Whatever I have to do, I'll do, if I can just get a look at your face once in a while. That's what joy will do for you, and it is all a result of abiding in Christ. Oh, that our church would be known for its joy, that First Presbyterian Church of Boulder would be known as a joyful church, that its people are marked by joy. Remember, no branch bears fruit in isolation. It must have a vital connection with the vine, and so to abide in Christ is a necessary prerequisite for us to be fruitful in the Christian life.
Life exists only in the vine, and only in the branch so long as it is tied into the vine.
During the spring and summer of 1979, I made my first attempt at planting a vegetable garden, and I made sure that among the things I planted several tomato plants. A friend told me that when the tomato plant begins to grow and the branches shoot out from the vine, right there in the vertex of where the vine and the branch come together, there will be another little growth that will shoot out. Well, I tried to be a dutiful gardener and pinch off the little suckers when they appeared, but one day as I was attempting to do this, my clumsy finger pressed a little too hard against a fragile branch, and it broke and began to dangle by a shoot hanging onto the vine. Within minutes, I noticed that the leaves of this branch began to curl up and wither and die. Out of contact with the vine, the branch will wither and die.