Multiply Justice

The apple seed kingdom

My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. (John 15:8 NAS)

By Mark Kelly

Have you ever pondered the power of a seed? An old proverb says, “A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible.”

The apple seed is small, but a bit of math shows that single seed bursts with imagination-staggering potential. From just one seed springs a tree that, in due time, can yield a harvest of 500 apples a year. If each of those 500 apples bears 10 seeds, each of those in turn can, in due time, produce a tree that itself will bear 500 apples a year — each with 10 seeds, each producing a tree that will bear 500 apples a year, and so on.

In one fruitful season, a lone seed becomes 5,000. In a second season, 5,000 multiplies to 25 million seeds, which in turn become 125 billion seeds in a third season! And each tree produced in each generation also continues to yield 5,000 seeds a year. Amazing!

Jesus saw himself as the single seed of the Kingdom. John 12:24 records his saying that a seed, planted in the soil and dying, will produce “a plentiful harvest of new lives.” (NLT) He was even more explicit in John 15:8, saying those of us who are truly his disciples will bring glory to Abba Father by yielding a great harvest.

Jesus poured himself into his true disciples, then laid down his life so his powerful spirit could be multiplied. Today, more than 2 billion people worldwide identify themselves as Christians. Granted, many of them are Christian in name only, not true disciples, but you are a true disciple, aren’t you? What is the potential of your life if you brought just one person into the Kingdom each year? My math tells me that if each disciple made one new disciple a year, in 30 years 1 billion disciples could be made.

The Creator told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, and that is one command well obeyed. The Risen One, sent by his Father to multiply the Kingdom of Justice, said to his true disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20:21 NLT)

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Mark Kelly is editor of Multiply Justice. Copyright © 2012 Kainos Press