COMMUNION MEDITATION (21): Kingdom Fruit Bearing

Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. – Matthew 21:43

The above quotation is the “punch line” of Jesus’ Parable of the Tenants. The landowner let his vineyard out to tenants who refused to pay the rent – a share in the produce of the vineyard. Instead they mistreated and even killed those sent to collect, including the landowner’s son.

The Jews knew Jesus was “talking about them” in this parable. Do I realize He is also talking about me in it?

The kingdom of God is the people of God. When God’s people bear no fruit of His kingdom, He takes the Kingdom Relation­ship from them and gives it to those who produce its fruit.

What is the “Fruit of God’s Kingdom?” Romans 14:17 says, For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit…. This text parallels Galatians 5:22-23 where Paul says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Do I, by the Spirit of God, return these things to God? Do I “keep in step with the Spirit” as a child of God? Are my concerns things of the Kingdom of God and His Spirit? Or is my life filled with the works of the flesh? Is my spirit-life more concerned with rituals of eating and drinking or filled with righteousness, joy, and peace?

If I do not bear the Spiritual fruit, God will take His King­dom from me as one who rejects Him and His Spirit.

Lord, let me always walk in Your Spirit and bear fruit for You in Your Kingdom. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. Let me be found in His likeness, walking in His light always! Amen.

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