Bearing Fruit for the Harvest

Introduction

Pastor Sakurai opened this third session of the 2026 devotion gathering by recounting his time in Okinawa before coming. Fifteen years ago, in March 2011, when the earthquake and then the nuclear accident struck northern Japan, one worried leader wanted to move his whole family far from Tokyo. His parents refused: "We'll die here, in our own home." He himself, busy serving the churches of Sendai and Ishinomaki, also declined. Only his eldest daughter left, telling her father: "Rest easy and die in peace, I'll keep the Sakurai line going." Six months later, she had grown to love Okinawa, had gone back, had met her husband there, and today Sakurai's grandchildren live there. It's this story of God's providence in the midst of chaos that opens the session: God grows fruit in the very place where we expected nothing.

The title of this third session, Bearing Fruit for the Harvest, is drawn from Matthew 3:7-8: "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance." To repent, Sakurai reminds us, is a military term: it means changing direction. Not endlessly whipping yourself, but turning toward the One who forgives. And once turned toward Christ, what remains is to bear the fruit that fits that turn.

Outline of the teaching

1. Repentance is a change of direction, not self-punishment

Sakurai goes back to a previous session where he spoke of a woman who had had an abortion and kept punishing herself endlessly, believing that was what repentance meant. It isn't. Recognizing you're at fault, yes, that's necessary: without acknowledging your wrong, you don't need forgiveness. But if you stay stuck in self-accusation, you never move toward Christ. And repentance is exactly that: moving toward the One who forgives.

He uses the image of a street baseball game: when a kid breaks a window, no one wants to go apologize to the grumpy neighbor, because they know they'll get a smack. But if the house next door belongs to a man who never gets angry, everyone wants to go there. It's the same with God. Christ forgives all the way down to the depths of the soul. So we dare to turn toward him. And it's that very turn that produces the energy for change.

2. The motive behind all service: giving back to Christ what he paid for us

Christ was struck, cursed, abandoned in our place. We owe him everything. It's this sense of grateful debt that must fuel every act of service. Sakurai is direct: when you stand before a congregation to preach, it can never be for money. You can't step up to the pulpit thinking: "I'll give a sermon people will like, so the offering will go up." That would be twisting the gospel.

The true motive is this: Christ has forgiven me, and I present him so that everyone can be connected to him. That same motive should hold for everything: playing the piano, welcoming people, making coffee, running the sound, listening to someone, praying for them. Without it, you fall into the category of "hay," of what will be burned up. The motive drifts easily; it has to be put back at the center.

3. The portrait of the worker: someone who has compassion

Matthew 9:35-38: Jesus goes through the towns, teaching, healing every disease and every affliction. Then, seeing the crowds, harassed and helpless "like sheep without a shepherd," he is moved with compassion. That's the key word. A worker for the harvest is someone capable of having pity on people.

Someone says their stomach hurts, and you answer "chin up, it'll pass"? That's not a worker. Someone's heart is racing and you tell them "pull yourself together" while giving them a smack? That's not a worker either. The worker sees the exhaustion, is moved by it, and takes the time.

Sakurai returns to his old concern about growing churches: when a congregation reaches a thousand people, people start dreaming of a bigger building, borrowing from the bank, and little by little minds think only of money. People start looking at others as wallets. Then no one takes care of their bodies or their souls anymore. We stop being workers and become managers.

4. Why the harvest is plentiful: the new covenant is in effect

Jesus tells his disciples: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few" (Matthew 9:37). Why plentiful? Because Christ has already accomplished everything on the cross. The new covenant is signed. Unlike Moses's covenant, it is no longer a law carved on stone that must be obeyed in order to be blessed. It is a law the Holy Spirit writes on the heart, a heart God himself changes.

Loving God, loving your neighbor as Christ loved us, no one is capable of that alone. But God takes it upon himself to make us capable, little by little. It's a construction site. We're under construction. We fail, inevitably. But Jeremiah announces, and the author of Hebrews repeats, three promises: God forgives our wrongdoings, he cleanses at the root, and he remembers our sin no more. At every confession, he looks at you as a blank canvas, as if you had never failed.

That is a divine work. No human is capable of it: we remember everything, we dwell on it, we bring up our neighbor's old mistakes again and again. Growth is impossible in that climate. But Christ does not work that way. He forgives seventy times seven. And every time, he sees you as new. That is what must be proclaimed.

5. You were chosen before the foundation of the world: because he loves your soul

We are unworthy of this grace. We don't "measure up" to what it represents. In old Japan, before a marriage, families would exchange a tsurigaki, a genealogical record, to check that both families were of equal rank. Before God, no one is of his rank. We are co-heirs with the King of kings, Christ is our elder brother, and we inherit with him. That surpasses everything.

So why this choice? Because God loves your soul. Not your personality, not your nationality, not the color of your skin, not your bank account. Your soul. In 1 Chronicles 28, it is written that God chose David because he loved him, David's soul. We were chosen the same way. Before the earth was created, even before Abraham existed, your soul was chosen. How can you be sure? Because if you believe in the cross and the resurrection, you are chosen. There is no other reason.

David was not without flaws. He took Uriah's wife, had her husband killed, brought about the revolt of his own son. And yet God loved him. Solomon, in Matthew's genealogy, is presented as "the son of Uriah's wife," not of David's wife. A child of adultery. And it's to him that God entrusts the national project of the temple. God chooses those who don't deserve it. That's what needs to be understood.

