A Fruitful Life - SERMON NOTES

Below are Pastor Ben's sermon notes from this past Sunday, in case they may be helpful for further study. To listen to the sermon, click the link above.

Intro: (1) series recap (2) OT background of vine (Ps. 80, Is. 5)

How Fruit is Produced (v. 1-6):

1. Pruning (1-3): (1) final “I am” statement → connect to v.3 (2) unfruitful branches taken away (cf. Mt. 7:19-21 (3) fruitful branches pruned to be more fruitful → whether due to sins or struggles, it’s always painful (cf. Ps. 119:67, 71) (4) when have you felt pruned?

2. Abiding (4-6, 8): (1) Jesus/followers = vine/branches (cf. HS) (2) fake vs. real fruit → looks similar externally (3) real fruit comes with increasing weakness/humility (4) v.8 → genuine discipleship spotted by fruit and vice versa (v.6) (5) role of spiritual disciplines

What Fruit Looks Like (7-17):

1. Prayer (7): (1) abiding produces prayer (2) prayer described here is shaped by taking God’s words into ourselves, so that our words in prayer reflect a heart shaped by his words (3) lack of abiding creates prayerlessness or empty/ritual prayers (cf. Mt. 6)
 
2. Obedience (9-10): (1) abiding connected specifically to love here → love for Christ creates obedience to him (cf. previous sermon) (2) mirrors relationship between Father and Son → what if Jesus had been disobedient? (3) obedience more fulfilling than disobedience
 
3. Joy (11): (1) abiding creates flow of joy from Christ to us (cf. holding AG’s hand) (2) not a guarantee that every day is fun/easy, but rather a contented settledness in Christ (3) different than fleeting happiness (4) examples → Debbie, Beth, old guys
 
4. Sacrifice (12-13): (1) abiding motivates sacrificial love for others that is modeled by Christ (cf. 1 John 3:16) (2) one way we grow as followers of Christ is inconvenience → one of the reasons community so important (3) shep group → driving R/M home
 
5. Friendship (14-15): (1) abiding cultivates friendship with Christ (2) his friends are those who follow his commandments (cf. marriage vows) (3) obedience doesn’t create the friendship but rather characterizes it (4) shift to horizontal → def’n from 2021 sermon (cf. shep group, SSC)

Conclusion: (1) v.16 → shift to mission (i.e. goal of fruitfulness) (2) preparing us for next two sections