The Parable of the Thumb
John 15:1-10
Jesus was a great communicator, in fact He was THE great communicator.
His teaching held people on the edge of their seats. They said, “No one ever taught like this man.” (Jn 7:46)
Why? What was so great about his message?
One thing that made it so captivating was the method… Parables.
Scripture records 57 parables Jesus preached.
>>Why parables?
Just as “a picture is worth 1000 words… a parable is a word picture and can convey many deep spiritual lessons.
Jesus was the master of seeing God in all of life… in the most common items and the most mundane tasks. He could then use that common thing… something people understood, to teach a spiritual truth.
I like parables too. Though I am not Jesus’ equal, I think I do have a gift of using parables and analogies to make spiritual truths, and today I am going to do that with
>>THE PARABLE OF THE THUMB.
One day a man was playing basketball with some young thugs who thought basketball is a full contact sport.
…and they cast stones at him, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.
NO, that is not it… that is the parable of the wicked winedressers
…………..
One day a man was playing basketball with some young thugs who thought basketball is a full contact sport.
And he fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
NO… that is the parable of the Good Samaritan
……………
OH yes… here it is…
And the youngest one said to the others, this man is a better basketball player than us, let’s hurt him and put him out of the game and then he can’t dominate us. So they fell on him and wounded his thumb, and sent him away shamefully handled.
You can read it for yourself in the 13th chapter of the book of Jeroboam
>>>To understand the parable of the thumb, you must first understand the anatomy of the thumb.
By the way you can stop looking for the book of Jeroboam, there is no such book
The thumb is made up of three bones, with two joints.
>>There are several tendons and muscles which hold the bones together and cause them to move.
>>One tendon, the extensor pollicis longus, starts up in the forearm, runs down through the wrist, and up to the last bone in the thumb, that is called the distal phalange.
This tendon, works kind of like a rubber band, to pull the tip of the thumb back… like this.
When I was playing basketball with the boys, one of them, who’s name will remain a secret but which rhymes with Ethan, ran into the end of my thumb, causing it to violently bent down.
When it did, it ripped the tendon loose from the end of my thumb.
Without the tendon in place, I could bend my thumb down… but could not retract it.
I could bend it back with my other hand, but not without help
I went to the doctor and he explained that the tendon was torn.
He also explained two treatment options.
The first was surgery, where they would cut the thumb open and surgically reattach the tendon to the bone.
The second was to splint it for two months.
The Doctor told me that the splint would hold the thumb in place and the tendon would reattach.
That is good, I don’t want surgery, but I had a question I just had to ask… You did not x-ray my thumb when the splint was on, how can you know the tendon and the bone are touching?
Now his answer was… experience…” we have been doing this for 70 to 100 years and it works.”
When I left there, I was sitting in the car, looking at this monstrosity and it hit me… I know why it works…
>>Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
God planned it, thousands of years ago, before he created Adam, God designed this incredible body, and He decided how things would fit together and work.
>>And He created the DNA code that tells each bone, each muscle, each tendon, and each cell where it belongs and how it is to work.
And unless there is some injury, like mine… or some disease, like cancer… or some disturbance of the DNA code, like birth defects… all of those atoms and protons and neutrons will do as God planned and every part of our body will be in the right place and do exactly what it was intended to do.
Thousands of years ago God told my tendon where it belongs and if I will just allow it, that tendon will find its place and reattach itself.
AIN’T GOD GOOD!!!!
WE ARE FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE!!!!
>>That is the first lesson of the parable of the thumb… We are not the result of some accident of evolution or of some primitive thing that crawled out of the primordial ooze… We are the intentional creation of a great and powerful creator who designed us with intelligence and purpose.
We can see it all around us… even in the tendon that reattached itself because God told it where to be.
>>The second lesson is… Abiding… staying in contact.
Jesus taught this lesson with the parable of the vine and the branches.
>>I want to use the parable of the thumb.
The Doctor told me to wear this splint, which would hold the thumb back and in touch with the tendon, and it would reattach… in two months.
>>It takes STAYING in contact, though, so “don’t take the splint off to see if things are working. If you do, it will tear loose again and you will have to start all over.”
