Sermon Tone Analysis
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Fruit- everything from grapes to tomatoes.
The powerful thing about fruit is they not only contain nutrition, but they also contain the ability to multiply.
The seeds are often within.
A garden or a fruit grove or a vineyard are wonderful, natural and beautiful.
They tend to be a flourishing environment.
They are a powerful metaphor for what church can be at its best.
But this imagery has a history in the Bible and among God’s people. is a similar image and I’ll say more about that later.
Wright, T. (2004).
John for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 11-21 (p.
70).
London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Bearing fruit is the result of a process.
Soil is prepared.
Seeds are planted.
Vines begin to grow.
Nutrients and water are added.
A complex process happens deep within the vine.
Branches are pruned where necessary.
More growth happens.
Finally fruit begins to show at the end of the branch.
It’s invisible to the naked eye, but it’s either happening or it’s not.
We often judge by the outward appearance.
We may become impatient.
But God is patient and knows what it takes to produce fruit.
Fruit is not for us, either.
We are the branches and the fruit grows out from the vine and from within us.
It is desirable to others around us.
If they know we are following Jesus, they can taste and see by interacting with us.
If we are holy and loving and kind it will give them a sweet taste of what Jesus is like.
But here’s the key: there’s only one way it can happen:
If we abide in Christ, showing ourselves to be His disciples.
What does abiding mean?
First of all-it means staying put long enough to benefit from the vine.
It’s about remaining, living, dwelling.
Staying connected to God.
Avoiding getting sucked too deep into the world.
What does abiding look like?
It looks like prayer, reading, waiting, then moving out in step with the Spirit.
“Abide in me as I abide in you.”
( NRSV)
Can anyone do it?
Great question—anyone who is following Jesus.
But you have to be grafted into the vine before you can abide in the vine.
You can’t remain in a place you’ve never been.
Have you been to the cross?
Have you met Jesus?
He gave his life for you.
Have you given it back?
That’s where abiding begins.
What difference does it make?
Life slows down a bit.
It can be boring to wait for God.
It can be frustrating in our instant-on culture to have to slow down and listen.
So there’s an adjustment to doing things God’s way.
Sometimes we get anxious in the quiet moments.
But hopefully we can make the adjustment and discover a new kind of peace.
But it’s not a happily ever after kind of peace.
You may feel the pain of life a little more when you care and live with passion and try to love and slow down enough to pay attention to what God and life are teaching you.
But isn’t that better than just being numb all the time?
One difference it makes is avoiding judgment.
Let’s get back to that Isaiah passage where Israel is God’s vineyard.
God treated that garden like a tender love.
But it just wouldn’t give him what he wanted.
No sweet juice, just wild.
The kind you want to spit out right away.
So God did all that loving preparation and sacrificially served this garden but it wouldn’t give back.
So he was sorry he made the garden.
He decided to tear it down and begin again.
Now Jesus is saying that he is the ‘true vine’.
This can only mean that he is, in himself, the true Israel.
He is the one on whom God’s purposes are now resting.
And his followers are members of God’s true people—if they belong to him and remain ‘in’ him.
The picture of the ‘vine’ isn’t just a clever illustration from gardening.
It is about who Jesus and his people really are, and what is now going to happen to them as a result.
So there were consequences in the original passage; quite devastating ones.
But in Jesus, just like always, new things are now possible.
Israel struggled to get it right, but Jesus never took his eye off the ball.
He’s getting it right.
Before, God was the gardener.
Now Jesus IS the essential part of the garden.
Once again, he decides it’s not enough to be affecting or designing the world.
He enters in to what became flawed and makes it all new again.
The gardener is also the garden.
Now if we get ourselves reattached to him great things are possible.
But to make that choice is to choose not to be in charge of our own lives.
We submit.
Now we can know better.
But there are still consequences.
If we don’t stay connected we become dried up and useless.
Fruitless branches are pruned so they might produce more.
Branches that detach from the vine don’t last.
Glorious freedom?
Hah, more like certain death.
God the Father is our Gardener.
He always does his part.
If we are not fruitful there is only one possibility.
Now, understand we are not talking about successful.
Fruitful is not the same as successful.
God’s blessings are not only found in worldly outward symbols.
Plus, you can have all the success markers people look for but be spiritually empty.
Numbers and bank accounts will not save you.
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