I Am The Vine

Focus: God produces an abundance of fruit in the life of the hearer.

Function: That the hearer may depend upon the true vine, Jesus Christ, in all circumstances.

Structure: Devotional Contemplation of Image

Context: This sermon will be preached on October 30th (Reformation Sunday) at my RFE congregation, Reliant Lutheran Church. This congregation mainly consists of young families and young adults. This is the final week in a seven week sermon series on the “I am” statements of Jesus.

Image and Invitation to Contemplation

Did you guys ever have a stage of your life when growing up that you look back on and think, “Man, I must have been a pain to be around!” I think everyone has that phase at some time or another, but I think for me, I was the most difficult during my early high school years. Now this wasn’t because I was a rebellious child or anything, but there was this inherent tension that came between the independence that I gained as I entered high school and the authority that my parents still had over me. In high school, you get your driver’s license. Suddenly, you can go wherever you want. You get all of this independence placed upon you, and now, you start to despise anything that might inhibit that independence, including your parents.

And yet, as frustrating as this is for parents, I find this interesting because isn’t independence the goal? Isn’t the whole goal with your children is to raise them so that one day they can be independent? Make their own decisions? Don’t need you anymore? That’s the goal! The progression from dependence to independence. And the question I want us to explore today is this: Has this desire for independence entered into your relationship with Jesus as well? Where, sure, you know you are dependent on Jesus to get you into Heaven someday, but that is it. Beyond that, Jesus just sits off on the side while you live your life. Achieve your goals. And when you want him, he’s always there, but you can mainly get by on your own.

It is here that Jesus speaks to you and me the words of his final “I am” statement in this last week of our sermon series. “I am the vine.” (Reveal Picture) You can almost imagine Jesus and his disciples seeing this vine as they were walking along the road. Full of fruit. Ready to be harvested. Maybe the disciples’ stomachs start to grumble as they see the grapes glowing in the light. Others may be reminded of when Jesus miraculously turned the water into wine. And as all of these thoughts are going through their head, Jesus says to them these peculiar words, “I am the true vine.” Such simple words, and yet they surely left the disciples confused. “What does Jesus mean?” Little did the disciples know the drastic implications of the statement that Jesus had just said. Because as we dive into each part of this analogy Jesus uses, he is not just giving the disciples a nice cliche. No, he is completely redefining what the relationship to his disciples and you and me will be going forward, a relationship that shatters the independence that our culture and you and me so often desire.

I am the Vine

So let’s move through this analogy Jesus gives. He starts off by saying, "I am the vine.” Jesus begins by comparing himself to the central trunk of a grapevine - the vine itself. It is an interesting choice for what part of the plant Jesus compares himself to as the vine is the least remarkable part of the plant. You can see it jetting out of the bottom corner of the image. Old. Rough to the surface. Definitely not the part of the plant that you looked at first!

And yet, any grape farmer would tell you that the vine is the most integral part to the entire plant. The vine is what is planted in the ground and gives the plant a firm foundation. The vine is what lifts those branches up into the air for the sun to shine down on them. The vine is what pumps the nutrients that those branches on the vine need to produce good fruit. Everything depends upon the vine. If the vine is good, the whole plant flourishes, but if the vine is bad, the whole plant dies. Everything is dependent upon the vine.

Jesus is the vine. Jesus is the true vine. The word “true” that Jesus adds there is huge, because in doing so, Jesus is implying that there are false vines. Vines in this world that will deceive you to think that they can provide the life, the peace, the joy, and the hope that only the true vine can. It is Reformation Sunday, so you know I had to include a quote from Martin Luther. In Luther’s explanation of the First Commandment “You shall have no other gods,” he describes what a “god” is. He says,

The Book of Concord (The First Commandment)

A “god” is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart. As I have often said, it is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol. [3] If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true one. Conversely, where your trust is false and wrong, there you do not have the true God. For these two belong together, faith and God. Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your God.

Anything on which your heart relies and depends. That is your God. What thing does your heart rely and depend on right now? Your family? Your career? Your status? Jesus is saying that when you depend on any of those things more than him, you will never be satisfied because they aren’t the true vine. They cannot satisfy. Only the true vine can.

You are the Branches

So Jesus is the vine, but then he shifts the attention off of himself and onto you and me. “You are the branches.” You can see multiple branches jetting out from the vine in this image. Now consider the relation that the branches have with the vine that they are attached. The branches did not raise themselves up into the air. The branches did not create their own nutrients to grow. What is the only reason that those branches are raised high in the air, basking in the sunlight and growing large amounts of grapes? They remained in the vine.

