John 15:1-17
“Making our Home in Jesus”
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning Jesus likens Himself to a Vine and God the Father to a Farmer.
We, believers in Christ, are the branches.
But notice that Jesus doesn’t just say that He is any old vine.
He says, “I am the Real Vine.”
Why would He say something like that?
To get to the reason, we need to look at the context in which Jesus was speaking.
Jesus was talking to His Jewish followers some 2,000 years ago.
And within Jewish tradition, the vine was a picture of Israel.
According to Psalm 80, God brought God’s vine out of Egypt and planted it in the Promised Land.
Later, prophets like Isaiah said that this vine that was Israel, had produced only bitter grapes rather than sweet ones.
And now Jesus is saying that He is the True Vine, the True Israel.
He is the One on Whom all of God’s promises are now resting.
And His followers are members of God’s true people—if they belong to Him and remain in Him.
The picture of the “vine” isn’t just a clever illustration from gardening, although it incorporates that.
The first disciples listening to Jesus speak about Himself being the “True Vine” would have known what He was referring to and it would have been, perhaps, pretty shocking and even scandalous.
But it is the Truth!
Where Israel failed to be what they were called to be: “The light to the nations,” the “salt of the earth,” the ones who shared the love of God with the world—Jesus came to do.
With human beings it is impossible to save the world.
With God, all things are possible.
“For God so loved the world…”
So, Jesus defines Himself over and over again to His followers and the Jewish people as a whole in ways they can understand.
He is “the bread of life,” “light,” “the door,” “the good shepherd,” “life,” “the way,” “truth,” and now “The True Vine.”
All of these metaphors point to relationships…
…relationships with God through Jesus and relationships with other people through Jesus.
You know, the Israelites were a communal people.
And the basic imagery Jesus gives us in the passage is about the communal and relational nature of the Christian life.
We are called to be connected to Jesus and thus connected to one another.
And this is kind of radical in our 21st Century society which promotes independence and making something of ourselves.
And although this is a very valid goal, our self-worth tends to get caught up with our own personal success at work, at making money, and how many friends we have.
In our world, it becomes very easy and natural for us to think it’s all up to us and our own greatness and so forth as we seek to solve problems, meet life’s challenges and find hope and meaning.
We become competitive, cut-throat, and sometimes, even mean and hateful to one another.
But this is not the way life is supposed to be.
This is not what following Jesus, being connected to Christ produces.
And if we are living cut-throat, angry, “out for number one” lives we maybe ought to re-evaluate our relationship with Christ.
Branches that are connected to Jesus produce good fruit, good results, and above all—love.
“Make yourselves at home in my love,” Jesus tells us.
“If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love…
…I chose you and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil…
…remember the root command: Love one another.”
It seems that the result of remaining in Jesus is Love—unconditional, action-oriented, agape love.
It seems that the measure of whether or not we are connected to the vine and thus bearing the fruit of Christ is if we are producing, with our lives unconditional, action-oriented agape love.
This is vitally important.
It’s sooo important right now when the church is seen by so many as a hate-group.
This should cause us all to sit-up, take notice and look closely at our relationship with Christ—our connection to the vine and why we are getting a bad rap.
Are we loving all people without respect to age, race, gender, personality, social status—whatever?
Do we discriminate and treat some people better than others for any reason whatsoever?
Do we leave anyone out?
What a beautiful privilege and opportunity God offers us.
It’s amazing, really.
And it’s easy to forget or take it for granted!
Jesus says: “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you.”
But still, I so often separate myself from the VINE, leave the Home God has created for me and try and go it on my own.
And, I’ll tell you, every time I have tried to go it alone, without Jesus…without relying on Jesus I have been unhappy, and not filled with joy.
And the fruit of that is not selfless love, but inward focused, selfish love!
And selfish love is not the Love of God.
Selfish love tends to be involved in sin.
Selfish love—is actually not love.
And, as a result, when I find myself wandering, outside of God’s will, I am not happy and I tend to be in a bad mood.
And my wife can sense this.
We had a conversation about this not too long ago.
I was trying to get things done on my own.
I was leaving God out of the equation, and I wasn’t being very friendly, attentive to my wife and kids.
And I told her it was because I was not living within God’s will, and I can’t be happy if I am not living within God’s will.
I can’t produce good fruit.
I can’t have peace.
Can you relate?
In a vineyard the best grapes are produced closest to the vine.
This makes sense, because this is where the nutrients are the most concentrated.
You know, as I said, this parable of the Vine is a challenge to all of us whose lives have been built on the modern idea of the autonomous individual.
When we see ourselves as autonomous individuals things we happen to do in community with others tend to be thought of as things we do outside of the central spaces of our lives.
Therefore, the church is just something we are “part of” and it has little to do with our lives at home or work or school.
But Jesus’ parable gives us a picture of a living and growing community of faith that is connected to Christ and to others.
And it’s to be the main operation hub of our lives.
Everything else sprouts out as a result of this.
The fruit we produce as a result of this is for the good of the whole community.
It’s not something that is simply private or just for us.
In the parable, God is the Farmer.
