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I had a chance to fill in for Rabbi Stan again at Beth Yeshua on August 15, making the message below my third-ever full-length sermon. I decided to build on the ideas I had explored in my Ekev commentary, only with a lot more freedom to go into the Brit HaDesha writings because it’s a sermon, not a Torah commentary. Anyway, here’s my third-ever sermon entitled, “Let’s Be Fruitful!” Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Last week, we studied the parashah of Ekev and we found that the L-RD wants to bless us, but he can only do so when we obey him. We talked about how this teaching is reflected in the New Covenant writings, in the words of Yeshua himself. He compares Himself to a vine, the Father to a gardener, and us to branches and points out that any branch that does not bear fruit will be cut off, and that even those branches that do bear fruit will be pruned so they can become even more fruitful.

It was a sobering message that proves that the same God is present in both the Tenakh and the New Covenant writings, that this cliché about the God of Moses being only about law and judgment, while the God of Yeshua is a God only of love and grace, is nonsense for anyone who actually studies the entire Bible closely.

So we ended with the thought, “So let’s be fruitful!” And that’s a fine enough sentiment, but it’s not very concrete, is it? What does this state of being fruitful look like? What is it?

That will be the focus of our study today.

Now, in my study, I’ve found that there are at least three ways in which this concept of fruitfulness is expressed in the Bible: through parenting, through the gifts of the Spirit and through living out one’s faith in actions that draw others to the L-RD. Yet before we go there, let’s take a look at the word fruitful itself. According to Strong’s Bible Dictionary, the Hebrew word most often translated “fruitful” is:

H6509 parah
• AV – fruitful 19, increased 3, grow 2, beareth 1, forth 1, bring fruit 1, make fruitful 1; 29

Now, parah can also mean increased, but most often, it is translated as fruitful. Yet the definition we find here almost defines the word by its root, which isn’t always helpful, so let’s take at the root word, fruit, which is:

H6529 pariy
• AV – fruit 113, fruitful 2, boughs 1, firstfruits + 07225 1, reward 1, fruit thereof 1; 119
• 1) fruit 1a) fruit, produce (of the ground) 1b) fruit, offspring, children, progeny (of the womb) 1c) fruit (of actions) (fig.)

Now the picture is becoming clearer. As we begin to look at our first definition of being fruitful, we stumble across it right here in the definition for pariy: one way to be fruitful is to bear and raise children. This is a point of agreement, in some ways, with rabbinic tradition, as we read in:

Seder Nezikin (Damage); Avoth (Fathers); Mishnah 1
Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the men of the great synagogue. The latter used to say three things: be patient in [the administration of] justice, rear many disciples and make a fence round the Torah.

Now, I took this from the Soncino Edition of the Babylonian Talmud and notice this slightly different translation. While the traditional reading is to “make” many disciples, this edition translates “make” as “rear,” as in child-rearing. Certainly Jewish practice over the centuries has been that raising children in the ways of Torah is a part of being fruitful.

While many college kids tend to define ministry and missions as something that happens in a far-off country or remote island, like Argentina or Cuba or Kenya, what most experienced parents will tell you is that your mission field starts, most importantly, with your own children. In fact, it is one of the first commands the L-RD gives to mankind.

Genesis 1:27-28
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

It is a command that is later reaffirmed by God to Noah and his sons after the great flood. This sense of fruitfulness, of increasing in numbers, is seen as a primary source of blessing throughout the Torah. It is key to the promise God makes to Abraham, in which He promises to make the patriarch so fruitful that his descendants will outnumber the stars in the heavens. And the opposite is true as well; in ancient times those who were unable to bear children, to be fruitful and multiply their numbers, were thought to be under a curse, or at least under judgment, by the L-RD.

Now, Judaism considers having children a religious requirement, especially for their rabbis. Why? Because that is the best way to ensure that there will be another generation of Jews who will learn, study and dedicate themselves to the Torah of God. Despite being a requirement, Judaism also considers children a blessing and, “the greatest gift that God can bestow upon us.”

