Fruit not for Fruit Trees
Last spring, my wife and I finally did something we had been putting off for years: we had some trees removed from our backyard.
These trees were huge, messy, and relentless. They dropped pine needles all over our driveway constantly — and no matter how many times I swept them up or blew them away, the very next day there would be a fresh batch waiting for me. One of them had even started leaning toward our neighbor's house. They were a nuisance, plain and simple.
I'm a big procrastinator, so even though my wife kept asking me to call the tree guy, I kept "forgetting" (married couples, you know exactly what I'm talking about). But eventually I got tired enough of dealing with them that I made the call, and over the course of about a week, those annoying, pine-needle trees were finally gone.
What I didn't realize was that something else entirely was about to happen.
On the other side of our yard there was a cherry tree that had been there just as long as the pine trees. It was pretty. It offered good shade. And other than that, it was completely unremarkable — because despite being a cherry tree, it had never once produced a single cherry.
My wife and I had basically accepted that that's just what it was going to be. A decorative cherry tree. Fruitless by nature.
But here's what I didn't know: the reason the cherry tree had been so fruitless for so long was because it had been living in the shade of those annoying pine trees. And when we cut them down — without even trying to — we gave that cherry tree something it had never had before: full, unhindered exposure to the sun.
Within about a month, that tree was absolutely packed with cherries. Giant, juicy, delicious cherries. So many that we ended up giving them away and freezing them.
It was an incredible, unexpected gift. But more than that, it gave me a front-row seat to something that I believe is one of the most important truths about the Christian life.
When we talk about what the Holy Spirit actually does — what His purpose is in our lives — a good starting point is simply acknowledging this: His purpose is not nothing.
Every single time the Spirit shows up in the pages of Scripture, something happens. Things change. The world is not left the way it was.
In Genesis 1, the Spirit hovered over the waters of a formless world — and then God said "Let there be light," and everything changed.
In Isaiah 61, the prophet describes being anointed by the Spirit to bring good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, and proclaim freedom to captives.
In Acts 2, the Spirit arrived as tongues of fire, and the first followers of Jesus began speaking in languages they had never learned.
There is no such thing as a passive Holy Spirit. There is no such thing as a passive relationship with Him. It is impossible for the Spirit of God to dwell within a person and not — as theologian Tim Mackie puts it — "mess with them." He changes us. He shifts our nature. He transforms the way we live.
This is where Galatians 5 becomes so important. When Paul encourages believers to "walk by the Spirit," he almost immediately begins describing what that Spirit-led life actually looks like — and the metaphor he reaches for is fruit.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…" (Galatians 5:22–23)
This isn't an accident. In John 14–16, right in the middle of Jesus' most extended teaching on the Holy Spirit, He says: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." (John 15:4)
In Jesus' mind, bearing fruit and the Holy Spirit are inseparable. You won't have the Spirit without fruit. You won't have fruit without the Spirit. The two are welded together.
But it still raises a fair question: Why is it called fruit?
Couldn't Paul have chosen a more powerful metaphor? The shockwave of the Spirit? The tidal wave of the Spirit? Why something as soft and ordinary as fruit?
I think there are three reasons — and each one gives us a profound glimpse into what life with the Holy Spirit actually looks like.
1. Fruit Is a Product of Its Environment
When my cherry tree finally started producing those huge, juicy cherries, it didn't happen because the tree stressed out about it. It didn't scroll through TikTok looking for "9 ways to produce more cherries." It didn't pack a bag and head to a conference on how to "bear your best fruit now."
It just sat there — abiding in a changed environment. One with direct access to the sun.
The fruit was a natural product of that environment.
And I believe this is exactly what Paul means. Just as the sun always emits life-giving light, the Spirit always emits truth and life-giving power. And just as a fruit tree, when properly exposed to the right conditions, produces fruit in abundance — people who are properly exposed to the Spirit of God will produce love, joy, peace, patience, and all the rest in abundance.
The only variable is the environment.
So many of us worry and stress about the fruit — "Why don't I have more patience?" "Why did I react that way again?" — when the Spirit is quietly asking us to pay attention to the environment instead.
What are the "pine trees" in your life? What is blocking your exposure to God? Is it six hours of scrolling every evening? A relationship that keeps pulling you away from Him? Whatever it is, the question worth sitting with is: "Is this pine tree really worth keeping around if it means less fruit in my life?"
2. Fruit Takes Time to Grow
Here's some encouragement for the rest of us: when my cherry tree started producing fruit, it wasn't the day after we cut down the pine trees. It wasn't even a week later. It was about a month later that we looked up one Sunday afternoon and realized the tree was loaded with cherries.
Fruit takes time.
And so does the work of the Holy Spirit.
So many of us struggle with thoughts like: "I've been a Christian for ten years — why do I still lose my temper?" or "I've read the Bible my whole life — why do I still get so angry sometimes?" And the discouragement starts to set in.
But hear what Scripture says to you in those moments:
"Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ…" (2 Peter 3:18)
"We all…are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." (2 Corinthians 3:18)
"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…He does not deal with us according to our sins." (Psalm 103:8)
So often we limit God's grace to the moment of our salvation — to the cross and the empty tomb — and forget that His grace also covers our everyday failures. We are slowly, steadily, degree by degree, becoming more like Jesus. And that process takes time. Give yourself some.
3. Fruit Doesn't Exist for the Sake of Fruit Trees
This is the hardest one. And I think it might be the most important.
Go ahead and type "What is the purpose of fruit?" into Google right now. Here's what you'll find:
"The main function of a fruit is to protect developing seeds and facilitate their dispersal away from the parent plant…Fruits are designed to disperse seeds, allowing them to grow in new locations."
In other words: fruit's entire purpose is to leave the tree.
Fruit that piles up around a tree and never gets dispersed doesn't fulfill its purpose. It just rots.
Here's the hard word: I believe the church — myself included — has long misunderstood the fruit of the Spirit as something primarily for us. We pursue it so that we'll feel more loved, more joyful, more at peace, more patient. We treat the Spirit's work in our lives as a kind of spiritual snack for our own consumption.
But that's not what fruit is for.
The fruit of the Spirit isn't produced so that you'll feel more loved — it's produced so that you'll be more loving to others. Not so you'll feel joyful, but so you'll bring joy to others. Not so you'll feel at peace, but so you'll give peace to others. Not so you'll feel patient, but so you'll be patient with others.
The work of the Holy Spirit in your life isn't for you to hoard. It's for the people around you. It's for a world that desperately needs to see what a Spirit-filled life actually looks like.
Fruit doesn't exist for the sake of the tree that bears it. And neither does the work of the Holy Spirit.
So What Do We Do?
If all of this is true, here's where it lands practically:
1. Examine your environment. Take some time to identify the "pine trees" in your life — the things blocking your exposure to God — and honestly ask whether they're worth the fruit you're missing out on.
2. Give yourself some grace. Memorize Psalm 103:8. Say it slowly to yourself this week, paying attention to every word. God is patient with you. Growth takes time. His grace covers more than just your salvation.
3. Stop making it about you. When fruit does show up in your life — when you notice yourself being more patient, more kind, more loving — don't perform it. Don't post about it. Just let it do what fruit was always meant to do: leave the tree and bless the people around you.
Post adapted from Sunday’s message, “Fruit Not For Fruit Trees,” April 26th, 2026 as apart of our series, “Power & Presence: A Series on the Holy Spirit”