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| Rev. Brian Wilkie |
Pastor of St. Andrew's Christian Community
Rockland, Ontario
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PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, April 2nd, 2017:
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Broadcast Notes:
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Welcome to
Good News In the Morning a program of words and music bringing a Christian
message of hope and encouragement to those who are looking for intelligent
meaningful and spirited approach to faith and to life.
This program is sponsored by Good News Christian
Ministries PO Box 184 Rideau Ferry, Ontario K0G 1W0. I'm your host today, Brian
Wilkie of St. Andrew's Christian church in Rockland. As always I want to start
by thanking you our listeners. We are so grateful for your encouragement and
support. In fact your support is essential to continuing our broadcast. And today I want to give a special call out
to Wills
Transfer Ltd, and especially the proprietor Terry Wills, who has sponsored this show and done so much for our
program: indeed for Christian Ministries throughout the city. You too can support
our show, as well as find materials to encourage and support you in your
Christian walk. if you visit our website, GoodNewsChristianMinistries.ca, or GNCM.ca for short. Details
for how you can support us and find our devotional materials can be found on
that website.
Abiding in Jesus
Today I’d like
to speak to you about a scripture that has come to life for me through a prayer
retreat that I was recently on. And the scripture is from John chapter 15. It
concerns Jesus being the true vine, and his people needing to abide in the
vine, so Jesus says,
John 15 “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, and
I will 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 a man remains in me and I in
him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If
anyone does not remain in me, he is 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 given 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 obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I
have obeyed 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, that he lay down his life for his 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 to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will
give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love
each other. [1]
[1] The Holy Bible: New
International Version. (1984). (Jn 15:1–17). Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan.
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We’re going to
take a look at this passage of scripture, as it speaks about our need to allow
the Father to prune us and to cause us to bear much fruit. And also it commands
us to follow Jesus. To pay attention to his words. To remain in him.
We’ll look at
this in more detail. But I want to have you listen to a song. It’s an old song
from I hope, a familiar voice to you. George Beverly Shea, as he sings O Love That Will Not Let Me Go. I think
it’s important that we remember that, when we hear Jesus calling us to abide in
him and obey him, that we’re also in the grip of love that holds onto us and
keeps us through all things. So let’s listen to George Beverly Shay and be
reminded of God's great love for each one of us.
As Jesus calls
us through this metaphor or parable , he is the vine and we are the branches.
We learn much about our relationship with God and God’s intent for our lives.
Jesus describes
himself as
being like a plant. And the vine that we’re most familiar with is the grape
vine and so would his listeners, they’d be familiar with vineyards through out
Israel. That had to be carefully tended in order to bear fruit. In order to be
filled with the rich harvest of the grapes on those vines. And so they were familiar
with what it took to make a vine fruitful, and to make a vine fruitful, you
have to prune it. You’ve no doubt got plants in your garden, if you’ve gardened
at all, if you’ve got a mottoes plant, you know that there’s these parts of the
plant that grow up and they’re lush and green and full of life, but no fruit.
You don’t get any tomatoes off. What we use to call the suckers. The parts of
the plant that just draw the energy of the plant but wouldn’t produce any
fruit. And you could identify those suckers and you’d pluck them off early in
the plants life cycle, and you’d see that the branches that did bear flowers
would bear many flowers, and the flowers would ripen into fruit and we’d have a
great harvest of tomatoes.
It’s clear
that the metaphor is a simple one and understandable. The purpose God has for
Jesus is that he should bear much fruit, and the purpose that Jesus has for
each branch that’s attached to him, is that they should bear much fruit.
It doesn’t
sound pleasant being pruned. Paul talks about pruning of the body of Christ
when God decides to prune off some branches and graft in other branches. And we
know we don’t like the sound of the fate of those other branches that don’t
bear fruit.
There’s a bit
of a warning. A bit of a sternness to the necessities of gardening, and we have
to take that seriously. That bearing fruit is important to God. Bearing fruit
is the point of our life in Christ.
