The Fruit We Must Bear

Introduction

Once there was a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked him. And as he went on, he didn’t have money, and he met the Queen of Sheba, and she gave him 1,000 talents of gold and 100 changes of clothes. And he got into a chariot and drove furiously, and when he drove under a big juniper tree, his hair caught on a limb of that tree, and he hung there many days, and the ravens brought him food to eat and water to drink, and he ate 5,000 loaves of bread and two fishes.

One night when he was hanging there asleep, his wife Delilah came along and cut off his hair, and he dropped, and fell on stony ground. But he got up and went on, and it began to rain, and it rained forty days and forty nights, and he hid himself in a cave, and he lived on locust and wild honey. Then he went on ‘til he met a servant who said, “Come, have supper at my house.” And he made an excuse and said, “No, I won’t. I have married a wife, and I can’t go.” And the servant went out in the highways and in the hedges and compelled him to come in. After supper, he went on and came on down to Jericho. And when he got there, he looked up and saw old Queen Jezebel sitting down way up high in a window. And she laughed at him. And he said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down. And he said, “Throw her down again.” And they threw her down seventy times seven, and of the fragments that remained they picked up twelve baskets full, besides women and children. And they said, “Blessed are the piece makers (p-i-e-c-e).” Now, whose wife do you think she will be in the Judgment Day?”

I. in Its Context

1. Ch. 13: Jesus’ Last Supper with His Disciples

A. Washing Disciples’ Feet

B. Giving A New Commandment: “Love One Another.”

The New International Version Chapter 13

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

2. Ch. 14(-17): Farewell Discourse

A. “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life . . .”

The New International Version Chapter 14

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus the Way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

The New International Version Chapter 14

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus the Way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

B. Promise of the Holy Spirit

3. Ch. 15: “I Am the True Vine.”

II. The Fruit We Must Bear:

Foot Washing

The New International Version Chapter 15

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.

III. Key to Bearing the Fruit

Remain in Me

The New International Version Chapter 15

“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.

The New International Version Chapter 15

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.

Take Home

1. Whose feet should I wash this week?

2. What should I do to remain in Jesus this week?