Prayer
God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, I praise your glorious name this day. I praise you for all the wonders that you have done. I praise you for the great magnitude of your kindness in giving us all things needful for this life. I praise you for your mercies, patience, and kindness in the face of our sinful abuse of these gifts. I confess, Lord, I am a great sinner. I look to you again this day for mercy, my need is great. Cleanse me, I pray, turn my heart from sin unto you. Lord, have mercy. Please bless your word to me now, I pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Reading
Gen 1:9-13.
“And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.”
Meditation
In the big-picture sense, we have seen that God’s purpose is to fill the earth with his glory and presence, and to unite heaven and earth in the fullness of time. But how would this actually happen? What is this plan going to look like moving forward? God begins to answer that question by calling forth plants and productivity from the earth. Gen 1:9-11 gives us at least two major insights into God’s plan and purposes.
The first is that God made the earth to be fruitful. Day three shows us that God’s intention for productivity and fruitfulness from his land was very literally realised. God made plants to grow and reproduce – and that is a key word: reproduce. To this point, God’s action in creation has been very direct. He spoke light into existence; he directly separated the waters on day two; and even at the start of day three he spoke directly to divide water and land. But here on the second half of day three something different happens. God does not speak to make fruit, he speaks to make vegetation and then he gives the trees themselves the capacity to be fruitful.
With this insight in mind, we can draw out a significant and important principle: that God generally glorifies himself in creation using second causes. He does not magically place a bowl of cereal on your table, but he does cause the earth to produce food, and he does call us to work with our hands to gain the benefit of that food. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s still a gift from God! We can’t make the earth to be fruitful of our own accord, and nor can we give ourselves the ability to work. Everything is still a gift from God, including that bowl of cereal on your table. Nevertheless, God uses second causes.
The second major insight follows on from this: fruitfulness glorifies God. That is to say, fruitfulness displays and manifests God’s excellence. Again – we’ve already seen in our studies to this point that God’s purpose in creation is to shine the light of his glory and presence into the creation, and as he begins to then fill the creation to achieve that purpose, the first thing he does is to make the earth fruitful and productive. The clear and logical conclusion that we should draw from this is that God is glorified through the productive, fruitful growth of his creation.
Now, having said that, let me build on this further by saying that, while the plants certainly do glorify God in their own right by producing fruit, they also set a precedent for everything that would come after. When the creatures come on days five and six, they follow the pattern of day three, as we see in verse 22. Having made birds and sea creatures, God “blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”” Notice the language there: the birds and sea creatures are told to be “fruitful”. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed it before, but fish and birds don’t generally produce apples. But there it is, these newly formed creatures are told to be fruitful. God says the same thing to mankind in verse 28.
Again, the principle we’re seeing here is that God designed the fruitfulness of the plants to be a paradigm for the whole creation. In everything his purpose is to glorify himself through the fruitfulness and productivity of his creatures, and when you start looking for further examples of this principle you actually find this productive, fruitful, plant imagery absolutely everywhere in scripture. Consider just a few examples:
Psalm 1.
“Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.”
Psalm 92:12-14
“The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the LORD;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green”
Proverbs 14:14
“The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.”
John 15:4
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Galatians 5:22
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness”
With this thought before us, there is a very obvious practical implication here that we must draw out: God wants us to bear fruit. More particularly, he wants you to bear fruit. God has given us a place to dwell, he has provided all that is needful, but he also expects us to bear fruit. Philippians 1:10 puts it plainly, as it says that he wants us to be “pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Fruitfulness is a most basic and fundamental principle of how creation glorifies God, and God therefore calls us to be fruitful. In Genesis 1, this is where we begin to see how it is that the light and glory of God’s presence will be realised on earth – through the fruitful productivity of his creatures.
Be ye doers of the word…
This thought brings with it a note of warning as well. In Matthew 7:15 we read: ““Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Are you bearing fruit in your life? Am I? On what are we spending our lives? Are we investing our time and energy into things that will bring glory to God? Can we see the fruit of righteousness and growing obedience to the Word of God in our lives? If the answer is no, then we must be warned about the danger of that. If we invest our lives in fruitless activity, and if we bear no fruit, then we will be cut off.
Having said that, there’s an encouragement that follows on from this, because if you are in Christ, if you abide in Christ, you will bear fruit. As the Holy Spirit works within you, you will increasingly learn to do that which is pleasing to him as he writes his law upon your heart. As a further word of encouragement, let me also say this: God prunes his people. In John 15:2 we read: “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” God wants to glorify himself in your life through your fruitfulness, and just as a gardener prunes his plants, so God will prune us to see to it that we bear more fruit. Now that’s a good thing, but it’s also going to be painful. God will allow painful things into our lives so that we may bear more fruit later, which is why we read these words in the Book of Hebrews: “we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as you read these words, please know that God does have a place for us. We have a home beyond this life in the New Heavens & the New Earth. We must learn to look toward that home, and be busy about our preparations for it while we remain here. Our life is hid with Christ in heaven, seated at the right hand of God. But not only do we have a place to belong, but we also have a calling and a purpose to be productive with the things that he has entrusted to us right now. To be productive in our families, in producing children. To be productive in our work, as we labour and use the gifts and abilities that God has given us. He calls us to be productive in the church – serving his people and going forward with the gospel mission. He also calls us to be productive in godliness in our character, increasingly manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. There is much to be getting on with! And so if you feel homeless and without purpose… think again. Because in Christ we already have a place to belong and a purpose to fulfill. SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
Lord God, loving Heavenly Father, I can see that your will for my life is that I should be fruitful. That I should productive in all manner of ways, and especially in bearing the fruit of righteousness in my manner of living. As I consider my life with this in mind, Lord, I cannot help but to be aware of that vast harvest of sinful motives and actions that are present in my life. O Lord, I am in great need of your help, that you should come by the divine workings of your Holy Spirit and prune, and plant, and water, and harvest. O Lord, I pray, please cause my life to abound in the fruit of the Spirit. Please cause my heart to abound in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. Help me, Lord. Please show me. Please work in me, please cleanse my heart that I may be wholly devoted to you, and dedicated to the pursuit of godliness. May it be so in all the saints of God, may you fill our hearts with an earnest desire to seek your face, and to love you with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Day 19: A Place of Productivity (Gen 1:9-13).