Fruitful Living
Sermon Review
8 October 2000
Reading – Philippians 1:18-30

Imagine owning an orchard that absorbed much time, attention, and finance only to bear little or no fruit. You would not be impressed, neither would I. The scriptures indicate that God feels similarly when there is little or nothing to show for His ‘investment’ in His people eg. Isa. 5:1-6; Matt.7:15-20; Lk.13:6-8.

Have you heard the term ‘fruitful living’? The term covers the kind of living which is satisfying, rich, and full of accomplishments. It is about living a life that counts. John 10:10 points to such a life. Would you call your life one that has counted? Would you say that it has counted for God? Do you believe that this church counts in the Kingdom? Do you want to see your life and this church really count for God?

Paul’s Dilemma

In this passage we see Paul torn by a question his circumstances have caused him to consider – ‘If I had a choice, would I like to go on living or die?’ His thinking was torn by two competing thoughts…

• ‘As I look around I see so much need. There is the potential for so much fruitful labour for Christ right before me.’
• ‘Yet being with Christ is so attractive, so powerful, so tempting for it would be so much better than being here in prison’

Now we don’t know how long or laboured Paul’s struggle to resolve these competing thoughts was, but wrestling with them helped him to discern God’s will - he would stay and eventually be released. For us, we can see that Paul saw only two alternatives in life

• ‘Remaining for fruitful labour for Christ’
• ‘Going home to be with Christ’

Closer To Home

The programme ‘Life Matters’ on Radio National Tuesday morning, 3^rd October, featured Anthony Claire who was being interviewed regarding his book titled, ‘Masculinity in Crisis’. Anthony’s thesis seems to have been that men spend much time, effort, and attention on things like work, instead of family, relationships, recreation etc. Consequently, when they retired they are often filled with regrets

Hearing this I couldn’t help but think that Anthony’s ‘crisis’ mirrors in micro what is happening in the macro – the majority of human beings spending the majority of their time on things temporal, rather than things related to the eternal. When life is up for them, the majority will be filled with regrets. This is secular problem, but worst of all, it is also a Christian problem! Christians spend so much time on ensuring that they feel satisfied with their lives, that Paul’s alternative of ‘fruitful labour for Christ’ seems quite irrelevant! Like Anthony’s men in crisis, many Christians are going to be filled with regrets at the end of their lives; 1Cor.3:12-15

We are a very ‘me’ oriented culture, and this infects our Christianity causing us to want God to adjust His plans around our lives, instead of us adapting ourselves to His plans & purposes – ‘You are the most important person in life’, instead of 2Cor.5:15. We need to ask ourselves what do we really live for? If we are alive and Christian, we must ask ourselves, ‘am I living a fruitful life for God – one that counts eternally, and not just temporally? Or am I more concerned with fruitful labour for myself?’

Last night, at SG1, the young people studied the question, ‘what claim does God have on the Christian’s life?’ This is a question not only for young people, but it is a question for all adults who would say that they know Christ. If we want young people to wrestle with this question, us adults need to demonstrate that we wrestle with it also!

Fruitful Labour for the Philippians (& Us!)

For the Philippian church ‘Fruitful Labour’ meant two main things:

• ‘living in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ’ ie. character, attitudes, actions etc.,
• ‘making a united effort to contend for the faith of the gospel ‘as one man’, despite any sense of intimidation by obstacles’ ie. committing themselves to each other, the church, and its ministries with their gifts, time, resources, and effort, so they could count for the Kingdom of God as a body, despite every obstacle! This begs questions like…

Do you make it a habit to sort out your personal life with God?

Could it be said that we are contending for the faith of the gospel as one man?

Or could it be said that we are more like a group of individual Christians with a general desire for mission as long as it fits with our lives and is not too daunting? John12:24,25

Conclusion

Being united together contending for the faith is a tremendously powerful force! God brought the church into being so as to accomplish His purposes of Worship, Ministry, and Mission. So part of our commitment to Christ must include determination to build community here, and support the various ministries of this church. We need to place priority on spending time together getting to know each other, experiencing God together, and working towards ‘contending for the faith of the gospel’ together, ‘as one man’. This means deliberately altering our lives and schedule so that we can be involved in the prayer times, the fun times, and avenues of ministry.

Ultimately all Christians are accountable to God, not the church e.g. 2Cor.5:6-10. But Christians are stewards and will have to give an account of how profitably they have used the opportunities for Ministry & Mission that the church provides. The first American ‘Dream Basketball Team’ sent to the Olympics were the best players that $40 million of corporate sponsorship could buy. They were the best of the best because the USA was tired of being beaten. God, in contrast, calls together ordinary people like you and I who can become a ‘Dream Team’ if we are willing to put God’s interests above our own. This church could become such a ‘Dream Team’, if we will keep building community and seriously try to embrace Paul’s alternative of ‘fruitful labour for Christ’ as a body.

Serving God is worthwhile – He is no man’s debtor!

Blessings

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