Growing fruit and dead fish

Posted in By JerrodTune 0 comments

Heb 5:11-14 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. (12) For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, (13) for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. (14) But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Heb 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God

This is the third of a three-part series of blogs looking at this sobering and challenging this passage in Hebrews, that calls readers out on what we have called "Spiritual dwarfism". It's what happens when a Christian has forgotten how to allow himself to grow. A sapling doesn't grow itself, but God has created it in such a way that, with enough soil, water, and sunlight, it will grow to be a mature tree that bears fruit. In the same way, we don't grow ourselves – only God brings growth. But He gives us the spiritual tools we need bear the fruits of maturity and true growth in Christ. But we are commanded to take an active part in our growth. We are commanded to discipline ourselves for growth, to prevent from being fooled by false and Christ-less thinking and attitudes, and falling from faithfulness to God.

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:17-18)

When Jesus was wrapping up His earthly ministry, just hours before He would be arrested, Jesus told His disciples, "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." (John 15:2) How do you get fruitful branches on a vine to grow and bear more fruit? You prune them. You cut on the right branches, and "purge" the fruitless parts so that so that the fruitful ones will be even more fruitful, producing to it's maximum potential. The disciples had evidently shown evidence of being fruitful: They had open minds and humble hearts as they walked with Jesus during His ministry, and they were eager to learn. Of course, they were far from perfect and completely fruitful… yet. Nevertheless, Jesus invested time in them by "cleaning" their branches, getting rid of the fruitless stuff so that they could bear more fruit. He told them "Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you." (John 15:3)
How were they cleaned? "because of the word that I have spoken to you." The disciples had a bit of religious knowledge, and much of it was misguided, distorted, or just plain false. They were still very susceptible to believing lies and "irreverent, silly myths." But because they were willing to submit to Jesus and learn from Him, He was able to teach them God's truth, expose the lies of the fruitless religion they were surrounded by, and prepare them to be fruitful.

You may remember watching the media hype about a mysterious sea creature that floated onto the shore under the Brooklyn Bridge back in May. People speculated what it might be, some even wondering if it could be something like a Loch Ness monster, or some other unidentified sea creature. But local marine biologists took one look at the creature and determined that it was just a "common Atlantic fish". One biologist said "We could tell it was an Atlantic sturgeon right away." What was the difference between local speculators and the marine biologists in this story? Those biologists were trained to KNOW what they were looking at, and were quickly able to spot the clear signs that this was an Atlantic sturgeon.

How do we grow and bear fruit? For the disciples, it meant humbling themselves so that they were teachable. Do you have a teachable heart? Being teachable doesn't mean you are able to take in information. It means you are willing to humbly submit to Christ at the heart level. It means you confess your helplessness apart from Christ, and fully depend upon His truth to prune your thoughts, and on His grace to grow you into His image.

How do we engage God's truth? By engaging His word. A marine biologist can't understand the principles of science without reading a few books. The disciple of Christ can't understand the principles of Christian discipleship without getting into the word and studying it, with a humble, teachable heart. "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Not only are we blessed to know that God has spoken, but that WHAT He has spoken for our sake has been faithfully recorded in scripture for us to read, study, understand, and apply. If you are reading this, you are, first of all, literate; and second of all, you have had God's word translated into your language hundreds of times over.

In spite of this great blessing that God has given us so that we may be "competent, equipped for every good work", a large portion of Christians in the United States are seriously biblically lkilliterate and untrained in the discipline of bible study. We are quick to believe and revel in what I call "Christian superstition", and what the apostle Paul calls "irreverent, silly myths." Quoting one Christian leader, and to state the obvious, "The bible is the most widely owned and least widely read book in America." It's probably the most embarrassing thing about being an American Christian. And among other things, biblical illiteracy is perhaps one of the primary causes of spiritual dwarfism.

But let's make one thing clear: Knowing your bible does not mean you know Jesus Christ, any more than reading a book on marine biology makes you a scientist. Memorizing scripture, by itself, is not what draws you closer to God and causes you to be a more mature Christian. God's word, God's church, God's spiritual gifts that He gives us are only effective in helping us grow if we are truly faithful to God. The bible is not just a book of rules, or even just a book of stories, but it is a book of testimonies of many who have gone before us who were faithful to God, and have inherited the promises of salvation. "And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Hebrews 6:11-12)

So how about it? Let's move on from the ABC's of the faith. Let's train with the word of God in hand, and with a faithful heart, desiring to persevere to the end in obedience to the Lord!

Need some practical stuff? Here are some tools to help get you started:


Oh yeah, I forgot about the fish...Click here to read about it!