Good morning everyone,
As some of you might know, we’ve recently started a little Angling club for the budding fishermen here at Medway – if you are keen hit me up and I’ll get you on the group. It’s been good fun to spend an evening or morning down at Kalk Bay harbour fishing off the quay wall. We really do have a great time together, but one thing I have been trying to wrap my head around in the past few weeks, is whether or not any of us are actually any good.
You see Maurice was there, he had just been past the tackle shop and got a fancy lure and he seemed to know what he was doing – but the fish didn’t seem pay any attention to his snazzy gear.
Craig came down, and, well he spends a lot of time at Kalk Bay, and he tells some great stories of fishing with his dad, he takes nice photos, but with a rod in hand, I’m not so sure… I think he actually managed to lose Maurice’s fancy lure.
Claudius come down and man the whizzing sound that his rod made as he casted out, was beautiful, he grew up fishing in Durban so he was obviously trying to cast back into those waters as he launched his bait into orbit.
I’ve been trying get Freddie and Nate here to come down with us – these guys talk the talk, know all the lingo and terminology for all different conditions and setups, they’re gonna come and show us how it’s done I hope.
Because, to date, this guy right here is the only person who has actually caught something on our trips… thank you. Hold the applause for later…
Because the fish I caught was literally this big. (Don’t worry there isn’t a dead fish under these towels by the way.)
But still - I must be the best fisherman in the group – because for all the gees that guys bring, for the gear, the casting technique, the stories and the lingo and the fancy knots… what is the measure of success for a fisherman – none of those right? You have to be catching fish.
That’s why we need Sam to come along as well – not only does he catch fish - he’s caught properly sized fish before – large enough to actually feed people, and we need to see if that was luck or skill…
Where am I going with this as we start our time together? Well typically we like to share messages of hope and encouragement at the beginning of a new year – You had Stan and Dr Simango already some far since Christmas - so we look forward to a good year – a year of hope, of growth, of success. And the engineer in me wonders, what is the measure of that success? 2024 was a good year, it certainly felt like it, for Medway, the Lord has undeniably been with us as we’ve served him? But the measure? The quantification? Did we come and have a good time every Sunday morning? Were the songs good? Did the speakers engage us and entertain us and make us think?
Did we put on some good events? Did new people join? Did we run successful ministries? Did we end the year with money in the bank – need money to operate!
Well, praise God, yes to all of those things – but are ANY of the above a worthwhile measure of a body of believers? Probably mostly, not.
So this morning, I want to talk about a way of measuring. Not the only way – just one of the ways, as we examine our hearts and commit our years ahead to the Lord – many of us, including me, are back in our offices tomorrow morning… what will we do with 2025? What will the Lord do in us and through us in 2025? Or will it be another repeat of 2024? Where we are thinking, well, I guess it wasn’t a bad year, so it must have been a good year…
Let’s talk about Fruit shall we.
Matthew 7.
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
A well known passage – by their fruits you will know them. You want to have the measure of spiritual people? You want to get a sense of the Godliness of a church, or a group of believers, of a leader, of an individual – what should you look at?
What they look like? What they sound like? Whether they’re relevant, and on trend, and in tune with the times,
Or even how good they make you feel about yourself as you walk out the church?
You will know them by their fruit – good trees produce good fruit, bad trees produce bad fruit. Remember the false prophets specifically dress to look like something else – wolves who look like sheep.
Not good looking trees , or bad looking trees.
I think I’ve told this story before possibly but I had a storm blow through my garden a few years back, and my beautiful blossom tree was knocked over, really in a bad way, and I thought – hey that’s it – and I phoned our resident lumberjack mr De Smidt for advice on how to remove it, and he wisely said, just have a little patience, the tree is still good, it doesn’t look great, but it will still grow and bear fruit – and it has! He was right!
John 15:5
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
I am the Vine – says Jesus – and we had a morning on this this past year – if you remain in me you will bear much fruit = apart from me – you can do nothing…
People cut themselves off from God, and expect to grow, and blossom and bloom in season – it won’t happen.
So first takeaway – you will be known by your fruit – and your fruit has to come from a good place – good tree – the vine himself.
Second quick point for the morning, and this is where my thinking started a few weeks ago in prep – was contemplating a passage we’ll read now. Is it important that we bear fruit? Jesus paid it all, what do we have to add to the complete work on the cross? Nothing surely.
Can’t just to get into heaven like the thief on the cross – enjoy our lives and then just squeak in – where was his fruit?
