Title: How We Are Conduits of God’s Grace
Text: John 15:1-8
Thesis: God’s love comes through us on its way to someone else.
Introduction
A conduit is a natural or artificial channel through which something is conveyed, flows, or is disbursed. (Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition)
One of the most amazing conduits in the world is found right here in Colorado.
It begins at Lake Dillon or the Dillon Reservoir in Dillon, Colorado. As you know Dillon Lake is approximately 70 miles west of Denver on I – 70.
• Project Dillon Reservoir Panoramic Photograph
The building of Dillon Reservoir required relocating the town of Dillon. The lake was completed in 1963 and has the capacity of around 250,000 acre feet of water. In an attempt to divert water from the Blue River Basin to the South Platte River Basin, the Robert’s Tunnel was chiseled out under the Continental Divide.
The tunnel was dug from both the west and east portals. This photo shows the workers meeting in the middle, so to speak. Imagine east meets west twelve miles into the Continental Divide.
• Project West and East Tunnel Meeting Photograph
The next photo is of the east portal near Grant, Colorado taken in 1962 when the tunnel was completed.
• Project 1962 East Portal Photograph
And this last photo shows water gushing from the Roberts Tunnel… having flowed through the 23 mile engineering marvel under the Continental Divide, from the Blue River Basin into the South Platte River Basin where it will make its way from 9,000 feet down to the Mile High City.
• Project East Portal Water Flowing Photograph
In our text today, Jesus likens our relationship with him and to the world to a branch on a grape vine. One end of the branch is connected to the vine and on the other end of the branch is fruit. The role of the branch is essentially that of a conduit through which the grace of God flows and extends fruit to others.
Just as the water flows from Dillon Lake through the Roberts Tunnel to the thirsty people in the Denver Metro area, the loving grace of God flows from God, through us to the peoples of the world.
The flow of God’s grace through us to others cannot happen if the conduit is not connected to the source. All the water in the world can be a bottled up on the west side of the Continental Divide but it is of no help to the people living on the east side of the Continental Divide, unless there is a conduit connecting east and west. Christians are the conduit through which the grace of God flows to others.
We have to be connected if we are going to be conduits of God’s grace.
I. Our ability to bear fruit is contingent on being connected to Christ.
“A branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me.” John 15:4
This week I was driving over to our bank on Carr and 58th Avenue. I took 64th over to Carr. Just after I crossed Old Wadsworth I noticed that tree trimmers had been at work on a property on the north side of the street. There were piles of branches that had been cut from the trees in the yard. I looked up and noticed that though the trees had been cut back, there were still many branches remaining.
One thing is certain. The branches that had been cut from the trees would never again produce fruit. Nary a leaf will grow from the disconnected branches. But life will continue to flow through the branches that remain and they will bear fruit.
Branches have to be connected. Jesus said he is the vine, we are the branches and God is the gardener. God grows his fruit from the vine and through the branches connected to that vine or Christ. If Jesus Christ is the vine and we are the branches our connection must be directly to the vine, not to the vine through anything or anyone else.
So it is imperative that we be connected to Christ and remain connected to Christ if we are to bear fruit as conduits of God’s grace. And that connection happens when we believe in and trust Christ as our Savior and become his followers.
Jesus said, “Everyone who believes in me will have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:15-16 Last week I spoke of Acts 4:12 in which Peter proclaimed that there is “salvation in no one [and no thing] other than Christ! There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call upon to save them [no other such connection exists… we must be connected to Christ].”
The first thing we need to know if we are to be conduits of God’s grace is that we must be connected directly to the vine or to Christ.
The second thing we need to remember is that we are fruit bearers, not fruit producers.
II. We do not produce fruit, we bear it.
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
If we were to anthropomorphize a branch and give it human characteristics the branch might say, “I have a faith connection with Christ and now that I am connected to Christ, I am going to produce all kinds of good deeds for God and others.” However, one commentator aptly states, “branches are fruit-bearing, not fruit making.” (Homiletics Magazine, May/June 2009, Vol. 21, No.3, P. 15)
Earlier this spring, Bonnie planted yellow Pansies in a large pot on our front stoop. They are a spring flower and were intended to brighten things up a bit until she could plant a summer arrangement. Yesterday morning when I left the house I noticed that some critter had dug deep into the pot, apparently looking for something it had buried some time ago, and in the process half of the pansies were uprooted and scattered about the base of the pot. Despite the best effort of any of those uprooted, disconnected pansies, not one of them has the capability to blossom as uprooted and disconnected plants. The pansy does not produce fruit, it bears fruit. It blossoms by virtue of its connection to the soil.
Sometimes we forget that we are fruit-bearers, not fruit-producers. And we work so hard to produce fruit. When that is the case we are either working out of what we call the flesh or human effort and strength.
My suspicion is that we spend more time focusing on producing fruit than we do in staying connected to the vine. If we have a healthy connection with Christ we will bear fruit… the grace of God will flow through us and be a blessing to others.
Thus far we have learned that:
1. We must be connected to Christ in order to bear fruit that pleases God and blesses others.
2. We are not fruit-producers, we are fruit bearers. It is the grace of God flowing through us that results in fruit.
The third thing we must understand is that a healthy connection to the vine is rooted in the Word of God.
