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.