John 15:1-8
“Abide in Me”
Rev. Melissa D. Ramos
In the passage we just
heard together, what two words or images images does Jesus repeat over and
over? “Fruit”, and “abide.” Jesus repeats the word “fruit” and the action
word “abide.” These are wonderful images
for the Christian life: the image of
bearing fruit for God, and making a home in God. Fruits vary by region, but continent –
qumquats, asian pears, pomegranates, mangoes…
But all fruits, however rare or exotic, have two things in common. Can anyone tell me what those two
commonalities are? What are the
requirements for a fruit to be classified as a fruit?
The first is that all
fruits produce seeds. Whatever kind of
fruit you can think of, every fruit contains seeds (unless they have been
genetically modified, like seedless grapes or watermelon). When naturally grown, fruit are classified as
fruit, in part, because they contain seeds.
The second criteria for a fruit being a fruit is that all fruits grow on
trees or vines. Vegetables sprout out of
the ground directly from a seed, but a fruit must grow on a vine or a tree of
some sort. A fruit may grow in the
ground, like a vegetable does, but like
a watermelon or a strawberry, a fruit still grows on a vine.
So let’s think about
the first criterion, for a fruit to be a fruit:
the seeds. Inherently within the
fruit itself lies the potential to reproduce, the possibility for more trees
and more fruit to be created because the fruit contains seeds. And those seeds, when they fall to the
ground, have also the potential to create new plant life. So fruit plants propagate themselves
naturally by bearing fruit, which contains many seeds even in a single piece,
and those many seeds from a single fruit may grow more plants and more fruit
and even more seeds. So in this way,
it’s possible for an exponential growth of fruit trees and plants even from a
single tree or plant, because of the seeds within the fruit.
But Jesus reminds us
that fruit cannot be produced apart from the vine or the branch. The vine, or the tree, is the life-support
system for growing fruit. It’s through
the stalk of the plant and then through the various vines or branches that
essential nutrients are passed. And when
the plant is mature or stable, the plant will then bear fruit. Jesus reminds us in his image for the
Christian life, that a piece of fruit is not independently grown, but is a
product of the vine.
At the supermarket you
can buy tomatoes still on the vine. And
they’re more expensive, more valuable, than regular tomatoes. Why?
Because the tomatoes stay fresh longer and have more nutrients in them
when they are still connected to the source of nutrition and life that grow the
fruit.
What happens when you
pick a fruit from off the branch, disconnecting it? The fruit withers and dries up, and
rots. But not right away. The fruit will stay plump and juicy and tasty
for a week, a couple of weeks, at least.
The withering doesn’t happen right away.
At first it seems like the fruit is doing okay off the vine. It’s only after some time has gone by that
the change happens, when the fruit begins to get wrinkly, begins to lose
moisture, dries out, and starts to rot, and then is thrown away without ever
having been enjoyed – because nobody wants a wrinkled-up tomato, or a
strawberry that’s moldy.
When Jesus uses the
image of fruit, he chooses an illustration that is earthy and real, one that we
can easily visualize and understand.
Jesus isn’t saying anything cryptic or mysterious. Jesus isn’t really saying anything we don’t
know already. But when put in the
context of faith and the Christian life, the illustration gives us a tangible
way of thinking about spiritual life, which is sometimes hard to grasp.
Because for some
reason, all of us, at one time or another, find ourselves walking through a
season of spiritual dryness. Maybe
you’re not in that season now – maybe you’re plump and juicy on the vine,
enjoying life with God and excited about faith.
And that’s a wonderful season to be in.
But sometimes we can
seem to hit a dry patch in our walk with the Lord. Maybe we feel a little bored with our
spiritual routines. Maybe we’re going
through a rough season of life and we feel out of resources and energy. Maybe we’re waiting for God to answer a prayer
and we feel discouraged because it hasn’t happened yet. Or maybe it’s nothing dramatic, we just feel
spiritually “blah.”
And Jesus speaks to us
about life on the vine and about the exciting possibility of bearing fruit in
our life with God. With this image of
fruit, we know that sometimes our spiritual life is more like a brown banana
than a zesty kiwi.
Jesus speaks to this
experience in our Scripture when he says, “I am the vine and you are the
branches. Those who abide in me and I in
them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away
like a branch and withers…”
Jesus speaks to us and
says, “Abide in me,” and then you will bear fruit. Jesus always welcomes us with open arms no
matter how far away we’ve strayed, no matter how withered we’ve become. God always has the door open, and in Jesus
says to us, “Welcome home.” And, in
fact, the Scriptures tell us that God makes a home n us through the Holy
Spirit.
And yet sometimes we
can still walk through a time of wilderness, a time of spiritual dryness, a
longing for something more. And that is
especially when we need to hear Jesus calling out to us, “Abide in me.” Bearing fruit for God isn’t always about
doing more and more and more. I think
the call is more for us to enjoy God so much that we can’t help but bless
somebody else, and so bear fruit.
