Author: Rich

The Fruit Justifies the Methods

Posted on by Rich

We have all heard the phrase, "the end justifies the means". It is a blanket rationale, when the ultimate outcome is worth any sacrifice, or expedience. It is used by governments to justify actions, and by good people to justify questionable actions.

How does fruit play into this? Well, the apostle Paul said "…I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some." 1 Corinthians 9:22… What does this mean? This passage from 1 Cor 9:19-22 is all about fruit. It is about maintaining empathy for those that you are ministering to; about making sure our ministry remains relevant to those we are ministering to, so that we " by all means may save some." It is about ministry methods. How you conduct the ministry that you are engaged in. Because people get hung up on methods – specific ways of doing things that may engage some people, and turn others off. Again, it is about the fruit. God will bless methods that are aligned with His will by making them fruitful.

If we conduct ministry the way we did in 1970 or 1950 or even 1850, we probably will not get people engaged. Is it because those methods were not biblical? Probably not. Is it because people perceive them as archaic and out of date or step with "the times", most likely.

The bible doesn't really have a great prescription for how to conduct a church service, run a youth ministry; a women's program; a men's ministry. God left it up to us, each generation of believers to relate to our generation, our culture so that we would figure out how to cultivate the soil around us to produce fruit.

Value Driven Ministry

Posted on by Rich

Every ministry or minister (servant) has values that relate to their service. God has given each of us talents and gifts to use in His service. In service each of us glorifies God by using those gifts and talents to produce fruit.

God does not need our service to produce fruit. But we experience God's work when we participate in the production of fruit in this way. Our relationship with God is strengthened by our service. God allows us to participate, for our own edification, and His glorification.

So naturally, we value the ministry or service opportunities that allow us to use the gifts and talents that He has so freely given us. We see God working through us, using the gifts and talents that He gave us.

Problems happen when:

1) On a personal level, we identify with our gifts instead of our fruitfulness – this is a beginning of spiritual pride, when we identify with our gifts and talents, rather than focusing on how we are an instrument used by God to produce fruit. We then limit God to using us in specific ways, we see certain areas of ministry as out of bounds because they are not aligned with our gifts or talents.

2) On a corporate level we value some gifts and talents above others – this is about spiritual deformity in the church. A church that values some gifts and talents above others will eventually become crippled, like a bodybuilder that builds one muscle only, the church becomes "muscle bound". Our values become our constraints. A church that values evangelism above all else, may fail to produce fruit of discipleship. A church that values teaching above all else, may fail to produce the fruit of regeneration. A body made of hands can't walk, a body made of feet can't carry, a body made of eyes, can't hear, etc.

When we value the fruit, rather than the gifts and talents that produce the fruit, we are free to maintain balance, and recognize the gifts and talents that we lack to produce more fruit. Each ministry should recognize what gifts and talents it needs to produce fruit, and continually seek to uncover, develop, and leverage those gifts and talents. Each ministry should evaluate how it could use the gifts and talents that it already has to produce more fruit.

If you value the fruit, then you value the resources GIVEN BY GOD that help produce the fruit. If you value the gifts and talents more than the fruit, then you don't really understand why God gave them in the first place, and you will eventually err by misusing the gifts, you will eventually fail to produce fruit.

What is Ministry

Posted on by Rich

Ministry is service. Jesus came to serve. We are to follow his example and serve. Our service is ordained by God. We are to serve by doing the good works that He has prepared in advance for us to do.

Our service is to build each other up. Our service is to share the good news of salvation with others. Our service is to produce Fruit.

We are called a "holy priesthood". We are called "saints". What this means to me is that God has called each believer to a life of sacrifice and service. To a life of ministry. This ministry is expressed to family, to friends, to co-workers, to others we encounter.

Here are the Hebrew words from the old testament that are translated ministry:

Shareth – Priestly service or work in the temple or tabernacle
Abodah – labor (of a servant), service (of God)

Here are the Greek words from the new testament that are translated ministry:

Diakonia – service, ministering, esp. of those who execute the commands of others; of those who by the command of God proclaim and promote religion among men
the ministration of those who render to others the offices of Christian affection esp. those who help meet need by either collecting or distributing of charities
Leitourgia – a public office which a citizen undertakes to administer at his own expense; a service or ministry of the priests relative to the prayers and sacrifices offered to God

Ministry is the body of Christ using the gifts and talents and resources given by God to pursue or promote the production of spiritual fruit in others.

What Is Fruit

Posted on by Rich

Fruit is part of a new testament analogy the talks about the results of our labor in God's kingdom.

Most of my thoughts on Fruit derive from the parable of the fig tree in Luke 13, in which Jesus describes the state of the Jewish nation, but which also applies to us individually, and to ministries or churches that we participate in.

In the old testament, fruit is a symbol of God's blessing, and points to the harvest in a primarily agrarian society. So what do I mean by fruit?

Fruit is the harvest – therefore evangelism, the great commission, the winning of souls in which we are to participate.

Fruit is spiritual growth – therefore discipleship, engaging God on a continually deeper level, and growing to spiritual maturity, growing in ever deeper dependence on and trust in God.

That is it. In our ministry to others, that is what God cares about. What is really unbelievable, is that while God allows each of us to participate in this fruit, we are not responsible for it, He is. That is why the analogy of the fruit and the harvest is so powerful to me.

We are like farmers. We cultivate the soil, we continue to work to keep weeds and animals from destroying the plants, and we reap the harvest. God is what causes the fruit to grow. We are just farmers. If we do not work the field, the harvest is small, like picking wild berries.

We are not God who makes the fruit grow, nor are we biologists and geneticists who are changing the nature of fruit, we are simple farmers.

The principle behind fruit is multiplication. You plant 1 seed, and a whole plant grows that produces lots of fruit that has its own seeds. These in turn are planted and grow into many plants, that produce more fruit.