Going to the Mat: Family

So let us bear fruit. Let us love one another. Let us love our neighbor. Let us love the people that we wish weren't on the vine to begin with. Let us love everyone. Let us bear the fruit that God has called us to bear. Christ has gone to the mat for us. Now let us go to the mat for each other. [00:48:00] (24 seconds)  #LoveAndBearFruit

Fruit that we're supposed to be bearing, the fruit that we're supposed to be bringing into the world is the fruit of God's love. The fruit that Jesus Christ has already poured out into us. The fruit that comes through being connected, the true vine that is Christ. The fruit that we are supposed to be showing forth in the world. The fruit that we are supposed to be sharing with one another is God's love. It's God's grace. We are to care and love for one another as Christ has cared for and loved us. [00:40:29] (45 seconds)  #FruitOfGodsLove

And we bear fruit not only for ourselves, not only for our branch, but we bear fruit for Christ who shares that fruit, who shares that love, who shares that grace throughout the entirety of the vine. We don't just love for our own sake, we love for the sake of everyone attached to the vine. We love for the sake of everyone in this world. We love because Christ has first loved us. [00:41:29] (30 seconds)  #FruitForChristAndAll

God gets to be God and we are the branches. We are the ones who are called to abide in Christ. We are the ones who are called to live in Christ. We are the ones who are called to bear fruit for Christ. We don't get to decide who is in and who is out. God does the pruning so that we might bear fruit. [00:39:13] (24 seconds)  #AbideAsBranches

Maybe Jesus and God isn't out there cutting people off the vine and throwing them into the fire. Maybe the vine grower is tenderly and lovingly coaxing the fruitless vines to bear fruit and the fruitful vines to bear more fruit. It's an interpretation that sits well with my understanding of God because here's a God who is loving. Here's a God who never gives up on us. Here's a God who never lets us go. [00:37:16] (31 seconds)  #TenderVineGrower

So maybe what Jesus is saying isn't that the fruitless vines just get cut off and thrown into the fire. Maybe what Jesus is saying is that those vines that aren't bearing fruit are still worthy of the love and the care and the attention of the vine grower of God. And that those who bear fruit will be pruned so that they can grow more fruit. [00:34:45] (26 seconds)  #LoveAndTenderPruning

And Jesus starts off this kind of extended metaphor talking about bearing fruit. What does it mean to bear fruit? And how the vine grower, God, in this metaphor, in this example, God wants us as the branches to bear fruit. And we, as the branches, need to abide in the vine. And apart from the vine, that is Jesus Christ, we have no life. [00:32:08] (28 seconds)  #AbideInTheVine

Jesus has the last word and says, I didn't choose you didn't choose me. I chose you. And I am going to go to the mat to mat for you. Because Jesus is saying this right before he is crucified. Jesus is I will go to the mount for you. I will suffer for you. I will love you. There is no limit to my love for you. [00:46:26] (26 seconds)  #JesusChoosesAndSacrifices