Transcription

Connor:
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris:
We’re bringing it home.

Jeff:
Here it is.

Chris:
It’s Friday, man. So I think of, um, I think of like, I like, uh, growing up, I used to watch a bunch of black and white movies.

Jeff:
Really? Yeah. Yeah. All the time. Well, that’s just how old you are.

Chris:
Uh, my father likes black and white movies. So, um, so anyway, uh, bring it home as always, uh, the two people are in stage dancing. Oh, right. And then bring it home. And then one guy just does this, you know, big, big, big, big show ending or whatever. You know, it’s just really good.

Jeff:
There you go. That’s it. That’s what I was getting at. Right.

Chris:
That’s where my mind went.

Jeff:
Right.

Chris:
That’s right. Well, hey, Jeff, today, you usually introduce this.

Jeff:
I am very excited because this is everybody’s favorite. And it’s been a while.

Chris:
It’s been quite a while.

Jeff:
It’s been like four weeks. I know. So four weeks, man, you should be ready to go. So you can’t take the full 22 minutes here. I’ve got 15 things that I’m mad about. So it is everybody’s favorite segment. What made Chris mad this past four weeks?

Chris:
No, no, no. This happened like two days ago. Okay. All right. So it’s the first thing that came to my mind. So I was in a restaurant that I frequent often. Okay. And I’m not going to mention the name of the restaurant because that’d be rude, but it was BJ’s. Right. And it was right next to Heritage.

Jeff:
Yes. You’ll give the initials. I’m going to say the name, but I’m going to give you the initials. It’s BJ’s.

Chris:
Just the initials. Okay. So I order an appetizer. And I am very hesitant to place an order before my appetizer comes because I don’t want my food to come out and both of them be in front of me at the same time. Are you, are you with me on this?

Jeff:
I understand what you’re saying. Yes.

Chris:
Okay. So it happens all the time. And, and, and by the way, I would argue and say that, you know, a server is one of the hardest jobs ever, right? Yeah, it really is. Okay.

Jeff:
Timing is important.

Chris:
So timing is important. So I do, I do do, I do understand how difficult that job is. I really do. And especially my son was a server and he’s like, dad, you don’t understand how hard it is. Right. However, Um, when you choose to place the order or put the order in, that’s actually simple in concept, right? So you just, you just wait until the person is, you know, pretty much done with their food or, or after they’ve gotten their food or whatever it is. Right. Just, just, you know, that’s something you absolutely have to master as, as a, as a, as a server. So that, that part is very simple. So violating that part should not ever happen in my opinion, violating.

Jeff:
Oh yeah. You’re revving it up. The words you’re choosing though.

Chris:
So he comes over and he’s like, what would you like? And I’m like, can I try this cup of soup or whatever? And it was actually like a bowl of soup. They don’t offer cups. So it’s like a bowl of the soup. And so he’s like, okay. And so I’m waiting. And then he comes back over and he goes, do you want to place your order? And in my mind, I’m thinking all this, but I’m not going to say it, but I’m like, ah, and I said, well, I don’t, I don’t want to get the food too early. And he goes, no, no, no, I’ll make sure. And I go, okay, fine. I said, well, let me go ahead and, you know, get this order, you know, whatever it is. I think I ordered a steak actually. So then, so anyway, so I’m sitting there and all of a sudden I’m waiting, waiting, waiting. And all of a sudden she brings out my soup and she sets it in front of me. I’m like, great. You know? And it’s like, it’s hot. And it’s actually, you know, not exactly like, too hot, right? It’s like almost just right. It’s just right. Just right. So it’s not too hot. Something that, okay, it’s going to be perfect. And then all of a sudden, two seconds later, and this is the part that gets me, right? It’s not the, it’s not my server. It’s a runner, right? Right. So it’s almost like that person has no concept of anything else other than, Hey, my job is just to bring you this food as quickly as possible. Right. And then sets it in front of me. And I’m literally taking like my third bite of soup. And, and, and he goes, you want to cut into that for me? And I go, well, not really. I didn’t say that, but I’m thinking, I’m like, I don’t really want to cause it’ll get even colder. Right. Right. And then, and then finally I ended up abandoning the soup because I’m not going to let a steak gets cold. Right. So I started eating the steak and then he comes back and he goes, don’t you like your soup? And I said, and the person I was with was my wife. And I said, well, I just had to choose which one I didn’t want to eat cold. So the steak won. So could you go back and heat this up? And then she’s like, you know, you didn’t have to say that. I’m like, I kind of think I kind of think I did.

