Scripture: Matthew 3:7-10, Matthew 21: 42-45, John 15:1-8
In today’s message, which is #10
in our series on Wesley’s “The Character of a Methodist”, (section 12, page 9) we will be considering what it
means to be productive in a Christian sense.
Since the beginning of time, God has called His people to be “fruitful” as
they follow in Godly ways. But the LORD
doesn’t leave us to our own understanding of what this call may mean. He gives us examples and explanations, over
and over again, of how we are to live in faithful obedience. In Genesis 1:11-12, God created seeds
on the third day, that they would grow on the land, and be nourished by the
water, and would produce plants to continue bearing grains and seeds, and trees
to produce seed bearing fruit. But God
didn’t leave it up to the land to care for this “production” all by itself!
On the sixth day, God created
Man, as male and female, in His own image, and placed them on the land. But they weren’t there to be cared for by
creation – their task would be to care for the LORD’s
creation (Genesis 1:27-31).
Throughout the Hebrew texts,
we see an increasingly important addition to humanity’s responsibility – that they
were to also care for God’s Church (Numbers 1:50), as well as for each
other (Deuteronomy 15:4-6)! And
when Jesus came on the scene, He began to make this new effort a priority for us.
Read Matthew 3:7-10
John the Baptist came to
prepare the people for the coming of Jesus. John was to be the proverbial one
who would be the “… voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way
for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” (Isaiah 40:3-4). And the words that John spoke against the
Pharisees would be a call for them to stop leading the people away from the
truth of Jehovah God. In caring for each
other, John reminds the learned men of Israel that they were failing in their
charge, that they should be leading others into repentance from their
sins, and away from false worship, which they weren’t – they had it all
backwards!
Caring for each other involves
more than living in some legalistic existence in faith, or in satisfying the
physical needs of the body – it must also involve strengthening the spiritual
understanding that God wants us to have in our relationship with Him. John not only preached to the masses, but in
preparation for them to meet Jesus, he began baptizing them.
Baptism is the commitment
that we make to God and each other, that we will become part of the caring
effort that is extended to all people on behalf of our loving and caring LORD. In baptism, we take vows to accept God’s way,
and to reject the ways of earth, and begin following in the footsteps that will
lead us ever upward!
Read Matthew 21: 42-45
This passage follows closely
behind Jesus’ parable of “The Tenants”, in which He teaches against the beliefs
of the Pharisees, and prophesies to His own approaching death. And as this lesson continues, we gain a
glimpse of what will come from Christ’s resurrection and its power. Jesus compares Himself to a foundational
stone – the reference stone that every “building” needs to have for its
alignment and direction. Faith, through
God’s truth, also needs the reference and direction that the LORD
brings to our lives.
But more than that, the
cornerstone of Jesus will be rejected by many, and when they do, it will not
only be their downfall, but it will, more importantly, be their condemnation
and destruction. The heavenly Kingdom
that Israel had always assumed would be theirs could no longer be their hope
and promise, but would be given to those who let the word of God in Christ
become the “cornerstone” of their faith.
It would no longer be who you are in the world that matters, but rather it
will be who you are in Christ that will be your salvation.
We need to be careful,
though, before seeing this passage as a condemnation on Israel as a singular
whole. The people who will be “crushed”
won’t only be part of Israel – it will be all who refuse to claim Jesus as LORD and
Savior, and those who will inherit the Kingdom of God will include both
Jews and Gentiles - it will be all who accept Jesus as their “way, and truth,
and life” (John 14:5-7). This is what
will allow Godly ways to blossom within us, it will be where the true fruit of
God will begin to grow, it will be the time when the life of true believers will
begin to bring glory to God, and it is then that the Holy Spirit will bring the
blessed key of eternal life to fruition within us.
Crushed or Fruitful? Not much of a choice, is it! But it is still the choice that each and
every one of us has to make.
Read John 15:1-8
This passage is the epitome of what fruitfulness is
all about. It requires that a healthy
vine be firmly connected to an effective root system, and that every healthy
branch be well connected to the central vine.
Without this, nutrients will be unable to flow to the buds and fruit, for
nothing of substance will grow without it.
But even more importantly, the One who tends the vines will see to it
that the branches are not overloaded to the point that the fruit becomes a
small and very poor crop.
The Gardiner cuts away old branches that have died
and only serve to crowd out the good.
And a second responsibility that is just as important as the first is to
remove excessive good growth to make the branches even healthier and stronger,
so the remaining branches will be able to produce the greatest and best fruit
that they possibly can.
Without the root, the vine is dead, and without the
vine, the branches are dead, and without a healthy and living plant, there can
never be any fruit. So what is Jesus
trying to tell us?
The Vine that is Jesus, is an integral part of the
root system, which represents the power of the Father. Together, they bring the food and truth of
heaven to every branch that is connected to them. And only these branches will be nourished by
the Holy Spirit, to produce the fruit of the Spirit to the glory of God (Galatians 5:22-25). The
Gardiner can graft other branches onto the Vine, but it will always be to the
Vine of God, and the truth that He brings is that which will enable the fruitfulness of every branch.
But what about the “cutting” and “pruning” that
Jesus talks about? What are we to learn
from that? The point that we are to hear
is that when we are “dead” to Jesus and His word, there can never be any fruit within
us that will bring honor to the LORD,
and the only option that we have is to allow God to cut it away from our
life.
But there will also be those times when we tend to
take on too many opportunities to serve God, and it places too great a demand
on our time and energy, and when that happens, everything we love will begin to
suffer. The truth is that we need to
constantly consider just what Christ would have us do, and not to let our own
desires and joys to have too great an influence on our Christian service. And as hard as it may be, when the Spirit
calls us to reduce the amount of time and effort that we are expending, it will
be the time for us to say "No” to any more.
Regarding fruitfulness, John Wesley wrote this - “He
runs [in] the ways of God’s commandments, now he hath set his heart at
liberty. It is his glory so to do; it is
his daily crown of rejoicing, to do the will of God on earth, as it is done in
heaven; knowing it is the highest privilege of the angels of God, of those that
excel in strength, to fulfil His commandments and hearken to the voice of His
word.”
Think about that – to be fruitful in God’s way and
to His glory is the “highest privilege” that we will ever know! Giving our precious LORD
honor and glory, showing Him our respect, love, and obedience gives our God pleasure
in the life we have received from Him, and nothing can ever break the
relationship that He has defined and established for those who believe in His
Son, Jesus the Christ.
The world can never offer anything that will
ever come close to the grace of God that comes to us when we are fruitful for
Him. Rejoice, be fruitful, and give Him
your thanksgiving today.
