It has been a long time since I have looked for frozen waffles in the grocery store, so I am

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1 I Am It has been a long time since I have looked for frozen waffles in the grocery store, so I am not sure if they still exist, but I remember back in 99/2000 when I lived on my own after college I would eat Eggo waffles that you just drop into the toaster and in a matter of minutes you d have a nice chewy, lukewarm waffle on your plate. It is the type of thing a desperate bachelor does when they are hungry. Their slogan was always Leggo my Eggo! As if people were actually fighting over these floppy pseudo-waffles that, quite frankly, didn t really taste like a waffle. But, they were cheap, they were easy, and it required the minimal required effort that a young bachelor could put forth in his first year away from the convenience of college food service. Well, today we are going to spend some time talking about an Eggo that is far more nourishing. We are going to talk about the phrase εγω ειµι perhaps the most recognizable Greek phrase in the Gospel of John. Εγω ειµι means, I Am. The entire Gospel of John in Greek is filled with εγω ειµι sayings of Christ. I am the good shepherd, I am the light of the world, I am the bread of life. And in today s passage we again see Jesus using the phrase εγω ειµι, I am the true vine. In a culture so focused on ourselves it does not really cause one to stop and think about the words I am for very long if at all! We constantly use I am phrases, I am cold. I am weary. I am hungry. I am wanting this new cell phone because I am not satisfied with what I have. For me it was obviously, I am going to put this floppy pseudo-waffle in the toaster because I am not smart enough to learn how to make a real one! Thank God my wife, Anne, is in my life now or I d still be eating those crazy things. Either that or I d be working even harder to fill up Dogwood s schedule with groups simply to keep our cook Tracy around more often providing me with hot meals and leftovers. 1

2 Thankfully I don t need to resort to that because our ministry at Dogwood Acres is to serve others and to serve God. The problem is, we live in a culture that asks us to abide in ourselves rather than abiding in Christ. Yet Jesus asks us to go against the common trends of society and focus on him rather than ourselves. Jesus says, 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. I am the vine, you are the branches. This is a phrase we hear a lot within the church, but do we ever stop and really consider what it means? Back in the ancient world the use of a vine or vineyard as imagery was very common, in fact Jesus use of it was not the first within Scripture. Ezekiel 15:1-8, ironically the exact same versus as in John, speaks of a vine, and Ezekiel warns that if a vine failed to produce fruit its wood was good for nothing but fire. And Jesus assumes the same thing. What good is a vine that does not produce fruit? People in agriculture know that if a crop does not offer a yield than you simply have a field full of wasted time and effort, because when a crop is planted there are certain expectations from the person who did the planting and great care is taken throughout the growing season to make sure that the plants get the necessary nutrients, not to mention choosing the right seed prior to planting! Growing up in SW Minnesota I remember listening to the radio and hearing seed companies promoting their products, and yes, rural MN offers a much different type of radio station than we find here in Panama City. And the one that stands out the most was the Dekalb seed company which constantly promoted the superior standability of all corn seed. Having never actually lived on a farm I could never understand what they meant by the term standability, so I asked my father one day what exactly that meant since he grew up on a farm 2

3 harvesting corn. As it turns out standability is extremely important in the farming industry, especially in the Northern plains where there are few trees to block the wind. You see, if a stalk of corn has good standability than it is able to weather the storms and remain standing when lesser varieties of corn may fall over, thus destroying the crop. With healthy harvests on my mind I decided to look into this even further, so I went to Dekalb s website to read about their seed and they now promote their corn seed by stating that it delivers the confidence of strong roots, strong stalks and even stronger yields. Whether they know it or not, they just paraphrased Jesus words within their marketing campaign because if we translate their message into today s passage in John we can easily imagine Jesus using these exact same words. Abide in me and you will have the confidence of strong roots. Abide in me and you will have strong stalks to keep you standing amidst the storm. Abide in me and you will have even stronger yields and bear great fruit. That s a strong enough message in itself, but let s take an even deeper look at this passage. Look at the emphasis, the emphasis is not only on the bearing of the fruit; the emphasis is also on the life giving power that flows through the vine and into the branches. As we can see the bearing of fruit will result, but the focus should also be on the vine and how we can most effectively stay connected with that life giving vine, the vine that offers us the confidence of strong roots. No branch has life in itself; it is utterly dependent for life and fruitfulness on the vine to which it is attached. Thus the living branch is truly in the vine; and the life of the vine is truly in each branch. Just as we are truly in Christ; and the life of Christ is truly in each one of us. As Jesus suggests, it is for this reason that the vine must be pruned in order for his life giving power to be the most effective in our lives. 3

