Hello everyone, I have a question for you today. I’m wondering what is the color of the thumb of the person who kills plants.

I’m told that if you are skilled at growing plants, growing them to be healthy and strong, then you have a green thumb. The opposite of that is what I have. I’m thinking maybe it’s a black thumb because I seem to have the plant “grim reaper” thumb. I like plants well enough, but I guess I don’t think my heart is in it. I water them too much or too little. I don’t really fertilize. I don’t read the instructions about whether they like sunlight or shade or what kind of soil is best for them. I know all these things matter. I kind of just don’t do them. And so over time, usually not right away, but over time my plants start to look a little peaked and then they wither and then they die and get tossed. And because of these sort of regrettable set of traits, I rarely have charge of our house plants.I’m told when to water and not to water too much, and otherwise I pretty much leave them alone. Okay, I told you that little story so that I could tell you another story.

This is Dave Scherrer of One Hundred-Fold Ministries and you’ve found Kingdom Offerings, and this is the podcast environment of our ministry. And a couple of weeks ago on this podcast environment, I was waxing poetic about my last series found here at Kingdom Offerings.

The last series was about this story entitled The Vase, and the so-called moral end of the story is about being filled with the Spirit of God, experiencing the transformative power that comes from His indwelling presence. His spirit changes us just like that living water changed the vase from the inside out. The last time we found ourselves chatting here, I spoke about this power, this presence really about abiding.

And really that deserves a longer conversation. So to do that, today I have another story to tell you about a plant, and it’s actually a story that Jesus told just before he was killed on that old rugged cross. So let’s go back in time, after enjoying a Last Supper with His disciples, they all retreated to the Mount of Olives, specifically to the Garden of Gethsemane. Later there he would be arrested and the next day killed on a cross.

But before all this famous stuff happened that we know all about, Jesus, as was his style, he decided to tell a story, a Kingdom story, this time about a true vine. And he was hoping to give the disciples one last vitally important lesson on Kingdom living here on earth, while awaiting for the final arrival of the King and Kings when Jesus would, once and for all, come to receive His eternal kingdom to Himself that on the last day.

So Jesus is trying to make a point. The point is found in John’s gospel in the 15th chapter begins in verse 1. I’m going to read that to you.

Jesus says, “I am the true vine.” This is the plant story I was telling you about.

John 15:1-14
¹“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 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. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. ¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you.

All right, that fairly famous teaching on the Mount of Olives, some scholars call the Olivet Discourse. It’s the last recorded teachings of Christ, and it’s all about His Kingdom glory. So to put things in a first-century context for this story of the true vine, Jesus was trying to contrast Himself and His coming Kingdom that He came to establish. You remember in Mark 1 that Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” He said, “Repent and believe.” His first words of public teaching.

Most were thinking of the Old Testament teachings in the sense of a political or economic nation of Israel as though that were the Kingdom of God that they were expecting. You see Jesus is casting a new paradigm for the disciples, a new way of looking at the prophetic promises of God regarding what this Kingdom that God was establishing would look like.

Had only a few hours left, and this is the central teaching of His incarnation, His person work and teachings, His death on the cross, His resurrection, it all leads to this same truth of Him redeeming a people to establish for Himself a Kingdom that would glorify Him into eternity. The Jewish hearers of that day would understand that He was saying that He was the Messiah, He was the true vine.

He was the fulfillment of the covenant of the old references in the Old Testament regarding a vineyard. Those are found largely in Isaiah in chapter 5 and chapter 27. He’s saying, “I am that root of Jesse, that vine that will become an eternal kingdom, not the nation of Israel, an eternal glorified kingdom.” And it was hard for them to break out of their nationalistic expectations.

Remember, on the road to the Last Supper, the disciples still thought it was a political system that Jesus was establishing, and they were arguing roughly over who was going to be able to be chief of state in his new kingdom. They didn’t get it. And that’s why Jesus washed their feet that night, because in the true kingdom it is the last who is first, and it is the servant of all who is the greatest.

