The High Impact Pastor - Producing Fruit that Lasts

Did you know that research says one of the major reasons unbelievers do not follow Jesus Christ is because of Christians. Christians who don't live like Christians.

And whether it's hypocrisy or meanness or narrowness, when Christians don't live like Christians, unbelievers do not want to explore the gospel. But that can change. In fact, Jesus is going to tell us how that can change and change today.

Stay with me. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry featuring the daily Bible teaching of Chip Ingram.

I'm Dave Drewy. And in this program, Chip continues his new series, The High Impact Pastor. You know, as our world continues to thaw from the pandemic, now more than ever, the church has to act like the church. And that can only happen with healthy, God-focused pastors leading well. Through this short series, Chip offers hope to church leaders who are discouraged and struggling spiritually, mentally, and even financially. Stay with us as we learn what Jesus is saying to pastors in these challenging times and how everyday people like you and me can learn to support them. With that, let's join Chip for today's message, Producing Fruit That Lasts, from Romans chapter 12. Welcome to session four.

In this session, we're going to talk about fruit that remains. Early in my ministry, probably the first almost 10 years, the model that I had was preach God's Word and get people into some groups and let's make a difference. And I was a pretty good communicator, and it was a small little town out in the middle of nowhere. But out in that little town, people gathered, and they started listening to me.

And then we partnered with some other churches to meet some needs in the community. And so I was doing some of the things, but if a lot of people showed up, I was very happy. And if people didn't show up, I was very sad. And my emotions were like all about attendance, or do we have enough money, or the budget.

And it was a very old facility, and it took about seven years, and we would remodel it and work on Saturdays. And so success to me was how many people were coming, and then how much money are we having to do the ministry, and then the buildings that were remodeled. And everyone thought we were a great success, and I think it was in many ways. We did many, many good things. We saw people come to the Lord. We partnered racially with black and Hispanic brothers and sisters and pastors.

So don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad thing. And that little church grew from about 30 or 35 people to almost 500 in this little, little town. It was my first 10 years as a pastor. And then I left that church to go to all the other side of America. And then about three or four or five years later, I looked and there weren't many people at the church, and there wasn't much happening at the church. And a lot of the things that were so exciting, they just, I left, and it just kind of died in some ways. God has since brought a young pastor, and I think there's good hope.

But I really regret that. I really saw, yes, I was a good speaker, and I could get lots of people to come and listen to me, and some people found the Lord, and it was good, but it wasn't fruit that remained. And from there, God sent me to the other part of the country, and it was like a missionary.

I mean, the part of America that is against God and doesn't believe the Bible and filled with satanic cults and new age, and it was a harsh, harsh environment. And God decided to do something very special, and that church literally blew up into thousands of people. And again, I was learning, so I started to invest in individuals more than I had before and in leaders, and some of those leaders became pastors in other churches.

And there were some very exciting things, but it grew to thousands of people, and the teaching of God's Word was good. And then I remember being called to that international ministry that I talked about, and it took them a while to find a new pastor, and I did some things really well there, don't get me wrong. But about three or four or five years after, I saw the church went from thousands of people down from five services just to one, and there was a sadness. And yes, some people went to other churches, and there were some leadership mistakes that people made, but I questioned, I wonder what would have happened if my passion and my metric was about fruit that lasts.

I wonder when I left, even if I would have left differently. I wonder if I built into more leaders in the church the way I did to a few of the pastors, if it wouldn't be different. And as I shared, I had a third opportunity to be a pastor, and I've usually had about 10 years in each of these pastoral experiences, and I wanted to make Romans 12 Christians. And I put my energy into defining what is fruit, fruit that lasts. After defining what a real disciple is, after making that what we would measure, I can honestly say I often didn't even know the attendance, but here's what I knew. If you grow fruitful Christians, the kind Jesus did, and if you start with a mustard seed and it multiplies and people grow in character and depth and in love, you always have to set up chairs because those are the kind of people that people wonder, what is God doing in your life? And so what I want to do in our time together is give you that profile, that picture of what a disciple is. So open your Bibles, if you will, to Romans chapter 12, and the goal of this time is to give you a biblical, relational, graceful definition of what a disciple is. What is fruit?

