PRODUCING THE FRUIT OF THE KINGDOM

In Matthew 21 after an amazing chapter of teaching, Jesus ends the discussion with these starting words to the religious elite:

The Kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it. (verse 43)

It seems Jesus is pretty interested in the Fruit of the Kingdom.

As we will see in our study of Matthew 21...

The fruit of the Kingdom is the fine texture of a life in Christ, which lies between the lines, the substructure that pulls all the details together and from which every other part of our life reacts.    

The Fruit of the Kingdom displayed in the followers of Christ is the single most powerful force in obtaining the restoration of God’s creation and for good in our world today.

A life that produces the fruit of the Kingdom lies in stark contrast to the people we find in Matthew 21: Those in the temple dealing in the external requirements of worship; the son in the parable who had the right answers but the wrong kind of life; the unrepentant tenants and the unscrupulous guest.

As we move into 2013, we want to ask ourselves, what is it that is really important to God? 

What is our life to look like? What kind of content might the life have where the fruit of the Kingdom is being produced in us?

Where it is the substructure of our life pulling all the various details and events together and causing it all to reflect a life blessed by living in the Kingdom?

Paul grasped it and tells us in Colossians 3:17…

Whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

In someone’s name is to act for their purposes with their resources.

Have you ever had a Power of Attorney? A Power of Attorney authorizes the one granted the power to act on behalf of and from the resources of the one granting the power. This is what it means to act in the name of Jesus.

In a nutshell, that is the Fruit of the Kingdom.

One who has a life that reflects the power of acting on behalf of and from the resources of the King Himself.

This lies in stark contrast to where we put the emphasis.

If you’ve been around awhile you know that being a good Christian is associated with a lot of strange habits, rules, boxes and dogma.

It usually means getting things under human control (and others under your human control in all kinds of despicable ways). Like how you dress, external adornments, the phrasing of your words and the right answers. Mostly it means acting like the son in the parable in this chapter who said the right words but didn’t have the life to back it up. Sound familiar?

When we begin to see God for who He is and Jesus as the One who will teach us His ways, our lives will produce, without a conscious attempt, the Fruit of the Kingdom. It is a beautiful thing to see happen in the lives of His disciples who are brave enough to move beyond the external forms of a religion that is intent on the right answers without living on behalf of and from the resources of Jesus Himself. That's power. That is the Fruit of the Kingdom.