Norm Cheng, this district’s Area Director for Ontario for the Bible League, spoke at the Christian Business Ministries dinner last week. He made a comment in his presentation that perked my ears up. He said, “North America is spiritually obese.” I agree with his comment. We have more forms of gospel presentation in North America than anyone else in the world. Christian television and radio reaches across the airwaves to nearly every home, with late night, all night and almost any-time-of-the-day viewing. Our bookshelves feature the hottest and greatest materials from the latest and most celebrated authors. We have worship experiences with top-notch musicians, equipment, buildings and audio/video aids.
Irony – the growing numbers of people in Canada who have no room for God. Stats from religioustolerance.org, based on the 2001 population (29, 639,035): (http://www.religioustolerance.org/can_rel1.htm In 2001, 77.1% of our population called itself Christian. 6.4% did not consider itself Christian and 16.5% claimed no religious affiliation. What is most alarming is that in the ten years from 1991 to 2001, Christian population grew by 1.5% while non-Christian grew to 72.5% and non-religious increased to 44.2%.
The whole purpose of this sermon is to find a way out of this dreadful demise of the soul. It is found in understanding the hope Jesus extends in the words of verse 5, “I AM the vine”!
To get us going, Jesus gives us some raw facts about
1. DEAD BRANCHES (VS 2-4; 6)
The imagery of the vine that Jesus offers in John 15 was often used in speaking of Jewish heritage and their being the people of God. Historically speaking, the Jews always believed themselves to be the chosen people of God (as they are). The problem with this truth is the way the Jews completely took their privileged position out of context, so much so that they thought they could jolly-well do whatever they pleased and at the end of the day God would still favor them as his people. In this picture of the vine and the branches, Jesus was telling the Jewish people that being a Jew would not save them. The only thing that could save them was an intimate, personal relationship with Him. To quote theologian and author, Dr. William Barclay, “Not Jewish blood but faith in him was the way to God’s salvation.” They were DEAD BRANCHES apart from this.
Saying we’re Christians doesn’t make us Christians. Without practice, words and works to back it up, is to believe we have a privileged position with God that simply doesn’t exist. The message Christ intends for us and all people who will know satisfying never-ending Life is a lesson about RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with God through the work of the cross and resurrection. Beyond that Jesus calls us further. He says in verse 4 (The Message): “Live in me. Make your home in me.” The problem with moving in with anyone is obvious – differing priorities, practices and preferences make a “live in relationship” difficult to appreciate. Ask any of our post-secondary students and you’ll soon find out how dreadful it can be!
We say we belong to Jesus. However, that claim must be tested against the backdrop of the extent to which we live in Christ and reside with him. To reside is to accept the invitation of Christ to be in constant relationship, knowing he demands change in priorities, practices and preferences. Otherwise, we are DEAD BRANCHES.
The Speaker’s Bible commentary draws us to understand an important lesson that Jesus pushes in this passage. By declaring himself to be the Vine, Jesus “expresses His claim to be absolutely indispensable to the world and vital to the life of [all people]…” “Without me,” is literally offered as ‘severed from me’ and it sticks us in the side with the idea that “our Lord does not merely say that our work will be of inferior quality, but that it will be no work at all. It will have no enduring (italics mine) value. It simply won’t count in the final grand result.” To quote Barclay again, he offers three summarized evidences of being DEAD BRANCHES. “We can refuse to listen to Jesus Christ at all. We can listen to him, and then render him a lip service unsupported by any deeds. We can accept him as Master, and then, in face of the difficulties of the way or the desire to do as we like, abandon him.” It is this dreadful reality that has placed us in a position of facing that while 77% of our population in 2001 declared ourselves ‘Christian’, we realise that a number of us are completely complacent to what that declaration means in terms of faith and practice. The real question is how many of the 77% are severed from Christ, not actually in close relationship with him? Two people can be married and live in the same house but never be in communion and relationship.
I was alarmed by a comment I read this week that said, “If the Holy Spirit were taken away from us, 95 per cent of what we do in our churches would still go on as scheduled.” Can that be true?
The extent to which we are connected to Jesus is critical to this sermon, friends. If our very existence is not centered in Jesus Christ as the focal point of every breath drawn; if he is not front-row center in every pursuit and practice of life; if we choose to be severed from him and his priorities for us, it is to waste a life which at the end of the day, will amount to nothing.
