A Fruitful Community

A Fruitful Community of Disciples

Read John 15:1-17

You might say that it’s a strange tradition but every year between Christmas and New Years I make it point to watch  Frank Capra’s – It’s a Wonderful Life. 

Paints a picture of a man named George Bailey who

• Loses his hearing because he saved his brother from an icy pond
• Does not get to travel the world over the summer before going off to College
• Does not get to go to College because his dad dies and he has to take over the building an loan.

*

*When I do this it reminds me of several things

1. Did I give more than I take this past year?
2. Every life carries an influence in this world.
3. What will be the impact my life has had on those around me?

Today I would like to look in John 15 and see how Jesus challenged and strengthened his team of disciples shortly before his death.

Context

 Before we do let’s look at the context of this passage.  If a movie was made of John, the first several chapters would be broad sweeping highlights but with each step closer to the cross John slows down the pace and covers the last few day of Jesus ministry in great detail.  Every moment is a teaching moment for Jesus. Infused within each teaching moment Jesus moves from vaguely telling his disciples that he is going to be leaving to being straight forward. With that He got their complete attention and so he teaches them profound truths about himself and what it means to be his disciple.  It’s as if every word was going to be his last words dripping with intensity.  Let me recap the happening in the last 2 chapters. In John 13 we find Jesus modeling servanthood by washing his disciples feet and institutes the Lord’s Supper. In 14 he tells them that he is the way the truth and the life, and that no one comes to the father except through him. In last part of chapter 14, the passage right before our text Jesus promises to leave them with the Holy Spirit to be their comforter and their peace for the troubled times ahead.

In chapter 15 Jesus uses a common everyday image that the disciples were very familiar with. Jesus the master teacher begins by saying:

John 15:1-17 (NIV)
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  

 In verse 1,  Jesus uses layers of meaning  that his disciples understood. At face value Jesus is a life giving vine that feeds his branches. But the disciple would have also understood that Jesus is contrasting himself with a false or counterfeit vine. Throughout the Old Testament Israel is referred to Israel as being the vine. By saying this Jesus is pushing his disciples to see that their future does not lie with the national “vine” of Israel, but with the “genuine vine” (himself).[1]

2 He 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love

As I read this passage the glasses that I read it with it are very different than the lenses the disciples had. Grapes, dates and olives were and still are plants that are very influential in not only the agricultural make up of this region but is understood by the majority of the people who live there as a part of their culture and heritage.  Not only is there a distance in time and culture but also a difference in was commonly accepted beliefs.  In my home we were raised not to smoke, drink or chew…or go with girls who do. Needless to say, my understanding of the wine making process is limited. So while my dad is gone I would like to teach you ….how a true disciples is connected to the vine….which is my first point. And then we will get to the wine making instructions in a minute.

True Disciples are connected to the Vine

Just like Danny said last week about the Holy Spirit being the source of power for sharing our faith, we need to be connected to in a strong relationship with Jesus in order to be fruitful.

4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

 In the same way the flow of water and nutrients through the xylem and phloem gives life to the plant, being connected to the vine gives us the spiritual life giving energy we need to produce fruit!

But what happens when we are taking the time to read the bible, pray, give of our time and money, and for some reason we don’t feel fruitful. Look at verse 2

Listen to these two verses

2 He 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.

6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

Have you ever come to this text and really began questioning your fruitfulness and even your salvation! I have!!

What is the difference between the two verses?

1.         Verse 2 speaks to the one who is “in me” whereas verse 6 speaks to one who does not “remain in me”.  Judas is an example, or some of the religious leaders at the time. So those who did not remain in the vine were thrown away and withered.

But what about those who did remain but did not produce fruit? Why are they “cut off”? Think about David out in the wilderness running for years from Saul was he producing fruit? Or consider Joseph stuck in prison for something he did not do was he producing fruit. In my studies this week I found that often times a vine would grow and would not produce fruit because its leaves were not receiving any sunlight and would end up near the ground struggling to produce. When that happens the vinedresser would come and take that vine and lift it up to where it would receive the needed sunlight so it could produce.  That makes very good sense doesn’t it? I looked up the word in its original Greek language and found that it’s second meaning was to “cut off.”  The first meaning was to “lift up.” 

Transition – So  I would contend that God the Gardner comes and lift’s those who are in him and are not producing fruit.  But he also prunes us as well which brings me to my second point.

True Disciples are Pruned for an Eternal Purpose

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.

