The Apple Tree Adage

So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!  Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. Hebrews 10:35-36 (NLT)

I want to remind you and reflect upon a question that I asked a while ago. I posed the same question to a group of conference attendees this past weekend. Simply: What is the fruit of the apple tree? The answers to this question explode with both the seemingly obvious and the attempt of either true wisdom and depth or revealed ignorance.  The common answer is of course, “an apple”. Not apple pie, applesauce, or apple turnovers, “because they feed people”.  The real fruit of an apple tree is another apple tree. An even better answer would be many apple orchards growing all over the world.  But for our purposes let’s stick with another tree as the correct answer.  I believe we spend too much time trying to beautify the one apple tree. We water it, fertilize it, clear it of any known enemies and make it a huge priority of both time and effort. Once the tree has rich looking fruit, green leaves and healthy branches, we feel like we have achieved something great. It is a good achievement to have a healthy tree, don’t get me wrong, but as you will see it falls short of the kingdom goal. I spoke with an associate pastor who informed me that his congregation runs about 30 people on average every weekend.  They are a solid close-knit group; they love each other, do life together, serve and give a nice percentage to missions. He was very proud at his church and how nice the fruit and the leaves look. He would deem his church as being healthy.  Of course since you know me well enough, you know I challenged his church health diagnosis. I asked how long the the senior pastor has been at his church? 20 years!  I was really hoping he would have said one or two years but not twenty.  This is another example of the apple tree adage. Churches stay small for numerous reasons and not all are negative, but often it is because the vision is neither cast nor caught and rarely revisited.  Since waves (sorry for changing metaphors) come in sets, and as a surfer your goal is to catch the best wave possible and ride it until you believe it is time to pull out and paddle for the next wave. More often than not, leaders do not know how to recognize when the wave is coming, they can’t surf it or if they do catch a wave they are too tired to paddle out to the next set.  

Here is how all this verbiage can apply to you.

·      Remember you are to be planting more apple tress. (Reproducing the life of Jesus that is in your life into the life of someone else.)

·      Ask the Lord to reveal whom you should be mentoring.

·      Be very intentional of what you pass on to those you are discipling

·      Realize that what is good now and what works now will atrophy and most likely not work tomorrow

·      Never be content with yesterday’s results. Celebrate them, but strive to hone or better your skills for both your current and future ministry opportunities

·      Evaluate the fruit in your life. Ask those close to you examine the fruit with you. Is it “manmade” or Holy Spirit produced?

·      Look for the “forests, the orchards” and not be satisfied with just one beautiful “tree” 

·      Ride the next big wave of God’s power and grace and teach others how to recognize His wave sets.

You and I have been called and given more than we will ever need to encourage, equip and empower others towards a healthy life in Christ and for the furtherance of His kingdom.  The vital question for all of us to answer: Will we walk confidently, patiently, and striving to do God’s will so we can receive what He has promised to do in and through us?

I look forward to seeing your life answer and the fruit trees you will partner with God to produce.

Ministry Metaphors

I always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. As I pray to our God and Father about you, I think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ. I know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people. 1 Thessalonians 1:2-4 (NLT) I want you to know how special you are to the Lord, to me and to this ministry. Keep your eyes focused on the prize! Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20 (NLT)

I want to highlight and remind you of the two ministry metaphors that we discussed on Saturday so that it doesn’t get lost in the midst of your busy lives, but instead motivates you towards abundant life for Him.

More Trees!

Donald McGavran, the father of the modern church growth movement, who asked a life compelling question: “What is the fruit of an apple tree?” Most would say, “an apple.” But McGavran, believes: “the true fruit of an apple tree is not an apple, but another apple tree.” With that said, the true fruit of a small group is not a new member, but another group. The fruit of a teacher is not a well-informed student, but another teacher.  I want to empower others who in turn empower others. Jesus is the one who will multiply our ministry’s, our task is to simply share what we have received, to pass on what we have gleaned with the expectation that they will pass on what they have gleaned from us.  You pass on your loaves and fish to Jesus who in turn multiplies it in the lives of others.

So who are you praying about that will carry on your ministry and take it even further? Who will be the trees you plant in your forest? Make a list of all the ministry principles that you gleaned through the years. You will be surprised at how many you come up with.  You really do have more life transforming ministry ammunition then you think.

What are you doing?

