Stay Connected | By Pastor Jamie, SOAP Study for 7/29/24

 

Matthew 7:15-20- "Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

Jesus talks about fruit and the necessity of pruning even more in John 15: "I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He 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. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain 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. 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." If the Father is the Gardener, Jesus Christ is the True Vine, and His disciples are branches, then it means clearly, we are never to get confused about our role; that is, you and I are not the Gardener, we're not the Vine, and we're not the resulting fruit. As a branch, we don't tell the Gardener how to do His job. Nor do we dictate to the True Vine how to produce more and better fruit. The branch's job- the branch's ONLY job- is to stay connected to the Vine, Jesus, which will then naturally result in the production of good, healthy, and delicious fruit that glorifies the Gardener.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement in the 1700's said, "Be serious and frequent in the examination of your heart and life." What he never urged followers of Jesus to do was "Be serious and frequent in the examination of other people's heart and life." Have you ever noticed, however, that it's so much easier to identify where other people fall short of the best possible fruit in their lives than it is to admit our own small, sour fruit, our own faults and failures? The Big Picture question is always what we need to do as a branch to stay connected to the True Vine, Jesus. Galatians 5:22-23 guides us to the fruit of the Spirit we need to have growing in our lives: "The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!"

Dear Gardener and Father, True Vine and Son, and ever-present Holy Spirit, thank You for Your pruning process. Help us not see it as punishment, but as loving and gracious tending toward the goal of us becoming the best possible branches for Your glory. Help us remember that any good and healthy fruit is not the result of white-knuckled trying, but how we are connected in a living relationship with Jesus. Amen.

 

"Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do." (Psalm 1:1-3),

 

Pastor Jamie