In Jesus Holy Name May 1, 2021
Text: John 15:1-8 Easter V Redeemer
“Staying Connected”
It helps to have connections. Everybody knows it’s true. It’s not what you know, the cynic says, but WHO you know that makes a difference.
In 1982 there was a wonderful book which was later turned into a powerful motion picture titled Schindler’s List. You may be interested in how that book was first published. A shopkeeper named Leopold Page was a survivor of the Holocaust. He survived through the efforts of one man, Oskar Schindler, a Roman Catholic, who saved not only his life but the lives of 900 of his fellow Jews. Page was determined to find a writer who would be interested in telling the story of Oskar Schindler.
One day a novelist, Thomas Keneally, came into Page’s shop to buy a briefcase, and Page told him his story. Keneally was intrigued and agreed to commit Schindler’s story to print. What resulted was the story of a man who helped hundreds of Jews escape certain death at the hands of the Nazis. The book was dedicated to Oskar Schindler.
The book and the movie, which won seven Oscars, including Best Picture more than fulfilled Page’s lifelong dream. “I did not know how I would do this,” Page had said, “but I promised Oskar Schindler I would make him a household name.” And he did. Leopold Page was number 173, on Oskar Schindler’s list. He was 173 of the 900 who were spared death at the hand of the Nazis thanks to Oskar.
Leopold Page was a shopkeeper, not a writer. But his commitment to his friend led him to connect with people who could bring his dream to reality. It’s important in life to have connections. If you don’t HAVE connections, then it’s important to MAKE connections. Don’t fight it. Make prudent use of this adage it’s not what you know but who you know. And so today I want to ask you this important question, how connected are you to Jesus?
By staying connected to Jesus we know our broken commandments are
forgiven, erased from God’s ledger book. By staying connected to Jesus and His resurrection from the grave and death, we are assured of our own resurrection.
Jesus, Himself did not stay in the safe immunity of heaven, remote from human sin and pain. He actually entered our world at His birth in Bethlehem. He emptied Himself of His glory enduring the same temptations, experiencing the same sorrows, then was obedient to crucifixion and death. Jesus was the sacrificial “lamb”, whose holy blood, offered on the cross removed our broken commandments from the just judgment of God.
This was God’s plan from the beginning of creation. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s commandment they accepted the lie of Satan that it would make themselves equal with God. It was a lie. Their world was radically changed. Peace and harmony with each other, peace and harmony with their creator was lost. They became afraid. They tried to avoid responsibility, which only created another problem between them. They did not go looking for God…He came looking for them. He offered them forgiveness because He still loved them.
When Jesus rose physically from death and the grave, it guaranteed all the promises of God, forgiveness to every believer and eternal life. “Because Jesus nailed our broken commandments to His cross and left them there (Col. 2:14) our impending death is still the last enemy but it has lost its power to harm and terrify. Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Our soul is eternal, for it will be resurrected when Jesus returns in glory. (Philippians 3:20) But until that moment when we meet our “God” in the new heaven and new earth what are we to be doing?
Jesus wants His disciples to know that there is purpose in the Christian’s life. If Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, then the “fruit” of the Christian life is “good deeds” that flow from love. For God Himself is love and we are called to imitate Him. (Ephesians 5:1) Our purpose is to do good deeds that He has prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
When Jesus spoke about vineyards, the people of Judea knew what he was talking about. It was an industry that had been carefully cultivated throughout the country for centuries. It was crucial because it was a cash crop as opposed to grain, which was raised purely for consumption. In early America the essential crop was corn, but the cash crop was tobacco. It was, therefore, vital to the economy of the land.
But there is something else that these listeners would most certainly know. A vineyard was the symbol of the nation. In America we might think of amber waves of grain, but in Judea they thought of their nation as a vineyard. It was a kind of national identity. Over and over again in the Old Testament, Israel is pictured as the vine or the vineyard of God. (Matt. 21:30 & Is. 5)
Isaiah the prophet pictured Israel as the vineyard of God. He said: The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. In Jeremiah, we read God referring to his chosen people in this way: “I planted you as a choice vine.” Hosea spoke a word of judgment when he said: “Israel has become an empty vine.” In the Psalms we read that God compares Israel to a vine that came out of Egypt.
