Fatherhood isn’t celebrated in American culture nearly enough.  Sadly, the Hallmarking of a holiday contributes little to its meaning, but it complicates its celebration. Father’s Day brings joy, emptiness, or pain, depending on how it is internalized.  Here is my prayer for Father’s Day.

A Father’s Day Prayer

Lord God, You are our Father in heaven, our Creator and our Redeemer. 

It is You who put the stars in the sky and consider children a heritage from You, a reward and a blessing, like “arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.” (Ps. 127:3-5)

We recognize fathers in our human realm, those who have been blessed to sire children like “olive shoots around the table.” (Ps. 128) Those who take the responsibility of raising children seriously, and though they fail at times, they still strive to live the fruitful life of righteousness, modeling it for their families.

We also recognize children whose earthly fathers fall into categories of departed, distant, degenerate, or disappeared.  For you, Father’s Day may be very painful.  I ask that the “Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,” (2 Cor. 1:3) will be near to you, the brokenhearted, and to bring healing.  May you know God as your Father—a “father to the fatherless…is God in his holy dwelling.” (Ps. 68:5) He will wipe away every tear and for you who revere His Name, “the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays” (Mal. 4:2).

Finally, for those of you who greatly desired children but you have been unable to father earthly children, may God comfort you as well.  May He fill the void only He can fill and grant you opportunities to be “as a father” to those who need your wisdom, love, and guidance. Your value in this world is no less, but arguably more because your actions and mentoring can bear more fruit than physically possible, as Paul said to the Church in Corinth, “in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.” (1 Cor. 4:15)

Strengthen us all, our Father in heaven, for the tasks at hand.  Make us strong. Make us wise. Guide us into all righteousness. Keep us resolute, to walk in Your ways and grant us both Your grace and humility as we celebrate the gift of fathers this day. 

Amen.

When it comes to the idea of bearing fruit and the effortlessness required from humanity, Jesus uses the analogy of a vine.

Having a horticultural background myself, I love it when Jesus references agriculture.  Here He’s talking about eliminating suckers so that the vine will be able to do the best work of fruit-bearing. 

In a world of work that exists for us now (outside of the perfect yielding-of-fruit Garden of Eden), suckers are branches that bear no fruit. They’re showy and bold, shooting up with fat stalks, and they have immature flourishes of foliage which rob the plant’s productive elements by using resources the vine could use for production of fruit. Fruiting is God’s means of reproduction, generation to generation. Robbing the vine of that is why they’re called suckers–all show and no go.

In verse 3 Jesus introduces the concept of being clean.  With the vine, it’s removing suckers to focus on productivity. For us, it’s a purity of having had distractions and impurities pruned out of one’s life.  Jesus introduced purity to their lives by His Word, and by remaining in Christ, they are able to produce fruit abundantly.

What types of things are “suckers” in our lives?

Is there a distinction between sin (which has no place in the Christian’s life) versus lesser priorities (which suck our energies into unproductive efforts and need to be brought to their proper place)?

In today’s passage, God does the pruning.  Does He make mistakes?  What tools and techniques will God use to prune our lives?

Oh the woes of the Type A person.  Striving, striving, striving.  Driven. Working harder, longer, faster, and still not feeling like you’re making enough progress.  You wake up like Alabama sings, in such a hurry, “shaking hand with the clock” that the first thing you think about is work.

Bearing fruit as discipleship isn’t meant to be that way.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s intentional.  And we’ll discuss effort soon enough.  But today, we’ll look at intentionally abiding (remaining) and by God’s activity, discipleship just happens. 

Effortlessly.  I like that word.

When I think of “effortlessly,” I think of a bird gliding on the wind, not like Forrest Gump’s feather drifting (for that has no aim and is carried along helplessly as the wind sees fit), rather there’s true power utilized in gliding.  It’s making the most of the wind by letting it move you…without trying to control it. The wind has all the power of agency, and the glide depends upon the power of wind for direction, even intention.  There’s movement in the glide that is a partnership of the wind and the wing.

Effortlessly is how discipleship can happen. 