And so how do we go
about enjoying God? How do we abide in
Christ? What does that look like? I think that Jesus avoided giving specific instructions
on purpose. Jesus knows that we like
formulas and rules and strategic guidelines a little too much, and so Jesus
leaves that partly up to us, because everybody’s fruit is different.
But I would like to
suggest three prominent areas where we can find ourselves disconnected from the
vine, and withering. Three areas where
there is the potential for us to experience spiritual renewal. The first of these three areas I have placed
first in the message because it’s the most central aspect of Christian life: worship.
When we’re not
regularly participating in worship, we are disconnected from the greater
reality of God’s glory and majesty. In
worship we are gathered by the Spirit, and lift up our weary selves and our
broken world for God’s healing. In worship,
we remember together every week that we are children of God – not just
students, not just employees, not just parents, we are not just producers and
consumers. We belong to God who made us
to enjoy this world, to love each other, and to be a source of light and hope
in the world around us.
In worship each week,
we are there to catch just a glimpse of God’s glorious majesty – because just a
glimpse is enough for our faith in and love for God to be renewed. Worship is the place where God feeds us and
gives us the water of life as we are connected together to Christ on the vine.
Maybe you are a regular
worship attender, but yet you struggle still with feeling spiritually dry or
disconnected in worship. Maybe you’ve
left worship feeling disappointed or unsure whether you really got anything out
of it. Admitting that isn’t going to
hurt my feelings or anybody else’s.
We’ve all experienced that.
But in that case, I
want to bring a challenge before us, not to give up on worship or disconnect
yourself from the vine. Instead, I put
the challenge before us to spend some time praying during the week, and
especially before worship – praying for those who organize and lead
worship. Pray for musicians, for
liturgists, for pastors, the worship committee – and pray that God would open
your own heart and meet you in worship.
As you worship leaders,
we really do need your prayers. Even
pastors go through dry seasons, and we still have to get up and try to say
something meaningful in the sermon. But all
of us need to take responsibility to pray that the ministry of worship in our
church would be blessed.
A second place where we
can experience spiritual dryness, or disconnection from the vine is in or
prayer and devotional life. Our everyday
schedules can be so busy, full of anxieties and struggles, and so Jesus calls
us to abide in Him because Christ is our solid Center.
Sometimes we feel
overwhelmed or confused about life, or sad, and Jesus is there to give us peace
– not escapism, the world can give us that, but real peace that comes from
faith in God who is more powerful than we can imagine. Faith in God who is our Deliverer and a tower
of refuge. Jesus says, “Abide in me,”
and then you will bear fruit.
I’m not going to say a
lot more about our life of prayer and Scripture reading, because most of us
already feel guilty about not spending enough time with God. Jesus’ words are not about making us feel
more burdened, they are about coming to Christ who relieves our burdens from
us.
A third place where we
can experience a disconnect from God, a severance from the vine is the
Sabbath. Maybe you’re wondering why you
hear so much about the Sabbath in my sermons.
I figure I’ll just keep preaching it until we really do it. Our culture presses us so hard on every side
to violate the Fourth Commandment. We’re
not meant to work seven days a week. We
are created in the image of God who rested on the seventh day.
When we keep gong and
going and going, no wonder we feel like a dried-up apricot – all the life is
sucked out of us. No wonder we can leave
worship or Bible study feeling unsatisfied.
We may be receiving the water of life, but when we fail to keep the
Sabbath we’re like a leaky garden hose.
Life is draining out of us in every direction, in every busy place we
run to. And so the fruit of our
spiritual life is dried up, our Spirit is dried up.
And so Jesus calls to
us, “Abide in me.” We are children of
God and we are worth more to God than what we accomplish in a day. God has given us a free gift, one day every
week, to enjoy God, to enjoy life, to stop worrying about what didn’t get done
or won’t be finished. The Sabbath is a
day outside of time where you forget about yesterday and tomorrow, and you celebrate
Today.
These are the three places
where Jesus calls us to live out our call as disciples and follow Christ. In worship, in prayer and Scripture reading,
in keeping the Sabbath Commandment, these are three places to experience
spiritual renewal. Maybe it’s
overwhelming for you to think of working on all three of these at once. Maybe the challenge for you in the next few
weeks is just to work on one of the three.
Or maybe you feel you do pretty well with one or two of these, but need
to focus more on the third.
Wherever you’re at today,
God wants to bless you, to fill you again with the water of life that comes
from our life with Jesus, the true Vine.
I’m going to hand out
some cards to everyone, and there are pencils in the pew racks. And in the next few minutes, we’re going to
pray together, and then the band will play.
During that ime I invite you to ask God if there is one of these areas
where Jesus is calling you to spiritual renewal, to reconnect yourself to the
vine in the next month. And then write down that area on the card. No one will see these but you.
Then as the band plays,
bring forward your blue cards, put them in the offering plates up front. And at the same time, if you want to donate
any money to the church, just bring that forward at the same time.
Let’s pray…