Fruit Producers

John 15:1–8 NLT

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

Introduction:

There is a prevailing thought in our world and in many people’s lives that we are capable of doing anything! There is a lot of evidence that would lead one to think that. Think about the fact that we have sent people into space or that we have the ability to talk to someone on the other side of the world through a little computer in our pockets. There are a lot of successful businesses and people which would make one would think that they can do great things in the world.

There is another camp that thinks it would be great to have the kind of job where you get paid each week but you really don’t have any responsibility and you don’t even have to actually show up. This lazy and dangerous thinking.

Today’s passage reminds me that there are expectations for the life of a Christian and nothing worthwhile can really be accomplished outside of Christ. In order to be fruitful and bring glory to God we must have God’s help and subject ourselves to His process.

Today I want to explain this process and highlight the pruning, the purpose for the pruning, positioning for production and production problems.

Pruning

John 15:2 “He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.”

Pruning is a necessary part of gardening. It involves taking a sharp instrument, either sheers or loppers. Sometimes a branch may need a more robust method such as a chainsaw or electric pole saw.

Pruning is the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. It is practiced in horticulture (especially fruit tree pruning), arboriculture, and silviculture.

The practice entails the targeted removal of diseased, damaged, dead, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted plant material from crop and landscape plants. In general, the smaller the branch that is cut, the easier it is for a woody plant to compartmentalize the wound and thus limit the potential for pathogen intrusion and decay. It is therefore preferable to make any necessary formative structural pruning cuts to young plants, rather than removing large, poorly placed branches from mature plants. (Wikipedia)

A few years ago Inez and I noticed that the trees around our house were sending branches out everywhere and they were getting in eachother’s way and restricting the growth of the trees. We got all our tools together and got to work, first using the loppers and then the chainsaw. When we got done, we had a huge pile of limbs that would make quite a nice fire and the trees look liked they had been scalped. Our crepe myrtles are beautiful and it is recommended that they be pruned annually. They had not been pruned in 15 or so years.

Those trees went from looking like they went from Tarzan getting his first haircut, nearly bald, to prosperous trees with abundant, healthy branches and flowers. They are absolutely stunning.

Pruning is good!

The passage mentions that He [God the Father] cuts off branches that don’t produce fruit

There are things in our live that simply have to go.

They are unhealthy and taking life away from the plant [you and me]

One can look at this individually and recognize that there may be habits that lead to death and not life.

One can look at this corporately and recognize that there are people who we need to stop being around.

It can even happen in a church. There are people that God removes.

The passage also states that He [God the Father] prunes the branches that do produce fruit

One might say “Wait, hold on. I am saved and I go to church and I pay my tithes.” “I don’t need anyone cutting on me!”

Sometimes God changes people’s plans or moves us out of our comfort zones.

He may prune our branches by putting us in situations that cause us to really rely on Him.

He may ask us by the unction of the Holy Spirit to give something up, either permanently or for a season.

Take Away

Pruning hurts initially, but

Pruning is good, and

God, who is good, is the pruner

Purpose for the Pruning

It may surprise you but God expects his children to be productive.

He doesn’t save people just so they can stay the same way they were before that experience.

Matthew 25:14-30 is a great story illustrating this principle.

3 servants - one got 5 bags of silver, one got 2 bags of silver, one got 1 bag of silver

the one with 5 bags, doubled

the one with 2 bags, doubled

the one with 1 bag, buried it and returned it without any increase

The two got rewarded

The one got punished and cutoff

The pruning that God does has a purpose: it is to enable us to produce fruit.

He expects fruit

He enables us to bear fruit

He removes anything that hinders fruit bearing

Positioning for Production

In order to produce fruit, one must be in proper position: We have to be connected to the Vine.

Jesus told His disciples that He was the True Grapevine (vs. 1). Surely they would have recognized his reference to the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 5:1–7 NLT

Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter. Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard. What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes? Now let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will tear down its hedges and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it. I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it. The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.

The people of Israel thought of themselves pretty highly. They thought that since they were God’s pride and joy that they could do whatever they wanted and treat people anyway they wanted. But God had something to say about that. Read the rest of Isaiah chapter 5 to see how God speaks out against His people.

Jesus was saying, I am not like that! I am not like the ones who were supposed to be just, I really AM!

I am not just a bunch of empty words, I am able to be trusted.

The 7 I Am statements in John are key to us understanding Jesus as Lord. Here Jesus says I am the True Grapevine. Apart from the True Grapevine, branches die and wither away and are like dead branches in a pile just like these here on the platform.

There is no life in them at all.

People go around doing all kinds of things thinking that they are producing fruit. I like how someone said it: “Without Jesus, we can do nothing. No amount of ingenious planning or restless activities or sponsoring “spiritual” events on our own can produce fruit. This is like tying imitation fruit to living branches.” Or like this bowl of imitation fruit. It may look good but don’t attempt to bite into one of them.

We cannot do things in our own efforts. We have to stay connected to Jesus.

I love what the famous evangelist Reinhardt Bonnke said about the church:

We have not been set up in business all on our own

We are not designed to be self-sufficient little “christs”

We are not generators but conductors

God is calling His people to be Fruit Producers! He supplies the fruit, we supply the soil.

The fruit that we are supposed to produce is not material or temporal but spiritual and eternal.

To produce spiritual fruit means:

To develop godly character

Galatians 5:22–23 “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

Ephesians 5:9 “For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.”

Philippians 1:11 NLT

May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

Set a godly example

Matthew 3:8 “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.”

Matthew 7:16–20 “You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.”

Do effective service and lead others to Christ

A relationship with Christ is worth sharing with others.

Psalm 78:1–4 “O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past— stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.”

Production Problems

While God expects us to be Fruit Producers and has enabled us to bear fruit by His Holy spirit, there are things that can block the flow of the Vine or put another way, there are production problems:

Selfish interests

Unconfessed sins

A careless disregard for the truth

A bitter and unforgiving spirit

We don’t have to stay blocked, we can do something about it. We can connect with Jesus by:

Reading and studying God’s Word

Spending time in Prayer

Obeying the commands of Scripture

Keeping our lives spiritually clean

Conclusion:

We cannot do things in our own efforts. We have to stay connected to Jesus. He tells his disciples to remain in him. The key word is “IN” him. If we remain in Him, we will produce fruit that is good and it will please God! Isn’t that Great News?

Another way we stay connected to the True Grapevine is through the practice of communion.

What we are doing this morning is a symbol. It represents an idea or an attitude that we would do good to maintain: communing with Christ, being with Him and IN Him.

Before we participate in communion it is important first to make sure that you have made that committment to follow Christ and respond to His invitation to be Lord of your life.

It is also important that if you are putting anything else in God’s place, you lay that down at the altar.

I also want to pray for lost loved ones this morning and for healing.

Let’s all come and seek God this morning.