Sermon 04 29 2018

John 15:1-8 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke

Easter 5 April 29, 2018 “Remain In Jesus”

One week ago we celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday. We heard from Jesus in John chapter ten how he is our good shepherd who lays down his own life for the sheep. Now, I doubt we have many shepherds in the congregation, and I doubt that most, if any of us, even know a shepherd. So maybe we don’t grasp the full impact of that description. At the same time, we understand what it means to have Jesus as our Good Shepherd who cares so deeply for us, his sheep.

Today’s sermon text is similar to last week’s in a number of ways. This one talks about the branches and a vine. Just as we don’t have many shepherds in our midst, we probably don’t have many vineyard owners in the congregation either. Our lives don’t revolve around agriculture as directly and obviously as they would have at Jesus’ time in the land of Israel. We don’t necessarily have quite the same connection to these words as the people would have hearing them from Jesus for the first time.

And yet, we know what they mean. We understand the point that Jesus makes by calling himself the True Vine, just as we did when he called himself the Good Shepherd. Our portion of Scripture from the fifteenth chapter of John’s Gospel urges and invites us to remain in Jesus, our true vine.

Perhaps the most familiar of the verses before us is verse 5, where Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” But that’s not where this comparison starts. Jesus introduces this picture by describing himself as the true vine and his Father as the gardener, the vine-tender. The gardener takes care of the vine by removing any branches from it that don’t produce fruit and by carefully pruning the productive branches to make them even more productive. Then it does become obvious that the branches are people.

People are either connected to the vine, receiving from it life and strength, or they are cut off from the vine.

Jesus speaks these words first to his closest disciples. “You are already clean,” he tells them, “because of the word I have spoken to you.” The word he uses to describe his disciples as “clean” sounds very similar to the word he has used to describe the pruning work of his Father. The disciples have this status already. They are fruitful branches connected to Jesus the vine, and the Father is doing the work of pruning them as needed. And this is accomplished through the word. The disciples enjoyed this intimate connection to Jesus because of what Jesus had taught them and told them. They were connected to him.

They drew life from him. They produced fruit.

Of course, there is another extreme. The branches that do not bear fruit are cut off. Jesus says that they are thrown away and that they wither. Finally they are picked up and thrown into the fire to be burned.

This extreme picture illustrates the importance of what Jesus is saying. No one, no branch deserves the vine. No person has earned the right to be connected to Jesus. In fact, it is this opposite extreme that we deserve. We deserve to be cast off and to be burned in the fire. Certainly that is what we once were, dead and lifeless apart from Jesus. That’s the way each of us enters into the world with the guilt of sin already weighing us down and the specter of death looming over us. Even as those who have been connected to Jesus through the Gospel, who have been baptized and have listened to the word, don’t we sometimes look at our lives and realize that the fruit we would want to see, the fruit that God would want to see is sorely lacking? It is not hard to understand that this aspect of Jesus’ words should terrify us. Who would want the fate of being cut off, thrown away, and burned?

But that is why Jesus urges and pleads and invites: “Remain in me.” “Apart from me you can do nothing.” That is why Jesus promises, “Remain in me as I also remain in you…[the branch] must remain in the vine…if you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” See the rich grace of God that Jesus looks at his followers, disciples like you and me, and he says, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” See the rich grace of God that he has connected us closely and intimately with Jesus!

What amazing grace that we are in him and he is in us! You are clean because Jesus has made you clean.

He made you a branch. He gave you his Word. He died for your sins and rose to life again. You have with him the closest relationship possible. He gives you strength. He gives you life. He is the vine. You are the branches.

And so he says, “remain.” Don’t take this relationship for granted. Don’t get so caught up in worldly concerns that you forget about where your strength comes from. Don’t allow yourself to become unfruitful and be cut off! Remain in Jesus.

How do we do that? The same way that we have been made clean: through the word. Read, study, ponder, meditate. Cherish the Word of God that connects us to Jesus as our Savior and strengthens that connection. Apply that Word to your life. Think about what it means to be connected to Jesus and live in the strength that he gives you. Understand that there is no relationship more important than the relationship between you, the branch, and Jesus the vine. Even if the pruning is sometimes painful, even if God allows some troubles to be a part of our lives, the promise remains: “I you remain in me and my word remains in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” This is a relationship that is worth everything. This is the one relationship that results in an eternal relationship. Remain in Jesus for life and strength.

And then produce fruits of faith. Clearly from these verses, fruits are important. The heavenly gardener looks for them as he determines which branches need to be cut away. The goal for the fruitful branches is to produce even more fruit. After all, that’s the very reason someone would grow and tend a vine: the fruit.

The fact is that all branches who remain in Jesus produce fruit. As they receive from him life and strength, the result is fruits of faith. So let’s think about real-life examples. What do fruits of faith look like? Our Second Lesson today tells us that they look live loving one another, loving not in speech only—not just saying that you love someone—but in action, doing things that help and serve others. Our First Lesson gave an example in Lydia’s service to Paul and his fellow missionaries. The way that she welcomed them was a reflection of the faith that was in her heart.

And there are many more examples. In fact, the possible examples of fruits of faith are as numerous as there are people with different skills, talents, opportunities, and relationships. There are many that we will have in common in a general sense: being kind, working hard, being honest. But the specific way in which we show love to others depends on all sorts of factors.

But the fruit comes only from branches connected to the vine. Apart from Jesus, there is no possibility of producing this sort of fruit. Sure, unbelievers may outwardly do the same things that believers do, things that serve the needs of others, but without our connection to the vine, these are empty and meaningless gestures, not fruits of faith. But for all who are connected to the vine, the fruits of faith are inevitable. In fact, Jesus says, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” If you are a disciple of Jesus, you will bear fruit.

But let’s also be sure to give credit where credit is due. Jesus is not saying that we need to bear fruits in order to be connected to him. He is not saying that we earn our relationship with Jesus by the things that we do. That reverses the whole thing. That would be the fruits producing the vine, and the vine drawing its strength from the fruits. No, Jesus explains it the other way. The fruits are produced because we are connected to him, the vine. Jesus gives his life-giving love to us, and our fruits of faith demonstrate that same love to others, not to our glory, but to God’s glory.

Jesus is the vine, and his Father is the gardener. We may not be as familiar with the issues Jesus mentions in these verses as those original disciples were, but we do understand the point that Jesus makes. He is the one who gives life and strength. He is the one who leads us to fruits of faith. He wants us to remain in him now and forever, and we his branches want the same thing. God grant it to us.

The Text: John 15:1–8 (NIV) “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I

am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.