Are You Bearing Good Fruit?

When I go to the grocery store I like to check where the fruit on the produce shelves is grown. Often it says Mexico, or if it is organic the label reads “Product of California.” At this time of year most of that fruit, shipped thousands of miles to get to our grocery stores is so dang expensive and not all that fresh, so I opt for something else. Sometimes though I will get a yearning for some fruit and so I will take a chance on some strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries, even when they are not in season locally. I have found that there is little in life that is less satisfying than biting into a strawberry that I paid too much for just to have it taste bitter, stale, or mushy. We all want good fruit, especially our vinegrower, but what makes good fruit?

At the age of 20 I took an outreach trip to Quito, Ecuador during Spring Break. Sewanee’s outreach department called it Alternative Spring Break. For nine days we stayed in a hostel, helped to build a school, played with children, taught a hygiene program, and processed our experience. One of the leaders, a woman named Cameron Graham Vivanco, explained to us a phenomenon in short term missions.

Cameron stated that most short term outreach, anything from a couple hours to twelve months of mission, is meant to inspire the persons who go on the trip to do something more. It was not to be seen merely as a trip, like a vacation, but rather a starting point that would change one’s life. She explained further that when one returns home he or she will go through stages of readjusting to home culture and one’s home life. There are commonly five such stages and they all begin with the letter F.

First, it is FUN to be back in one’s home culture. The language makes sense. One can order off the menu at a restaurant without hesitation. Home culture is comfortable.

Yet, home culture can seem strange and overbearing after being somewhere else. Therefore many people will FLEE that culture. This is when one starts to think, “The people in Ecuador have it right. They did it this way or that way. They live more simply or more positively.”

Often, this leads to the third F, which is FIGHTING. One might find home culture problematic and will do battle with that culture. Cameron told the story of going to Jamaica where there was not hot water, so to fight her home culture she stopped taking hot showers for a couple months.

Most people eventually give up the fight after some time and end up in the fourth F, as they FIT back into their culture. This is when the missional experience just turns into a photo album on one’s shelf or one’s computer. This is why most experts who work long term in mission say to short term mission groups, just send us your money. You will waste our time and your time if you just end up falling back into the same routines as before.

However, the last stage is the goal, not just of short term missions, but of our relationship with Christ, our relationship with God, and our life here on earth. The fifth F is FRUIT. If a short term mission experience was provocative, life-changing, and spirit-filled, then quite often it will lead to bearing good fruit.
Later I would return to Ecuador three times as an Alternative Spring Break leader. Each time we talked about the most important part of the experience was coming home. Each time the group worked on going through the first four F’s, so that we could begin to bear good fruit. Yet, still I find myself wondering, what is good fruit?

Jesus is our vine. He is the source through which we are fed. God is the tender of us branches. The vine tender will watch over our growth, will clean us off when we get to dirty, and water us with living water. Sometimes I worry about whether or not I am good enough. I focus on the times when I have grown in the wrong direction or taken more than my share of food or blocked others from the light. Yet, God does not worry about this, he finds those parts of us that are effecting good growth and with a kind heart clips away that which is not fruitful.

We can worry about whether or not we are good enough as we are. The message though is not about our being. We are already connected to the vine. We are already branches. We are part of God’s work in the world. God is calling us through Christ to bear good fruit, not just to fit into our culture, but to bring the love of God to those who need something sweet to eat.