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. 2 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I
have spoken to you. 4 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.
5 “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. 6 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. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will
ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 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
9 “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?
RELATED:
Commissioned to Reach Out Together
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