WHAT FRUIT MAY CHURCHES EXPECT?
by Peter MastersFROM SWORD & TROWEL 1999 No 2
IS IT TRUE that the Lord’s people may definitely expect blessing in their
witness? Or is our task simply to be faithful and not to think optimistically about fruit? In
this survey of a few passages of Scripture we seek to show that the Lord has promised that
He will surely use His people in the harvesting of souls.
If we have seen little response to our outreach labours, this fact may
discourage us. We may conclude that there must be something seriously wrong with us. But
the purpose of the Lord’s promises of fruitfulness is to encourage and inspire, and not the
reverse. We must remember that the scale of fruit may not be what we would
like. However, the certainty of fruit is assured. We must also allow for the fact
that there are often long periods of sowing before a time of reaping.
Promises of instrumentality are numerous in the New Testament, the natural
text to start with being Matthew 28.18-20 -
‘And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world.’
These words leave us in no doubt that our prime task is to seek to reach as
many people as possible in a soul-winning ministry. We are encouraged by the way in
which evangelism is connected to baptising, as though the one is bound to lead to the other.
Furthermore, Christ declares that He will be with us, which is nothing short of a guarantee
of success. Would He be with us merely to observe our impotence and failure? His words
clearly mean that He, by His Spirit, will make our witness effective.
John 4.35-36 provides another implicit promise of fruitfulness in
witness. The Lord says -
‘Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?
behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already
to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that
both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.’
Just as the reapers in the fields are bound to bring in some result, so in the
work of soul-winning we are bound to receive some reward. It is inevitable that we shall
reap a harvest. Whether it is small or large will be according to God’s sovereign purpose,
but God will use His people as inevitably as the farmers gather in from the fields. Lift up
your eyes, says the Lord, and see the inevitable blessing that attends the work you are called
to do.
Passing to John 15 (the great fruit-bearing chapter), we find the
same emphasis. The second verse reads - ‘Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he
taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more
fruit.’
Some writers dispute that the fruit referred to here is the fruit of soul-
winning, because fruit-bearing in the New Testament also refers to holiness. There is the
peaceable fruit of righteousness, the fruit of our lips, and the virtue of being fruitful in every
good work. But soul-winning is surely uppermost in John 15, as we see from
verse 27 where ‘bearing witness’ is identified as the special task of Christ’s disciples.
The Lord is certainly concerned for the sanctification of His people, making
them fit for fruit-bearing. It is said in this passage that disciples must be in lively fellowship
with the Lord in order to bear fruit. It is insisted that without Him we can do nothing.
However, the fact that soul-winning is the chief meaning of fruitfulness in this passage is
proved from verse 16, where the Lord says: ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,
and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit.’
This fruit is to be gathered from the world around. The disciples are to ‘go’
and to ‘bring’ it. This is clearly not the fruit of personal holiness, but the fruit of soul-
winning.
One result of this work will be the hostility of society (verses 18-21),
implying that Christ’s disciples are engaged in proclaiming His Word to that society. They
are clearly speaking about sin, and the need of a Saviour, because the Lord says, ‘If I had
not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their
sin’ (verse 22). The following chapter seals the matter, for the Holy Spirit is promised to
help them - ‘And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgment’ (John 16.8).
In the light of this we see the full significance of John
15.8: ‘Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my
disciples.’
Once it is proved that the fruit-bearing of John 15 is soul-
winning, then the strong promises of the chapter speak with invincible clarity (particularly
the second, fifth and eighth verses). We are assured that witness will lead to conversions.
The attitude to fruit-bearing of the apostle Paul is clear from Romans
1.13 - ‘Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to
come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as
among other Gentiles.’
By fruit, the apostle clearly had in mind some evident, tangible
result from his ministry. But how could he be so certain of such fruit in his visit to Rome?
Should he not have been content to be ‘faithful’? Should he not have been more careful and
less presumptuous? He speaks as one who believes that the evangelistic labours of God’s
servants are bound to be blessed in some measure.
He then consolidates this impression with the stirring words of verse 16,
saying that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
The inevitability of some measure of blessing is further stated by Paul
in 1 Corinthians 15.58 - ‘Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast,
unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your
labour is not in vain in the Lord.’
No greater assurance could be given than this. Patient witness will definitely
be blessed in God’s good time. Our faithful labour cannot be in vain, insists
the apostle.
In 2 Corinthians 10.4 Paul goes on the offensive again, saying -
‘The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strong holds.’
Patience is prominent in these promises, and so is effort - a
degree of labour that makes us very weary and causes us to faint.
We expect that we may have to work extremely hard, humanly speaking, for every soul
won.
The church at Philadelphia received the following promise of certain
blessing, recorded in Revelation 3.8: ‘I know thy works: behold, I have set
before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast
kept my word, and hast not denied my name.’ We do not know what that open door meant
in terms of the scale of blessing, but we do know that no power on earth could
deny them their fruit, whether small or great.
Having made due allowance for a sowing period, we will certainly want to
examine any possible reasons why the Holy Spirit may be grieved away, or any reasons why
our communication may be inadequate. But we should not develop a superstitious attitude,
as some Christians do. They evaluate blessing in a manner more appropriate to voodooism.
Their ‘god’ is like a giant effigy on a remote Pacific island which appears to puff white
smoke when pleased, or thunder black smoke when displeased. A direct, cause-and-effect
link is forged between God’s favour and the scale of blessing. God is seen as One Who
signals by the number of souls saved that He is either pleased or angry with His people.