But that aspect of being fruitful is rather self-explanatory. Now, let’s move on to the fruits of the spirit. The Greek word for fruit is karpos, according to the Strong’s, and among its definitions are these:

G2590 karpos
• 1a) the fruit of the trees, vines, of the fields 1b) the fruit of one’s loins, i.e. his progeny, his posterity 2) that which originates or comes from something, an effect, result 2a) work, act, deed 2b) advantage, profit, utility 2c) praises, which are presented to God as a thank offering

In light of what we’re about to discuss, I especially like definition 2c. You see, anyone can make a claim that they believe in God; they can tell you they are filled with the Spirit. But since belief depends on the position of one’s heart toward God, and since the Spirit of the L-RD is not a measurable substance, how does one know when such a claim is true?

Well, we are given a clue in:

Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

So, there it is in black and white. It’s a familiar passage to most believers and it sounds so perfect, so ideal, that often the list is taken for granted. Yet how many of you know believers – maybe even the one staring back at you in the mirror each morning – who struggle with most of these? I know I do. Are we always as patient as we ought to be with others, for example? Are we gentle with each other, or harsh? Are we always in control of ourselves, or are we prone to outbursts?

But you see, this is only the end of an important passage of Scripture, and often the preceding verses are completely overlooked. So let’s back up now and take a look at:

Galatians 5:17-21
For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Remember the insight Stan has given us into this passage in his recent teachings. What does Paul mean when he says, “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law?” Does it mean the laws of the L-RD are done away with? Certainly not! It means that we are called to live to a standard far above the minimum standard described in the Torah. And if you are living above that minimum standard, you can’t be under it, right? But it is this list of bad fruit that I’d like to draw our attention to today.

You see, we are about to start the month of Elul in a few days and traditionally the month of Elul is to be a time of self-reflection in preparation for the fall festivals. It is a time when we examine ourselves – our lives, our behavior, our choices and our attitudes – as we prepare for the Day of Atonement. The process intensifies after Rosh haShanah and the Days of Awe that follow, leading up to Yom Kippur, but the month of Elul is the beginning of that time of reflection, assessment and repentance.

So, what better time could there be to look at these fruits of the Spirit – the good fruits that manifest themselves when we live by the Spirit, as well as the bad fruits – the sinfulness – that manifests itself when we are not living by the Spirit – and prepare to be honest with ourselves and with the L-RD about where we’ve fallen short and are in need of His healing and His atoning sacrifice?

The truth is, we all fall short somewhere. My list may be different from the next person’s, because our areas of weakness and vulnerability are not identical; but we all need atonement. Yet it’s important to distinguish between falling short on occasion, in moments of weakness, and what Paul talks about here. He says, “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.”

Take note of that. There is falling short on occasion, and what Paul calls, “Living like this.” In other words, living in a state of willing sinful behavior.

You see, this is where we differ from those who teach about grace and grace alone. We believe that what is done in the flesh still matters to God, even though our forgiveness comes from Messiah and not our own merit. What is done in the flesh is what can trip us up in our lives, our relationships, our witness and our ministry, if we slip into the kind of arrogance that says, “It doesn’t matter what we do, because we’re forgiven anyway.”

Here we read just the opposite, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God! See, we know that even Messiah Yeshua warned us that although the L-RD wants to bless us richly, He can and will do so only if we bear fruit, and if losing out on the kingdom is the alternative, well, I know I for one want to start bearing fruit!

As we read last week:

John 15:1-2
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

So, let us ask ourselves, are we bearing fruit? And if we are, what kind of fruit are we bearing? Are we demonstrating the good fruit of the Spirit of the L-RD, the fruit which allows us to reflect the character of God to others? Or are we bearing the bad fruit of our old and sinful nature, the selfishness that leads to hypocrisy, disputes, anger, jealousy and every bad thing?

You see – and this is, I believe, important to realize – no matter whether we are led by the Spirit of the L-RD or our own selfish desires, we will end up being a reflection of someone. If we are led of the Spirit, we can rest peacefully in the knowledge that we are reflecting the character of the L-RD. But if we lead ourselves, if we allow selfishness to rule us, we will still reflect on the character of the L-RD, yet we will not be reflecting His character, but our own, and thus bring a bad report not only to our own name, but to His. This is why it is written, in:

Romans 2:23-24
You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

You see, whether we realize it or not, whether we accept it or not, as believers what we do reflects on God in the eyes of those around us. Those who say “the law has been done away with,” and intend by saying that to suggest that the Torah no longer applies – what is their source of a standard for holy living, or – to use a word familiar to Christianity – what is their standard for justification?

