Message: Making Something of Your Life-Part 2 PROPS: a dead peach tree branch, a fresh-cut peach tree branch, branch cutter, a basket of fruit I am holding two branches in my hands this morning. They have some similarities. They are both branches from a peach tree. They are, in fact, branches from the same peach tree. But they don t look the same, do they? So, how are they different? What does this branch have that this one does not? (Take some answers: fruit, leaves, color, life.) Here is the primary reason why they are different. Four weeks ago, this dead and shriveled branch decided to break off its relationship with the peach tree. As for this other branch, less than two hours ago, before I cut it off, it was drawing life from the trunk of that same peach tree. It is a powerful picture of how desperately we need the life of Jesus flowing through our lives if we are going to make anything of our lives. When we are connected with Jesus, His righteousness comes out in us. His love and faithfulness comes out in us. His peace and joy blossoms in us. Connected to Him, we begin to produce things that are from Him, things that look like Him. The branches of a peach tree produce peaches. The branches of the Jesus tree produce the qualities of Jesus. This is not my original idea; Jesus said it. The night before He was crucified, He sat down with twelve guys who had spent three years following Him--listening to His teaching, watching His interactions with others, hearing his warnings, and growing to love Him. At one point on that evening, he said this: "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. 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. (The Bible, John 15:1-17, NIV)
I have four dishes up here. This dish has no fruit. This second dish has one piece of fruit. This third dish has more fruit, and this fourth dish has a whole bunch of fruit. Now, if you are a gardener, which dish do you want? I don t know about you, but I want this bowl that is overflowing. And in reality, isn t this what we want our lives to look like? We want our lives to count for something. We want to make a difference for good. We want to bless people. We want to give out rather than just take in. God is with you on that. This overflowing fruit bowl is what He wants your life to produce. (Pick up pieces of fruit with each quality mentioned.) He wants you to have joy and peace. He wants you to extend love and care to others. He wants you to help connect others with Jesus. He wants you to be faithful and honest. He wants to work in power through your prayers. He wants the life of Jesus to be overflowing out of your life. He wants you to bear much fruit. From Jesus words, I see two things that are absolutely essential to much fruit. There is something that you and I must do, and there is something that God must do. Jesus was pretty clear about what we must do. 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. (15:5) He does NOT say: I am the example; you are the imitators. If you try really hard to be like me, you will bear much fruit. Jesus does not prop up our pride here. There is no you can do anything if you put your mind to it. No, He says: Apart from me, you can t do anything. The only hope you have for a fruitful life is to be with me. Remember the two branches. This is your life being with Jesus. This is your life trying really hard to be like Jesus. So, what does it look like to be with Jesus? What shape does that take? What choices does that entail? I m going to start real simply hear. It begins by admitting that Jesus is right, that you need Him as badly as a branch needs a tree. We must humble ourselves. Then we need to start listening. Jesus says: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you Abiding in Jesus means letting His words soak into us. We need God s Word like a tree needs water. It was Jesus who said: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4, NIV) Just as it is wise to water a garden every day in the heat of the summer, so it is wise to read God s words some every day. And don t just read them. Reflect on them. Think about what they teach you about God, about life, about yourself. The Bible contains a book of songs or psalms. The very first psalm recorded has these words: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by
streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (The Bible, Psalm 1:1-3, NIV) As we reflect on God s words and take them to heart, they energize us and help us to live out the ways of Jesus. They nurture peace and joy and comfort. When we take in God s Word, the next vital step is to live His words out. Trust His promises. Heed His warnings. Follow His instructions. Jesus put it this way: If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love. Don t misunderstand this. He is not saying He will love you only if you obey Him. God s commands flow from His love. When we ignore His instructions, we distance ourselves from Jesus. We cut ourselves off from the life of Jesus. Disobedience is the choice to live independently of the wisdom and power of God. It s like a branch taking off on its own! It is not a good idea. Another vital way of staying