4 When I started digging into this text I realized that I had no idea how to prune a vine, not to mention any kind of plant. Are you all getting the strong sense that I am clearly not a farmer nor a botanist? This is why I recently talked with an old seminary colleague who is an active gardener and she said pruning works two ways: (1) to remove dead/diseased limbs before they infect the rest of the plant, and (2) to strategically remove some smaller, less productive limbs so that the plant uses its strength to feed the larger limbs and produce better fruit. She said that when she plants tomatoes in the summer, for instance, she always pinches back some of the blossoms on the plant so that instead of producing many small tomatoes the plant focuses on producing fewer, but bigger, tomatoes. Not knowing a thing about pruning I was completely blown away by how closely her pruning tips again followed this passage in John. Verse 2 says that God cuts off the non-fruit producing branches, while also removing disease/impurity from the remaining branches. Both actions result in better or more fruit because of their close connection with the vine. Knowing this one must ask, what in my life needs to be pruned so that I may most effectively utilize the life giving power that I receive from Christ and the Holy Spirit? We all need to ask, are there blossoms that should be pinched in order that other areas of our spiritual life may produce fewer, yet larger, spiritual fruit? This is an important question to consider since what is at stake is the transfer of God s own life into our own lives and spiritual life. To be cleansed means that we have been given the ability to be more fruitful, just as cleansed vines are able to produce greater fruit. Going back to the I am statements again, one of the most common I Am phrases that we hear today is, I am too busy. And even if we do not say it aloud, we feel that constant pull in every direction on a daily basis and it becomes harder and harder to abide in Christ when 4

5 everything else in the world is begging for our attention. Perhaps this is why Jesus uses the words abide in me or remain in me 10 times in verses 4-10 alone. Abide in me as I abide you, Jesus says. How is your own personal branch of the world doing these days? Are there days when you feel weary and just cannot find the strength to even pray? Are you having difficulty abiding in Christ as he abides in you? I know that there are days when I feel so incredibly weary that I just need to shut out the world around me for a while because I am nowhere near abiding in Christ as he is abiding in me. But when I take the time to pray I find that I am able to step out of the context of my surroundings and all the demands that are pulling me in every direction and I am again able to abide in Christ. There s that I Am phrase again. I am again able to abide in Christ. After a while I start to feel a rush of energy and focus begins to flow through me again. And that is because I took a moment and pruned my branch so I can again feed off the life giving vine of Christ. And just as we receive our life and vitality through Christ, so does Christ receive his from the Father. It is the ever flowing power of the Holy Spirit that flows from the Father, through the Son, and into our lives and our hearts. And like us, Jesus often needed to prune away his surroundings so he could again drink from the living waters of God. In fact, if you take a look through the Gospels you will find a number of passages that describe Jesus going away from the crowds and into the wilderness to step out of the context of his surroundings in order to be alone with God in prayer and to quench his thirst created by the struggles of this world. Luke 5:16 says, Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. Matt. 14:23 says, After he had sent the crowds away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. 5

6 Mark 1:35 says, When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place. These are only a few of the many references of Jesus slipping away to be renewed in the wilderness, away from the crowds, away from everything that has weakened his connection with God. Jesus knew that he needed to be pruned. He needed to pinch a few of the blossoms in his life so he could be more effective in his ministry and bear more fruit for God here on earth. Are you like Christ and searching for a refuge from your everyday challenges so you can reconnect with the life giving vine of God? Are you struggling to stand firm amidst the storms around you? Than perhaps it is time to take a page out of Jesus book and come to the wilderness in search of the peace and solace that awaits you among the beauty and majesty of God s creation. Whether we spend a day on the beach or take a trip to a beautiful state park, we need to find ways to prune away the distractions in our lives so we may peacefully drink from the living waters of Christ. And if you all as a church or as individuals would like to come to a place that is truly a place set aside by God for the purpose of quenching your thirst through Christ than I encourage you to spend some time with us up at Dogwood Acres. We have a wonderful refuge awaiting you and your family. God continues to grow amazing spiritual fruit in the youth and adults who spend time with God up at the camp. Our doors are always open. So I encourage you to leave the context of your life for a few days and abide in Christ in the wilderness. Leave your cares behind so you feel the rich and nourishing energy of the Holy Spirit flowing through you. Christ says, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. (15:7-8) 6