It’s good news
to know that as Paul talks about the branches being pruned off from the body of
Christ, he also talks about them being brought back at another time and that
God’s patience is incredible. God’s patience is so faithful to us, even when
times come when pruning must happen. But that’s about the branches being pruned
off and then Jesus talks about each branch being cared for by this careful
pruning. That means you and me being pruned. Being cared for by God in order
that we would produce much fruit. He describes this pruning and I think that
it’s a really good metaphor, not just because Jesus said it, but because, think
about it. Our lives are filled with things that bear fruit for God. When we
obey his commands. When we love our neighbours. When we share generously with
those who are in need, we are bearing much fruit. When we speak the word of God
to others and help to guide them in life gently and lovingly, or when we
introduce them to the gospel of Jesus Christ and help them to find peace, and
eternal life, we’re bearing much fruit. It is joyful and wonderful to bear much
fruit. How agonizing it is. How difficult it is to face a period of life and to
think I haven’t done anything, I haven’t produced anything, I haven’t done any
good in the world. We really want to have this fruit come out of our lives. And
we feel so desperate to bear fruit if we find that our life has not produced
anything. Now we need to be patient when it comes to bearing fruit and I don’t
want people feeling valueless if they aren’t producing fruit at this particular
moment in their life, because Jesus’ words about pruning is saying he is able
to cause a barren branch to bear much fruit if that branch will submit itself
to his care and keeping.
Pruning isn’t
cutting off dead stuff only. Although I’ve had a number of plants and trees in
my yard that I’ve had to prune off dead growth or dead parts that used to be
alive and now are only source of infection and rot. But pruning also involves
cutting off what looks to be very healthy
and good
growth. But it isn’t bearing any fruit. And once you have dealt with sin in
your life. Once you’ve dealt with the things that are absolutely opposed to
Gods goodness. The selfishness, the hatred, the resentment, and bitterness. All
those things that need to be put at the cross of Jesus and taken away. That’s
part of the pruning that takes place, but there’s also a focusing of your life.
A desire to let go of things that are lush and green and growing but are not
capable of growing any fruit.
When you look
at your life and you ask what is the most important thing for me to be focusing
on, what are the things that need to be let go to enable me to walk where I’m
going to bear the most fruit. Allowing God to speak to you about this is very
important. In fact I’ve got to say that I was so impressed by the prayer summit
in which this came to life for me. Tom and Terry White were leading us in
listening to the word of God very carefully and very prayerfully, and it is
really amazing, that if you spent some time on this scripture from John 15 and
ask God what needs to be pruned in my life. What is bearing fruit in my life?
What care do you want to take over my soul Lord, as you fulfill your purpose to
bring much fruit into my life. That’s a very, very good prayer. That’s a very,
very good time spent in the word of God. And I would encourage you to do it.
We’re going to
continue looking at more of meaning of this passage as Jesus describes himself
as the true vine and the source of our life. But we’re going to listen again to
another song. This is a song that I think is a very beautiful hymn and it’s
sung in modern form by Mark Schultz. The hymn is Give Me Jesus and it’s from Mark Schultz’s album simply titled
Hymns.
As we move on
into the scripture and we move from the image of the vine and the branch
particularly, we have Jesus speaking in plainer speech. What does it mean to
abide in him and he says something very, very clear, but because it’s so clear
it can also be a little bit troubling.
He says, If
you obey my commands you will remain in my love. Just as I have obeyed my
Fathers commands and remain in his love. That sounds pretty clear. It goes
against the grain of what we’re often taught about the unconditional love of
God and it causes us to maybe have some questions. Would he stop loving me if I
stopped obeying him. He also says later on, I don’t call you servants any more.
I call you friends. Because servants don’t know their master’s business, but he
says, You are my friends if you do as I command. And that sounds, at least on
first glance, a little bit odd description of a friendship. You are my friend
if you do as I command.
But I’d like
to move from this rather clear speech of Jesus to a metaphor myself, and ask
you, have you ever employed a friend? Have you ever hired someone who is a
friend of yours? When you hire that friend, something does change in the
relationship. Nothing in terms of affection. Nothing in terms of fellowship and
collegiality. But something changes in the expectations, because you now have a
particular role with regards to your friend, and they have a particular role in
regards to you. In fact if you are employing somebody who’s your friend, they
rightly expect that you will be a good boss. They have a right to expect that a
friend that is their boss, would be a thoughtful and considerate boss. That the
boss would take into account the well being of his employees. Hey I’m your
friend. At the same time, the boss has the right to expect that his friends are
not going to take vantage of him and his friendship. That they’re not going to
slake off and let everybody else carry the burden because, Hey! The boss is a
friend of mine. That’s not a way for an employee to treat a boss who’s a
friend. Frankly, not the right way for any employee to treat any boss. But
there’s a special obligation upon a friend to not make life difficult for the
friend who’s employing them. To listen to the needs of the business, of the
friends interest, and to try and do their best, their very best, because
they’re working for a friend.