And so, the fruit we produce is not our own—it belongs to God.
God planted us.
God watered us and pruned us.
God made the sun shine.
We belong to God, not simply to ourselves.
Our very lives depend wholly and completely on God.
I know that a lot of folks don’t think you need to be involved in a Church community in order to be a Christian.
I guess that depends on one’s definition of what a Christian exists for.
What is the purpose of the Christian life?
Is it just to make our personal lives better?
Is it simply fire insurance so we won’t go to hell?
Or is it about reaching the world for Jesus Christ through loving action which comes from and is part of God’s will?
I’ve had people tell me that the reason they go to certain mega-churches and so forth is because they aren’t asked to do anything.
They go, worship…enjoying the professional band and light show…and the personal prosperity message.
And then, they go back to their real lives.
Actually, Jesus is telling us that it is supposed to be the other way around.
Our real lives are to be lives that are connected to Christ and the other branches or believers.
Our true home is to be Christ.
“Live in me,” Jesus says.
“Make your home in me just as I do in you.”
If we are separated from our home, we cannot produce a thing!
Hey, this is the story of the prodigal son.
This is the story of the shepherd who goes looking for the lost sheep.
This is the story of the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, the lost coin.
THIS is the Gospel.
This is what it is all about.
If we are not connected to Christ—we are lost!
“Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire.
But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon.”
You know, a lot of times when we pray—when I pray—I ask for certain things for myself.
And there is nothing wrong with that.
But Jesus say, “Whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.”
It must be in what Jesus wants us to do.
It must be God’s will.
And God’s will is that we “Love one another.”
It’s as simple as that.
And so, if that is what we are trying to achieve…living as those who see and hear Jesus and are moved to respond to the gift of salvation through acts of love—doing good for all the right reasons—we are within the will of God.
That’s one reason I believe that the Red Bank Community Food Pantry works so well.
It’s not that any of us know what we are doing, it’s that we are all seeking to love and help others—in the name of Christ—not for any reward or recognition—but for the sake of love itself.
And it’s a community food pantry.
Everyone has an equal share.
No one owns it.
It belongs to the community and ultimately to God.
And in order for that to truly happen, we need to get out of the way.
I think I mentioned in my sermon last week how, the Thursday morning before last, I looked at the sign-up genius for the food pantry and saw that very few volunteers had signed up.
The one thing that made me feel like we might be “okay” is that one family with a lot of kids had signed up to come.
I knew it would be tough, but we could probably pull it off.
Then I got an email telling me that this particular family would not be able to make it, and I kind of went into panic mode.
I sent out emails saying “We are dangerously close to not having enough volunteers to get things done tonight.”
And you know what?
We had more volunteers for that particular food pantry day than any other we have ever had.
And the people who came, they weren’t looking nor were they going to get any special recognition.
They weren’t being paid.
Most had not planned on volunteering that particular evening.
But they came.
And they came for one reason and one reason alone—selfless love.
To help those in need.
Jesus said, “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.”
Whether we have done that or not is the greatest criteria or measuring stick at the great judgement scene in Matthew Chapter 25.
It’s doing good for others for the right reasons.
“We are saved by grace through faith.
And this faith is a gift of God, lest anyone should boast.
For we are God’s workmanship created to do the good works [or live the kind of lives] God created us to live.”
And we can only do that when we are connected to the Vine—to Christ and to one another.
With God, anything is possible.
That’s why I have such positive hope for this church.
All we need do is stay connected to Christ and one another and we will produce good fruit.
Now, some might not want to do that, and that’s really, really sad.
And Jesus addresses that.
You know, we must be connected to the Vine in order to know what God is up to.
And that’s because we all have pre-conceived ideas about what God wants and what God is about.
But these preconceived are not necessarily accurate.
Look at our history with God!
The Apostle Paul was connected to the Vine and shocked the early Church by allowing Gentiles to join without being circumcised.
St. Francis called into question leading ideas in the Church of the 12th and 13th Centuries with his radical dependence on Jesus, without regard for material things.
Martin Luther and other reformers, connected to the Vine, ripped the entire fabric of 16th Century Catholicism by cutting Christians free from the Church authorities’ abuse of its authority and it’s marriage to secular government.
Christians of every kind who were connected to the Vine disturbed the New World and Great Britain with their conviction that slavery was incompatible with Christianity long before the abolitionists of America.
And it continues on.
Jesus’ Gospel is active and alive in those who are closely connected to the high nutrients coming from the TRUE VINE Who said, “Whatever you have done for the least of these, you did it to me.”
It’s been said that “The branches that do not bear fruit are the ones in the community who profess faith but don’t engage in acts of love.
So, let’s leave this morning asking ourselves, in what ways our community which we call Red Bank United Methodist Church is connected to or disconnected from the True Vine.
Is our Community of Faith abiding in Christ?
What fruit do we produce?
The vine imagery Jesus uses is about life-long discipleship and community over the long haul—it’s about living into the will of God.
It’s about making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
It’s about what Jesus says it’s about in verse 17 of our Gospel Lesson: “remember the root command: Love one another.”
Praise God!
May it be so.
Amen.
