There is a law of fruitfulness in the entire creation and consequently history confirms that mankind in particular has always had a need for productivity to fulfil their needs, ever since God said to Adam “till the ground.” It appears that a disposition has been implanted into humanity requiring self-generation that impels them to spawn something positive in life, either offspring or destiny or both.
Taking this to extreme lengths Christians are encouraged to meet targets for God in their lives and so actively witness, and produce positive results for eternity. Pastors devise test papers [sermons] to encourage their congregations to respond to the demands of harvest; detailing how they can become more efficient in spreading the gospel and establishing the kingdom. Management techniques have invaded the modern church. Meetings are honed to perfection to make it easier for people to attend and carry on a busy life, almost a drive-through situation, like MacDonald’s.
The individual is nurtured and cared for like no other period in history, so they don’t get offended or become lukewarm; keys for success are enumerated to keep them on fire and ablaze for God. No one is allowed to miss out; we are all encouraged to be purpose driven. We are challenged to define and deploy a vision statement and, asked what our mission statement is, we must always be ready to do — and perhaps to be! The problem is that we cannot calculate that kind of success; it is not a numeric game. 30, 60 and 100-fold cannot be measured in human terms but only in divine destiny. Fruitfulness is split into two facets; the one is the fruit of character touching our inward development and the other is our ministry, which affects our outward witness and deals with gifting. They walk hand in hand and are difficult to separate but not impossible to recognise.
One passage in the Bible above all others illustrates the secret of everlasting fruitfulness or productivity and is found in the book of Ruth. Naomi and Eliakim and their two sons leave Bethlehem Ephrata for Moab. The two sons marry, one to Ruth and the other to Orpah, and eventually all the men died leaving Naomi and her daughters–in-law. After ten years Naomi decides to return to her homeland, and appeals to her daughters-in-law to return to theirs but Ruth refuses and accompanies her to Bethlehem. Because they are poor Ruth gleans in the fields of Boaz, who espies her and commands that his reapers leave handfuls on purpose for her. The seeds of love have been sown!
Naomi, realising that she is related to Boaz, and therefore Ruth also because of marriage to her late son, sends her to the threshing floor at evening to lie at the feet of Boaz so she can be noticed and a demand made upon him to marry her according to Jewish law. He says there is someone closer by lineage and he will deal with it, which he does in the morning, but he sends Ruth away with her skirt full of grain. The nearer kinsman refuses to marry Ruth, so Boaz steps in ands seals the deal, and a Moabitish damsel, part of the cursed generation, becomes part of the ancestry of Christ.
There is a progression: Ruth gleans from the corners of the fields, thus from no grain to some grain, and then handfuls on purpose so from some grain to more grain; then her skirt was full which is from more grain to much grain and then marriage when she comes into relationship with Boaz and a son, Obed, is born, and now she has fruit that remains. Mildew, mice and ice can affect the grain but not the son. She becomes fruitful through relationship.
In John 15 verse 2, 4 we read: “no fruit” and “fruit.” In verse 2 again “more fruit.” In verse 5 “much fruit.” In verse 16 “fruit that remains.” There is a progression. The basis of this is verse 7: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” While Christians struggle to produce, they need to learn that the secret is to dwell in Christ’s presence, it is the answer. Aaron’s rod lay before God’s presence in the Tabernacle overnight and did nothing but it was found to have budded, blossomed and fruited in the morning [Numbers 17:8]. Fruitfulness comes from abiding with activity, but abiding or relationship is foundational!
