Potpourri or genuine fruit
The poet of Psalm 1 writes that a tree planted by streams of water will bring forth its fruit in its season. The natural consequence of a life founded in God is the coming forth of its own fruit. Every follower of Jesus can only bring forth the fruit that has been planted in him. To be reconciled with one’s own fruit, which our life produces with God, is the prerequisite to participate in God’s kingdom.
I recently told you about my morning muesli. Today the recipe continues: In addition to rye, millet and linseed, it also includes two fruits: an apple and a banana. Fruits are elementarily important for our nutrition. Fruits are a natural part of a healthy tree. The natural consequence of a life founded in God is the coming forth of its own fruits. This is also the experience of the psalm poet: «Blessed is he that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, but delighteth in the law of the LORD, and pondereth his law day and night. He is like a tree planted by the rivers of water, who brings forth his fruit in his seasonand its leaves do not wither. And what he does, that probably gets»(Psalm 1:1–3 LUT).
The self-evidence of fruit bearing
On the third day of the act of creation, the LORD said: «The earth shall grow grass, and it shall bring forth plants that bear seed, and trees full of various fruits in which their seed is. And so it came to pass»(Genesis 1:11 NLB). God put reproduction into the creatio. A coffee machine goes to the recycling centre without having reproduced itself first. God’s creatures, on the other hand, produce a lot of fruit with millions of seeds.
In a parable, Jesus speaks of a fig tree that does not bear fruit. After the expiry of an ultimatum, the owner speaks the following words: «Finally he said to his gardener: «I have now waited three years and have not seen a single fig! Cut down the tree. It’s only taking up the ground unnecessarily».»(Luke 13:7 NLB). Without fruit, existence makes no sense.
What is the fruit of a person grounded in God? In the Christian context, this question is often answered with offensive, extroverted examples: Leading people to Jesus, healing the sick, casting out demons – just like Jesus did back then.. When a Christian walks with this claim, it leads either to frustration or hypocrisy. Not a Person is like Christ – together we form the body of Christ. The Bible clearly defends itself against the individualistic view: «But you are different, because you are a chosen people. You are a royal priesthood, God’s holy people, his personal property. […]»(1 Peter 2:9 NLB). Jesus is the King and the High Priest. Together are we a royal priesthood, God’s personal people. What Jesus was and did, we can only do together! A royal priesthood has the task of connecting people with God. The fruit of my life should be a small contribution to this. Together with the fruits of other people, there is a great impact, so that the miracle happens and people find their way into a personal relationship with God.
In addition to extroverted fruits, this also requires the inconspicuous, quiet ones such as listening to people, accompanying them, prayer, sustainable treatment of creation, an encouraging smile, mercy with disadvantaged people, commitment against injustice, etc. Jesus explains that every tree produces its own fruit: «You can recognise a tree by its fruit. Figs do not grow on thorny bushes and grapes do not grow on brambles. A good man brings forth good deeds from a good heart […].»(Luke 6:44f NLB). Fruit is defined as «good deeds». Good deeds grow where people are rooted in God and drink from the living water.
Its fruit
«The his bears fruit.» The natural consequence of a life founded in God is the emergence of genuine (own, real, natural) fruits. And not only the emergence, but even more fundamentally, the awareness in general that fruit is expressed differently in my life than in the lives of other people. Sure: pears on a pear tree, plums on a plum tree, apples on an apple tree. God obviously desires that my life should bring forth the very fruit that can only come forth – in this form and with this «taste» – from my own life.
There are fruits that I don’t particularly love, e.g. gooseberries, persimmons, couscous, pomegranates or durian. The durian, better known in this country as a stinky fruit, is mainly known for its strong smell, which even gets it banned from many places. Some airlines, for example, do not transport durians. Maybe you think that only the stink fruit durian grows in your area. At the same time, you squint at the other one, where you discover fragrant blueberries.
The word potpourri was derived from the French pot pourri adopted. Originally, the term referred to a stew, literally translated it means rotten pot. Those who always squint at others and want to copy them miss their own fruit and reap a rotten pot.