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” John.3:8

That partnership of a person born of the Spirit and the Holy Spirit’s agency is effortless when one is filled with the Holy Spirit. “Be very careful, then, how you live … making the most of every opportunity, …  understand what the Lord’s will is…be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:15-18)

• Is effortless how you would describe your growth to Christian maturity?
• What about your outreach to make disciples of others?
• What helps you? What gets in the way?

Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.” (John 15:8)

He’s not talking about offspring and someone like Elon Musk who frequently quips about personally populating Mars or his fourteen-and-counting children saying, “Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.”

Not at all.  There are two ways to expand Image-bearing (which is fruit).

One is to give birth to them as new Image-bearers, expanding Image-bearing in numbers, or quantity.

The other is to form Image-bearing more fully by the maturing the seed to fruitfulness.  Expanding Image bearing in quality or maturity.  In other words, “make disciples.”

That is the Christian’s one job, according to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20).  

• In what ways does creating new Image-bearers bring glory to God?
• In what ways does growing disciples in maturity and quality bring glory to God?
• How can churches grow disciples in maturity and quality? 
• How does that square with the concept of the “seeker church”?  Can a church be both a seeker church and at the same time, one with deep discipleship?  How might that happen?

Death changed the course for both people and nature. Fruit-bearing ceased being a continuous cycle of fruiting, each according to its kind, forming an eternal circle within a spiral.

A broken circle became an arc with a beginning and an end.  None of this Disneyfied “Circle of Life” nonsense. It’s an arc, even for the death deniers who will know mortality someday, even on Mars.

In some cases the life is long, some olive trees are more than 2000 years old.  In other cases, it is short.  Adult Ephemeroptera (mayflies) live only 1-2 days and focus on… you guessed it … reproduction.

Plant and harvest.  Birth and death.  Beginning and end. Outside of Eden, that’s all we’ve got.

How ought the fact of mortality impact the urgency of bearing fruit of some good form?

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:  a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)

Moses prayed, “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away…Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Ps. 90:10,12).

How does knowing we have a life span instruct us in wisdom?  How does that square with the adage “Youth is wasted on the young?”  

Is bearing fruit referring to physical reproduction only or could it also mean replicating our faith in Christ by making disciples among other people?

“By their fruit you will know them.” Fruit-bearing is ultimately a production-oriented process.  It has been this way from the beginning. The living creatures, the plants, yes, even mankind were all intended to reproduce and by fulfilling God’s mandate, we collectively bring glory to God.

Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.  30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground– everything that has the breath of life in it– I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning– the sixth day.

When sin entered the picture in the Garden of Eden, we had the introduction of mortality. 
Destruction.  

Death changed the course for both people and nature. Fruit-bearing ceased being a continuous cycle of fruiting, each according to its kind, forming an eternal, enlarging spiral … a perfection with only a beginning but no ending. But Death came, and life became an arc with both a beginning and an end. We now have a life span. In some cases, the life is long, in other cases short.

Birth rates in many Western countries have fallen below replacement levels.  Does this honor God and His “be fruitful” blessing? 

Why might some religious groups view birth control as inconsistent with God’s plan? Do you believe it’s irresponsible to have children beyond replacement levels? Now consider God’s command. How does that square with both stewardship responsibilities God gave us as well as the blessing upon mankind?

How does introduction of so-called Western values into more third-world countries risk destruction of their birth rates as well?

Is depopulation, a favored agenda of some to “save the earth,” a God-honoring thing?  If Satan is the enemy of God, hates life, and was the initial destroyer of an eternal existence, whose agenda does depopulation serve?

If God is both real and powerful, creating the heavens and earth from nothing (ex nihilo), is God unable to “save the earth” apart from human agency?

Anyone who has ever played with blocks knows this simple truth: it can be way more fun to knock it all down with a crash than to painstakingly balance block after block.  Especially for toddlers.

Building up takes effort, a plan, and skill.
Tearing down only requires gravitational force and desire to destroy.

It applies everywhere in life.  It’s hard to build up.  In the physical world, it defies the natural disorder where chaos rules.  In the world of words, it’s harder to encourage than to criticize.

What kind of fruit should Christians produce? The Apostle Paul admonished people who claim to be Christian to live by a better standard of fruit-bearing:

Work to share.  Ephesians 4:28 “Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.”

