When Less Really Is More

(I wrote this devotional for Woodside Church's upcoming "Love the World" devotional.)

Read: John 3:22-36

People crave attention and power, whether its roots be in celebrity, politics, or business.  We are fascinated by stories of how the rich and famous rise to power, and riveted when they stumble and fall.  So when Pope Benedict surprised the world and resigned the papacy, the media was confounded:  Was there a scandal behind the scenes?  Was he ill and about to die?  Why would a person willingly let go of such power and fame?

The disciples of John the Baptist had a similar question for their teacher: “What should we do about this Jesus movement?”  John had built up quite a following by the Jordan River; even the leaders in Jerusalem were coming out to see him because of the crowds.  But now the people were leaving him and going to Jesus.  John’s response: “He must become greater, I must become less.”  He knew that the veneration he enjoyed was not his own, but came from heaven.  And he experienced fullness of joy in turning it all back over to the Lord of heaven, Jesus Christ.  When “He must become greater, I must become less” is the prayer of our hearts, we are able to experience this joy also.

Pope Benedict is now being hailed for his humility in relinquishing power to Pope Francis, who in turn has become renowned for his own demonstrations of humility.  While we Presbyterians do not submit to these Catholic leaders, we can appreciate their examples of humility and follow suit by submitting more of our lives to Jesus.

Action Step: Is there something you need to let go of so that Christ can become greater in your life?

Prayer: “Lord, help me become less so that you can become greater in my sight.”

The Fruit of the Spirit vs. Sacred Raisin Cakes

Meditation: The Fruit of the Spirit vs. Sacred Raisin Cakes

I gave this meditation at Camp Innabah for Narberth Presbyterian Church's Congregational Retreat on Sunday, May 25, 2014.  The scripture passages were Hosea 3, Galatians 5:16-25 and John 15:1-11.

After our retreat at Camp Innabah last year, I swore to Allie that I would never preach during the same retreat that I was also preparing and leading the lessons for our youth - whoops!  Actually, my willingness to preach today was not so much out of my own preference, but more as a direct result of the movement of the Spirit of God in my heart.  Until last Sunday I was not planning to prepare a message for this morning.  But as sometimes happens during Pastor Steve’s sermons, I found my mind wandering last Sunday, and it was flooded with insights about the topic of “Fruit“, particularly the fruit of the Spirit.  It seemed like this would complement both what the youth have been learning about Spiritual gifts, as well as what the adults have been learning about the Seven Men and the Secret of Their Greatness.

It all started in our last Confirmation class last Sunday.  Over the course of the year we have been reading short passages of Scripture, mostly relating to the day’s topic, working towards the goal of reading at least one verse from all 66 books of the Bible.  I have to confess that by the final class, the passages don’t relate very much to the topic of the day.  One of our passages was from Hosea 3, which starts out: The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.  Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”  At that point some of the students began to laugh, and I had to admit that sometimes passages of Scripture can seem pretty funny to us who live in a culture so far removed from the Ancient Near East.  I mean, c’mon!  Which of us has ever been tempted to choose a raisin cake over God?  And how could a raisin cake be sacred?  We ended up joking about this several times before the class was over.

But I did explain that we need to remember that raisins, and all fruit for that matter, were a very special treat in the Ancient Near East.  We lose sight of this today in America when we have access to any fruit we want year-round.  When it is winter here, we have fruit flown up from South America.  The bananas may start out a little green, but they are cheap and plentiful any time of the year.  Not so in ancient Israel: there were no freezers, no ice boxes, no refrigerators, and it took a long time for goods to travel over great distances.  If you were to eat fruit, you had to wait until it was in-season, until the fruit trees and plants growing near you were bearing ripened fruit.  Fruit was precious; it was a very special treat, something to be savored.

