Second of Two Sermons
on John 15
MOTHERS DAY
©Thomas B. Cundiff
Psalm 96
1O sing to the Lord a new song; sing
to the Lord, all the earth.
2Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
3Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works
among all the peoples.
4For great is the Lord, and greatly
to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.
5For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
6Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are
in his sanctuary.
7Ascribe to the Lord, O families of
the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
8Ascribe to the Lord the glory due
his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9Worship the Lord in holy splendor;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10Say among the nations, “The Lord is
king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge
the peoples with equity.”
11Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the
sea roar, and all that fills it;
12let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all
the trees of the forest sing for joy
13before the Lord; for he is coming,
for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with
righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.
John
15
1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2He removes
every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he
prunes£ to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed£ by the
word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the
branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can
you unless you abide in me. 5I am the
vine, you are the branches. Those
who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do
nothing. 6Whoever does not abide in
me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered,
thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in
you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is
glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
9As the Father has
loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments,
you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and
abide in his love.
11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your
joy may be complete. 12“This is my
commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater
love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends
if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants£ any longer, because
the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you
friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my
Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and
bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you
ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one
another.
I. ABIDE IN ME – MOTHER’S DAY
I was
conflicted in choosing this hymn, Abide
with Me. It’s a tough hymn on a day,
Mother’s Day, that already evokes a host of emotions. This hymn has been sung at the solemn, deepest,
lowest -- darkest moments in life; perhaps saying goodbye to a loved one (a
mother) who has died. This being ‘Mother’s
Day’, I think about my mother (Helen Gregory Cundiff) and Nancy
“I need thy presence,
every passing hour….(vs 1)
Abide with Me,
is classified in our hymnal an evening hymn that talks of the sun going down,
the ending of the day – and hope for the
new day to come -- always evoking
the presence of God as night turns into day.
This is also a hope-filed hymn affirming God is not only with us but in
and about us -- “Oh Lord Abide with Me!”–and
because “Abide” means “Remain”--“Oh Lord,
Remain with Me!”
While
this is a day to honor our mothers and motherhood, this is also a day of
remembrance from where we have come – our mothers who literally carried us in
the womb; birthing us; nurturing and
giving us life; supporting us throughout life.
II. FROM LAST SUNDAY
In
continuing the sermon from last Sunday based on John 15 with a focus on verse 5:
“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who
abide (remain) in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you
can do nothing.”
A summary
of the points I made last week: In God’s
vineyard of life with Jesus as the vine, we are all connected as branches in
the Body of Christ.
Each of us has an important, unique place on the
vine. We don’t just look at the vine and
say – that’s a neat vine! We are the
branches. The vine is us -- connected with
God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Each of us has responsibilities to nurture each branch
of life -- through family and friends and church, God has entrusted us the care
of this vineyard.
Each of us personally and collectively, has a
bond with Jesus Christ, known to us through baptism.
Question: From where do we get the nutrients
required to grow as branches in this precious vineyard God has entrusted our
care?
In
searching this scripture for an answer to this question I found this verse 9
that says:
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.
Perhaps the
answer to what gives us nourishment, flowing through our veins as branches in
the vineyard of our Lord? L O V E – LOVE!.
The
gospel of John talks about love all the time.
Everything we do in our lives and this church emerges from the richness
of God’s love for us that moves through us to touch the lives of others around
us. It is our calling to deliver,
through our veins, the love of God with care and compassion in deliberate and
affirming ways. There are a lot of
recipients of our love – pretty much everyone we encounter in life has the
potential of receiving some love from us.
Consider
this Eugene Paterson interpretation of this scripture, verses 9 and 10, words
from Jesus, found in his translation in the bible called The Message. Jesus says:
“I’ve loved you the way my father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain
intimately at home in my love. That’s
what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.
But what
happens if the flow of LOVE ceases to move in and through us? Well nutrients don’t get to the
branches! We cease to grow. The fruit of our endeavors cease
growing. The branches wither and are
pruned away.
