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June 18, 2017
Bearing Fruit That Lasts
John 15; Romans 28
Again, Happy Father’s Day to all who have been blessed to be called Father, Daddy, Dad. I can’t exactly remember the first time either of our daughters called me one of those names, but believe me I’ve always treasured it…..That is except when the “Dad” was followed with “I need $20 bucks” or “Dad, can I borrow the car?”
I had a grandfather, Roy Full, who everyone called “Dad” – he wasn’t “granddad” – his wife, Flossie, my grandmother, always called him “Dad” – everyone in the family, myself included, called him “Dad.” It was just his name for all of us, so I was sort of blessed to have two “Dads” and I can honestly say I was so blessed to have both of them in my life. Both showed me the value of hard work. Both showed me what it was to be a person of integrity. Both showed me the importance of faith in God. I pray you have had persons in your life as well that you could call Dad in the truest sense of the word.
If you are a dad maybe you got a Father’s Day card this week in the mail or at home this morning. Some words inside cards are funny, silly, downright ornery, but I’d like to think this by an unknown author is also on your radar:
“God took the strength of a mountain, The majesty of a tree, the warmth of a summer sun, the calm of a quiet sea, the generous soul of nature, the comforting arm of night, the wisdom of the ages, the power of the eagle's flight, the joy of a morning in spring, the faith of a mustard seed, the patience of eternity, the depth of a family need…. Then God combined these qualities, And when there was nothing more to add, He knew His masterpiece was complete, And so,
He called it ... Dad.”
The thing I’m afraid we’re missing too much of in the world today is this. We have lost dads. We’ve lost what fatherhood was – especially Christian fatherhood, and of course we’ve lost dads physically as well.
Even as the country added160,000families with children, back in 2012 the number oftwo-parent households decreased by1.2 million.I don’t have statistics for 2017 but just a few years back 15 millionU.S. children, or 1 in3, lived without a father, and nearly5 millionlived without a mother.
Here’s the contrast…..when I was 9 years old, back in 1960, just11percent of American children lived in homes without fathers. That’s a major shift in parenthood, isn’t it? And wouldn’t you agree that that shift has affected all levels of society today?
Recent and various national reports show 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes – 5 times the average; 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes – 32 times the average; 85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes - 20 times the average; 80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes – 14 times the average; 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes – 9 times the average; 75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes – 10 times the average. Children who live absent their biological fathers are, on average, at least two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience educational, health, emotional and behavioral problems, to be victims of child abuse, and to engage in criminal behavior --- two to three times more likely than their peers who live with their married, biological (or adoptive) parents.
Ok. We’re a people of the Good News, right? We seek to live into the Good News of Jesus Christ. So here’s some of the Good News too. There’s lots of areas we could look at but just in the area of education…..Children with fathers who are involved are 40% less like to repeat a grade in school. Children with fathers who are involved are 7% less likely to drop out of school. Children with fathers who are involved are more likely to get As in school. And what should be obvious…fathers who live with their children are more likely to have a close, enduring relationship with their children than those who do not.
Friends, this is all about the word ABIDING. Abiding – Several times in scripture, God’s Word, we find Jesus speaking about the Father’s love abiding within him. The Father’s love was evident. The Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world it tells us in John 17. The Father even loved the Son when the Son died on the cross. The amazing thing is believers today can experience personally that same love! Jesus – the Son – prayed to the Father that the love he experienced be the love that remains in us as well. But it’s all about Abiding.
You’ve got to show up to abide. All those statistics I shared before were about abandonment – homes where the father didn’t show up…didn’t hang in there.
Abiding – is about enduring. It’s about remaining. It’s about persisting. It’s about hanging in there!
We’ve been taking a survey about this great faith community and on it a number of you marked “country” as the kind of music you most listen to in our recent surveys passed out and which will be soon offered to everyone on our email list. Many of you like country music. Ok. So let’s turn to George Strait for some important words about fatherhood. He sang:
“I got sent home from school one day with a shiner on my eye
Fighting was against the rules and it didn’t matter why
When Dad got home I told that story just like I’d rehearsed
Then stood there on those trembling knees and waited for the worst
And he said, Let me tell you a secret, about a father’s love
A secret that my daddy said was just between us
He said daddies don’t just love their children every now and then
It's a love without end, amen,”
Sing it with me…..”it’s a love without end, amen.”
It’s about abiding.
Let’s hear what God tell us a bit about abiding as we turn to the Good News in the Gospel of John Chapter 15: 1-10.
Abide in me….and I in you. That’s the secret.
Now I’ve never been a grape grower…..I’ve helped grow lots of things over time, just never grapes.. But as a youngster especially I knew how to eat grapes. Our grandparents – with the one we all called “Dad” – had a grape arbor. A grape arbor is a climbing frame for grapevines. It’s there to support the growing weight of the grapeclusters….Here’s the deal….no structure….no support….no structure, no support, probably very few grapes.
You get the parallel here to parenthood, right? No structure, no support – little fruit…..certainly no fruit that lasts.
The folks who heard Jesus offer this story knew what he was talking about….probably better than most of us unless you have something to do with a place like Georgetown Road vineyards.
I’ve read that the vines in the Holy Land are large and strong, and it’s next to impossible, I understand, to break off a mature branch without injuring the vine itself. So careful pruning is important.