How does God define fruit? And I would suggest that the Apostle Paul, you know, he was a Pharisee, Will Durant, who wrote this huge number of volumes about world history. He was a non-Christian. He describes the Apostle Paul as the greatest intellect in the first century. So you have this Pharisee who kept the law, who kept the rules, the Bible, probably had most of the Old Testament memorized, and he's got this tremendous intellect, and then God breaks through, right?

You remember? You know, and he's on his way to Damascus, and isn't it interesting that he didn't go from that big moment, and yes, initially he shared, and people came to Christ, and then he went to Jerusalem and wanted to get to know the apostles, but his ministry, God says, you need to grow. So we don't know where, how, but three years in Arabia, and then if you do the math, he went back to his hometown. From his conversion, it was almost 10 years before Barnabas said, Paul, I need you. The Gentiles are coming to Christ, and that's your calling. Even with Paul, it started as a mustard seed, and he had personal, he says, from Jesus directly, revelation, and then he knew the apostles, and then the Apostle Paul, I think, as he knew the Sermon on the Mount, and as he understood the teaching of Jesus, and the Word, and the sowers, he was on his way to Spain. He was on his way to the mission, I want to reach the whole world, the Great Commission. This is what we're called to, and on the way, he needed to write a letter to, before he got there, to say, this is the clarity of the Gospel, right?

I mean, the Book of Romans, it's the most clear, longest teaching in all the New Testament. Those first three chapters that all have sinned, chapters four and five, salvation by grace through faith, chapters six through eight, how the Holy Spirit changes our life in sanctification, chapters nine through 11, God's plan for Israel, and what he's going to do and fulfill all of his promises one day. Chapter 12 looks back on all that grace, and he says, therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's great mercy, to offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

This is your reasonable service. And then verse two, don't be conformed to this world any longer, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that your life, your lifestyle, could actually prove, right, good fruit. What's the will of God?

It's good, it's acceptable, it's perfect. And then I'll go on and talk to them about how they see themselves, a sober self-assessment, and he'll go on from there and talk about their gifts and understanding your gifts and put them into play, and then he'll go on and say, here's how I want you to relate to one another, right? Look at verse nine, let love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good, be devoted to one another and brotherly love. And he develops these deep, rich relationships that we have in the body of Christ. And then he moves on in verse 14, in a hostile world just like ours, bless those who persecute you, bless and curse not, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. And he goes on and even says, you know when your enemy, he says if your enemy's hungry, feed him, if he's thirsty, give him a drink.

Don't be overcome with evil, overcome evil with good. Here's what I want you to see, and you can see it in your notes. In Romans chapter 12, there are five specific relationships.

Look at on your notes. In verse one, it's your relationship with God. In verse two, it's your relationship with the world, and here it's the world system that's energized by the enemy. Look at verses three through eight, it's your relationship with yourself. Then verses nine through 13, it's the relationship with believers. And then 14 to 21, it's relationship with non-believers and even evil that comes at you. And so first what I want you to know is when we talk about, we want fruit that lasts.

Here's what I want you to get. We want fruit that first and foremost has a relational component. Spiritual maturity is not about how many verses people know. It's not spiritual activities.

It's not showing up for attendance. All those things have their place. Spiritual maturity is about a relationship with God, with the world, with yourself, with believers and unbelievers. And then notice there's a response in each one of these. In verse one, the response to God. In other words, it answers this question. Think about this. If there is a God, what does He really want from us?

And of course, we believe there is a God. You know what God wants? He wants you, all of you. He wants you surrendered to Him.

In other words, normal Christianity, Jesus' purpose for all Christians, not just pastors or missionaries or leaders or elders or deacons, Jesus' goal is that every person in your church would come to a moment where they would bow their knee and bow their heart and say, Lord Jesus, all that I am, all that I have, and all that I will ever be is yours. My family is yours. My money is yours. My home is yours. My future is yours.

