Ormond Beach Presbyterian Church - Sermon May 20, 2007

                                                               I am the Vine
                                                              John 15: 1 - 12
                                                               May 4, 2008

          This week I finished teaching a class on Wednesday nights in which we were learning to be invitational - learning how to invite friends and neighbors who do not have a connection with a church to come and see what our life in Christ is like. And our hope and prayer is that as a result of that invitation this friend or neighbor might find themselves joyfully connected and rooted in Christ.

          One of the exercises that I asked the class to do was to pick a bible story that is one of their all time favorites and that expresses in words and metaphorical pictures what the Christian life is all about. You might want to try this - what story would you choose? Some might say that the Christmas story is their favorite - When you look back over course of your life it seems as if your life has been like the magi questing and following a star of sorts that at last led you to Christ where you laid down your treasure and your life and worshipped him.

          My favorite is Peter getting out of the boat and walking on water. Early in my life my momma and daddy put me in the boat with Jesus so that I might go with him to the other side. And I learned over the years how to be a good boat Christian - sit in my pew - do my share of the rowing and don’t rock the boat. However I discovered as John Ortberg suggests, that Christ did not call us to be boat Christians or boat potatoes or pew potatoes - he called us as he called Peter to get out of the boat and walk to him on the storm-tossed sea. And the most interesting years of my walk with Christ have been the times where I discovered the courage to get out of the boat and walk toward Christ in the midst of storms. That for me is the gospel in miniature - it is about the courage that Christ gives us to face the most dangerous situations with trust.

          But we could also use today’s gospel reading as an expression of what the Christian life is all about.

                    “I am the vine, said Jesus 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.”

          The first thing that we learn from this text is that the purpose of the church was never about cultivating us to become artificial silk flowers that look pretty but have no life to them and never grow beyond what they are. The purpose of the church is to graft us to Christ the true vine so that we come to know that deep abiding Christ in us and our life rooted in Christ. And the result of this abiding relationship is that we bear much fruit.

          So the question we might ask is this, “how does this abiding relationship form and grow and what is the fruit that grows because of this abiding relationship with Christ?”

          The very first thing that is necessary for us to grow into Christ is that we establish the root system in fertile, rich soil. Now I happen to believe that the church is intended by Christ to be that fertile, rich soil - that place where our rootedness in Christ begins to grow.

          Unfortunately there are many people outside the doors of this sanctuary who have never experienced the church as fertile, rich soil. For them the church turned out to be a parched desert. They experienced close-minded dogmatism instead of understanding, harsh judgment where they expected love and left the church in search of a more welcoming community. So we might want to ask - what are the qualities of our life together in Christ that allow for good root development?

          It begins with a warm welcome that goes beyond words and gestures. If you read my newsletter article last month you will know that welcoming means literally and figuratively making room.   What kind of message do we give to a first time visitor who is looking for a place to sit on Sunday morning and our pew happens to have no room?

          It means learning to be good friends. Ask any one of our junior or senior high youth about the importance of friendship and they will tell us everything we need to know and perhaps have forgotten. Ask them how it feels to be excluded. Ask them about cliquishness. Good friends make room in the friendship circle for new friends.

          And it means viewing one another with patient hope. Each and every one of us is a work in progress. Because we are a work in progress it is important to treat one another with patient respect, remembering that God is not finished with us yet - there is still more that God want to do and intends to do with us. And it is equally important to view our own life through the lens of hope - particularly when we are ready to give up on ourselves.

          The second thing that is necessary for us to grow into Christ is the continuous lifelong feeding, watering and nurturing of the growing root system. I sometimes think that I have covered this point so many times that you should be able to complete the sentence when I ask you what the disciplines are that grow us as disciples of Jesus. Then I turn around and see that we still have a long way to grow. This morning some of you participated in the weekly feeding of your root system by attending one of our Sunday school classes and the rest of you are still working on getting up earlier to make it to Sunday school. We study together so that we can grow together. We pray alone and we prayer together as an act of nurturing our growing relationship with Christ. We worship because worship is the place where we re-enter the water of our Baptismal calling and remember that God has claimed us by Grace for the lifelong journey of faith. The third thing that is necessary for us to grow into Christ is periodic pruning - cutting away old growth in order to make room for new growth. That pruning process may take place as we set aside old beliefs that we thought explained how God works in order to make room for new beliefs. That pruning process may be a commitment to a more simplified lifestyle where we learn to live on less of our income so that we have more to give away. That pruning process may occur in worship or bible study as the word of God cuts us like a two-edge sword, convicting us of our error and sinfulness.

          All of this is for the purpose of bearing the fruit that Christ desires to see made manifest in this community because of our rootedness in Christ. Today’s lunch celebration of our raising the money needed to build a Habitat for humanity house is but one example of that fruit. It is putting our faith into action and making it visible in the community. But there are many other fruits that grow as we grow in Christ. The greatest fruit Paul described as love - not the warm-feeling love but sacrificial love that knows no limits and loves even our enemies.

                    Jesus said “I am the vine and you are the branches - As the branch cannot bear
                    fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”