William F Schnell - PDF document

Well Connected John 15:1 - 8 William F Schnell May 3, 2015 Thanks to the internet we are more connected with one another that ever before in history. From Facebook to Flicker, from Twitter to Tumbler, from Snapchat to Skype we are, if you will pardon the p un, “Linkedin” with one another. It’s no longer rude to be speaking with someone while they check their smartphone for who is texting or calling. Sometimes you will come across a group of youth who are sitting with each other but not talking because they are immersed in online conversations with others. While social media has exploded on the scene it has come at the expense of socializing. Many organizations which were previously instrumental in social integration have gone away. From country clubs, to service organizations; and from masonic lodges to churches; many are struggling to keep their doors open and some have closed their doors in our town and in other towns across the land. So while we are increasingly connected in cyberspace, we are less co nnected in person and one is tempted to question the direction progress has taken in this regard. Karl Lagerfeld, the German fashion designer who is never at a loss for memorable words, is quoted at the top of our bulletin: “The important thing is not to be connected on every level… it’s to be well connected.” Maintaining a few key relationships with friends who understand the value of friendship is time well - spent. Or if one is engaged in, say, business or politics, maintaining connections with those wh o can open doors or further one’s interests is essential networking. The title of our message today is “Well Connected.” Here we are talking about being well connected with the Lord who desires a saving relationship with us. Indeed, of all our primary relationships, the relationship we have with the Lord is the most primary of all. That is why he addresses it in our text for today where he draws upon the image of a vine and its branches — a classic biblical image found in several places throughout the O ld Testament. For example, God speaks through the prophet Isaiah: I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it 2 yielded only bad fruit. "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be t rampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it." The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress (Isaiah 5:1 - 7). Typically, in the Old Testament, the grapevine imagery is a condemnation of God’s people for not producing the kind of fruit in their lives their maker intended. Jesus contrasts himself with those supposedly choice vines that produced bad grapes. He begins our text: “ I am the true vine ” (Verse 1). Jesus bears true. He doesn’t promise a cultivar for fine wine and deliver wild grapes. Lord, I made some wine from wild grapes picked along the Olentangy River that ran past my seminary. That product ended up being a cross between jet fuel and carpet cleaner. No, Jesus promises a rich and abundant harvest. “I am the true vine, and my Fa ther is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit…” (Verses 1 - 2). Fruit is the point. Dead wood on a grapevine only harbors rot and invites disease. Better to cut it off, which is how a good grower of grapes tends his vines. It’ s called cleaning the vines because it cleans away all the useless wood that is no longer fruitful. But the gardener does not stop the pruning process there. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he p runes so that it will be even more fruitful (Verse 2). Wait a minute; the gardener prunes even the branches that do bear fruit? Believe it or not, it is one way to increase the productivity of vining plants. If you grow tomatoes, you will notice what ar e called “sucker” branches that come off the main stem. They might produce a few tomatoes, but basically they redirect the plant’s energy into foliage production. Not good if you are interested in making tomato sauce. Better to prune off those sucker sh oots and train the main vine up a support. Before long you will find clusters of tomatoes growing off that vine which are off the ground, clean and in perfect shape and easy to pick. The same holds for growing grapes. If you just put a vine in the groun d and let it go, it will produce a few grapes but mostly vines and leaves and dead wood. If you let a good gardener at it early in the season you will swear he is killing it with his pruning shears and saw. You may only end up with a single leader draped over a support. But prepare to be amazed when harvest time comes and you find clusters of grapes growing along that vine. Well, Jesus is not giving a gardening lesson here. He is using a common everyday image for the common people of his day so that he can communicate a timeless 3 spiritual truth. He says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (Verse 5). Well, we might produce a lot of dead wood and foliag e, but we are not going to produce the kind of fruit Jesus has in mind. What kind of fruit does Jesus have in mind? Paul addressed that subject, contrasting good fruit with the acts of the sinful nature. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will no t inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self - control (Galatians 5:19 - 23). Paul encountered both the acts of the sinful nature and the fruit of the Spirit in the same congregations, maybe sometime in the same people and maybe sometime in himself. How could he tell when he was connected with Christ? He could tell when the fruit of his life and work was love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfu lness, gentleness and self - control instead of hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy. That is how we can tell when we are connected with Christ. Otherwise, anyone can call themselves a Christian. Anyo ne can be a church member. Anyone can serve as a leader or a pastor. There were lots of self - professed religious leaders in Jesus’ day — Pharisees, Sadducees and the like. How can you tell who is the real deal? Jesus said: "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit . A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them (Matthew 7:15 - 20). The story is told of a native fro m a remote mountain village who had the opportunity to visit a large modern city for the first time. He could not bring much home with him, and he had little money. But he was amazed at the electric lights which he saw everywhere. So he bought a sack fu ll of electric lights bulbs and sockets with switches so he could turn them off and on. Arriving home he hung the light bulbs in front of his home and on his and his neighbor's trees. Everyone watched him with curiosity and asked him what he was doing, b ut he just smiled and said, "Just wait until dark -- you'll see." When night came he turned on the switches, but nothing happened. No one had told him about electricity. He did not know the light bulbs were useless unless connected to the source of their power. Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing." There are many people who do not know that the way they are living their lives is fruitless. They got the education; they got the job; they made the family; and bought the home but when the sun sets and night comes and they reach for the switch nothing happens. They do not know that there is a source, which makes all these things light up! 4 As we come to this table let us examine our lives in the light of God’s Word to us. How well connected are we to source? How well connected are we to the true vine? By our fruit we will be known. If there is dead wood, let it be cut away. And if there is further pruning of the sinful nature required, let it be done that we may produce the fruit of the spirit. Jesus concludes: This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples (Verse 8).