Making Dad Proud

Making Dad Proud
Mark 15:8-11
I always knew that my Dad loved me and was proud of me…no matter what “stupid” teenage thing I did, I knew he loved me and was proud of me; not that there were not times where I’m sure he could have rung my neck…but he would have done it in love. (After raising two teenage sons myself, I understand this feeling now!) He used to introduce me to people, “This is my boy, Keith.” That used to make me so mad…it was like Andy introducing Opie…and it did not help that my nick name in Jr. High school was Opie!
Then in December 1979 I was promoted to Sergeant in the Army. A couple of months later I was home on leave for the first time since my promotion and we were out eating; Dad went to introduce me to someone that he worked with that I had not met. “This is my son, Keith…he is a Sergeant in the Army.” I stood sort of dumbfounded. I knew Dad was proud of me, but at that moment I realized how proud. It was from that day till the day he went to be with the LORD, that he no longer called me “buddy”, “pumpkin” or “hey, you”…it was always “Sarge”.
This has made me think…what are the things that I do that make my Heavenly Father proud of me? What pleases The Father and demonstrates my love for Him? There is a passage in John that has stood out to me, check it out:
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
John 15:8-11 (ESV)
It seems to me that this passage points out how we glorify God, and demonstrate our love for Him. Follow me as we look at these four verses as learn to be apprentices of Jesus.
1) (v. 8) The Father is glorified by: (Not the stuff we might think…like religion and rituals.)
a) The Father is glorified by Bearing Much Fruit. Fruit is what happens when a healthy tree does what it is supposed to do. Consider Psalm 1:2-3: “but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.” (ESV) (italics added) I am not a botanist but it seems that there are four things that a healthy tree is supposed to do.
i) Feed others. A healthy tree produces fruit that feeds others. It produces fruit that others partake of to grow. On a recent trip to Alaska to visit our son, my wife and I went to a downtown market and fair in Anchorage. There they had vegetables that had been grown in the Mat-Su Valley of Alaska…they were huge! These vegetables, the fruit of the land, had grown to feed people, they were big and beautiful, but their reason for being was to feed people.
That was the reason they existed, that is the reason that we, as followers of Jesus exist, to feed people. Our lives are to be lived in such a way as to provide spiritual food to a world that is starving. My entire life, every area, is to be producing fruit that is evident to everyone. This comes naturally, flowing out of my minute-by-minute walk with Jesus. I can’t separate this from any other part of my life…all I exist to do is to produce fruit, and this fruit is to feed the world around me.
ii) Trees Reproduce. The fruit produced by a tree is also how the free reproduces. As followers of Jesus, our fruit is to feed people…but it is also to be reproducing other followers of Jesus. Dawson Trotman, the founder of the Navigator’s, used to say that disciples of Jesus were “born to reproduce.” Nothing could be truer…but the key question is, “what are we reproducing?”
Our call is not to reproduce church members, members of a ministry group, a denomination, organization, a theological persuasion or “fellowship” but to reproduce disciples of Jesus! The fruit that followers of Jesus produce is so that other followers of Jesus can be brought forth. Those who are reproduced are to look like Jesus…because I am supposed to look like Jesus. No, don’t be silly, not literally look like Jesus, but lives lived out in obedience to Jesus’ commands, and following in His footsteps.
iii) Size and amount of fruit shows health and maturity. First, the bigger the institution does not mean healthier and more mature. This is personal…this is about you and me and our individual walk with God. The way we grow healthy fruit is to practice the spiritual disciplines that lead us to grow in grace. It is not earning salvation, but living in such a way that our salvation is seen as real by the world, by how our lives are lived out…in obedience to Jesus. In the book, The Great Omission, Dallas Willard says that grace is not opposed to effort, but to earning. Grace compels us to live in such a way that is bearing witness to what Jesus has done in our lives.
The problem is that most of our Christian “trees” are not bearing the right fruit…and if they are it is weak and small. The concern is more about the institutions that we belong to, than the real discipleship…followship of Jesus. The great commission compels us as we go into the world…to make disciples. The gathering of believers, the church, is to facilitate the making of disciples. The church has become the end to itself…the Christian life has become institutionalized, where more is done to expand the institution than make disciples and expand God’s Kingdom.
Healthy fruit is fruit that is reproducing disciples…those who openly identify with Jesus and are involved in being productive in the Kingdom. Healthy fruit is transforming life from the inside out and being attractive to others…which leads to the fourth thing a healthy tree does….
iv) Fruit decorates the tree and makes it beautiful. When a life is lived in a way that bears God pleasing fruit, people notice. They see something that speaks to the very heart of human existence and the very real emptiness in the human heart. All humans are incomplete without God…fruitful living brings meaning and fullness to life!