This is about our union with Jesus Christ, friends. Our union with Jesus Christ is a living union. A living union. And our living vine is strong. Why does Scripture say we are to stay connected to the living, strong vine of God in Jesus Christ? So we can bear fruit. So we can bear fruit that will last.
And it’s a loving union. A loving union. Why? So we can enjoy him.
And it’s a lasting union. A lasting union. Why? So we can press on without getting sidetracked or afraid and quit.
A living, loving, lasting union. It’s about abiding.
So in this story from Jesus – here’s the question…..who are we? Are we the vine? Are we the branches? Are we the fruit? Answer? Yes, we are the branches. The Branches.
The sooner we believers or those who would become believers discover that we are the branches the better then we will be able to relate to our Lord and bear fruit. As branches we know we aren’t the vine – we are often very weak….so in our weakness we discover we find our strength in the vine – God, the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Abide.
That word, abide, is used 11 times in these few verses. What does it mean to abide? It means to keep in fellowship with Christ Jesus so that His life can work in and through us to bear fruit…..fruit that will last. How does this work? Well, it involves the Word of God – regularly taking in the Word of God like the grape arbor takes in the sunlight and the rain. Staying connected…being nourished in the vine.
Then there’s the part about the vinedresser. “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit.”
The gardener, the vinedresser – like the Holy Spirit – sees where we need some pruning….cutting back….in order to bring about new growth….growth that is multiplying, growth that will last.
Believers have the Holy Spirit in them and part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to point out those areas of our lives that need some pruning.
Now I am not a tree expert, and there was a time I knew virtually nothing about trimming trees and stuff. So I’m glad I had a father who helped me see that although the trees and the shrubs in the first home I owned were basically healthy, they neededpruning.
Like the trees and bushes in my first backyard, we sometimes need pruning in our spiritual life. Jesus Christ reminds us of this when He says here, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1-2). Pruning involves cutting off the unnecessary or unproductive branches. This makes the tree bear better fruit, makes the tree, the vine, grow higher and give the tree, the vine, the shrub, a more handsomeappearance.
All trees, vines, shrubs need attention and care if they are to flourish and beautify our yards. But we don’t just go out there hacking away.
Before we prune, we need to have a mental picture of what we desire the end result to look like. According to The Better HomesGardens New Garden Book, “Grown under optimum conditions… a tree has a good chance to become the beauty you hope it willbe.”
God wants us to become the beauty we can be….the beauty God hopes to see.
God knows the beauty God desires in us…. vision of the beauty - that He hopes we can become - when He says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says theLORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). God envisions us becoming part of His family….abiding. When He prunes us, He has that vision inmind.
Now being pruned isn’t fun. Being disciplined by a loving Father can be tough.
I’m reminded of the TV commercial out now about the young driver who comes to the door of his mom and dad’s bedroom after being out with the car and he starts putting all his best spin on the fact he damaged the car at the fast food drive through. He’s buttering them up real good. And just when he thinks he’s really got them where he wants them with all his logic and sweet talk, pointing out how smart they are that they bought insurance with accident forgiveness…….he’s interrupted with – “Four weeks without the car.”
Now that’s pruning. Four weeks without the car.
When we give our lives to God make no mistake there will be some pruning.
You will experience some pruning so that you will bear more fruit…you’ll be a better driver in the kingdom of God. But the good news is friends that the believer who is abiding in Christ – who accepts his pruning – who confesses their sin so that nothing will hold back your communion with him – you will experience a deeper love…and you’ll experience the Joy of Jesus.
We are the branches. We need some pruning now and then so we can better abide in Christ and bear fruit that will last.
How does this happen. Well, it’s not automatic. Abiding in Christ demands our worship. It demands our meditation on God’s Word. It demands our active and deepening prayer life. It demands sacrifice of self for the good of the kingdom. It demands service above self in order that the fruit will grow. But this is all good!
And here’s the best part. Once you’ve turned your life over to God in Jesus Christ, becoming filled with the Spirit, you’ll no longer desire to return to the shallow life you had before a life in Christ.
Did you ever think the greatest, the harshest, judgment God could bring to a believer would be to let you alone? Let you have your own way? Yea, it is.
Because God the best Father you know loves you, God won’t let you alone…..you will instead experience God’s pruning in order that we bear more fruit for God’s glory.
If the branches of a tree, a shrub or a vine could speak…sure they’d say that the pruning process hurts…..but they would also rejoice that they will be able to produce more and better fruit because of that pruning.
And keep in mind our Heavenly Father is never nearer to us than when He is pruning us. “I will never leave you or forsake you.” God’s word assures us.
Yes, pruning hurts, but it also helps. We may not enjoy it, but we need it.
Now I hear you saying, I’m not a tree, a shrub or a bush. I don’t get it. How am I pruned?
Well, sometimes God uses the Word to convict and cleanse us. That’s pruning….when God brings something to mind by the power of the Holy Spirit as we read, as we meditate as we ask God to show us something we need to know when we regularly and prayerfully read God’s word. God’s word can prune us.
So we are convicted and cleansed.
Then sometimes God chastens us – God disciplines, God corrects, takes out – even removing something we thought was precious to us, but as the new spiritual crop is then produced, we see that the Father knew what He was doing all along.