Of course waiting for produce to be in-season is not a totally foreign concept for us today.  In the U.S. it is usually marked by a lower price of the product that is in-season.  Several years ago, B.K. (“before kids”), we visited Allie’s sister in Berlin, Germany.  We discovered that a certain delicacy was in season, and every restaurant had a “Spargel” menu.  We started to guess what “Spargel” was - English is a Germanic language after all - Was Spargel strawberries? Star fruit? Some European fruit unknown to us?  It turned out to be...aparagus!  We saw asparagus at every restaurant and every grocery store and every market.  My personal favorite was the “Spargel Creme-Suppe” - which was cream of asparagus soup.  You can probably think of some special treat in the place that you grew up that only comes around once a year, whether it is Rita’s opening, or a pumpkin pie, apple cider, or some other seasonal delicacy.

When God first created the world, there were two fruit trees in the Garden of Eden, and though it is not specifically mentioned in the text, I am inclined to think that these trees bore fruit year round.  One was the Tree of Life, which is prophesied in the book of Revelation to be present again at the end of time in the heavenly city, and it will bear twelve kinds of fruit, yielding fruit every month.  This is a picture of incredible vitality and luxurious abundance available to God’s people.  And yet the other tree in the Garden of Eden was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - which reminds us of the first time that humans chose fruit over the God who created it.  And then of course there were those pesky raisin cakes!  Throughout Scripture, from the Garden of Eden, to the decorations of fruit adorning the temple, to the heavenly city in Revelation, we are reminded that relationship with God, and the love and grace He lavishes upon us is more precious and more to be desired than even fruit.

And what better illustration of God’s personal work in our lives is there than fruit?  In his parable of the vine and the branches, Jesus tells us that through a relationship with him, we will bear fruit, and more fruit, much fruit, abiding fruit! if only we will abide and remain in him.  Why fruit?  It is precious.  It takes time to cultivate.  It is appealing to look at, and it tastes good.  Fruit is the outward sign confirming God’s presence and work in a believer’s life.  Every believer bears Spiritual fruit to one degree or another.

However, the fruit of the Spirit is different from Spiritual gifts.  Spritual gifts such as leadership, evangelism, giving, and healing, are surely a sign of God’s work through a follower of Christ and to be used for the glory of God.  But as we learned in our sessions yesterday, God gives different gifts to different people.  No believer is given all of the gifts of the Spirit.  The Seven Men the adults learned about were clearly given different Spiritual gifts:

·        George Washington was given leadership - he faithfully led a ragtag army to defeat the most powerful nation on Earth and set careful precedents as President of a new nation that would become the most powerful on Earth.

·        William Wilberforce was given discernment - he recognized the injustice of slavery that was widely accepted by his contemporary society.  He was given prophecy and exhortation as he pointed out this injustice and convinced others to outlaw it forever.

·        Chuck Colson was given mercy, reaching out to those in prison who were discarded as hopeless by our society.  He was given wisdom and encouraged believers in Christ to develop a Christ-honoring worldview in contrast to the destructive values held by our surrounding culture.

Spiritual gifts are given to bless others - to build up the church, to help believers grow in their faith and their Christ-likeness, and to bless even the world around us, including those who don’t believe yet.  Likewise, the Fruit of the Spirit that God cultivates in each of us are not given to make us feel good, or to take pride in ourselves, but rather to bless those around us.  We are to be the aroma of Christ, his living body in this world, demonstrating the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness of God to everyone around us.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds, we are a holy people, set apart for God.  And we are a reconciling people, bringing people back into peaceful relationships with each other, and with God.

Much like the Spargel menus Allie and I saw in Germany, God has given us a menu of Spiritual fruit in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  And the good news for us today is that we are not limited to just one item, but we can have the whole menu!  As we remain in Christ - as we walk by the Spirit, are led by the Spirit, live by the Spirit, and keep in step with the Spirit, He produces fruit in us that is precious in the sight of men - so that instead spurning God and choosing “sacred raisin cakes”, people will be attracted to Jesus Christ and his amazing grace and love for all of us.

May you use the Spiritual gifts God has given you for His glory and for the edification of the church, and may you bear fruit in keeping with repentance, displaying the glorious riches you have received by God’s grace in Christ Jesus.