PBPC Update - Sunday Sermon

Dear PBPC Friends,

Good morning! May this be a blessed Sunday for you. Today in my sermon I will focus on the way God's new life is expressed in us, especially in the good fruit that is produced by God's Spirit in us.

Here is the link to today's sermon:
And remember that you can access all of our sermons since we began sheltering in place on our YouTube channel:
Blessings,

Pastor Chris



“Producing Good Fruit”
John 15:1-11; Galatians 5:22-23
April 26, 2020
Chris Coon, PBPC

 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5
This season of what the ancient church called Eastertide is the season where we continue to remember and reflect on the amazing gift of new life that God has promised to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This gift of life and how it is experienced and expressed in our lives is what I want to talk about today.
Our thoughts are very much taken up in these days with loss – loss of life, loss of jobs, loss of freedom, and more. And we should not be in denial about these things. But it’s very important to remember that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and God is the God of life. So even in times of crisis and loss – and maybe even more so in these times - it is still God’s invitation to each of us to grow in our life with God.
Jesus talks about life quite a bit, especially in the gospel of John. He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and he also says, “I came that you might have life and have it abundantly.” He goes on to describe this life in terms of a vine (think of a grape vine) and it’s branches.
‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. – John 15:1-11
I have an orange tree in front of my house that is a real blessing to me. I’ve had orange trees before that produced one or two oranges a year, and they weren’t even very tasty. But this orange tree probably gives me over 100 oranges each year, and they are delicious. I enjoy watching the new blossoms form and bloom, knowing that each one of them will become a beautiful, delicious, and nutritious orange.
A healthy plant or tree will produce good fruit that is a blessing. Jesus is telling us that his followers will produce good fruit in their lives. This is not telling us that if we follow Jesus we will be blessed with a great job, lots of money, an attractive spouse, a large family, good health, and a long life. Most of us will not have all of those things, and some of us won’t have any of those things. These are the things that the world around us considers evidence of the good, or blessed life. But we have only to look at Jesus himself to see what good fruit might look like.
Jesus spent his time teaching, healing, and fellowshipping with outcasts. Jesus’ life was a life of service to others. I just watched a music video that was a tribute to those who are working on the front lines in this pandemic. This includes medical workers who continually risk their own lives to care for those who have the coronavirus, as well as first responders of all types and those whose jobs are deemed essential so that the rest of us have what we need to survive. Many of these people exemplify what it means to be a servant, to put your own needs aside in order to care for the needs of others. We are blessed and in their debt. 
But God is not only interested in the good work that we do, but in the kind of person we are becoming. Indeed, God wants us to become the kind of people for whom good work happens naturally, because of who we are. The fruit that God brings in our lives is not only in our actions. Just as important – and maybe more important – is the what God is doing within us, because our hearts are the source of all of our good actions. In the letter to the Galatians, Paul describes the “Fruit of the Spirit”:
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. – Galatians 5:22-23
This is more than a list of virtues or good character traits; these qualities describe the very heart of God to us. And these are the qualities that Jesus lived out and modeled for us; these are what made Jesus such a compelling and attractive person. He was showing us who God is and what God is like. It makes sense, then, that God’s purpose for you and me is that we should become like Jesus by beginning to produce these same qualities in our lives.
Now we’ll talk more about these individual fruits in the coming weeks, but right now I want to say a few more things about them. (Side note: I highly encourage you to memorize this verse, so that these nine qualities can flow through your thoughts continuously.) First of all, it’s worth noting that the word fruit is singular. Why does this matter? Because God does not want us to pick and choose the particular qualities that appeal to us. All of these are to be the fruit that is produced in each of our lives. The truth is, some of this fruit will be easier to produce than others. You might not have too much trouble having joy in your life, but generosity is much more difficult; or you might feel patience comes to you much more readily than self-control. It is important to realize that there are areas in our lives that are already more representative of Jesus, but also that each of us has good fruit that is lacking and needs God’s help. 
It is also important to realize that we can’t produce this fruit on our own, through our own efforts, because this is specifically fruit of the Spirit – and that is God’s Spirit. They are the good results, the growth that takes place in our lives as a result of God’s Spirit present and working in our lives. In that sense, they will be the natural result of our connection with God. 
But at the same time, it is just as important to understand that spiritual fruit is not automatic. You won’t automatically become a more patient or generous person simply by becoming a Christian, because God doesn’t change us without our cooperation. All of the work that God does in our lives is a cooperative effort, where we respond to God’s call to receive Jesus as our Savior and follow Him as Lord, where we receive the Holy Spirit and make room in our lives for God to work, where we listen to God’s voice and actively take steps to obey Him.
The good fruit that God wants to produce in our lives, especially the transformation of our hearts and our character, is the natural result of being connected to Christ, as branch is connected to the vine. This is what discipleship is all about – following Jesus so that so that we can become like Him. Your life is so valuable to God! He wants you to grow and bear good fruit and become the person that He created you to be.