One With Christ ~ Christ Series

Opening Illustration:?Many of us love receiving gifts—birthdays, holidays, anniversaries. But have you noticed that the most meaningful gifts are not the ones that fade or break but connect us to someone’s love? A letter. A family heirloom. A handmade card from a child. These are gifts that hold presence. In today’s readings, we are reminded of the Source of every good gift and invited to consider how we live out our response to that generosity.

Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” This isn't just poetry—it’s a revelation of relationship. In Christ, we are not just connected—we are engrafted, intertwined, abiding.

The Greek word for “abide” is meno—to remain, stay, and dwell. It's the same word in John 1 when the disciples ask, “Where are you staying?” and Jesus says, “Come and see.”

This abiding isn't passive. It's not a one-time prayer or Sunday-only connection. It’s a daily dwelling, a living attachment, a mutual indwelling. As Paul would say in Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.”

Theologian N.T. Wright says, “Christian living means learning to live in the company of Jesus and learning to let that company shape every part of our lives.”

2. Fruitfulness Is the Result of Abiding (John 15:1 11)

Jesus gives a profound image: “I am the vine, you are the branches.” (John 15:5)

?Branches cannot bear fruit apart from the vine. Just as our spiritual life depends on our connection to Christ, so does our capacity to live generously. When we abide in Jesus and remain connected through prayer, worship, service, and community, we begin to reflect the generous character of God. Fruitfulness is not forced; it is formed in us by grace. Christian stewardship is not about giving more out of guilt but giving fruitfully out of abiding. Fruit—like love, joy, peace, and patience cannot grow apart from God. Nor can generosity. When we are close to the Vine, we grow in gratitude and the willingness to share. Our stewardship becomes an outflow of God’s life in us. Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” This is not a threat—it’s an invitation to dependence. To draw life from Him.

When we abide, we bear fruit—not just the fruit of success or productivity—but the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Rachel Held Evans once wrote, “Faith isn’t about having everything figured out. It’s about staying close to the vine, even when the pruning hurts.”

And pruning does hurt. Maybe you’ve had seasons where the job didn’t work out, the ministry dwindled, the child rebelled, or the health faded. But God prunes us not to punish, but to make space for new growth.

3. Stewardship Is a Joyful Response to Love (John 15:9-11)

Jesus ends this: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love… I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”?When you realize that you are deeply, unshakably loved by God, it changes how you live. Stewardship becomes an act of joy, not duty. You are not giving to earn love; you are giving because you are loved. Our stewardship—of time, talents, and treasure—is our song of gratitude, our abiding response to divine generosity.

Think of a grapevine. The branch doesn’t hoard the nutrients it receives. It channels them, producing fruit not for itself, but to nourish others. That’s what we’re called to be. Conduits of grace. Stewards of what God gives—not to store, but to share.

Why does Jesus want us to abide?

“So that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

This is not shallow happiness. This is resilient joy—the kind Paul spoke of in prison, the kind mothers carry through midnight prayers, the kind the persecuted church knows well.

This is eschatological joy—the joy of the coming Kingdom breaking into the now.?It is the fruit of being loved by Christ and living in His love.

Story: I met a mother at a church in Hyderabad, India, whose son had become a pastor after leaving a life of addiction. She said through tears, “Every day I lay him before Jesus. Now, my joy is complete.” That’s fruit-bearing joy. That’s abiding love.

Friends, Jesus does not say, “Work harder.” He says, “Abide.”?He does not say, “Produce more.” He says, “Remain in my love.”

This is a relationship. This is a union. This is grace.

If you are weary, abide.?If you are growing, be pruned.?If you are longing for joy, stay connected to the Vine.

Because apart from Him, we can do nothing. But with Him, all things are possible.

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