John 15:1-10
“Bearing Fruit”
Over and over again in the Old Testament, Israel is described as being the Vine or the Vineyard of God.
In Isaiah 5:7 the prophet declares: “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel.”
In fact, the vine had actually become the symbol of Israel.
It was the emblem on the coins, and there was a great golden vine in the Temple in front of the Holy Place.
And here, in John Chapter 15 Jesus declares, “I am the true vine…”
And in doing so, Jesus is making it clear that salvation comes not through flesh and blood lineage, but through faith in Christ.
And all who belong to Him are the people of God.
Nothing else can set us right with God.
I like to do some yard work.
I can pull weeds.
I can put down some Round-Up.
I like to get out there and sweat.
I like to prune bushes, and I can mow a lawn.
But I am not a real gardener.
I have been told that a rose bush, left to itself, will get all scraggly and tangled, and grow in on itself.
It will produce a bunch of not-so-good roses rather than the nice big beautiful ones.
And the reason is that it, quite literally, gets in its own light.
It needs help to grow in the right direction.
So you prune it to stop it from wasting its energy and being unproductive.
You cut out the parts of the plant that are growing inwards and getting tangled up.
In doing so, you are encouraging the shoots that are growing outwards, toward the light.
In other words, you prune the rose to help it be its true self!!!
And as far as I understand, more or less the same thing works with vines.
Vines need to focus their energy on producing good quality grapes.
They need to grow towards the light rather than getting in a tangled mess.
If they are left to themselves, they will produce a whole lot of worthless growth.
So, they need to be cut away if the vine is going to be truly what it is capable of being.
In verse 2 of chapter 15 Jesus says that God the Father “cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
The word Jesus uses for “prune” in verse 2 is unusual.
It’s a lot like the word Jesus uses for “clean” in verse 3.
The disciples have already been saved.
They are already in Christ.
They are connected to the Vine, and they have already been pruned!
But, there is a lot more pruning to come!!!
Jesus has spoken the Word to them, calling them to take up their cross and follow Him.
They have submitted themselves to God’s pruning knife, allowing God to cut away other goals and ambitions.
They have already borne fruit; they must now expect more pruning so that they can bear even more fruit.
Jesus shows us, through this metaphor, that the Christian life is a process, and it is an adventure, and it produces great results!!!
It has been said that Christianity adds a new rung to the ladder of evolution, producing a new creature who lives in a new way.
And without Christ this would be impossible.
But in Christ, all things are possible!
In Christ, we come into a new life which is radically different from what we have left behind, with new desires, new possibilities, new powers and new outcomes!
This may be laughable to some, but it is fact!
It has been done over and over again!
And we are meant to be one of these new creatures.
We are meant to live such lives that others, meeting us, will look at us, look again, and then look from us to Jesus!!!
This is what it means to bear fruit!!!
This is what it means to grow toward the Light!!!
Jesus is the Vine, we are the branches.
We are the Body of Christ.
We are Christ’s feet, His hands, His body.
Christ is calling each of us, “Come help Me in My saving of the world!!!”
Wow!!!
What a thrill!!!
But we can’t do it alone.
We can’t become disconnected from the Vine.
We must do what the Vine does.
And that is what Christ did while He was on this earth.
He was never outside the Father’s will.
Everything He did and said was according to what the Father told Him.
That is how it is to be with us.
We are to be “in Christ” just as Christ is “in the Father.”
“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must be connected to the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me…
…apart from me you can do nothing.”
The Christian life is about an ongoing and intimate relationship with Christ Himself.
What good is a profession of faith with no practice…
…words without deeds…
…all leaves and no fruit?
“If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown in the fire and burned.”
We must abide in Christ!
Suppose in a moment of weakness we have fallen into temptation; we have made a mess of things; we are on the way down…
And then suppose that we have friends, wonderful, loving and strong friends who rescue us from our precarious situation.
There is only one way we can keep ourselves from falling again.
We must keep contact with our friends!!!
If we lose that contact, chances are that our weaknesses will overcome us; the old temptations will rear their ugly heads again; and we will fall.
In a similar way, our salvation depends on continual contact with Christ.
This is what it means to abide in Christ.
The secret of the life of Jesus was His contact with God the Father.
Again and again Jesus withdrew to a solitary place to meet with God.
And we must be intentional about doing the same.
For example, to pray in the morning, even if it’s only for a few minutes, is to be given strength for the whole day.
We also must remain in the community, which is the Church, that knows and loves Jesus and celebrates Him as Lord!
And we must study the Bible individually and as a group.
We must also, together, go out into the world sharing this Word with the world!!!
And although it always hurts, we must be ready for the Father’s pruning shears.
What good will we be if we grow scraggly and tangled, and grow in on our selves?
How miserable our walk with Christ will be if we grow inwards and block the Light.
How sad it would be if we were not able to be our true selves, and not to be the Christian disciples that God knows we are capable of being.
When we allow God to prune us, and to transform the unconverted corners of our lives God is glorified and so are we, by bearing good quality fruit—and lots of it!!!
Fruit such as, feeding the hungry, caring for the outcast and afflicted, loving the unlovely, serving in humility, shining in the darkness, adding flavor to the world and helping to bring others into relationship with God where they will know they are loved and will find Life—true Life!!!
This is what the world needs!!!
This is what the multitudes are starving for!!!
It’s an intimate process, being pruned by God.
The Father is never closer to the branches than when the dead parts are being cut away, and new growth and transformation is taking place.
Oh, what love the Father has for us.
Oh, how the Gardner loves the Vine and the branches.
Oh, to be part of that garden!!!
Oh, to bear fruit, and to have the Father say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have produced a good crop, now I will prune you again so that you will produce an even greater one!!!”
And oh, the wonderful, and exciting opportunity we have to say, “Yes, Lord! Yes!”
Jesus tells us plainly, “This is to my Father’s glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
May this be our aim and may it be so!
Amen.
