Did you know that as soon as you pull the fruit off of the vine, it begins to die? Looking at these cucumbers above, you’d think they were healthy, right?  They’re green.  They’re huge.  They’ve got the little prickly things on them.  All evidence points to them being as healthy as any other cucumber.  But notice the stem.  It’s been pulled off of the vine.

Whether we pickle them or put them in a salad, these cucumbers are going to taste fantastic.  They look fine and taste fine…at least for the time being.  Wait a week, though, and they’ll look and taste dead.  Nobody would eat them at that point.  But for now, they look fine.

Since they’ve been removed from the life-giving vine, though, they’re dying.  That process can be slowed by putting them in the refrigerator.  Or even pickling them.  But there’s no doubt that, over time, they’ll be completely dead and shriveled up.  Though it’s not visible or tastable now, these cucumbers are dying because they have nothing that’s giving them life.

“I just feel like I’m not where I once was spiritually.”

Ever uttered those words?  Ever felt like you’re just not as close to Christ as you once were?

Ever feel like that just came out of nowhere in your life?  One day, you and Jesus were inseparable.  The next, you felt like there was a wall between the two of you.  One day, he seemed as real to you as the chair you’re sitting in.  The next, he seemed as real to you as the 2010 pennant that the Cubs will win.

The reason you felt like it crept up on you out of nowhere is the same reason that the cucumber looks fine immediately after taking it from the vine.

It takes a while for it to look and taste dead.

Jesus said:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.  -John 15:4-8

The Good News is that you can be grafted right back into that vine (Christ)!  The death process doesn’t have to continue.  It can end right now if you just ask (Matthew 7:7)

Have you removed yourself from the vine?  When did you realize you weren’t connected?

How have you personally plugged back into the vine? What did you do that connected you back with Christ?

**you can see all of the pics of my garden on my Posterous site HERE

“You need to make a personal decision to follow Christ.”

I’ve heard that many times.  Have you?

It’s something you have to do, on your time, in your heart, in your seat, that you will not regret…with all heads bowed and all eyes closed (thus shutting out the rest of the congregation).

This decision, the one that can, and should, rock your entire community…all boils to you.

Am I the only one that thinks this seems really individualistic, self-centered, and anti-community?

Salvation just doesn’t happen like that.  It is true that you have to make the decision, but the decision isn’t made in a box.  It’s made in the context of community (relationships with others).  It’s community that leads people to a relationship with the Lord, not a mere intellectual ascent to the Truth.  It’s seeing the truth lived out.  Not reading an airtight apologetic.  It’s experiencing the Truth in love.  It’s being served.  Valued.  By community.

And it’s community that you’re saved to.  You’re not saved to be an island.  Rather, you’re saved to be a part of a family.  “Fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household…in him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22)  When you trust in Christ, you are grafted into a family.  Adopted…and given the rights of the firstborn son.  And you instantly become a vital part of that community, which the Bible calls a “body.” (1 Corinthians 12)

So next time, instead of closing a service with, “Bow your heads and close your eyes and make an individual decision…” why not acknowledge the community that has led people to this saving faith, and invite people to look around and rejoice at the family that they are saved into?

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10

Check out this video. (sorry, I’m having trouble embedding videos onto my blog, so I had to provide a link)

My son is only 10 months old, but I can already see that he loves it when I show him that I’m proud of what he’s done.  He beams with pride when I am excited about his accomplishments.

Children need their parents’ support.  They need us to be proud of their achievements.  They need us to get down in the dirt and play.  Be made to look silly sometimes.  Sacrifice time, resources, energy, and our free time…to attend one of their games…one of their dance competitions…to play in the back yard…to teach them how to ride a bike…how to drive a car.  In short, they need us to love them.

Isn’t that what God did?

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.  –Philippians 2:3-11