| June 27, 2010 - Rev. Brint Hilliard
INTRODUCTION We cannot fully understand the significance of John 15:1-17 without first recognizing that it is part of a last conversation between Jesus and His disciples. This very important last conversation begins in chapter 13 and really does not reach completion until the end of chapter 17. As we ponder John 15:1-17 today, we must realize that this last meal that begins in chapter 13 is really the last minute overview by the professor before the final exam of the Cross. To put it in the words of John from the beginning of chapter 13, Jesus knew that His hour had come. READ John 15:1-17 and then say: “The Word of God for the People of God.” STORIES OF THE VINE A Walk In The Clouds is a wonderful movie that came out several years ago. It is the story of a family who have made their living by growing grape vines for generations. As the story progresses, we learn that the family is very steeped in history and heritage. More than that, their whole lives are centered on the raising of vines to such a degree that vines and family are significantly intertwined. As the story unfolds A veteran of the second World War, comes into the lives of the family unannounced, unprepared, and without any heritage of his own. He grew up as an orphan and so the idea of family, while craved, is foreign to him. He is brought home by the daughter of the leader of the family and as you can imagine “daddy” is less than pleased. Much of the rest of the movie is filled with questions about the history and heritage of this family in contrast to the lack of such things in the “gringo.” Towards the end of the movie, a fire breaks out amongst the grapevines and branches & everyone fights together to save the vines and the grapes. The fire spreads from hilltop to hilltop and finally consumes all the vines and branches. The family sits together exhausted and in despair because all seems lost. In the midst of the great destruction, the “gringo” interloper remembers that the main root that has sustained the vines for generations is kept safe in its own special spot in the fields. He runs to the special spot, grabs the main root, the “one true root”, and brings it to the family. They all wait with great expectation as the father checks the root to see if it survived the fire. As you might already have guessed, the “one true root” is alive and so a new beginning for all including the “gringo” dawns! At first glance, you may not see a connection between the movie and John 15. However, I think there is a great connection. In A Walk In The Clouds, one of the centerpieces of the movie is the “one true root” from which all things came forth. In turn, John 15 speaks of the true vine or to put it another way the “one true root.” From the movie and from John 15, we see important lessons that are important to today and that determine the state of our faith! ABIDING WITH GOD IS KEY There are many things that we can learn from John 15 that would enrich our faith today and every day. One thing that we can learn that is essential to our faith is that Jesus calls each of us to abide with Him. That sounds good but what does it mean to Abide with Jesus? Abide is one of those words that is often use but rarely understood. In a way, it is over used and so its power and significance is often diminished in our world, especially with regards to our faith. Since we want to avoid contrite answers, let us consider some definitions of the word abide. In the World Book Dictionary, abide means several similar but different things. First, it can mean to remain with. Second, it can mean to reside with. Third, it can mean to remain true. All of these are good definitions that relate nicely to our faith. For the sake of brevity, let us say that abide means to remain true to Christ as He remains true to us. This remaining true to Christ takes many different shapes and sizes. It remembers that the Great Commandment and Second Great Commandment are all about unconditional love rooted in close community. The focus on love is really a choosing by each of us to move from being broken God-Seekers to being devoted Christ-Believers. To devote ourselves to being Christ-Believers is really a commitment to first accept the existence of God. Beyond the mere existence of God, we also must believe that Jesus Christ was and is both human and divine and, therefore, THE Son Of God. We must accept as fact that Jesus Christ lived with us, was killed by us, and was somehow resurrected because of us. However, we cannot merely “camp out” at the place where we “believe in Jesus Christ.” We must take action because of this belief. We must choose to accept the truth and the responsibility found in the “red letters” of John 15 where Jesus says: 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 [neither can you and me!] unless you abide in me...unless we reside with Him. To fully “abide with Jesus”, each of us must choose to belong to Jesus! Belonging to Jesus is all about claiming and then fully living THE TRUTH. It is about taking visible action in our lives and in our world because of our belief. It is about choosing God first in all things and in all ways. To abide with Christ, we must choose the path of love that becomes more fully revealed when we believe in Jesus and then belong to Jesus…like a branch being connected to a vine. Beyond Abiding with Christ, we are also to Abound! ABOUNDING WITH GOD IS ESSENTIAL Again, abounding is one of those often used words whose powerful meaning can be diminished. Too often, we move beyond the richness of meaning to the place of careless repetition when it comes to abound. Before we venture too far, let us take a moment to pause and to consider the possible meanings of abound. To abound can mean to be plentiful. To abound can also mean to be filled. To abound can also mean to rise above. As we ponder the meaning of John 15, I think each of these definitions is valid! Moving specifically to our conversation about faith, we can say that to abound with God means to bear Kingdom Fruit…to be useful and not useless! When we abound with God, we focus on deep commitment and devout discipleship. To abound with God is really centered on obeying the commands that He gives. In turn, this obeying is about visible devotion to THE God and HIS ways. To abound with God is more than regular attendance or regular giving. To abound with God requires more than Sunday Mornings and Wednesday Nights. To abound with God is about consistent devotion that is every day. It is about taking seriously those “red letter words” that we find in God’s Word like Luke 9:23 where Jesus says: To be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your Cross daily, and follow me. Did I “step on your toes with that one? My toes are a little sore because I know I do not “take up my Cross daily” as well as I could or dare I say should. To be perfectly honest, I have had several days throughout my life where I simply left that heavy thing called the Cross at home. Have you ever done the same thing? Well, I think we have covered that enough so let us now move on! Returning to abounding with God, we must never forget that abounding is really about one thing: becoming like Christ! We become like Christ when we focus on the unconditional love mandate given to us by God. This unconditional love is better understood in the light of the Great Commandment (love God with everything all the time) and the Second Great Commandment (love your neighbor as yourself). We also become like Christ when we choose to be obedient because of the delight that it gives us and not merely because it is our duty. Keeping all of this in mind, abounding with Christ has more to do with being friends with Jesus and less to do with being servants of Jesus. Jesus clarifies this for each of us in verse 15 when he says You are my friend if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer...I have called you friends. As friends of Jesus, we have the same mission He had of restoring every broken person to God, you know you and me and the rest of the world. As friends of Jesus who choose to abound with Him, we make a commitment to be participants of His Kingdom work, not merely spectators. We choose to embrace the Great Commission and go into our world and make disciples. We choose to go into our world and baptize disciples into a new life...to graft the branches of others to the true vine of Christ. We choose to teach disciples how to believe in, belong to, and become like Christ! In other words, we accept His appointment in verse 16 to bear fruit in our lives that pleases Him: You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit… GOD’S JOY MAKES US W-H-O-L-E! Abiding and Abounding with God involves many things. It is a lifetime commitment to be connected to the one true vine who was, is, and forever shall be Jesus Christ. When we are connected to the one true vine of Jesus then we also receive many things. First, we receive eternal life. Second, we receive directions for a purposeful life. Third, we have all of our shortcomings and all of brokenness made whole...W-H-O-L-E. When we truly Abide and Abound with God to the degree that we believe in, belong to, and become like Christ, we experience a oneness with our triune God that brings to us His JOY…His wonderful JOY...His never-ending, all-consuming JOY that makes our JOY complete! 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