Being Fruitful/Successful

The Vineyard: A Short Detour.

" I am the vine  you are the branches. If you abide in me, and I abide in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing."
Jesus

     Before we begin our journey backwards through the Sermon on the Mount, and before we go out in to the yard to walk on the stepping stones for this part of rock-solid living, we need to go to another piece of property. Of course Jesus parabolic house has to have a vineyard. What is really interesting is what Jesus says about himself. He calls himself "The Vine.” He also calls us something: He calls us “the branches;" therefore, there is a life connection between the Son of God and us. Maintaining that connection, intentionally, is important, if we will bear fruit.

     One of the dangers of following a teaching is that of the teaching becoming legalistic or regulatory.  As a matter of fact, I think that a lot of people give up on even trying to look at the Sermon on the Mount as anything but an ideal. They do this, I believe, because they have set themselves to follow these teachings as rules which they try to keep in their own power. Since it's only an ideal, then it's nice to know but not something we really can do. Jesus had a whole lot of problems with the Pharisees and others who were rule makers. He did so because the rules had become outrageous. People tried to keep all these rules imposed on them by the religious leaders, but they found themselves experiencing toxic guilt and shame because they simply  could not keep them.

     However, something supernatural can occur in us regarding Jesus teachings, when we applied the principle of being a part of his vineyard. While teaching is important and guidelines many times help us, they do not give us the power to produce. This is especially true of spiritual fruit. Many people take teachings and rules and really work hard at keeping them, but they find they cannot. It is like the law under the old covenant. The rules were made but they could not keep them.

     Once we know Jesus as our Savior, and have his Holy Spirit within us, under the new covenant we receive power to live. And this power to live comes from our relationship with Christ and his Holy Spirit. We are in him and he is in us. Ability to produce fruit relies on the relationship and not religiosity.  All the branches in the vine on the vineyard relate so as to produce fruit. The power to produce fruit comes from the ability of the branches to stay connected to the vine. Over time, the life-giving stuff to be enough - that is in the vine - causes the branches to mature. They may produce little green buds. Then they may produce little flowers. Then they begin to produce fruit. All the while the branch is simply in an abiding relationship with the vine. Before you know it there are grapes everywhere.

     Let's use an apple seed is an example of how this could work: The seed is placed in the ground. The seed dies to itself in its Creator. Before you know it, new life grows up. It continues to grow until it eventually becomes a tree. In time the tree blossoms, produces little green fruit and eventually it produces hundreds and thousands of apples over its life span. There is no rule keeping here. There is no fretting here. The apple seed is simply “being.” It is not doing my fretting or working or doing anything. It is dying to its Creator, and yielding itself to him who resurrected it to a life of fruitfulness. The tree, meanwhile, is fruitful because it stays rooted and still.

   Consider the farmer: When the farmer plants the field, the farmer plows it and gets it ready.  Then the farmer places the seed in the ground. He or she could then do anything that he or she wants while the seed rests in its Creator. The farmer may even talk about the various crops that are growing, even though no one can actually see them in the field. The farmer knows that the crops are coming because the farmer planted seeds. However, just at the right time and at the right season, a harvest blossoms and grows, providing all that was expected. The growth relies only on the seeds being entrusted to the Creator so that they can grow… not worrying about doing.

The Ways of Spiritual Renewal and Growth

    Rock-solid living in a quick sand world requires that we receive the teachings of Jesus by first believing in him and receiving him, as Savior. Rock-solid living requires faith in God and Jesus (who is the Son of God and one with God) by the power of The Holy Spirit. We invite the seed of his teachings into our hearts, as we abide in him and him in us. The seed of the Word, if we really let it take root, will give us the grace we need to produce spiritual fruit; therefore, we die to ourselves and are resurrected to the new life that God sows in our hearts through these dying seedling teachings. God may prune our lives, and he may make adjustments; however, daily surrender…abiding… on our part, is of utmost importance.

     Trying to make ourselves obey, rather than allow the grace of God to transform us is futile.  Trying to grow on our own is like a branch that is detached from the vine. It has all the qualities of a branch, but the branch is not the vine. We must allow God's divine essence to flow through us. We must… be still… with the teaching. We must receive it. We must accept  it by faith, and this is no small challenge; after all Jesus teachings are not like the relativistic teachings of our modern times. They are not like the secular humanistic teaching that has ushered in the quick sand flowing into our culture and our lives that have made of many of us collapsible houses. 

   So as we begin the journey, let us “Be saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves.  Let us receive the gift of God that is not of works.  And let us become God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works that he has prepared in advance for us to do. (See Ephesians 2:8-10) Let us be the entire new creations that God will make us to be, if we are “in Christ.”  (See 2 Cor. 5:17.) Let us participate in the miracle made possible by God as he made “him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God.” (See 2 Cor. 5:21) Let us truly recognize that apart from Jesus we can do no-thing. (See Jn. 15:5)  Let us let go and let God put his laws on our hearts and write them in our minds. And if we do falter, let us remember that, under his new covenant….Our sins and lawless acts he will remember no more. (Heb. 10:15-17) Finally, may we have ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches. (Rev. 3:13.) Let these teachings “become”  the very teachings God will use to make us healthy, holy and whole.  May we let them become a part of our lives so that we indeed do have rock-solid living in a quick sand world.

Blessings On Your Day 2day... Especially Today.

SoJourner