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The PewWarmer Tree
We have many fruit trees around our house. The branches of those fruit trees are currently loaded with fruit. But, some of the branches are dry, leafless and dead. I cut off the dead branches and they will eventually be burned. Mature, healthy branches seem to always bear an overwhelming amount of fruit.
"My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. (John 15:8)
It is not enough for us to be satisfied with bringing people to Jesus. We are called to bear fruit that will become healthy branches that will in turn bear fruit. Like a healthy branch, a disciple will inevitably bear fruit. And, that fruit is more disciples. If we bring people to Christ but they do not become disciples of Jesus then they will not bear the fruit of more disciples. In the Gospels, we see that some followed Jesus for a while but then became discouraged with His goals and teachings. It was those closest to Him who eventually became the roots of the Church. They not only made converts; they made disciples.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.. (Matthew 28:19)
Our challenge is not merely to increase the count of the number of members in the church. Every church should be filled with disciple-makers or members who are about to become disciple-makers. A branch of a fruit tree will bear fruit if it is alive and getting nutrients from the branch to which it is attached. Ideally, every church member is attached to The Branch. But, some churches are satisfied with full Sunday morning services. Yet, every member is called to go out and make disciples. A member that does not bear fruit of more disciples may not be sufficiently connected to the Rose of Sharon. Every church is called to be a Disciple tree because a Pew Warmer tree will soon be a dead tree..
Lord Jesus, help me to be more fruitful!
"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:2)
I really enjoy your verse of the day list. Please keep it up. I probably only read 8 out of every 10, but I enjoy the ones I do read.
ReplyDeleteJohn 15 has always been interesting to me. I've always wondered if Jesus had a reason for speaking of grapes instead of figs. He said that we are the branches. If this was a fruit tree analogy, then we could infer that we could produce (through His nourishment) other branches and fruit. Also, the seeds from the fruit can grow new trees, branches, fruit, etc, etc.
However, He said that He is the vine, not the trunk. The analogy is not a tree, it's a vine (I picture a grape vine). It's fundamentally different. God's laws of horticulture say that branches of a grape vine can only produce grapes, never other branches. And the grapes cannot be buried to produce new vines. Only the vine can produce branches. He is the single and only source of new branches. Wineries take pieces of the vine to plant in a new place to grow more branches and fruit. But there is no circle of life like in fruit trees. If Christians are the branches and we can't produce other branches, what's the fruit? I believe that John 15 says that the fruit is Love.
Clearly your point below is still valid because of Matthew 28 (among others). But, I think I would disagree with the using John 15 to make that point. For what it's worth...
Your brother,
Geoffrey