Being Fruitful

I enjoy the ‘making of’ features on DVD’s, I like the background and motivations for the final product that I see. So I want to give some insight into the making of this morning’s Jesus Is … on the True Vine.

First of all, that was not the plan. For a matter of days I had been pondering on Matthew 13 on the Parable of the Sower. I was all set up for the majority of preparatory time to have a post on Jesus Is … The Sower. I’d read the scripture, contemplated it, considered the similar scriptures in Mark and Luke, watched and studied some other material and only after that it occurred to me it would be too tenuous to have such a post. After all, although you might guess or surmise that Jesus is the Sower or the Farmer, it’s not explicit enough.

That would have been a setback until I suddenly thought along the same farming analogy and remembered Jesus stating that He is the True Vine. At first my attention went straight onto that with no reference back on what I had done before. Again with the reading of scripture and considering other helps, etc.

In other posts I’ve looked for a clip or image that directly connects to the title, but when I woke up this morning the song Total Praise came to my mind and the connection between that and the point of the post just clicked. That was evident in the first part of the chorus – You are the Source of my life. Yet also in the larger context of the song and the point of Jesus being the Vine an aspect of being fruitful is constant recognition of where and how I live, which I guess can also be explained in total praise.

Whilst I was putting the post together, though, I was also reflecting again on a common theme in my journey with Christ and that is the question of fruitfulness. One of the things that bothers me about activity and performance driven church is that although we can see improvement by the quality of production whether in praise and worship or in preaching, there’s little evidence of actual productivity in Body Life. I was thinking how often it is to hear familiar Christian phrases used to refer to something and so regularly and glibly are they used that there are questions that pop up in my mind. Is that all there is to Christ? Is that all there is to following Him? Do I get to a stage where I’m familiar with certain phrases and whip them out at the relevant opportunity? Is that what we mean by spiritual maturity? Is this what it is to be fruitful?

Reading John 15 gives me the impression that growing and being fruitful by remaining connected to the True Vine should actually produce something improved. The whole point of verse 2 – if we are fruitful, pruning happens to become more productive. Improvement, getting even better, growth, development, call it what you want but what should be evident – even to just you and God – is that who you were at one stage should be different (for the better) to who you were at a previous stage. That is not a case of better sermons and more slick presentations and music productions (necessarily).

Then it’s easy to get caught up in the numbers game. The mentality that being fruitful means having more numbers and bigger congregations, etc. etc. On the one hand I know people who look at their own doctrinal superiority despite lack of numerical growth as a sign of their being the Remnant and so numerical growth isn’t that important. That is obviously not the case at all. Yet to see fruitfulness in terms of numerical growth misses the point completely of what God is looking for in fruitfulness, in being productive. It is no surprise that in pursuit of that idea of fruitfulness as numerical growth, we get caught up in marketing schemes dressed up as evangelistic strategies. Jesus is a product and we are the salesmen given the liberty of distorting and manipulating the product sufficient to get new consumers to join the store and looking to retain the consumers we ensure that we take the market research to shape and gear how we present the product so that it remains a viable commodity in the competitive industry that we’re in.

I can imagine some well-meaning folk thinking what’s the problem with that. The only problem is that in this scenario Jesus becomes the branch and we are the vine, as we are the source of how Jesus is presented and the reality of Christ is minimised. Whenever the reality of Jesus is minimised, whenever we become the source two things happen – first of all we engage in idolatry and secondly as Jesus suggests whenever we are not connected to Him we are actually doing nothing. He also clearly outlines what happens to those who are doing nothing.

So if fruitfulness is not about numbers or solely concerned with performance and slick church service functions what is it?

It is apparent reading not just this scripture but others and getting the taste of the narrative that God’s desire is for us to be like His Son, Jesus Christ. When we exhibit the character of His Son we are being fruitful. When we are pure in heart, merciful and peace-makers, we are being fruitful. When our heart’s desire is to do and be everything pleasing to God we are being fruitful. When that shines out for others to see in the things we do and the people we are we are being fruitful. When we love one another with the love of Christ Himself, we are being fruitful. The deal with that is that it is a life-lasting process that is enriched in experience and is at the hands of God the Gardener as we are shaped, pruned, cultivated to be further conformed into the image of His Son.

It was whilst I was focussing on this bit that the circle became complete with reference to the Parable of the Sower. The soil that bore most fruit is the example of people who understand what it is to be connected to Christ. All other soils were removed from their source either overtly by being trampled and eaten, by not being rooted at all or by being choked. Those with understanding endure. Those with understanding produce in enduring for they are sourced in the understanding of the key to the Kingdom. The rule of God is fully expressed in His Son and those connected to His Son therefore exhibit Kingdom living and by spiritual nature produce. It is not contrived and it is not the product of man-made strategies and tactics – it is sourced in God which is why it is spiritual in nature even as it will inevitably have natural repercussions.

So rather than being hung up on ritual performances or be consumed by keeping up with the Joneses, the life’s devotion is in Jesus and His life in us enables us to be fruitful.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd