Text:\u00a0 John 15: 1-8<\/p>\n
It\u2019s so simple.\u00a0 Even a child can tell you.\u00a0 You put a piece of bread in your toaster.\u00a0 Nothing happens.\u00a0 No heat, no toast. Nothing.<\/p>\n
You go to make a call on your house phone.\u00a0 You put it to your ear, nothing.\u00a0 The phone is dead.\u00a0 What\u2019s wrong?\u00a0 What should you check?\u00a0 First, check the connection.\u00a0 Your toaster, your phone needs to stay connected to function, to do any good.<\/p>\n
Jesus teaches us that about us, his people.\u00a0 No, we are not toasters.\u00a0 We are like branches connected to a vine.\u00a0 And Jesus is like that vine.\u00a0 He is like a vine that gives life to its branches.<\/p>\n
But the life Jesus gives is so much more than water and nutrients flowing into us.\u00a0 From Jesus comes a life that changes us.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to get your arms around it.\u00a0 But think about this life. \u00a0We were mortal dying sinners without God and without hope. But in baptism we were united with Christ like braches grafted to a vine. His death for our sins and his resurrection to life became ours.\u00a0 In Christ, we live and not just for this short life-time, but always.\u00a0 We see death all around us but we know.\u00a0 In Christ, we live and will not really die.<\/p>\n
But that life in Christ brings another change in us.\u00a0 Not all at once.\u00a0 More gradually like the branch that grows over time.\u00a0 John describes it so simply.\u00a0 We love, because he first loved us.<\/span>\u00a0 Not some warm fuzzy feeling.\u00a0 But a love for God that wants to give glory to him by our lives.\u00a0 And a love for others.\u00a0 A love that cares, that helps and serves not because we can get something back, but because Christ\u2019s life is flowing into us.\u00a0 \u00a0So this is where Jesus is taking us this morning.\u00a0 You and I need to stay connected.<\/p>\n STAY CONNECTED TO THE LIFE-GIVING VINE<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was Maundy Thursday, the night before Jesus\u2019 death.\u00a0 It\u2019s likely Jesus and his disciples were making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane.\u00a0 The upper room was behind them.\u00a0 Judas Iscariot was gone to betray him.\u00a0 As they made their way they would pass some vineyards like we often do.\u00a0 Think about those vineyards.\u00a0 Or better yet think of one single grape vine.<\/p>\n The Gardner has planted that vine.\u00a0 He\u2019s watered and fertilized it.\u00a0 He\u2019s expended much time and effort on it.\u00a0 Now he examines the branches.\u00a0 What is he doing?\u00a0 He\u2019s looking for fruit.\u00a0 The fruit of his efforts.<\/p>\n I am the true vine and my Father is the Gardner<\/span>.\u00a0 Our Father in heaven is no different than that gardener examining the branches on the vine. He has planted a life giving vine.\u00a0 He has given his own dear Son to live, to bleed, to die for each of us.\u00a0 To cry out from that cross, It is finished. Every sin is paid for. Then he came out of the grave with life and hope for us all.\u00a0 And sometime during your life the Holy Spirit came to you in the Gospel and grafted you into Jesus, that life-giving vine. Now the Gardener looks for fruit.\u00a0 The Father looks for the fruit of his grace in our lives.<\/p>\n What fruit?\u00a0 It\u2019s the good things we do or the evil things we refuse to do out of faith and love for God.\u00a0 Sometimes those things are remarkable.\u00a0 The man who quietly supported the family of a man who lost his job.\u00a0 The Christian who confesses Christ in the face of his ISIS killers.\u00a0\u00a0 But more often than not they are everyday acts of kindness and faith towards those around us.\u00a0 I think of the faithful efforts of mothers and fathers to bring up their children in the Lord.\u00a0 I think of the faithful employee who can be counted on to give his employers a good day\u2019s work.\u00a0 I think of the Christian who takes the time to visit the sick and shut-in.\u00a0 I think of the Christian who uses the opportunity to speak of Jesus and give the reason for his hope. These are the natural fruit of being connected to Christ.<\/p>\n So the Gardener looks for fruit.\u00a0 But some branches are fruitless.\u00a0 They are like that branch lying at the foot of some trees.\u00a0 People who may say oh yes, I believe in God.\u00a0 Maybe they even make it to some church on occasion.\u00a0 But there is no fruit.\u00a0 \u00a0No life in Christ.\u00a0 For there is no real connection with the life giving Vine.\u00a0 Here Jesus words paint a tragic picture:\u00a0 6 <\/sup>If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned<\/span>.<\/p>\n So you can see why a pastor might pick this text for a Confirmation Sunday.\u00a0 The pastor has led a group of young people to know their God and Savior in this precious Word.\u00a0 He has prayed that the Spirit strengthen their connection to Jesus and help them remain in him in a world that pulls us away.\u00a0 But Jesus words line up with more than Confirmation Sunday.\u00a0 They speak to us right now wherever we are in our lives.\u00a0 Remain in me and I will remain in you.\u00a0 <\/span>Stay connected to the life giving Vine and Jesus promises.\u00a0 You will bear much fruit.\u00a0 <\/strong>5 <\/sup>\u201cI 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<\/span>.<\/p>\n Please don\u2019t misunderstand what our Savior says to us.\u00a0 Don\u2019t come away from this sermon thinking:\u00a0 I\u2019ve got to get busy doing more things for the Lord.<\/em>\u00a0 This is not an order. \u00a0It\u2019s a promise.\u00a0 Stay closely connected to Jesus and you will bear much fruit.<\/strong><\/p>\n A couple came to a Bible instruction class.\u00a0 They were living together outside of marriage.\u00a0 But the pastor did not jump up and down and demand they move out.\u00a0 Rather he let the Word work.\u00a0 He let the fruit grow as Jesus touched their hearts.<\/p>\n One day, they said to the pastor, we can\u2019t live like this anymore.<\/em>\u00a0 We\u2019re going to get married and while we wait, we are going to live apart.<\/em>\u00a0 That\u2019s fruit.\u00a0 The fruit of being connected to the life giving vine.<\/p>\n And Jesus points the way.\u00a0 \u00a0Remain in me and my Words.\u00a0 <\/span>Twice he speaks of his Word.\u00a0 That\u2019s how we stay connected.\u00a0 That\u2019s what points the way.\u00a0 That\u2019s what makes us clean before God.\u00a0 His Word that invites us to believe in him.\u00a0 His Word, the Good news of a perfect life, an innocent death for us all.\u00a0 The good news that Christ is risen.\u00a0 Our sins are forgiven and heaven is our home.\u00a0 Be in His Word.\u00a0 Stay connected to the life giving Vine and you will bear much fruit.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 People looking for a job sometimes tell me.\u00a0 You need to get good networking. Get to know people. Who can help you and who is willing.\u00a0 It\u2019s very important.\u00a0\u00a0 Your connections.\u00a0 In Jesus, you couldn\u2019t have better connections.\u00a0 Think about it.\u00a0 Connected to Him by faith, you can come into throne room of the King of kings and know.\u00a0 Your prayers will bring blessed results.<\/strong><\/p>\n Listen. 7 <\/sup>If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you<\/span>.\u00a0 Yes, you heard right.\u00a0 Jesus said, ask whatever you wish.<\/em><\/p>\n Now that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s time for me to put in for that big new sail boat.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t mean I can now ask the Lord give that nasty neighbor a black eye and four flat tires.\u00a0 For what are we going to ask for when we are closely connected to Jesus?\u00a0 Remember what Jesus taught us to pray?\u00a0 Thy will be done.<\/span>\u00a0 We are going to ask for those things that line up with his Word and his will for our lives.\u00a0 That\u2019s the best answer to our prayers.\u00a0 When the Father who loved us so much he gave us his Son, the Father, does what he thinks is best.<\/p>\n And praise God for that very thing this past week.\u00a0 A young wife and mother named Rosie got the results of her biopsy.\u00a0 A tumor had been removed and we waited and prayed, waited and prayed some more.\u00a0 The tumor was benign.\u00a0 Yet what can we know even if the answer was different.\u00a0 Even then our God can and does make all things work for our good.\u00a0 Even the things that bring tears to our eyes.<\/p>\n So stay connected to Jesus.\u00a0 Stay connected and ask away.\u00a0 Ask away and know this.\u00a0 Your prayers will bring blessed results.<\/strong><\/p>\n God wants us to share our faith.\u00a0 But sometimes we can\u2019t even get a hearing.\u00a0 What we say is dismissed by an unbelieving world.\u00a0 But people cannot ignore the lives we lead.\u00a0 It was said about the early Christians, look how they love one another<\/em>.\u00a0 A world watched as Christian men in orange jumpsuits called on the Lord Jesus when following him brought their death.\u00a0 People cannot ignore the lives we lead.\u00a0 They cannot ignore that kindness.\u00a0 They cannot ignore that willingness to forgive.<\/p>\n So think about it.\u00a0 Every child reflects on his or her parents.\u00a0 Many a parent has suffered disgrace because of what his child did.\u00a0 But then there are those times when a parent can\u2019t be much prouder.\u00a0 I think of a time one of my children returned a large sum of money he found.<\/p>\n Well if we call ourselves Christians, our lives can\u2019t help but say something about Jesus to the people around us.\u00a0 What do our lives say?\u00a0 Do they something good or something else about our Savior? I heard a story.\u00a0 A police officer pulled someone over. \u00a0License and registration.\u00a0 What is it officer?\u00a0 I saw you at the red light yell at that person in the car next to you.\u00a0 I thought for a minute maybe this car is stolen, given what the bumper sticker says:\u00a0 Jesus is Lord.<\/em>\u00a0 Ouch!<\/p>\n Stay close to Jesus.\u00a0 Stay close and your life will look different.\u00a0 Not perfect.\u00a0 Not even close.\u00a0 But different. Your life will make the Lord look good to others.<\/strong> \u00a08 <\/sup>This is to my Father\u2019s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.<\/span><\/p>\n And it all comes down to something so simple.\u00a0 Even a child can tell you.\u00a0 We need to be connected, closely connected to our Savior.\u00a0 Remain in me and I will remain in you.<\/span>\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text:\u00a0 John 15: 1-8 It\u2019s so simple.\u00a0 Even a child can tell you.\u00a0 You put a piece of bread in your toaster.\u00a0 Nothing happens.\u00a0 No heat, no toast. Nothing. You go to make a call on your house phone.\u00a0 You put it to your ear, nothing.\u00a0 The phone is dead.\u00a0 What\u2019s wrong?\u00a0 What should you check?\u00a0 First, check the connection.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":604,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions\/604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}