John 15:4-8 says,...

Our devotional today is an in between chapters one because on Wednesday we will start Proverbs 25.

Today we will look at John 15:4-8 which reads,

Remain in Me, and I in you.  Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.  If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers.  They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.  My Father is glorified by this:  that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples.

The question this morning is if you and I are remaining in Jesus.  A branch that remains on the vine has the opportunity to produce fruit but some don't and therefore they are pruned off to later be burned.  Even though they are connected to the vine, they have withered for some reason.  In this passage Jesus gives us another word picture to see our spiritual state at times.

If our lives are connected to Jesus then we have the opportunity to see His hand working through our lives.  But sometimes we are connected in some way to Him but also we are in a withered state and threatening to be pruned off.  Have you ever experience that "withered" state?  You are walking through the "Christian" motions and maybe even listening to "Christian" radio but the vitality or joy of life in Christ is only thought about but not really lived?  What do you and I do?

This passage tells us that abiding in God is a priority in the Christian's life.  It is not to be ignored.  Specifically we are to abide in God by spending time with His words.  The fruit of our lives comes from our connectedness to Him through His words, the Bible.  Do my actions reflect what I am reading or viewing?  Yes, they do.  So we are producing fruit all the time but what kind is it?  Is it the type of fruit that will keep us on God's vine or is it the type of fruit that really doesn't look much like fruit to God.  Rather it looks withered and so it is pruned away because it didn't take in what was offered and use it for nourishment.  

Remaining on the vine takes humility and accountability.  The humility part is that we need what God has.  The accountability part is that we need others to encourage us and to speak to us when we are withering and tell us that this state is solved by His "old" words rather than trying to find some "new" words that are hip and happening.  Many times I need to reorganize my life again in accordance to Him rather than in accordance to me.  I need to wipe the slate clean and start with God rather than fit Him in after I fill in all the other stuff.

Many hold to the principle of giving to God by writing their tithe check first before any other after receiving their resources that we acknowledge are from God and for God.  When we write it first and set it aside then we have a new amount of money to work with and our decisions are made off of the new amount than the first full amount.  God's part is not touched but rather out of the picture at that point.  Our decisions are based on obedience to Him first.

What if we put this principle of giving to God onto the principle of our time in devotion to Him?  What if we put our time to read His word and to worship Him on the calendar first.  We acknowledge that our time is from Him and for Him.  We would base the rest of our time after the decision of giving God prime time in our lives, the first and best part.  God's time is not touched but rather out of the picture at that point.  Our decisions would be based on obedience to Him first.   

How do we prove that we are one of His disciples?  The passage says that it is proven by our spending time with Him, remaining in Him, and focusing in on His words for nourishment to live.  Are you withering on the vine?  The one solution that is given is to pick up His word and put yourself in a place of worship to be connected to Him.  Don't settle for second best in this area.  He gave you life and He has offered you eternal life and therefore give Him your first of life and the great thing is that as you give He just keeps giving more.  Let us pray.

"Lord, how we can wither.  How we can look connected but really haven't been.  Help us to humble ourselves to the fact that things need to change and put people in our lives that we will avail ourselves to be accountable to to keep You front and center.  May we remember that we have heard the gospel from You and then we were given the faith to believe what You did for us on the cross and then we bowed our knees to You as our Savior and to be Your servant and then we rose up to obey Your words and then we worshipped You for who You are with our very lives.  This is real life.  Amen."

Pastor Adam