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Fruit
"17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit,
but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,
and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not
bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew
7:17-19)
God instructs us to be fruit inspectors.
I have no idea how many different varieties of fruit are cultivated
commercially, but a cursory glance on the internet came up with
a figure for apples of 7500 varieties grown throughout the world,
and the information that the tomato is probably the world's most
popular fruit. Apparently somewhere in the region of 60 million
tons of tomatoes are produced per year, well ahead of bananas, apples,
oranges and, in fifth place, watermelons.
Since plants cannot move from place to place, they have developed
ways to make certain that their seeds dispersed over a wide area;
this is important because if the seeds were to develop close to
the parent plant, the young plants would not receive enough sunlight
to grow. They would also compete for light, water and minerals.
It is much better if the seeds germinate and grow in another area.
Fruits are one means of achieving this aim.
"16 By their fruit you will recognise them…." (Matthew
7:16).
There is no part of nature that does not cause us to wonder, but
of course there are spiritual lessons that we have to take into
account as we pick our apples from the tree, or harvest our sun-ripened
tomatoes from greenhouse or garden. It is in these words from Matthew's
Gospel that we begin to see how the Creator's design for the spreading
of a plant's seeds might be a picture that we can relate to in our
Christian lives.
If we ignore the anomalies of such as the seedless grape, then the
sole purpose of a fruit is to assist a plant in achieving a very
important purpose, the continuation of life from one generation
to another. It does this generally through other birds or animals,
by providing the means through which they will perform the task.
In other words, the plant not only has to show fruit but it is also
dependent upon others. Without that assistance the future is not
promising - seed that is merely dropped to the floor around a plant
will eventually become overgrown, weak and choked.
Jesus used the example of fruit because he knew it was a picture
that his listeners could relate to. It remains a relevant picture
for us, and indeed it is one that our Celtic ancestors would have
understood because they had a clear vision of the need for mission.
Yes, mission. It was not enough for them to draw close to God in
the quiet and lonely places of the world they inhabited; they had
a yearning to spread the Good News of the Gospel message not only
to those in their immediate vicinity but further away. Why else
would those Christian saints risk their lives sailing to distant
lands?
These saintly folk had spent time in study, prayer and fasting.
They had grown in knowledge and faith; become fruitful, and through
the prompting of God's Spirit they took the sweetness of the Gospel
to distant places, sowed the seed and watched it grow. In a very
real sense it could be said that the lives they led and the message
they proclaimed were as effective as any fruit in dispersing the
seed and ensuring that there would be a continuing harvest from
generation to generation. Without their fruitfulness our ancestors
would not have heard the Good News and we in turn would not know
of the love that our Creator God has invested in us.
I read somewhere that two signs of a prosperous nation are that
firstly that it produces enough fruit to feed its own people, and
secondly it has abundance left over to export to other nations.
So often it is the fruitfulness of others that causes us to be drawn
close to God - it is this same fruit that we should be willing to
export to a world full of people who are starving.
Mentioned previously was the fact that within nature, a plant often
needs help to distribute its fruit and seed, and of course there
is a straight analogy here with the Christian community. We are
not created to be isolated Christians, or if we are then we are
not very effective. Nurture, growth and fruitfulness happen within
communities where there is there is a loving and effective fellowship
of believers working together.
God didn't plant us so that we might look good sitting in a church
pew. He had an expectation that we might show fruit in due season!
Jesus doesn't bless us, teach us and feed us through his Word and
Spirit so we can become pretty plants to look at in the garden.
No, he looks for fruitfulness!
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