Build up to benefit others. Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Attitude reorientation toward goodness. Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

By their fruit, you will know them.

Fruit, when it’s fully formed, is easy to see. 
It’s the end result of a long process of producing. 
It begins almost imperceptibly but grows over time.

Lately, I’ve become more acutely aware of this fact of nature.

Over the next few installments, I’d like to look at fruit…of people…of businesses…of political movements…in principles, and in ideologies. 

Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:15-23)

I daresay in our midst are many false prophets of varied kinds.
Because fruit isn’t always visible at the outset,
sometimes it’s only time that reveals who these people are.

“By their fruit you will recognize them.” What kind of fruit do you and I produce?

When the Holy Spirit is actively producing fruit, the Apostle Paul states what it looks like.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23). 

Do hating, violently protesting, vandalizing, or getting into expletive-filled arguments fit with Paul’s profile of the Spirit-filled fruit of any Christian’s life?

Should there be a “balance” of these two lifestyles … or should it be more of an “all in” or choose your side profile? (See James 3:10-18)

He is Risen! As we bring our Lenten devotional series “The Way it Had to Be” full circle to Easter on our church calendar, we now end up exactly where the two men’s story in Luke 24 begins: Resurrection Sunday.  For you and for me, we can see the necessity of the Cross, but “The Way it Had to Be” is something they had to learn along the Way.

Gospel writer Luke begins his retelling of this resurrection appearance with the two men walking home from the world’s strangest Passover. Their hopes were dashed, and their mood was still as dark as Good Friday. It began as a hopeless and confusing time…from dawn on Friday until Saturday’s nightfall.  

Now, here it is on their timeline and ours! Resurrection Sunday!!!  But they are depressed because there was a lot to process, they didn’t know if it was real, and they sure didn’t understand.

Where are you and I? Needing hope? Needing understanding of The Way it Had to Be? Are we rejoicing because we’ve seen the truth? We believe and are welcoming eternal life from a distance! Maybe we have doubts about how real it was. Or perhaps, we’ve grown too familiar with the Easter story, and it’s lost its magnificence in a world of turmoil.

In our story, the two men’s expectations about who God is (and who the Messiah should be) predisposed them to error. It resulted in their failing to see the Messiah in their midst, drawing them into conversation.  They had to be taught the necessity of the Cross.  That for God to do the larger work of eternal salvation, it required a bigger plan than just some earthly action of a political insurrection by a band of zealots.

Where are your hopes placed today?  A Savior or a political figure?  One who commands earthly power or One Who brings peace on an eternal basis?

Little political victories (like the one the Jewish people were awaiting as vindication), ah…they come and go—even today—but the world hasn’t changed. On the other hand, and this is astounding ….

The 30-year lifespan of Jesus,
His 3-year ministry
a matter of hours from very early morning Friday until 3 in the afternoon
culminating in His victory on the Cross…
known as His death…
and after being buried 3 days,
Jesus’ victory over the grave…changed the world…forever!

Do you know that it changed both life and death for you, forever?
Fear? Gone! Fear has to do with punishment, and He bore yours!
Death? Meaningless! He conquered it so you can, too!
Slave to sin?  Live free in Christ!  Free indeed!

If you don’t know it but you’d like to experience that freedom and victory in your life, too, it’s really easy.

This Prayer is for you: Lord Jesus, I want to know You and the sacrifice You made for me.  I want to be free from sin, from shame, from the eternal dying that people experience apart from You. Draw me near, Lord. Teach me like You did the men on the Road to Emmaus.  I praise You that You do not demand a blind faith but offer a reasoned one. You heal the blind, Lord! Show me who You are. I want to believe. I’m sorry for the ways I’ve lived that grieve You.  I’m sorry for the many times I’ve failed even when I’ve tried hard to be good. By Your mercy may I be forgiven for sins great and small. May I know Your freedom as one now released from slavery to sin. I’m sorry for the things I carry even though You have told me they’re already forgiven in You. Rise in my heart as You rose from the grave. Increase my faith so I may serve You as one who knows what it means to be forgiven! May I grow in love and in awe of You every day. For Your glory, Amen.