"Fruitful Living "

Dr. James Mayfield
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

May 18, 2003

Text: John 15:1-11

I suppose there is nothing more irritating than to have to deal with someone who is a persistent "moocher," someone who never has mints to share but always "mooches" a mint from you, someone who never has quite enough to pay his or her own way and "mooches" money from friends to get into the movie or concert or whatever. A "moocher" lives assuming everyone is just waiting to share whatever; but a "moocher" not only seldom shares, a "moocher" seldom repays.

Sometimes we are "moochers" in our life of faith. We do not think about it; we just assume God is there to give us whatever we want. And so in our relationship with God we are "moochers." We want what God can give us, but we are deaf to what God has to say to us. We understand faith as trusting God to give us what we want; we do not understand faith as trusting God so much we commit ourselves to God and God's will. And so, we all too often live as "moochers" in our relationship with God.

Jesus was speaking to the disciples in the passage we read this morning. He uses the metaphor of a grape vine in a vineyard to make his point. God is the owner and vine grower. Jesus is the vine. And we humans are the branches. Of course the purpose of the branches on a grape vine is to bear fruit. This is why the vine was planted in the first place -- to produce fruit, the fruit that becomes the fine wine of life.

One of the problems presented in this passage is that not all the branches bear fruit. Some of the branches on the vine are "moochers." They draw on the sustenance the vine provides but they do not use that sustenance to produce fruit. Instead their goal seems to be only that of becoming a bigger branch on the vine.

In this story, the vine grower goes through the vineyard and cleans the vine, that is to say, prunes it. And the branches that had not borne fruit are thrown in a pile and burned as trash.

We who call ourselves followers of Christ are branches on the vine, and our purpose in life is to bear the kind of fruit God, the vine grower, intends us to produce. And if we don't, we are cut off from the vine. In the sight of God, our lives are as useless as branches that bear no fruit.

Our living is to be fruitful, but what is the fruit we are to bear? I suspect all of us know. It is to live loving God with all we are and have and loving our neighbors as ourselves. And remember the Greek word for love the New Testament uses in passages such as this has more to do with what our behavior rather than with our feelings. We are to give of ourselves for the good of others, just as God in Christ gave of Himself for our good.

In the passage we read, Jesus is the vine. This man who is the incarnation of God and God' grace is the one we draw on to live as we should. We draw on what Christ has to offer, in order to live as God intends us to live. We are branches on the vine -- the vine that enables us to bear fruit that is pleasing to God. We are not to live as "moochers," in our relationship with God.

For some of us, our problem is the opposite of being "moochers." To us, Jesus said: "Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit."

I may not know all this sentence means; but I am clear about what it says to me and to many of you with whom I share a lot in common.

One of the reasons, so much of the fruit my life bears is such puny, anemic fruit is, pruning has not happened. I have resisted the pruning God would do or have me do in my life. And so, I spread myself too thin. I say yes to so many requests, the fruit I bear is very anemic.

One of the major challenges in my life and I suspect it is the same for many of you is pruning my activities. For us the really tough decisions are not choosing what is good and worthwhile over that which is evil or, at best, a waste of time. Our tough choices are choosing between giving ourselves for this worthy project, or involving ourselves in that good activity or becoming involved in some other helpful service.

In the part of society represented in this congregation, for young and old alike, one of our major temptations is to exhaust ourselves going and doing and doing and going. And all our going and doing is related to trying to accomplish several worthwhile goals. We resist pruning our activities and the result is the fruit we bear is puny and anemic.

Not only that, we exhaust ourselves so that the significant relationships in our lives suffer and sometimes are severely damaged. Exhausted by all our involvement in an over abundance of worthy activities we become emotionally drained, and in our emotional fatigue from trying to do so much that we think is needed and good, we blurt out words that hurt others and do deeds that create more problems than our well intentioned efforts solved.

For those of us with problems opposite that of the "moochers," our living needs pruning with some regularity -- not so much to cut out the bad stuff (though, of course, that too needs doing) but primarily to prune down the good stuff we are trying to do, so that in doing less, we actually end up accomplishing more. This is why fruit bearing branches are pruned, so the fruit that is produced is worth harvesting.

In the passage we read, Jesus said: "Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit."

How does God prune us? As I see it, God prunes us through what we have been willing to learn about God and God's will. As I tried to say last week, each of us is expected to do what we are able to do in loving God and neighbor. But none of us is able to do all that the good that needs doing. We are limited in energy, time and abilities. We have to trust God; we must have faith that God will raise up others to do what we are unable to do. We need to remember, each of us is merely one branch on the vine.

But some of us live as if we were not only the vine but the whole vineyard. We think we have to do it all or it will not get done. And so we wear ourselves out trying to do more and more things -- and each of them good and worthwhile. But we spread ourselves so thin, we do little very well. Because we have not pruned our calendars, the fruit our living produces is anemic. The passage we read this morning tells us God expects our living to bear fruit, the kind of fruit that is pleasing to God. If we live like "moochers" on the vine of Christ, God views our lives the way a vine grower views branches that bears no fruit. On the other hand, if our living does bear fruit, then like fruit bearing branches on the vine, with some regularity we need pruning, otherwise our lives will not be as fruitful as God sees they can be.

God, help us live as you intend us to live. Amen.

Pastoral prayer: God, give us faith. Help us be sensitive to our need for you and increase our sensitivity to your presence in our lives. As we grow in years, enable us to grow in our ability to live our lives confidently trusting you are with us and that you love us. Forgive us when our focus is so limited and narrow that all we see is what we want for ourselves or our families. Forgive us when we allow our fears about what might happen to overwhelm our confidence in you and your love. Teach us how to walk in the sunlight without being distracted by all we see and find desirable. And when we must walk through the dark valleys of life, enable us to place our hope in you so that we can move on in our living, going the direction you intend us to go. In our hearts we know that it is only as we live in harmony with you that we are able to live as you intend. It is your grace at work in our lives that makes this kind of living possible, and for that we are grateful. It is in this gratitude we pray: "Our Father ...."

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