Growth & Fruit

In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said that He would build His church. But that doesn’t mean we sit back and watch.

When God delivered the people of Israel from Egypt He used Moses. God used David to kill the giant. He used Elijah to call fire down from heaven to consume the sacrifice. He used Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He used John the Baptist to announce the coming of the Messiah. It seems that God nearly always works through faithful people to accomplish his plans and purposes.

Throughout history God has worked through men and women to build His church. That means we have a part in what God is doing, and that our skill, or lack of skill, will determine how much God uses us to build.

In the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-9) Jesus said some seed yielded a hundredfold, while other yielded sixty, and other only thirty. My prayer is that I will be one of those who yields a hundredfold.

So what do we need to do in order to be that good seed which yields a hundredfold?

First, we need to stop asking what we need to do in order to grow and reproduce. That’s the wrong question. The question we must be asking ourselves is, what is preventing me from growing and reproducing?

As we saw yesterday, growth and reproduction are natural. If growth and reproduction are not a part of our spiritual life then we need to look what is lacking or what is attacking. What nutrients are missing so that our roots are weak and we are malnourished? Or, what enemy is attacking us and destroying the reproduction process?

Becoming Mature

I’ve been thinking about growth and maturity. It seems that God has placed us in a world filled with examples of things that grow, mature, and produce fruit. Plant a tomato seed and it grows, the plant matures, and has flowers, and produces tomatoes. A cat has kittens, they grow up to maturity, and then they have kittens. Chicken eggs hatch into chicks, the chicks grow to maturity, and then they lay eggs of their own. Everywhere around us we see examples of living things which grow, become mature, and then reproduce.

In fact, this is so much the law of nature that if a plant is not growing to maturity and reproducing we know something is lacking or something is attacking. It is either lacking nutrition, and therefore malnourished, or it is being attacked, such as by disease or insects.

The Bible tells us we should be growing to maturity and that we should be reproducing. In fact, Jesus said that we would be known by our fruit.

So here’s today’s thought: Do I have any fruit for someone to examine? If I do, what does my fruit say about me? Am I healthy? Am I malnourished? Am I diseased?

John 15:16 (NASB)
“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”

Developing a Heart of Gratitude

 
Earlier today I was walking around in Wal-Mart while waiting for Michael to get off work. As I walked around I noticed people buying “stuff” they didn’t need, and I began thinking about how unhappy so many people are.

My mind then drifted to a friend of mine who is always complaining. I thought of how I hesitate asking him how he is because I already know he will tell me how tired he is and how sleepy he is. I thought perhaps I should talk to him about his constant complaining, and suggest that he try giving thanks twice as much as he complains to see if he can change his outlook on life by “giving thanks in all things”.

And then it seemed the Holy Spirit tapped me on the shoulder and asked me how much I give thanks. I was reminded of how much I complain, and I wondered if people hesitate asking me how I’m doing because I’ll tell them about my bad back, or that I have a headache, or that I didn’t sleep well, or that I’m on an emotional roller coaster, or that…

Lord, please forgive me for my critical and complaining attitude. Help me to develop a heart of gratitude by remembering what You have done for me and how blessed I am to be Your child.

Thoughts to Ponder - What Am I Doing?

 
Often we think of sin as only having a negative consequence.

We think of sin resulting is something bad happening to us because we did something we shouldn’t have done.

But did you know there is another side to sin?

Sin also results in the withholding of something good that could have been, the blessing that would have been.

When Adam and Eve sinned they both experienced guilt. And then each of them had a particular sin consequence they had to deal with: for Eve it was painful childbirth, and for Adam it was struggling with weeds and thorns to get the earth to produce.

The obvious is that they no longer enjoyed those walks and talks with God in the cool of the evening. They no longer enjoyed perfect harmony with each other. They no longer enjoyed the beautiful Garden of Eden.

But what did they give up?
What might it have been like to raise children in a perfect setting?
What might it have been like to never have sickness, pain, colds, flu, headaches, etc?
What might have happened if they had been able to ask God how to create, how to design, and how to turn dreams into reality?

