
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  When humanity turns away from God and goes
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  their own way, fruit is right there.
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  And it's good fruit, right?
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  Eve looks at the fruit and sees that
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  it's desirable for eating and for gaining knowledge
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  and wisdom, and that's part of why she
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  moves towards it.
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  And this is actually part of what Paul
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  is doing in this passage, is playing on
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  the desirability of fruit.
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  This is something that was done in the
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  ancient world when talking about what it means
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  to be a good person, what it means
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  to live a life of virtue, is talking
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  about how do we interact with our pleasures
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  and with our pains.
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  And Paul is addressing that in a very
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  specific and a very Christ-centered way, which
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  we'll get to.
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  But that fits with this biblical backdrop of
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  that first time that fruit really makes a
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  difference.
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  It's because we wanted the fruit and we
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  took it for ourselves.
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  But another way that fruit shows up in
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  Scripture is in the teaching of Jesus.
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  And this, I think, is possibly in the
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  back of Paul's mind as he's writing.
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  He doesn't explicitly quote this passage.
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  Paul, because he didn't actually meet Jesus face
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  -to-face until after Jesus' resurrection, he didn't
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  hear all of Jesus' teaching, although he obviously
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  learned it from others and through the verbal
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  tradition, the oral tradition, that was already being
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  developed in the early church.
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  So he may have known this saying of
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  Jesus about trees and fruit, or he might
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  not have.
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  But what he writes is definitely in line
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  with it, even if he didn't know it
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  explicitly.
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  And so I want to read this from
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  Luke chapter 6, Jesus speaking about trees.
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  This is starting in verse 43.
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  For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor
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  again does a bad tree bear good fruit.
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  For each tree is known by its own
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  fruit.
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  For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes,
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  nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
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  The good person out of the good treasure
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  of his heart produces good, and the evil
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  person out of the evil treasure produces evil.
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  For out of the abundance of his heart,
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  his mouth speaks.
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  But what is Jesus doing with this teaching?
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  Well, I want to point out just a
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  couple things that he puts together.
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  One is that he immediately contrasts good fruit
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  with bad fruit.
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  He's making an emphasis that there's more than
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  one kind of fruit.
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  There's a distinction.
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  There's a variety, so to speak.
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  And then he unpacks that in terms that
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  his first century Middle Eastern listeners would be
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  familiar with.
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  So he talks about fig trees.
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  He's like, if you're going to go to
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  a fig tree, what kind of fruit do
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  you expect?
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  Figs.
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  You're not going to get some other kind
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  of fruit from a fig tree.
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  You're going to get figs from a fig
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  tree.
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  And then so on.
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  You're going to get grapes from a grapevine.
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  So there's a distinction.
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  For me as a Midwesterner in the 21st
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  century, I think about varieties of apples, right?
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  So I go apple picking in the fall
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  with friends and family pretty often.
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  It's a great tradition.
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  We buy apple cider donuts at the end.
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  We bake apple pies with the apples that
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  we pick.
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  But part of the fun is that there's
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  so many varieties of apples.
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  And this is part of the marketing scheme
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  of each of the apple orchards.
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  They're like, here's our homegrown variety of franken
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  apple.
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  There's spliced together different apple varieties.
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  And it's like, you can only get it
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  here on the face of planet earth.
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  Buy your franken apple apple cider at the
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  gift shop before you leave.
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  But it's actually really delicious to try new
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  apple flavors.
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  And it's not the same.
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  There might be a familiar one, like a
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  honey crisp variety.
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  And then something brand new that they've just
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  made this year that's new.
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  Well, which tree are you going to get
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  it from?
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  Well, you're not going to get the new
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  variety from the honey crisp tree.
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  You got to go to the new tree.
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  You got to go to the franken apple
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  tree to get the franken apple variety.
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  And this is just common sense, right?
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  The kind of tree determines the kind of
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  fruit.
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  But this is common sense that we often
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  forget when it comes to the human heart.
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  Because that's where Jesus immediately applies this is
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  he, he starts talking about trees, but he
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  ends by talking about hearts.
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  He says the good person out of the
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  good treasure of his heart produces good.
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  And the evil person out of the evil
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  treasure of his heart produces evil.
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  So what Jesus is saying is just like
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  with a plant or a tree, the nature
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  of the plant is what determines the nature
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  of the fruit.
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  He's saying it's the same thing with human
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  beings.
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  It's the nature of our heart that produces
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  the nature of our words or our actions.
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  And Jesus ends by talking about words.
