Editor’s note: How can you keep going through hard times and even produce good fruit in difficulty? That’s the topic this house church pastor tackles, in this first part of his explanation of what it looks like to bear fruit with patience. This is an essential discipline for the house church, especially in a season when Chinese believers often cry out, “How long, O Lord?” Yet God is with us in times of difficulty, and perseverance through hardship leads to good fruit.
Good Seed, Good Soil, and Perseverance
Those who persevere bear fruit.
In Luke 8, Jesus tells the parable of the sower. At the end, he says, “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”
We are all very familiar with this parable, which speaks of good seed. What is good seed? The word of God, the gospel. Good seed must be sown in good soil. What is good soil? The humble and repentant heart, prepared by the Holy Spirit.
Good seed, good soil, and bearing fruit with patience – this paradigm encompasses the entirety of how the gospel shapes our lives.
But even when good seed is sown in good soil, Jesus speaks of one more thing: bearing fruit with patience. To have a bountiful harvest requires perseverance, waiting for the time to blossom, to bear fruit, and then waiting for the fruit to ripen. This waiting is a journey of patience.
Good seed, good soil, and bearing fruit with patience – this paradigm encompasses the entirety of how the gospel shapes our lives. We continually reflect on good seed, knowing we must focus on the gospel. We consider how to prepare fertile ground for the gospel to take root and bring about transformation through prayer, repentance, trust, evangelism, and navigating the relationship between faith and culture. And as we continue to go deeper and further, we must ask God to help us learn to bear fruit with patience.
The Essential Discipline
Patience is not a popular virtue in modern culture. Modern people generally have a negative view of patience. We are familiar with a lifestyle modeled after factories or companies. We are influenced by production lines, business chains, and the pursuit of greater speed, of maximum output with minimum input. In such a culture, we hardly appreciate the patience and waiting of a farmer. We can hardly grasp what a farmer experiences during the patient waiting, and the joy that ultimately comes from bearing fruit with patience.
Having grown up in the countryside, I have a small glimpse into the rhythms of a farmer’s life. Before planting, there is careful planning for plowing. Then there is careful sowing, and after that, a season of waiting for germination. As the plants grow, there are the tedious tasks of fertilizing, watering, and weeding. Sometimes there are droughts, times which are filled with anxiety and a search for solutions. Later there is a lean season, as food supplies dwindle. Finally, the harvest arrives, a time of intense activity.
Patience is not a popular virtue in modern culture.
Patient waiting is not optional for farmers; it is an essential discipline. The longer I serve as pastor, the more I realize pastoral ministry is much like farming. Both require patient waiting. For house churches, in our current situation, this discipline of bearing fruit with patience is especially crucial. Over the past few years, when we meet with church workers from different regions, we inevitably ask one another: “How long do you think this persecution, this high pressure, will last?”
I believe many of us often cry out to the Lord in our prayers: “Lord, how much longer? How long must we wait?” We are like the psalmist who cried out, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?” We often read about the long dark night in church history – but there is a difference between reading and living it. In the midst of it, we live through each day and face each difficulty one by one. In this situation, bearing fruit with patience is a lesson that house church pastors in our generation must learn.
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“Remaining Under”
The Greek word for patience is hupomoné. The prefix “hypo” means “under,” and the latter part, “mone,” is derived from the verb “to remain.” The literal meaning of the word is “to remain under,” or to persevere under continuing hardship.
How do you “remain under””? How do you continue to serve while enduring hardship?
The external environment remains unchanged. Often, you find that the means to change the environment are gone. How do you “remain under”? How do you continue to serve while enduring hardship? It’s not just passively enduring, but bearing fruit in patience. It’s not just waiting for things to change, but believing that God has grace for us in this. It’s being willing to remain in this “under” state, and to persevere in this difficulty. Bearing fruit with patience is a lesson we need to learn today.
I spent some time examining Scriptures related to patience. After studying, I realized that patience is about our understanding of the gospel and how we apply it. If we carefully consider this, it will enable us to wait with greater joy and hope, and to bear fruit with patience.
Paul Peng is the pastor of Blessings Reformed Presbyterian Church, a Chinese house church.
Pray for Chinese believers to persevere under difficulty.
