Can you see yourself in a dried stick?

Can you see yourself in this stick? I see myself in this stick. Mainly how I once was and would still be if it were not for the realities we’re going to talk about in this lesson.

God is frequently pictured in scripture as a farmer who’s wanting fruit and we are trees or branches or vines, things like that.

In Isaiah 5 the prophet Isaiah sang a sad song about God’s vineyard, how God plowed a fertile field, removed all the weeds and stones, took choices vines from good stock and planted them. And built a wall around the vineyard with watch towers to protect it. He did everything a good vine grower would, so He could get a large crop of good grapes. But to His great disappointment and frustration, the vines of His vineyard mainly just produced a bunch of bitter poisonous berries. Then Isaiah explained the imagery. He said the vineyard is Israel, God’s people. He took them from Egypt and planted them in the land of Canaan. He removed the evil nations that were there before. He protected them. He did so much for them. And the fruit that He was wanting in return was righteousness and justice. But yet what He got instead for many generations was what He hates, injustice and unrighteousness.

Justice, as I see it in the Bible, refers to maintaining what is right or setting things right in relation to other people. It involves things like honest business practices, fair wages for your workers, respecting other people’s property, caring for the stranger and those of different ethnicities and people different from yourself, helping the helpless, being a father to the fatherless, a protector to the widow, a friend to the lonely, a provider to the hungry. All of that is justice. It is valuing other people whoever they are as yourself and treating them as you wish to be treated.

Righteousness includes justice but is broader. Righteousness includes loving our neighbors as we ought, but also loving and honoring the God who made us the way we ought to. Righteousness is right living, right attitudes, right speech and right behavior. It’s loving God back like He loves us and learning to people like He loves them. That is the fruit God was after in the ancient OT times. It’s still the fruit He’s after today. He’s desire has not changed.

When John the Baptist came to introduce this new era when the Messiah has come and God deals with people in a new covenant, remember that central in his message was that people must bear fruit in keeping with repentance. In other words people must not just claim they’ve repented. They must actually exhibit in their words and deeds that they have truly turned from their sins to do the will of God in their lives. And when asked about it, John gave some specific examples. He said good fruit is when you have two tunics and someone doesn’t have adequate clothing, you give him a tunic. And if you have food and somebody doesn’t have any food, you give him food. He told the tax collectors it means you quit ripping people off and you deal honestly with them. He told the soldiers it means you stop taking advantage of your position to get money out of people, you quit threatening and blackmailing, you be content with your wages and treat people kindly (Lk 3:7-14). That’s the fruit God’s after (cf. Lk 13:1-9).

Remember how Paul described the fruit of the Spirit, that is what you produce when the Spirit of Christ is working in you and you are cooperating, you bear first of all love, unselfish concern for God’s heart and the wellbeing others, and along love comes joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control (see also Phil 1:9-11; Col 1:10; I John 4:7-12).

But many people, maybe you’re this way, feel, “For me to produce that fruit of God’s desire is as achievable as it for this stick produce apples. It is not in the ability of this stick to bear fruit. Not going to happen.” Many feel, “I would love to look in the mirror and see an honorable, unselfish, self-controlled, honest, generous, Christlike person. But it’s not in me to be like that. Every time I’ve tried to make improvements, any improvement is small and short lived. I soon fall right back into my habits and addictions. It’s so hard for me to think about others over myself and put their interests over mine. It’s so hard for me not to look at women that way or to think that way, or get my fix that way or to pray much, or control my temper when wronged, or to actual live for God and not myself. I’m a dried stick. It’s not in my capacity to bear the fruit of God’s desire.” (cf. Romans 7:13-24)

Well, I have felt that way for while in my life. But I’ve discovered life in grace. I discovered how any dry useless stick like I was can actually grow the fruit that delights God’s heart and that immensely blesses our families and the world and ourselves.

I’d like to share with you some teaching of Jesus about it. If you have a Bible I invite you to turn with me to John 15 where we have the parable or allegory of the vine and the branches. It is a beautiful and helpful picture of life in grace, of how we thrive and flourish and bear fruit, how we become and achieve all that God intends for us.

I’d like read it first. John 15:1-11…

The first thing I’d like to do here is explain…

The figures of the allegory

We’ll start with the two most debated images here – branches and fruit. What does do these represent?

Branches

Some interpret the branches to be the various Christian denominations. They may ask you what branch you are a part of, thinking that Baptist is one branch and Methodist another and Pentecostal another and so on.

But that interpretation is hard to fit what Jesus says here. There were no Christian denominations when Jesus spoke this, for one thing. And notice verse 5 speaking to eleven disciples because Judas has left the group by this point. He says, “I am the vine; you [plural in the Greek text, “y’all” in Texan, you guys] are the branches [plural].” He did not say, “You guys are a branch,” as if other groups would be other branches. “You guys are the branches.” Each individual disciple is a branch. So there’s ____ branches here in this room.

