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Back to Sermons Index Back to Home Page 23rd July 2006 AM and PMFRUITFUL LIVING IN TESTING TIMES Pastor Colin Meadows Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17:7-8, John 15:1-8, 16· It’s time to grow! I remember an advertisement slogan that the Labour Party used many years ago. In their desire to alert the nation to a new chapter in political life, they said “It’s time!” Here at RBC we are beginning a new journey of growth too – that is why the course we are embarking on is called Growthworks! It’s time to grow!! Through the next ten weeks we will rediscover together the key fundamentals of growing in our faith in Christ and of reproducing the character of Christ is our lives. Our desire is, in God’s strength, to be fruitful. We will use a tree as our symbol of growth and have one here in the corner to remind us each week of our journey. We will discover that God intends us to keep growing to become more like Christ each day, through the power of the Holy Spirit. We long that people in our communities come to a personal faith in Christ, and one of the most powerful tools for that to happen are changed lives, our lives! I believe that the Good News of Jesus is best caught, rather than taught. People may not easily listen to our lips but they do watch our lives. God wants to change us to become more like his son, Jesus. As we are changed, so others will be changed. I was reading of the life of Bishop John Taylor Smith, Chaplain General of the British Forces during World War 1. At one time he was invited to speak at a gathering in Chicago, USA, but lost his voice just at that time. He whispered out his message and sat down. Later a man came up to him and said “You have persuaded me that I must become a Christian”. The bishop replied “Were you able to hear what I said?” “No”, he replied, “I couldn’t hear a word you said. It was just looking at you convinced me what I should do.” Let us live out the gospel of Christ, showing his character to the world. So let’s get started! · Grow like a plant, not an animal In an earlier life, I was a high school teacher, specializing in teaching Biology and Human Biology. One of the introductory lessons usually involved teaching the difference between plants and animals. There are several important differences that biologists use to separate living organisms into plants and animals but I will focus on just one today. It concerns their growth and development. Animals grow to a certain size and then stabilize at that size. Plants are different. They keep on growing and producing fruit for the duration of their lives. If you cut down a tree in fact you will find growth rings. Each ring tells of the growth that took place during that year. Plants grow throughout their lives. As Christians, we need to be like that, to grow like a plant and not like an animal! We should be growing spiritually each day, no matter what may come along. Over the next 10 weeks we will focus on how we can keep growing like a tree, producing spiritual growth rings each year of our lives. We have a tree here in the auditorium as a visual reminder of our journey! Week by week various words will be attached to it, reminding us of the character traits we should display as God’s people as we strive to become more like Christ. As we trust the Holy Spirit, so he will enable us to grow to become more like Jesus. Through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, He will gently transform us to produce the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. Then we will be like trees that keep growing. Psalm 1:3 “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields it fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does he prospers.” Do you want to be a Christian who is growing like that? God’s Word encourages us that we can be like that. But there are important truths we need to remember in order to keep growing. · Stay close to the water Water and nutrients are essential for plant growth. The plant’s roots must thus find water if the plant is to survive. It is not a matter of trying to find water. The tree must find water to survive. So it is with the Christian. We must put down deep roots of faith into God and his word, to seek after Him in prayer, to be desperate to hear God’s voice speaking to us each day. How desperate are you to seek after God? I remember being deep down in a cave system at Yallingup when we came upon a thick root from a Eucalypt tree about 50 metres below the surface. The guide explained that this species of Eucalypt sends its root down a lot deeper than this! Put down deep trusting faith roots into Christ, seeking to absorb spiritual nourishment from Him. In Psalm 1:2 we read “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” These words speak of a person longing to hear from God. As we do that, then we will begin to grow in our faith and produce more spiritual fruit– the character of Jesus displayed through us. Romans 10:17 reminds us “Consequently faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Let us be people who are listening to God each day through his Word, the Bible, people who are talking with God in prayer. Our current small group course, Growthworks, is an exciting way to move out intentionally on a journey of spiritual growth with God. It is a golden opportunity to step out and grow. As WH Houghton has said ‘Lay hold of the Bible until the Bible lays hold of you.’ As Christians, God has given us his Holy Spirit to help us and teach us in this regard. In John 16:13 we read “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” This is the sure promise of God. Each Christian has the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. The Spirit of God will lead us into truth as we read the Word of God and as we pray. Let us humbly seek to grow in faith that way. Wait upon God and his Word. Stay close to the water! · Keep growing despite the drought We are to be trees that grow, irrespective of our circumstances. Most of the time, the tree needs a constant supply of nutrients and a friendly environment. Occasionally however, tough times and stressing are needed in order to flow and produce fruit. For some of us, we feel that we could grow better if life was a bit easier. Sometimes God seems distant and we don’t sense his presence. Press on, no matter what you feel. Other times our circumstances are difficult. If God would just take away some of the obstacles we face and the difficult people we have around us, then our spiritual growth would really take off. That difficult boss, or teacher, the wayward child, a husband who doesn’t understand, a wife who frustrates. The reverse is actually true! We grow best under tough times. Jer 17: 8 “It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought, and never fails to bear fruit.” In Botswana the Syringa tree is called Mosalaosi. I was interested to understand why it was called that for that name lit. means ‘the one that remains’. Then it was explained by the local people that this tree is the last one to die in times of drought. Often it will be the last tree still alive, despite year after year of drought, and even under such circumstances will still flower and produce fruit. Let us be like the Mosalaosi, the one that remains. Let us keep our roots of faith deep down into Christ, hanging onto him, no matter what might happen! Let us keep growing despite the drought. · Remember to stay attached What we are hearing here is not rocket science. It is just the basics of daily living in Christ. If a branch of a tree is to continue to produce fruit, it must stay attached to the main trunk. Otherwise it withers and dies. That is what Jesus was emphasizing in the passage in John’s account. John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” If you cut a branch off a tree, within a short space of time it will begin to wither. It has lost its only source of nourishment and support. The language here is of an intimate close connection. Other words used concerning ‘to remain’ could be to tarry, to abide, to dwell, to continue. In the Setswana Bible, one could translate the words of Jesus “If a man lives in me and I in him…” As a Christian you are living in the very presence of Christ. You can’t be any closer to him! How does this sit with you today? When we cut a branch off a tree, we expect it to die, yet when we move ourselves away from fellowship with Christ; we somehow think that it won’t affect our spiritual lives. Such is not the case. What must we do? Confess our rebellion and move back to Him. Realize our utter dependence on his power and presence. Remember that without him we are lost. As Jesus himself said ‘apart from me you can do nothing.’ Let us really take that to heart. Where are you at with Christ today? Are you living in him, abiding with him, connected in a love relationship? If so then you are in the right place to continue to grow as you draw strength and nourishment from his Holy Spirit. If you have drifted off however, become disconnected, why not reconnect right now? There is no better time than just now. He longs for us to reconnect, but we do so on his terms, not ours. We need to confess our rebellion, our independent spirit that feels that we can do life by ourselves and repent, to change our thinking to come into line with his view of things. As we do this, we can then draw on the power of Christ’s Holy Spirit to enable us to grow and produce fruit. Yes, the secret to growing is to stay attached. But there is more to producing fruit than staying attached. · Be ready to be pruned! Fruitful trees need to be pruned. Branches that are diseased or growing in the wrong place need to be removed. Even in the bush, when the winds come, this process of pruning takes place. Sometimes more drastic pruning is needed. In the bush, this may take the form of a bushfire that cleanses and purifies. Later new growth will spring up with vitality and strength. Yes, trees need to be pruned to be fruitful. The same is true in our lives with God. In order to bear spiritual fruit, God’s Holy Spirit needs to prune us from time to time. Jesus made this very evident in his teaching. John 15:2 “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” Jesus couldn’t make it any clearer. We will be pruned from time to time. As painful as such times are, when they happen let us remember the purpose of the pruning – God wants us to be more fruitful!!! That is always the