Jeff:
Yeah. Well, you have. So you were gently guiding them on how you prefer to be served. No, no, no. Because the world prefers to be served. Right. Exactly. Because nobody prefers that. I keep forgetting you get upset for the world. It’s on behalf of all of us. Yes. Yes. So you are correct on that one. But you have to gently guide them. Yes. Right. Make him think about it next time. Yes. We should have a little bit of a gap. Offer the appetizer at the exact same time as the entree. The whole point behind multiple elements of a meal is that they’re separate. As opposed to, it should have been a soup entree and a steak entree, those two together. But because it’s in the appetizer section of the menu, it should come first. And earlier. Substantially earlier. I’m not disagreeing with you on that. Chris, I am in alignment with you on this one.

Chris:
Yes. Well, I got to tell you, I’m so upset about it.

Jeff:
We should like make, make signs and just start marching out in front of BJ’s until they get it, start getting it right. Yeah.

Chris:
You know, Mitch, how do you, what would the sign read?

Jeff:
I don’t know. We’d have to make some slogan. Uh, uh, no, no entrees before the apps finished.

Chris:
Yeah. Apps first.

Jeff:
Yeah, yeah, I don’t know. I thirst. I don’t know. Yeah, yeah, I don’t know. We’ll figure it out.

Chris:
Yeah, we’ll work on that. That’s right. So there you go, buddy. That’s what made me mad this week.

Jeff:
Well, good. Thank you, man. We appreciate it. And on behalf of all the rest of the people in the world, we are grateful for your rage on our behalf.

Chris:
And the server who blew it, his name’s Kevin. Kevin. Thanks, Kevin. I’m just kidding.

Jeff:
I was like, oh man, you’re going for it today. You were violated.

Chris:
I don’t know the server’s name. I don’t know the server’s name. That’s so funny.

Jeff:
That’s funny. I was like, are you serious? Did you just go there?

Chris:
Hey, listen, I always have a slogan, which is if a person is not nice to the server, that is generally not a nice person.

Jeff:
Usually that’s right.

Chris:
Yeah, that’s right. So I, I, I am always nice to the server as nice as I can be. But just because I happened to mention the fact that like, Hey, I had to decide which one I didn’t want to eat cold. Right. You know, my whole family, not just my wife, my whole family’s like, yeah, why are you going to say things like that? I mean, because the owner of BJ’s wants me to say things like that.

Jeff:
The owner of BJ’s wants it to be an appetizer. And as you’re about finishing the appetizer, your meal should arrive. And so does every human in this restaurant. That’s right. And then, so they don’t bring you your, BJ’s, the big dessert is the pizooki, right? Yeah, well, I had that once and it was marvelous. Yes. So they don’t bring that to you at the same time they brought you your steak? Right, because the ice cream would melt. That’s correct. So they need to be thinking appetizers. Right. end the appetizer, entree, end the entree, dessert. Right. So you need to think of your appetizer as the dessert before the entree. Yeah, there you go. The pizookie being the dessert after the entree.

Chris:
You should coach headquarters.

Jeff:
I’m going to give somebody a call on the way home. Okay, so we should leave that. We’ve wasted enough time today. John 15. John 15 verses 1 through 17. Another, it’s only in the book of John, but fundamental to Christianity is this passage. So John 14, 15 through 1 through 17 says, I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so that they will produce even more. You’ve already been pruned and purified by the message I’ve given you. Remember, it remained in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted. When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in His love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow. This is my commandment. Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me, I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command. Love each other.”

