Fruits and Gifts of the Kingdom

Every fruit of the Kingdom of God can either be cultivated as a fruit or it can be imparted, given as a gift. When it is cultivated, it lasts. When it is imparted, it is experienced right in the moment but doesn’t always last. Let me explain.

Paul writes to the Ephesians:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
Ephesians 5:8-11

So the “fruit of light” is “goodness, righteousness and truth.” We know from Galatians 5:22-23 that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” And we know from Romans 14:17 that, “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” In other words, things of the Kingdom of God (like peace, joy, truth, goodness and righteousness) are things that grow in us by the Spirit as they are cultivated. They increase gradually over time as we walk in the Spirit and in obedience.

Yet, there is another side to each of these fruits. Take “righteousness” for example. We know that not only is it a fruit that grows in us but that it was also a gift given to us. Theologians say that the righteousness of Christ was “imputed” to us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” There was an exchange on the cross. We received the righteousness of Christ as a gift and He became our sin. Romans 5:17 calls what Jesus did for us by forgiving us and making us holy “the gift of righteousness.”

So righteousness first came to us, imparted to us, as a gift when we received salvation. Now, because of the Holy Spirit, righteousness grows in us as a fruit. And I believe all the fruits of the Kingdom can do this. They can both grow in us as a fruit and be imparted to us as a gift.

Take “peace,” for example. Peace is listed as a fruit of the Spirit, a fruit of the Kingdom. Yet we also see Jesus release it, impart it, as a gift. In John 14:27, Jesus said to His disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” Then again when Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room after the resurrection, He imparts His peace to them (John 20:19-21).

I have firsthand experience being in situations where I was praying with someone, and either I or the person I was praying with released, through the Holy Spirit, something to the person we were praying for. I’ve seen peace released to a person and watched them physically feel peace fill their body. I’ve seen joy released to a person who was depressed and watched them erupt in laughter for the next 10 minutes, only to tell us later that they haven’t laughed like that in years. I’ve seen love released to a person and watched them break down in tears as they got overwhelmed with the love of the Father.

I can’t say that I know how it all works; but I’ve seen it enough to believe that, somehow, each fruit can grow in us as we cultivate it or can be imparted to us as a gift. As is the case of any gift, it doesn’t seem to last as long as a cultivated fruit tree that continues to produce good fruit year after year. Or maybe a better way of saying it is that when these fruits come as imparted gifts, they come as seeds that must be cultivated if we want them to stay long-term.

Another way of saying it is that when these fruits come as imparted gifts, they give us just a taste of the Kingdom, revealing who we really are and what we really have in Christ–what’s available to us if we’d be willing to cultivate it.

Without God

If we were to run into a Gentile pagan from the first century who somehow time-warped to our culture today, most Americans would say things like, “They seem very nice and very religious. They are so faithful to be mindful of all of their gods…They are just a really good person…They are more religious than I am…I find their religious practices so interesting.” It might be similar to how most would respond to living next door to a Hindu swami.

Without question, as a follower of Jesus, we should be gentle, kind and loving to those of all faith traditions. It’s the fruit of the Spirit! Yet, the typical American attitude about the truthfulness of polytheistic religions is very different than the apostle Paul’s attitude.

This is what the apostle Paul said about the polytheistic faith of the Gentiles in the first century:

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
Ephesians 2:11-12

Paul looked straight at those who used to worship a pantheon of gods and told them that not only were they separate from Christ in their old life but that they were “without hope and without God in the world.” It wasn’t just that they had a different religion than Paul. Paul wasn’t interested in affirming a universalistic religious pluralism. The worship of many gods was (and still is) completely bankrupt when it came to the promises of God, completely void of hope, and completely disconnected from the true God.

Before we follow Christ, here is how Paul describes us:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
Ephesians 2:1-2

Following the ways of the world is the same as following “the ruler of the kingdom of the air,” otherwise known as Satan. He is called a “ruler” because he has a measure of power in this world to deceive and torment people. Satan is “the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” He is actively trying to get people to reject Christ and live in unbelief. Satan is happy to have people believe anything but the truth of the gospel regardless of how “religious” they are.

Yet, Satan is a conquered ruler. He does exert a measure of power, but all of his authority has been stripped away by Jesus. Jesus now has all authority as He Himself said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”(Matthew 28:18).

Imagine an oppressive ruler who had been completely conquered and overthrown by good and generous Kingdom yet was still on the run trying to exert his power over the kingdom he once had. All of the oppressive ruler’s authority has been taken, but by using the power he has left, he tries to get people to believe he still has authority. And so he only has the amount of authority that people are willing to give him. He goes from village to village usurping the people’s authority who haven’t yet been told “the good news” of their freedom. And even those who have believed the good news are a target and must stand firm against his attacks (Ephesians 6:10-18).

This is why we can’t sit idly by in silence, but we must “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, and teach them to obey everything Jesus has commanded us (Matthew 28:18). Following Jesus isn’t about having one set of beliefs among a myriad of comparative religions. It’s about a relationship with the rightful King and Lord.

By the Spirit

Paul spends all of Galatians 5 talking about the difference between trying to be justified by the Law and being justified by faith in Jesus. He tries to get them to realize that “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love”(Galatians 5:6).

But if they aren’t following the Law, how to they avoid a life full of sin?

Paul’s answer is the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law”(Galatians 5:16-18). He concludes with, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit”(Galatians 5:25).

And Paul tries to paint a picture of the difference between walking/living by the Spirit (keeping in step with the Spirit) and living by the flesh. He believes the difference between what the flesh does and what the Spirit does in our life is so drastically different that they cannot be confused.

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21

Paul just spent the chapter condemning works-righteousness. Is Paul really saying that if you do these things you won’t go to heaven? I think many people have that view who think the Kingdom of God is only something that we will experience in eternity. But Jesus brought the Kingdom of God into our here and now. And He commissioned the Church to continue His mission of bringing the Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.”

So what is Paul warning us about when it says that “those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God?”

Paul is not saying if you do these things you are disqualified from heaven. Instead, he is reminding us that by being justified by faith in Jesus and through living by the Spirit we begin to experience our Kingdom inheritance right now. However, if we continue to live by the flesh, we will not experience that inheritance.

Another way of saying it is that by keeping in step with the Spirit we inherit the stuff of the Kingdom of God, the fruit of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control”(Galatians 5:22-23). But when we live by the flesh, instead of inheriting the Kingdom of God, we inherit the kingdom of darkness and all the pain, suffering, and torment that accompany it.

Paul was inviting them to make a choice as to what their inheritance would be in this life and which kingdom their life would reflect to the world. This wasn’t about choosing eternal life in heaven; this was about choosing eternal life right now. Their true identity is a people who have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness and who now are empowered to live as people of the Kingdom of God.

The way Paul wrote it to the Colossians was like this:
“…giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”(Colossians 1:12-14).