When Your Way Isn't WorkingSample

It’s All About the Connection - Day 3

“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 15:4)

I feel like I need to make a disclaimer. I live on a farm. I’m not a farmer. My wife and daughter operate the farm. I just volunteer sometimes as a farm hand. It’s probably fair to say I have no idea what I’m doing, but I do know this much. It’s a lot of work. Having any kind of a harvest requires a lot of preparation. Having any kind of production means that you’ve got to be really intentional and you’ve got to do that ahead of time.

In John 15, we read some of the final words of Jesus to his closest followers and he’s going to talk to them about production, about harvest, and Jesus knows that later this same evening, he’ll be arrested in the garden of Gethsemane. He knows he’s going to be leaving his disciples with a mission to take the good news of the gospel to the ends of the earth. It’s difficult to overstate the magnitude of this assignment. It is a lot that’s going to have to happen.

The task ahead will require incredible work, all kinds of sacrifice. You might think that with his final words, then Jesus would give them, I don’t know, like a five-year plan that lays out expectations and outlines the pace of productivity required to have this kind of impact. You might expect him to hand out like a checklist, a task list with some comprehensive strategy for success, or maybe provide a series of charts that could plot out the actionable items that need attention in order to pull this off.

At the very least, you would assume that Jesus would print out some kind of organizational chart and would give official job descriptions and best practices, but instead of focusing on the work of production, Jesus prioritizes the value of connection. Jesus knew that if his followers would stay connected to him, then production would come, but if they pursue production at the expense of connection, then it’s not going to matter how hard they work.

Jesus put it this way in John 15:4-5, He said “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. I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” Jesus makes it clear that production matters, but the priority has to be connection. When we stay connected to Jesus, we’ll bear much fruit. If we prioritize production at the expense of connection, we can’t do anything.

Over the years, I have heard a number of messages on that text from John 15. Usually, the messages emphasize the work of fruit bearing. The message puts the priority on production. The idea is that when your way isn’t working, you’ve got a production problem and you need to work harder at producing more fruit to fix the problem. The application goes something like this. It’s time to examine your life and look for the fruit. If there isn’t enough fruit, then it’s time to buckle down and get to work.

You don’t want to be a stick with no fruit that gets thrown into the fire, so you better set your alarm, rise and grind. It’s time to hustle harder. That is not at all the message that Jesus is giving us in John 15. In fact, I would say it’s a dangerous misinterpretation of his words. It’s not that faithfulness and fruitfulness don’t matter.

It definitely does, but the idea is that we can’t make that happen out of our own efforts. If you make production your primary priority, Jesus makes it clear that your way isn’t going to work. It’s all about connection.

Prayer

Precious Lord, I will keep my mind set on You to remain connected and useful for Your work.