I would like to preach as entertainingly as Kuno or Johannes Hartl, I would like to manage the congregation with as much foresight as Johannes Wirth. One of my role models is Emil Maurer, once pastor in Romanshorn. He is a remarkably sensitive pastor. One day I had to learn that I am Matthias. And God gave me a genuine fruit. Comparison is destructive. It can prevent us from recognising, refining and enjoying our own fruit. Frantically trying to imitate the fruits of others often leads to frustration and alienates us from our own gifts, dreams, experiences – and everything else that makes us who we are.
God has individual orders. If you do your job well, the job is done. If we imitate others, we fail in our mission. When one person bears their specific fruit, there is no need for a second person to bear exactly the same fruit. Have you already discovered your identity and what your fruits look like? By the way, the durian is very popular among Southeast Asians because it is extremely healthy and not for nothing the Queen of the fruits is called.
Being reconciled with our own fruit, which our life produces with God, is the prerequisite for participating in God’s kingdom.
In his time
«He who brings forth his fruit to his Time.» At the beginning of June our cherries were ripe, but the Boskoop on the apple tree were far from it. It is not always harvest time. As a result of the current drought, the boskoop is dropping many apples. The tree, in crisis mode, has to ensure its survival. There is less strength left for the fruit. Moreover, the yield varies from year to year. A nut tree produces rich fruit only every second year, in the so-called nut year. So it is in the spiritual life – the leaves are always green, but it is not always fruity. When I founded and led the regional youth ministry JMS 21 years ago, we experienced great revivalist awakenings. It was harvest time. My path then led to the seetal chile and there things progressed much more leisurely.
I find it interesting that according to the biblical principle his kingdom is not built but he will be Space given – the verb build is fundamentally not associated with the kingdom of God in the Bible. In this context Jesus says: «The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed on the land and sleeps and gets up night and day; and the seed comes up and grows – he does not know how.»(Mark 4:26f LUT). We give the kingdom of God the space it needs – and then it grows up. We do not produce it.
It is not uncommon for people to hold back their gifts out of a feeling of inferiority. They value them too little. In this way they dampen their gifts. They give little space to the fruit in these areas. It is not about overestimating oneself, but about a healthy relationship to one’s own fruit. It is a matter of neither overestimating nor underestimating it, but of giving it space so that it can develop. God gives each of us a fertile piece of land that we may cultivate. Life flourishes where we recognise and accept what God has given us and then truly make it our own.
To find out what kind of heritage God has entrusted to us, we need to approach, engage, experiment and risk. It is about finding the place in life where your passion, your talent and your personality blossom and bear much fruit. The great framework for this is the expression royal priesthood. People are to be brought into contact with the glorious and holy God. This also requires the fruit that grows in you because of your rootedness in the water stream.
On a sunny corner of a castle near London, at Hampton Court, stands the largest vine in Europe. The English have erected a glass house with heating especially for this plant. This vine was planted in 1769 and impressed with its miraculous growth. Today the girth of the vine measures 80 centimetres and the main vines are 30 metres long. The annual yield is 2000 grapes, each weighing an average of one pound. For a long time it was unknown why this vine is so vital. But one day someone discovered that the roots of the vine reach many metres through the soil into the riverbed of the Thames. From there the vine drew its inexhaustible abundance, the strength, the sap.
Bringing forth fruit brings joy, gives meaning to life, belongs to it and is an unmistakable sign of being rooted to the water. Or to put it another way: those who connect their roots to the living water bear their fruit in their own time. Jesus offers us living water. John explains: «By the «living water» he meant the Spirit, which was to be given to everyone who believed in him […].»(John 7:39 NLB). Through faith in Jesus Christ we get the spring connection that produces fruit in us and through us; be it durian or blueberry!
Possible questions for the small groups
Read the Bible text: Psalm 1:1–3
- What does the psalm poet mean by the term «fruit»? How would you Fruit define it in the biblical sense?
- Why does Jesus want to uproot the fig tree that bears no fruit? What does this mean for our existence?
- In whom do you see fruits that you would also like to produce?
- What are your passions, your talents and your personality?
- How could you give your fruits space to develop?
- When did you experience the best harvest time in your life? Tell us about it!