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  He says for out of the abundance of
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  the heart, his mouth speaks.
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  So even though the root is hidden, right?
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  You can't see the roots of the trees.
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  They're under the earth, right?
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  The fruit is visible and you can figure
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  out what kind of root based on what
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  kind of fruit.
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  And look at the honey crisp apple and
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  say like, oh, this is a honey crisp
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  tree and those roots are honey crisp roots.
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  And they're different than than franken tree roots.
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  Even though you can't see the inside of
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  the tree, you can discern what's there based
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  on what's produced externally.
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  So our words and our actions show what's
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  true about our hearts.
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  They show what's true most deeply about us,
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  our internal hidden character.
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  Jesus also uses this metaphor of treasure.
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  He kind of sneaks it in there.
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  It's mainly talking about trees and fruit, but
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  then he talks about treasure.
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  He says the good person out of the
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  good treasure of his heart produces good.
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  And in our context, we might think of
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  treasure in terms of our bank accounts.
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  So would you take all the digits of
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  your bank account and post them on a
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  social media post for everyone to see?
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  Well, you might, but you would live to
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  regret it, right?
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  Because if you make it public, then everybody's
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  got access, right?
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  That's like a key.
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  It's a code that gives access to your
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  treasure.
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  And that's why you're supposed to keep it
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  secret and have it be a private thing
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  that only you and other trusted family members
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  who might access that bank account have access
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  to.
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  Well, Jesus is saying that's how it is
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  in our hearts too.
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  What is most valuable, what is most a
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  treasure about a human being is what's hidden.
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  It's what's inward.
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  It's what others can't access.
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  It's what's unseen.
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  Who we are on the inside is what's
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  most precious about us.
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  And yet the way that we discern what's
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  on the inside is by looking at somebody's
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  actions and their words.
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  Now, this inside-outside dynamic is exactly what
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  Paul is getting at when he talks about
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  the fruit of the spirit.
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  So he contrasts the acts of the flesh
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  and the fruit of the spirit.
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  We'll do some more work with that starting
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  in our next episode.
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  But we can understand what's going on.
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  The question is, what kind of fruit am
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  I bearing?
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  Oh, I said a word in anger.
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  That means there's some anger in my heart.
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  Or, oh, I was able to do a
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  kind act for someone.
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  Oh, that means by God's grace, there's some
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  kindness in my heart.
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  So we trace back from the word or
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  the action to the condition of the heart.
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  And this actually is a source of incredible
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  hope for me.
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  Because early on in my Christian life, when
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  I was a teenager and in my early
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  20s, I experienced what I like to call
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  treadmill spirituality.
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  So I would listen to a sermon or
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  maybe a podcast like this.
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  Read a Bible passage.
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  It's some teaching of Jesus.
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  And then I'd try to obey Jesus' teaching.
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  And then I would fail to obey Jesus'
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  teaching.
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  I would feel really guilty because I'm like,
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  I want to be a good Christian and
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  I can't do it.
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  So then I would confess my sins, receive
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  God's forgiveness, and then try again.
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  And it was just this treadmill of like,
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  try, fail, repeat, try, fail, repeat, try, fail,
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  repeat.
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  And for a lot of Christians, that's the
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  only version of Christian life they've ever known.
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  And it's exhausting and it's demoralizing.
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  And it's not what Jesus intended for us.
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  Now, I don't mean to suggest that there's
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  some way to be totally failure-free as
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  a disciple of Jesus.
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  We will always need grace.
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  We will always need forgiveness.
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  We will always need God to be with
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  us in our weaknesses.
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  It's just to say that a treadmill means
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  you're expending a lot of effort and you're
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  not going anywhere.
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  And Jesus wants us to expend a lot
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  of effort and go somewhere in our life
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  with him.
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  Jesus wants us to experience real change from
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  the inside out.
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  He wants to make the tree good.
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  So that we can bear good fruit.
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  Dallas Willard, a thinker who I cite quite
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  often, he talks about the Galatians passage in
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  this way.
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  The fruit of the spirit is simply the
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  inner character of Jesus himself that is brought
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  about in us through the process of Christian
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  spiritual formation.
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  It is the outcome of spiritual formation.
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  It is Christ formed in us.
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  It is called fruit because, like the fruit
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  of trees or vines, it is an outgrowth
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  of what we have become, not the result
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  of a special effort to bear fruit.
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  And we have become fruitful in this way
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  because we have received the presence of Christ's
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  Spirit through the process of spiritual formation.
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  And now that spirit interacting with us fills
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  us with love, joy, peace.
