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Connected to Grow Together

Dr. Paul Ng

22-11-2020


John 15:1-8

New King James Version

The True Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

 

In the preceding chapter, Jesus told His disciples that He was about to leave them. This must have been quite a shock for the disciples at that time because at that point, Jesus and His disciples were making waves in the Jewish community. There were people being saved, there were healings that took place, there were miracles and there were many people following them everywhere they went. When the disciples heard this, they must have been afraid of Him leaving them because they would have lost their connection to Jesus. This is where Jesus was teaching them something very important about spiritual connections.

 

Jesus is the true vine.

God is the Vinedresser.

We are the branches.

 

It is important that once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we are spiritually connected to Him through the Holy Spirit. It is through our relationship with Jesus that we draw sustenance, strength, hope and love. And we the branches draw life from the vine and we grow. Without being connected to the vine, we are actually spiritually dead. It is important that we are mindful that we are connected to Jesus by being in communion with Him through the Holy Spirit and that we recognise that we can do nothing with our own strength. When we abide in Jesus we are in a position of submission and trust in Jesus to know what He wants us to think, do and say. And even as we abide in the vine to draw strength from Him as we go through challenges, Jesus would help us overcome these challenges and help us to go through them and to grow in the process. When we are afraid that we cannot serve God because we feel it is too difficult, when we rely on Jesus, He would make it possible and He would produce good fruits through us.

 

Jesus said that any branch that does not bear fruit is taken away, and any branch that bears fruit has to be pruned. We need pruning in our lives and it is important to realise that God is the vinedresser. He shapes our lives and character so that we grow spiritually so that we can be effective servants of God. Things that are not of God such as anger, impatience, speaking untruths and pride are pruned away. This allows good characteristics such as love, kindness, longsuffering and patience to grow. It is necessary so that we can be effective disciples for Him.

 

We need to allow the vinedresser to take care of us and accept whatever pruning that comes into our lives. We sometimes think that we know better about how we should grow but the vinedresser knows best how to prune the plant.

 

Jesus wants us to take things further.

 

He was talking about how we should be in relationship with Him, God and the Holy Spirit but He also wants us to remain in His love and command to love one another.

 

John 15:9-17

New King James Version

Love and Joy Perfected

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.

 

Jesus teaches us that in His absence, remaining in His love would actually propagate our love for each other and this is how we experience the love of God. So it is important that we love one another. By loving God, we will see how God works in our lives through our interactions. And by abiding in Jesus, it converts our love from being inward to ourselves to being outward for others. As a result of that, we would become fruitful. Fruit is a sign of health of the branches. Growth and fruitfulness come naturally as we abide in the vine. Sometimes we feel that it is our responsibility to be fruitful all the time but if we do this without abiding in Jesus, then things become tiring, frustrating and more difficult. If we choose not to grow the way that we should, then the vinedresser would have no choice but to keep pruning and pruning until there’s nothing left on the branch. This is where we need to open ourselves in submission and trust in Jesus and God to allow them to mould us into what we should be.

 

The most beautiful thing about being connected to Jesus is that, if our relationship is on the right track and we are in submission to Him, then things will grow beautifully and spontaneously.


How are we connected to grow?

1.  We grow by being rooted in a small group – Joseph and Eunice

We thank the Lord for the love that is shown through the lives of our older brothers and sisters. In our home fellowship, age difference is not a barrier at all as everybody is able to interact very well with each other.

 

2.  We grow by doing things together in a small group – Woon Foong and Doreen

We thank the Lord that one of the key reasons why everything can work nicely is because of this willingness to learn to submit to each other. It goes both ways. There is a willingness when somebody who wants to facilitate a lesson is told to do that. However, when that person facilitates the lesson, he may be in the presence of people who are very experienced in doing it but it is necessary for those who are listening to him to show a spirit of submission to listen to that message itself. When we do submit to each other in this way, it is where God can pull things together and make things grow together so beautifully. When we learn to do this, we let go of things that bother us and we bring on more characteristics of love, patience, kindness, thinking about how we can help each other and be a blessing to each other. This is where 1 Corinthians 13 really comes to life.

 

3.  We grow by praying together – Andrew and Yin Fern

Being connected allows us to share needs and pray for each other. Our members have moved from being too shy to pray to praying simple prayers to even praying powerful prayers. Prayers work effectively especially when we pray amongst each other.

 

4.  Families that are connected grow together – Nigel and Celyn

Meeting in a home fellowship is a happy activity especially when we involve children to come into the home fellowship. When children learn from other kids and see parents involved, they also want to participate and they learn to respect older uncles and aunties too. Connections that make us grow apply to all of us who are in small groups.

 

5.  Being connected to grow will bear fruit – Elder and Mrs. Ng Soon Gan

We learn from each other in very specific and personal way that cannot be taught in courses as we interact with each other. We read about the love of God in books but we experience the love of God personally as we experience God’s love in each other. Even though we cannot meet physically, we can be connected online. We should not allow the limitations of the pandemic to stop us from being connected to God and to each other. This is a new normal where God is creating opportunities for us to remain connected in ways that we can never imagine. We can do it by abiding in the vine and by allowing the Vinedresser to prune us, we the branches would not just grow but would also actually produce wonderful fruit. God wants the vibrancy of the church to be seen in our lives and not just in a physical meeting. For those who are not connected to a home fellowship, let me challenge you to join one and be part of God’s work to grow and be fruitful.


Reflections:

 

1.   Can you share an experience in your small group about how you have grown by being connected to it?

 

2.   Jesus commanded us to love one another. How can this happen even though we are unable to meet physically?

 

3.   What are the challenges of staying connected with each other and how can we overcome them?


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