Let’s turn to the story of Jesus and the Fig tree please…
Matthew 21:18–22
18 rIn the morning, as he was returning to the city, she became hungry. 19 tAnd seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, u“Truly, I say to you, vif you have faith and wdo not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, x‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And vwhatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, yif you have faith.”
I love this story – a harder story – an out of character story – Jesus the mild, child welcomer, the caring healer, the turn the other cheek guy, that serene Rabbi – is walking along one day. He gets hungry - sees a lovely leafy “apparently thriving” fig tree and thinks, ah here comes a juicy snack before I head on my merry way to the city.
The tree, even though it is noticeable from far – nice and green – alas it has no fruit - he finds nothing but leaves. And what does he do – he curses the fig tree – may no fruit comes from you ever again! Instantly the tree shrivels and dies.
Now that is quite a drastic thing to do - that poor fig tree – shame! God of creation – pronouncing judgement over a poor tree kinda harsh hey, yikes.
And you remember all those lovely miracles we went through last year – all those productive restorative creative miracles – wine from water, feeding five thousand, healings, resurrections… bringing life from death.
But here – death to you, cursed plant – you had one job – ONE JOB be fruitful! And you are not – even though you look so healthy and shiny and leafy – die you horrible plant – die!
What a thing to do!
But there it is , in scripture, Jesus has used supernatural powerful – to show his power. But also to send a message. A message about fruitfulness, A message about judgement.
Now I too, it seems in my own garden, can kill a plant with just a look, but here the God on high is doing something intentional in front of his followers – a shocking act for their attention.
And this is the message. Being fruitful is important. It matters. It matters to Jesus, it should matter to you. Fruitlessness leads to judgement! If that first passage – the fruitless plant is cut down and thrown into the fire. Here, the plant withers and dies. That’s maybe not the comfy encouraging message you wanted to hear this January, but so be it. And believe me as always this message comes first to the speaker before it comes to the church.
Is your faith full of leaves or is it full of actual fruit.
Now I know there are other levels to this interaction with the fig tree, about the nation of Israel, and about the power of faith and prayer, but for today (you had the Dr last week and you have another Dr up here next week) we’ll keep it focused on fruit.
So to illustrate our lesson this morning – here on my right I have some fruit – here is a large ugly watermelon. Was bottom of the pile at the shops yesterday- nothing much to look at. Not very eye catching. But here on the right is a lovely bowl of fruit – just look at these shiny fruit and veggies. Flawless – looks delicious – only one problem of course, they’re completely FAKE.
Handy if you want something that looks like fruit. Maybe if your kids want to play - I bought these at a toy store.. but if you’re looking for REAL fruit – this is not it. Fake, plastic fruit.
Did you see that interview with that rugby player Bongi Mbonambi – I think it was after they beat England in the world cup. He was talking about the energy of the English players – every time they were awarded a decision they would whoop and holler and high five each other – and what did Bongi Mbonambi call it - Plastic Energy. Plastic – not real. And the Springboks energy came from a real place. And that’s how they won.
It can be hard to tell real from fake. People have fake tans, people have fake hair colours, I’m told you can get fake food these days – fake honey, every heard of that? Fake grass? Fake shoes, fake handbags, fake watches.
And what makes a fake a fake? A watch is a watch right? A bag is a bag?
Well, fake things don’t come from the right place – or the claimed place – That Italian Leather bag, might not be from Italy.
Fake things usually don’t last as long. They break earlier, they’re made from inferior materials. Fake food is definitely not good for you.
And at its worse, the presence of the fake stops us looking for the real.
Are we being fake or are we being real with our Christian energy?
Are we all just leaves or are we bearing real fruit as well.
Are we fooling others with our leaves - are we fooling ourselves as well with all leaves, no fruit.
Next point – last week if you were here for the eats after church, you would have seen the bowls of fresh tomatoes laid out with the eats. Those tomatoes came from a community garden that Ken here has started with some others – you may have even seen it advertised in the announcements before the service started today.
Well, guess what, a lot of effort went into those bowls of fruit – even in the ad the list of suggested contributions – fertilizer, chicken manure, something called kraal manure – which sounds delightful, bone meal, seedlings, seeds, and LABOUR.
You see, real fruit costs – we know this. If something is advertised as being super cheap, its probability not good quality.
I should have well known that the cheap cow onesie I ordered online for the carol service picnic, despite being promised as being XXL, was going to be way too small. Too good to be true.
There are no shortcuts to real fruit. There is only patient investing, patient labour, intelligent controlled input and watch, caring, nurturing, growth. Slowly – day by day.