III. The Word is the life-giving nutrient that keeps us alive and fruitful in Christ.
“But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted!” John 15:7
Earlier in our text Jesus said the branches that do not bear fruit are cut-off and removed from the vine. Those branches eventually became unfruitful because they literally died on the vine. In his commentary on John, Roger Fredrikson says things like “selfish interests, unconfessed sins, disregard for truth, or a bitter and unforgiving spirit can block the flow of life from the vine. So gradually the branch dies and is then taken away and burned.” (Roger Fredrikson, The Communicator’s Commentary, John, P. 235)
He then said that every branch that does produce fruit is pruned so it will produce even more fruit. And, “You have already been pruned for greater fruitfulness by the message [or the Word] I have given you.” (John 15:3)
In verse 7 Jesus says that our connection is contingent on God’s Word remaining in us. The Word of God or the message of Christ is the nutrient that helps us maintain a healthy connection with the vine. If the Word flows into us and through us we are alive and fruitful. The Word of God is what keeps us pruned and healthy. It is the Word of God that helps us see the weight that slows us down and the sin that entangles us and trips us up and helps us keep our eyes on Jesus. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
It is the Word of God that is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes up for what we really are…” (Hebrews 4:12 It is the Word and the Spirit of God working in our lives that instills within us the desire to be patient, kind, loving, humble, forgiving and faithful. It is the Word of God and the Spirit working in our lives that urges us to please God and bless others and it is the Word of God and the Spirit of God working in our lives that convicts us when we are not pleasing God and blessing others… it is the Word and the Spirit that draws us back into a healthy and fruitful relationship with Christ. It is the Word that prompts us to want to be better persons.
In the story, As Good As It Gets, Jack Nickolson is seated across from Helen Hunt in a restaurant where she is about to get up and walk out if Jack does not say something nice about her. Jack is a fumbler. He is inept and lacking in social skills. But he is madly in love with Helen and he reaches deep into his soul to find the right thing to say that will compel Helen to stay. And finally he says to Helen, “You make me want to be a better man,” and her heart melts. And she says, “I think that is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
That is the magic or the mystery of what happens when we are deliberate and intentional about staying connected to the vine and nurturing a relationship with Christ. We want to become better persons - the kind of persons through whom the grace and goodness of God flows.
It is our neglect of our relationship to Christ or the nurturing of our relationship to Christ that will determine if we remain connected to the vine and fruitful conduits of God’s grace.
Jesus used the word “abide” or “remain” to describe the ongoing presence and work of God Word in our lives.
The thought of abiding or remaining is interesting. We can think of abiding or remaining in reference to a place. We abide or remain in our homes, our places of employment, our church, our preferred markets, and so on. We may also remain or abide in relationships. We remain in a loving relationship with our spouse, we maintain life-long friendships, we have barbers, insurance agents, and so on. Yet there is another way we may think of remaining or abiding and that is to continue in a pursuit of something. We continue to work on a golf game or our fly-casting technique, we continue to volunteer for a cause we believe to be important, we keep going to our twelve-step meetings because we want to become better people, we continue to follow Christ, letting the Word and the Spirit transform us into the people God wants us to become.
Thus far we have learned that:
1. We must be connected to Christ in order to bear fruit that pleases God and blesses others.
2. We are not fruit-producers, we are fruit bearers. It is the grace of God flowing through us that results in fruit.
3. We must continue to be in the Word of God to maintain a healthy connection to Christ.
And the outcome of a healthy connection to the vine that results in the grace of God flowing through us to others is that our lives bear fruit and God is glorified.
IV. When our lives bear-fruit God is glorified.
“My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father.” John 15:8
When we are conduits of God’s grace… when our lives are enriched by the inflow of God’s Word and the working of the Holy Spirit, we will bear fruit that blesses others and pleases God.
In the opening scenes of the story, Bottle Shock, an airplane flies over the Napa Valley in California shooting footage of the vast expanse of vineyards that grow there. The plane swoops down low and follows the rows of grapevines and then it shoots up and below we see a tapestry of design as the vineyards climb steep hills, follow the curve of the terrain, or stretch out endlessly in level places. But then the pace slows and it is not the big picture that we see as the camera focuses not on the vine or the branches but the clusters of grapes that hang ripe for the picking and pressing.
Certainly the intent of the owner of the vineyard is to produce grapes and it is the intent of God to produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives so that his grace hangs like clusters of grapes from our branches. Somehow I don’t think branches spend much time worrying about or watching for the cluster of grapes to appear… the cluster of grapes just happens when the time and conditions are right. And that is how it is with us. We just take care of the connection and God will see that in due time the fruit will appear and people will be blessed. The fruit is the natural result of a healthy vine/branch relationship. The fruit just happens when things are right.
Conclusion
I ran across the story of a knife thrower this week. His name is Jayde Hanson and he began throwing his mother’s kitchen knives when he was 10 years old. He held the world record of throwing 120 knives in two minutes.
During a televised demonstration of his knife throwing circus act on British television, viewers were shocked as one of the knives he threw nicked the head of his female assistant. The spokeswoman for the live performance stated, “You don’t expect that kind of thing from a world record holder.”
Later the knife thrower commented, “In my eleven years of performing, I’ve only hit my assistant on five occasions.”
It is reported that he had to begin advertising for a new assistant in that his old assistance decided to concentrate her efforts on her circus hula hoop act. (http://www.techimo.com/forum/imo-community/60598-knife-thrower-slices-assistant-live-tv.html)
We aren’t knife throwers but despite our best efforts to be people of God, we sometimes miss the mark and may even do harm to another person. And when that happens we do not throw in the towel and cease to be followers of Christ. We remain in our place with Christ, in our relationship to Christ, and continue to be followers of His.
As conduits of God’s grace to others:
1. We are connected to Christ.
2. We remember are not fruit-producers, we are fruit bearers.
3. We are in the Word of God to maintain a healthy connection to Christ.
4. We then bear fruit and God will be glorified.
