Beware Gifts Without Fruit

“And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.” – Judges 15:13

Michael Wilcock writes about Judges 8: “Gideon… has become, even on the testimony of his enemies, a man of majesty (8:18) and strength (8:21). But there is something less than admirable at the heart of him, for all the development of his great abilities. Beware the gifts of the Spirit without the fruit of the Spirit!”

Gideon became a great leader, but his heart was filled with pride, fear and anger. We see this in increasing degrees with subsequent judges, most of all with Samson, who though he had the gift of physical strength, had a heart filled with an anger and impulsiveness. The gifts of the Spirit are things like helping, giving, teaching, administration (1 Corinthians 12-14 and elsewhere). The fruit of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5). The gifts are about doing; the fruit are more about being.

We are generally much better at doing than being. We make being into doing. At school, our kids are taught how to be kind like they are taught math and reading—but while socio-emotional learning is important, these things cannot be fundamentally generated or willed into being. They come only as a result of our abiding in God: as David preached yesterday, loving in times of difficulty comes when we stay connected to God. As we grow in our gifts, we must grow in our fruit; as we expand our external ministry or service, we must attend even more deeply to our inner life. Gifts without fruit—exhortation without kindness, discernment without patience, hospitality without joy, anything without love—is something to be wary of. That at least is one of the lessons these judges leave us.