So in this moment, on this last Thursday night that they would have together, it was about helping the disciples understand the kingdom of God, not the establishment of a kingdom among men. So Jesus goes on in his plant story, he explains that the branches that bear much fruit are pruned to bear more fruit. We talked about that the last time we were together.

The power that I was referring to in the last podcast is the presence of God that lives inside of us. That is the power to bear fruit, and that means to grow in Christ-like character, to become more like Christ, and reflect the fruit of the Spirit that is now living inside of us, the things like love, joy, peace, kindness that are found in Paul’s letter to the Church of Galatia. So these fruit are what will be happening when we are transformed by the inner presence of God Himself. And this is where we come to His command to abide, abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

All right, we’re talking about abiding. Let’s talk about not abiding. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire, and burned.” That’s what he says in this little passage that we just read.

Now right here, this is where this story can be a bit confusing. There’s actually two kinds of abiding going on here, it seems to me. If we remain in Jesus, this is the first idea of abiding. If we remain in Jesus, if we abide, then we are spared from the ultimate judgment and the consequences of refusing his kingdom. These are the true believers, the ones that are abiding in Christ. Those who remain are invited to abide to live in Christ forever. Those who reject Jesus and His kingdom are judged. It’s clear in the Scriptures, it seems to be very clear in Jesus’ mind as well, and so this reality should be in our mind. To abide in Christ is to be set aside for eternity, and otherwise is to be judged. But there’s another kind of abiding that’s going on here in this story.

As the story develops, we read that there is a reference in this kind of abiding to obey. And I’m kind of thinking it this way. Imagine a dad saying to his teenage son, “From now on, you will make your bed before you go to school. When you have three strikes, when you miss three times, I will take your car away for a week.” And then to make sure that the teen has heard him, he will ask, “Can you abide by this?” Okay, so that’s a little bit of a different feeling of abiding.

He’s not saying you’ll no longer be my son, he’s saying there’s a function of obedience that I want to see here. Can you abide by this? The first kind of abiding is the abiding that refers to our salvation. The second kind of abiding refers to our ongoing relationship with Jesus. The dictionary defines this second kind of abiding as to accept or act in accordance with the rule, a decision, or recommendation. This is the definition that Jesus is talking about here in this part of the plant story. By not abiding in him, we are like my dying plants. We will soon fall off the vine. Our roots where we receive the nourishment have withered from lack of good nourishment. The fruit, our transformed character will grow stale, and that is the evidence of our faith.

It’s not perfection we’re looking for or sinlessness, but fruit of the Spirit, even if it’s just a little, small apple. You see, it really isn’t until John 15:10 that we get a picture of what it looks like to abide in Jesus. Jesus gets really clear in these last hours, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” The fruit that Jesus speaks of is the self-evidence of a relationship with Him.

It is what we can see when we look in a mirror and say to ourselves, “I am changing. I am becoming more like Christ.” As we abide in Him, obey Him, we will bear the fruit of righteousness. And in turn, this power within us transforms us for His purposes. Not merely a life of mere sinlessness, though working against sin is important, of course. But this doesn’t add to our salvation, which is by grace alone and through faith alone. This obeying simply confirms our transformed heart. We are told that we abide in Him and He will abide in you. And He who began a good work in you will complete it. And He who called you is faithful, and He will surely do it. He is faithful to live inside of you and transform you through the presence of the fruit of His Spirit.

This is Dave Scherrer. These are deep truths, and I want to say that these are core kingdom truths for a practical theology, for a theology that allows us to live well in the kingdom. By grasping these and living into them, it gives us a peace in a troubled and failing world.

So friends, this is Kingdom Offerings, and next week you can check out one of our new blogs that’s found at our website, One Hundred Fold Ministries, called Backyard Conversations. Please feel free to connect with me, Dave@100FoldMinistries.org. Let’s have a conversation. Take care.