One day when I was changing the splint, making sure to keep the tip of the thumb up,.. it hit me… >>> Now I know what Jesus meant by abiding… ABIDING IS STAYING IN CONTACT!!
Jesus used the parable of the vine and branches because people in that day were all familiar with the process.
We are not from a society that raises grapes or makes wine.
But we can understand the concept of keeping the tendon in contact with the bone, to allow it to reattach because all of us have some knowledge of biology and how our body works.
The treatment and cure for a torn tendon is very simple. It requires no surgery, no medicine, no exercises or therapy… it just takes ONE THING… CONTACT… CONTINUOUS CONTACT
All I have to do is see to it that the tip of the thumb stays up… so the tendon can stay in contact with the bone.
It can’t be in contact some of the time, and sometimes not… else the tendon will come loose and the process will have to start over.
Each time I let the tendon and the bone loose contact… I will undo the process and the healing… tear the fragile young fibers that are beginning to reattach
The process of Christ-like-ness, discipleship, growing in your relationship with Jesus is just like that
When you were born, you were IN CONTACT with God the Father.
But then one day, bam… there was an injury to the tendon…SIN you chose to disobey God, and the bond between you and God was violently torn apart.
You were out of contact and things did not work right.
But you went to the Doctor, God, and he told you the problem, tear/SIN, and the cure… reattach
He did surgery, where He removed the torn and broken pieces of tendon and bone (salvation) and reattached you to Him
Then he told you that if you wanted the rewards (THE FRUIT) of the union… you must STAY IN CONTACT… CONTACT IS THE KEY TO HAPPINESS AND HEALTH
Now, for my thumb, the doctor helped me be sure I keep the bone and tendon in contact… A SPLINT
IF I WILL USE THE SPLINT… no good if I don’t use it… the contact will be maintained and health will be restored.
>>I know a man who had the same injury to his finger and the tendon was torn. He did not go to the Dr. and he did not use a splint.
Today his finger is permanently deformed.
The same is true for you and me SPIRITUALLY… God has given us some splints, and if we will use them, contact will be maintained which will result in health, growth and happiness
>>What are the splints?
Bible Study Prayer Church attendance service Meditation obedience discipline
I know, I can hear the moans and groans now… legalism, boring, hard, no fun
I’m not going to tell you this splint does not get in my way… or cramp my style… it does. I can’t put my hand in my pocket… I have to be sure I don’t put anything in that pocket
I can’t button buttons or tie shoestrings
It is hard… but I just have to keep my eyes on the prize… a thumb that works.
When it comes to the splints that keep us in touch with God… you have to keep your eyes on the prize…
Listen to what God says in our scripture today…
Verse 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
If we stay in contact with Him, He will keep us clean and pure, thoughts actions etc.
V. 4 & 5 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
If you stay in contact, you can bear fruit… enjoy the rewards… peace, love, patience, gentleness, self-control, etc
V7 7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
You will have an effective prayer life
V8 8Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
You will be pleasing to God and will be a source of glory for Him
VV 9-10 9As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
God already loves you and He will never stop loving you. You don’t have to do anything to gain His love.
Notice how he changes the wording… from continue in my love to keep my commandments.
They are the same… keep commandments = abide in my love
In fact, I wish there was the word BECAUSE between verses 9 and 10… continue ye in my love BECAUSE If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love
He did not say you will earn or deserve my love… He said you will put yourself in a place WHERE I CAN pour out your love on you
The choice is your’s …
In the words of Hamlet… To splint, or not to splint, that is the question: Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer the Slings and Arrows of staying connected to God and thereby enjoy the fruits of that connection, or to throw off the splint and enjoy the freedom for a season but lose the health and healing that comes from contact? Ay, there's the rub…
Some of you here have been to the doctor for the surgery (SALVATION)
And He gave you the splint and told you to use it
(DISCIPLINES)
And you wore it for a while, but one day you decided you did not need the splint any longer, so, you took it off, bent your thumb, and now you wonder why it is deformed, why it hurts, why it does not work right.
You wonder why you are not closer to God, why your prayers are unanswered, why you struggle with purity, why God is not blessing you
Come today, put the splint back on, wear it, use it, and reap the fruit
