Abundant LIFE: Making Our Home in Christ John 15:1-11 A Sermon Preached by Ernest Thompson First Presbyterian Church Wilmington NC September 27, 2015 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed 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 my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. Many of your know that my daughter Meagan got engaged to be married last weekend. We love her fiancé Daniel, and are excited about him becoming part of our family.
2 The focus is mostly in the wedding right now, but they are also thinking about where they will live. It will be somewhere in Raleigh, but one question is whether it will be inside or outside the beltway which is apparently a major divide for folks who live in Raleigh. Meagan is currently inside and Daniel is outside, and so there are some negotiations going on. Of course the bigger issue is not just buying a house but creating a home taking two lives and bringing them together and creating a new life together. In our Scripture lesson this morning, Jesus invites us to unite our life with his, and to make our home in him. Jesus says, Abide in me, as I abide in you. That word abide means to make a home - to stay with someone and merge your life together. Jesus says to his church and to those who want to follow him, Make your home in me, as I am already making my home in you. We re focusing this morning on our last Abundant LIFE priority Experiencing God and Growth. We want to be a church where we do more than simply learn about God and serve God. We want to be a church where we experience God a church where people are drawn into a life giving relationship with Jesus Christ. We want to be a church where our experience of God leads to spiritual growth. 1. Jesus says, I am the true vine. You are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them, bear much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing. This conversation comes at the end of Jesus ministry. He has spent three years with his disciples, and now Jesus has told the disciples that he will soon be arrested and crucified and buried. But Jesus also makes clear that this is not the end of the story or the end of their relationship it will just take a different form. Jesus will no longer be physically present with them, but he will be spiritually present with them. This transition is both a great opportunity and a great risk.
3 The opportunity is for an even deeper relationship with Christ where he is a spiritual presence at the center of their life and their church. But the risk is that the disciples will begin to think that they can be the church without keeping Christ at the center of their life together. It s hard to ignore Christ when he s physically with them, but it s easy to ignore or neglect his spiritual presence. So the disciples might be doing all the right things, but trying to do them without Christ, trying to do them with their own strength and wisdom. And Jesus says it will not work. Jesus is very blunt. I am the true vine. You are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them, bear much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing. In just a few weeks we ll be electing a new group of elders and deacons for our church. They ll go through an officer training class, and then they ll be examined by the Session. I always tell the new officers that there is one pass-fail question on the exam, Who is the head of the church? The answer is not Ernie Thompson. The answer is not the elders or the deacons. The answer is not those who have been here the longest, or those who are the loudest, or those who give the most, or those who complain the most. The answer is, Jesus Christ is the only head of the church. I was taught that lesson when I was in seminary. I had just gotten engaged myself, and I was trying to impress my theology professor John Leith by making sure he knew Elaine, my bride to be, was a good Presbyterian. I knew that he knew her pastor, and so I said, Elaine is a member of Bill Arthur s church in Columbia. Dr. Leith looked at me and said, Young man that is not Bill Arthur s church. It is the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. And don t you forget it. So I ve tried not to forget. And I ve tried to not let you all forget. I ve tried to be clear that this is not my church and it s not your church. It is the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly we belong to the church and we love our church in that sense it is our church.
4 But we do not own the church. And the church is not centered on our wants and needs and preferences. The church is centered on Jesus Christ. And so Jesus gives this clear invitation and warning. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. 2. Two of the ways that we stay centered on Christ are by keeping worship and Jesus word at the center of our life together. Earlier in John s gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. He talks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, a reference to worship and to the sacrament of communion. Then Jesus says, Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them. (John 6:56) And so worship, and particularly the sacrament of communion are one way that we make this connection with Christ and experience Christ s presence and love. We come to worship to experience God s presence and to keep our connection with Christ strong. Jesus also speaks in our lesson of staying centered on his word. In verse 7 he says, If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. As Jesus words abide in us, live within us, his words shape our vision and our wishes and our lives are aligned with God s will. And so focusing on the words of Christ and the Word of God is another way we abide in Christ, and keep our connection with him strong. I m not particularly interested in having debates about the different theories of Biblical inspiration, or in arguing about whether conservatives or liberals or moderates take the Bible more seriously. What I am interested in, is being a church that is centered on the Word of God the Word of God incarnate in Jesus Christ, and the Word of God written in Scripture, and the Word proclaimed in worship each week. I m interested in being a church where we are always listening and pondering and praying about the words of Christ, and allowing those words to shape who we are and what we do. I want to be a church that takes the study of Scripture seriously, and a church that allows the Holy Spirit to speak to us through Scripture.