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  That's from Dallas's book, The Great Omission, the
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  collection of his essays and talks.
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  And so you see what Dallas is saying.
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  He's like, it's not like a special effort
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  or a special project where you're just like,
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  trying to bear fruit.
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  No, no, no.
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  It's the natural result of interaction with Christ's
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  Spirit.
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  And so as we dig into each part
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  of the fruit of the spirit and each
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  of the nine episodes that we'll do that
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  in, we're going to look at in our
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  workplace, what does it look like to interact
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  with Christ's Spirit?
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  So each episode is not meant to inspire
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  guilt, right?
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  It's not meant to say you really ought
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  to be gentle, but you're not.
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  So you should feel guilty.
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  No, that's not the point.
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  The point is, how do you interact with
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  a God's Spirit while you're on the clock,
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  while you're interacting with your coworkers as well,
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  while you're interacting with your to-do list
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  in such a way that the tree becomes
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  good so that you bear the fruit of
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  gentleness naturally?
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  How do you participate with God's process of
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  working in your heart so that the real
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  change takes care of itself?
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  You don't get a Honeycrisp apple by trying
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  really, really hard to get a Honeycrisp apple.
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  You get a Honeycrisp apple by taking care
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  of a Honeycrisp tree by making sure it's
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  in the soil and the roots are getting
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  the nutrients they need, by making sure that's
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  watered, by making sure the leaves can get
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  the sunlight.
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  And these are things that we can do
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  as we interact with Christ's Spirit during the
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  workday and in our own times of devotion
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  so that God produces this change in us.
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  And this is so important for our lives
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  at work because the power of the Holy
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  Spirit is what really makes us grow.
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  And the best thing you can do for
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  your coworkers and everyone you interact with at
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  work is to become a person whose life
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  is more and more characterized by love, joy,
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  peace, and all the rest.
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  One final thought here.
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  You might have noticed that I've been referring
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  to each of these things as a part
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  of the fruit of the Spirit rather than
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  as fruits, plural, of the Spirit.
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  And when I was a kid, I remember
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  in Sunday school we were looking at this
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  passage and we had an activity where we
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  cut out from yellow construction paper, a banana,
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  and from green construction paper, an apple, and
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  from orange construction paper, an orange, and then
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  pasted them on a big sheet together and
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  wrote on the orange gentleness and on the
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  apple patience.
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  And I get what the teachers were trying
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  to do and I'm really grateful for those
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  teachers.
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  I actually just saw one of them last
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  week.
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  But they were wrong.
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  That's not what the passage is saying.
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  It's not saying, oh, here's one fruit of
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  the Spirit is gentleness and another fruit of
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  the Spirit is patience.
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  No, no, each of these are part of
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  the singular fruit of the Spirit.
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  Just like in English, it's a collective noun
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  but it's singular.
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  So it includes, it collects many things within
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  it but it's united.
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  And so it's not like we choose to
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  grow in patience but then we don't worry
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  about joy.
• 16:00
  Or we choose to grow in faithfulness but
• 16:02
  then we don't worry about self-control.
• 16:04
  As much as I might like to not
• 16:05
  worry about self-control.
• 16:07
  No, we grow in all of these things
• 16:09
  together as the Holy Spirit works in our
• 16:12
  heart and they reinforce each other and they
• 16:14
  culminate in love and that's why it really
• 16:17
  works.
• 16:18
  And that also is reason for hope.
• 16:20
  But if you feel like these are things
• 16:21
  that don't characterize your life, it is possible
• 16:24
  to experience them in greater and greater measure
• 16:26
  by God's grace because they will reinforce each
• 16:29
  other as you take small steps.
• 16:33
  Lord Jesus, you are the master gardener.
• 16:36
  You are working in the orchard of our
• 16:38
  souls and we want to bear fruit like
• 16:42
  Paul talks about, like you spoke about.
• 16:45
  Good fruit out of the good treasure of
• 16:47
  the heart.
• 16:49
  So Jesus, do your work in us as
• 16:51
  we do our work with you.
• 16:58
  Thanks for listening.
• 17:00
  Finding God at Work is a production of
• 17:02
  Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois
• 17:04
  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
• 17:07
  life.
• 17:08
  You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
• 17:10
  listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
• 17:12
  of teaching on faith and work every Tuesday
• 17:14
  and Thursday.
• 17:15
  To get resources to go deeper with each
• 17:17
  podcast series, read our blog, and get info
• 17:20
  about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
• 17:22
  go to our website, missioncentral.church.