6. The harvest is the end of the age: and time is running short

In Matthew 13:39, Jesus explains that "the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels." We're living in the in-between. World events are dizzying: the tensions around Greenland, the Strait of Hormuz, Europe rearming... According to the prophetic reading of Daniel 2 (the feet mixed with iron and clay), the antichrist will come out of Europe. The clock is moving forward.

What should we do? Paul answers in 1 Thessalonians: lead a quiet life, devote yourself to loving others. What remains is faith, hope, and love. Everything else (politics, economics, culture) will pass away. If the end comes and you and I have not borne fruit, that's serious. We must bear fruit, and help one another bear it. That is what a worker for the harvest looks like.

7. Fruit only grows through the life of Christ in you (John 15)

John 15:8: "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples." Verse 5: "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." Verse 12: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Abiding in Christ means loving one another. No one does it perfectly, but if you keep at it, you abide. If you abide, you bear fruit. It is the Father who receives the glory, because it isn't a human achievement. It's the Spirit who produces the fruit, not your willpower, not your character.

8. Understanding grace is where it all starts

Colossians 1:6 (Sakurai quotes this passage in connection with grace once understood): "Since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, [this gospel] is bearing fruit throughout the whole world and increasing among you." In other words: without grace understood, there is no fruit. If you still think you have to "earn" God, you'll get stuck at the first failure.

Grace means receiving good you don't deserve. Once you grasp it, you no longer shrink away in shame when you fall. You come to God just as you are, with your grumbling, your hesitations. "Help me" is the only right prayer. And the Spirit then changes whatever needs to change.

Look at how Christ approaches people in the Gospels: he goes to Mary Magdalene, tormented by seven demons; to the Syrophoenician woman, whose daughter is possessed. After his resurrection, it's to Mary Magdalene that he first appears, not to Peter. He honors those society despises, because that's where grace shows most clearly. He loves it when people around you say: "That person used to be so irritable, so anxious, how did they change?" The answer: "Because of Christ." That's the fruit that testifies.

9. The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." Sakurai sees this fruit as one thing (love), unfolded into eight facets. In Corinth, a church riddled with divisions, Paul also devotes an entire chapter to love (1 Corinthians 13). Love is written where love is lacking.

This fruit is never the fruit of effort or willpower. It's not "I'll grit my teeth and be patient." It's the Spirit who produces it. Keep your own effort for asking. Use your resolve to tell God: "Help me." Otherwise you'll become a pharisee of love, someone who hangs 1 Corinthians 13 on the bathroom wall without ever living it.

10. Fix your eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2)

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

That "joy that was set before him" is you. In the midst of the excruciating pain of the cross, Christ rejoiced over your soul. He rejoices over the thief crucified beside him, the first real-time fruit. He rejoices over everyone who would come to believe, you included. The right response is to give him back that joy, not by effort, but through a spontaneous joy that the Spirit raises up in you. If you don't feel it, ask for it. You may have to ask a hundred times. He will grant it: that is one thing he cannot refuse you, because he died to give it to you.

Verse 3: "Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." Discouragement comes from your gaze drifting away from Christ. You're glad about a service well done? Good. But your fundamental joy must be Christ, otherwise it wavers at the first failure.

When the joy and peace of Christ hold you steady, you have a little inner margin. That margin lets you be patient with others, kind, good, faithful, gentle, self-controlled. Without it, no fruit. You end up harsh, even as a Christian. Gentleness (nyuwa) is not weakness: it's recognizing that you're no better than the other person, so you have no grounds to look down on them. Self-control means giving up the urge to impose yourself, in order to serve.

Key takeaways

Repentance means changing direction toward the One who forgives, not punishing yourself.
A worker for the harvest is recognized by compassion, not by results or productivity.
Fruit only grows through the life of Christ in you. Your part: abide, love, ask.
You were chosen before the foundation of the world because God loves your soul, not because of what you're worth.
Christ's joy over you comes before your own effort at joy. Fix your eyes on him.

Personal application

Do you still confuse repentance with self-accusation? Where do you refuse to turn toward Christ because you think you're "not worth the trouble"?
What is the real motive behind your current service in the church? Christ, or something else?
Who around you needs you to be moved with compassion, and not just practical?
Where do your eyes settle when you start to grow weary? How can you concretely turn back to Jesus?
Which fruit from Galatians 5:22-23 is most lacking in you today? Have you simply asked the Spirit to produce it?

Verses cited

FAQ

What does it really mean to "repent"?

The Greek word metanoia is a military term meaning a change of direction. To repent is not to whip yourself or dwell endlessly on your fault; it's acknowledging your wrong, then turning toward Christ, who forgives at the root. Self-accusation alone leads nowhere; it's the turn toward the One who forgives that produces real change.

Why does Jesus say the harvest is plentiful?

Because he has already accomplished everything on the cross. The new covenant is in effect: God forgives, cleanses, and remembers our wrongs no more. Everything needed for lives to change is ready. What's missing are workers able to go to people with compassion.

How can I bear fruit without falling into personal effort?

Fruit comes from the Spirit, not from willpower. John 15 says it clearly: abide in Christ, love one another, ask the Spirit to produce what's needed. Keep your resolve for prayer: "Help me." It's the persistent request that receives an answer. Self-control itself is a fruit, not an achievement.

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