An Issue of Openness that Leads to Fruitfulness...

This week, we have been looking at asection of Jesus final conversation with His closest followers before His death, which is recorded for us in John 14. Tuesday, we saw Jesus, in His final words to His closest followers, reveal a timeless promise for His followers in that Jesus last words promise His followers an eternal connection.  Just as it was for the disciples, Jesus promise to His followers is that our confident trust in Him will provide an eternal connection in the relationship with God we were created for. Jesus promises that He will reveal Himself and connect Himself in an intimate relationship with whoever places their confident trust in Him.

Today, we will see Jesus provide a word picture of this reality to the disciples in John 15:1. Let’s look at it together:

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

Now to understand the word picture that Jesus is painting here, we first need to understand something about vines and how they grow. You see, vinedressers who grow grapes understand that pruning is necessary for any vine if it is going to bear fruit. And vinedressers understand that dead wood is dangerous for the vine, as dead wood can harbor disease and decay. And because of that reality, in verse 2 Jesus explains that the gardener removes everything that is not a true branch that would bear fruit.  

You see, just because a person professes that they are a follower of Jesus, that does not mean that they are a follower of Jesus. Just as a branch that produces no fruit is obviously dead, it is the results that are produced in our lives, not our profession, that serves as proof of our salvation

In addition, a vinedresser understands that an untrimmed vine will develop long rambling branches that produce little fruit because most of the strength of the vine is given to growing wood instead of fruit. And because the vinedresser is concerned that the vine be healthy and productive, they will prune the vine so that it can bear more fruit.

Jesus uses this word picture to explain that God removes the dead wood from his church and is at work in the life of followers of Jesus so that they will reveal and reflect Christ in their day to day lives. And the message and teachings of Jesus are the means by which He works in our lives to prune and clean away areas of our lives so that we can be more fruitful.  

The issue that Jesus is primarily concerned with in this word picture is the issue is fruitfulness, not salvation. We see Jesus reveal this reality as He continues to unpack this word picture in verse 4:

 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

Jesus commands the disciples to abide in Him. Jesus is commanding the disciples, and followers of Jesus throughout history to remain connected to Jesus. Jesus then reveals the reason behind His command: “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me”.

You see, the issue for Jesus is fruitfulness. The issue for Jesus is that His followers reveal and reflect Him. And to reveal and reflect Jesus we must remain connected to Him, because as Jesus makes unmistakably clear in verse 5, apart from Me you can do nothing. In other words, we are unable to reveal and reflect Christ in a way that advances His kingdom and makes much of Him apart from remaining connected with Him.

Now for a long time, I viewed the idea of abiding or remaining connected with Jesus as though I had to chase Jesus around and suck the life out of Him.  There was once a pastor who worked with college students who said that to abide in Jesus, we as Christians needed to be sap suckers. He further stated that for us to grow and bear fruit for Jesus, we as Christians needed to latch on to Jesus and suck out the sap that He has for us.

Well, after the pastor finished his talk, a student who majored in botany, which is the study of plants, came up to him. The pastor said hello, to which the college students said “You’re wrong”. The pastor, taken aback, said “How am I wrong”? The student then replied, “that’s not how plants feed. You see, through the process of homeostasis, the branches don’t suck the sap out of the vine, the vine forces its nutrients into the branches”.

Now think about that for a second. How does that impact how you view remaining in Christ? As Christians, we don’t need to suck the life out of Jesus, like that is even possible. The image that Jesus is conveying to His disciples and us today is one of openness. Just as a vine forces life and nutrients into the branches to cause growth, Jesus wants to pour Himself into us so that we can grow and bear fruit for Him. What Jesus is asking us to do by remaining in Him is to simply be open to receive from Jesus what He wants to pour into us.

Think about the idea of God as the gardener that prunes the branches so that they bear more fruit. What happens when you prune or cut back a branch? Is the opening where I cut bigger or smaller? It’s bigger. When God prunes and cleans us through His word, He makes us more open to receive what Jesus desires to pour into us. Jesus desires that we remain connected to Him so that He can pour Himself into us so that we reveal and reflect Him in our character and conduct in a way that enables us to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal Himself to the world. Jesus unpacks this for us in verse 7:

 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

As we remain connected to Jesus and open ourselves to allow Jesus to pour Himself into us, Jesus explains that we will reveal and reflect Christ by producing the fruit that reveals our relationship with Jesus. We will pray in a way that is focused on bearing fruit for God and making much of God. And God will respond to the prayer that is focused on accomplishing the mission of God in a way that advances God’s kingdom and makes much of God.

God enters into such a life in a way that we experience the love of God and the joy that comes from being connected with God. And we will experience that love and that joy because Jesus last words promise His followers an eternal connection.

So here are some questions to consider: Are you connected to God? Have you come to the place where you have placed your confident trust in Jesus as God in a bod, who is the way, the truth and the source of forgiveness and the life in the relationship with God that you were created for?

Are you a follower of Jesus and yet feel disconnected from God? If that is you, here is the question: who moved? Could it be that the reason that you feel disconnected from God is because you have not allowed God to prune you so that you would be more open for what God wants to do in and through you through Jesus?