Clearly there is a link, but it is not so obvious. We are to walk by faith, realising that
spiritual witness is a battle, and that our apparent fruitfulness will ebb and flow.
The question is often asked, ‘Does this mean that every individual Christian
should see personal spiritual fruit?’ The answer is no, because our labours must be seen as
team-work. The individual is only one member of a team, so that he shares his fruit with
others. Nevertheless, these promises should inspire and encourage personal witness. It is
worth doing! God does bless. This certainty is one of the strongest sources of inspiration for
evangelistic work, and generates great zeal.
The promises of instrumentality are not confined to the New Testament.
Here are just two from the Old, showing that God guarantees some measure of
instrumentality, both to be found in the prophecies of Isaiah. Chapter 41.10-15
begins with these words:
‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will
strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness.’
The twofold subject is the persecution of God’s people, and
their witness-bearing. The ‘comfort’ chapters of Isaiah are addressed to the
spiritual heart of Israel. They look forward literally to the release of the Jews from their
future captivity in Babylon, and beyond that to the coming of Christ and the age of the
Gospel. The overriding theme is the impact which God’s people will in future make upon
the ungodly.
‘Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth:
thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff ’
(v15).
The passage does not merely say that God will protect and help His people
when under pressure. It plainly states that they will be equipped for effective harvesting.
They will go on the offensive. They will go out to achieve something.
What, exactly, will the harvest be? Not corn-crops, says Isaiah, but mountains and hills. The language is obviously
symbolic, for no one would send a harvester into the mountains to cut down the rocks and
turn them into flour. The symbolism refers to how, one day, the most obdurate pagan
nations will yield a harvest of souls. People who seem unreachable will be drawn to God
through the instrumentality of God’s messengers. The language throughout is certain - even
categorical.
Isaiah 43.5-6 confirms the promise: ‘Fear not: for I am with
thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the
north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far . . . ’
Lest we should restrict this promise to the literal return of Jews to their
homeland after the Babylonian captivity, subsequent verses make it clear that God is also
speaking about spiritually-blind pagans being won to Himself: ‘Bring forth the blind people
that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.’
Taken as a whole, the language of Isaiah chapters 40-
44 amounts to an emphatic declaration that God’s witnessing people
will be victorious to some degree. This is a basis for evangelistic optimism and patient
labouring.
FRUITFULNESS AS A GAUGE OF SOUNDNESS
It is a great encouragement to know that the evangelistic labour of earnest
churches will be blessed, but how does one account for the apparent soul-winning blessing
experienced by compromised Christians? Many Christian organisations today point to their
fruitfulness as evidence of their soundness. Are they entitled to do this? Does God bless the
outreach work of people irrespective of their doctrinal and methodological soundness?
The answer is that God will at times save souls irrespective of the soundness
of the ‘agency’. Fruit-bearing is not necessarily an indication of the good standing of a
witnessing Christian or organisation.
Take, first, the case of incidental involvement in blessing. John
Cennick, the great eighteenth-century evangelist, provides an example of the
incidental involvement of an unworthy church in successful soul-winning. As a
youth Cennick plunged into a deep depression, which snatched away his godless optimism
and ambition. For several years he lived in despair, until one day he stumbled into a
spiritually dead church to hear the congregation chanting the closing words of a psalm. The
words of that psalm spoke to his soul and brought him to God.
The blessing of God often comes upon individuals because God is
determined to save them, even though the church they happen to be connected with is in a
dead, poor or compromised condition.
Another explanation for blessing upon a decadent agency is the presence of a
godly remnant among its helpers and members. However mistaken these believers may be
in staying, they continue to witness, and God in His great grace from time to time blesses
their work. Such blessing is through the work of those individuals. It does not authenticate
the organisation or church as a whole.
Another case is where a church is ‘under notice’ from God that He will
soon take away the blessing. (This was the case with most of the churches addressed
in the early chapters of Revelation.) Such a church may have tried the Lord’s
patience by some form of disobedience, but is given a period of probation to put things right
(as in Revelation 2-3). During the warning period a measure of
blessing may still be given, but this does not prove that hearts are clean and true. Soon the
time given for reformation will expire, and God’s chastisement will begin.
Another explanation of how unsound or compromised churches and
organisations may appear to be blessed, is that the ‘blessing’ is pure delusion. People
seem to be saved, but they soon fall away. Their lives show no genuine signs of
conversion, and if they continue in their profession, they do so as very worldly Christians.
In 2 Peter 2 we read the sorry story of what happens when false converts stay
within the church instead of falling completely away.
Whenever believers get carried away with enthusiasm for evangelists (for
example) who compromise with Rome and use carnal methods, we should ask them to read
through 2 Peter 2, which warns that counterfeit fruit can do immense
harm to God’s work.
Today we see churches once fervent in the defence of the doctrines of the
Bible, which now accept the lie that Catholic doctrine leads to salvation. Their boasted
converts generally turn out badly, showing that fruit should always be judged over the long
term, not the short.
While fruitfulness is a great encouragement to us, the presence or the scale
of such blessing is never to be employed as a measure of anyone’s standing before God. The
Lord has given a perfect way of testing this - His Word.
The promises are clear. The needs of lost souls are immense. The Gospel is
the power of God unto salvation. Surely we should proclaim it as people who are assured of
eternal fruit! The saying that we are called to be faithful, not fruitful, has value, but it is not
the whole truth.
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