(This sermon was preached at Epworth Chapel UMC, Baltimore on Sunday, 10/7, and is the first in a ten-part series on the Bearing Fruit/The Fruit of the Spirit)
Matthew 21:33-46; Galatians 5:22-23
"...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, genetleness, and self-control."
It was a beautiful tree. It was an evergreen, and Lisa had bought it for a special occasion in my life. We planted the tree in the backyard and anticipated observing it year after year as it grew and matured.
The tree seemed to be doing fine for about a year, and then the signs of trouble became evident. The tree was no longer as green as it was when we planted it. It was beginning to brown. Our evergreen became browner and browner over the months, until we became more and more convinced that there was something seriously wrong with our beloved evergreen tree.
Still we held out hope that the tree would somehow regain its vitality and come back to life… that it would once again be its beautiful green self. We even called in a tree specialist to examine the tree and the soil in which it had been planted. But the writing was on the wall, the tree was dying a slow death, and it was just a matter of time.
And finally, we became convinced that there was no real hope that the tree would survive. Rain and sun – and even more time - would not help our tree. Our concerns and even our prayers for the tree – God’s creation – would not even help this tree live with the vitality and vibrancy that it once had.
Fall is the time of year when we can all take a moment to reflect on the fruit that has been born in the summer-time of our lives. As the leaves are beginning to fall from trees once fruitful, we must ask ourselves the question, how have we been fruitful in our lives? What fruit have be born? What harvest is ready to be brought forth out of our witness?
It is obvious that this matter of fruitfulness was an issue in the days Jesus. Jesus was so concerned about this that he would be led to remind the people that “the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few.” Indeed, he was concerned about the fruitfulness of the people of his day. For it seems that many were devout in their temple worship, but often there was no evidence of bruit being born outside of their religious experience.
Jesus was concerned – for he had been sent by God to usher in a harvest, but the requisite for experiencing this harvest was that persons would work and bear fruit in their lives. Jesus was concerned about the spiritual growth, the fruit-bearing of those who witnessed to the saving power of the God of Israel.
It is against this backdrop that Jesus offers a parable in Matthew chapter 21. In this text, Jesus quotes the chief priests and the elders from Psalm 118, describing how a stone that the builders rejected becomes the Lord’s cornerstone. Jesus uses this verse to signify his own tragic rejection, and to foretell the coming of God’s kingdom (kin-dom).
This is a warning for them and for us – for the kingdom of God will be taken away and given to a people who bear fruit. But not just any fruit. We must be careful about the kind of fruit that we bear.
Some of those in the parable that Jesus tells here were bearing bad fruit because of their mistreatment of the Lord – the very one who had come to offer them salvation and new life The word for you and me today is that we must be careful to become bearers of good fruit in our Christian living. We must be careful that each day is lived in a way that we can stand before God and declare that our lives have born some good fruit. We need to be fruitful.
What does it mean to be fruitful? What does it look like for you and me to be fruitful? We find that in the apostle Paul's letter to the church at Galatia it was his concern to answer this question by decribing exactly what it looks like for Christians to bear fruit. Paul said that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."
As God works in our lives, we need to be reminded that there are some things that we can do to bear such fruit and increase the harvest in our lives and in the world. We are reminded that good fruit is a by-product of a healthy plant. Likewise, good fruit for the Christina is a by-product of right living through God’s grace. As we are in relationship with God, God will work in us so that we will produce good fruit in our lives. Our souls – our very lives - are like a garden that God desires to work in in order that good fruit will be born.
The things that we can do to help God bear fruit in our lives are these. We need to seed the garden; we need to weed the garden; and we need to feed the garden.
1. Seeding the garden. Before a plan can grow and produce fruit a seed must be planted. This planting of seed refers not only to the beginning one’s faith journey with Christ, but it refers to the fact that God desires that the seeds of faith be planted in our lives continually, and that we seed to continue to grow that seed of faith that we have planted. Seeds will only grow as they have been planted. Our lives can only grow in the areas where seeds of faith have been planted.
2. Weeding the garden. A garden needs to be weeded if seeds are to grow and bear fruit. Every good and effective gardener spends some time weeding his or her garden. In our lives we need to mindful that the weeds of bad habits, destructive behaviors, dissention and discord can sprout and quickly creep up the proverbial walls of our lives. Weeds, although they may often look like the actual plant, in fact have a tendency to cut off the possibility of good and fruitful growth. And so in order that we can become fruitful and reach our full potential in Christ, we must be mindful of the need – like a good gardener – to weed out some things from our lives from time to time.
3. Feeding the garden. Finally, it is important that we feed the garden. We all need to spend time with God in devotion, prayer, worship, study, fellowship with God’s people, and service to the community and the world, so that our lives will continue to grow, and so that fruit will be born and seen in and through our lives.
This is God’s desire for you and me. God desires that each of us bears good fruit. And the good news is that we don’t have to worry about trying to grow and bear fruit on our own. God in Christ is well able to work in our lives. And as God works, God can and God will do great things in our lives. He that has begun a good work in you will bring it to pass. Thanks be to God, for the possibilities and power that we share to bear good fruit!
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