“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.
This, I think, is one of the most powerful metaphors Jesus used in all his teachings. It is simple, yet very effective. We must obey in order to be fruitful branches of the Jesus vine. We will be pruned so that we can be even more fruitful. If we fall away and are withered and unfruitful, we will be thrown into the fire and burned. Does it get much simpler or clearer than that?
He also makes abundantly clear what obedience looks like. Love each other as I have loved you. Twice in these verses he says very clearly that his command is for us to love each other. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is hard. Sometimes it is very, very hard. But do you know what I have noticed? It is always harder when I am thinking of myself.
If I am thinking of things I'd like to be doing other than what I am doing, or if I'm thinking about how much I just want to be finished whatever it is I'm doing so that I can sit down and relax, or if I'm thinking about how unappreciated I am or how my efforts aren't recognized, or if I am annoyed because I feel someone else has treated me rudely or disrespectfully or what have you, I don't love those around me well. It doesn't matter if I'm at home caring for my home and family, or my daycare kids, or at work, or teaching Sunday School, or leading the Sunday School singing. If I am looking at it from a "what is this doing for me?" perspective, it is less enjoyable, it is less effective, and I get short-tempered and cranky.
Let's face it. No one understands human nature better than Jesus does. He knew this wasn't easy. Therefore, he spelled out his expectations in no uncertain terms, but before we throw our hands up and say it's impossible, he also provided the supernatural help that we need. Remember the promises in the excerpt from MacArthur's sermon that Tammy included in yesterday's post? We don't have to do this on our own.
If you struggle with your attitude, pray. Read the Bible. Listen to Christian music. Shift your perspective. Think about how it looks from someone else's point of view. Give people who are rude or disrespectful the benefit of the doubt. It may not be your fault they had a bad day, and it's no excuse for them to take it out on you, but it's probably not about you. And keep in mind, as hard as it is, that it doesn't matter whether we receive recognition or appreciation here on earth. As nice as it is to be recognized for our efforts, how much more rewarding it will be to get to heaven and hear Jesus say "Well done, my good and faithful servant."
I know those things sound quite obvious, but if you're anything like me, you forget them often. It would be nice if I could remember those things all the time. It would be nice if the frustrations of daily life didn't throw off my focus so often. I don't know about you, but I'm thinking I need to keep that supernatural help in mind and lean on it more!
1 comment:
The vine is a very cut and dried, black and white, description of genuine Christianity isn`t it?
And so true about our self-focus making it so much more difficult for us to be obedient out of love for Christ. Definitely need the reminder to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit!
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