For those who cast aside the Torah, ultimately it becomes a completely subjective standard. But is that what God desires? Is a subjective standard part of His teachings or instructions? Or has the L-RD already given us a blueprint for what He finds holy, what He finds acceptable?

That is the point. We must allow the L-RD to tell us what His standards are; we cannot just make it up as we go along. After all, as the L-RD tells us in this week’s parashah, which Phil just did a fine job of commenting on:

Deuteronomy 12:4, 8-9
You must not worship the L-RD your God in their way … You are not to do as we do here today, everyone as he sees fit, since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the
L-RD your God is giving you.

This is a direct response by the L-RD to the idea that it’s OK to worship the God in our own way, rather than His way, or to make up our own standards, rather than accepting His. He is opposed to that, and there is a limit to His patience with it.

So again, how can we tell the difference between the appearance and the reality, between someone who serves the L-RD and is led by His spirit, and someone who only claims to do so, but is more committed to following his or her own desires? We are given another clue how in:

Hebrews 13:15-16
Through Yeshua, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

So there’s a clue right there! Praising the L-RD is a fruit of Spirit, and let me tell you, it’s not an easy one to fake for very long. I have a friend who was in a band, and his band was a band committed to honoring the L-RD through music. He told me the story of one of his bandmates who, although he claimed to be a believer, whenever they would perform, he’d start having attitude problems. These problems magnified to the point where he actually began cussing and taking the name of the L-RD in vain on stage.

Of course, he had to be let go from the band, but when my friend asked this guy what was up with all this weird behavior, his reply was, and I’m quoting him loosely here, “Well, I want to believe in God, but I really wanted to play in a band to attract women. So whenever I would try to join in praising the L-RD, I couldn’t. It’s like someone was preventing me from praising the L-RD and instead all these curses came out.”

Of course, such a tale is no surprise to those of us who understand what Yeshua meant when he said, in:

Matthew 7:16-18
By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

So displaying the fruits of the Spirit in our attitudes, our behavior and our choices is another way to be fruitful in the eyes of the L-RD. The final way to be fruitful that I’d like to examine today is the one, however, that goes the deepest, and that’s being fruitful by our actions, by our ministry, by our example in ways that draw others closer to God.

You know, people hear the word ministry and they tend to freeze up, or they blow it off and say, “Well, I’m not a minister, so I don’t have to worry about that. I’m in sales” or “I’m an English teacher” or “I work in law enforcement.” But the truth is, no matter what we do to earn a paycheck six days out of the week, all of us who are believers are ministers in that we represent God to whomever we come into contact with.

This is why we want the holiness of the Sabbath rest not to be limited to the twenty-four hour period of the Sabbath, but to spill over into the mundane part of our week as well, so that we will remember the L-RD, honor Him and obey all of his instructions throughout the rest of our week, and so that we don’t misrepresent Him and bring dishonor to His name.

You know, many believers develop a misunderstanding of their relationship with the L-RD. Like the Israelites of last week’s Torah portion, they believe that they have come to rest in Messiah Yeshua by their own merits. Yet even Yeshua insists this is not the case, as we read in:

John 15:14-16
You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

Did you catch that? Yeshua does indeed call us His friends … if we do as He commands. What are His commands? They are the Torah, which He gave to Moses on Sinai. Furthermore, he stresses this: We did not choose Him. He chose us! This is the same message as the L-RD gave Moses to pass on to the Israelites before they were about to enter the land. We do not choose God; God chooses us. Not our merit; His merit. Not our righteousness; His righteousness. The same God, the same message, the same salvation, the same Messiah.

You see, obedience to the Messiah Yeshua and obedience to the Torah is the same thing. You cannot do away with one, without doing away with the other also. The Torah was spoken to Moses by the Messiah Yeshua, who as John reveals in his gospel is the very Word of God. Messiah Yeshua is the living Torah. They cannot be separated, and yet what do so many songs of praise say? “I choose you, L-RD.” Or “I lift You up, L-RD.” Doesn’t that fly right in the face of what the L-RD just told us?

