November 17, 2017 Passion Fruit John 15:1-8 Jesus says: Follow me into passion by staying closely connected to me.

Passion. What comes to mind when I say this word, “passion?” What you love, sensual desire, golf, etc… All kinds of things, right? What you’re passionate about will largely determine your life’s direction so it is really important for us to zero in on this concept. What is passion and how we do cultivate it.

Today I’d like to get back into our fall series on (LCD) “Being Disciples, Making Disciples. We’re seeking to unpack our tag line as a church, “Following Jesus together… wherever He leads.” A few weeks back we saw that Jesus said that we can’t be His disciple unless we deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him. Discipleship requires total commitment. Today I’d like us to look at another aspect of discipleship – the passion behind it. To do that, I want to take us to the gospel of John, the 15th chapter.

In this chapter, Jesus is with His disciples in the Upper Room on the night before He is going to suffer and be crucify. The air is thick with concern. Jesus tells them that he is leaving and they can’t follow, that someone’s going to betray Jesus, that Peter, the strong one, is going to deny Him three times. Wow. And with that, at the end of chapter 14, Jesus says, “Come now, let us leave.” Where are they going? Right, to the Garden of Gethsemane – which means ‘olive press’ – Jesus is going into a garden where He is going to be pressed like no human being has ever or ever will be pressed. Life sucked right out of Him as He submits to the Father’s will. He’ll then go through a series of unjust trials -without defending Himself, be beaten and tortured by Roman soldiers, spit upon and laughed at by the ones He’s going to die for, and finally experience the horror show of Roman crucifixion. “Come now, let us leave.” Indeed. Jesus and His disciples walk into the cold, black night in more ways than one.

All of these events are called the passion of the Christ. Why do we call it passion? Take a look at this (LCD), the word passion comes from the 12th century and it is derived from the Latin word ‘passus’ which means to endure, to suffer, to submit. The ultimate suffering, the ultimate submission in human history was that of Jesus Christ. He became sin, was unjustly punished, to bring us to God. Passion. What does passion look like?

Picture Jesus and the disciples making their way down a stone staircase onto the streets of Jerusalem on their way to the garden of suffering. As they make their way through winding alleys and streets, Jesus begins to teach them about how they can follow in His passionate footsteps. 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, 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. 5 “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. 6 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. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

In these verses, we’re going to read about disciples who bear no fruit, disciples who bear some fruit and disciples who bear much fruit – what I’ll call passion fruit. Of course we want to be found in the last category and that requires several factors. Which one are you? What is this fruit that we bear as disciples and how can we be more fruitful? It’s all about passion – voluntary submission and focus - as we’ll see.

First of all, as they walk along the streets of Jerusalem, they probably walk by (LCD) Herod’s temple with a golden vine wrapped around it. Perhaps Jesus pointed to it when He said, “I am the true vine.” Why a vine? The vine was the national symbol of Israel much like the Charter Oak is for Connecticut or the eagle is for the USA. The (LCD) national coinage had a vine and grape clusters on it as seen in these first century coins from Jesus’ day. Vineyards were everywhere and they symbolized success, blessing and prosperity.

But more than simply a national symbol, in the Old Testament, one of the most common images used to describe Israel’s destiny as God’s chosen people, is that of a vine or a vineyard. It’s everywhere. Israel is supposed to be the bearer of God’s image, of God’s greatness to the world. She is supposed to be the channel of blessing to the world; but that isn’t the case. Bible scholar George Beasley-Murray notes, (LCD), “It is striking that in every instance when Israel in its historical life is depicted in the OT as a vine or vineyard, the nation is set under the judgment of God for its corruption, sometimes explicitly for its failure to produce good fruit.” How sad. Here is just one of many of those instances (LCD), “I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?”

So when Jesus uses one of His famous “I Am” statements to call Himself the ‘true vine’ – He is saying that He is succeeding where Israel failed. He is “reliable and true” while Israel wasn’t. He is bearing the beauty of God to the nations through His joyful submission to the Father, His passion. The last thing that Jesus says in chapter 14 before they left the upper room, look up at verse 31 in chapter 14: “I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.” Jesus bears the beauty of God before the whole world by obeying His Father – that’s His passion – a willingness to submit to the Father’s will in order to please Him and show His goodness to the world. Let me ask you this morning, ‘Do you have passion for the Father?’ Are you submitting to Him in order to bear good fruit for Him?

Next, Jesus says that the Father is the gardener or the vinedresser. He works meticulously in order that this true, good vine will be as productive as possible. He does this by doing two things. First, he cuts off unproductive branches and, secondly, He prunes productive ones. Now these two words are instructive here. The first one (LCD), airo, has two main meanings: to lift up and to remove or cut away. Two very different ideas. Some commentators think that we should read it as lift up – that the Father comes along and lifts up the vines trailing on the ground in order to clean them off and put them back on the trellis. I love that but the context later in verse 6 seems to indicate cutting off more than rehabilitation. Most likely this is referring to the cutting of deadwood to give the good branches room to grow and bear more fruit. Those who bear no fruit are removed. We’ll talk more about this later when we get to verse 6.

