The Fourth Sunday of Easter
Abide Christ is risen! (He is risen, indeed!) Alleluia! Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Jesus uses a figure of speech in today’s Gospel when He says to you, “I am the Vine and you are the branches.” With these Words, Jesus wants you to know that He has a living connection to you: A vine gives its branches a constant supply of sap, which nourishes the branch and causes the branch to produce fruit. Jesus wants you to know that the Words He speaks to you in worship are like sap: the Words of Jesus will nourish you; the Words of Jesus will sustain you; the Words of Jesus will produce good things through you. Dear Christian friends, 1. We had a baptismal service yesterday, where God adopted Jewell Lynn Stubbs to be His dear child forever. During that service, we heard again those Words of Jesus that describe how disciples are made: Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you (Matthew 20:19-20). That business of teaching includes every Christian. Teaching includes you. Our Lord’s command does NOT mean that every single Christian should become a Sunday School teacher, but Jesus’ Words do require each of us to live a life worthy of being imitated by a child. Thus it is also written: • Walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory (1 Thessalonians 2:12). • Set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity (1 Timothy 4:12). • Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). These Bible verses, and many other verses like them, indicate that you personally have an important role to fulfill in the baptismal command of the Lord, “teaching them to observe all that [Jesus has] commanded.” If that seems like a big responsibility to you, you are correct. You might even feel that your personal role in teaching is larger burden than you are able to carry, especially if you do not feel certain you have yet learned “all that [Jesus has] commanded.” If so, Jesus has comfort for you in today’s Gospel. “I am the Vine and you are the branches,” says Jesus. “Abide in Me, and I in you.” 2. Many Bible passages get read in our worship service. Between the Psalm of the day, the Old Testament, the Epistle and the Gospel, there might be dozens of Bible verses that you hear on a Sunday morning. That is in addition to the regular pattern of Bible verses that we pray together in the liturgy. Usually, only one or two Bible verses gets more fully explained in the sermon and all the other verses get left behind for another day. Meanwhile, there may be plenty of things in those unexplained verses that you do not understand; plenty of things that you would prefer to have explained to you; plenty of verses that make you wonder whether that day’s worship could have given you something more. If you feel as though you do not fully comprehend everything you hear in worship, Jesus’ Words in today’s Gospel are for you. “I am the Vine and you are the branches,” says Jesus. “Abide in Me, and I in you.” 3. Sometimes a dear Christian will say to me, “Pastor, I was reading thus-and-such in the Bible, and I really do not understand what it means. Will you explain it to me?” Sometimes I have to answer, “No, I can’t really explain that Bible passage very well because I do not understand it, either.” I do not like to answer Bible questions with the words, “I don’t know,” but sometimes I must. The Scriptures of God are much larger than all of us put together. The Words of God go far beyond anything the human mind can comprehend. Anything we understand from God’s Word—anything at all—comes to us purely by the living miracle of His Word, which creates our understanding out of nothing. We know because God has opened our minds to know; we grasp because God has given us the ability to grasp; we believe because God has given us His gift of faith. Because the Scriptures of God are far too deep for anyone to ever master, Jesus says in today’s Gospel, ““I am the Vine and you are the branches. Abide in Me, and I in you.” Does Jesus want us to learn His Word? Of course! Does Jesus want us to grow in understanding and in the knowledge of God! Absolutely! Jesus also knows that you will not be saved on the basis of how many Bible verses you know and understand. Jesus knows that it is the flow of His Word to you that brings you forgiveness, assures you, comforts you, and delivers you into eternal life. Jesus’ Words are a like the sap that flows from a vine to its branches, nourishing and sustaining the branch and producing its fruit. • If you cut yourself off from the flowing sap of Jesus’ Words, you will die. Where there is no Word of God flowing to you, there is no life! That is why Jesus said in today’s Gospel, Every branch of Mine that does not bear fruit [My Father the vinedresser] takes away… If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. • On the other hand, where the Word of God flows into you with its richness and its goodness—as it does here in worship—there IS His life and health and forgiveness and every other good thing. The main point of today’s Gospel is the FLOW of God’s Word into your life, and not necessarily your mastery of that Word. A branch does not concern itself with why it produces fruit. A branch simply produces fruit because the vine supplies its life-giving sap. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. Allow today’s Gospel to help your perspective concerning worship: • Are there things you must know and understand about Christ Jesus our Lord and His Words of promise to you? Yes, there are—and the same Christ promises you that He will give you understanding according to His Word (Psalm 119:169). • Do you have a larger responsibility than you might be able to understand, much less faithfully carry out? Perhaps. The same Jesus also promises “to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 2:20). The power at work in you is the power of Jesus’ Words, which flow to you like sap from a vine to a branch. • What is worship? That you ABIDE; that you remain; that you wait; that you stay connected; that you continue in place; that you live. “Abide in Me,” says Jesus, “and I in you.” • Does your forgiveness of sins and eternal life depend upon your ability to master the material? No. Jesus promises you in today’s Gospel, “You are already [pruned] clean—forgiven and cleansed—by the Word I have spoken to you.” The same Word will do it all again for you next week. The flow of Jesus’ Words will continue to do good things for you—life-bringing things and fruit-bearing things—both now and always. In all of this, the Father of Jesus is glorified: that you bear much fruit and prove to be His disciples. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