Why does obedience come so hard to so many of us? Even Yeshua recognized this, when He said in:

Luke 6:46-49
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

This is what the L-RD means by fruitfulness. Do we just read the Bible like a good novel, to find out what happens? Or do we allow its instructions into our lives, to change how we interact with the world around us? Do we listen to Stan’s sermons each week because we like his speaking style or his method of teaching? Or do we actually allow the insights God has given him to shake us out of our passivity and make real changes to how we are living out our faith in Yeshua?

Let’s put this into concrete terms for a moment. Let’s imagine a scenario where we received a visitor here at Beth Yeshua. He comes in, he enjoys the music, the people he meets seem friendly, and the food down at the Oneg is pretty tasty. In fact, I can hear some stomachs growling out there right now. But anyway, when he goes back into the parking lot, let’s say he discovers a tire on his car has gone flat. It’s not safe to drive anymore and the nearest tire outlet is a bit beyond safe walking distance, especially with that busy highway to cross.

So, out comes one family and let’s say they planned to go do a great mitzvah, the Feed My Starving Children event. This stranger asks for their help, but this family doesn’t want to miss out on Feed My Starving Children, so they promise to pray for him and off they go.

Another family comes out and they have committed themselves to a weekly Family Night in their home. So, same story, they wish the stranger well, and off they go without lifting a finger to help.

Both of these families are doing good things; their other plans are not at issue. But are they doing the right thing by this stranger? Are they bearing what Yeshua calls “fruit that will last?” Are they bearing the fruit of the Spirit? Are they being fruitful in deed as well as word?

Let’s get to the point: if that’s all this person experienced during his visit here, and he ended up alone in the parking lot with a flat tire, having to call a secular friend to come and help him while we all go our separate ways doing our spiritual things and our mitzvahs and our other good works we already had planned – none of them bad in and of themselves, mind you – do you think that visitor will ever come back here? And then you have to ask yourself … is that what being fruitful is?

But hold on. Along comes one more family. Let’s say they have a family reunion they want to get to. But they see this visitor has a flat tire and they put their plans on hold immediately. They offer him a ride to the nearest tire shop, wait with him while he buys a tire, and return to the parking lot to help him install it and get on his way.

The picture changes, doesn’t it? Now do you think this first-time visitor is going to come back? Probably. And it won’t be because of the good food or the intriguing teaching or the nice facility. It will be because he can say, “Here’s a place where the people who attend really live out their faith. Here’s a place where people think about more than themselves, their own needs and goals and plans. Here’s a place where faith goes more than skin-deep.”

That’s what being fruitful means. Here’s what we read to confirm this in:

Colossians 1:10
And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

So, before we bring this to a close, I’d like to address some possible responses to the illustration I just outlined. Now, some folks will hear this story of a man with a flat tire and object, saying, “You can’t take him to a tire shop on the Sabbath! That’s violating the Sabbath by exchanging goods for services on Shabbat!” And yet even the rabbis teach that “the preservation of life comes before all the rules of the Torah.”

Hold on a second, some may say; this guy has a flat tire, sure, but his life isn’t at stake. So you’d still be violating the Sabbath. Yet consider this: perhaps it is the middle of winter and it is twenty below zero outside. Or perhaps it’s summer and there’s a violent storm on the way, or overbearing heat is an issue. Even if conditions are nice, what is happening to this stranger’s life while he’s stranded with a flat tire and no one offering to help him? Well, his life isn’t moving forward, is it? It’s on hold. Perhaps he has something just as important to get to, as important as anything other families are going off to do.

Whatever the justification might be, however, we come back to the basics of the scenario: without help, this man is stranded in our parking lot and needs to call a secular friend to get on with his life and he comes away not feeling great about Beth Yeshua. With help from someone here, his needs are provided for and he comes away feeling very good about Beth Yeshua. Which type of congregation would you rather belong to? Which do you think is bearing good fruit?

As you ponder that, I’ll leave you with these words from:

John 3:7-11
John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” “What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”

Shabbat Shalom.