I really enjoy gardening. I would consider myself a successful flower gardener and an aspiring vegetable gardener. If all that the vegetable garden had to do was to flower, I would be more successful, but obviously the point of this type of gardening is the harvest of its fruit: red, juicy cherry tomatoes, warm from the sun, crisp, fresh sugar snap peas, flavorful peppers, succulent summer squash, these are what we garden for.

When the Bible speaks about fruit, we might think of a summer vegetable garden yielding its bountiful crop. Or one might think of an orchard, apples, peaches, oranges, apricots, pears or even the berries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries exploding with sweetness. Is this what John envisioned when he wrote about, fruit, more fruit, much fruit and abiding fruit in John 15? Perhaps partially but not entirely.

What is a fruit and what is the purpose of fruit? A simple answer from Basic Biology.net is as follows:

The main purpose of fruit is to protect seeds during development.

They are also important for attracting birds and other animals.

Plants use fruit to entice animals to eat their seeds because they can then carry their seeds into new areas while the seeds are in their gut before releasing the seeds with their feces. 

Fruit is a seed carrier, a seed disseminator and a seed fertilizer which means that the most important function of fruit is the successful release of seed to perpetuate the existence of that plant.

I have thought a lot about this Basic biology definition of and purpose for fruit. It causes me to reconsider my understanding of John 15. Might the actual goal of the vine and branches relationship be the germination and release of the seeds carried within the fruit? The more fruit, the more seeds.

 In our kitchens, the goal is definitely the fruit. My family would be sorely disappointed if I  served them a salad of tomato, cucumber and pepper seeds! But in scripture it seems that the goal of the fruit is more in keeping with its botanical design as an incubator and disseminator for seed. The important part is the seed, nourished, ripened and released. So spiritually speaking, what is the seed? In the parable of the sower, the seed is the word of God. Jesus also referred to himself as a seed falling into the earth. I think of seed as Jesus, the living Word, the embodiment of the gospel, the resurrected King. Fruit is intended to sow Him, His life, His gospel, His Spirit, His kingdom. Fruit is not the objective nor an end unto itself; it is a Jesus disseminator. 

Prior to this examination, I understood fruit as the goal and the term fruitful to be measurable: numbers in attendance, positive responses, tangible visible outcomes. The focus was on particular results which were considered to be fruitful. How many people came to that event, how many posts on social media, how much giving?  But now I ask, was Jesus sown, was Jesus exalted, was Jesus character exhibited, was His kingdom extended? The focus is the seed. Jesus is the seed and the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of our lips that praises His name, the fruit of the proclamation of the Word is meant to attract people to Him. Spiritual fruit is an enticement for people to taste and see. In this way the seed of the life of Jesus is spread abroad.

What do you think about this redefinition of biblical fruit? How does it strike you? Are you relieved? Are you shaken? Are you wondering if you agree? Read through John 15:1-8 with the seed disseminating definition of fruit in mind. What do you see? More importantly, ask the Lord what He sees. Lastly, consider these verses, Mal.2:6-8. The word that is translated, offspring, is actually the word for seed. God is seeking for the seed of God to be cultivated and disseminated through our homes, our marriages, our ministering to God and to others. 

What is the one God seeking? Godly seed.

MM

On a recent trip to the White Mountains with friends, we took a trail that led us around the perimeter of Profile Lake, the lake that once held the reflection of the Old Man of the Mountain. The Old Man rock formation has since tumbled off the cliff, but on this crisp fall day, the lake instead perfectly reflected the fall foliage of New Hampshire; red and orange maples, yellow birches, rust and burgundy oaks. The reflection also captured the deep blue of a clear  fall sky. 

The interesting thing about a reflection is that everything mirrored appears upside down. The trees appear upside down, the clouds, upside down; a beautifully exact representation across the surface of the lake, but all upside down. The only way to see things in their correct orientation is to look up. 

  This reminds me of Jesus’s teaching about the Kingdom of God. He was repeatedly describing the upside down nature of the Kingdom where the first are last and the last, first, where the servant is the greatest in the kingdom, where it is better to give than receive, where those who save their life will lose it but those who lose their life for Jesus’s sake will find it, where one prays for one’s enemies and the meek inherit the earth. Such teaching was upside down then – it still is today. 