The second word (LCD) katairo, which means to cleanse or cleanse by pruning which probably refers to the winter when the branches were cut back to make them more productive come spring. The result isn’t very pretty (LCD), but it is necessary to produce more fruit. These are branches that produce some fruit but could bear more. The road to bearing more fruit means painful pruning. If we want more fruit, we’re going to have to endure a season of pruning. Are you experiencing the Father’s pruning or discipline in your life?

When I became a believer at the University of New Hampshire, one of my big early issues was girlfriends! There was this girl in my dorm that I liked, Ginette, but there was a problem…she was dating someone and, oh yeah, she was not a follower of Christ. I really wanted to go out with her but knew it probably wasn’t the best idea for my Christian growth. Well, the semester went on and I started growing pretty fast – bearing some fruit but not much just yet. Then I got an opportunity to go to UMass in order to prepare for a summer discipleship program. Right before that trip, I found out Ginette was available again! Woah! We had a dorm dance scheduled on Saturday night and I was supposed to be back on Friday so I asked Ginette, against my better judgment, to go and she said ‘Yes’! Sweet! I can have God and my girl! Psych! Well, one thing after another occurred down at UMass…car breakdowns in the middle of nowhere, missed rides… eventually we were forced to hitch-hike back to New Hampshire! We finally got back, in tatters, 30 minutes after the bus had left for the dance! I was so mad…at God! What’s up! Can’t believe it. Worse still was Ginette’s response when she got back…she blew up at me even after hearing my story and she walked away from me. It was then that I realized that I needed to marry a godly woman and that my good Father had pruned that distraction out of my life so that I could be more fruitful for Him.

What about you? Perhaps there is some disappointment you have with God right now. Some hard thing He’s removing or pruning in your life. Know this from God’s word (LCD), “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” And that is our first point today. If we’re going to follow Jesus into His passion, we need the Father’s discipline in our lives. – (LCD) The Father carefully “prunes” us to maximize fruit in our lives.

In verse 3, Jesus tells the disciples that He’s already cleaned or pruned them…they don’t look good right now but they will…He is preparing them for the ‘later on’…and they will produce abundantly in time. One commentator mentioned that we assume that no evidence of fruit or the presence of struggles means that we may not be believers but that is not true. Jesus is assuring these worried, scared, not very fruitful disciples that He’s made them clean already and they will bear fruit in time…they just need to stay connected to Him. That’s comforting when we are struggling, isn’t it?

Next, Jesus explains the metaphor more; verse 4 again: “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. 5 “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. 6 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.”

Here begins the key word of this section – remain or abide in me. This word shows up eleven times in the next seven verses. The Greek word (LCD) is meno and it means to stay, remain, live, dwell. Where are you living? Where is your heart? What are you focused on? What are you thinking about? Christ in me, Christ in me, Christ in me, the hope of glory – be my everything. God in our thinking. God in our dreaming. God in our waking. God in our sleeping. Be my everything. This is what remaining in Jesus is all about. It is making Him everything.

The verb tense affirms this everything focus. Remain is in the aorist imperative which carries the force of urgency and priority. One Greek grammarian said (LCD) this, “It can be said as a general rule that this command says nothing about beginning or continuing an action. It basically has the force of, ‘Make this your top priority.’” Normally I tell you that imperatives are commands that we are to follow. Though this is an imperative, it is not commanding you to DO anything. We don’t bear fruit by striving to be like Jesus – a branch doesn’t suck life from the vine, it receives it by staying attached. And we stay attached by making Jesus our top priority. Remaining in Jesus is not an action as much as it is a state of mind.

Earlier, I showed you the origin of passion. Here is another definition of how the word is used today (LCD). “the state of being acted upon or affected by something external, esp. something alien to one's nature or one's customary behavior: for example, a crime of passion” Something that you do that is not your usual conduct and that was propelled by something powerful that works in and through you. No striving, just resting. Passion.

There is nothing in all creation weirder than someone controlled by the most powerful force in the universe – the Holy Spirit of God. When someone is controlled by Him, they do things they couldn’t produce on their own. Things like saying kind things about the guy who just slandered you on Facebook, things like forgiving someone who doesn’t care they hurt you, things that can’t be done naturally. Things that are only produced through remaining in Jesus. Things like (LCD) love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. See these fruits in your life? Those who bear much fruit are those who are remaining in Jesus – those for whom Jesus is everything.

But if there is anything else we’re plugging into more, if we don’t stay connected, then don’t try bearing fruit because Jesus tells us that we can no NOTHING that is useful or glorifying to the Father unless we are connected to Him. Absolutely nothing! Nada! Zip! Zero! Doesn’t matter how gifted we are…NOTHING! The second key for following Jesus into the His passion is to remember that (LCD) fruitfulness naturally occurs as we stay closely connected to Jesus - not by trying to make it happen on our own.

