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Thank you. Wonderful sermon, wonderful exposition.

The takeaway is, as always, in ‘bearing fruit’ as the process of bringing others to Christ not by our own efforts but by having the Spirit of Christ in us.

When we try to bring someone to Christ and fail, it can bring confusion as to whether we had Christ in us or whether the person was not ready to accept. If we think it is because we did not have Christ in us, it can lead to a crisis of self-doubt. Failure is always vexing. Were we a good enough example? Were we ‘pure enough’ to set a higher example? Why did we fail?

In these days where so many are corrupted by the popular culture, is seems easier to walk away and keep our faith in Christ to ourselves. But then these scriptural passages teach that walking away means that no fruit will be brought forth. If we approach the corrupted and fail to persuade, we have likewise failed to bring forth fruit. It seems that many of us may think we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

But in the passage, Jesus promises that if we abide in Him, he will abide in us and thus we can never fail. The key is then that the ‘abiding’. There is no roadmap for this latter. It is a gift.

We don’t get to God by being ‘good’. He will not abide in us because we have been ‘good’. We can’t know, we can’t ‘compute’ how this ‘abiding’ can be arranged. There is no roadmap. There are discussions, there are rites and traditions, but there is no formula. We wish there were a formula because it would make it so much easier.

We do A, B, C and we get into Heaven? Such an algorithm does not exist.

But we know with certainty when the Spirit abides in us because then we see fruit come forth in abundance.

As for me, when I try and fail to bear fruit, I take comfort and refuge in God’s grace and mercy because I know theyse exist, and I resolve to wait (I abide in Him) until He chooses me (He abides in me) to bring forth fruit. For that moment, I must be ready.