We’re coming to the end of winter and the start of spring, and as the Government restrictions lift over the coming months, it looks as though we have a pathway to get back to normal.
Springtime brings hope, life, growth, new flowers, baby lambs and many other wonderful bits of creation. As we admire the creation, we have great opportunities to turn our eyes Heavenward and admire and worship the Creator.
Pastor Jonny brought a message based upon John 15:1-8 this week.
1“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He 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. 3You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4Remain 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.
5“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. 6Anyone 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. 7But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
(John 15:1-8)
We need to be connected to Jesus
At this point in the Gospel of John, Jesus is preparing His Disciples for the next stage of their walk with Him. In chapter 14, He had announced that He would be leaving the world and that the Holy Spirit was coming in a new way at Pentecost, to dwell in Christians. It’s a great example of Trinitarian theology in action - seeing Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the different roles they play in salvation and the Christian walk. It’s always worth seeing the bigger picture of Scripture and reading it in its context, rather than trying to read our circumstances into the Scriptures.
Jesus’ vine analogy would have been very applicable to the Jews. In the Old Testament, the people of Israel are talked about as being a vine, but Jesus took it further. Jesus fulfilled the law and showed Israel what they were supposed to be, so he is the “true” vine, because the Israelites had got out of step with God.
So why do we need to be connected to Jesus? The answers are all in John 15! V4: we cannot be fruitful unless we remain in Him. V5: apart from Him we can do nothing. V6: Anyone who doesn’t remain in Him is thrown away on a pile to be burned.
It’s not pleasant or popular to talk about, but the Bible is clear that Hell is very real and people who aren’t in Christ will spend eternity there.
How can we be connected to Jesus?
We need to ask Him for His grace, for forgiveness for our sins, and we need to repent of those sins.
The biggest thing that separates us from God is sin. The Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus paid for sin when He died on the cross, and when we trust in Him for eternal life, we get our sins forgiven, past, present and future.
When you become a Christian, God looks at you as though you have lived the perfect sinless life that Jesus lived. You won’t be punished for your sin, because it was already paid for on the cross.
God and sin can’t co-habit. God is so perfect and sin is so imperfect that God obliterates sin like light obliterates darkness!
In Jesus, we are set free from both the guilt and power of sin.
So practically, how can we live for Jesus? We can first get our heart posture right. Look not just to Him as Saviour, but as Lord. By coming before Him humbly in that way, we acknowledge He has access all areas to our lives!
We can be part of a church community, observing the ordinances/sacraments of Communion and Baptism - these are outward signs of the inward change in our lives, as God transforms us from the inside out.
Daily we can read the Bible, spend time in prayer, go out into creation, foster good relationships with people, and even small simple things like saying grace before a meal, thanking God for the food.
Fruit
We should be producing fruit. Again, the answers are in John 15! V5: those who remain in Jesus will produce fruit! That’s a “will”, not a “might”.
Fruit is the right response to receiving grace. If we truly have repented, we will produce fruit. Elsewhere in the Bible, it says that Christians will be known by their fruit
If we aren’t seeing fruit, we probably need to ask if there’s an area of life that is not connected to Jesus. Fruit shows maturity! Fruit helps others and helps spiritually feed others too.
Works do not save a person, but they can be the means of saving others. If you display good works, it could lead to questions and conversations about faith. No good work is good enough to earn God's grace, but the fruit we produce should reflect our salvation
What fruit should we producing?
Galatians 5 lists them out: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
There is the fruit of good works. The book of James says faith without works is dead. We should be people with a generous spirit, caring for those who cannot care for themselves, giving to our local church, and partaking in evangelism (sharing Good News with friends and family).
There is fruit that can come from our personalities too. With mental health being something that is no longer a taboo subject, we now say "it’s ok not to be ok”. But as Christians, we should add that "it’s no ok to stay that way”. We should be working through our problems and looking to improve ourselves to be more like Jesus. Let’s be working on our personalities and bringing our lifestyles in line with God’s expectations in Scripture. This means being counter-cultural in many areas, such as cutting out swearing, keeping sex within the confines of a marriage bed between one man and one woman, avoiding pornography, gambling, gossiping,addictive substances and other sins.
God wants to see us grow as individuals and as a church. Let’s be empowered to go and live for Him, connecting with Him and bearing fruit as a sign of what He is doing in our lives.