It’s the story of two stonemasons who have the same skills; the same experience, and do exactly the same work. A passerby approaches the first stonemason and asks, “What are you doing?” He looks up and replies, “Can’t you see? I am laying bricks, one on top of the other. The stones are heavy, and lifting them can be backbreaking. I’m not even sure if this project will be completed in my lifetime. “It’s rather monotonous, that’s for sure.”  About thirty feet away, the passerby approaches a second stonemason and asks him the same question. He looks up and replies, “Can’t you see? I’m building a cathedral. Actually, the work is sometimes monotonous, and it can be incredibly hard. I am not even sure if it will be completed in my lifetime. But I’m building a cathedral! While listening to this man’s words and looking into his eyes, the contagious energy of the stonemason floods into the passerby’s heart.

The point of the story is obvious, easy to communicate, and yet rarely understood: people aren’t inspired by the task of bricklaying. They want to build cathedrals. When people complain about the tedium of placing one brick upon another, the solution is not to grant them more money, nor necessarily to change anything about how they carry out their task. First and foremost impress upon them that they are building a cathedral; paint a picture for them as to what their ministry could look like.

·       Teach vision until they are able to teach the vision.

·       Show them that are part of something significant for the kingdom of God and not just another ministry at church.

·       Repeat the latter two bullet points

I look forward to seeing the fruit that your lives produce in others and the transformation that is necessary for spiritual growth.

James: Testing Produces Maturity

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4 NASB

The faith testing given by the Lord is not always embraced with joy; it is often rejected and seen as a negative event, a result of sin, the devil or some other means. The truth is we are not alone in the enduring process. The Lord is our strength and is always with us in the midst of our joy and in our difficulty.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; Romans 8:29 NASB The result of endurance is that our faith and life becomes “perfect” in Christ because it shapes us to be more like Him. The more like Jesus we become the more complete we become lacking nothing. Our whole being from our thoughts, our words and our actions are immersed in Him and become incarnate in our lives as His living word. His word in us becomes an infinite testimony to all that He is.  

So how are we to embrace life’s difficulties?

·       Know that it is the Lord who orchestrates our trials or faith testing’s, but He isn’t tempting us.

This is a very difficult theological concept to grasp. Satan doesn’t test us to see if we are faithful to the Lord. He doesn’t do things to us and in so that we can be closer to and more like Jesus. All his efforts are to discourage, steal, kill and destroy us, and those we love. His schemes are often accomplished by spiritually lulling us to sleep, by putting thoughts in our heads that we are doing just fine, we have this Christian thing wired, make us think higher of ourselves especially when it comes to our relationship with Christ and others.  He lives to make true believers mediocre,  “lukewarm”, ineffective and self-content.  What God does that boggles even the wisest of minds is to utilize the devil’s methods, mixed with our own sinful natures, adding the sinful issues of others, various life circumstances and thus present us with “trials of many kinds” to endure.

·       Understand that whatever trials come our way, regardless of how they were seeded are for our perfection in Christ. The purpose of faith testing’s is endurance: “the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse condition.” Endurance can be a producer of perfection, a Christlikeness and someday completion; the outcome of God's perfection means all is supplied. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 NLT

This “completion” and “perfection” doesn't mean we can stop following the Lord or be content with our accomplishments, but viewed as a launching pad for abundant life fulfilling all that the Lord desires. It is an “energizer” for super service for our King!

Note: Testing can come in the midst of the mundane. In your relationships that seem to be stale or have hit a wall, they can come in the form of spiritual dryness: your “word time”, “prayer time”, “worship service time” can all appear to be “going through the motions”. Your ministry feels valueless. There is a sense that no significant kingdom penetration is taking place and the fruit of the ministry has fallen off the tree. The result of this monotony can cause you to give up or believe that you are done with a particular ministry situation without hearing any word from the Lord to confirm it. This too is another method of the enemy. We hear: “Take a break”, “you have worked so hard for so many years”, “this is your time”,  “let someone else do the ministry, it is time someone else steps up to the plate”.  Hear this: just as God called you to a particular ministry, you are not to leave that ministry until He directs you elsewhere. It must be confirmed by those you share life in Christ with otherwise you are foolish to leave forfeiting His favor on your life and family.

Questions to Chew on:

1.     What is your typical response when things go wrong in your life?

2.     Do you compartmentalize your spiritual life and life’s circumstances? If so, how? If not, how do you see those two synthesize?

3.     What will help you to respond to life’s next set of trials? What will you do? Who will you have come alongside  you to  keep your “joy meter” and “faith meter” full?