intention of pruning. You don’t prune an orange tree just for the sake of pruning. You do so that it will bear more fruit. Exactly the same applies to our lives. God permits people or circumstances to come into our lives at times to bring about some pruning, so that we will bear more fruit, fruit that reflects the character of Christ. We seldom enjoy these times, but later we will be grateful to God that he used that person or a circumstance to correct us, to discipline us, to that we might bear more of his fruit. A master sculptor had been at work in his studio for a long time, gently carving at a block of stone. Slowly he fashioned a magnificent lion after weeks of pain staining work. As he finished, a friend asked him how he managed to create such a beautiful work of art. The sculptor replied “It was easy. All I did was chip away everything that didn’t look like a lion.” That is what God intends in our lives. He gently prunes away everything that doesn’t look like Jesus! Yes, be ready for the pruning. · Produce the fruit that God desires As we submit to God, drawing strength from his Holy Spirit, and submit to the times of pruning then fruit will come. Like all fruit, it will take time, but it will come! John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.” This is the promise of Christ to us. He chose us to be fruitful. In verse 5 he says that we will bear much fruit, not just something that is miserable and shrivelled. But what is this fruit? Over the years, Christians have varied in their response as to the nature of this fruit. Some have said it is referring to people who come into a faith relationship with God as a result of our efforts. As a young Christian, I was told that a fruitful Christian is one who is bringing people to Christ. I became very discouraged for that did not seem to be happening in my life. Then as I dug deeper I began to see things differently. It is God himself who draws people to himself but he wants my life to help and not hinder that process. The passage in John 15 has Jesus speaking of being the true vine. In the OT the vine was frequently used as a symbol of Israel, the people of God. Throughout the OT God would prune and nurture his vine, with the aim that it would produce the fruit of righteous living. God wanted his people to live in such a way that they reflected the character of God so that other nations would be drawn to him. The same is true for us today. He wants our lives to reflect the character of Christ to our world. We can find various aspects of Christ’s character described throughout the gospels but the Apostle Paul has drawn a thumbnail sketch for us in his letter to the Galatians Galatians 5:22-23 “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.” This is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that God is seeking to produce in our lives. Over the coming weeks, we will explore these various aspects of Christ’s character that the Father wishes to display in our lives. Yes, the fruit will come as we abide in Christ and trust him day by day! Yet many Christians appear not to be fruitful. Why may this be? I sense often it is because they have become Bonsai Christians. · Don’t be a Bonsai Christian! I have become quite interested in bonsai trees over the years and we have a few at home now. These are trees that grow in trays for the word bonsai lit. means ‘tray planting’. It is the art of dwarfing trees so that they never grow very large. From talking with a bonsai expert earlier in the year he explained that bonsai trees are not hybrids. Rather they are normal trees that have been dwarfed by their environment. By controlling their environment and confining them to a small pot, and through careful trimming of their roots in particular they are kept to a small size. Do you feel a bit like a bonsai Christian? Have you been dwarfed spiritually by your environment, starved of spiritual nutrients, confined and constrained? Now is the time to break out, to begin to grow normally, to produce the fruit that God has always intended for your life. Can I encourage you today to grow like a plant each day and not like an animal, to stay close to the water and thus be able to grow each day, despite what your circumstances might be? Keep growing through the drought times and during the times of pruning. God has allowed these times so that you will produce more fruit. Are you growing like this today or do you feel you have been confined in a pot like a bonsai? Why not step out with God this morning in faith, asking for his strength to walk with Christ. To produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit as we remain in Christ. · It’s time to grow! Yes, it is time. Let us begin to grow like a plant and not an animal. Stay close to the water, drawing in the spiritual food each day, keep growing despite the drought times, stay attached to Christ as you speak with him in prayer, be ready for the pruning for it will come, and you will begin to produce fruit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit of God, reproducing the character of Christ in your lives. Don’t be a bonsai Christian, confined by your surroundings. Yes, it’s time, time to grow!
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