Easter 5 (4)
Notes
Transcript
John 15:1-8 (NIV)
1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
The first command that God gave to Adam as recorded in Genesis was to no eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is chronologically before Eve was created. The first blessing recorded in Genesis (in the previous chapter) given to Adam and Eve was this.
Genesis 1:28 (NIV)
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Being fruitful continues to be a blessing for mankind in many ways. The first application was the blessing of having children. Although modern man has often chosen material possessions over large families (Most people have more motor vehicles than children), we must agree that having children is a greater blessing than the abundance of our possessions. We may recall these passages:
17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
1 Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. 2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves. 3 Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. 4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.
18 For this is what the Lord says— he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited— he says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.
4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
Spring is the time of the year when we are aware in nature of just how fruitful the world can be.
The grass and other forms of vegetation are recovering from a dormant winter. Flowers are blooming. Trees are leafing out. Migratory birds have returned. Nests are filled with baby birds and the cats are smiling. Farmers and gardeners are hard at work preparing the soil for planting and will be sowing seeds in anticipation of bountiful harvests. On the plains the newborn cattle are enjoying the wide open spaces. We can certainly see that plants and animals in nature and people are fruitful and increasing in number.
This is to be considered a blessing from the Lord.
13 Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision. Our sheep will increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields; 14 our oxen will draw heavy loads. There will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets.
This was certainly the case in Israel where Jesus lived. The Bible is filled with examples of the people increasing in number (especially in the early days of the nation), the abundant flocks and herds, and the produce of the land. One very dominant plant that we don’t see as much of in our area was the grape vine. This was so dominant in their culture that the vine was used as a symbol for Israel. So it is natural that Jesus would use the image of a vine and its branches to teach two very important lessons in our text.
1.God wants his people to be fruitful Christians.
2.Our productivity depends on staying connected to Jesus.
Notice how often Jesus refers to being fruitful in our text. John 15:1-8 (NIV)
1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
What does this mean . . . to bear fruit?
Well, it is not a reference in this context to having a large family or growing a big garden, having large flocks and herds, or a huge vineyard. It does not refer to being a productive employee or getting every thing done on our “to do” list. It is not about amassing an abundance of possessions.
John Jesus Teaches About the Vine and the Branches / 15:1–17 / 215
15:5–6 “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” Each branch that continues to remain in the Vine will continually produce fruit. This “fruit” could be new converts (15:5), or “the fruit of the Spirit” (see Galatians 5:22), or both. The fruit of the Spirit displayed in our lives should attract people to Jesus and thereby make them new members of God’s vine. Jesus’ emphasis here was not to dwell on our glaring inadequacies, but to remind us of the incomparable adequacy that comes from our relationship with him.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Summary: Living a godly life and praying according to God’s will trusting that he will answer those prayers as is best.
Point #2
We need to remain in Jesus to be productive disciples.
This is obvious in the example of the vine and its branches so needs no further explanation.
Unfortunately, many people today ignore its lesson but think that because of a past connection with Jesus, they will remain strong and fruitful for decades to come.
This time of the year many of our Lutheran congregations are celebrating the confirmation of those who have been instructed for several years in Luther’s Small Catechism. Let me share with you how I feel on those days as a pastor.
Proud. It is a blessing to watch the faith of those young people grow during instruction and to have them now publicly confess their faith which they have shown in and out of class for the past several years.
Hopeful. That is is a new stage in their journey as Jesus’s disciples and will be even more fruitful.
Apprehensive. Concerned that some of those standing before the congregation and making the vow to remain faithful even unto death may instead be thinking, “I’m glad this is over and I don’t have to study God’s Word anymore.” I wonder if I will ever see some of those students in church again and history has shown that such concerns were not unfounded especially in those families in which the parents showed little or no attention to the congregation they they themselves were members of.
And that concerns me. More importantly, it concerned Jesus about what his disciples would do after he physically left them. He knew how much they had grown while he was teaching them in about the same amount of months (but not time) that a pastor teaches his students. He knew that although he promised to be with them always, it would not by in the same way.
Normally, when someone promises that they will never leave us, we imagine that the person will be physically by our side interacting with us in a very visible and tangible way. This seldom happens.
Remember that close friend you had in school . . . decades ago. When is the last time you sat down together with them and talked about stuff. You may have not even seen that inseparable buddy in years and live hundreds of miles apart.
Siblings no longer live in the same house and may not see each other for long periods of time.
A coworker leaves for another job and you never see them again.
A pastor leaves a congregation and and a new man takes his place.
About the only time two people remain with each other day in and day out is in marriage and sadly those don’t last as long as God intended.
It may seem as though Jesus’ promise to his disciples to be with them through thick and thin was a false promise.
Matthew 28:16–20 (NIV)
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This is the last verse of Matthew. If you did not read Mark, Luke, and John; you might assume that Jesus continued to lead them in person after his resurrection. But the other Gospel writers tell us that Jesus left them. Left them right after he said he would always be with them. It seem contradictory. Just as being blessed by God with happiness seems contradictory while we suffer on earth.
But Jesus’ promise to be with them was on a deeper level than just being in the same room. He would be in their hearts and minds through the words he had taught them. Therefore, he urges them to remain in him. And even though we have not seen the risen and living Savior, we can trust that he still comes to us in word and sacrament and is with us in a very powerful way.
How important is it for us to have this connection with Jesus? One way to illustrate this is with the example that Jesus gives.
A more modern example would be through the internet.
Consider how connected we are through this means with other people.
I remember talking with my Grandma Vander Galien about her moving to the United States when she was a little girl. She told how she had to say “good bye” to her grandparents and how sad she was because she would never see them again. I mentioned that she could at least write letters. She told me that never really happened. She was not able to remain and stay connected to some of her family.
During the Korean War (for example), those in Korea looked forward to mail from home (I have letters my uncle sent to my mother at that time) and could occasionally call home (scenes from M*A*S*H*) but it was limited. Not those separated by war and distance can readily remain connected through email, satellite phones, and video calls.
I have multiple devices connected through the internet. But when the guy cutting brush in the ditches chops up my Frontier cable into hundreds of pieces . . . gone is the connection.
Our connection with Jesus is not limited by the internet. He has come to us through the living and enduring Word of God.
Our responsibility is to stay connected to that word. (appeal to meditate on God’s word day and night.)
What warning for those who don’t? Cut off.
What promise is there for those who do? Psalm 1. Bear much fruit.
Psalm 1:1-6 (NIV)
1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.