Fruit that will Last

Coaching is for a purpose. What I teach the kids in training sessions on Thursday would lose a lot of its meaning if we didn’t play games on Saturday.

Jesus has a purpose for his disciples too. He is teaching them this not just so they will be kind to one another, but so that sharing the love that comes through Jesus from the Father will become instinctive for them. That they will be doing it even when they don’t know that they’re doing it.

Why? Because the love that is shared will have historical and eternal significance.

The New International Version Chapter 15

11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

The New International Version Chapter 15

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Fruit that will last

This is what captured me in this reading today. Fruit that will last.

If you’re anything like me, you do your best to follow Jesus’ lead, to obey his command to love one another. All too often, we do know get to see how the seeds of God’s love that we sow, grow. All too often we are left wondering whether or not our love has borne fruit.

And often we can never know. At the end of the day, this isn’t about us, but about God and what God is doing in our lives and in the world. We are God’s friends, taking part in his work, and while that workincludes us and bears us up, it has never been just about you, or just about me. We are part of something much bigger, and ocean of love that we can barely even conceive.

We don’t always see the result of our work, but what we can see is the result of the love that others have shared with us.

So often we can only see what God is up to in hindsight.

Occasionally I see, and no doubt you do as well, the result of the kindness and love that I have shared in someone else’s life.

When I look back in my own life, though, I can see all the times and all the people who have generously shared God’s love with me in their own lives.

This gives me hope and encouragement that what I share will make a difference, but more than that, I am humbled, I have been blessed by the love that has been shown to me. And I can see the fruit that their love has borne in my life. Fruit that has lasted. Fruit that will last.

So I want to share with you part of my story, which is really just a part of their story, which is all a part of God’s big story, transforming the world through love.

I hope that as I do so, you will be reminded by times in your own story when people have shared with you in love, and the fruit that has borne in your own lives.

Bryan

This may cme as somewhat of a surprise to you, but I was not the most popular child when I was at school. I was tall, I was clumsy, I was a bit socially awkward, and I had a slight speech impediment. I wasn’t exactly singled out for bullying, but I always stuck out like a sore thumb, and I always felt like I was on the edge of things, looking in.

Some time aorund the mid 80s, my parents started taking us to church, and, for me, that same pattern continued. I wasn’t exactly excluded, but I wasn’t exactly included either.

So, often after church on Sunday I would find myself sitting alone in a pew after church with a cup of tea and a biscuit.

That’s where Bryan came in. Bryan’s own children were grown up, they’d gone through the youth group 10 or 15 years ahead of me. He was old. He must have been in his fifties or sixties. Ancient.

He noticed me.

He noticed I was on my own.

He included me.

Nearly every Sunday he made a point of checking in on me for a couple of minutes. He’d ask how my week had been. He took an interest in what I was interested in. He made me feel like I belonged.

It didn’t cost him anything, but it meant the world to me.

Through Bryan, I learned the value of the simple act of wecoming someone.

His love for me has borne fruit that lasts.

Matthew

Matthew was my youth group leader. He was a young Christian who felt called to share his life with us. He was rough and ready. He often skirted the line of appropriate behaviour. Safety was a foreign concept. He was a lot of fun.

For Matthew, youth group was not just about one evening, once a week. He opened his life to us. Those of us who were part of that group forged life long bonds of love and friendship.

When I struggled at high school, and I really was seriously bullied by both students and staff, I always knew I had a home and genuine friends.

That started with Matthew.

From Matthew I learned the relationship between reverence and subversion.

From Matthew I learned what risks not to take.

From Matthew I learned what it meant to move beyond welcome and into inclusion.

From Matthew I learned that God’s love was real, and palpable, and vital, and present in my life.

His love for me has borne fruit that lasts.

Eleanor

Eleanor was an unassuming little old lady with a golden smile and eyes filled with joy.

Eleanore was a leader and the host of the Alpha course that Andrea and I attended as a young married couple.

From Eleanor I learned the graciousness of God.

From Eleanor I learned that the ever present, gentle, and rich nature of God’s presence in our lives.

From Eleanor I learned that the HOly Spirit is not just about dramatic expereinces, but a constant and abiding presence that suffuses everything we do, and everything we share with one another.

From Eleanor I learned the absolute acceptance of God’s love, even we we doubt ourselves, even when we feel that we are not good enough, God’s love is a gentle smile, and kind, soulful eyes.

Her love for me has borne fruit that lasts.

Fruit that Lasts

I wonder, who have been the Bryans, the Matthews, the Eleanors in your life? Who has shaped you, and shown you something more of the nature of God’s love?

These people are precious, but they’re not unique. All of us have something of God’s love to share. And Jesus’ command to his disciples - love one another - is an invitation also to us. Love one another. You may never know it, but you can be a Bryan, or a Matthew, or an Eleanor in someone’s life. Your acts of love may bear fruit that you will never see, but will nonetheless have eternal significance.

Because it’s not about special people, even though all of these people ahve been special to me. It is about God’s love which is an ocean deep and rich without compare.

These people and these moments have been special and precious to me, but they share a simplicity that it is hard to fathom.

Perhaps the best example of all was the love that my mother shared with me, and continues to share every day.

One of my earliest memories, before we ever attended church, was mum saying my prayers with me before bed.

“Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon this little child...”

I never knew that this was a Wesleyan hymn until I looked it up this week, but I always knew that those meant love. Love from my mother, and love from God. Love that provided safety and calm in the stormiest of seas. Love that took root deep in my heart. Love that bears fruit to this day, and will do forvermore.