Chris:
Wow. Love one another.

Jeff:
Love each other and produce much fruit. Right. Right. Those are the two things he’s saying here.

Chris:
Yeah. So, uh, who was the one that wrote that little, who’s the one that wrote that little book? Um, uh, come on. It was so famous. They, it was their second book the night before Christmas on, on the, on John 15 on this. Uh, it was, I think it might’ve been Rick Warren. No, it wasn’t him. Anyway, I have it in my office. I can’t think of the author anyway.

Jeff:
Sounds like it was life-changing.

Chris:
It really was. You know why? Because when it says he prunes the branches, that word prunes, he breaks that down and he actually talks about how there’s more than one way to prune. So prune can mean to cut, right? For growth. But prune also means to lift up. So did you know that? So it’s actually, it was actually this word that meant like overall care. And it was, and it was, it was the two, it was the two ways to prune a branch, which is to produce, because it says the ones that produces that he prunes that makes more fruit. Right. And he took that word and he said, that’s a different, different word than the previous word, which, which is to cut. And he says that, um, so, so sometimes you cut a branch, which is, you know, uh, either discipline or could seem like it’s in the form of commandments and, you know, obedience and things like that. He says, and the other way is to lift up, which is a lot of times gardeners know and vineyards, you know, vine gardeners know that a branch will get grown in the mud and it’ll be stagnant. And so what it’ll do is, but it’ll be a good branch because it’s connected to the vine and they’ll take it and they’ll wash it off and then they’ll put it up and then that branch will produce more fruit. And so it was both the seemingly more harsh obedience sort of angle and then more of the gentle guidance and encouragement kind. And he really wrote it from the perspective of a gardener’s point of view. And it was actually pretty sweet. Because it sort of gave you the overall picture of God both challenging us and encouraging us to obey.

Jeff:
So when I was growing up, my mom and dad bought a homestead. And on the homestead it had everything necessary that we could provide almost everything for our families, right? We grew all of our own food, all that stuff.

Chris:
Yeah, you said it was like a one-acre garden or something.

Jeff:
Yeah, well just the garden. Our table garden was an acre. But we had a small orchard. We had a bunch of apple trees. We had some pear trees. We had, you know, all the blueberry bramble and the blackberries and the strawberries and the raspberries and, you know, all that stuff. But the big trees, we had some cherry trees. They never really did produce. Our soil wasn’t the right kind of soil. We had a plum tree that was really great. We had some, a couple of plum trees. We had the pear trees. And I can remember when my dad, yeah, they are, especially when you get them just right, right? Anyways, my dad would go out in the spring and trim when he was maintaining these trees, would trim the apple trees to the point where, and I loved climbing the trees. That’s how I was climbing all of our trees. We had hundreds of trees on our property. So I’m always climbing the trees and get up in the tree, eat your fill, you know, and I can remember watching him trim the trees and go, you just ruined that tree. Right. Right? How in the world, dad, you just ruined our trees. And dad say, no, they’ll produce more next year. And then sure enough, the next season come along and all of a sudden this tree that had good apples last year had great apples this year, sometimes almost too many apples. Right. And it was because he trimmed it back. He cut it back. He got rid of the other stuff. So the tree can choose to focus on growing his branches. What it is, what it naturally does. It just keeps growing its branches, it keeps pushing towards the sun, basking in the warmth, putting out more leaves, that’s where it puts all its energy. When it puts all its energy in growing its leaves and growing its branches, it puts less energy into producing its fruit. But when you trim it back, And it doesn’t have the ability to push all of its energy into the branch growing and the leaf producing. It needs to produce enough leaves, certainly. It needs to have enough branches, certainly. But if you trim it back to the right size, all that extra energy will go into producing more fruit. So the tree doesn’t want to be trimmed back. The tree just naturally wants to go, right? That’s what it wants to do. But when the guy who’s cultivating it trims it back right to the right place, It’ll produce so much more. The apples will be bigger, the pears will be bigger. And then I also noticed, after my dad trimmed the pear trees, the pears would be sweeter, which is really neat. So they’d be bigger, there’d be more of them, and they would be sweeter. And it’s because all that sap flowing isn’t pushing to grow new branches. It’s not pushing for new leaves. All that good stuff is going into the things. So I really view that as this with Jesus. Now, later on, We stopped focusing on the apples. We eventually just wanted to let our apple trees go. Now, my dad cut down the entire apple orchard and built a new house there. So it’s really weird when I pull into my mom and dad’s house now, that’s where I used to eat my fill and apples and pears and they’re all gone now. But they built a house in there. But for a while, we quit maintaining them. And at that point, they just, it got wild. The apples weren’t as good. The skin on them was always, you know, it was speckled and kind of rough. It didn’t taste as good. And then the apples kept getting smaller and smaller and fewer and fewer. And finally, we just cut them all down and built a house there when we quit maintaining them. So we need God to cultivate us. We need God. And so I look at my life now at, you know, I’ve been a believer for 40 something years. And every once in a while I start to realize, you know, there hasn’t been any pruning in me lately. Like I haven’t been choosing it myself. We don’t naturally go, you know what I need to get rid of in my life?

