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Raise your hands if you have a "green thumb"!! My hands remain on my keyboard for this one... I'm among the "elite group" who has accomplished the near impossible feat of killing Aloe. ;p As I phrase it, my white thumbs are an illusion, they're actually black. LOL If anyone requires hospice care for their plants, just send them to me, they'll be dead in a couple of weeks!! LOL -- My Pastor's fun connection story this week was about how the Garden Club ladies of his town back in Michigan came and dug up some of the 150+ rose bushes their friend had grown because they didn't deem his family capable of such an enormous responsibility. As we all know, roses require immense care and careful pruning. He described the caper as comparable to The Italian Job for roses. Or Roses 11... LOL They finally came to an agreement, but it was quite a scene in the beginning!!
Okay, so I think you know where this is going... the Vineyard, yep!!
"Walk outside" with me to the vineyard in John 15 -- "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener..."
What did He mean by "true vine"?? If we look back into the OT, we can find places where Israel is referred to as a vine. Psalm 80:8-19 speaks of Israel being the vine that was pulled out of Egypt and planted in the Promised Land, but plucked back out by enemies when they failed Him and He sent them into exile in Babylon. Finally, it speaks of a desire to be rescued. Israel was the vine that withered and was thrown out due to their unfaithfulness to God. His original mission for them was that they be His messengers of hope to the world. When they bailed, He opened the job up to the rest of us. (It was always the goal that ALL whom God called should be blessed, this was simply an adjustment of how it would happen. Jn. 3:16, Jn. 6:44, Jn. 12:32)
Jesus refers to Himself often as the "Son of Man." We see throughout the Bible that He was always meant to rescue those who believe on Him and obey. Paul speaks of Gentiles being "grafted into the vine" when we call on the Name of the Lord. We can find tons of evidence, as well, to show that God's intent is to rescue all of creation. There are plenty of references to nature praising God and showing His handiwork and care. Isn't it amazing that literally all of God's promises are offered through Jesus and we need only believe and obey!! <3
In verse 7, we see that Jesus tells them/us to simply, "abide in me and I will abide in you." Some translations use "remain" (my NIV does), but "abide" provides a better image of what Jesus meant. If we just "remain", it indicates a certain level of passivity, not moving. The word "abide", conversely, is active and intentional. The word literally relates to "living with." Or "keeping step" like a child walking with Dad. All we have to do to act on this is obey His Words. That can lead into the pruning process mentioned in the previous verses.
Sometimes obedience is easy and even fun, but sometimes we can really feel like God is cutting deeply into our lives and we wrestle against the pruning shears.
During the times the pruning feels like a punishment, God is removing things that interfere with our relationship with Him. He may remove people, sources of money, or other sources of self-identity or idols we have set up as security for our lives. He does this out of love so that we will learn to trust Him with everything we have and do and are. It may also involve pruning sources of control (or at least our illusions of it) This involves a more spiritual-based process where the others would be more in the physical realm. The pruning may also be collective as the pruning within a Church body of those who prove problematic to God's mission for it.
It's interesting to note, being the Grammar Nerd that I am, that the words for pruning and cleaning were basically the same in the original language. (Greek from Aramaic) vs. 3 or numbers of other verses that speak of God's Word as a method of cleansing our souls.
So what does fruitfulness look like, anyway?? It could look like a variety of things, really. Those of us who grew up in "Church World" know about the Fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23a. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Or it could look like bearing witness to God's love. Either way, the point lies in sharing God's love to the world around us.
Jesus was always destroying the illusions of religious ideas that people had in those days. One major way in which Israel failed in God's mission for them was in their conceit stemming from being chosen as God's Elect and deeming anyone else unworthy of it. (I've seen evidence of this in online conversations) Remember how I mentioned Jn. 3:16 earlier?? "For God so loved THE WORLD..." That includes everyone!! Jesus destroyed the idea that privilege of birth had anything to do with access to God. In Romans 7:7-8:17, Paul speaks of the Law as leading to death, but Grace through faith in God leading to life. (see also Acts 15) He invited "whosoever" to believe. All that is required of us is repentance and humility, which will enable us to connect and abide. God Bless!!
We all remember the Sunday School Song, right??
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