When Jesus cursed a fig tree, because it had leaves but no figs, the disciples were shocked to see that it soon died. It was a warning that God's patience with arrogant unbelieving religion would not be stretched indefinitely (Matthew 21:18-22).
The fruitless tree symbolised the fanatically religious nation, but with no relationship to God who had 'planted' her. Within 40 years of God's people finally rejecting God's Messiah, their temple was destroyed.
Having abandoned its purpose of glorifying God, welcoming Jesus and making Him known to the world ... it had no raison d'être ... and so God allowed the Romans to devastate the city of Zion in AD70. It has never been rebuilt, its inhabitants were killed, enslaved or scattered.
No fruit, no point in being there.
Paul said the same thing when facing trial and possible execution: If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me (Philippians 1:22).
In other words, if the Lord allowed him to live, it would be so that he could work for the Lord and be fruitful.
What is the fruit? There are a series of answers including: personal lifestyle and character change in the believer, and those transformational changes in people who come to believe in Jesus.
All this fruit is seen by God and rewarded by Him on the Final Day. The purpose of the fruit is to demonstrate God's amazing power in transforming sinners into saints, weakness into divine tools, and shame into praise.
It is all done through His Word - which we are responsible to proclaim, and His Spirit through whom we are changed as we respond in faith to His Word.
- In Galatians 5 the change is relational and behavioural (loving neighbour and fellow believers), motivational (loving what God wants instead of being controlled by fleshly impulses) and personal (a peaceful and contented character satisfied by God's love).
- In John 15 we find that fruitfulness is encouraged by pruning away things that may seem good, so that God can sharpen our focus on what will bring Him the fruit He seeks from us.
- In the parable of the sower (Luke 15), the fruitful crop (30x, 60x 100x more than what was sown) is the result of God's Word being scattered into good soil. God's Word has life in itself and when it finds a prepared heart it will excite a hunger to believe.
We should expect to see the fruit of God's grace in our own lives and, as others notice, that will bring glory to Him. We may still see many weaknesses: but look back to where you were, and see how much the Lord has done over time.
We do not always see the fruit in others, although we work and pray for it. The sower may not also be the reaper. 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 reminds us that gospel ministry is team work, and our Master knows how best to deploy His workers.
Sometimes hearts are so hard that it takes time to become fertile soil. Sometimes the reaping is a generation or more after the seed is planted. But God has promised that where His Word is put into good ground, there WILL be a harvest!
There are two links between the seed and the fruit. One is the intentional labour of sowing the seed, the other is the Spirit's work in germinating and growing it in people's hearts. The second link is God's work alone, but the first is our responsibility. He has entrusted the seed to us, and the task of sowing it into people's hearts.
There is no point in having a church or mission organisation in which there are no workers sowing gospel seed. This work is often very hard, but without sowing the Word there will be no harvest. But, however difficult it is, when the Word is sown there will be a harvest, somewhere, sometime.
We thank God for our passionately committed, and hard working, partners around the world. They sow gospel seed in churches and prisons and workplaces and communities. They are often poor and over-worked, yet rejoicing - because they are held into their labours by God himself, and they are expecting a harvest which will glorify Him.
So, as Jesus said, "Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest field" (Matthew 9:38). The word for 'workers' is 'ergates' from which we get 'energy'.
These workers are putting everything into the Lord's work; and that is how we must support them too, practically and in prayer.
The questions with which BeaconLight challenges others inevitably rotate back to us.
- Where is the fruit in us and around us?
- Are we also being shaped by the Word and the Spirit to be different from what we were?
- As the Lord has given us life, what are we doing with it which will glorify Him, bless others, and be rewarded as fruitful labour one day?
When our work is done, He takes us. But until then, He expects us to give it everything we have got so that He will see the fruit and He will get the glory.