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Sermon: Pastor Bob Barrett |
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Connected Up (John A newspaper reporter went to interview
a successful businessman. “What
did you do,” he asked, “to make all this money?” “Well, I’m glad you asked,”
the businessman replied.
“It’s a great story.
You see, when my wife and I married, we started out with a roof over
our heads and food in our refrigerator and a couple of bucks between us. I took that money, went down to the grocery
store, bought some apples, shined them up and sold them for a few more
dollars.” “What did you do
then?” “Well, then I bought
some more apples, shined them up and sold them for ten bucks.” The reporter was beginning to think this
was going to be a great human-interest story.
“Well, what happened then?” asked the reporter. “Then my father-in-law died and left
us twenty million bucks,” said the businessman. It would be safe to say the man
prospered not only because of his ingenuity but because he was
connected. What does it mean to be
connected? Well, we get some picture
of that in our lesson for today. Jesus
said, “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.” There are two basic elements in Christian
living, abiding in Christ and bearing fruit.
Many who follow Jesus seek to specialize in one or the other, abiding
in him or bearing fruit. But Jesus
says both are important. Abiding in Jesus is the source of our
power, to live a Christ-like life. But we can’t say we abide in him if
we bear no fruit. Abiding and bearing,
neither stands alone. That’s
what it means to have power. When we hear somebody say, “I
have connections,” it means they have access to power or wealth;
“I can get things done.”
The story’s told about another successful businessman who was
invited to deliver the commencement speech at a school. He elected to speak on the subject,
“How To Succeed.” As he
came through the door leading to the auditorium, he noticed the word
“Push,” printed in big letters on the outside. He thought it would be a good theme for his
speech; “push.” When he
hit the That’s how many people
succeed. Not because of their push,
but because of their pull; because they’re connected to someone who is
powerful. How often have we heard the
phrase “it’s not what you know, but who you know.” That may be the first thing we mean when we
say we’re connected; we have power. To be connected also means we have a
presence. We have a presence in our
lives; we’re not alone. Someone
shares our life with us; someone is there for us. It’s tough to think of anybody sadder
than the person who’s not connected to anybody. A few years ago, there was a program
at the University of Florida in which veterinary students staffed a hot line
to help grieving pet owners cope with the death of their animal friends. The students received specialized training
on how to counsel and assist callers experiencing these painful
emotions. There seems to be a great
need for the service. Growing numbers
of single and elderly people rely on their pets for companionship. Dealing with the death of a pet can be as
tough as with a family member or friend.
Anybody who’s lost a pet knows isolation is a terrible way to
live. To be connected is, also, to live a
productive life. The reason many
people fail to achieve great things in their lives is that they lack
focus. They don’t know who they
are and so they fail to make their mark on the world. If they could only be connected to the one
who would give them some sense of purpose, a sense of mission, a sense of
their place in the world. Of course,
that’s the good news for the day.
We can be connected to the one who gives us power; presence and can
help us live productive lives. “I am the vine, you are the
branches. He who abides in me and I in
him bears much fruit.” Here is
the secret of having real pull in the things that matter most. It is to be connected. To be connected to the one who is the
source of power, the one who will never leave us alone and to the one who
will help us live productive lives.
The lesson is reminding us that without Christ we can do nothing. Abiding in him, being connected, living in
his presence is the source of our power to live the Christ-like life. Many people today would like to be
closer to God, to be connected to Christ in the same way a branch is
connected to a vine. In Christ we find
the source of strength that never fails.
We may face difficult times, but these will serve only to root us more
firmly in His care. We want to be
close to God because in God we find the one reality that can never be taken
from us. The search for God is
something that can’t wait. If we
don’t have God in our lives, our lives are empty and meaningless. Just as we depend on God, so does God
depend on us. We abide in God and what
happens? According to our lesson for
today, we bear fruit. We can’t
separate these two, abiding in God and bearing fruit. The fruit God expects us to bear
manifests itself basically in three ways.