We are not
treating Jesus as a friend, if we take advantage of his kindness, and try to be
lazy or inconsiderate in the way that we live out our lives. He’s given us very
simple commands and in this passage he doesn’t really talk about all his
commands, he focuses on one command. He says this is my command. Love each
other. And at another place in the very same scripture he says my command is
this. Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this
that he should lay down his life for his friends. One command. Jesus says,
"if you love one another you’re remaining in my love. If your soul is
filled with love as I have loved you, then you’re keeping my love within
you." To obey his command is very much to keep the presence of God in your
heart and in your soul.
It’s perfectly
right for God to say, "listen, if you don’t keep in my love, you’re not
keeping in me. If you don’t love one another, you’re not abiding in me. You’re
not remaining in my friendship, in my care." The fruitfulness that God
wants from his people is, of course, varied in many ways. One advantage of a
picture like the vine and the branches, is that you can imagine and you can
also look at scripture and see where the word fruit is used and how the word
fruit is used, and fruit is clearly used about harvest. That when the bible
talks about the vines ripening and bearing fruit, and the wheat growing up and
bearing seed. That the images of harvest, that many more seeds will be
collected than were planted, much more fruit will be gathered than was
originally used to produce the fruit. But harvest, in scriptures are often
talking about the fruit of reaching out to other people with the good news of
Jesus Christ and bringing them into his fellowship into his body. In fact, that
they too would be grafted into the vine, and they too would produce fruit. But
the other kinds of fruit that the scriptures speaks about in Galatians 5:22
where it says the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. What a fruitful life it
would be, if by abiding in Christ and remain in his love, in practising the
love and joy and peace and gentleness, and patience and kindness and
faithfulness and self control, that is required if we love one another. How
much fruit we will bear in cultivating these qualities by loving one another
What a beautiful life it will be, if at the end of the day, what people say
about us is that, we bore much fruit. That our life was producing patience and
peace and joy and love, and people were enjoying the fruit of our lives. And to
add to that people in seeing what Christ produced in us also turn to Christ,
and they themselves became fruitful in these very things.
What a
harvest. What a joy. What a beautiful measure of our lives, and this is what
Jesus has called us to when he calls us to abide in him.
Well, lets
turn our hearts to God in prayer and ask him to help us in this work because of
course only God can fully care for us, and keep us and cultivate these
qualities in us, so let’s ask him.
Lord Jesus we
need you. We want you to fill us to graft us to yourself that we will receive
life from you and we’ll receive the power and the capability to produce much
fruit. To be a blessing to others through producing the fruit of your spirit
and to see others grow and prosper because of what you’ve done in us and
through us. Lord we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
Once again I
want to thank you listeners for your encouragement and support. This program
really depends on your support, both prayerfully and, I must say, financially.
We have the opportunity on our website for you to support the costs of this
broadcast. Did you that our hosts are all
volunteers? So the cost is only to get the word out to the world around us. You
can join us on the website, or send a cheque payable to Good News Christian Ministries
and send it to P.O. Box 184 Rideau Ferry, Ontario K0G 1W0 Once again, thank you
to Wills Transfer Ltd. for their support of this program and we pray for God's
blessing on all of you.
Be sure to worship in a church where the gospel is
soundly proclaimed and lived out with compassion, integrity and resolve. Now to
conclude our program I would like to have you listen to a song called Take my Life and let it be, sung by This Hope from their album "Edges"
I do pray that
the Lord will hold your heart and you would know Jesus personally and
profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart, may the heavenly
Father surround you with his constant and abiding and accompanying love.
Good News In
The Morning is produced in the Studios of News Talk Radio 580 CFRA.
Rev. Brian
Wilkie
St. Andrew's
Christian Community, Rockland,
Ontario
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listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:
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