Chris:
Right.

Jeff:
Right? But sometimes the difficult things in my life is when God decides to cut those things out. If I choose not to, God will. And he’ll prune those things. But then you said the other side is guiding, putting the branches in the right place. So yeah. And then the other side of that is we need to remain in him. A vine by itself is dead, won’t produce anything. So, you know, remain in me because apart from me, you can do nothing.

Chris:
So not everybody grew up like you, and not everybody even understands. I would even go as far as to say, and I have no way to quantify this, but I would go as far as to say over 90% of every listener listening today to this podcast did not have your experience growing up. And so you’re like, oh yeah, that’s really insightful. I guess that is true, right? Because I’m not a farmer. Uh, you know, but think about in the first century, everybody knew exactly what he was talking about. So when Jesus uses this, you know, illustration, uh, he says, okay, think about this. And by the way, a side note, uh, this is, uh, just came to thought. Um, he leaves the upper room and they’re heading down, down the mountain, you know, through the Valley and then into the garden of Gethsemane, right. They’re, they’re heading to the Mount of Olives. And so, uh, and so they’re literally stopping in the vineyard on the way there. So this actually, most scholars believe this is at night, right? So he’s stopping at night. And as they’re walking through the vineyard, he pauses and he decides to teach them about what it means to remain in me, right? Abide in me. That’s the big thing over here, abide in me. And anyway, so not everybody understands it. Well, I remember being a youth pastor, a pastor of high school students, and this was in the 90s or, you know, whatever. And I used to do this thing every once in a while called Destination Unknown. And it was a couple times a year, three or four times a year. And I was just, I would just have a bus ready and they’d show up for youth group and I’d be like, jump in the bus. And then they were, and we just head down to it. Jesus, you know, really cool thing. So anyway, there was this lady who owned this vineyard and I remember knocking on her door and I forgot to, you know, plan. Uh, and, and I, uh, and it was that day, it was that night, right? It was a Wednesday night or no, it was Tuesday night. And I remember knocking on her door like Tuesday, like morning or something like this, like maybe afternoon. And she answers the door and I said, hey, your vineyard is huge. I said, it’s beautiful. I said, would you mind if we bring like 60 or 70 high school students to walk through and I could just teach them and then I would interview you and you would share your knowledge on the vineyard. And she goes, she said, sir, pastor, she said, she says, I’ve just worked eight hours straight, been up since before it was dawn. And she said, and we have done our yearly pruning. And she said, and so we have tied and worked all day. And she goes, I am ready to collapse in this bed. And there is no way that, that I could survive. And she was a little bit older too. And I said, please. So being this young twenties, I know being this young twenties person, right? Like I just had no compassion, right? I’m thinking everybody should have strength and resilience. And I said, please. And she said, okay. And so she went and took a nap, got ready. That night I brought these kids over at like, whatever it was, 6, 630. And here she comes, you know, like a good sport outside the house. But I got to tell you, I learned more in that 15 minutes about John 15 than I had previously in any study I’ve ever done.

