Wilderness Wanderings Anthony Elenbaas and Michael Bootsma

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (John 15:1-5).
For many Christians, growing spiritual fruit is unnerving. Its uncomfortable partly because we do not see enough of it in our own lives, nor in the lives of others. We are people who want to get things done. In this matter, we want a spiritual harvest. When the fruit does not mature according to our schedule, we take over as farmer. We attempt to force love, peace, patience, etc. It does not work. We end up damaging the fruit that is growing. Then we just give up.
If you find yourself frustrated in the department of fruit growing, our text has deep encouragement. Jesus says, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you.” We often focus on the first part of this, even though it is the second half that grounds us and makes the first half possible. I think Jesus brings together several Old Testament themes here.
God to Joshua: “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you…Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:7-9).
The priests blessed Israel with these words, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” God summed up what this meant, “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them” (Numbers 6:24-27).
To the Israelite exiles, God promised this, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
When Jesus says, “as I remain in you”, he is bringing these themes together. In teaching about his kingdom, he uses this picture, “A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how” (Mark 4:26-27). The writer of Hebrews offers us this, “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (12:1-2).
In summary, we are to run with perseverance, confident that Jesus will complete what he began, making us glorious fruit bearers. We are not farmers, we are farmed. We do not control the process. The fruit is God’s to produce. Because Jesus is now in us, it will happen.
Considering this, hear Jesus’ declaration, “I am making everything new! (Revelation 21:5). That includes us. This is why Paul can offer us these words of encouragement, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).
As you stay connected to the vine:
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

An extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The texts come from Matthew 6:1-4, from the New International Version of the Bible.  Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!  To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube.  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca
 
DIVE IN QUESTIONS
1. What stands out to you from hearing these verses?  Is God offering an invitation or a challenge to you through those words?  Take time to pray about it.
2. What is the difference between knowing about God and knowing God?
3. What did you learn about God our heavenly Father today?  Is there anything you can grab onto that will help you to know him more deeply in your own relationship with him?
4. What does the story of King Solomon teach?   
5. How might you practically “seek first” the kingdom of your heavenly Father this week?
 
 

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. (Psalm 118:22-24)

Anyone familiar with the New Testament will know that these verses from Psalm 118 about Jesus being the cornerstone show up all over.  Verse 24 is where our song “This is the Day that the Lord has Made” comes from.  The Palm Sunday shout of “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD” also comes from this Psalm.  So, there’s a lot going on here. 
The most significant theme of Psalm 118 that resonates throughout is how the Lord is the one who saves.  “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans,” the psalmist says.  And later: “I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.”  The Lord is the one who saves from death, calamity, and sin.  He is the only one, in fact.  The psalmist couldn’t do it alone and is convinced that no one else can either.  But because the Lord is good and because “his love endures forever,” we are able to trust that the Lord will not give us over to death either, even when we face death.  
Of course, all of this good foundational theology was made flesh and dwelt among us in Jesus.  He was the one who came in the name of the Lord.  He was one who faced death unjustly and entrusted himself to the Father for salvation.  He did not attempt to save himself.  His hopes were well placed.  On the third day he was vindicated by the Father and rose from the dead, able to say once and for all with Psalm 118: “I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.”  All of us who trust in Jesus are able now to say the same thing.  
But of course, this all looked rather like weakness.  Jesus didn’t put up a fight.  He got himself bloodied and bruised.  He got himself killed.  Builders do not choose weak stones to be the foundational cornerstones.  Builders do not choose broken stones to become the foundational cornerstones.  Nor do they choose stones that they cannot put to their own uses.  By that criteria too, Jesus was rejected.
But God vindicated Jesus.  Not only by overturning Pilate and the Religious Leader’s unjust verdicts against him, not only by raising him to life and so nullifying the sentence of death carried out against him, but also by raising Jesus to the highest place in the throne room of heaven—making him the King, the foundation, the base upon which the Kingdom of God, the Church, and all God’s people would be built.  This weak one becomes the strength of God.  This broken one becomes the restored face of the entire edifice.  This one who could not be put to use by the will of man becomes the one who empowers any worthy use any of us can set our lives to.     
Jesus is our cornerstone. The only name in which life and salvation can be found. The only worthy foundation upon which to build our lives.  So today, let us rejoice and be glad in him.
As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:    
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you.
May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm.
May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you. 
May he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (John 15:1-5).
What is your vision for your life? We can ask this differently. What is our goal or purpose? Or to use Jesus’ words in Matthew 6, where are the treasures we are storing up? Who is it that we are trying to impress? Whose attention are we seeking?
These are important questions for Christians to keep pondering. In John 15:2, Jesus offers God’s vision for our lives: that we produce fruit for Him. We are branches which He prunes so that we will become increasingly fruitful for Him. This is the long journey of being Jesus’ disciples which we embark on when embrace Jesus in faith. We need to keep coming back to these questions because we tend to wander off the narrow path onto wider and easier ones. We get sidetracked by the demands of life. Valuable goals take the place of the most valuable.
Here, Jesus does not tell us what this fruit is. Later in this chapter, he speaks about obedience, love and joy. Certainly, these comprise a strong triad of Christian fruit. A more extensive list is found in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (22-23). It’s my understanding that Paul is not offering us an exhaustive list, but rather a sampling so that we can “keep in step with the Spirit” (5:25). These are named the fruit of the Spirit because the Spirit grows them in us, as the Father prunes us, and Jesus purifies us through His Word.
It is important for us to understand what is happening here. God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is at work in each of our lives, producing His fruit. So why even ask the question, “What is your vision for your life?” The question is important because if our vision is different from God’s vision, then our lives our constantly lived in that battle zone between visions. In fact, Christians do live in that battle zone. But knowing this, we can begin shifting our vision to align with God’s.
Galatians 5 is all about this battle zone. Its worth a careful read. Because he knows the battle is real, Paul ends with “let us walk in step with the Spirit.” We can live in resistance to God’s vision, or we can seek to adjust our lives to it.
So, what are some of the competing visions? Happiness (a pain free life is probably the largest in our culture); financial security; successful children and grandchildren; work hard and play harder. You add to this list.
So, does this mean that we should make every effort to produce fruit? It does not. Fruit production is the work of God! Jesus tells us to “remain in me” or to use older English, “abide in me.” This is what we need to concern ourselves with. That is our concern: remain in Christ. How do we do that? Prayer, scripture, worship, giving of our resources, helping those who have a need. The fruit will grow, the Holy Spirit will see to it.
As you stay connected to the vine:
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

Praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD, my soul.
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.
(Psalm 146:1-5)
As followers of the victorious Lord Jesus Christ, we use divine strategies for navigating our way in the world, not human ones.  And that makes us a bit strange.  
But it’s a theme that flows through the full breadth of the Bible—even here in these last five praise Psalms of the Psalter.  
It’s a theme the Church tends to forget though, just like the rest of God’s people throughout the ages.  Or at least, we have a hard time grasping it.  And the crux of the problem is probably this: God asks that as we rely on Him—the God who we can’t see—we drop our reliance on many of the things that we can see: humans, government, insurance providers, political parties, the strength of our own actions and agency in the world, the number in our bank account, you name it.
God asks us to let go of the things that we feel we have some control over in order to trust in Him, the God who we cannot control.  
What a difficult thing. 
At many-a leadership training retreat, you’ll find an exercise called the “trust fall.”  One of the folks at the retreat will be blindfolded, told to cross their arms in front of their chest so that they can’t use their arms, and then are told to lean back until they fall over.  The idea being, that the rest of the members of the team behind you will catch you, not letting you hit the ground.  Of course, you’re blindfolded, so you can’t be sure that they’re there.  And, maybe you don’t know these people all that well—are they the sorts of folks that would let you fall just to laugh and point?  You don’t know.  But you can’t rely on your own legs or arms to catch you either—you’re vulnerable.  Helpless.  Nothing between you and the floor but the trust that these unseen strangers will indeed do what they said they’d do, and catch you.  
Following this God we claim is a lot like that.  He tells us that in fact, we’re already vulnerable and unable to do much to save ourselves.  Despite the illusions of control we seemingly have over this world and our place in it, we cannot save ourselves.  Not from sins, but also not from the generational hurts of our families, the restructuring of our workplace, the chronic pains of our bodies.  We actually have very little control over our world and lives.  We’re quite vulnerable, and our position in this world is always somewhat precarious.  
So God asks us to let go of the things we can see and to fall into His hands—the hands of the God we cannot see—instead.  An act of trust: a trust fall.    
It is easier to trust the people we can see though, like our leaders.  Or the things we can hold, like our insurance and OHIP cards.  Or the things we can do, like work or think our way to a place of self-sufficiency and security.  
But all these things, including our own strength is guaranteed to fail at some point or another.  We don’t live forever.    
There is only One who can guarantee our trust will not be broken—and that’s God.  The only One who remains unchanging amid our changing lives and circumstances, the only One who endures beyond the fleeting strength of our bodies and institutions.  
So, will you let yourself fall into the arms of God?  Even though you can’t see Him?
Blessed is the one whose hope and trust is in The Lord their God.
As you journey on, go with his blessing:    
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you.
May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm.
May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonde

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you” (John 15:1-3).
One of the counter intuitive elements of fruit growing is pruning. It appears logical that the more branches on a tree or vine, the more fruit that will be produced. However, fruit growers have learned that most of the branches need to be pruned off, so that the energy will go into producing fruit and not more branches.
Jesus picks up this truth and applies it to our spiritual lives. The Father cuts off none fruit bearers. Jesus is not teaching that true Christians can be lost. He is making the point that Christians will bear fruit. That is the point of the Christian life. It’s not primarily about getting into heaven, its about growing spiritual fruit in this life.
To further His point, Jesus then says that the Father “prunes back” the branches so that they will bear even more fruit. God is at work in your life so that you can bear fruit for Him. The image is of taking away the things that limit production. There is an element of pain involved in pruning. We tend to avoid pain. God tends to use it for fruit production. What’s happening in your life that is keeping you from being fruitful? Chances are that God will work to get rid of it. The more we hang on, the more painful the pruning will be.
In Colossians 3, Paul mentions some things that God prunes away. He writes, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry…you must also rid yourselves of…anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other…” (Colossians 3:5,8,9).
In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul relates how he experienced this pruning. He had, what he calls, a thorn in the flesh. Paul wanted it gone, but God said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
How does God prune? His primary tool is His Word. The word cleans (3). It is powerful. Often, when God starts pruning, we begin neglecting the Word because pruning hurts. When we feel the pain of God’s pruning, we should remember Paul’s take of pain and suffering. They reveal God’s grace and strength.
Through the power of the Spirit, the Word is God’s primary purifying agent. It come to us through various means, from a book we are reading, a sermon we listen too, the wise scripture laden advice of a friend. Sometimes the Spirit will remind us of scripture we have read or memorized, zinging it home unexpectedly.
In this passage, Jesus does not specify what the fruit is that He expects His branches to bear. The rest of scripture provides the answer. The best place to start is with the fruit of the Spirit “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
As you stay connected to the vine:
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.