Most times we see the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Not only should these traits be evident in
the lives of every Christian, but they should be deepening and more
noticeable, both to the believer and those around him. In addition to these traits, we should
also be able to identify and exercise our spiritual gifts in such a way as to
encourage growth in those around us.
Along with these spiritual gifts, God gives us spiritual gaps that can
only be filled by our fellow believers, encouraging inner dependence in the
body of Christ. If our spiritual gifts
are left un-identified and remain static, these gaps remain unfilled and
growth in the church is stymied. If a Christian is growing more
Christ-like in character and actively exercising his or her spiritual gift, then
the third and final fruit-bearing manifestation is the ability to fully
experience the presence of God as we worship.
Prayer becomes more dynamic, singing becomes fuller, a fuller
expression of the heart. We find
ourselves more tuned into the teaching of God’s word and better able to
apply biblical truths to our lives. In all these ways, worship becomes
richer and more satisfying. What we
are talking about here is life in the image of Christ; his love, his
acceptance, his forgiveness, his compassion reflected in us. It’s impossible, in the Christian
understanding of life, to be close to Christ without reflecting Jesus’
love for others. Christians who are
joined to Christ as the branches are joined to the vine will be a church that
bears fruit. It’s a church that
is known for its love and its compassion.
Of course, a church only bears fruit if the individual members of the
church bear fruit. Jesus also said some things in our
lesson about God; the vine dresser prunes branches that bear fruit in order
to make more fruit. Pruning sounds
like it must hurt, but there’s a lot about life that hurts as we
know. Life isn’t as easy and
carefree as Jesus’ image of branches and the vine. There are a lot of tough decisions in life,
painful choices and losses. But if we,
who are the branches, can see ourselves as the fruitful branches, then life
doesn’t have to be as complicated as most people in the 21st
century seem to think it is. Nobody
ever heard of a branch that got burned out. Branches seem to take tough times in
stride. Many would suggest that tough
times in life are the opportunities for growth. Just like pruning must hurt a little bit,
it’s good for the vine. The
tough times in life, the fear and reality of death, pain, suffering, and the
hassles are all occasions for God to make us more fruitful. Not that God sends us these tough times. For those of us branches grafted to
the true vine, Christ-like life is not the pressure cooker, not the burnout
path we often think it is. The trials
of life are opportunities to grow to bear fruit. Also, branches do not work very hard to
bear fruit, do they? So why do so many
people make their faith such a burden.
Faith and the Christ-like life are as easy as it is for a branch to
bear fruit from a good vine. Of
course, the branch doesn’t get any credit for the fruit. No, it’s more typical to give the
good vine and maybe the vinedresser the credit. So, why don’t we Christians start to
follow the agricultural common sense?
When we’re a Christian branch bearing fruit, we give up all
these anxieties about being a Christian.
We also surrender all the credit we might like to take for the good we
do and turn it over to Christ. There’s
where the happiness and contentment are. A new
branch can’t be a lone branch on the vine either. The vine produces many branches and the
branches must intertwine and support one another if fruit is to be
produced. “I am the vine, you
are the branches,” said Jesus.
It’s plural: branches. We
abide in Christ as we commit to one another as branches of Christ. We can’t reject other branches and
assume we can be faithful alone. Nor
is it our role to judge whether another branch is as fruitful as we are or
not. It’s
God who does the pruning, not us.
We’re to commit to a steady long-term relationship with a
fellowship of believers. We
can’t just be a part of the church for a while. Often we hear statements like, “Well,
when we have children, we’ll need to get back to the church,” or
“Now that we’re retired, let the younger members step up and do
the work of the church.” Steady,
long-term commitment to the church is for our spiritual health. When we neglect such participation, we cut
ourselves off from the other branches and we turn into the deadwood that will
need further pruning. Christ
concludes our lesson by saying, “My Father is gloried by this, that you
bear much fruit and become my disciples.” This love, this fruit grows by the power of
God. We love because God first loved
us. Will we allow God’s power to
produce the fruit in our lives? When
we are connected to the vine, we have tremendous power to produce the fruit
of God-pleasing ministry. |
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