Are You Bearing Fruit?
Good Morning Friends,
Today’s lectionary selection includes the introduction to Paul’s letter to the Colossians and what is interesting about it is its very positive attitude of thanksgiving. That was the convention of the day on how to write letters. Give the good news first before the bad. The real issue that Paul had on his mind though was that traditions and conventions and magic superstitions are not the essential ingredients to be Christian. And so, this morning as people are being asked to evacuate South Florida and people contemplate whether to go or to stay, I may well be writing one of the last devotions for a while as we out of compassion have opened our home to people vacating the Keys and those in mobile homes. So, the message is about the test of growth in the Gospel of Christ made know to us out of our love and life in the Spirit. It is about the importance of compassion in being significant for the Kingdom of God. Are You Bearing Fruit?
Scripture: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
Colossians 1:1-8 (NRSV)
After leaving the synagogue he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. Then he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them. As the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various kinds of diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on each of them and cured them. Demons also came out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Messiah. At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.
Luke 4:38-44 (NRSV)
Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2 (NRSV)
Message: Jesus began ministry out of his calling as ‘beloved son’, explaining he must be about ‘his Father’s business’; Paul gave up all titles to call himself a servant and slave. He did not add a new set of tasks to life as much as he realized that his life was filled with meaning in an identity focused on Jesus. This is the best way to bear fruit. Trying to be important and valuable oddly enslaves us to an earthly cause or even enslaves by a false sense of what we think is good religion. We are not so much to be those things we do, but to do and love who Christ is in us, for out of that springs the behavior that brings true life. So, in order to be fruitful it is better to stop trying to do good Christian things and start having a life centered on Jesus. The ultimate mission we are to have in life is to flow out of our love of Jesus not a set of requirements and superstitions. Indeed, God so love the world that he gave his son. It is not about guilt or obligation but a Good News that flows from God’s love. And that is how it is to flow from us as well. Jesus heard from the Father what to do. So too we are to hear from the Spirit what to do. It is a matter of seeing and hearing and responding out of love. We see this in the healings in today’s scripture from Luke. There is a work that is naturally supernatural. It is not an empty obligation or some prideful endeavor. It is the actions sprouted out of realizing that the Kingdom of God is here right now, rooted in the Father’s love and bearing fruit connected to the work of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. Many try to find meaning in good causes and things which are valuable…but cannot provide ultimate meaning when they are not connected to the larger source and storyline. Jesus moved among the people healing them one-by-one. He healed them in a wonderful way, by touching them. He bore their sickness and disease in a sympathetic way. He did not heal these people always based on their faith, though they may have had faith. Sometimes Jesus healed from a heart of compassion, which moved Him, on their behalf. We are to have such a heart today.
Pray we have a vocation and story that is based not so much the things we do to live but more the things we live to do. Pray we realize that our ultimate mission is to flow out of our compassion. Pray we see the bigger story. Pray we realize that our lives are to be part of a Christ’s story and the redemption of all of creation. Pray we think less about success and more about significance. Pray our compassion heals others. Pray we realize why we were born. Pray we have a heart to heal and a heart to hear. Pray we love others for God has loved us.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 