Jeff:
Well, if she’d just done all the pruning, it wouldn’t have looked like a vineyard. Right. Right. You didn’t have the big leaves. Right. Right. Because she cut it down to just the smallest version that it would still stay alive.

Chris:
Yes. Well, I got to tell you, there was there was there was plenty of pictures and plenty of things that she talked about, how many bushels of grapes and what she did with them. And she made wine and all these different things. And I got to tell you, like, it was just it was amazing.

Jeff:
My mom is one of the best kids workers I’ve ever known. She’s been doing children’s ministry for 40 something years. Hundreds and hundreds. Many times her children’s ministries would be four or five hundred kids at a time. Just her on stage with four hundred kids. You can just imagine how crazy it was. But she’s just riveting when she teaches. She’s amazing. Probably the best children’s worker I’ve ever known. I remember one time we had some roses. We didn’t have a lot of fancy things, but she had a rose bush. And I can remember, so I’d seen Dad trim the trees and stuff, you have to do that, but my mom was trimming roses. So the people might not understand trimming apple trees, or trimming blackberry bushes, they’ll do the same thing, you trim them down small and you get bigger blackberries. But my mom was trimming rose bushes. And I remember looking at it going, you just killed them. You just killed all the, so anybody who’s ever trimmed roses, you trim it down to where it doesn’t look like there’s nothing left. But if you don’t, eventually that rose bush will go crazy and those roses will get smaller and smaller and smaller until there’s almost no roses, right? But you trim that down and next year, it’ll come back and it’ll be vibrant and the roses will be more beautiful. They tend to have less disease, all those things. And so my mom sat there and she taught me this passage while she was trimming them. And then later on, we went out and we cut a bunch of those roses, put them on the table and my mom retaught. that this lesson and I just it’s just in me because that right yeah you can do nothing and so here’s this beautiful rose that thought it had accomplished everything when we cut it apart cut it off the stem and put it in the thing it died it died in a few days right it’s completely shriveled up and that’s what happens we can think our life is beautiful and incredible right now look at we’re in all of our glory and if we get cut off right from the from the vine we’re going to wither and die

Chris:
So, Abide in Me means stay in your relationship with Christ, right? Just be in prayer, be connected to the Holy Spirit, stay in the Word. Do you want to read the Galatians one?

Jeff:
Well, I was just going to talk about the fruit, right? Here it is, my Father glorified that we bear much fruit. And what is that fruit? Galatians chapter 5 talks about the fruit of the Spirit, love and joy and peace and gentleness and patience and kindness and self-control. Second Peter, chapter one talks about similar ideas being moral excellence and all those kinds of things. But then Jesus is tying here both obedience and fruit together. So what are the other great commandments? He gave us love God, love people. And then he gave us the commandment at the very end in Matthew chapter 28, go and make disciples everywhere, baptize them, teach them to obey everything I’ve commanded you, right? So it’s in those areas that we should be bearing that fruit. So you want to measure what kind of, if you’re measuring hatred, if the fruit in your life is hatred and anxiety and frustration and violence, well then maybe you’re not tapped into the right branch, right? So there’s that. The fruit coming out of our life should be more, next year should have more love than this year. And so that’s why God would go ahead and do the painful things in our life to trim us back so that we produce more fruit. And that’s okay. And so it’s interesting, he talks about this thing right after he talks about God’s peace. It’s going to be okay. Whatever he’s doing in your life to help you make more fruit is what he’s doing.

Chris:
That’s great. Well, hey, that’s our time, and it’s been a good run here this week, and we will see you next week, hopefully, on The Bible Guys.