In verse six, Jesus says that those who don’t remain in him are withered, they’re useless and are thrown away and burned. Some think He’s talking about the possibility of losing our salvation here but I don’t think so. My opinion is that Jesus is talking about how useless it is to try and bear fruit in our own strength. Jesus isn’t explaining salvation in this chapter, He is talking about productivity. One commentator put it this way (LCD), “Unwillingness, through a proud sense of self-sufficiency, to draw spiritual strength from Jesus, or to submit to the discipline which alone makes possible the flow of this vitalizing power, renders the so-called believer a dead branch unable to bear fruit.” Notice the phrase ‘so-called.’ Without doubt the disciples would later that night think of Judas, these are people who seem to know Christ but really don’t. They go through the motions of the Christian life but don’t bear the fruit of the Spirit of God. If you are connected to Jesus, you can’t help but bear at least some of His fruit. If not, then perhaps you haven’t submitted to Jesus as your savior yet.

Finally, Jesus gives the disciples two precious keys for staying connected to Him. Verse 7: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Remaining in Jesus involves listening to the word of Christ, Jesus speaking to us, and responding to Him in prayer which God promises to answer. In the Greek language, there are two words that are translated ‘word’ in English: logos and rhema. What’s the difference? At the risk of being too elementary, you can think of it as the (LCD) difference between logos being the constant word of Christ like what we have in the unchanging Word of God to all people and rhema being the present and personal word that we receive through His Spirit in us. In verse 7, ‘words’ is rhemata – Jesus’ personal word to us as we meditate over His logos, the Bible.

Now this can be abused when people rely more on what they believe to be God’s rhema to them, “God told me…” But at the same time, we need to understand that God does speak to us personally yet never, I repeat, NEVER in contradiction to His Word, His logos. My opinion is that we want to avoid the extremes of constantly relying on, “The Lord told me…” and God doesn’t speak to us anymore by living in the balance of hearing God speak personally to us through His Word. So when you’re in the check-out aisle at the grocery store and you’re getting impatient with the slow cashier, you suddenly remember Ephesians 4:2, “Be completely humble and gentle, be patient…” You then pray for the Lord to give you patience and you might even pray for the cashier too. This is why Jesus guarantees answering our prayers when we remain in Him because His rhema reminds us of His logos which is line with His will which He will always honor. When we walk with Jesus in this real-time way, we bear much fruit. So our third point, to bear much fruit we must (LCD) stay connected to Jesus by hearing and obeying Him.

There’s passion again. Submission. When the word comes, we must submit to it…even if it means waiting patiently in the checkout line, even if it means taking up a cross. It is passion for Jesus that produces abundant fruit and that passion is rooted in a deep intimacy with Him that submits wholly to Him. Are we walking in this kind of intimate passion with Jesus?

Years ago we had an emphasis called (LCD) Pray for Reign. We said that remaining in Jesus is essentially this first part – prayer – seeking a deep continual relationship with God. The word of Christ which prunes us and cleans us is the second thing – hear – removing core lies that we believe in our deepest, unconscious souls. This is pruning. What we need to do is hear the word of Christ and let it seep deep inside us. History is filled with those who did just that and who bore great fruit. Andrew Murray, (LCD), great South African pastor and writer on prayer, said this, "If the spiritual life be healthy, under the full power of the Holy Spirit, praying without ceasing will be natural." We’re looking to do a class on deep connecting through prayer in our next Wednesday Night Live trimester starting in January. I encourage you to pursue this passionate life of living in moment by moment, submissive, passionate relationship with Jesus. Was is the result?

Verse 8, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” We have the great privilege of glorifying God, showing off His greatness to the world by bearing His fruit. We don’t do this by working like crazy to be like Jesus. We don’t do this by our own power and will. No, remember the (LCD) picture: a branch doesn’t suck life out of the vine. It simply stays connected to the vine and the sap of the vine, it’s life, flows naturally into the branch producing fruit. We don’t push fruit out of ourselves, it happens naturally as we simply connect to Jesus, our passion.

Listen, a life filled with passion fruit is beautiful. In the book “Victorious Prayer,” a story is told of a man named John Hyde who had a heavy burden for a pastor in India. “He began to pray for him and with great concern began to tell God how cold and indifferent this pastor was and how he was a great hindrance to God’s work. While praying God convicted John for his critical spirit and cooperating with the ‘accuser of the brethren’ and not with the Holy Spirit. As he was meditating on Philippians 4:8 he learned that he needed to dwell not only on things that were true, but also lovely and even worthy of praise. As he meditated upon the truth of the pastor’s indifference, he was led astray in his praying. However, the command of Philippians 4:8 to dwell on things that are true and lovely and worthy of praise guided his thoughts in a new direction. ‘Is there anything I can praise You for in this pastor’s life?’ John asked God. He was reminded of many things that he could genuinely praise God for in the pastor’s life. What was the result? He later learned that the pastor’s heart had experienced revival at the exact time of his praise. Commit your concern to the Spirit of God and let Him motivate and guide you as you take to the Lord in prayer. His motivating love is radically different than the critical spirit generated by the ‘accuser of the brethren.’” Passion fruit. Remain in Jesus, make Him your passion, and you’ll bear much fruit to the Father’s glory.