Now, the fruit.

Some interpret fruit here to be more disciples, that bearing fruit is winning souls for the Lord. I don’t believe that’s quite right for some reasons I’ll show you. However, bearing this fruit will most likely lead to more disciples. Within fruit are the seeds that reproduce new trees or plants. When those seeds fall on good soil and the conditions are right, then another new life begins. Bearing fruit will likely reproduce more of ourselves, more believers. But more believers I don’t believe are the fruit itself.

Three reasons I say that.

1. First, throughout the Bible, OT and NT, the imagery of fruit God desires from us most often refers to the fruit of character: justice and righteousness (Isaiah 5:7; Phil 1:11), godliness and uprightness (Micah 7:1-2), good works (Col 1:10), love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22), praise and thankfulness (Heb 13:15)… and many other passages.
2. A second reason I see the fruit in this way is what Jesus says about branches that do not bear fruit. In verse 2 and 6 he says fruitless branches taken away and they wither and they go to the burn pile. So if the fruit is more disciples, that would mean that unless you are successfully converting people to Christ on occasion, unless you are effectively winning souls for Him here and there, you will be are not going to be saved. But I do not find that idea elsewhere in Scripture. Certainly we are called to work with Him and one another at making more disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). But I do not find that my personal salvation depends on whether people respond well to my evangelistic efforts. But I do find all over the Scripture that if I will not bear the fruit of genuine repentance, if I will not learn to love in my life, then I won’t be saved. I Corinthians 16:22, “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.” I John 3:14, “Whoever does not love abides in death.” So this language to me fits better with the fruit being the fruit of character rather than of conversions. Yet the fruit of Christlike character often leads to more disciples.
3. Third, the literal thing clarified in the context that God wants of us is love. 15:12, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 15:17, “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” And just before this allegory in John 13 describing events of the same evening Jesus modeled love in action by rising from the table and washing their feet, telling them He’s leaving them an example of how they’re to be toward one another. Then in 13:34 He said to them, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” So love is the emphasis of the context is love and love He said is what proves you are a true disciple.

Learning to love God in return like He loves us and learning to love people like He does is what this life is about, my brothers and sisters.

This last spring I was feeling rather down and discouraged. At the kitchen table one night I tried to explain to my wife Ally why I was down. I said, “I feel rather ineffective in most areas of my life, in ministry, in trying to lead people to Jesus, in improving our marriage, in friendships, in being a good dad to my boys, in trying to build a house and manage our money. I’ve been trying and working hard in these areas and yet things don’t seem to get better. I’m not seeing results. People don’t change. There are individuals I’ve invested many hours of time and energy and prayers into and they’re still as much a mess as they were before I met them. I just feel ineffective and that I’m failing in many areas.”

I went and spent some time in prayer in my shop and there in His presence, talking with Him, this flow of questions arose in my mind. I’m not always sure what thoughts are just me and which are prompted by His Spirit, but these questions had such an impact on me that I’m pretty sure it was Him. The questions that came to me were, “Why really do you want to be effective? For God’s sake? Or for your own sake? Why does it bother you so much that you’re not seeing the results and changes that you want? Is it because you’re really concerned about God’s honor and His feelings and the well-being of other people? Or is it that you want to make your life easier and you want be somebody and you want show those who think you’re crazy that you’re actually right?” So I took a deep look inside, tried to see some of my deepest motives and concerns. And I didn’t like some of what I saw in there, concerning what was really driving me. God’s been helping me see I’ve too driven by self-interest. And He’s been helping me realize that He doesn’t need my help to win souls or fix His church or accomplish what He wants in the world. What I fail to do, He can send an angel or someone else to do it, He can visit people in their dreams. He can do all kinds of things to take care of what I fail to do. He doesn’t need me. What He wants is not some impressive performance or accomplishments. That’s not the fruit He’s after. What He wants from me is my heart, that I truly love Him back and love people and am driven by love and not self-interest. That’s the fruit that delights His heart. And I believe before He allows me to work very effectively with Him and see great results, He’s purging pride and self-ambition out of my heart, and He’s developing humility, gratitude and love.

Remember the apostle Paul said, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Are you bearing fruit of God’s desire? Are you learning to love? Just examine yourself as I remind you of how Paul described what love looks like in detail. Love is patient and kind, does envy or boast, is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. That’s fruit.

Now, the vine.

Detached from a vine or trunk of a tree branches dry up and die and there’s no way they’re going bear fruit. But when sticks are attached to a good vine, and the sap of the vine, the life, water, nutrients and DNA of the vine are flowing through them, then somehow in some amazing way, fruit grows from branches that would otherwise just be dry useless sticks.