Think about it.
Imagine what blessings we might be missing out on becuase of our short sightedness and poor choices?

Truths About Giving

 
The Problem

1. Our society has become numb and turned off by the constant requests for money.

2. We see pictures of starving children in Africa, AIDS victims, hurricane victims, earthquake victims, tsunami victims, and many other very real and legitimate needs. People today are pretty much inoculated to the point that the first mention of money causes them to tune out and turn off.

3. If we are going to get through to people’s hearts the approach must change. The presentation of a need no longer gets through.

4. People today want to get something when they give something. Sadly, the culture we live in has become so “me” that most people will not give unless they see the personal benefit to themselves.

5. The bottom line is this: presenting a need no longer works because people tune out and turn off before you get half way through the presentation. If they get an e-mail or a letter, they trash it as soon as they see what it is.

The Truth

1. Although the above is all very true, that should not present a problem for the church of the Lord Jesus. However, our approach must take this into account.

2. God is still looking for faithful men and women whose hearts are fully committed to Him, people who will use the resources He entrusts to them for His purposes, and not to satisfy personal desires and greedy wants.

3. In the parable of the servants, the two servants who invested the talents given them were entrusted with more and given greater responsibility.

4. God says that He is looking for those faithful people to whom He can entrust His resources.

5. For many, the reason they don’t have is because they have not given God His portion. They have been unfaithful with what God has entrusted to them so God cannot trust them with more. Back to the parable of the servants: the unfaithful servant had the single talent taken away from him and given to the faithful servant. Jesus said that the unfaithful will have what little they do have taken away from them and given to a faithful servant.

6. If we don’t have enough then we need to examine our hearts to see why because God says He is looking for faithful people to whom He can entrust His resources. Could our problem be that we have misused what was given us? Has God taken away what little we had because we have been unfaithful? It’s pretty simple to check that out. All we need to do is look back at our giving record to see if we have been faithful to give God His portion.

The Solution

1. Giving is the laboratory where God tests and grows our faith.

2. When things are going wrong we need to ask ourselves: Do I trust God’s plan and His promise, or do I go back to trusting my plan and my checking account?

3. God will keep us in this testing and proving phase until our faith grows to where we move past the point of trusting in ourselves and our checking account to the point where we trust God and His promises.

4. Only when we have proven ourselves faithful will we see God entrust His resources to us.

The Great Commission

In Matthew 28:18-20 we find what is known as The Great Commission. I’ve been pondering that quite a bit lately and wondering if perhaps we have been overlooking one of the words we find in that passage. It’s the short three-letter word “all”, as in “teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.

If we are going to teach new believers to obey all the commands Jesus gave us then that must mean we teach them to
1) go and peach,
2) help them become Christ-followers,
3) baptize them, and then
4) teach them to repeat that same process with someone else.

If we fail in any one of these points then doesn’t that mean we have failed to carry out the commands of our Lord?

When I stop and think about all that entails it’s pretty heavy because it means that if the person I pour my life into does not go pour their life into someone else then I’ve failed to get the main point across to my apprentice. Now I understand that may not always be the case, because even Jesus had one of his disciples fail. But if I don’t have any of those people I’m pouring my life into go pour their life into someone else, who pours their life into someone else, then somewhere along that process I’m failing.

Faithful vs Unfaithful

Notice in Matthew 25:14-30 the difference in the focus of the faithful and unfaithful servants. The faithful servants began their reports focuses on “You”, while the unfaithful servant began his report with “I”.


If our focus is on self then we will always miss the bigger picture, we will miss the thrill of great accomplishments, we will miss out on accomplishing something of significance.

It is only when I am willing to risk my life for the cause of my Lord that I’ll find a life worth living. A life that does not see God show up, a life that does not experience the power of God, a life that does not go beyond self is not a life worth living. That life is only an existence, not a thrill and fulfilling life.

So where is your focus?