Acts 10.44-58
John 15.1-17
Do you like watching gardening shows – perhaps someone like Monty Don on BBC. We enjoyed an episode of Gardener’s world a few weeks back. You can get lots of tips and ideas about gardening. One key task of the gardener is pruning. If there’s no pruning, plants and trees can go wild, resulting in poorer quality fruit or flowers.
In our bible passage from John’s Gospel, Jesus uses the imagery of gardening to teach an important spiritual truth which is this: We can only be fruitful if we remain connected to Jesus. So, let’s take a look at what Jesus says about this and what it means for us today.
Its good for us to note that this is the seventh and last of the “I AM” statements of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of John as he teaches about his identity and the kingdom of God. In our passage today, Jesus says he is the true vine, God the Father is the gardener and we are the branches.
The cultivation of vineyards was important to the life and economy of the Jewish people. There are many references to vineyards and vines throughout the Bible. When Jesus uses the image of the vine, it’s not something new he’s introducing; it was familiar to every Jew. They were familiar with growing vines and all the hard work that went in to produce a good harvest of grapes.
Jesus uses this familiar farming image of growing vines to teach his disciples, that includes you and me, important spiritual truths. There is a lot in this passage to chew on. In the short time we have together, I want to highlight two key spiritual truths to encourage us in our journey of faith as Jesus’ disciples.
We must remember that Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches. There is no substitute for Jesus. His disciples must stay connected to him so that they receive all the nourishment they need to grow and produce fruit. It is vital that we understand and recognise that we are branches. A branch on its own cannot produce life or indeed fruit. It must draw that life from the vine. I’m sure we’ve all seen branches lying around. Perhaps you’ve cut some branches off in your garden. Once a branch is cut, it will eventually die. It is only as a branch remains attached to the vine that it grows and produces fruit. And that’s the key word – remain (some translations use the word abide). Being connected to Jesus all the time. John uses the word 11 times to emphasise how vitally important it is to stay connected to Jesus.
What does it mean to remain in Jesus? It means, “to keep in fellowship with Christ so that His life can work in and through us to produce fruit”, as one bible commentator puts it. That’s all very well you might say, but how do we do that in practice? How do I remain connected to Jesus at all times? Quite simply, it is through prayer and worship, and spending time reading God’s word. Its about posturing our hearts towards Jesus, inviting him to be in the driving seat of our lives, being assured of His loving care and guidance. We need to cultivate an ongoing connection with Jesus because it does not come naturally in the Christian life. There will be challenges and setbacks. It will involve sacrifice and service. But as we press in to a deeper communion with Jesus through the Holy Spirit, we will find joy like never before. God’s life-giving power will flow in and through us, producing much fruit for his glory. It is in union and communion with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, that we grow and bear fruit.
Just like natural branches that are connected to the vine receive the life-giving sap that helps them grow and thrive, we must remain connected to Jesus so that his life flows in and through us. This is the first spiritual truth we are to grasp.
The second is this: Bearing fruit involves pruning. The whole purpose of a grapevine is to produce lots of delicious fruit. But, if the vine is left to its own devices, things can get out of hand. Producing lots of delicious fruit doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes time and cultivation to produce a good crop of fruit, and it involves the vital work of pruning by a vinedresser who cares for the vines. He or she will prune or cut away the dead branches that can breed diseases or insects. They will also cut away branches with little or no fruit so that all the nutrition flows into the rest of the fruit, producing a higher quality and quantity of grapes.
Similarly, Jesus says His Father does the work of pruning in our lives. Pruning is a painful process. It hurts and we don’t like it. If branches could speak, they’d say pruning is painful. But they’d also say pruning produces more and better fruit.
Because God loves us so much, he prunes us so that we can bear more fruit for his glory. Sometimes he does that by cutting away the dead stuff in our lives. Sometimes he cuts away things that are seemingly good in our lives, so that the best can grow and thrive.
And here’s the thing – branches that produce fruit do not eat it. Others do. Similarly, we don’t produce fruit to please ourselves, but to serve others. There are all kinds of spiritual fruit named in the Bible. We bear fruit when we share the love of Jesus with others. We bear fruit when we seek to grow in holiness and obedience to God’s word. We bear fruit when we care for the lost & lonely, the homeless and hungry. We bear fruit when we speak the truth in love, when we stand up for justice, when we refrain from gossip and instead speak words that give life and build others up. We bear fruit when we give to the Lord’s work. We are fruitful when we grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). And all of this is for the benefit of others. That’s something worth pondering.
Is it easy to produce these fruits? No. Can we do it on our own? No. Fruit takes time to grow, mature and ripen. It’s the same in our lives.
But Jesus provides all that is necessary to grow, thrive and produce an abundance of fruit for his praise and glory because of his great love for us. We are called to remain in his love – stay connected to him. Staying connected to Jesus as the “vine” means resting in His presence and recognizing the power of His word, rather than relying on ourselves.
And as we do that, Jesus promises that we will know and experience his joy and bear much fruit.
Amen.