Take Root Downward - Bear Fruit Upward

May 17, 2026
Take Root Downward - Bear Fruit Upward
Sermon Audio

CENTRAL TEXT: 2 Kings 19:20-22, 25, 28-31

2 Kings 19:20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. 21 This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:
“She despises you, she scorns you—
the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.
2 Kings 19:22 “Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
2 Kings 19:25 “Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should turn fortified cities
into heaps of ruins,
28 Because you have raged against me
and your complacency has come into my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.
2 Kings 19:29 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this.

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 46:1-4

LEADER: God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
ALL: Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
LEADER: though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
ALL: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.

NT READING: John 15:1-5

LEADER: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

BENEDICTION: Colossians 2:6, 7

LEADER: Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving

Related Scriptures:

Psalm 69:9 / John 2:17
Isaiah 37:21-32 (sermon text here repeated)
Mark 10:35-45
John 15
Colossians 3:16
Hebrews 13:7-10

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. New to our cultural vocabulary is the word “adulting”--or acting like an adult. Some deploy its use when feeling the weight of the responsibility and finding it troubling. What does it mean to be an adult and can you remember a time when you first started to feel like one?
  2. How has your understanding of what it means to be a member of a church, or one of its servant-leaders, changed over time?
  3. What is a people like the remnant to which Isaiah refers who take root downward and bear fruit upward?
  4. How is the claim that the Lord’s zeal for His purposes and people is the guarantee of its outcome meant to be both an encouraging and compelling thought? How is the zeal of Christ for His father’s will and the people for whom He came to rescue the most profound example of the zeal Isaiah speaks of?
  5. What most impedes your taking root downward, or bearing fruit upward? What help do you need from the Lord’s devotion to your fruitfulness? What in your regular rhythms is preventing that?
  6. When is the last time you memorized Scripture? What good might there be in it? Why not start today?

Quotes:

The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night... The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable. 
- John Piper
The danger is not lest the soul should doubt whether there is any bread but lest, by a lie, it should persuade itself that it is not hungry. 
- Simone Weil

BOOKS / DOCS:

SERMONS / TALKS:

“Blessed Self-Forgetfulness,” Tim Keller