Remain: The Secret of a Fruitful Life

Reverend Paul Arnold writes:

As I begin my ministry with Christ Church Bridlington Network, I'm looking forward to getting to know people across the Network and hearing more about what God is doing in our different communities.

I've kept coming back to one verse as I make this transition.

In John 15:4, Jesus says:

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you.”

It's a simple invitation, but there's something about it that I find both challenging and reassuring. Jesus doesn't tell His disciples to get busy producing fruit. He tells them to remain in Him. 

Church life can be full of activity. There are plans to make, teams to build, rotas to fill and new things to try. All of that can be good. But where does the life come from? We can work hard and have good plans, but we still depend on Jesus for the life that makes any of it fruitful.

A branch doesn't have to work out how to produce life. It needs to stay connected to the vine.

We need each other

When we talk about remaining in Jesus, it's easy to think about our own prayer life or Bible reading. Those things matter. But Jesus wasn't speaking to a collection of isolated individuals. He was speaking to His disciples together. 

I saw this at St Paul's, a couple of years into the revitalisation. Someone came through the door in real distress and immediately had a panic attack. There wasn't a clever answer to give. They needed someone to sit with them, so I sat with them.

They came to Alpha and encountered the Holy Spirit in a way they hadn't expected. It was overwhelming and frightening for them. But they kept coming, kept exploring faith, and gradually grew.

They now share their testimony, talking about all the things Jesus has changed in their life, and the things He's still working on.

We can't make faith happen in someone else or manufacture an encounter with God. What we can do is make space for people, walk alongside them and help them discover Jesus for themselves. 

Have coffee with Jesus

A relationship needs time spent together. Our relationship with Jesus is no different. It's not about doing things to earn His love, but about making time to be with Him. That takes some intention and effort. Think about having coffee with a friend. If you never make time to meet up, the relationship is going to suffer.

Dallas Willard put it well: “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.”

We don't earn God's love by praying more or reading the Bible. But we do need to make space for our relationship with God in lives that are often full of noise and activity. I've found a few simple practices really help me make that space.

§  Scripture: Giving God's word time to speak to us and shape us, rather than simply reading to get through a passage.

§  Prayer: Bringing Jesus the things that worry us, but also learning to be still, listen and simply spend time with him.

§  Sabbath: Stopping. Not getting one more thing done. Remembering that we are not God and that the world will keep turning when we rest. 

These practices aren't shortcuts to spiritual growth. They're ways of making room for the One who gives us life. And we need other people to help us keep going, especially when life is difficult. Following Jesus was never meant to be something we do on our own. 

What does fruitfulness look like?

Jesus talks about the Father pruning the branches so that they bear more fruit. That isn't always comfortable. Sometimes we have to let go of things, face change or live with uncertainty. We don't always understand what God is doing.

But the fruit Jesus speaks about is love: “Love each other as I have loved you.”

Are we becoming more patient with one another? More generous? More willing to forgive? Are we a community where people can arrive struggling and find someone willing to sit with them?

Here at CCBN, we talk about Making Disciples. Building Community. I don't think we can separate the two. We grow as disciples as we learn to follow Jesus together, and His life becomes visible in the way we treat one another.

Perhaps before we ask what we need to build or change, we need to ask whether we're staying close to Jesus.

Rev Paul Arnold Priest in Charge CCBN