Struggling Vine, Good Fruit

The best illustration for everything we have experienced in 2018 thus far, is the garden in front of our house. At the end of the season last year, I left all of the produce we couldn’t eat in the garden, in the hope that the some of the plants would come up again in the spring. After waiting until late April, the garden was still pretty dead except for some weeds, so I bought a few tomato plants, basil, and mint, tilled the soil, and… didn’t have the time to plant them for a few weeks. During this time a bunch of tomato plants and vines sprouted in the garden, so I tilled the rest of the soil, transplanted some of the tomato sprouts (~40) that were in the garden and planted the new tomato plants (4) and herbs. Within a few weeks, both garden beds (22’x 4’) were filled with tomato plants, pumpkin vines, acorn squash vines, zucchini plants, pepper plants, and tarragon.

In another few weeks, almost every plant in the garden was affected with powdery mildew, leaf spot, or spider mites… Having the hope of abundance suddenly, then seeing that hope at risk of withering away is a weird thing, especially when you didn’t do much of anything to cause the abundance in the first place. In this case, since it only involves plants, it manifested as some worry, then frustration, and finally just “ugh, oh well.”

“But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

Jonah 4:10-11

At this point in the summer, the various pests have taken over the garden, and while we studied Leviticus & Deuteronomy, it was hard not to see some of the curses promised to the Israelites as a result of disobedience alive and well in our garden (in a sad/funny sort of way). At some point, I started asking God why I was seeing parallels between the “curses for disobedience,” and the state of our garden. It was a good time for our family to reflect on our motives for pursuing missions and taking seminary classes. In the end, we arrived at the conclusion that we are where we are supposed to be, doing what we are supposed to be doing. So… why? Last night I was re-reading Deuteronomy 28 (If you want to feel better about your life situation, I recommend it 😉), and I was struck by the observation that the “fruit” was cursed in as a sign of breaking the covenant. In contrast, the fruit of our garden is doing ridiculously well! (Especially because some of the Zucchini plants ended up mixed in with the pumpkins… so I wasn’t keeping a good eye on them… if you haven’t grown Zucchini before, this means the Zucchini grew REALLY BIG and have seeds.) Anyone passing by our garden probably assumes that everything is dead (or will be dead soon), and isn’t able to produce any fruit. The vines and leaves look dried, dead, and covered in various diseases, but there is fruit there, actually a lot of fruit, and it tastes fresh and sweet.

So, what does it mean when the vine looks cursed and dead, but it is bearing good fruit? This sounds really silly theologically in relation to a garden, but not so much if it’s your finances, your work, your community, your church congregation, or your mission field. What should we think when a thing’s appearance to passersby is of something dead, dying, weak, plagued, cursed, or beyond caring about? What about when we are seeing the good fruit coming from it?

In a similar way, we’ve had some financial frustrations over the summer. The cost of seminary + 2 root canals (Rett) + car repairs + higher costs of summer daycare + a couple house repairs, weighed into our decision to take out school loans for half of our tuition for this fall. Tuition was due for the Fall semester on Saturday, and our loan still isn’t finalized… We started payment plans, but because two of the banks we work with made some mistakes our bank account was over-drafted 4 times! As the primary manager of our finances, I can say I’m looking at our bank account much like our garden: it looks dried up, un-cared for, and incapable of producing anything good. In the past, God has always provided (ahead of time) for what we felt he was leading us to do. So why not now? Or why do I assume He hasn’t?

Sometimes us evangelicals like to talk about debt and borrowing as if it is evil or sinful, that it is a sign of judgment, or of a lack of faith. It is definitely good when we can avoid debt! But the Bible doesn’t talk about the sinfulness of debt, it talks about the blessings of lending.

“For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.”

Deuteronomy 15:6

“The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.”

Deuteronomy 28:12

“They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail. All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. 46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,”

Deuteronomy 28:44-47

“The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously;”

Psalm 37:21

What is the fruit of our bank account? (Aside from my momentary frustration) We have been able, and continue to be able, to find a way to “pay the salaries” of the men and woman that have blessed us greatly by passing along their knowledge of God, His word, and the history of Christianity. We have been able to pay our bills, to give to people who need it more than us, to pay for much needed medical/dental care, to pay the wonderful woman who takes care of our children while we are at work, and to pay for the things our kids need to be healthy and grow physically, mentally, and spiritually. On the outside it looks dead, but God continues to allow it to produce good fruit.

Oh, you thought I was done there! One more thought: Rett and I are preparing to enter a mission field that appears (to many) to be in a similar state as our garden. If we mainly wanted to get excited about quick results, the numbers of converts, the greatness of the suffering alleviated, or the quick and positive turn around of the community, we would go somewhere else. Christian missions in Japan have been notoriously resilient to growth, and because Japan is a decently wealthy country, there is little social work to be done (on the surface), but God is producing fruit there.

The Japanese don’t mainly choose to become Christians because it sounds interesting or out of the hope that their physical needs will be met; they don’t begin attending a local church because it would make their parents happy or even because they believe Christianity makes the most logical sense. For most Japanese Christians, they commit to following Jesus only when they believe that knowing Him is worth potentially sacrificing all of the relationships they have in their community.

In Japan, the local religions require a level of community involvement and participation, that is difficult to continue after converting to another religion. There are family and sometimes even company expectations to assist in (physically and financially), such as the upkeep of shrines, regularly carrying out certain religious rites, and the care and keeping of a household altar for one’s family ancestors. Because of this, even new Christians know they will have to make difficult choices to follow Christ, but they believe knowing Him is worth it. The people that make up the approximately 1% Christian population of Japan, are passionate about understanding and living their faith, and training new members of the church. Christians in Tokyo alone have stared at least 4 seminaries and local Christian organizations are alive and well, working to encourage and strengthen their communities. Mission work in Japan is slow and requires a great deal of patience and perseverance, but God is providing growth.

May God help us to be thankful for the fruit He has given us, even when the vines look withered.

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

Matthew 12:33