As Jesus offers himself as “I AM THE VINE”, he holds out
2. THE PROPOSITION (VS 5, 7)
V 5 – The Message: “Joined with me…intimate and organic”
In war times, soldiers become a tight-knit community – movie “Blackhawk down” is (quoting from my source) the “Action/war drama based on the best-selling book detailing a near-disastrous mission in Somalia on October 3, 1993 where nearly 100 U.S. Army Rangers, commanded by Capt. Mike Steele, were dropped by helicopter deep into the capital city of Mogadishu to capture two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord. This led to a large and drawn-out firefight between the Rangers and hundreds of Somali gunmen. This led to the destruction of two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters in Mogadishu, and the heroic efforts by various Rangers to get to them.” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265086/plotsummary)
People didn’t wake up one morning, watch the news of this terrible broadcast and decide to sign up as a Ranger and try to go in there and get the downed helicopter crews out. The Rangers suited for the task were well trained and equipped for gorilla warfare. They trained by sleeping in woods and wore wet clothes for days. They ate rations that chewed like rag and smelled like rot. They were prepped for such a time as this. My brother told me such stories of his experience as an infantry soldier in the Armed Forces and how the test really pushed him to the edge of sanity.
The lesson of abiding in Christ, of being right with God, is a picture of that very reality. No less than seven times do we read the reference to “remain in…” This experience is not one of waking up one day and deciding Jesus and I are tight; we’ve got this relationship thing purring like a fine-tuned engine. No, it takes intentional work and effort to “remain in…” Christ. It takes regular Bible study and prayer. It requires fellowship with other believers of like passion and desire. It grows on you when faced with crisis, or in times of solitude. It grows out of support groups, work, and even exercise and diet. Spiritual fitness is like physical fitness. I have had diet experiences (not recently!) where, after the first week, I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t lost 25 pounds so I could “get on” with my life! Being in relationship with Jesus takes time – and discipline – and determination – to get to the place of being “intimate and organic.”
THE PROPOSITION continues: V 7b – “ask whatever you wish…”
Before you get carried away thinking you can ask God for the 649 $30m pot, or the BMW, or 90% on your test that you didn’t study for, take a deep breath and understand the real lesson of the lesson. Jesus would never extend this open-ended opportunity for self-serving, self-centered people. Those who have an “intimate and organic” relationship with him are given this invitation because Jesus knows their asking will be spent for the glory of God and the good of others.
The results of fruit-bearing, is based in relationship. There are four realities noted in John 15:1-5. We go from no fruit, to fruit, to more fruit and finally, much fruit and the stage of fruitfulness is directly related to the level of intimacy we have with Christ.
After offering THE PROPOSITION Jesus demonstrates and explains
3. THE ULTIMATE TEST
Verses 12-15…
The deepest demonstration of love is to willingly sacrifice oneself for the benefit of another. In our last church one of our members was Pat Thorne. He was a sniper who, atop a tree, saw a platoon of Canadian soldiers walking on a road in the direction of a German contingent. Wanting to warn them and knowing he couldn’t possibly take out the whole German platoon, he fired warning shots in the direction of the enemy. He didn’t expect them to actually turn in the direction of the shot and fire aimlessly toward him. He remembers getting hit, feeling warm, falling, and waking up in an American hospital. His medal for that act of bravery is paralysis and a wheelchair for over 50 years of his life and not being able to lie in a bed, being propped upright in a chair where he sleeps at night.
Stories like these move us deeply. It leads us however to reach for an even higher meaning if we will grasp the greatest principle intended in this passage of laying down one’s life, for doing so does not always mean death. It is that experience of embracing a LIFESTYLE that is always about everyone else. The level of our “intimate and organic” relationship with God determines the extent that we embrace the LIFESTYLE of living for others.
V 12 – Oswald Chambers, Scottish theologian of the late 19th and early 20th centuries wrote of John 15:12. He tells us that Jesus was saying, “I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit my love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you…This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable – it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but were soon tired and frustrated.” Any effort to try to love which is not borne out of being “intimate and organic with Christ” is to make us guilty of what one writer calls extending “sentiments that pose as love.”
V 13 – As Jesus speaks of laying down his life for his friends – for us – the implied question remains to be answered. To what extend do we consider him ‘Friend’ so that we will lay down our lives for him? This is the ultimate test of the depth and value of His Friendship and is expressed in my willing and deliberate giving of myself for His interests in other people. Chambers also notes that “when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, our greatest desire is to lay down our lives for Jesus”, citing Psalm 40:8 as a case in point: “I delight to do your will, O my God.”
Andrew Murray: “Abiding is nothing but the acceptance of my position, the consent to be kept there, the surrender of faith to the strong Vine still to hold the feeble branch.”
WRAP
• We can be busy for God and be nothing more than a DEAD BRANCH…
• Jesus offers a PROPOSITION to that alternative – “join with me, intimate and organic”…
• THE TEST of the level of intimacy with him is measured in our response to people, not a response that is mechanical and dictated by “I should…” but determined by our connection with Christ…
When you consider your relationship to other people and activity for God, which of these describe you best?
_____ No fruit _____ Fruit _____ More fruit
_____ Much fruit
What things should you focus on in point two that will help you move from where you are to the next level of fruitfulness?