I will do whatever you want me to do, and I will go wherever you want me to go. It's called the lordship of Christ. That's the kind of Christian that is much fruit and produces much fruit. And then notice next, it's not just a moment in time, but there's a journey and there's a process because we're pulled, aren't we?

The world is bombarding us, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. And he says, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed. Does it say by going to meetings? Does it say by trying really, really hard? Does it say by, it says by the renewing of your mind.

What's that? We're back to Jesus. So we need to start thinking like gardeners. We need to understand that this is the seed, the powerful supernatural seed of God's word.

Our job is to create an environment where we weed out the negative and we fertilize and we get God's word in people's minds and hearts. And as they renew their mind and they think differently, the Holy Spirit will produce the life of Jesus. But notice it's a process.

Literally, we're going to learn it. Stop allowing the world to shape you, but start allowing your mind to be renewed. And then look at verse three through eight. It says, don't be conformed any longer. And then right after that, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but rather think with sober judgment.

And the idea here is to have an accurate self-assessment. You remember the time that one of the scribes asked Jesus a question? It was a good question. Lord, tell me, what's the greatest commandment?

I want to know. You're our new rabbi. You're doing miracles. What's the greatest commandment? And Jesus did some back and forth with him.

And you know what it is. Matthew 22, 36 to 37. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it. And so what we really are about is not just numbers.

Of course, we track those things. It's great when there's a space and there's a building. And it's wonderful when God resources our ministry. But bearing much fruit and fruit that remains, the real test is doing people love God with all their heart. And do they love their neighbor as themselves?

And here's the question that I asked 20 years ago. How do you know if people really love God with all their heart? How do you know and how could you ever measure do they love their neighbor as themselves? And what I want to suggest is the Apostle Paul gives us not all that there is about discipleship, but he gives us a snapshot. He gives us a picture of what a disciple looks like.

And so in verses one and two he tells us, you know what it looks like to love God? You know what my goal is for me and for every person in the church that I get to pastor? It's that they would be first surrendered to God.

That they would be all in. And second, they would be on a journey to say no to the world. And yes, renewing their mind in God's Word so progressively become more like Jesus.

The second thing is, is I would want them, because God says it, to love their neighbor. And Jesus, remember how he described neighbor? Remember when that other pretty sharp Pharisee said, well who is my neighbor?

You know. And Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan. And he said, your neighbor is the person that's in need. Your neighbor is a brother or sister that has a pain. 1 John would say, your neighbor is when you have and they have nothing. You don't say be warmed and be filled.

You give them what you have. Your neighbor is that person that doesn't know God and you respond to him in love and in kindness. And in verses three through eight he says that we're to have an accurate view of ourself.

Why? Because just as the human body has many parts that all don't have the same function, so we who are many in Christ, we literally belong to one another. And then he says we fit together but you can't fit together unless you know this is who I am in Christ. This is how God made me. These are my strengths.

These are my weaknesses. In fact, look at verses six through eight. He'll tell them that you need to understand your spiritual gifts. Not just any spiritual gifts, but your primary gifts. And then he says once you understand that you should use that.

And so he's beginning to build a profile and something that goes from bare fruit that seems so vague to something that's very practical. Every person is to be fully surrendered to God, be separate from the world's values, and have a sober accurate assessment of who they are in Christ. And then I'm to love my neighbor as myself. What's it look like to love my neighbor? Well, in the body of Christ it looks like serving in love.

Not just coming to a meeting, right? You and I, how many times there's needs here and we need volunteers there and we look around and there may be a lot of people who show up, but if we want fruit that remains, we want people connected with one another. And we're going to learn and talk about how to connect them in ways where they serve one another, where they experience this love and this connection that the Holy Spirit produces, where they use their gifts in ways that you empower and you're creating an environment. But what you realize is Jesus was right in and of itself. The word of God in that environment, it just grows and you'll see amazing things happen.

We're going to talk specifically about how to do that. And then finally, it says loving your neighbor is to supernaturally respond to evil with good. I don't know that there's anything that is a higher mark of godliness than when we treat our enemies the way Jesus commanded us to treat our enemies, to love those who persecute us, to pray for those that are against us, to respond not as a doormat, not doing nothing, but refusing to retaliate, of being the kind of person like Jesus and Stephen was. Father, forgive them.

