"Stay Connected!"
Sermon Presented May 14, 2006
John 15:1-8
Jesus' primary mode of teaching was through stories and metaphors - techniques that helped people remember what he taught. Today's text is a strong metaphor - one that we can picture. When I was in London, I saw this metaphor "fleshed out" in Hampton Court in what is reputed to be the oldest grape vine in the world - hundreds of years old. But instead of seeing a vine winding around the garden, all I saw was a huge trunk encrusted with a tangled mass of branches - the branches indistinguishable from the trunk. Each year gardeners cut back (or prune) the branches, but they don't touch the invisible trunk. The tightly knit branches that you see get their life from the hidden vine.
This morning's text is the final "I am" saying in the Gospel of John. Previously Jesus said that he is the good shepherd, the bread of life and the light of the world. Now he tells them that he is the vine. I am reading from John 15:1-8.
When I read this text the first thing that pops into my mind is the fear that I experienced as a child when I heard it preached. I don't know if this was unique to my Southern Baptist upbringing, but I understood that if - as a Christian - I didn't "win souls to Christ" (the fruit of the vine) I would be removed from salvation's story - simply lopped off and burned. There were many times when the front of our church was filled with people like me who wanted to recommit their lives to doing a better job of winning new converts. The message: win converts so that you don't burn in hell!
Another thought is of the apple orchards in Weston, MO - a town about 11 miles from Platte City - where I lived for almost 30 years. Every year after the apple harvest and the sap had retreated in the trees, workers began to prune the trees. Those who drove along JJ Highway saw piles of branches beneath the trees. The orchard sold apple wood, so you can understand that some large branches were removed. I learned that this process was necessary to produce a healthy crop of large apples the next year. The message: pruning is good!
Another thought that comes to mind is of a devastating ice storm that hit Kansas City in December of 1994. Trees and power lines from Kansas City, MO north to the Nebraska line and west to Marysville, KS were covered in ice. The ice storm probably extended farther, but this was the area that I saw. That weekend I drove from Kansas City to Marysville, KS to preach in view of a call and as I slowly made my way across Kansas admiring the beautiful ice-coated trees sparkling in the sunlight and praying that I didn't slide into a ditch, I saw hundreds of broken branches hanging from the trees and lying on the ground. The message: pruning isn't always by choice.
The message Jesus was presenting in our text is the importance of staying connected to our spiritual source - to Jesus - so that we can bear good fruit. A follower of Jesus should bear fruit like the source - not new converts to Christianity as I was led to believe as a child, but the fruit of love - the pervading message of Jesus taught in John's gospel. Jesus says that "apart from me, you can do nothing." Apart from me, loving actions toward God and others are impossible as a way of life. Apart from me you are spiritually dead. Apart from me, God isn't glorified in your life.
Many people today - many Christians today - remove themselves from their source of life. This isn't usually a conscious act, but one we fall into through neglect of our relationship. Just as marriages and friendships die from lack of care - lack of pruning - lack of staying connected to the other, so does our relationship with God through Jesus die from lack of attention. Sometimes the tragedies of life cause us to withdraw from our source of support instead of seeking a closer connection.
Jesus says that as a branch abides in the vine, so should we abide in him. We don't use the word "abide" much today, and see it primarily in hymns written in the 1800's - hymns like "Abide with Me" or "God Will Take Care of You." Even though it's in the children's song "Little Cabin in the Woods," it's not used often. We didn't see the headline "Favre Will Abide with the Packers Another Year" or motel signs stating "Abide with Us Tonight". It's an old-fashioned word in today's culture.
Yet, this is the word Jesus used. "To abide" has to do with persevering, continuing, lasting, staying with it. No wonder the term is rare in an era of broken marriages, friendships, business partnerships and commitments to organizations and churches. Jesus uses this term to make his point that if the disciples are to be a major force for love after his departure, they must stay connected to him. It is only through that connection that the power to love God and people as Jesus loved is possible.
In Henri Nouwen's book The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey through Anguish to Freedom, Nouwen shares the spiritual truths he received as he recovered from the grief of a broken relationship. These journal writings were released in November of 1996, the same month that he died. Nouwen, a Catholic priest, once taught at Harvard, Yale and Notre Dame, but left teaching to become the resident pastor of a community of severely handicapped adults at L'Arche-Daybreak Community in Toronto. These journal writings contain the truths he received in his recovery from grief.
In order for Nouwen to survive his grief, he had to choose - often moment by moment - to abide more closely with Christ and trust that God would hold on to him and heal his wounds. Through this journey, Nouwen began to trust that God would use the experience to mold him into the vessel God wanted him to become. Abiding is never easy, and pruning is always painful, as most of you know.
Many of us were raised with the idea that if we put our minds to it, we could achieve whatever we wanted. People walked on the moon, plants and animals have been cloned, and cures for many diseases have been discovered in our lifetime. With a little more effort and a lot more money we might be able to cure AIDS, end world hunger and bring an end to war. But we have awakened to the fairly obvious idea that there are things we can't control. We couldn't stop Hurricanes Katrina and Emily, or the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We aren't willing to take the necessary steps to halt the spread of global warming or the wars being fought throughout the world. We have learned that our dreams don't become reality just because we want them.
Why are we impotent to change the world in significant ways? The reason is the same as it has always been. We are human and not God. Oh, we have done some good and notable things and we do carry a certain amount of hope that our world will become more livable, but negativism usually wins out.
The metaphor of the vine and the branches is an object lesson in the truth that apart from God, no good can come. Jesus said, "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." This is good news - if we are willing to remain connected to our source of power. With the power of God flowing through us like sap through a vine, good fruits will flourish. We will become more loving.
Now if we're honest, we will admit that on our own, we have difficulty repenting of sin, forgiving others, showing patience when frustrated, and demonstrating love in consistent ways - all fruits of love. But when the Spirit of God flows through us, we are strengthened for service and discipleship. And this is where the church comes in. Together we can support one another as we offer Christ's love to others.
What can be accomplished when God's people abide in Christ? Jesus promises that there is no limit. While common sense dictates that we will not have everything our way, we can take this promise seriously. Examples abound everywhere for those who know what to look for. God turns people's lives around and draws blessings out of the most tragic events. God brings new vitality to failing churches. God heals some people unexpectedly and miraculously, and brings great faith and comfort to others whose pleas for healing aren't granted as desired.
On a larger scale, how can there ever be an end to war or injustice or hunger? The same principle holds. Apart from Christ, human attempts at peace and justice are empty schemes. That's why our best efforts and ideas are fraught with failure. But prayer and faithful work by those who abide in Christ are powerful forces in the world - in our communities. The great example of the past twenty years is the overthrow of apartheid in South Africa. This was a battle fought with love. One side used weapons of war. The other used weapons of the Spirit. God's people prayed and worked for justice and laid their lives on the line. In the end, goodness triumphed. It was a human victory; but it was God's battle plan and the chief weapon was love. The world desperately needs to remember this victory. It is a model for any struggle for justice in the world. Apart from Christ, our efforts will falter. In his love, no evil can prevail.
To stay connected - to abide in Christ - we need to seek God's presence through prayer, Bible study, corporate worship and shared mission. When Christians stay connected to Christ and to one another, we can change the world through our gifts of love. The prospects are limitless!
