Abide in Me
John 15:1-11
“I am the true vine, and
my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears
no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear
more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have
spoken to you. 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. 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. Whoever does not abide
in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are
gathered, thrown in the fire, and burned. 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. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in
my love. 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. I have said these things to you so that my joy
may be in you, and that your joy
may be complete.”
Abide is a very
old-fashioned word, seldom heard in modern conversation or even seen
in print. In this passage, Jesus repeats the phrase “abide in
me….abide in my love.” We consider abide to be a very passive
verb. It means to rest, to wait to live in. It implies a sense of
stillness that is not comfortable for many of us. We Americans are
people of action, not abiding. Teachers, like me, are planners. We
know how to make plans and carry them through. Medical people are
people fixers. If there is a problem, they are ready to jump in and
fix it. Engineers are fixers also, but more of things. They may be
very detail oriented. Lawyers…what can I say. Most of us are action
people. If we see a need or a problem, we are ready to rush in a do
something.
In this passage Jesus is
saying that in order to be fruitful, we need to slow down, to wait,
to rest to live and grow in him. This passage comes after Jesus and
the disciples have completed their last supper together. Jesus has
been trying to explain to them that he will be leaving them very
soon. Needless to say, they are anxious and fearful of the future.
Jesus is trying to reassure them and to also leave them final
instructions on how to continue his ministry. As he has done so
often, he makes an analogy to their common experience. He says in
verse 5: “I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who abide
in me and I in them bear much fruit.”
I think this analogy has 3
things to say to us.
First: To grow as a
Christian, we must be rooted in Christ. He is the vine. From him we
obtain our nourishment. In order to grow and be productive, we must
stay connected to him. The disciples were facing life without Jesus
physically present to teach them. However, he promised to leave them
an Advocate, the Holy Spirit. We, too, stay connected to Christ
through the work of the Holy Spirit, through worship, prayer and by
the Word. To abide in him is to take time to be present to his
spirit, rather than rushing through our rituals. This year’s Laity
Sunday observance focus is on the part of our Vow of Membership in
which we promise our “presence.” Presence can certainly mean
more than being physically present in church and participating in
activities. It can also mean being present to God (with all
our mind, heart and soul) and God’s will for our
selves and our church. We can only connect with His presence as we
make ourselves available to him through prayer, worship and Bible
study. That takes quiet time…the one commodity that seems in short
supply in our modern lives, certainly in mine.
Second. We must be willing
to prune away those things in our lives that do not produce the “good
fruit.” As many of you know, I like to garden. In my garden I have
apple trees, pear trees, blueberry bushes, blackberries and
raspberries. However, my fruit is not as productive as it could be,
because I am terrible at pruning. I hate cutting away the living
branches. I’m never sure if I’m cutting away the excess or the
good. I fear I will have less if I prune incorrectly. However, I
know, scientifically, that my fruit trees and bushes are less
productive because I don’t prune away excess growth. My fruits are
often small and mis-shaped. I know the good fruit when I see it. It
is large, it has good color and few blemishes. In our spiritual life,
the good fruit, the fruit of the spirit, is defined in Galations 5 in
that passage I love: By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness
and self-control. In order to let this fruit really growth to it’s
fullest, we must prune away everything in our lives that doesn’t
lead us to the spiritual fruit. This requires an honest
self-examination on our part. Paul lists some of the things that
Christians must prune away in order to live in the Spirit: Galations
5: 19 “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication,
impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery,” (now most of us are
saying to ourselves, so far, so good), “enmities, strife, jealousy,
anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing
and things like these.” By the time Paul’s list is done, I’ve
found more than a few things in my life that need pruning. Even Jesus
said in verse 2 of our passage “He removes every branch in me that
bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it
bear more fruit.” If Jesus himself recognized the need for pruning,
how much more do we need it.
Third. The whole point of
rooting ourselves in Christ, abiding in him, and pruning about
everything that does not produce the good fruit of the spirit, is
that we will share in his joy. When we focus on those two things:
rooting ourselves in Christ, staying attached to him through worship,
prayer and the Word, and then pruning away the non-productive wood,
we allow room and energy for the good fruit to develop. The good
fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. At every turn, Jesus
emphasized that he came that we might have love, peace and joy in
abundance. The Christian life is not about self-denial, or doing good
works, but about growing love, peace and joy in our lives and sharing
those gifts with others.
Closing Prayer: God, you
sent your Son into the world that we might live through him. May we
abide in his risen life so that we may bear the fruit of love for one
another and know the fullness of your joy. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer:
Gracious God, on this
Sunday set aside to celebrate the Laity of your church, we are
reminded that each of us is a minister serving you and reaching out
to others as brothers and sisters in your family. Each of us is
granted through your creative power the ability to call upon you for
help, to lift your name in praise and thanksgiving, to name the needs
we see for ourselves and for others. In that spirit, we ask that you
reach down and touch each one here who has brought a need to you.
Give them comfort. We ask that you forgive our shortcomings and equip
us to reach out to our community and the world, to see and respond to
others who are hurt or hungry or in need. We thank you for being
present and available to us in ours celebrations as well as our
sorrows. We praise your Holy name as we thank you for your gift of
your Son. In His name we pray, as he taught us: Our father Who art in
Heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on
earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And
forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against
us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For
thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment