10-22-2006

Bearing Fruit - the sign of Life

George Barna has spent most of his life studying American trends and the ways that Christians are a part of those trends. In his book, Revolution, he reports that 77 million Americans, almost a third, claim to be Christians, not just culturally, but as a result of accepting Christ as their Savior and committing themselves to participate in the life of a Christian congregation on a regular basis. After reporting that fact, he writes:

“One of the great frustrations of my life has been the disconnection between what our research consistently shows about churched Christians and what the Bible calls on us to be.”

He gives these specific illustrations of that gap...

∙ 8 of 10 Christians say that even when they go to church, they do not feel that they have entered the Presence of God.

∙ One half of Christians say that they have not felt God’s Presence in more than a year’s time!

∙ Only one out of four Believers say that when they worship God, they expect Him to be the primary beneficiary. Fully 75% of Believers say that they expect to get the most from their worship!

∙ Most Believers will live their entire life as a Christian without ever introducing another person to a real relationship with Jesus Christ.

∙ At any given time, more than 50% of Christians say that they are not praying for anyone specifically to come to know Christ!

∙ When asked about the meaning of success, few Believers speak in spiritual terms. Most describe professional accomplishments, family solidarity, or financial security!

All of these indicators are inter-connected, but the one I consider most tragic is that almost no Believers ever lead another person to new birth! This says to me that Believers are either not truly spiritually alive or that their spiritual life is of such poor quality that reproduction is impossible! One of the singular signs of life is reproduction! All things that live reproduce. If they don’t, extinction of their kind quickly follows.

(Pause)

If you’re feeling guilty or like a failure, I want to ask you to set that feeling aside this morning. It is not my intent to beat you up emotionally, to make you feel terrible about yourself, or to make you feel like a failure as a Christian.

My desire today is to present you with a Biblical model that makes bearing fruit, reproducing ourselves as Believers, a normal part of our Christian life.

I’d like to convince you that there is no more fulfilling experience than seeing someone trust Christ and begin to be transformed in mind and heart as a result of leading them to follow Jesus! Nothing in the Christian life compares to that moment when another person is ‘born again’ of the Spirit and you know that you helped to make that new birth possible.

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One reason many Believers never lead anyone to a relationship with Jesus Christ is fear!

Another is that so many of the models that we are presented with for witnessing are very distasteful.

∙ Who really enjoys being stopped by an intrusive person and handed a leaflet while in the mall or walking on the street? I personally am annoyed when I’m minding my own business and someone pesters me about a political candidate, some new product, or a church!

∙ Who really thinks it is effective to annoy our neighbors by knocking on their doors on Sunday afternoon and asking to talk with them about Jesus? I groan when the Jehovah’s Witnesses show up on Windmere Terrace!

∙ Why do we think we have the right to engage total strangers in conversations about the deepest spiritual issues of their heart?

You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?

It shouldn’t be like that. I have that on the best authority! Take a look at what Jesus said.

TEXT - Matthew 5:14-16 Pew Bible page 1501

Light is a welcome thing, isn’t it?

When we are searching for something, or need to do work on a project, we seek a source of light, don’t we?

Who wants to stumble around in the dark, tripping over things, and risking get hurt?

Jesus says - “Shine as lights!”

What is He asking of us?

I believe that He wants us to live a quality life that is noticeably distinct from that of unbelievers. The ‘light’ of our lives should be in stark contrast to the emptiness of the life of the person who does not know God.

Those who are Jesus’ people should be full of purpose, have lives that are complete with rich relationships, characterized by joy, full of hope, and of an excellence of character that makes us noble persons!

Paul says, When we live God’s way... He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely."

(Galatians 5:22-23, The Message)

My grandfather came to Christ for this very reason! When he immigrated to this country from Denmark, he was godless, loved to gamble, and carried his whiskey flask! He first heard the message of the Gospel of Christ at a tent meeting where he encountered the living Lord. But, it wasn’t a sermon or a gospel tract that ultimately drew Grandpa Scott into a life with Christ. It was a group of Christians who were full of the Spirit. Grandpa had a terrible car accident and was unable to care for his farm for months. The Believers gave their time generously and kept his farm going through his recovery. He saw Christianity in action, desired it, and gave his life fully to Christ, starting a long chain reaction in his family!

“Shine as lights!” is a commission to us that, in reality, demands more than handing somebody a Gospel tract, or inviting somebody to a special event at church. Those are good things to do, but they are not the most productive method of bearing fruit, of creating new disciples. We lead people to Jesus, by drawing them to the Light!

(Flashlight illustration- have a working flashlight available, but take the batteries out of it in advance.

Ask a volunteer to come up and shine the light. When it doesn’t work, ask them why?

