We are continuing in our series, "You’re Invited!" It is a series that seeks to celebrate the ministries and mission taking place at Shepherd of the Hills, an invitation to become involved in one of the ministries—where it intersects with your passions and interests—and an invitation to invite someone else to join you. To fulfill our calling as a part of the body of Christ and to insure our future as a church we must become a more inviting congregation.

Today, as we move into the season of stewardship in the church, the invitation is to commit some fruitful time in the work of God’s Kingdom in the world. The mark of active membership corresponding with our topic for today, and for the next two weeks, is Supporting the work of the church through the giving of money, time, and talents. Today, the subject of time. Next week, the subject of talents. And then, on Consecration Sunday, the subject of money. But for today, Supporting the work of the church through the giving of…time.

To begin with, I’m going to reveal my poor marketing skills. Somewhat like Jesus, who reveals his poor marketing skills—at least by today’s worldly standards—when he recruits disciples by saying things like "those who seek to find their life must first lose it," or "in order to be my disciple you must take up your cross and follow me." Losing your life to save it and Take up your cross and follow me are not particularly great recruiting slogans. In the same vein, in a sermon seeking to encourage you to invest some time in the work of the church, supporting the work of the church in the giving of time, it’s probably not a great marketing tool to begin by saying, "You need to prune back on your time." But that is what our Scripture passage calls us to do, this passage that comes from Jesus’ words to his disciples in the setting of that first Lord’s Supper. It is the principle of the vineyard—branches that do not bear fruit are cut away and burned; more than that, however, even fruit bearing branches are pruned, good fruit cut away so that the fruit that remains is the best.

The key to a fruitful life is to practice the principles of the vineyard Jesus teaches here. It begins by staying connected to our roots, the source of nourishment and nurturing. For us, that source is Jesus Christ. "Remain in me," Jesus says, for apart from Christ we can do nothing. Whether it’s our work or our play, Jesus is interested in it and wants to be our source for a fruit bearing life. True life begins with Christ, the true vine. It continues on through staying connected to the source for true life.

Some never experience a fruitful life because they’ve never connected to the source for life, Jesus Christ. For whatever reason—they’ve never heard the good news of Jesus, experiences in life have hardened their hearts, observing hypocritical behavior in someone professing to be a Christian—whatever the reason, they have not come to faith in the source for life, Jesus Christ. It is an important part of the mission of Christ’s church to invite such persons to discover the fruitful life to be found in Jesus Christ.

Some have begun the journey of a fruitful life with Christ, but for some reason—misplaced priorities in life, a gradual but steady submission to a worldly agenda—for some reason they have lost their connection to Christ. The focus of their lives has moved outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ and they no longer produce fruit in the Kingdom of God. Like branches that have been cut off from the vine, their lives are withering away into meaninglessness. It is an important part of the mission of the church to invite such persons to re-discover true meaning for life through a life with Christ.

And there are some who have begun a fruitful journey with Jesus Christ, are active in the Kingdom—in fact, are obsessively busy at work in the Kingdom—and the many fruit they are producing is so small and withered that it is of little use. An important part of the mission of the church is to invite such persons to prayerfully seek God’s guidance in pruning back some of the fruit on their branch so that the fruit that remains is the best it can be.

I believe what Jesus is inviting us to with his words to his disciples in the upper room of the last supper is to an honest, perhaps even ruthless, certainly prayerful evaluation of where we spend our time and what kind of fruit we are producing. Where there are activities in our lives that are obviously outside the will of God for us, the obvious response is to cut it away from our lives. Flirtations in areas of sin, involvement in schemes or activities that are dishonorable, certainly dishonoring to God, cut them out. Cut them out of your life and be done with them. Where there are exhausting activities, obsessive busy-ness of work in the Kingdom, work that is honorable yet produces inferior fruit, prayerfully consider where God is calling you to prune. And, where there is in your life little or no work being done in the Kingdom—you’re basically a good person doing good things but there is little or no connection to your faith in Jesus Christ—prayerfully consider how you might connect to the work of the Kingdom that God is doing in the world.

There are two images of the church frequently cited that, while they may be accurate portrayals of the reality of what happens in the church, are not God’s design for the church. One image is that of a football game. While thousands observe and cheer from the seats in the stands, a small group of people exert a great deal of time and energy in playing the game. The spectators do their best to cheer and encourage the players, but they do nothing toward actually playing the game. The second image is that of the 80-20 rule: 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. That may be an accurate statistic expressing the reality of what happens in a church, but it is not God’s design for the church. If the 80-20 rule is accurate, it means there are a whole lot of people who are producing little or no fruit for the Kingdom (80% producing the remaining 20% of fruitful work to be accomplished), and there is a significant number of people who are producing good fruit (20% producing 80%), but it is not the best it can be. God’s design for His church, God’s design for the work to be done in His Kingdom is that 100% of the people do 100% of the work—each person bringing his or her gifts to the work of the Kingdom. Each person supporting the work of the church through the giving of…time. In such a world there are no fruitless branches to be cut away and burned. In such a world there are no fruit laden branches in need of pruning. In such a world each person supports the work of the church through the giving of money, talents and time. That, in a nutshell, is what this series is all about. When one "supports the work of the church through the giving of money, time, and talents," one is involved in all the other eight marks of active membership. One is "proclaiming the good news," "demonstrating a new quality of life within and through the church," "responding to God’s activity in the world through service to others" and all the other marks of active membership, the marks of being a disciple.

So, you’re invited to fruitful time in the Kingdom. You’re invited to take an honest inventory of how and where you spend your time. Is your life filled with fruitless branches of activities disconnected from your faith in Christ? Cut them away and get connected again with the source for life, Jesus Christ. Your doing so can help make it possible for those whose branches are weighted down with too much fruit, none of it the best it can be. You’re invited to discover the joy of committing yourself to the most meaningful work you can do—the work that God desires to do through you in His purposes for the world.