Pastor’s Thoughts

It is mid summer, the time in these parts for our gardens to be in fully productive. We love to pick those fresh vegetables and enjoy the product of our springtime planting and the daily care for our plants. We’ve tilled the ground, fertilized, carefully placed the seed or plant in the soil, watered and done our best to fight the pest and weeds and now we are ready to reap the benefits of our labors. We planted expecting a harvest.

The same is true of our heavenly Father. He found a man of faith named Abraham. He chose to plant His Word and will into Abraham’s descendants expecting them to carry out His divine purpose. His desire was to have a people who would not only serve and obey Him but love Him. He protected them, guided and empowered them to allow them to season this world with righteous and peace. He gave them the writings of the law through Moses and spiritual vision through the Prophets.

God had great expectation as He made every provision for a fruitful and pleasant harvest only to find that the Nation of Israel failed to produce anything of true value because of their selfishness and rebellious way of life. The ground in which He planted was spoiled by sin and hypocrisy and the good seed that was sown therefore became unprofitable.

God rejected and destroyed His old garden and determined He would plant elsewhere. His Word, which was Jesus according to John 1, would be planted now in the hearts of believers, the church of God which Jesus purchased with His own blood. The provision of God would rest upon the church of God and it would be expected to produce the fruit that the nation of Israel failed to manifest.

Jesus used a fig tree in Matthew’s writings to illustrate that as soon as Jerusalem and the Jewish temple were destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD that the church would bear fruit. He spoke of it being summer, the time of figs. (see Matthew 24) That being said, I remind you of another statement made by Jesus, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” John 4:35

I am enjoying the fruit of my labor, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. But what is God receiving form us, His Church? Are we making the same mistakes that Israel of old made? Are we being irresponsible or negligent in being productive for God and His Kingdom? Are we sharing the power of His salvation, the Gospel of Christ, with others so they too can be saved by His grace? Are the fruits of righteous living evident in our lives, things like love, peace, joy and faith? 

We all want to here Him say, “well done thou good and faithful servant”. However the question I place before you in my thoughts today is are we willing to be, “a good and faithful servant?”