I preached this text two years ago at the church I served in Troy, OH. Approaching this text from the vantage point of the Lenten devotional book we are using led to a very different sermon, although there were some similarities. I wish I had focused more on the pruning section. Perhaps that should have been the focus of the entire sermon.
“Life on the Vine” SAPC, Denton, TX; April 2, 2017; John 15: 1-8;
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes[a] to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed[b] by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become[c] my disciples.
Move 1: In case you are wondering, you are not the one in total control. the fate of creation does not rest in your hands.
In case you were wondering, everything does not depend on you and your ability to figure it out.
In case you were wondering, you are not in charge.
a. As we reflect on Jesus’ statement, “I am the vine,” he makes it clear that this is not one of those illustrations where we get to pick who we want to be.
1. We may want Jesus to say, “I am whatever you want me to be and you can be whatever you want to be.” (This thought inspired by blog, April 30, 2012 By The Hardest Question 3 Comments I Want To Be a Sunflower For Jesus by Nadia Bolz-Weber, http://thq.wearesparkhouse.org/yearb/easter5gospe/)
2. Sort of You want to be the vine, be the vine. Oh, you want to be the branch, be the branch. Who wants to be the pruner.”
b. No Jesus makes it explicit.
1. God is the vine grower: God is the one who plants and cares for the vine;
God is the one who prunes the vine
God is the one who provides what the vine and branches need.
2. We are not the ones in charge of the vineyard
c. Jesus is the vine;
1. the one who brings sustenance and life to the branches.
2. the one who connects us.
c. We are the branches, the ones called to bear the fruit of God's love and Christ's care for us.
Move 2: We also hear from Jesus about the importance of pruning.
a. The Greek verb kathairo used in vs. 2 can mean"prune" or cleanse.”
1. Same root word Jesus uses in the Gospel of John story when he washes his disciples feet. in the Gospel of John
2. As Jesus tells it, the vine grower prunes in vs. 2, in the same way Jesus’ word cleanses in vs. 3.
3. Gives power to need for us to hear Jesus’ words and examine our lives to determine what we need to cut away so that we can follow Christ.
b. My wife prunes much better than I do.
1. give her clippers, and bushes beware.
2. We had a not quite waist high stone wall that ran across the front of our house in OH. Previous owners put out all sorts of flowers, etc. in a bed that ran the length of the house.
3. I didn’t want all that work, so we planned knockout roses. Not sure about here, but in OH’s climate all you had to do was plant them, and trim them back. My kind of plants.
4. I would do the trimming in season to keep them from being too intrusive for the walkers along the sidewalk.
5. But when it came to cutting them back in early spring, my wife did it. Well, I did the first pass, and then she would come and really cut them back.
4. the roses do better when she cuts them.
c. Author this week offers the image of pinching.
1. he writes about tomato plants and pinching the suckers off the vine so that the plant does not waste nutrients on the suckers and all the resources go to the tomatoes on the vine.
2. He suggests we do a pinching exercise periodically in our own lives: examine what we are doing that is extraneous to our calling as disciples and quit doing it, which allows more resources of living as Chirst’s disciples.
Move 3: Jesus also offers the image of abiding in him as a way to live our lives of discipleship.
a. the word “abide” in the Greek means to literally, “remain on the branch.”
1. to remain with Christ.
2. to intertwine our lives with him so that we, the branches, bear the fruit of the vine, that is the fruits of Christ.
b. Christ links abiding in him to how he abides in God.
1. our relationship with Christ is modeled on his relationship with god.
2. As we saw last week with the Good Shepherd image, Christ calls us to have the same type of relationship with him that he has with God.
c. if we read beyond vs. 8, Jesus connects abiding to him to abiding in love.
1. The theological image of the branch remaining on the vine moving to theological language that suggests abiding in Christ is abiding in love.
2. the basis for our remaining with Christ is God’s love for us.
d. Remaining in Christ allows us to bear fruit much fruit.
- Video - luscious, purple grapes. It made me want to stop by the store and buy some grapes (it also made me point out to my wife that the grapes were purple, since I have long lost the battle over grapes and have to eat green grapes at home!).
- beautiful, tasty grapes are the end-product that the vine grower seeks (or at least that I seek when I purchase grapes!).
- That is the end-product of pruning away those extraneous things in our life, abiding in Christ and knowing knowing God's love for us – a life that shows forth God's love and shares God's love with others.
3. Just what God desires of us. Good fruit that glorifies God.
Conclusion: Beautiful bulletin covers.
Chalice this week.
A reminder that Christ continues to abide in us, that is remain in with us, through our coming to his table to meet him.
We come to our Lord’s Table and taste the juice or win and know the God who abides in love with us through Christ.
Abide in Christ.
Abide in love.
Life on the vine.
Amen.
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