"producing Fruit"

John 15:1-17

“Producing Fruit”

There is a story in the Bible where Jesus comes across a fig tree, and He tries to find some fruit on it.

But there is no fruit, and so Jesus curses the fig tree saying, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”

(pause)

Boy, life is scary crazy, and confusing.

If it’s crazy for us can you imagine what it was like for Jesus’ disciples?

In our Lesson for this morning, Jesus is preparing the disciples for a time when He is no longer going to be with them physically.

But rather than wringing His hands in despair, Jesus is speaking a word of hope and trust.

He says, “I am the Vine, you are the branches…

…Live in me.

Make your home in me just as I do in you.”

For most of us, we don’t have to look too far to find everyday examples that help deepen our understanding of what Jesus is getting at when He compares Himself to a Vine and you and me to the branches.

It almost goes without saying that once a branch is cut off from its life source, it is simply not going to live long, not to mention being at the end of its fruit bearing potential.

A farmer in a rural congregation in South Carolina once planted several acres of watermelons that he had presold to a grocery store chain in New York City.

When the truck got there for the watermelons, though, there was a misunderstanding over who was supposed to harvest the crop.

The deal fell through, the truck left empty, and the farmer gave all the watermelons to a local church Youth Group to sell at a roadside market for missions.

The young people and their parents put on boots and gloves and went out into the fields in search of the melons.

They soon saw that some of the branches had separated from the vine, had turned brown, and had no fruit worth finding.

But the green, living branches were still connected to the vine and had tasty watermelons under their leaves.

So, Jesus uses the metaphor of a vine connected to a branch and a human being connected to Christ as an example of what it means to live a faithful and fruitful life.

And the connection He is talking about isn’t temporary or shallow.

It is abiding, enduring and deep.

It is learning to live lives more and more and more rooted in Jesus.

It is living in Christ in the same way that Christ lives in us, becoming stronger and stronger day after day, year after year…

…producing more and more high quality fruit along the way.

So, let’s ask ourselves this morning: “Are we connected to Christ?”

“Are we rooted in Jesus?”

“Where do we get our nutrients for living?”

“Are we bearing fruit for the Kingdom?”

“Are we making our home in Jesus?”

If we really think about it, this is a difficult question.

I struggle just thinking about it.

The answer should be easy, but if I am honest, I have to admit that a lot of times I don’t live in Christ.

I don’t make my home in Him.

How about you?

Instead, I often live in things that I think I can control, but then those things end up controlling me.

I live in things that require little of me, but they end up taking my soul.

What do you spend your time doing?

What things do you give your life to?

We are constantly living in, taking residence in, affixing ourselves permanently to many things in our world.

And we kid ourselves if we think that those things are not affecting us, shaping us, transforming us.

The proof of what is shaping us is all around us.

That which we value, what we spend our time doing, the activities that we engage in, our attitudes, whether or not we are putting what we claim to believe into practice, whether we are becoming more loving, more altruistic, more like Jesus or more like something else all point to the things that captivate our hearts.

These things are the fruit of our lives.

In verse 9 of Chapter 15 Jesus says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Now remain in my love.”

And a couple of verses later Jesus says: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

That’s really what it’s all about, is it not?

Love.

The kind of love that comes from a living, abiding, connected relationship with Jesus Christ.

The kind of love which is the fruit or result of being joined to the Real Vine.

A great preacher was once asked to share about the person who influenced him the most in his life and his call to ministry.