Crazy Softball Moms and Christian Fruit

“People loose their minds at their kid’s ball games,” the county athletic director told me over breakfast. “Folks that are very decent and good will blow their top at the drop of a hat. I’ve seen parents get out of control really fast and the sad thing about it is—it’s just ball.”

I am stunned at the high of the highs and the low of the lows I had when playing little league baseball. The frustration of not being able to hit the ball would linger for days or more specifically, for weeks. You see, I did not get my first hit until the next to last game of the season during my first year of baseball. My first year was spent under the tutelage of a coach desiring to whip all us seven and eight year olds into champions. This was a difficult concept for me since I was much more concerned with the coolness of my bright yellow uniform with the black stripes down the side. Emblazoned across the front of my chest was the name of our stinging mascot—yellowjackets. The irony of the circumstance was that the experience made me feel more like a gnat. It is amazing to me how fresh those memories are some thirty years later.

But then the hit! In a moment a season’s worth of frustration and tears of not being able to get that barrel formed piece of aluminum to connect with that little, hard white ball were completely eradicated in one savoring moment when I connected with the pitch and drove it looping over the short stop’s head for a stand up triple. How glorious it was to see the smile on the faces of my coach…my parents…to hear my team mates cheer. Wow! If I could bottle that feeling and sell it, all drug cartels would be crushed.

I have lived those dreams and frustrations all over with Emma this season. She is such a trooper. I admire her so much because she seems so much more determined than I ever was. She loves to get out in the yard and have me pitch to her so she can get it right. She has some natural ability and quickly picked up on the technique. Though it took some time, her first and second hits came in the fifth game of the season. Two doubles. Three RBI’s. What an evening it was in the Bradford house. We laughed. We cheered. We ate ice cream.

…and then one Saturday reminded me of how the action outside the fence around our precious daughters can be so difficult and scary. In a moment, tempers are flaring…parents are shouting…accusations of cheating are made…umpires are telling mothers to shut her mouths…I am quickly collecting my two youngest kids and putting them in the stroller where I can guard them in case things escalate. My daughter’s agent didn’t tell me about this. How does this happen? Is there something going on here that is more important than just softball? Suddenly, I feel there is something bigger at stake. Honestly, I am not surprised how people act given the right circumstance and time. Yet it speaks to me about the way in which me, my wife and the parents of my daughter’s team are rearing and training our children. What are we rearing them toward and to be? What is the environment in which we are doing it?

This is such an essential question for any parent as it is for any congregation.

When Jesus told the parable of soils (see Mark 4:1-20), he wanted his listeners to understand that there are consequences to the response one gives to the Gospel. Furthermore, Jesus knew that certain environments are quite conducive to cultivating Gospel growth and others are not. He knew that when he spoke to his hearers—many of whom would have known much about farming—they inherently understood the difference between a fruitful crop and a useless one. When speaking about the farmer who sows the seed, three of the places it lands end up producing nothing. On the hard path, birds come and carry it away. In soil that was rocky, plants sprang up but quickly died because of hot sun and shallow roots. In ground filled with thorns, the plants spring up quickly but have the life choked out of them. Jesus later explains to his disciples that he his not merely talking about dirt but people. I find his explanations shocking and troubling (see Mark 4:13-20). Especially when I think of friends and family and others with whom I have shared the Gospel and there appears to be an embrace of the good news and then there comes no yield of fruit. It appears that the Christian does well to take heed to what Jesus says and pray much.

Then a profound and wonderful thing happens. The farmer sows seed in what is deemed good and fertile soil and the harvest comes and produces thirty-fold, sixty-fold and a hundred-fold. It must be rather satisfying to the farmer to see such a great growth of fruit! Jesus explains that this is the result of the Gospel doing what it does when it is sown into people ready to receive it.

But the question I find myself asking along with others is—what is fruit? Jesus said false prophets—wolves wearing sheep’s clothes (i.e. lost people looking like and talking like Christians)—are known by their fruit (see Matthew 7:15-20). “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.” (v. 18) In John’s gospel, Jesus is reported telling his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” (John 15:16) Paul told the Romans, “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.” (7:4)

Perhaps the clearest display of how fruit should look is in Galations 5:22-24. It is important to remember that Paul is speaking to a congregation—a gathered group of Christians who are to worship King Jesus and grow in producing fruit together. I am afraid that today’s church has lost this sense of togetherness-theology and replaced it instead with the belief in an individual-centered life. Might I suggest that the individual is responsible before God yet the extreme to which we see it practiced is foreign to the New Testament.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires,” Paul tells the Galation congregation. In essence, he is revealing to this church, struggling in the relationship of law and grace, if you want to know if you are producing “fruit” that reveals the presence of the Gospel, then in your corporate life together, this is what it needs to look like. Yes, Paul surely wanted each individual believer to take inventory. And yes, since he is communicating this information in the context of a letter to the churches of the area, most assuredly he intends for them to consider his words congregationally and the implications it will have for their lives together. Bottom line, Paul is saying, hey Galations, this IS the fruit of the Gospel! This IS how you will know and how the world will know you are truly in possession of God’s good gift of salvation. You don’t do it to be saved. You do it because you are saved. When fruit is present it reveals the Gospel is present. No fruit. No Gospel.

May God give great growth to environments in congregations in order that they may freely and wonderfully produce fruit for the glory of God’s Gospel!