11 – What would Jesus say today about fruit?

By Rev Jeff Fry, Darwin Park Community Church

I.       Introduction

A.   Review

1.     Love

2.     Truth

B.   This Week: We must stay connected to Jesus to be a fruitful Christian.

II.    Fruit is found in ever-present connectedness to Jesus

A.   State

1.     Background

a)    Larger context: Farewell Discourse

(1)  Jesus’ death is imminent and this is his farewell talk to his disciples, his friends

(2)  Jesus is passing on some final, important thoughts to his disciples in this farewell discourse

b)    John 15:1-8 (immediate context)

(1)  Jesus uses the image of a vine

(2)  Vine was an  OT image for Israel esp. when they were facing judgment for unfruitfulness towards God (ie. disobedient – Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21; esp. Psalm 80:7-8; 14-17)

(3)  Branches that are fruitful

(a)    followers of Jesus who obey Him and his teachings (lit. his “words” v. 7)

(b)   their prayers are effective (v.7-8)

(4)  Branches that are unfruitful

(a)    Those who have contact with Jesus but do not produce any fruit

(b)   E..g. Judas Iscariot

(c)    Today: even those in the church that hear about Jesus but don’t do anything with Jesus – only have an external semblance of being a Christian

(5)  Jesus says, “remain in me” in order to be fruitful

(a)    Imagery suggests:

(i)      Branches are dependent on the vine for fruit just like the Christian is dependent on the indwelling Christ / Spirit to be fruitful for God

(ii)    You can either quench the Spirit’s growth in your life or encourage the Spirit’s growth in your life by what you do, think, say etc.

2.     the next passage, John 15:9-17, is a commentary on this previous passage of the vine imagery

a)    The vine image is lacking in a few respects and so this next passage fills in the gaps

(1)  The vine image cannot depict the love relationship between

(a)    Jesus and the Father

(b)   Jesus and the disciples

3.     “ … remain in my love” (John 15:9)

a)    stay connected to my love says Jesus

b)    my love is like the Father’s love for me

(1)  Father – son love is usually

(a)    Deep

(b)   Unconditional

(c)    Intimate

(2)  Jesus’ love for his disciples is deep, close, personal

4.     v. 10 “If you obey my comands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love”. (John 15:10)

a)    the condition for remaining in Jesus’ love is to obey his teaching

b)    at first this may seem like rule-following in order to stay in love with Jesus!

(1)  But we must look deeper at what Jesus means

5.     v.11 “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete”

a)    Jesus has joy in obeying God’s commands.

b)    Jesus asserts we too can have joy obeying his teaching

c)     Jesus is talking New Covenant here: a changed heart, a changed mind which will obey out of an atmosphere of love rather than one of ritual & fear & rule-keeping

d)    Experiencing God’s love through the death of Jesus for you causes one to experience true love as it was meant to be.

(1)  If you were the only one on earth Jesus would have gone to the cross for you for the forgiveness of your sins.

(2)  Existing in the knowledge of this love of God for you brings true joy

(3)  Obedience is no longer hard but willfully you put aside your interests and obey Jesus’ teachings

(4)  Hoskyns’ comment: “The delightful divine merriness of the Christians, which originates in the Son and is deposited in his disciples, is matured and perfected as they love one another, undergo persecution, and readily lay down their lives for the brethren, 1 John 3:16

6.     v. 12 “Love each other as I have loved you”.

a)    Remember – context is Farwell Discourse and Jesus is going to the cross

b)    Love is “death to self-interest” in this context

(1)  Give up your own wants and desires

(2)  and live to God’s interests.

7.     v. 15 “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.  Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

a)    Such a thing as being the friend of God would have been unimaginable in the OT

(1)  God is holy

(2)  Nobody was to have seen God and lived to tell about it as nobody could stand the sight of such holiness

b)    Here in the NT God has made us his friends in this sense :

(1)  He has clearly told us about what he is thinking

(2)  …. His salvation  plan

(3)  … his great efforts to save us from sin

(4)  etc.!!

c)     Slaves are told what to do / friends are told what each other is thinking

(1)   on the BBC program Merlin 

(a)    Gaius says to Merlin: “King Uther isn’t interested in what people of Camolot think about things, he is interested in leading …”

d)    WE are to stay linked with this love moment by moment

(1)  “remain in my love”

(2)   

B.   Illustrate

1.     It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that my Christianity consists of the time that I dedicate to church, Bible reading, prayer, etc – those times that I schedule into my day in which I give myself to God

a)    This is mistaken and lacking in understanding

b)    “remain in …” is moment by moment

c)     remain in me = stay connected to Jesus moment by moment

d)    remain in my love = allow my love for you shown in the cross to pervade your being moment by moment

2.     The understanding of Apostle Paul & Apostles

a)    Acts 1;14 “They all joined together constantly in prayer …”

b)    2 Thessalonians 1:11 “With this in mind we constantly pray for you …”

c)     2 Timothy 1:3 “… as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.”

d)    1 Timothy 5:5 “The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help”

e)     1Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances …”

3.     Frank Laubach

a)    Missionary in the Philippines tried a personal experiment of moment-by-moment submission to the will of God .  He began to cultivate the habit of turning his mind to Christ for one second out of every minute.

b)    He reported after only four weeks, “I feel simiply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself.  This sense of cooperation with God in little things is what so astonishes me, for I never have felt it this way before.  I need something, and turn around to find it waiting for me.  I must work to be sure, but there is God working along with me.” (p. 24, A Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas Willard, Harper)

4.     Don’t give the flesh so much room to operate, stay close to Jesus.

C.   Apply

1.     Being fruity has everything to do with ….

a)    How you talk with the Hewlett-Packard customer care rep when you want to return something that was a ripoff?

(1)  Demand your way?

b)    How you deal with a work colleague during a disagreement?

(1)  Do you Belittle and demean him/her to make your point?

c)     How you treat your spouse or loved one when there is a disagreement?

(1)  Do you listen?

(2)  Or do you say, “I said ….”

d)    How patient you are when waiting for an NHS doctor …

(1)  So many signs “Abuse of NHS staff will not be tolerated …”

III.  Conclusion

A.   What kind of branch are you ?

1.     dead?

a)    An external semblance of a Christian?

b)    You have contact with Christ maybe through church or university fellowship group and on the outside it even appears you are a Christian but no reality on the inside (it doesn’t change your life).  You know you are privately “pilfering from the money box” so to speak to use Judas’ example.

c)     You need to get serious with God

(1)  Fruit on a vine doesn’t come from throwing some seed in the ground and leaving it

(2)  It needs cultivation

(a)    Prayer – ask God, the gardener, to give you growth in your life

(b)   Stay connected to Jesus moment by moment

(i)      Read His word

(ii)    Pray continually in that moment-by-moment connecting yourself to Jesus throughout the day (i.e. submission to the will of God)

(iii)   Start to pray about the little things in life:

(a)   Pray for the headache that seems to be coming on

(b)   Pray for patience with the kids

(c)    Pray for love to hard-to-love person

2.     fruity?

a)    Good.  Remember it’s in the little things of life that we stay connected to Jesus in and we marvel when he answers the little things

b)    Don’t confine your prayers to the pigmies in a distant jungle, or even Aunt Al who is suffering in the hospital when you are neglecting the mean spirit you are displaying at home to your children and spouse.  Pray about that first.