connected is prayer. You need to talk to Jesus. Talking is how we stay connected with people. It is how relationships grow. You talk. When you stop communicating, the relationship begins to dry up. You connect with people by talking to them. It is important not simply that we listen to God and hear His heart. It is important that we share the things that are on our heart. It is important that we share our burdens, our dreams, our needs, our confusion. It is critical that we ask for His help. Don t blow by the wonder that God wants a relationship with us. He enjoys us. He wants to be friends. It is the very term Jesus uses here. I have called you friends. Friends talk. They share life. They trust. They hang out together. Think about that. God wants to hang out with us. He wants to be with us. And you know what happens when you hang out with a good friend? Very often, you become like them. You use some of the same phrases or make the same facial expressions. As we stay close to Jesus, our words and attitudes and actions are invariably influenced. Another way in which we abide in Jesus is worship. We reflect on Him, praise Him, thank Him, and surrender to Him. Audrey Blackwell says: Stopping and enjoying God, concentrating on Him, allowing Him to utilize that still small voice is a cultivated honor. I personally do this through music, concentrating not just on Christian music, but songs that speak of God s attributes: How Great Thou Art Holy, Holy, Holy, Worthy is the Lamb. Songs that have nothing to do with me. These usher us into God s presence and I think he takes delight in us making a move to abide in him. This takes time. As we talk with Jesus, as we read His words, as we obey His instructions, His life comes out in us. Our role is to stay connected to Jesus. If we do, we will bear fruit. So what role does God, the Gardener, play? "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. (vss. 1-3) So, while our role is abiding in Jesus, God s role is cutting! For one, He cuts off branches that don t bear fruit. Why does He mention this? He is talking about how vital it is to bear fruit. A branch that isn t taking its life from the tree isn t doing what it is supposed to do. When this branch fell out of my tree, I threw it in a kindling pile. I don t believe Jesus is saying that if we stop abiding in Jesus, He withholds grace and kicks us out of the family. The whole heartbeat of grace is that we are covered by what Jesus did for us and not our own works. The point here is that, unless we are abiding in Jesus, there is not a lot the gardener can do to make us fruitful. There is another cutting that God does, a cutting that really good gardeners know well. It s called pruning. In communicating with Eric Hyland about this, he made a couple of great observations. The first was this: notice that the pruning only happens to branches that are already bearing fruit. Those are Jesus words: every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. God cuts away at branches that are bearing fruit because He wants greater fruit. I have always struggled with this concept, and it s one reason why I am a crappy gardener. It is hard for me to cut off a good branch; it seems like I will reduce my fruit. Eric explains the power of pruning this way: In the world of Horticulture this is done to direct the energy of the plant into the fruit. If the plant is allowed to grow willy-nilly the fruit will be small & poor quality. This is the case with the apple tree in my yard. It has a lush & full crown unlike the trees in the Orchard across town. Those trees produce lovely red baseball sized apples... mine produces lots of little green misshapen ping-pong balls. Pruning is critical for bearing significant fruit, but pruning is painful. Pruning is cutting. Pruning involves pain and loss. A year or so ago, my neighbor volunteered to come and prune my peach tree. He didn t bring scissors! He used a branch cutter like this one here, and he started lopping off whole branches. It was a tad scary to be honest, but I trusted that he knew what he was doing. Here is what I learned about pruning. Pruning is counter-intuitive. You have to cut back to get more. At first glance, pruning looks harmful. It certainly is painful to watch. You can t be fruitful without trouble and loss and pain. For that reason, God will not remove all of the trouble and pain in your life. Sometimes, in fact, He will orchestrate trouble. He will take you into a storm. He only allows it because He knows the good that will come. And He always walks with you. The Gardener is always close at hand. He cares deeply about your life. He has a purpose. When we first moved into our home, our peach tree produced a bunch of peaches, but they were all this size--small, a little tough, not much to them. Since my neighbor hacked away at my tree, however, we ve seen a lot more peaches this size. The difference is amazing. This large, juicy peach is a reminder of what God wants to produce in us when He prunes us. So stay connected with Jesus. Talk to
him. Listen to His words and obey them. Thank Him. Hold onto Him in hardship, and He will do amazing things through your life.