How to Make Wine

Wine comes from the juice of the grapes produced by a grapevine. If left untrimmed, a grapevine will use its available energy to grow long woody branches and extend its territory, while producing a few meager bunches of grapes. Winemakers learned early on that grapevines could be tamed by vigilant pruning of branches so that comparatively few buds would be allowed to grow. When this trimming was done, the vine was forced to direct its life-giving sap into the production of grapes rather than territorial expansion. Under good conditions of both sufficient rain and plenty of sunshine, this resulted in heavy grape clusters and abundant grape juice for wine production. Major pruning was done in midwinter, when the vine would lose the least amount of its precious sap. This process of cleaning/ pruning the vineyard left a bare field with small stumps at the beginning of the spring growing season. A tidy farmer not only snipped off these old branches, but also hauled them away and burned them so that his vines could grow unhindered from the mature stump each year. Effective vine dressing required that the farmer continue to prune through the growing season to keep the vine’s energy focused on a limited number of grape clusters.

If left to ourselves we have a tendency to use all our available energy to do what we want to do and produce very little fruit!

Let’s look again at verse 2: 2 He 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. 

But what kind of fruit is Jesus talking about? (Invite Jerry Wade 1st Service)  Give him the sledge and ask if he would not mind finding a way to share with as many as possible.

I would contend that since God is the gardener or vinedresser that it is what pleases him, its what he is trying to grow in us. And I cannot think of anything sweeter than to God than the fruit of the Spirit.

1.         Fruit of the Spirit – At the end of Chapter 14 in the passage right before this text Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit. When we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, the fruit of the spirit (Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness and self control) grows and ripens in us. 

2.         One thing about fruit is always true unless some one finds a way to genetically engineer is that fruit has integrity. When you plant the seed from a fruit you always get  that kind of plant.  When that plant grows up you always get that kind of fruit. There are no oranges on apple trees. More than that when you bite into a red grape its not going to taste like a cherry. When you look at an orange and you see the outside you know that it is consistent with what it has on the inside. Fruit has integrity  (Illustration of Ted Haggard is you have time) The branch and the fruit and the seed all obey the vine. John 15:10 (NIV) 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. – Obedience

3.         Seeds – Every fruit that I know of has seeds! Part of producing fruit is having a built in mechanism for reproducing. – Just two chapters away in is the last recorded prayer before the cross Jesus prays for his disciples and you and I in John 17:18-21 (NIV)
18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Before Jesus left earth the most important most emphatic command he gave was to reproduce our selves by making disciples. We like fruit have the seed that can produce disciples!

Just a side note…fruit bearing is process – It usually goes through several stages of development. When fruit initially appears, it is usually small, green, hard, sour, and immature. But in due time it begins to ripen.  It doesn’t happen over night. But one thing that that keeps a fruit from maturing is when we quench the Holy Spirit.  Unrepentant sin in our lives!  This past week I gave a short devotional for CR on admitting or confessing sin. When we do not confess or admit our sin in an act of repentance it becomes very difficult to produce fruit! In Matthew 3 John the Baptist said Matthew 3:2 (NIV)
2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Later in verse 8 he goes on to say Matthew 3:8 (NIV)
8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  Producing fruit requires that we obey and when we don’t obey admitting it to God and even someone close to us as James teaches. This act of repentance will allow God to grow fruit through us again.

[2]

. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

[3]

True Disciples are Fruitful and Faithful Friends

Illustration - At the end of my favorite movie It’s a wonderful life – Clarence the Angel who is trying to win his wings writes in a small book that he give to George Bailey – A man who has friends is never a failure.

For over three years Jesus spent day in and day out with these men he chose. Can you imagine a college professor meeting you on the street and asking you to follow him asking you spend the next several years learning everything you can.  It was revolutionary in his day too. For him to go out and pick his disciples and train these 12 men was unheard of. Only one other Rabbi that lived the same time as Jesus is known to have done this.

But Jesus had a goal to start a community of followers that obeyed his teaching and live like he did. Even though it was clear that these disciples were still struggling to be all that Jesus desired, their relationship changed from being rabbi/student to a friendship. Jesus knew that with the training they received these followers would turn the world upside down because they had been with Jesus because of their love for each other!

What would happen if each of us were a passionate and committed to following Jesus as the disciples became? Can you imagine this church as a community of fruitful disciples?

Are you a fruitful and faithful friend of Jesus?

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[1]Bryant, B. H., & Krause, M. S. 1998. John. The College Press NIV commentary . College Press Pub. Co.: Joplin, Mo.

[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

[3] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Zondervan: Grand Rapids