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Quote
"Place yourself before God in utter helplessness."
-Andrew Murray, Humility
“But is not Christianity well known at least to all the inhabitants of the western world? A great part of which is eminently termed Christendom, or the land of Christians. … Having had frequent opportunity of conversing with many of these, both at home and abroad, I am bold to affirm that they are in general totally ignorant both as to theory and practice of Christianity; …
“Why has Christianity done so little good, even among us? Among the Methodists? … Plainly because we have forgot, or at least not duly attended to those solemn words of our Lord, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.’”
—John Wesley, “Causes of the Inefficacy of Christianity”
Comments
A church member wrote the bishop, saying, “Bishop, forty of our church members just left the church.” The bishop was concerned and, therefore, called up a member whom he had known personally and trusted; the bishop asked him, “Friend, a concerned church member down there just called me to say forty church members just left the church there. What is going on?” The man replied, “Oh, bishop, do not worry. They left, for we just had the greatest revival we have had in the last several decades.”
Jesus would have applauded!—Anthony De Mello, Taking Flight
The above story, inspired by a tale from Anthony de Mello, speaks to the power of true revival and renewal to separate the spiritual from the unspiritual in churches. Through this purging churches now dying can live anew and become fruitful mission outposts for Heaven.
True revival lasts. True revival is not a “spiritual high” or "spiritual fix" that passes away in a matter of days or weeks. Technically, what many churches and Christians need is transformation, not revival. Indeed, we each need transformation as an ongoing process.
Once a man was at the altar crying during a revival service. A visitor spoke quietly to a woman sitting next to him in the pew. “Dear lady, what is that man doing up there?” The woman replied, “Oh, that is Mr. Johnson. Every revival he does that. He goes and gets filled up, but apparently his vessel has a leak in it.”
In revival and transformation of a congregation or person, purging is an essential process. Jesus speaks in St. John 15.1-3 the following:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.
Note a number of matters about this passage. First, this is the last “I am” saying in this Gospel. Through the “I am” sayings Jesus affirms identity with God. Second, the Father is the One responsible for taking care of the vine and branches. Jesus could have said, “I am the vine-grower,” but he realizes he is only the means for the Father to energize the branches to bear fruit. Jesus is clear about his functional subordination to the Father. Third, branches in Christ who are not fruit bearing are removed from the vine, cut off from the living Christ. These branches are taking up space and consuming resources from the Father and, thus, sapping the potential of the vine. Fourth, branches that are bearing fruit have not reached their full potential, so the Father continues pruning from their lives, that they may be more fruitful. Notice, the fruitful branches do not prune themselves through conviction or self-determination; no, the Gardner prunes them. Last, Jesus affirms to his followers, the disciples, that they have been “cleansed” through receiving his teachings. The word “cleansed” is a word play on the Greek word for “prune” used above. “Cleansed” means “pruned” and “cleansed.” Therefore, sacred teaching has purgative, or cleansing, potential, if it is imbued with the life of the Spirit, and is not mere study or passing on of information. We need transformational teaching, not just informational teaching, to nurture fruitfulness.
Clearly, in this passage, we learn that God does not prioritize how many branches are on the vine or how many remain on the vine. "Big" and "much" are not at the top of the Spirit list of priorities. God, to make or keep healthy the vine and branches, will freely cut off each and every branch that is just taking up the energy and space that could be used for fruitfulness and new growth.
This raises questions for us, and I will now share some of them for us to consider, and prayerfully:
1. Can a person be true to Christ and not be fruitful in matters spiritual?
2. Can a church be true to Christ and not be fruitful in matters spiritual?
3. Can a church be true to Christ and place priority on keeping persons on the vine at the expense of the purpose of the vine?
4. Would a church turn against God or persons seeking to help the vine in order to keep their fellow church members and friends on the vine, even when these persons are clearly hurting the entire purpose of the vine and other branches through self-interest?
5. Does Jesus say fruitfulness is the sign of abiding in the vine or a correct theology according to some branches of the vine?
6. Does fruitfulness of Christ-like virtue evidence a devotion to the vine, or words and dogma?
7. Could a church lose many of its members and be in the will of God, due to it going through a purging and cleansing to enhance its fruitfulness?
8. Could the principle of Christ applied to each of us apply also to a congregation of Christians—The church that wants to live must die to itself?
9. How does the image of a church as family potentially contribute to loyalties toward “in-family persons” that override loyalty to the Gardner, vine, and purpose of the vine?
10. How has the transmission of religious and biblical teaching proven to fail in transforming many Christians and churches, as evidenced by lack of producing spiritual fruit and prioritizing dogma and church matters over spiritual fruitfulness?
11. How is the image of the church as a business maintaining itself conflict with the image of a church as a living, organic system bearing fruit through mission?
12. How does the priorities in spending money evidence the image of a church regarding its identity and purpose?
13. Do you agree or disagree with the following: "Most churches, as well as we Christians, to reemerge and be healthy, must go through a dark night of dying to self for a resurrection of purpose to occur"?
14 Do you believe, or not, that most churches are willing to go through such a communal dark night?
Now, what makes fruitfulness and purging possible in a Christian community or a Christian life? Jesus speaks, in St. John 15.4-5,
Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
Simply put, abiding is the key to Christian fruitfulness. Indeed, if a person abides in Christ, he will bear fruit honoring Christ. If a church abides in Christ, it will behave like Christ and do the mission of Christ. If a person or church does not evidence Christlikeness in attitude and action, in worship and mission, in love and forgiveness, in tolerance and inclusion, then, it has no claim to claim to be abiding in the vine, in Christ. It might be abiding in religion, or theology, or Christendom, or the American dream, or the way we have always done it, but it is not abiding in Christ, or it would think and behave like Christ both toward its own members and those outside the church.
Experience shows, alas, that our religious conviction bears as much relation to our personal holiness as a man’s dinner jacket to his digestion.—Anthony de Mello
The religious conviction that drives our lives must evidence in spiritual lives, or the conviction is not a true spiritual conviction. This religious conviction must be of the principles, not the rules essentially, that lead to a truly loving and Christlike attitude and action, especially toward those most unlike us, even those we might call enemies. "Personal holiness" is just another way of saying “fruitfulness.”
Let us be fruitful, let us allow God, through the Spirit of Grace, to saturate us with the energy of Christ. Let us prove we are True Christians by word and deed and, also, submit humbly to further pruning that we might bear more fruit to the honor of the Gardner.
Spiritual Exercise
What does it mean to you to abide in Christ? What do you do daily to nurture that abiding in Christ?
In the last week, how have you evidenced the fruit of the Spirit? Have you thought or acted in ways that are not reflective of the love and graciousness of Christ? If so, how?
Look at the quote at the start and from Andrew Murray. What is the relationship between admitting your helplessness and your being open for God to work in you through the vine, Christ?
Prayer
I submit myself to the Spirit that the Father might work in and, thus, through me, the fruitfulness in attitude and action that will prove that I am a True Christian. Transform your churches, too, that they might be led and filled with True Christians. And, may I be used as an agent of that transformation and, thus, birthing a church full of life and peace and purged of the growth that does not manifest the Life and Holiness of Christ. May heart and church be filled with your love, joy, and peace. For those who truly show they are living as a True Christ presence, I give you praise and pray for their perseverance and growth toward Christian perfection. Amen.
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