Church Voices

That’s right, I said it. Christians are fruits. We are all different kinds of fruit and at different stages, but for the moment, this fruit feels it necessary to point out some major problems with some of our older fruits. The overly ripe going on rotten fruits. We all know some people like this…

They’ve been in the church for generations; but instead of becoming mature trees that bear more fruit, they have remained as they were. Only fruit can never stay exactly the same. It begins to ripen within, and then if left to itself, becomes soft and bruises easily. They do nothing, achieve nothing, and do not contribute to the Kingdom. Eventually, those fruits will often turn bitter and/or sour, give up on becoming trees that bear fruit, and simply turn rotten.

“We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” (Hebrews 6:11-12)

Many elderly Christians (even some in their 50’s and 60’s) “retire” from Christianity. The analogy above is very much true for their spiritual selves because of this uniquely 20th and 21st century American Christian culture. In essence, these Christians give up on living the Christian life. Oh sure, they’ll go to church, and they’ll say their prayers, and they may even read their Bible. These are all things that are inwardly focused and things that are spiritual disciplines taught to new Christians. They should have long ago moved on to greater maturity that produces fruit, instead of just being the fruit of another’s work.

These Christians have failed to recognize (and have probably never been taught), that the “perseverance” of the Christian in Scripture does not refer to dying with a Bible in hand having never missed a Sunday at church. Their form of perseverance produces rotten fruit that nobody wants (and of course rotten fruit gets thrown out, neglected, and forgotten.) True perseverance (and this is my definition) is faith in action in spite of whatever comes our way. This includes good times and bad, persecution and apathy, and sin and cultural influence.

If you see some older fruits that begin to bruise easily when they are pressed with the Word, and who do not share themselves with others, chances are they are overly ripe. Soon they will be rotten if they are not planted. Every Christian needs to be discipled. Granted, new Christians should be our focus; but if we can spend some time developing great trees, they in turn, will produce much fruit.