They know not what they do. And so what you have built out of Romans chapter 12 is a pretty clear profile. It's relational.

There's five relationships, right? God, the world, yourself, believers, unbelievers. There's a specific outcome that we're moving toward, the outcome of being surrendered to God, separate from the world's values, having a sober self-assessment, serving in love, and supernaturally responding to evil with good. Now, I've gone over this quite quickly, but what I want you to know is I'm going to ask you to go on a journey with me. I'm going to ask you to begin to really pray and say, Lord, I want fruit that remains. And I want you to pray about who might be the mustard seed, maybe three people, three people in your church that you know, they're hungry, they're humble, they want to grow.

I would like to take you on a journey of becoming a Romans 12 Christian, because that's what fruit looks like, and it's relational, and it's the grace of God that does it. I've had the privilege of seeing God do this around the world. I've had the privilege of seeing what happens in people's lives when instead of, well, what's it mean to be a good Christian?

Try hard, come to church, give a little money, maybe join a group. I mean, most Christians don't have a clear picture of this is the goal, this is the picture, this is who God wants me to become. Back, let me ask you a question that I often ask other pastors. If a young man, a young woman, let's say in their 20s with lots of energy, and they said, I've come to your church in the last three weeks.

In week number two, I invited Jesus to come into my life and forgive me for all my sins. I have a whole new set of desires. I would like to be a mature Christian. In fact, maybe one of them might even say, I would like someday because I read the entire New Testament in the last two weeks, and I saw where it talks about it's a noble thing to want to be an elder. So, I would like to be a leader, an elder in the church someday.

What do I do? And if you're thinking to yourself, other than inviting them to come to services, other than you hope they learn some things from this person or that person, the average pastor that I've met all around the world does not have a plan, and that's going to change because we're going to give you a plan. It's not Chip's plan, it's God's plan. It's Jesus and his gardening of the seed and the sower and how it operates. And it's the Apostle Paul saying, Jesus talked about fruit in the kind of soil in the heart of the man or a woman that really wants to grow.

This is what it looks like. And here's what's exciting. Doing this for years and years and years, I began to ponder. You know, most of us have big questions in life. What I begin to see is that God answers the biggest questions of life.

It's just a summary, but he does it right out of Romans chapter 12. I didn't grow up as a Christian and I had a crisis in my life because what I thought would bring joy and happiness and success didn't. And I remember praying, God, if you exist, what do you really want from me? And I will never forget the day.

I was a college athlete and I'll never forget the day I'd never read the Bible and I read Romans chapter 12, verse 1. And the Spirit of God says, Chip, you know what God wants from you? You. All of you.

And it was like, oh. The second question I think most Christians have is, God, how do I get the very best from you? You know, the Bible says you're a good God. You're a loving God.

You're a caring God. You want to bring the best in my life. You long for me to have a good marriage, to be a good parent, to be a vibrant single person. You want me to have a job where I thrive.

You want to use me. God, how does that happen? Verse 2 answers it. Don't be conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

What do you get? You experience God's will. The third question that every serious person, believer or unbeliever, asks is this. How do I discover the real me? You know, we all grew up in different families, different cultures, and often we kind of learn that if I act this way or if I say this, that people will like me.

And so we create what I call sort of a hologram. We create this persona, and we act certain ways with different groups so that people will like us. And in our deep and private moments we wonder, who am I really? I mean, who am I? And you'll find here a sober self-assessment we have to grasp. Here, this is who you are. You are loved, redeemed, wanted, saved, secure, justified. You have been empowered, chosen, gifted.

You have a purpose. When that happens, it's amazing. And I don't know anyone that don't want to have authentic community or deep abiding relationships. Not the kind where you just go to a meeting, but I'm talking about the kind that as I talked with one of my mentors who has cancer right now. We cry together. We share the deepest things together. About 18 months ago, it was dark, and I got depressed, and I had thoughts that I didn't want in my mind, and some of them were terrible thoughts, right?

