To Be A Producer Of The Kingdom Of God

Lord, I believe you want to bless me with riches so I am trusting that you are going to help me win the lottery. Lord, I believe you want to bless me with an easy life so I am trusting you are going to make all my problems disappear. Lord, I believe you want to bless me with fame so I am trusting that you are going to overlook the things I have to do to get there.

Sounds ridiculous to me. How about you? Yet so often it is our attitude as we make God into our own personal genie. We seem to have missed the point that the Christian life is about producing, not consuming. Where did we go wrong with what Jesus taught us? How did we get is so twisted? Jesus stated:

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit. Without me, you can’t do anything. (John 15:5)

I find this whole passage to be one of the most profound in John's purpose of revealing the incredible relationship Jesus made possible between us, Jesus, the Spirit and the Father. Yes, I could simply say God but I want to make this a little more personal than the title "God" allows.

We have the purpose of remaining in Jesus, allowing him to remain in us and to be producers. The emphasis has to be on all three here because our purpose is to produce but we can't do it unless we remain in Jesus and he in us. But let me also point this out to show just how important it is to produce:

My Father is glorified when you produce much fruit and in this way prove that you are my disciples. (John 15:8)

How wrong we are to believe that God's desire is to make us comfortable here. Jesus did not take on the torturous cross so we could be comfortable but instead so that we could spend eternity with our Father. We are here so that our faith would be developed, to mature spiritually, to become producers as mature citizens of the Kingdom. It is the selfishness of our sin nature that pushes us to be consumers, to take from God and consume the seed he has given us instead of sowing it as we are intended to do. But that is only part of the issue.

We would understand our place so much more if we would but remain in Jesus and allow him to remain in us. We can't do anything without him. Sure, we can produce great things according to this world but with no value in the world to come. Jesus told us to "lay up" our treasures in heaven where nothing can touch them. The principle is so simple but we often complicate the application.

We complicate it by never really dying to ourselves. The things of the sinful nature we died to still lick at us, producing selfishness, envy, conceit, unforgiveness, hate, depression. These things and so much more are produced in a life that is not found in Jesus and in which Jesus has no part. So before we can become producers who glorify the Father, we have to possess Jesus and be possessed by him.

This is not a self-will endeavor. It is not accomplished by intellectual pursuit. It cannot be grasped by an unspiritual mind. It cannot be helped by psychology or science. It is born of the conviction of the Holy Spirit who plants a seed in us that we must desire. "Seek my face" God told a disobedient nation, "and you will find me." God gives us the desire for him but we have to act on it. He convicts us but we have to act on it. Jesus has shown us the way "Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me" but we have to desire it. In desiring it the Spirit will do all that is necessary for us to die to ourselves with great joy as we are possessed by the only one who truly loves us.

We have to be possessed by Jesus and not our selfish desires in order to fulfill our purpose of being producers. Examine your day; it should be quite easy to tell what you are and if you find you are something you don't want to be, you know what to do to see it changed.

Where Have All The Producers Gone?

I often ask this question of people: Are you a producer or a consumer? The short answer is that we are both but the eternal answer should be that we are producers. Unfortunately our society is bent on creating consumers; people who do nothing but consume whatever junk is thrown their way. Very little of it is of any value, mostly just entertainment related things. But we eat it up with an insatiable appetite. What is it that we are contributing, producing for our society?

The seed of God is not a consumer but a producer. Wherever God's Word goes things are produced. Wherever God's love is shared things are produced. Wherever he sends his children things are produced. We are seeds. We are producers. We contribute. If we are born of the Spirit it is part of our new character and we can't help ourselves.

In one of my favorite passages of the Bible, Isaiah 55, God says this of his Word:

As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (vv. 10-11)

"It will not return to me empty". Jesus gave that same direction for our lives as he told the story of the talents. A master was going away for a while and he gave some money for his servant's to invest for him, to produce more. The one who produced the most from what he was given was rewarded the most. The one who produced nothing was rejected. Our lives are like that money. We have been given many blessings but those blessings are not to be selfishly hoarded away but instead they are meant to be given out, shared, planted, invested so that they will produce.

Paul encouraged the Colossians with this:

All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. (Colossians 1:6)

Wherever the gospel goes in produces growth. We have been given this gospel to seed into people's lives but we are like farmers who hold on to the seed, afraid of offending the soil. People are not being saved from death because we are too afraid of offending them; we withhold the good news. We have not yet understood that we have the key of life to be offered to those who are dying. If they accept it or not is up to them but how will you know unless you offer it?

So again I ask, are you a producer or consumer. We have enough consumers in this world, what God has called you to be is a producer. Wherever the gospel goes it produces fruit and there is growth. Are we taking the gospel with us wherever we go? Do we trust that God will do something with it? Are we willing to set aside our fear of rejection and just trust that God will use the words he places in our mouth and the action he gives to our hands? We are producers because of Christ in us, so let's get to work.