Easter 5B (2024)

Text: “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.” (John 15:5).

What place does Jesus have in your life? Jesus sees His relationship with you like a vine and its branches. How do you see your relationship with Him?

He says: “Abide in me.”

Does your relationship with Jesus Christ come anywhere near what would honestly qualify as ’abiding’ with Him? Does that even come close to describing the time and attention you spend on Him?

Every year about this time we return to the topic of stewardship— giving back to God a portion of the wealth that He has given to you, not to mention giving in response to the grace that He has given you (and, along with it, the eternal life and salvation He has given you). Part of that— part of what good stewardship looks like— is giving to God first. Making your offerings a priority rather than giving God whatever you might have left over after you pay for your night out with your friends and after you pay for the new truck and after you entertain yourselves— after all that, God gets whatever is left.

Honestly, is it even worth talking about that? You can’t even find time for God, let alone thinking about making your offerings a priority. You’re in church as often as you can be— as long as it’s not snowing (because then you’re up north or you’re out ice fishing). You’re in church as often as you can be— as long as your kids or grandkids don’t have a softball tournament. Asking you to make your offerings a priority? You can’t make time for Him? He gets whatever is left over after you’re done entertaining yourselves.

In your defense, the church used to be the center of people’s lives. This was where the social events were. This was where the entertainment was. We might not have hosted softball tournaments, but we had dartball. That’s not the case any longer. Now, you have endless variety of entertainment “out there.” You have an endless variety of entertainment in that phone in your pocket. You have to choose to make time for Him— not simply to be entertained, not simply to be social with your neighbors. Choose to be here to “Abide in me.”

“Abide in me.”

Your duty as a Christian parent is to bring your children up in the fear and knowledge of God. But you’re worried about making sure that your children are popular and successful and better off than you are. Well God can do that without you— and He will.

Teach them to “Abide in me.”

“Abide in me.”

Yes, it’s easy for me to say. It’s easy for me to talk about “abiding in Christ.” As a pastor, this is the center of everything I do. It’s the center of who I am. think about this stuff and talk about this stuff and write about this stuff 24/7. I only get a couple of Sundays off. Yes, it’s easy for me to say.

But here’s the thing: I will not be the one you’re standing before on Judgment Day. It’s not my opinion that is important. The One who will be sitting on the judgment seat on the the Last Day— the one you’ll be standing before— He says to you, “Abide in me.” And He warns you here, today: “6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned” (John 15:6).

That’s different than “Fit me in occasionally between your trips up north.”

That’s different than “If you don’t have a softball tournament this weekend, it would be really nice to see you.”

That’s different than “It’s your turn to help out on this board or committee.” It’s different than “giving your fair share” of our annual budget.

“Abide in me.”

What place does Jesus have in your life? Jesus sees His relationship with you like a vine and its branches. How do you see your relationship with Him?

What more could He have done to earn your time and attention? What more did He need to offer? What more did He need to give?

He made you and all creatures. He has given you your body and soul, eyes, ears, and all your members, your reason, and all your senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives you clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all you have. He richly and daily provides you with all that you need to support this body and life. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy without any merit or worthiness in you. For all this it is your duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.

And even that is too much to ask. What fruit is your life producing? Forget about your offerings, what fruit can you offer back to Him from the life He has given you?

A child who can hit a curve ball is no small thing. But will that be worth anything to your Judge on Judgment Day? Will that be worth anything to Him on Judgment Day when He has told you, “Abide with me”?

While you are living according to the flesh, driven by your selfish priorities and sinful passions, the fruit of your life is death. And do we even need to talk about the fruit of your drunkenness? Your crude talk? Your envy? Your quarreling? Your jealousy? Is there any question that the fruit of those things is death?

Repent.

You have a Savior who abides with you.

As the bloody sweat dripped from His brow; as He was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver; as He was denied by another friend— still, He chose to abide with you.

As one false witnesses after another lied about Him; as the soldiers mocked and beat Him; as He was unjustly convicted— still, He chose to abide with you.

As the nails pierced His hands and feet; as He gave up His spirit; as He was laid in the tomb— still, He chose to abide with you.

When He breathed His last and gave up His spirit, the fruit that He had to give to the Father was the fruit of eternal life and salvation for all humanity.