You had these too? And I remember calling this mentor and saying, I just have to get them out of my head, but they're bad thoughts. And I shared with him openly and honestly. I've been a pastor 40 years. I thought, how can I have these kind of thoughts and feel this down? And he listened, and he called me every day, and he prayed me through it.

You know how that happens? That happens in verses 9 through 11, when we take off our mask, when the real you shows up and meets real needs for the right reason and the right way. And I want to tell you, God's given us a very clear game plan, not to think about that, but how to do it. And finally, in this world, and especially now, we as believers have evil and injustice and darts and the enemy aimed at us. How do you respond?

How do you respond supernaturally where evil is overcome with good? And you know something, Romans 12 will tell us exactly what to do and how it works. Here's what I want you to know. You can have a very clear picture of a disciple. Do you need to keep doing your regular thing day in and day out?

Absolutely. But what I want to tell you is that continuing to do the ministry the way you do it will continue to deliver the results that you're currently getting. And what I want you to do, want you to consider, want you to pray about, is would you be willing to say the new metric will be fruit. And the fruit can now be defined as Christians that are surrendered to God separate from the world's values, that have a sober self-assessment, they're serving in love, and regardless of what's happening they're supernaturally responding to evil with good.

Those are the kind of Christians that changed the world and are changing the world everywhere. Don't live with regrets. Don't measure the wrong things. God has given us a window of opportunity in this time in history to change what we measure, to get clear on what matters. What I've learned over the years is until God works in me very deeply, He's not going to work through me. And so I want to invite you in our next time together to go on a journey, not to do anything I would say, but with new eyes to say, what did Jesus actually do to prepare for the ministry?

What did He actually do that made Him the communicator that He was and the disciple that He was and created the impact that He had? Because if we will do what Jesus did, we will experience the kind of fruit that Jesus bore. Almighty and ever-living God, thank you that you don't ask us to do something that we can't understand. Lord, thank you for the Apostle Paul. Thank you for how long it took him to get clear and to understand grace and what it meant to bear fruit. Lord, thank you for supernaturally speaking by the Holy Spirit to the Apostle Paul and now to us so that we have a picture.

We know what a disciple looks like that's mature. Lord, we have a game plan. We have a pathway. Father, would you help us to break free of the pressures, the expectations, and the traditions that keep us from investing in the mustard seed of a few as we do all the other ministry to grow your church, your way, for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.

Before we go any further today, I want to pause. If there's any one message I would love you to pass on to your pastor, it's this one. I spent a great many years as a pastor trying to get people into Bible studies and church activities and coming on the weekend and being better people, but I could never figure out how to actually measure what it means to be a disciple.

And I'll never forget being in Nigeria and teaching a pastor's conference and realizing we couldn't come to agreement on what's it mean to be a disciple. And in one of the most unique opportunities of my life with the Lord, I taught through Romans 12 in a way that I had never taught through it before. And in that one chapter, what I saw was God has given us a grace-based relational profile of a mature follower of Jesus. Later, it became a book called True Spirituality, Becoming a Romans 12 Christian. And so what I want you to know is that if we as pastors can clearly define what it means for our people to be mature, to bear real fruit, then we can start with where we are and help our people become surrendered to the Lord, separate from the world's values, have a sober self-assessment, learn to serve the body of Christ in love, and supernaturally respond to evil with good. What I can tell you is when, as a pastor, you can help people see what it means specifically to be a follower of Jesus, it changes everything.

Great word, Chip. Thanks. Well, as we close, let me tell you that God has provided amazing opportunities for Living on the Edge to serve church leaders all around the world. So if you'd like to get involved in this work to support and encourage pastors, now's a fantastic time to partner with us. We're in the middle of our mid-year match, which means every gift we receive today through midnight on July 7th will be doubled dollar for dollar, thanks to a small group of generous donors. Now to give, go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 or go to livingontheedge.org. App listeners, tap donate, and thanks in advance for your support. Well, until next time, this is Dave Drewy saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.