Fruit Grows in the Strangest Places

Fruit Grows in the Strangest Places.

This morning I want to talk about one of my most hated subjects.

As many of you know I have had a long-time hatred for a certain fruit.

Tomatoes
I like sauce but I don’t like them raw – on sandwiches, stewed or chunked
It started when I was a boy – I had a bad experience with a raw tomato

I tried eating one –
V8
Tomato Pie

According to Andrew F. Smith's The Tomato in America, the tomato probably originated in the highlands on the west coast of South America.

Tomatoes in Italy

Because the plant was clearly similar to its nightshade, it was assumed for years to be poisonous in Italy, where it was grown as a decorative plant. Eventually the peasant classes discovered that it could be eaten when more desirable food was scarce. This eventually developed into a whole cuisine of tomato dishes, as the wonders of the fruit became obvious. This development took several hundred years, with wide acceptance not happening until the 18th century.

Is a Tomato a Fruit or Vegetable?

Lycopersicon lycopersicum is the scientific term for the common tomato.
Botanically, tomatoes are a fruit. This is because, generally, a fruit is the edible part of the plant that contains the seeds, while a vegetable is the edible stems, leaves, and roots of the plant.
Tomatoes belong to the same family as nightshade, the tomato's deadly cousin.

Botanically a fruit, the tomato is nutritionally categorized as a vegetable.

This argument has led to actual legal implications in the United States, Australia and China. In 1887, U.S. tariff laws that imposed a duty on vegetables but not on fruits caused the tomato's status to become a matter of legal importance. The U.S. Supreme Court settled this controversy in 1893, declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, using the popular definition which classifies vegetable by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert. The case is known as Nix v. Hedden (149 U.S. 304). While the Tomato can be classified as a fruit, it is officially categorized as a definite vegetable in the United States.

The USDA also considers the tomato a vegetable.

For our purposes today we are going to consider the Tomato a Fruit.

I don’t know if you noticed but by the Dutch Mill doors we have these beautiful planters for flowers.

Did you see what is growing in one of them?

A tomato plant

We didn’t plant it

It just happened.

When thinking about it I thought what can this tell me about God?

Fruit can grow in the strangest places.

We have spent some time talking about the Gifts of the Spirit.

Now I want to take a day and look at the fruit of the Spirit

The Gifts are not a sign of Spiritual Maturity but the Fruit of the Spirit is.

Look for Fruit in places you wouldn’t expect.

Love

Matthew 5:44 (NIV) 44But I tell you: Love your enemies£ and pray for those who persecute you,

How does Love grow – when we have to deal with unlovely people

When enemies attack – work, family

Love grows not when everyone is treating you great

Love grows when you face opposition and persecution

My family mocks me because of my beliefs

Perfect soil for love to grow

Joy – inner gladness – a deep seated pleasure

Isa 51:11 The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

2 Cor 7:4 I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.

Joy grows not just through blessings

Joy grows in sorrow and troubles as well

How can I have joy when things are so difficult?

Sorrow and trouble is good soil for Joy to Grow

Peace – calm assurance

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Chaos is good soil for peace to grow
Peace grows stronger in times of trouble
Some would say I could have peace if I had more money, my children listened, my spouse spent more time with me.

Peace grows in unlikely places

Patience – is with People – Perseverance is in circumstances

Prov 19:11 A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

1 Tim 1:16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

James 5:10 Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

“I am a very patient person as long as everything goes my way.”

What happens when things don’t your way?

What happens when people bring out the worst in you?

These situations are good soil in which patience can grow

Kindness – cares for the feelings of others

(Eph 4:32 NIV) Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Has someone ever said or done anything that has hurt you?

This is good soil for Kindness to grow

Don’t repay the hurt

Be kind and forgive them

Kindness will grow in abundance

Goodness – treat people the way they should be treated

(Luke 6:35 NIV) But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Rom 12:20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

Rom 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Having people who don’t like you is a good soil for goodness to grow

Gives you a chance to be good to them even though they are not good to you

Faithfulness - trustworthy

1 Pet 4:19 So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

When it is difficult to stick to it – Stick to it
When you have to sacrifice to keep a commitment – keep it

This is a good soil for Faithfulness to grow

Gentleness – tender, humble, strong

Gal 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

2 Tim 2:25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,

“Caught in Sin” opportunity to reject and destroy

Instead it is a good soil for gentleness to grow

Self- Control – master oneself

1 Cor 7:9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Self-control is learned not through absence of temptation
But in the midst of temptation

Sometimes we look for the perfect environment to be a good Christian.

If I just worked with more Christians
If my spouse or children would treat me better

Fruit is not always found where we would expect to find it.

It is in the tough times fruit grows

It is in the trouble times fruit grows

It is at work, at home, whenever we have to deal with people

That is when fruit grows

Sometimes tomatoes grow in a flower pot outside of the church door.