I’m reading Mike Ratliff’s post this mornings and wondering about my Apple Tree with has a hard time bearing or bringing forth fruit. A neighbor who has her own Granny Smith Tree, get’s amazing fruit. She says it’s from trimming the tree every other year….and those years she didn’t trim it are the ones producing the most fruit.
Well I’ve tried that and it didn’t work. My gardener who periodically does the trimming thinks it’s because a large tree blocks the afternoon sun, Shade doesn’t help.
John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
It might be true…the passage Mike quotes can be seen as an example of our abiding (staying) in the light.
Anyway Apples are not Vines, but the analogy holds….though with Vines they are like people they need trimming every year or they get out of control. That’s another sermon and I’m not a preacher.
In the modern Bible version the verse at the end of Matthew reads for us to make disciples….I actually prefer the old readings based on the Majority Greek Texts, read specifically to teach people….to know and stay in the commands of God and not just a few but all.
Mat 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
Mat 28:17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
We know from John’s Gospel that it God who draws his “disciples”, they can’t come without his call, his effectual call that is, and his giving the the Holy Spirit and new life being born again.
When we try to get into the Kingdom another way, or stray off the narrow path of abiding in the trunk and roots….it helps if we have someone close to us in the Church who can help lead us back.
It’s very tempting even for mature believers to get away from Abiding, and just trying the path that seems right in our own eyes and thinking. (Read Pilgrim’s Progress)
Here’s some quotes from Mike to reflect upon.
As for my Apple Tree it is Spring in another 2 months, and am not trimming it this year. Hoping for more fruit…maybe that the Spring Rains don’t wash away the pollen and let the bees do their job. As for me I think I will…
Luk 13:6 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
Luk 13:7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
Luk 13:8 And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
Luk 13:9 And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
Old John Gill wrote insightfully:
till I shall dig about it, and dung it; these same phrases are used in the “Misna” (k),
מזבלין ומעדרין, “they dung and dig” in gardens of cucumbers, and gourds, until the beginning of the year:”
upon which their commentators say (l), that they carry dung into their gardens to moisten the earth, and dig about the roots of the trees, and lay them bare, and cover them again, and prune them, and smoke them to kill the worms.
And by these phrases may be signified the various means Christ made use of by his own ministry, and by the ministry of his apostles, to make the Jews a fruitful people; and rather the means Christ’s ministers make use of, as did the apostles with the Jews, to reach the cases of barren professors; as by “digging”, striking at, and exposing some secret sin or sins, which are the root and source of their barrenness; showing them, that they have no root in Christ, nor the root of the matter in them; and declaring to them the insufficiency of a mere profession of religion to save them:
and “dunging”, which as it supposes want of heat, or coldness, which is the cause of barrenness, and signifies, that such professors are without spiritual life, and without spiritual heat, or real warmth of love to Christ, his truths, ordinances, and people, and discharge their duty in a cold and lifeless manner;
so it may design the means they make use of to warm and fire them with zeal for God, and true religion; by preaching the soul quickening doctrines of the Gospel, and by laying before them the agreeableness of a becoming zeal, and the disagreeableness of a lukewarm spirit and disposition, an indolence and unconcern for the glory of God, and interest of Christ.
Thanks Mike for ”dunging us” with a good portion of God’s Word and a bit of Greek on the side.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, and be made my disciples.
9 As the father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue in that my love.
10 If ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. John 15:4-10 (1599 Geneva Bible)There is only one verb in this passage and it is translated as “bringeth forth” in the Geneva and the KJV. It is translated as “bears” in the NASB and the LSB. This Greek word is “φέρω” or “pherō.” It means “to bear” or “to bring” or “to sustain” or “to uphold.” It is used in the New Testament several ways, but in this context it is referring to bearing the fruit that is “the fruit” of abiding in Christ.
The believer does not produce this fruit. The believer abides and bears the fruit that comes from abiding. Remember the vine is Christ. We are the branches. The branches bear the fruit that the vine produces. How do we know that this fruit is not our doing? How do we know if we are really abiding in Christ?
13 Hereby know we, that we dwell in him, and he in us: because he hath given us of his Spirit. 1 John 4:13 (1599 Geneva Bible)
The first proof is that we have the Holy Spirit.
My brethren let us turn from any notion that our salvation and our abiding come from our own abilities and actions. We are in God’s hands so let us simply love one another in obedience as we bear the fruit He produces through us.
Rainbow Trout 