This brings glory to God. The fruit being born by followers of Jesus does not point to the follower, but points to what Jesus has done in their life. A truly fruitful life is a beautiful thing to see.
b) The Father is glorified when, bearing fruit, our lives prove that we are followers of Jesus…Jesus’ disciples.
i) Fruit is always consistent with the tree. Apples trees, they produce apples. Orange trees, they produce oranges. The fruit of the follower of Jesus will produce things consistent with what Jesus taught and did. The end does not justify the means in being a fruitful follower of Jesus; you can’t do things that are inconsistent with Jesus, and say that it was so the church could grow. Recent history is littered with institutions and so-called ministries that compromised so they could grow. Even today, things are done in many churches that are inconsistent with God’s Word, because it is good for the “ministry”. Real fruit is always…always consistent with Jesus.
Everything done by a follower of Jesus represents Jesus. It is vital that all that is done is consistent with Jesus. That means that time must be spent with Jesus, with His words, His teaching, His life and ministry. This must be wrestled with and every area of life brought under the Lordship of Christ…becoming consistent with Jesus. That is what it means to be a disciple.
ii) The fruit of a disciple always glorifies God. I glorify God when my fruit represents the nutrients and soil in which I am planted…the soil and nutrients of my Father’s garden. Consider the parable of the soils…the good soil produces 40, 60, 100 fold. Some of the other soils had plants that “sprung up” but were either choked out by the world or had no root so they could not produce fruit.
Those who would be disciples must plant themselves deeply into the good soil of scripture and the disciplines of the Spirit that nurture a relationship with Jesus. It is in this good soil that roots go down deep and draw nourishment from the Father. The fruit that grows from this life/soil, point to the Son…and brings glory to God. Real fruitfulness is not borne out by emotional and hasty decisions; it is only shown to be genuine by long-term fruitfulness. This is about the long haul, not quick results.
2) What is the first step in bearing fruit? Verse 9 says it is by abiding in the love of the Father and of the Son.
a) To abide means to act or live in accordance with something. If a believer wants to bear fruit, it starts with living every area of life in accordance with God’s love. This love is an act of my will, it is not emotional, and although it may cause emotions…it is a daily decision.
b) This love controls how every daily decision is made and guides me in bearing fruit. How? Because every decision that is made, every act during the day is measured against abiding in God’s love. Fruit is a result of manifesting God’s love through both big and small decisions…and even those things in which no thought is given. This happens as a result of…
c) The abiding love of God transforming life and transforming the follower of Jesus into His image. Romans 12:2 says that disciples are to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Abiding in God’s love renews the mind and transforms the life into one that is capable of bearing fruit, fruit that will glorify God and prove to be truly disciples of Jesus.
No matter what is being done, where a person lives, or what the circumstances in life are…abiding in Jesus’ love will focus life on living and following him in obedience. The disciple will know that they are abiding in God’s love, not by some “mystical experience”, but by obedience. John 14:21 says, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” (ESV)
3) It is in verse 10 that it says that abiding in God’s love is not the “warm fuzzies” or “a quiver in my liver”, but is keeping His commandments. In John 14:21, keeping the commandments of the Father and the Son are how love for them is shown.
a) The example for this is Jesus; He abided in His Father’s love by keeping the Father’s commandments. We don’t have to wonder about what to do, it is concrete…obey, do what God has told us to do.
b) If, those who profess Jesus as Lord and Savior are going to be true followers of Jesus, His followers, His apprentices…they are going to learn from Him by doing the things that He did. Jesus abided in His Father’s love by obeying His commandments; the disciple of Jesus will abide in Jesus’ love by following His commandments.
4) The joy of fruitful discipleship is found in obedience. (v. 11) It is not a result of situation or circumstance; it is found in uplifting experience of being in right relationship with God, and walking by an act of the will daily in His love and care. Being an apprentice of Jesus is not be burdensome, but to bring a life full of joy and love. Matthew 11:28-30 tells the follower of Jesus what it will be like to be obedient, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (ESV) It is not a burden to be “yoked” to Jesus; it is a place of rest from the burden of religion.
The Christian pastor, teacher and philosopher, Francis Schaefer wrote a book and produced a film series in the ‘70’s called, How Then Shall We Live. In this work he took a long look at modern society, and made note of why it was (and is) failing. After a careful, thoughtful examination at the state of affairs, he laid out the only alternative to the inevitable collapse of modern society…to fully grasp and live by teachings of Jesus, to accept Him as the one and only Son of God and total affirmation of the truth of the Bible.
That seems to be the question that his passage of scripture challenges us with… “How then shall we live?” Will we live in open disobedience to the truths revealed in scripture, or maybe just in half-hearted commitment that has no real power, joy…or fruit. The only option is to accept what Jesus says here and live in joy, love and fulfillment of what Jesus promises. To live as a disciple is to follow Jesus, to abide in His love is to obey His commandments…the question to answer is “How then shall I live?” The way to change to world is not to change an institution or organization, but to change individually…it begins with me…will it begin with you?