Sermon 2019.03.06
Fruit for Repentance
(2 Corinthians 5:17-6:3; sermon 1 of 5 in series “Bearing Fruit”; Ash Wednesday)

1. Purley Church.  Down in North Carolina, I was pastor of Purley United Methodist Church. The church took its name from a nearby store that, long ago, was the first painted building in the area. The little town became known as Purley because the store was pearly white.

The story was told that the local painter liked to stretch his paint with turpentine. When he got the job to paint the church, he thinned his paint way, way down. One day when the job almost finished, the painter heard a horrendous clap of thunder, and the sky opened up. The downpour washed the thinned paint off the church and knocked the painter down among the gravestones and puddles of worthless paint. He knew this was a warning from the Almighty, so he got on his knees and cried: “Lord, forgive me! What should I do?”

And from the thunder came a mighty voice: “REPAINT! REPAINT! AND THIN NO MORE!”

2. Thundering prophet.  Of course, this story just echoes the original thundering prophet, John the Baptist. John lived in the desert near the Jordan River. He was an equal opportunity prophet who castigated both worthless sinners and stuck-up saints. Repentance for everyone!

Matthew 3:7-10 tells us that one day John saw some self-righteous churchy folks coming and thundered, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. ... Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Repent and sin no more! Bear fruit worthy of repentance… or face the fires of hell. Wow. That’s a fiery, thundering message.

3. Figs out of season.  Sometimes we are tempted to think of Jesus as the nice guy in the bible, and other folks – like John the Baptist – as the not-so-nice guys. But Jesus had his own strange run-in with a fruit tree.

In Mark’s gospel, during the week before his crucifixion, Jesus is coming into Jerusalem and sees a fig tree. He’s hungry, but the fig tree has no fruit because, Mark carefully tells us, it is not the season for figs. Nonetheless, Jesus says “May no one ever eat figs from you again.” The next day, when the disciples see the tree, it has withered and died (Mark 11:12-14,20-21).

I always felt sorry for this poor little fig tree. April is not the season for bearing fruit, but it gets cursed and withers away anyway. This doesn’t seem like a very Jesus-like thing to do.

Then I read Bishop Will Willimon’s book Bishop, and it changed my whole perspective on the fig tree. Willimon cites this as a warning parable for the modern church. Our number one job is to bear fruit – to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

But when you look around the church, how many new folks do you see? Bishop Willimon heard lots of excuses for churches that weren’t making disciples: “People today just aren’t interested in the church. Nobody has time for Jesus. It’s not the season for making disciples.” 

Willimon responds: making disciples is the number one job churches have. In season or out of season, if we aren’t bearing fruit, we shouldn’t be surprised when our churches are dying.

4. Barren trees.  Or how about we make this personal? Galatians 5:22-23 lists some fruits of the spirit born by mature Christians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

What kind of fruit are you bearing? Are you as loving, as joyful, as patient and kind, as generous, as faithful, as gentle as you wish? 

I know I struggle with these things. I’m too busy just scraping by to be joyful. Life is too hectic for me to be peaceful. The kids are too annoying for me to be patient. It’s hard to be kind when you can’t trust anybody anymore. Forget gentleness: these days you’ve got to fight for what you want. Know what I mean? Times are tough and… 

Oh, my gosh! Would Jesus be pleased with our “out of season” excuses? Not bearing much fruit, are we? No wonder we feel withered and dry. We aren’t bearing fruit worthy of repentance. John the Baptist would cut us down and feed us to the fire.

5. Ashes and repentance.  Which brings us to Ash Wednesday. This is a day for humility, a day to recognize that all our excuses and our tiny little prideful boasts burn away to mere ash in the presence of God. A year has gone by, and what do we have to show for ourselves? Easter is coming, and what fruit do we have to offer a resurrected king?

People aren’t too good about looking to God when things are going well. We rarely give God the thanks and glory for our daily lives. No… it’s only when the house of our pride burns down, when we find ourselves desperate, that we call out to God: “O Lord, please rescue me!
Come quickly to help me, O Lord!” (Psalm 40:13 GW).

It is on the Ash Wednesdays of our lives that we repent and turn back to God.

6. From ashes, fruit.  And then… miracles. God is in the business of creation. Jesus is in the business of resurrection. The Holy Spirit is in the business of breathing life into dry bones. From the ashes of our pride, something new begins to grow. 

I drove through the area around Mount St. Helens not too many years after the devastating volcanic eruption. The area was still blackened and charred, covered in ash. And yet in the midst of dry death, wildflowers were beginning to bloom in the cracks. Trees were beginning to sprout. Today, the area is quickly becoming lush again.

It turns out that ashes make good fertilizer. And so from the ashes of your life, from the ashes of this Ash Wednesday, I invite you to use this Lenten season to begin to bear spiritual fruit again. No excuses! Be reconciled to God! Do not accept the grace of God in vain! This is the season! This is the acceptable time!  (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

Likewise, for the next five Sundays of Lent at our church we will be studying the book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. The five practices are: radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission, and extravagant generosity. We seek to be a fruitful congregation, making more disciples of Jesus to transform the world!

It isn’t easy to rise from the ashes. The Lenten journey can’t be walked alone. Together, we prune and cultivate. Together we tend God’s garden. If you desire to flee from the wrath to come – John’s words, not mine – then I invite you to join us at Onalaska UMC as together we cultivate our spiritual fruits in preparation for Easter and resurrection. 		- Amen.