Staying Connected To The Vine Jesus Christ

Another fruit is that we show the love that Christ first showed us by loving one another. The portion of this chapter of John’s Gospel that follows our reading for today talks about the importance of loving one another as Christ has loved us. Others see how we treat one another, and they want to know more. It gives us the chance to, as one of my former pastors would say, be “Jesus with skin on” to other people. You could be the personification of Christ’s love to someone else in the way you go about your daily tasks, and it might be the opportunity God is giving you to share your faith in Jesus Christ with someone else.

Galatians 5:22 lists some other “Fruits” that Christians bear, signs that we are of Christ, and that Christ lives in us. Some of those fruits include “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self control.” (Gal 5:22). These are the types of fruit that those who are connected to Jesus Christ will naturally grow. We don’t bear this fruit because it’s necessary for salvation or that it somehow earns us “merit points” with God, we do them because that’s what Christians do. Just as my old apple tree bears apples because it’s an apple tree, you bear these types of fruits because you’re a Christian. Sometimes, to bear this fruit, God has to prune away things in our lives that might keep us from bearing that fruit. It may be painful to have those things pruned from our lives, but we know that God works all things for our good, even if we can’t always see it at the time.

I encourage each of you to remain connected to your Savior, Jesus Christ. Continue to come to this service each month and be fed with the Word and the Sacrament. Continue to confess your sins, receive Christ’s forgiveness, so that you will continue to enjoy the forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation that only Christ can provide for you. Amen.