When they conclude it does not have any batteries in it, give them the batteries, install them,

and turn on the light.)

TEXT - Acts 1:8 Pew Bible page 1691

The ‘energy’ that creates the light in our lives, is not personal charisma or great personality or physical attractiveness! We are not called to become ‘celebrities for Jesus.’ We are called to be His witnesses, to be living demonstrators of the Truth, to embody the Gospel. Jesus said that the Light that shines out of us comes from being full of the Spirit of God.

Please do not misunderstand the connotations of the key word in that passage which is ‘power.’ When most of us think of power, we think of great strength or miracles! Power, for many of us, is synonymous with big muscles, v-10 engines, and nuclear bombs.

But that is just part of the meaning of ‘power,’ not the primary way the word is used here. When Jesus promised us ‘power’ to be living demonstrators of His truth and life, He was speaking of the inner transformation of character, of the virtue that would result WHEN the Spirit was invited to live in us in fullness! As a result of the Spirit’s Presence, the Believer receives a new ability, impossible to himself, to live in a godly way, that is remarkably different from that of unbelievers!

Paul does not dance around the kind of life that a genuine experience of the Spirit produces. Take a look.

READ Galatians 5:16-25 Pew Bible page 1815

A life consistently characterized by deep love, by overflowing joy, by peace and serenity, by willingness to wait out the processes of life patiently, by a kindness that empathizes with the needs of others, by consistent and enduring commitment, by a gentleness that refuses to return evil for evil, and by a mature control of sinful impulses - is simply out of reach by human efforts! But, when we invite the Spirit of God to live in us and learn to love Him in worship, we receive power, the divinely imparted ability to be those very things.

At the risk of depersonalizing the Spirit, I use this flashlight and the batteries in it, to make my point. He is the energy, the power, that makes a ‘shining light’ kind of life possible.

Please do not make a leap of logic here and think that you cannot shine the light of Christ in your world until you reach some level of spiritual maturity, deal with every broken place in your life, or defeat every sinful habit! That is a lie from the Devil that causes many Believers to ‘hide the light’ in their life. Even in our failures, the light can shine!

Paul spoke of the calling to represent Christ, to shine the Light, to the world.

Then he writes, "Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant." (2 Corinthians 3:4-6, NIV)

When a person has a real relationship with Jesus Christ and is being filled with the Spirit of God on a continuing basis, there is no need to go out to ‘be a witness.’ Sharing Christ is not an activity for Sunday afternoon, or reserved for the annual evangelism campaign of the church. It is an inevitable part of life for, as Peter says, when we are full of God, we will have to be ready “to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

So then, the final question is - how are we filled with the Spirit so that the light will shine from us?

Jesus words are instructive once again.

First, note that He said that ‘those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled!’

As you see the Christ-life demonstrated in others, it will stir a hunger in you. At the same time, the Spirit of God is acting on us, too. He magnetically pulls us to Himself. He calls out to us about the possibility of regaining our place as sons and daughters of the Father!

What I know from the Word is this - no one can save himself by his own efforts. And I also believe, with my whole heart, that God’s love is extended to all. I believe that it is my responsibility, and yours too, to hold up the Truth, to let the light shine, so that those who are stumbling around in the dark as slaves of sex, pleasure, money, fame, beauty, intellectualism - and such things, will see the glimmer of the light and allow the Spirit to draw them to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior!

Second - note that He said, “Ask and seek!”

"“Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks." (Matthew 7:7-8, NLT)

Be careful that you’re asking to know HIM. Some of us get distracted by the glitz, the glamor, the appeal of being a Super-hero for Jesus, and our prayers are corrupted by our fantasies. Pray to know Him! Pray to live near to Him! Let Him hide you away in obscurity. Jesus warned, over and over, about religion turned into performance. The hypocrisy that always results is a terrible sin for which He reserved his most stern judgments! Ask to know Him!

Third - “Open up and receive what HE brings you, by faith!”

Don’t compare your experience to that of someone else. I love biographies of great saints, but they easily set us up for discontent. A holy discontent that causes us to hunger more for God is wonderful. A discontent that keeps us from gratitude for who we are and what He is doing in our lives is an insult to the Spirit. Let God be God in your life and accept what He sovereignly is doing in your life. The light will then surely shine from your life!

So, Believer, let’s go let the Light shine!

Today, invite the Spirit to fill you, to plunge you into His Presence, saturating your life with His nature. That will surely mean entering God’s school of character. There will be parts of your life that He will want you to change. Will you respond readily, joyfully, to Him?

Then, prepare yourself to start to explain the reason you’re different, not weird, not repulsive, but full of the beauty of Jesus! The joy that results will drive you even closer to Him.

Amen