Teaching Text

JOHN 15:1–17

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 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.

“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. 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. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 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. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. 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. 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. This is my command: Love each other.

Sermon Recap

This Sunday, Pastor Jon returned from sabbatical and kicked off a new series, A Manifesto of Fruitfulness, with Jesus’ words in John 15, “Abide in me.” He began by naming some of the places we are tempted to root our lives apart from God—self-preservation, achievement, and even religious performance. Each can produce something for a time, but none can sustain the soul. As Pastor Jon put it, “The fruit of life apart from God is anxiety, insecurity, abuse, dissatisfaction, pride, and exhaustion.”

That is especially familiar in a city like New York, where we are constantly building, proving, achieving and becoming. Pastor Jon returned to the image of a construction site, “There’s no rest on construction sites. When you’re perpetually building, you’re never at rest.” The alternative Jesus offers is not another thing to accomplish, but a different place to abide—in Him.

From there, Pastor Jon turned to the possibility of another kind of life. Jesus describes Himself as the vine and His people as branches, and fruitfulness comes from remaining connected to Him. The branch does not strain to produce fruit; it bears fruit because it is connected to the vine. In the same way, the love, patience, self-control and obedience we want to see in our lives begin to flow more naturally when we are abiding in Jesus.

For Pastor Jon, this has become less an idea to understand than a life to practice. He shared that his ambition since he was 17 has been to become a “black belt in abiding”—learning to receive the love of Jesus rather than constantly trying to earn it. His sabbatical gave him a fresh awareness of this, as he spent time simply receiving God’s love and asking for a renewed filling of His presence and power.

The invitation at the close was simple. Receive what Jesus has already done rather than building your life around what you can do for Him. Exchange shame for grace, success for fruitfulness, anxiety for the love of God, and religious performance for the freedom of abiding. Pastor Jon closed by praying that we would become people who know how to remain in Jesus’ love, His Word, community and obedience—people with the “skillful art” of receiving His love.