Bearing Fruit in Every Good Work

Hey everyone.

A few days ago, I looked at Col. 1:10-13 where Paul talked about living a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing him in every way.  I am taking the time to look at each one of these things, because like you I want to please God. 

The first one that Paul lists is, "bearing fruit in every good work."  If I am going to please God in every way, we have to ask myself, "How can I do this?"  I think I have to answer two questions to really understand this.  First, what does Paul mean when he says "every good work"?  I found this exact phrase two other times in the New Testament.  One in II Cor. 9:8, it says, "having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."  Interestingly, the context of this scripture is giving.  In v. 7 Paul says, "God loves a cheerful giver."  One pleasing fruit that we can bear is giving.

The other place where the phrase, "every good work" is found is in II Tim. 3:16-17 where it tells us that the word of God equips us for every good work.  Now, there is no way to make a comprehensive list of every good work, but this scripture tells me that being in God's word can prepare for whatever good work I might be involved in.  Compare that to Ps. 1:1-3, where it says that those who do not walk in the counsel of the wicked and who meditate on the law of the Lord are like a tree planted by water, that bear fruit in season.  According to Ps 1, if we want to bear fruit, we must be in the word and we need to have good counsel.     

We also need to consider what it means to bear fruit?  Does it mean to produce the fruits of the spirit in our lives?  Yes it does.  Does it mean to make disciples?  Yes.  Those are the things we usually think about when we talk about fruitfulness, and God does want us to bear these fruits.  But are there more fruits that we can bear.  I have already mentioned the fruit of giving,  Here is another one, Matt. 3:8 and Luke 3:8 say the same thing.  "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance."  We also produce fruit when we repent.  Another important thing to remember comes John 15 where Jesus talks a lot about fruitfulness.  He tells us that He is the vine and we are branches.  If we want to bear fruit he must remain in him.  We need to be rooted in him to produce fruit.  (Jn 15:8 also tells us that by our fruit we show ourselves to be his disciples.  Jn 15:15-16 he tells us to produce fruit that will last.)

I'll end with this.  Ps. 104:13 says, "He waters the mountains from his upper chambers, the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work."  The "He" referred to here, is God.  God asks us to produce fruit, but God also produces fruit, and it is very satisfying. 


Tom