Living and working in Washington brings pressure to perform and deliver. In most DC professions we're surrounded by intelligent people who work hard on issues of national and world importance. This city seems to require us to be effective in leadership, noteworthy in politics, financially well-off, professionally productive - and, in our free time, effortlessly well-rounded and cultured - and to do all this independently. God calls us to fruitfulness of a different kind: we're to know Him, enjoy Him, and obey Him. Through the work of love and sacrifice Jesus Christ has already accomplished, we're invited to oneness with God and one another. My constant temptation is to pretend I can pursue Godly fruitfulness and worldly Washingtonian productivity at the same time. In fact, I treat the former as a way to achieve the latter. I actually listen to sermons or read the Bible hoping for insights that will make me a better lobbyist. Ephesians 3:20 happens to be my favorite Bible verse because of its reminder that God's promises are "exceedingly abundantly" above all we can ask or imagine. So it is powerful to realize, as Glenn explained yesterday, that the whole run-up to that verse is about Godly fruitfulness - of a sort that should break up my self-directed priorities. In Ephesians 3:18 and 3:19, Paul shares his highest desire for Christians' Godly fruitfulness - that they might "grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ" and "know this love that surpasses knowledge." There's no reference at all to their workplace success or political power. Paul wants his readers to know and enjoy and glorify our Savior - as an end, not a means to something else. I want to be re-oriented toward Godly fruitfulness even though my own exertions always bend toward self. I'm going to need humble dependence on the work of the Spirit in my life toward that re-orientation. Thank God for His promise to make us truly fruitful - even through trial and loss and the frustration of our worldly goals. This week's sermon response comes from an anonymous Grace Downtown member.
Lord of Fruitfulness
