The Vine – The taste test!

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:5-8

Here we are, still banging on about ‘fruit’ and ‘gardening’ and ‘pruning’!
But the more I have been mulling over Jesus’ words in my mind I am beginning to realise their importance and practical application; this was some serious discipleship training Jesus was involved in here. When I studied this chapter in college (re: yesterday’s blog) we focused on Jesus’ famous “I am…” sayings, our attention was on Jesus. Ironically, Jesus’ attention was not on himself, it was on us!

Here is Jesus’ description of a disciple; a ‘fruit bearer’.
Seems pretty simple.
When Jesus first called Peter, his brother and a couple of other fishermen, tax collectors, and zealots etc, it was not their immediate response (their decision to leave everything and follow) that made them disciples, it was their bearing of fruit that defined them. This wasn’t always an easy process either; fruit bearing is not all blossom and sweetness, before the fruit is ready it is bitter to taste. This doesn’t mean that it is bad fruit, it just means that it needs more time to ripen. This comes naturally to trees but is such a struggle for us!

According to Jesus attending church every week, loving Bible studies, going along to prayer meetings, helping with the cleaning, does not make you a disciple; bearing ‘much fruit’ is the sign of our discipleship that he is looking for, just as a farmer expects to see fruit on his trees as he walks through his orchard. We are not God’s decoration for this world, His spiritual garnish! We are the flavour, the fruit, the filling!

What is the fruit we should be bearing?
Is it bringing all our friends to faith in Christ? Starting up an international ministry? Joining the church worship team? What is it?!
The trouble is we are always looking for the physical signs of fruit but in reality these are just the result of fruiting. The ‘fruit’ that shows we are Jesus’ disciples is how we ‘flavour’ our own life and the lives of those around us in our thoughts, our conversation, our reactions, our demeanour.
“You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours of this earth.” Matt 5:13 (Message) If we leave a bitter taste for people to experience then it shows the world that we are not Jesus’ disciples. Or, if they are less discerning, they will be left thinking that Jesus is not a nice piece of work and definitely not worth following because of us!

There is a Rebecca St James song that Ruth and I have been listening to loads recently (it is of course based on Matt 25):

Beautiful Stranger
“Do you see me?”
The question’s in her eyes
“Do you relate to the pain I can’t disguise?”
Oh, look beyond what you see
The outside is not all there is

Won’t You tell me now, when did I see
You in need of water?
Oh, and tell me now, when did I see You
Hungry on the street?
God, I hear You calling out to me
In the voices of the least of these
Calling me to reach beyond my world
To the beautiful stranger
Beautiful Stranger

He does not look like everyone else
Does not fit in anywhere I know
You ask me to be Your hands
And show him now that he is loved

There’s beauty that lies deep within
Waiting to be discovered
God help me see what You see
The diamond in the stone