5 We stay connected and centered on Christ, by gathering for worship and participating in the sacraments, and also staying focused on Jesus word, and by allowing that word to inspire us and direct us and correct us. 3. Jesus also talks about pruning. He says, My father is the vine grower Every branch that bears fruit he prunes, to make it bear more fruit. My wife is a gardener, so she s a big believer in pruning. If you want your plants to do well, you have to prune, and sometimes prune fairly aggressively. It s counter-intuitive. You re not just cutting off dead branches, you re also cutting off live branches. You have to prune because you don t want the vine s energy to go into producing flowers or fruit. Jesus says that pruning is also important to the health and vitality of the church, and to the spiritual growth of his disciples. Early on in our church s long range planning process we brought in a consultant to help us think through some staffing issues at the church. She said that the hardest but also most important decisions the Session would have to make is which programs to sunset. They may be good programs, but they may also take time and energy that needs to be focused on other places. So we may do some pruning at the church, cutting back in some places so that we can try to grow somewhere else. I would ask for your patience and understanding as we do that. Know that if we are cutting one place, it s for the purpose of growth. Pruning is also important in our personal life, and it s equally difficult. If we are busy and distracted by many things, we often don t hear God s word, no matter how loudly he speaks. And so pruning some activities or commitments may be important to our spiritual growth. I m increasingly convinced that busyness is one of great enemies of spiritual growth and health. Jesus talks about God doing the pruning. Sometimes God doesn t wait on us to do the pruning. Sometimes God does the pruning himself. Now I think we should leave room for some mystery here, and not assume that every loss is somehow God pruning our life. But every time we lose something, it can be a chance for God to help us grow.
Now, Jesus is clear that the purpose of both the pruning and the abiding is to produce growth and fruit. God wants his church to grow - in maturity and in mission. And God wants his people to grow - in maturity and in mission. Paul says in Galatians that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 6 In our lesson Jesus points to the first two of those fruits of the Spirit, love and joy. Jesus says, As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. And Jesus says, I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. That s why Jesus wants us to abide in him to stay connected with him, to make our home in him, so that we might know his love and so that we might experience his joy, and so that we might grow in love and grow in joy. There are certainly already many signs of that love and joy in our life together as a church. We see it on Thursday nights as members of our church and our community gather with the grandparents and grandchildren of the Grandparents Support network - it is a time of love and joy. I saw it in Jamaica this summer as I watched our youth run and jump and hug and play with the Jamaican children during Vacation Bible School. It was a time love and joy. I see it in the hugs and smiles and support we give each other when we gather on Sunday mornings for worship and fellowship and learning. As we make Experiencing God and Growth our priority and our passion here at First Presbyterian, that fruit and love and joy will continue to grow. When I do premarital counseling, I sometimes tell the couple not to be so focused on preparing for the wedding ceremony that they forget to prepare for the marriage. The wedding is important, but the most important thing is the marriage this new relationship which the wedding brings into being. I may need that counsel myself in the coming days. So you all can remind me. It s not about the wedding. It s about the marriage this new relationship that brings love and joy.
7 Here at the church we ll be focusing on plans and priorities and those are important. But as we do that, I hope that we will not forget about the relationship which is the behind the priorities, and the relationship that the priorities are meant to serve. I hope we will remember that Christ is the vine and we are the branches. I hope we will abide in Christ, and experience Christ abiding in us. And so I hope we will continue to grow and to produce the fruit of love and joy.