Jesus said “I am” the vine, the fruit bearing branches are the disciples. God the farmer who is the one who cultivates the vineyard. He waters and tends the soil, so that the vine is properly nourished. He takes pride in his crop. But this means that He also prunes the vines and removes the dead wood. The grapes grow on new branches. “No one likes the process of pruning and the pain of loss, but fruit grows only on new wood.” (Leonard Sweet)
What Jesus is saying is clear. The disciples receive their strength by staying connected to Jesus. He is the true vine. If they break away from him, they will be like unproductive branches bearing no fruit. Thus, they will have to be pruned out.
How can you tell a pear tree? By the fruit that it bears. How can you tell an apple tree? By the fruit that it bears. How can you tell a Christian. By the fruit that he or she bears? It is just as simple as that. The fruit on the vine is not church attendance, nor Biblical knowledge, nor your individual stewardship. The true fruit of the vine is a loving and compassionate life. Folks, it all comes down to this; how do you treat other people? That is as simple and as direct as I can put it.
The first fruit that the Apostle Paul mentions in Galatians 5 is “love”. The 2nd is “joy”, then follows peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. You and I can not produce these traits on our own because we are by nature to self-centered. It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to imitate Jesus and thus have these character traits visible to and experienced by others.
Jesus says to us, “I am the vine; you are my branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” The number one fruit a Christian is to produce is “love”. “God is love”. Rev. John Stott writes: “Love is the principal, the paramount, the distinguishing characteristic of the people of God. Nothing can dislodge nor replace it. Love is supreme.” (The Contemporary Christian Applying God’s Word p. 148)
When love is on display the result will be joy and peace. Joy and peace are by products of love. God gives them to us, not when we pursue them, but when we pursue Jesus and others in love. James the brother of Jesus later wrote: “Show me your love, not with words but with deeds.” Whenever Christian people come together it is impossible to stop them from singing. Singing is a result of joy.
1) It is our responsibility to stay connected to Jesus, through prayer, by worship and the reading of His written word.
Jesus said: You must abide in me and my words in you. To stay connected we need a listening ear! Gentlemen, How many times have you heard your wife say: “Are you listening to me?” There is a reason. Our wives know that marriage needs communication to be successful. If we are not listening to each other then the result will be misunderstanding, suspicions, resentment.
2) To stay connected to Jesus we must listen to His voice.
I love the story of Philip in Acts 8. We know that angels are messengers of the Lord. Luke tells us that an angel told Philip to go south on the road that leads away from Jerusalem towards Gaza. “so he started walking”. We are not told how far nor how long he walked. There was a good deed that God has prepared in advance for Philip to do…He just didn’t know the “rest of the story.” He started walking as an act of faith.
So the Spirit told Philip to “go near the man riding in a chariot and stay near it.”
Philip was not told why. Philip listened to the voice of the Spirit, approached the chariot, then he listened. He hear the words the man in the chariot was reading. Now the rest of the story. Philip asked a question. “Do you understand what you are reading? The answer was plain. “How can I unless someone explains it to me.”
They spent time together. Eventually the Ethiopian was baptized. Philip’s good deed was done. Love tells the story of Jesus. Love gives food to the hungry, shelter to the homeless, help to those who have lost home and goods in fire, earthquake or flood. Love gives friendship to the lonely, comfort to those who are sad.
• Stay connected to Jesus, through prayer, by worship and the reading of His written word.
• Stay connected to Jesus by listening to His voice.
• The more we imitate Jesus, the more we grow in walk then we will know by instinct what the Lord wants us to do in a given situation.
“Go in peace and serve the Lord.”
