In a few weeks, LifePoint will be joining with hundreds of other churches in a series called One Prayer. I’m sure that James will be sharing more about this groundbreaking series as we get closer. For now, I want to focus on the month of July, after One Prayer is finished. In July, we’re making James take a weekend off (his first in a few years), and Dr. Jason Ward and I will be taking over speaking duties for almost the entire month. The series, in case you’re still curious about this post’s title, is WTF?: Where’s the Fig?. In the gospels, we’re told a story about Jesus’ cursing of a fig tree because it had all the leaves, but no fruit. Although it appeared healthy, it was barren. In WTF?: Where’s the Fig? we’ll be taking a look at this story and how it connects with the Fruit of the Spirit talked about by the Apostle Paul.

* SPOILER ALERT! * If you’re a regular LifePointer, all the stuff you read in the rest of this post may be a spoiler for what I’ll be sharing in July, but it’s 1:00 am, and I have to get this stuff off my mind before I can sleep. If you don’t think you can handle hearing me talk about the same thing more than once, you may want to skip on over to weather.com now.

WTF?, as I’ll be referring to it from here on in, is really shaping up to be a look at how we can cultivate the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives, which, really comes down to discipleship. It’s natural to assume that discipleship means cramming our heads with more knowledge about Jesus. From the time we eat our first crayon in Kindergarten, to when we walk across the stage at graduation, we’re taught that learning and maturing is all about knowledge. [For those who were a: home schooled or b: didn’t graduate high school, please insert your own, applicable school reference here.] When you take a test, your teacher grades you based on how much of the information you can recall. They don’t care how hard you studied for the test, or how much you really wanted to pass.

Our educational focus on knowing facts has influenced how the church handles discipleship. We assume that feeding people more information about Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, etc. will make them better followers of Jesus. And, it will, to a point. The problem is that knowing the facts about something without applying them only makes people pompous and arrogant. And, let’s face it, none of us acts up to our level of knowledge. We all know more of the Bible than we are applying at any given moment. Now, before you get all: “Hey, this guy doesn’t think people should learn about Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, or the Bible. Where’s the stake?” Let me say that I whole heartedly agree that people should learn more about Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible, but let’s not be fooled into thinking that that knowledge makes us better disciples, or produces the Fruit of the Spirit on its own.

Tune in next time where you’ll hear Kevin say:

“…Some of the disciples were at the bottom of the intellectual barrel.”

Goodnight.