It is so
important to work at keeping love flowing in and through us – in every context,
with every breath we take, within every contact or relationship – and John suggests
at least one way we keep this love flowing --
in keeping the commandments of our Lord.
IV. COMMANDMENTS
Again from verse 10: If you keep my commandments, you will abide
(remain) in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide (remain)
in his love…
As I have shared with you in the past in preaching on the Ten Commandments,
there are two groupings of commandments.
The first four commandments deal with our relationship with God….
1. Worship
no god but me
2. Do
not make for yourself graven images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the
water under the earth
3. Do
not use my name for evil purposes
4. Observe
the Sabbath and keep it holy
The last six commandments have to do with our relationship with
others.
5. Respect
your father and your mother
6. Do
not commit murder
7. Do
not commit adultery
8. Do
not steal
9. Do
not accuse anyone falsely
10. Do not desire another ones house or spouse or
slaves or animals, or anything he/she owns.
Next to these commandments is Jesus’ summary of the law, a good
way to keep love flowing through our veins…..
You are to love the lord your God with all your heart and mind and
soul, and your neighbor as yourself.
As love flows in and through us, this love also flows toward God….and
beyond God to other branches within the vine.
Other nutrients, combined with love, are dispersed to those around
us. What are some of the other
nutrients? Perhaps worship and prayer
and study of scripture – knowledge of God working in our lives – are all
nutrients flowing through our veins.
Another vital nutrient….one that is required in order for us to
live: God’s Spirit flowing in the air we
breathe all around us! What vine doesn’t
need nutrients flowing through the veins, air and sun!
V.
But let’s
do a reality check. Life is not perfect. Every
vine and every branch at some time or another will encounter a storm….or some
kind of mishap that will damage the vine.
Some of the more severe storms may tear branches completely off the
vine. Others may be severely
wounded. Some branches, a bit more
mature and fragile, are easily broken.
In reality all sorts of things happen to us as we grow in this vinyard of life. While this scripture can lead us into a pleasant, comfortable conversation about love, , we know tragic things happen……one of our members falls and breaks a hip; or has a heart attack; or receives a diagnosis of cancer. Life in Christ is not perfect. There will be MESSY days in our lives – which by the way reminds us that Jesus also had his fair share of struggles…..messy days.
From an unknown author….“We have seen the way God loved Jesus. He was pushed out of the comfortable confines of heaven down onto earth where, as a baby, Herod tried to kill him, then God sends him into the wilderness for 40 days under assault by the devil trying to get his claws into him, then God loved him by pressing him into conflict with the super pious and with violent bureaucrats who plotted to put an end to him, and the Father loved him by encircling him with friends who were total knuckleheads—yes, his disciples! Jesus disciples never "got" what he was about, and they ran for the exits when Jesus could have used a few friends. How did the Father love Jesus? Peril at every turn, demons to be cast out, the sick pulling on him, crowds pressing, a woman yanking the hem of his garment, no roof over his head, and then the worst conceivable end...his death on the cross.”.
Life for Jesus was messy. Life is messy for all of us. But the EASTER message? God never abandoned Jesus raising him in glory to experience eternal life….jsut as God never abandons us promising us eternal life.
Jesus is the vine….going through everything we go through in our lives. God continues to abide, remain in and all around us.
VI.
Finally
(and don’t you love that word when I am preaching J) It is a pure joy for me
in serving this church as pastor; to share in daily conversations with you on a
host of topics; to learn of all the valuable ways you share God’s love with
others.
It is
wonderful to be alive….on such a beautiful day.
Mother’s day.
We are
blessed to have our mothers – some who are looking upon us from the
heavens. We are reminded today of the gentle
yet firm parenting from our mothers that has made it possible to be here today. Some of this gentle yet firm parenting has
come from God as well.
So again,
happy Mother’s Day.
May God
continue to abide (remain) in you, and you in him – with God our father binding
us together and building us up in love…..each and every day.
