Fruit that will Last

Introduction

John 15:1–8 NIV

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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, as I also 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 you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are 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 done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Something that you all may not know about me is that I have a passion for plants.

As Travis can attest, I have at least 50 plants in pots, which doesn’t include what is planted in the ground.

I have loved plants since before my children were born,

And I believe that love comes from my mother and father, who have always grown plants,

And before them, my grandfather.

In his retirement from the Navy in 1965, he began to garden.

He grew azaleas in Norfolk, VA and eventually those azaleas became so prolific that he gifted them to the city.

So I guess you could say that I come from a long line of gardeners.

The best thing about gardening is watching the plant grow and thrive under your care.

There is a sense of accomplishment and pride.

The thing I love growing the most, are orchids.

Now, if you know anything about orchids, you know that the leaves and roots are not all that interesting.

It’s the flowers that are the real show-stoppers.

Orchids have all different kinds of blooms, and their flowers come in all colors, shapes and sizes.

Here are some of the flowers I have managed to grow over the years.

*Show slide*

Now, those are some of the success stories I have had.

There have been plenty of plants that have grown well and put out new leaves and roots, and seem really happy on the outside.

But, alas, they have failed to bloom!

My mom and I call those our “happy non-bloomers”

Which, I guess is fine when you think about it, but isn’t the whole point of buying, watering, and feeding an orchid is for it to bloom?!

It’s the flowering that matters!

This is the same with us in God’s garden.

God is glad when we are happy, but the whole point of his time, love, and effort is for us to bear fruit!

If we do not bear fruit, then why is he spending his time and energy on us?

Now, that may seem harsh, but Jesus himself says it in this passage!

In verse 2 he says, “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.”

If I invest years into an orchid without a single bloom, do I want to keep spending time on it?

No!

The same is true with God. There is a point where he says, I’m done.

I’m not going to spend time watering, pruning and investing in you if you will not bear fruit.

What Does it Mean to Remain?

So if we want to bear fruit, if we don’t want to be cut off and thrown into the fire, how do we remain in the vine?

Jesus of course is using a metaphor for the relationship between himself and us.

We are to think of ourselves as branches on a vine.

If you cut off the branch, then it withers because it’s not attached to the life source anymore.

We have all seen what this looks like.

It will start to get dry, it will begin to shrivel, and ultimately it will turn brown and die.

Jesus is using this illustration not to be mean to us, but to stress the importance of abiding in him!

So how do we abide? What does it mean to remain in him?

Well, first it is more than just our effort in working towards abiding.

What I mean by that is it’s more than just prayer, Bible reading, acts of kindness, and worship.

Those are all good things, but Jesus is talking about an attachment so elemental that we are made of the same material that he is.

The very presence of God dwells in us, and God is closer to us than our heartbeat.

No amount of prayer or Bible study can achieve that.

In fact, if we profess our faith in Jesus, then this is already true for us!

We can’t do this ourselves!

But God wants us to acknowledge this truth.

We must be aware that God is so much a part of us that his indwelling goes even deeper than the flesh and blood we carry in our bodies.

One day this body will give out. But our spirit will remain, and God will still be there.

We will still be united as one.

So the first step, acknowledge.

Next, we must surrender.

The plant in our garden doesn’t tell us how to prune it, how much water to give, and when and how to fertilize.

We are only branches of the vine - the vine is what gives us life and food and water.

The vine pushes out nutrients to the branches.

The branches need only to be still, to be receptive.

To receive the goodness, the nourishment, and the life from the vine.

All we have to do is wait, and receive.

Jesus, our vine, will give us everything that we need to bear his fruit.

We don’t have to work for it or produce it ourselves!

We only need to ask and receive!

Only the vine can feed the branch, and make it grow.

If we try to do this part ourselves, the fruit that we will bear will only be from us.

What that means is we will not reflect the characteristics of Jesus, but only more of ourselves!

Only more sin, more mistakes, more selfishness, more pride.

Not because we are bad people, but because we can’t help it.

Surrendering to the growth and nutrients given by the vine, on the vine’s timetable, is the only way to bear the fruit that will last:

Jesus’ fruit.

Thirdly, we need to be still and patient during the pruning.

Once we receive what we need from the vine, we will begin to bear fruit.

And once we bear some fruit, the gardener will come in and begin to prune.

Now, pruning can be painful.

From the outside, it can seem as if the gardener is taking perfectly good leaves and shoots and cutting them off.

But the gardener only prunes what is unnecessary.

If it is being pruned, then it is not needed for the health of the branch.

God does this for the benefit of the branch.

God sometimes uses the pain in our lives to make us even more fruitful, to be the vessel through which he changes our hearts.

It’s not always easy, but if we surrender and trust God, it will always be for our good.

We will bear even more fruit than we did before.

This process happens over and over again until this life is complete.

The more we are still and patient with the pruning, the more fruit we will bear in this life, which will have positive implications for us in the next life.

What is this Fruit?

Now, we have talked a lot about fruit this morning.

But what even is this fruit that we are supposed to be bearing?

Well, if we go back to the vine and branches metaphor, we as the branches reflect the vine itself.

What I mean by this is we can only bear the fruit of the vine we are attached to.

An oak tree’s branches don’t bloom with roses, do they?

Or a pomegranate tree with strawberries?

No.

An oak tree produces acorns, and a pomegranate produces pomegranate fruit!

So if we are attached to the vine, who is Christ, then the fruit that we bear will look like Christ!

Our fruit is the characteristics and behavior of Christ.

Jesus showed love. Patience. Compassion. Mercy. Servanthood and sacrifice.

This is the kind of fruit that we will bear.

If we acknowledge, surrender, and be still, we cannot help but bear the fruit of our vine, who is Jesus Christ.

Paul did a wonderful job of explaining the fruit that we will bear if we remain in the vine.

Galatians 5:22–23 NIV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

That is the fruit we can expect.

True transformation from the inside out, and it will only happen if we abide in Jesus Christ.

Wesley Covenant Renewal

All this talk about fruit, and gardens, and plants - what does any of it have to do with the Wesley Covenant Renewal Service?

I’m so glad you asked!

Abiding and remaining in the vine is our part of this new covenant.

Jesus does the growing, the feeding, and the watering.

God as the gardener uses his pruning shears to produce more and more fruit in us.

What is our job?

Only to remain in the vine.

Really, that is all we can do!

We are unable to produce fruit that will last ourselves.

So this Wesley Covenant Renewal Service is designed to help us recommit to what we have already said yes to.

To remaining in the vine.

It is always good to be reminded of what we have promised, of what our part of the promise is.

Not only to be reminded, but to evaluate how we have done over the past year.

Have we remained attached to the vine?

Or have we separated ourselves?

Where is there room for improvement?

Where have we resented God’s pruning shears, and so prevented bearing the fruit that he intended for us?

That’s what this service is all about.

To help us take stock of where we are.

To strengthen our resolve to remain in Christ for the coming year.

So don’t take this as a guilt trip, or something designed to shame your efforts.

But take it for what it is - a tool that we can use to better abide in Jesus for the next year.

I invite you to take some time this week to really discern where your heart might be, and where in your life you could bear more fruit.

Then ask the vine to send you what you need to bloom.

And ask the gardener that when he uses his shears, you would see it for what it is - an act of incredible love - all for your good as the branch.

Our gardener is an expert.

He will never cut anything off that could be used to help you bear fruit.

So let us abide willingly, intentionally, and with all we have.

To the glory of God our Father.

In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.