Jesus, as the vine, flows by His Spirit like sap into those branches that are firmly attached to Him. And He gives them life and all the power and guidance and influence and help they need to grow fruit.

If you find it extremely difficult to obey the will of God, extremely difficult to love certain people, extremely difficult to end certain habits that you know are sinful, I believe the problem is you are not staying well connected to Jesus where the sap of His Spirit is filling you. You know in the gospel of Matthew Jesus lays out plainly some of His radical requirements. Like He said when we ask God for forgiveness in prayer we might as well say “Father forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Because if you forgive others their trespasses your Father will forgive you, if you do not forgive others their trespasses your father will not forgive you.” (Matt 6:11-15). So we actually must forgive those people who been have done terrible things to us. And He said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” These are radical requirements. But when you get to Matthew 11:28 you find Jesus saying, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” With such radical requirements how could He say His yoke is easy and His burden is light. It seems so difficult to the average person to actually live the way of Jesus. He can say that because it is not so difficult for a branch to bear fruit when its well connected to the vine and the sap is freely flowing. The fruit grows more naturally when you abide in Jesus the vine and He in you.

Now, the vinedresser, Jesus says, is my Father.

The heavenly Father looks over and tends to the branches. So there is work not only happening inside us by His Spirit if we’re attached to Jesus, but there is work also happening to us on the outside by the Father, vinedresser. I suspect this why you’re going through a lot of what you’re going in your life. It’s the hand of the vinedresser.

And what’s He working for? What’s He after? It’s just one thing – fruit. God is not so much interested in your comfort right now as much as He is in your character. He’s not so concerned about you being happy now as much as He is about you being holy. When you’re bearing the fruit of holy character then you can be truly happy forever.

So a couple things Jesus says the vinedresser does. One is in v2 and 6, If He finds stubborn obstinate branches that will not produce fruit, He will remove them and they wither and one day all the fruitless branches will be gathered and burned. That’s a very clear and fearful picture (cf. Lk 3:9; 13:6-9). Bearing the fruit of love is not optional. It is not extra credit as a Christian. It is a matter of eternal life or death. We must learn to love in this life.

Now, Jesus also says when the Father sees a branch bearing some fruit, like a vinedresser He will prune it so it can bear more fruit. His objective is as much fruit as possible, and the sooner our objective and goal align with His the better off we’ll be.

Now, let’s talk about pruning.

If you don’t know, pruning is cutting back the branches during the dormant season, so they will actually be stronger and bear more and better quality grapes in the growing season.

How does the Father prune us? He uses at least two methods, I believe.

One is by His word.

15:2-3, “Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  3 Already you are clean [the word in the original language, in the Greek text, can also mean pruned. It was a word that could have either meaning. So he says they’ve been pruned. How so? He says,] because of the word that I have spoken to you.”

Don’t you find that His word cuts you down to size? Do you find it painful sometimes to hear the word? It’s sharper than any two-edged sword. It cuts deep into our hearts, exposing our sin and pride and lack of love, our error and where changes need to be made, so we can repent and seek His help with them. I think He is doing some pruning on some of us right now as we listen to His word. And this is the way I prefer to be pruned. I want to submit myself to the knife of His word as much as possible to prune me, because this second method He uses is not so pleasant.

The second way He prunes us is trials in life or discipline.

Hebrews 12:6, “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” Hebrews 12:10, “For [our earthly fathers] disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, [why?] that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

I suspect, like me, you have discovered by experience this to be true. Look back on your life. When was there the most noticeable development of your character? When in your life did you draw closest to God and grow in your faith and devotion to Him, become more humble and loving? Was it not once you went through times of heartache, tears, loss, pain and struggle?

Have you ever seen pruned grape vines by a vinedresser who knows what he’s doing? Google it if you haven’t. The branches afterward are just little bleeding stumps. They look terrible. They look dead. They look murdered.

Sometimes a form of discipline or pruning is cutting off from our lives things have been become idols, things we’ve been giving too much focus and time and devotion to. I remember a testimony from a speaker at my first Tres Dias. I don’t remember his name, some of you may know who I’m talking about. He told about a season in his life when mountain biking had become about the most important thing in the world to him. He became exceptional at it, was winning many competitions and getting a name for himself as one of the top mountain bikers in the area. It’s what he was doing with all his spare time… until he went off a jump wrong, and was injured in such a way that his mountain biking career was over. In that hospital bed he did a lot thinking and reconsidering who he was and what he ought to do with his life and he realized that God pruned an idol out of his life. God just cut off something he’d allowed to take the Lord’s rightful place in his life. He repented and began live much more for the Lord and for others. He began to bear fruit. So God may cut off a certain relationship, or a job. He may cut off your ability to play a sport or do a certain hobby.