He commands you to gather here regularly— not because He’s worried that you might have fun— but because it’s here that He joins Himself to you. It’s here that you were buried with Him, through baptism, into death. It’s here that His bond with you is maintained and strengthened as you hear His Word. It’s here that He nourishes you with His Word of Absolution and with His body and blood.

The One who agonized in the Garden will not abandon you in your hour of need. The One who was willing to be mocked and beaten and wrongly convicted will not abandon you to this world’s persecution. The One who was nailed to a cross rather than give you up to death and hell will be with you even in the hour of death.

He will abide with you through every joy and sorrow in this life. He will abide with you through cheers and through tears. He will abide with you to the very end.

In that moment, when you move beyond the care of anyone else, He will be there to receive you into His care and protection. He will abide with you all the way down into the grave so that He will be there to raise you up on the Last Day.

When you stand before His Judgment Throne, you will have, beside you, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, whom He, Himself, has sent you. The defense that the Holy Spirit will offer on your behalf will simply be to point to the wounds that Jesus still bears and to say, “Yes, those were for you.” “In that day of severe judgment, [He will] exempt [you] from [any] harsh word.… [Your] sins [will] remain hidden by the umbrella of [His] grace (Psalm 32:1) and be cast into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). [Your] soul [will] be bound up in the bundle of the living God so with all the elect [you] may reach the eternal fellowship of joy” (Gerhard, Johann. “Prayer for a Blessed End to this Life and a Blessed Resurrection to Eternal Life,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

In the meantime, you will be pruned. The Father will use the joys and the trials of this life to make you more fruitful. To teach you true joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The Father will especially use the suffering of this life to teach you faith, and hope, and love.

I actually witnessed the best example I can imagine of this ‘pruning’ and the ‘fruits’ that it produces last Sunday. Betsy and I went to be there for my nephew Luke’s confirmation.

When Luke was 2 ½ years old he was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa—or RP for short. RP is a degenerative eye condition that slowly makes his peripheral vision worse until he goes completely blind. Even at 14 years old, that’s not far off for him. He still has some sight, but he has always had glasses. He does already have night blindness, so it’s not unusual for him to need to be led around in dark places.

The profession of faith that He made was a little more meaningful than most— certainly more meaningful than mine was almost 40 years ago. He said, “I know that God could heal my eyesight if he wanted to. I know this because Jesus said, “If you ask me anything in my name I will do it.” This is found in John 14:14. I also know that, just because God doesn’t heal my eyesight, it doesn’t mean I don’t have enough faith. I believe this because, in Job, God allows Satan to do a lot of bad things to Job because of his faith. I sometimes wonder why God doesn’t heal my eyesight. I wonder if He wants me to be one of the people who helps test a cure for RP. I don’t know that for sure, but I do know that all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. I find these words of comfort in Romans chapter 8 verse 28. Despite this uncertainty, I do know that God loves me and I trust that He has a plan that is for my good and that, when Christ returns, my sight will be healed.” (Luke Stolarczyk. Statement of Faith at His Confirmation. Lutheran Church of the Cross, Port Charlotte, Florida. April 21, 2024.)

That is the fruit that one young man offered back to God the Father at his confirmation last Sunday— the fruit of faith. And, as much as I hate to compliment my younger brother, Luke’s trials bore that fruit because his parents taught him, all along, to abide in Christ.

That’s what all of this is about— not just for him, but for you. Part of my goal this morning it to acknowledge and to remind you of the fruit that God the Father has increased in your life, even through your suffering. Is there anything in this life that teaches love and compassion as powerfully as trials do? Many are hardened by it, no doubt. But, for those who abide in Christ, the trials and suffering that are poured out upon the roots of faith are transformed in the vine “high watchtower of Your paternal providence so You may keep it safe from all devastation (Isaiah 5:2). If it seems good to You to squeeze this vine’s clusters of grapes in the winepress of the cross for a time and to subject them to affliction, may they first become ripe by the fervor of Your grace so they may produce the sweetest fruit of faith and patience. Your connection to Christ— your abiding in Christ— “Cause[s] [y]our souls to change the ridicule, persecution, praise, and whatever else befalls [you] in this world into the wine of faith, hope, and love and into the fruit of patience and humility” (Gerhard, “Prayer for the Preservation of the Word and the Increase of the Church,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.).

“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.” (John 15:5). That is the place that Jesus has in your life. For now and for eternity.

Alleluia! Christ Is Risen!

He Is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!