Tues.9.29.15...The Secret to Being Fruitful...John 15:1-17.

When you were a kid, did you ever make secret messages? 

This kid will make you smile :)

What's that got to do with today's passage- John 15:1-17? Well, to many people, it seems like Jesus is giving a secret message for being a fruitful Christian. Thankfully, it's not written with lemon juice. It's there for all to see, but a lot of people just don't see it. Perhaps the many words surrounding Jesus' main points make it hard for them to see. Thus, lot's of people come up with mystical efforts to remain in the vine to bear fruit. (Hey, we all want to be fruitful.) They put the focus in the wrong place, perhaps because they don't read far enough. So let's look at all the passage- 15:1-17. Let's also focus on key words. Sometimes all the surrounding words can hinder a person from seeing the most important words. It reminds me of another decoder you may have used as a kid to decode a secret message. 

So here is John 15:1-17 passed through the decoder. Focus on those highlighted words and see if the secret starts to be revealed to you on how to bear much fruit.

1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 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. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.17 This is my command: Love each other.

Do you see the secret now to bearing fruit? It's remaining in Christ. (The Greek word for remaining is "meno" which is used often in this passage.) Jesus repeatedly emphasized the vital importance of remaining in him as you saw above. But what does it mean to remain in Him? Great question! Do you see how Jesus progressively reveals the answer? After telling us to remain in him, he then ties it to remaining in his word (v.7. You can't separate the person of Jesus from his words). Next he says, "Remain in my love" (v.9). Then he tells us how to remain in his love- by keeping his commands. Lastly, he reveals exactly what command is of foremost importance to this remaining- "My command is this: Love each other...v.12. Lest we miss it, he ends the passage on fruit bearing by saying, "This is my command: Love each other" v.17. 

Thus, to remain in him is not reached by pursuing some mystical experience with Christ or by practicing some private spiritual disciplines. Nor is it even developed by some deeper, exchanged life. Note the individualism in those attempts. Our individualistic society blurs our vision. So we end up viewing the Christian life and remaining in Christ as an individualistic thing. "I go to church. I read my Bible. I pray. I was told that's how to remain in Christ."  But to the ancients, such individualism was a foreign concept. They saw themselves as part of a community. Jesus was talking to his team. The "you" in his speech is plural. "You all cannot bear fruit unless you all remain in me." This was Jesus' last supper message to his team, whom he was preparing to send out into the world with the gospel. They needed to remain dependent on his word, specifically his command to love one another. His team would fail if they didn't learn to love one another. (And Luke reveals they had just been arguing about who was the greatest. Ugh! See Luke 22:24.) Jesus is re-emphasizing what he had already said, "By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another" 13:35. Want more proof? John writes elsewhere that whoever loves his brother remains ("meno") in the light. See 1 John 2:10; also 3:23-24; 4:16. If I am going to remain in Christ and be truly fruitful, I can't be a Sunday morning spectator. I need to be devoted to others in brotherly love. Hmm. I need a band of brothers, whom I am learning how to devote myself to.  It doesn't come naturally, especially in our day. But we are growing in our love for each other as we pray by name for each other, as we share Scripture with one another, encourage one another, as we bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ- love (Gal.6:2).

Yes, to remain ("meno") in Christ requires being devoted to one another in brotherly love. Judas was self-centered. He did not remain with them. John writes "If they had belonged to us, they would have remained ("meno") with us" 1 John 2:19. If the disciples were going to be fruitful in life and ministry it would not occur by being lone ranger Christians as so many are today. They needed to remain in Christ by remaining in his words or commands he was giving them- especially to love one another. So let's put the emphasis where Jesus did: Be fruitful by remaining devoted to Christ and to one another in brotherly love. The person who loves his teammates is a fruitful man indeed! 

1.- Read John 15:1-17 and share one thing that grabs your attention.

Note: The team that loves the Lord and each other can bear fruit in prayer and evangelism. "I chose you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last" John 15:16. 

This is my command: Love one another" 15:17. All  the other kinds of fruit mentioned in Scripture grow best in this...

Corporate fruit setting: (just as children grow best in a family setting)

   Character fruit- such as the fruit of the Spirit- Gal.5:22-23

   Conduct fruit- Eph.5:9; Phil.1:11; Col.1:10

   Contributions fruit- financial giving- Rom.15:28 

   Conversation fruit- the fruit of our lips- Heb.13:15; Hos.14:2

   Converts fruit- as we see at the end of our passage today John 15:17; Col.1:6.

2.- We are growing in the fruit of brotherly love. Write a loving, encouraging prayer for your wingmen, including their names in your prayer. (Love is the greatest.)

Announcements
It was a long work day and late before I got to reading your blog entries last night, but I was very impressed with how so many of you are doing. Your SMART and SMARTER goals are enabling you to grow and impact more people in GREAT ways. I salute you!

Speaking of being fruitful in  today's blog, I want to congratulate a man I consider to be very fruitful, Pastor Mike Berry. Characteristic of Mike, he has been faithful every day since he joined M3 over a month ago. So it will be my privilege to honor him at our next M3 meeting with the Unstoppable award pin which he has so faithfully earned. Well done Mike!

Our next M3 meeting will be Sunday, Oct.18th at 3:00 PM. Mark your calendars. Come early if you wish and help us cheer the Bears on. We''ll throw in for pizza. See you there.  

Up for a hike? We will be rendezvousing at my home (9541 S. Oakley) this Saturday at 8:00 AM to go hiking in the Indiana Dunes. Just bring lunch money. We will  be back by around 1:00 PM. If you don't have to work, sure hope you can join us. You'll be glad you did. 

Happy birthday Luis Ortiz!