Or another thing He may do is allow some difficult people in your life. Difficult people at work, difficult friends, of difficult spouse or child, because as those people irritate you and challenge you, it brings out of you stuff that you couldn’t see, but God could see. It brings out your impatience, It brings out your bitterness. It brings out your resentment. It brings out your pride. It brings out your greed. It brings out your lack of faith in Him. Then when you see it your can confess it and repent of it and call on Him help you get rid of it that you may bear more fruit.

So much of what happens to us on the outside is the work of the vinedresser, who wants fruit.

How do we bear fruit?

What’s Jesus calling us to do in this passage?

Trying to love is definitely part of it. We are commanded to choose to think about others, their needs and what their going through and to value them highly and to say and do what we can for their good. We are to strive to do that.

However, Jesus makes very clear here trying to do that is not enough by itself. No matter how hard this stick tries, there’s no way it’s going to grow apples unless it is well grafted into the trunk of an apple tree and the sap is flowing in it. The only way we can really reflect the love of Christ in our lives is by being firmly attached to Jesus where He is filling us with the power, the strength, the understanding, the courage, all the things that we need to be like Him in the world.

I believe Jesus is saying in essence that we are go about life as though He were right with us all the time, because He is by His Spirit. We are stay aware of His presence and live and interact and engage with Him like He is always present, as He is.

The disciples Jesus was speaking to had been living in His visible presence for 3 years or so, watching Him, listening to Him, asking Him questions, learning from Him, doing life with Him. And Jesus was preparing for when He was no longer visibly with them and He told them I won’t leave you as orphans. I am sending you the Helper. And I and My Father will dwell with you. Abide in Me. Stay in Me. Keep living in My presence and interacting with Me, even though you can’t see me.

This way of life involves being much in prayer and thanking and worshipping Him, as you would if He was visibly present. It’s a way of life in which you do a lot of listening with His word open before you and sometimes just being quiet and open in His presence and thinking on Him. It involves obeying the things He tells you do, as you would if He were in the flesh right next to you. I guarantee you there are places you wouldn’t go and things you wouldn’t watch or listen to if you saw Him right next to you. It is out of intimacy with Jesus we bear fruit. As we engage with Jesus, we’re letting the sap flow. 

This may call for some changes in what you do with your spare time. This may mean you cut back on how much you’re working or other activities so you can engage more with Jesus. This may mean you wake up a little earlier so you get well connected with Him before you head out into the world.

Results of Bearing Fruit

            Let’s notice five results of bearing fruit.

1. Getting your prayers answered. 15:7… Isn’t that amazing promise?! Ask what you wish and it will be given to you. That sounds like the relationship Jesus had with the Father. He would pray and it would release the intervention of God into the world. That amazing relationship and partnership with God is available to us. We don’t experience this as immature Christians who bear little fruit, or as those who are going to be asking for things just for their own selfish indulgence or just to exalt themselves in the world. But as we abide in Christ and become very close with Him and we’re bearing much fruit of love for God and for each other, and what we want and what we ask for is in line with what God wants, God will be granting our prayers. Like Jesus will have this friendship and partnership with God where we release His power and love in the world by prayer. That is so awesome and exciting to me that God wants that partnership with us. The path into it is abiding in Jesus, intimacy with Jesus and out of that bearing the fruit of His likeness.
2. Another result of abiding in Him and bearing fruit is that the Father is glorified. 15:8… That’s the real purpose of all living. It’s to glorify God.
3. A third result also in v8 is that we will prove to be His disciples. It’s one thing to say you’re a Christian it’s another thing to prove it. Many many people lay claim to the title of Christian today. But how many prove it. We do not prove it by what church we go to or what creed we ascribe to, we do not prove it by our doctrine or our religious observances. We prove it by walking in love in our daily lives.
4. A fourth result is that we will remaining in God’s love. 15:9-10… So there’s a place in the love of God and there’s a place outside the love of God. Now, in sense God loves everybody. But there are many people who will not experience the love of God as others will. They are outside the love of God. Being in the love of God I believe means enjoying His forgiveness, His friendship, protection, favor, guidance, having a future with Him in His kingdom.
5. And a fifth result is fullness of joy. 15:11… God has so made us that we cannot find much joy anywhere else but in a relationship with Him and in learning to love. Only God can fill that empty hole in your heart. It’s a paradox: If we’re just focused on making ourself happy, we’re not going to be very happy. The secret path, most don’t know about, to the fullness of joy is to quit caring so much about yourself, trust the Lord to take care of you, and truly care for and live for God and for others.

So this is the life of grace. It is daily intimacy with Jesus out of which you can bear the fruit of His likeness in your life, namely genuine love. And it will take you into a depth of relationship with God where He is moving in your life and the world around according to your prayers, and He is glorified by you and you prove to be a true disiciple and you remain in His love and you find joy to the fullest.