“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a
grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies
it bears much fruit.”
– Jesus in John 12:24
“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”
– John the Baptist in Matthew 3:8
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the
opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the
LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to
grant to those who mourn in Zion - to give them a beautiful headdress instead of
ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead
of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting
of the LORD, that he may be glorified.”
– The Prophet Isaiah speaking of the
Messiah to come in Isaiah 61:1-3
“You did not choose me, but I chose you
and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should
abide….”
-Jesus in John 15:16
“Christ values his saints above all
others. All the world is nothing to him in comparison with his saints. They are
his garden. The rest of the world is a dry desert.”
- Puritan John Owen in, Communion with
God, p. 110
Today is a beautiful day in the Northwest
and I’m glad for the not-so-subtle reminders of the coming of Spring. There are
buds on the willow trees outside our window and the crocus’ have pushed their
heads up through the ground. It won’t be long and Judy and mom will be making
plans for planting a garden.
Monday morning I woke up thinking about
the passage from John 12 where Jesus talks about a grain of wheat falling to
the earth and dying and then bringing forth much fruit. That got me thinking
about God’s garden. It’s no coincidence that gardens are a theme throughout
Scripture. Creation begins with a garden (Genesis 2:8), when they sin Adam and
Eve are exiled from a garden (Genesis 3:24), the crucifixion begins in a garden
(Mark 14:32) and ends in a garden (John 19:41) and Christ’s redemptive work
places His people forever in a garden (Revelation 2:7). Because of Jesus’ life,
death, burial, resurrection and ascension the grain of wheat has fallen to the
ground and died and its (His) purpose is to bear much fruit. God’s intention is
that the seed that has died should not remain unfruitful or alone. Because of
the efficacious work of Christ’s substitutionary death and His subsequent
resurrection new life has come to the believer. A new seed is planted within
the Christian. God’s garden is doing what gardens are intended to do – grow and
bear fruit.
A few weeks ago
when we looked at the parable of the unfruitful fig tree (Luke 13) I was struck
by the language Jesus used. Fig trees are to bear fruit and similarly
Christians are to live fruitful lives. A Christian without fruit is like a
garden that does not produce. It is a contradiction in terms. This is sobering
and ought to move us to be thinking about what it truly means to be a
Christian. Make no mistake, the death and resurrection of Christ is the fertile
soil in which Christian fruit-bearing takes place. As sure as Christ has died
and rose again God’s garden will produce the delicious fruit of regeneration
and sanctification in His people.
Dear friends,
think about this, we are God’s garden.
-DJM (written 3/5/08)
