Text:
Date:
Title:
Theme:
John 15:1-8
March 13, 2016
“I Am the True Vine: Knowing God’s Power”
We can’t expect to do anything great with our lives without a
connection to the one who gave us our lives.
Question
Is there a time in your life that drove home for you the idea that you can’t
make it without God’s help?
Prayer
Sermon
As much as we hate to admit it, we can’t do this, we can’t do LIFE, by
ourselves
It’s just not possible
When I go to preach a text, it’s not uncommon for me to go back and look
at how I’ve preached it before
Every once in a while I might find something good.
When I looked back, I realized the last time I preached this text was at the
funeral for a young man I knew who died of an overdose
And I thought for a while about that.
My message then was about the same as what it is now: stay connected
Stay connected to Jesus and to one another
“I am the vine, you are the branches,” Jesus says <slide-John 15:5>
“Apart from me, you can do nothing”
That’s a pretty clear statement – one of the clearest I can think of anywhere
in the scripture
“Apart from me, you can do nothing”
We don’t particularly like hearing that
We’re mostly convinced that we can handle life on our own
Now obviously, if you’re in church here this morning then you do have a
different perspective than most
1
But still we forget…we all forget
How could we ever expect to do anything amazing with our lives apart from
the one who gave us life to begin with?
Last week, we spoke of shepherds and sheep
And the rich tradition in the scriptures around those images
There’s equally rich imagery that surrounds the vineyard <slide-grapes>
It starts early
When Israel came up out of slavery in Egypt, they sent some spies ahead
to scope out the Promised Land
Moses sent someone from every tribe to check it out and report back
He told them, “see whether the land is rich or poor, and bring back some of
its fruit”
When the spies returned, the scripture says they came back with a cluster
of grapes so large they had to carry it on a stick between two of
them1
In another passage, one from Deuteronomy, Moses listed conditions under
which young men could be exempted from service in the army
One was for men who were engaged but not married – they were
encouraged to celebrate the wedding first – makes sense, right?
Another exemption mentioned in the same paragraph, was for someone
who had recently planted a vineyard
Deuteronomy 29:6 says, “He should go back to his house, or he might die
in the battle and another be first to enjoy its fruit.”2
The fruit of the vine, grapes and winemaking weren’t just important
agricultural pursuits in ancient Israel
They became very powerful symbols of God’s blessing on the nation
When I was in the Holy Land – in Capernaum – there is an ancient
synagogue there, and some of the stone decorations that would have
been around the outside of the building near the roofline depict
grapes <slide-stone decorated with grapes>
Contemporary historians from near Jesus’ time describe a magnificent
golden vine that hung over people’s heads as they entered the
Temple in Jerusalem3
2
Like I said last week in talking about Jesus’ “Good Shepherd” statement, I
think this background may help us to understand why he says, “I am
the ‘true’ vine”
Even though he’s only speaking to the disciples here, he’s contrasting
himself with something – it’s unclear exactly what – again, the
religious establishment? Probably.
But there’s definitely an edge to it.
We can’t read this without also thinking of Isaiah 5, where Israel itself is
described as a vineyard: <slide-Isaiah 5>
1Let
me sing for my beloved
my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it….
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
(Isaiah 5:1-4, NRSV)
The nation is God’s own vineyard
And God is asking: when I’ve done everything right in planting this
vineyard, why am I getting such a poor return on all my work?
If you keep reading in Isaiah, God wants to know:
Why do my people think only of themselves?
Why do they mistreat each other?
Why do they care nothing for justice?
God finally concludes: “I would have done just as well to settle for wild
grapes…It would have saved me a whole lot of work”
I don’t know that things have changed a lot between the time Isaiah wrote
that in 8th century BC and now
I mean, they certainly should have...if what we say about Jesus is true
3
That in him, God really came to earth and walked among us
Not only did he teach us how to live, but he showed us on the cross how far
his love was willing to go
“I am the vine, you are the branches,” Jesus says
“Apart from me, you can do nothing.” Nothing.
At least, nothing good.
There are times when all of us feel like there’s something not right in us
We’re not ourselves – we’re angry, frustrated, depressed
There’s no grace, no patience, no forgiveness
We get wrapped so tight there’s no room for any joy
And we go off the rails because we are disconnected from God
We know how that feels
But there is hope here.
And it’s a GREAT hope.
This time in reading John 15, it was verse 4 <slide-John 15:4> that really
jumped out at me: “Abide in me, as I abide in you.”
Now, that’s old-time kind of language, abide.
It means to remain, to stay, to dwell.
What jumped out at me was this little phrase: “as I”
“Abide in me, as I abide in you.”
There’s a promise in that.
What he’s saying is: I will be not only be with you, I will be IN you.
That piece is assumed.
It’s not negotiable.
He will abide in us, remain in us, live in us.
So if that’s true, the only question is: will we live in him?
It’s not unlike Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard, where God’s care is
assumed
Well, of course it’s God’s vineyard – who else’s would it be?
Of course we’re Jesus’ people – who else’s would we be?
Well, then, “Abide in me, as I abide in you.”
4
This is a challenge – and a promise – to all who will accept it.
<slide – John 15:5>
To all those who are willing to admit that apart from him, we can do nothing
– or at least, nothing good
There’s a promise here to be WITH us, and IN us
We need that connection
How could we ever expect to do anything amazing with our lives apart from
the One who gave us life to begin with?
It just doesn’t make any sense
We were created for the purpose of connection
So we wouldn’t have to do it all ourselves
And we were given the gifts of the scriptures, of worship, of prayer, of
service, of each other
So that we would continue to abide in him
As he has promised to abide in us
His expectation is that our lives will bear fruit
Today we receive new members into our fellowship – we are blessed by 17
new members along with their families
Praise God! What a great day!
Today my prayer for them, and for all of us, is that we might remain
connected to the source of our power
To the one who already abides in us
Who is the true vine
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
By Joe Monahan, Medford UMC, Medford NJ
1
Numbers 13:1-24
That could be a pretty valuable exemption – it might take 3 years to see fruit.
3
This is described by Flavius Josephus.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1216&context=tsaconf
2
5