If I look down and around at the world, what it values, how to get ahead, how it measures success, who are its “winners” and “losers”, I get a particular picture. But the truth is, this picture is upside down, just like the reflection in the lake. Only as I look up, by meditating on what Jesus taught about the nature of His eternal Kingdom, are things in their proper orientation.

The challenge then is to live in an upside down world system, that thinks its orientation is correct, while embracing the values of the King and His kingdom, and to do so with Christlike graciousness. 

What about you? Where have you experienced a divergence between the values of our culture and the values of Christ’s kingdom? Jesus’s sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-7 was a radical introduction to this clash of worldviews as he presented the right side up view from above. In his ministry over the next years, Jesus would demonstrate what Kingdom values look like. Who did he spend time with? What behaviors did he rebuke? Which did he commend? 

Here is an exercise: write out each of the beatitudes in Matthew 5: 1-12 and then think about today’s culture. What does it look like from the perspective of this world to be meek, merciful, pure in heart, to mourn, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be poor in spirit, to be a peacemaker, to be persecuted for righteousness sake? What do these look like from above? Challenging isn’t it. Have I adopted some of this world’s upside down value system without even realizing it? It is never too late to lift our eyes up and seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.

Hebrews 10:36-39

Colossians 3:1-4

James 5:7-8

1 John 2:26-28

Ephesians 5:14-20

Matthew 25:1-13

What do these verses tell us about the return of Christ?

In what way do the passages describe the need to be ready?

What actions accompany those who believe in and are prepared for His coming?

What is the Spirit showing us about the Church or ourselves regarding our need to live awake?

As we received Christ Jesus as Lord, so too we live in Him. We received Christ’s sacrifice of Himself to atone for us by faith. And it is by faith that we continue to live to honor Him. Those who are awake, live by faith.  

Jesus told His disciples that when he comes again, it will be like the days of Noah. 

“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away.” (Mt. 24:36)

Noah is given as an example of one who lived awake in his day. So what characterized Noah’s life? The account of his life in Genesis 6 gives us some clues.

Genesis 6:8 Noah found favor (grace) in the eyes of God.

Genesis 6:9 Noah was a righteous man and blameless in his generation.

Genesis 6: 9 Noah walked with God.

One could summarize that Noah was a man who lived a God-centered life. He lived to please and honor God and lived in relationship with God. All of these verses describe Noah before he was ever given the command to build the ark. Noah was unique and he lived an awakened, obedient life in relationship with God in the midst of an ungodly culture.

What characterized the lives of all the people around him? Again Genesis 6 provides a portrayal of Noah’s contemporaries.

Genesis 6:5 The wickedness of man was great upon the earth.

Genesis 6:5 Every intention of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:11 All flesh had corrupted its way

One could summarize all those around Noah as living selfish, self-centered, self-driven lives. They had exiled God from His rightful place on the throne of their lives and placed their own desires and ambitions there instead.

In response to the hardness of the hearts of men, God tells Noah, this man who lives awake because of his faith in the unseen God, what He plans to do.

Genesis 6:13, 14 “I have determined to make an end to all flesh… make yourself an ark.”

Genesis 6:22 “Noah did this, he did all that God commanded him.”

Genesis 7:11 “So on the 600th year of Noah’s life (after 100-120 years of work on the ark), on the 17th day of the month (preceded by a seven day countdown), they went into the ark and the Lord shut him in.”

What happened to everyone other than Noah’s family? They were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage. None of these are wrong things. So what did they lack? They lacked a faith- initiated, faith- sustained relationship with the living God. Matthew 24 tells us that when Noah entered the ark and when the flood came, the people who lived around him were unaware, oblivious, they knew nothing. How was this possible with Noah working on the ark in their midst for over 100 years? It is possible because they were asleep spiritually; they lacked faith.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”

It was Noah choosing to walk with God daily, choosing to live to please God in the midst of a Godless generation, that positioned him to respond in worship and obedience to take on a 100 plus year construction project by building the ark. Noah’s decision to live by faith allowed him to be alert and awake to the will of God.

Jesus seeks the same today. As we choose daily to believe in Him and walk with Him, we are awakened to His work around us and in us. Jesus stated this simply to his disciples,

“When the Son of Man comes will he find faith on the earth?”