By Bearing Fruit

Several weeks ago I started a series on the Glory of God. I defined God’s glory as the display of His divine character and qualities – God’s character and qualities displayed in such a way that people can see it. God’s glory is simply God’s character and qualities “seen”.
  
This week is a continuation the series. Earlier we concluded that we can glorify God by making His glory seen in our lives through what we say, do and think. Last time we looked at five ways we can glorify God. We’ll look at five more this week. Here’s number six.

We glorify God by bearing fruit.

Philippians 1:11 says we are to be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes  through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

John 15:8  This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

This fruit is not the result of mere human effort. It’s the outflow of God from within us, thus bringing glory to God. The fruit is from Him and by Him. Fruit of righteousness – let’s picture it this way.

Righteousness is the tree and good works are the fruit. The fruit comes from a righteous source. The fruit only glorifies God when it comes from Him through you. The unbeliever may display a good deed, but it comes from an unrighteous source and brings no glory to God. It’s not merely the action that glorifies God but the outworking of His righteousness from within the believer.

The fruit is singular. This suggests lifestyle rather than a single action. An unbeliever may manifest an action that looks like God’s righteousness, but only the believer in Christ can live out the lifestyle of Christ. It’s your lifestyle, developed in union with Christ, that becomes the fruit that others enjoy and that points back to God - the source.

If I said to go and bear fruit this week, it would be like saying to the branches of a fruit tree, “Go bear fruit.” They don’t need to be told nor do they need to try. They just do it because they’re connected to the fruit tree. So simply stay intimately connected to the Righteous Tree this week and watch the fruit sprout all over you.