By the way - I’m sure Ken would love some help and contributions to the Medway Community Garden.
It would probably be helpful at this stage – getting back to our Christian lives, in case we’re getting lost in the metaphor here to clearly mention what fruit we are talking about – a useful place to look is of course the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in scripture:
Could you name them? All nine from Galatians 5
Galatians 5
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.
Imagine being known for that list! Interesting how the text says the works of the flesh (which are in opposition to the fruit of the spirit) they are obvious – isn’t that true. They’re so – upfront and self seeking. Your desires, feeding your greed and ego. All about you.
But the back nine – are – not upfront – they are behind the scenes. They put others first and if self is involved at all – well its self control, isn’t it.
So, to wrap up – a simple prayer for Medway then for 2025 – be fruitful. Real fruit, not fake fruit. Not leaves.
And how might we do that – gosh, what an open question… that could mean so many different things for so many different people here this morning – and there is also this like part of it where you don’t want to judge – I don’t want you looking over into my life examining my fruit – and vice versa your garden is between you and the Lord – and whatever state your garden is in is deeply personal – so no judgement of others – we can leave that to the Lord – but let’s be fruit inspectors in our own lives, shall we. How?
Three quick thoughts -
One – stay in the vine. I once was walking around Ray and Roses son’s garden out in fishoek – hard to grow much in fishoek and I was admiring a lovely rosemary bush they had – huge thing and with typical Eachus generosity Shaun and Cara said, do you want it? They had a different plan for their garden – so I said sure – and we got out the spades and tried to dig it out – an hour later we were sukkeling with one root left – the main central tap root that we just couldn’t get out, and I was running out of time, family waiting, while they had their back turned- I gave it a particular firm tug and broke it off.
Took the plant, planted in my garden, but for all the water and compost and nurture in the world, this thing died very quickly – and you all know why – the main root – the most important part of the bush – you can’t cut that off and expect to survive.
Stay in the vine, says Jesus, of primary importance – stay connected to me – apart from me you will do nothing.
Number 2 : from just a moment ago – you noticed how the guys upfront, closer to the action – were so quickly able to tell that this fruit bowl was full of fakes? The guys at the back took a bit longer? From far away, you see, it’s harder to spot a fake.
But when it’s in your hands, when its right in front of you, when you are working with it – you will know difference between the real thing and an imposter.
So number two then, stay in the work. When you are handling thing things of the Lord, you will know, you will see close up by examination, you will feel in your hand – the genuineness of the article. Taste and see, touch and feel – examine – fruit inspectors, don’t just assume - inspect – and your open eyes and your open hearts will soon tell you what is real and what is not.
And lastly, to come back to my fisherman group. How do you even begin? Maybe this is all new to you?
Maybe you thought a sinners prayer and regular church attendance was all that was required? There's a question for you – is regular church attendance, a leaf or a fruit? Sjoe. I love coming here – and I really enjoy leading worship here – but which list is that sitting under? Is it real fruit?
Man,
Anyway, the third and very last thought – how do you begin? To settle the debate of whether Sam is our best fisherman, or if it’s just quote unquote luck, and I spent the last week literally standing exactly where Sam stood when he caught his big fish, and I caught sweet nothing… and I had a lot of time to ponder it.
Well, you see, Sam has a good habit of fishing alongside experienced fisherman, who know exactly what they are doing. He never fishes alone – there always seems to be a knowledgeable person alongside him, telling him what to do, where to fish, when to fish, what bait to use, how to tie the knot. And that, not luck, is how you yield, measurable, real results.
Real fish - real fruit this year, Medway, as we look around the room and see, learn from mimic, are discipled by fruitful people – as we all help each other grow. And as we look to the Master Gardener himself, who has a season for things, who knows all our needs, our weakness, our potentials, he knows what type of stinky manure we need to feed us. He brings the sunshine, he brings the rain. And on that day when we are ourselves plucked from this earth – he would find a pleasing satisfying fruit.
Lets pray:
Lord you are indeed the vine, keep us connected to, feeding from you. Thank you that by the blood of Jesus and the sacrifice on the cross we have been grafted onto your vine – that we are even connected to you. That we can look forward to an eternity with you. But for now as we depart – as we look to another year we ask you guidance you blessing, and your hand as we seek to be fruitful FOR YOU in Your kingdom. Help us not to be feeding the flesh and our own desires and ambitions, Lord prune us where we need to be pruned. Help us to grow for you, real, not fake fruit, by your Holy Spirit in 2025. Amen.