One of the biggest lies that the American culture has sold us is that we are independent individuals. We aren’t independent, and we should never want to be independent because what happens to a branch when it is independent? It withers and dies on the ground. If we are branches as Jesus says here, that means that we have no ability to provide the life for ourselves that we need. Let that sink in. You are unable to satisfy the very thing that your inner self is yearning for. You are the opposite of independent. You and I are completely dependent. And yet, this is the beauty of this “I am” statement, because in your helpless dependence, as you were a withering branch on the ground, dying from the very independence that you thought you wanted, Jesus came with love in his eyes saying, “I chose you. You didn’t choose me. I chose you.” And every action that Jesus did after saying those words backed it up, as he gave up his independence and subjected himself to the path towards Calvary where we see not the wood of an old, rugged vine, but the wood of an old, rugged cross. Christ on the cross is the vine. There was nothing beautiful about this vine. It appeared to be dead. And yet, the vine was producing life as Christ was connecting every dead branch back to himself, the true vine. You are connected to Christ. You are helpless and dependent, and praise God for it.

And now what are we called to do? Jesus says it simply, “Abide in him.” Remain. Stay. Jesus doesn’t say “attach yourself to the vine” or even “go find the vine.” You are already there! Now, remain. To remain is to do nothing. To remain is to just be. To remain is to recognize your complete dependence. They didn’t have to say to themselves, “I wonder how I will lift myself up to receive sunlight?” They never wondered, “How am I going to grow today?” No. Instead, the branches, in complete dependence, just received all that the vine had for them. Biblical scholar D.A. Carson describes this branch to vine relationship when he says,

No branch has life in itself; it is utterly dependent for life and fruitfulness on the vine to which it is attached. The living branch is thus truly ‘in’ the vine; the life of the vine is truly ‘in’ the branch.

D. A. Carson

“The life of the vine is truly ‘in’ the branch.” This is where this analogy really starts to become powerful. Notice looking at the grapevine that when a branch is connected to the vine, there starts to be very little distinction between the vine and the branches. It may even be hard to tell where the vine ends and the branches begin. Not only is Jesus the vine and connected you to himself, but as you remain in him and he lives in you, you will start to be transformed into looking more and more like the vine.

Bear Much Fruit

And when you are connected to the vine, you do the only thing that branches connected to the vine do. Produce fruit. This is the last aspect of what being a part of the vine means for you and me. When the branch is filled with the life supplied by the vine, there is only one result. Fruit. Much fruit. An abundance of fruit. The branches have no choice but to produce fruit. What is this fruit that Jesus is talking about here? That you love one another.

Notice, despite being these little branches on the vine, look at the fruit that it produced. Large. Bountiful. Desirable to the eye. I am guessing that the fruit was the first thing many of you noticed when looking at this painting. And that is the point. The fruit is the first thing that people notice. The fruit is what draws people in.

We live in a culture that says that the self is the highest value. You do whatever it takes to meet the desires of the self. Where the whole point of life is your own personal independence and comfort. And yet, Christ is producing fruit in you that denies the self. Fruit that loves others so deeply that you will actually sacrifice for them. You will put their needs above your own. Verse 13 says a love that will even leads one to lay down their life for another. If life is about independence, this makes no sense. But if life is about dependence - dependence on Christ - then sacrificing for another is exactly what you would expect because that is the fruit that is produced from a vine that went to the cross for His creation. Your dependence on Christ is the very thing that allows you to love in a way that only Christ can.

Ultimate Dependency

And yet, if we are being honest, it is still incredibly difficult for us to truly grasp the depth of our dependence on Christ, right? I mean for many of you, you have so much life ahead of you. So many things to do and goals to accomplish. You feel so in control of your destiny! I know this is how I have felt often until I met with a woman named Janice over Vicarage. You see, Janice lived an incredible life. She was super active. She traveled a lot. She was always down for going on an adventure. Except when I met with Janice, this wasn’t her reality anymore. Janice was laying on a bed in a hospice facility. Her body was dying. Her breathe was deep and heavy. She kept repeating herself as the cancer had entered her brain. This woman that once lived a life full of adventurous independence was now trapped by the very body that brought her joy so many times before. She lay there helpless, seeing the grasp of death start to overtake her. And yet, in that cold, dark hospice room, I was able to commune Janice. I had to place the bread and pour the wine in her mouth as she was unable to. Much of Janice’s speech was unrecognizable, but after I communed her, I heard her whisper the words, “Rescue me Jesus.” It broke my heart. I prayed over Janice and then I left. I got a text the next day that Janice had passed away. Even as Janice was in her most helpless state as her body was dying, she was still connected to the vine. Christ literally delivered to her the fruit of his vine in his body and blood, and all she did was receive. And as she breathed her last, Christ lifted up her soul and brought it into the light to be with him.

Janice was faced with the reality of her dependence on the vine, and the vine provided. The vine always provides. Remain in the vine. Amen.