Fruit in Its Season
Summer is here in Southern California. When I was young, summer meant no school, sleeping in late, staying out late, camping, going to the beach, and barbeques. I also remember eating lots of plums. I definitely associated plums with summer. I remember on camping vacations stopping along the roadside stocking up on
plums and eating them in the car. I also recall sitting on the cinder block fence at my best friend’s house picking plums from his tree and eating them on top of the wall. When I was back in Ohio two weeks ago, I stopped at a market and bought a bag of plums; they were just as I remembered, so good!
You won’t find plums in winter, and some varieties of plums only produce fruit during a very short span in summer; the rest of the year they are barren, but just because they are fruitless does not mean the tree is dead. It’s just not the right season.
The fruit of faith is that way. Sometimes you see it and sometimes you don’t. We go through seasons where we feel like our life is blooming spiritually – and other times it feels bare, you are not able to see, touch, or feel it. In the fruitful seasons of summer, we love reading God’s Word. We can’t get enough of it and think about it throughout the day. We look forward to going to church, being with other believes in worship and studying the Scriptures together. We find ourselves talking to God in comfortable conversation throughout the day.
We seek out others of like faith to spend time sharing life together, sharpening each other, praying for each other. We feel a joy and peace that is unexplainable, and love fills our hearts for those around us. Our eyes and ears are attuned to those who need help or a good word. We can’t help but share our love and faith in Jesus with others.
And then winter sets in; we don’t feel our faith. God seems far from us; or rather, we have wandered away from Him. Our Bible remains on the tabletop unopened; we no longer take time to pray. Church is a burden, and we would rather spend time by ourselves than be with other Christians studying, praying, and encouraging one another in our faith. Circumstances have changed, the branches are barren, and you wonder if they will ever produce fruit again.
Abide. That’s our Lord’s word for you; abide in me and my Word. In seasons of summer or in seasons of winter, Jesus calls us to remain in Him for He is in us, whether we feel Him or not. After all, that’s what faith does; it trusts and latches onto God’s Word and doesn’t let go. Jesus said, “abide in me, and I in you…whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is who bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).
God’s Word is the nutrients of faith – for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ (Rom.10:17). Without it, you will wither and die; but tapped into it, you will be “like a tree planted by steams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither” (Psalm 1:3). Notice not every season is a fruit bearing season, but the fruit will come; that’s a promise, and God prunes in those winter seasons, so that in the season of summer you will bear “much fruit.”
I thank God for Prince of Peace, and for the privilege as serving as your pastor. Let’s abide together in seasons of summer and winter, spring time and fall. God’s Word is always here for you; Christ is always here for you in Word and in His Sacraments, nutrients for growing faith. We are here for each other, to travel this life together through its various seasons. Don’t put your faith in the branch, don’t put your faith in the fruit, put it Christ and His Word, in season and out of season. He is your vine, your stream of living water – for you.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
-Pastor Darrin Sheek
