The Shepherd’s Voice

Readings for Sunday, May 10^th
Acts 8:26-40
Ps 22:25-31
1Jn 4:7-21
Jn 15:1-8

The Shepherd’s Voice – Sermon Audio

Jesus said, “I am the vine, and my father is the vinegrower.” In our culture today we likely don’t appreciate this agricultural reference. In Jesus era this was a much more significant statement that people could relate to, they lived it, so it made sense.

In fact, in Jewish literature Israel was sometimes portrayed as a vineyard (Is 5:7), or less frequently as a vine (Ps 80:8; Hos 10:1), and God as the vinegrower. When I was growing up on the farm we used to have a grape vine growing around a fence at the end of our yard. As a child I always wanted to see big bunches of grapes growing on this large vine, but it never happened. My folks weren’t into making wine so I guess there was no incentive for them to do what needs to be done regularly to grow grapes. They were not vinedressers.

They did not prune the vine, nor did they fertilize it, in fact they never even watered it. When we look at our own life and the analogy that Jesus uses shouldn’t we expect the same? No nurturing, no watering, and no pruning leads to a vine or person that does not produce fruit for the kingdom. Or if fruit is produced it is woody, tasteless, and ultimately inedible.

There are three important principles for life we can learn from this Gospel story:

1. Apart from God, separated from a relationship with the vine, we can do nothing.
2. Withered branches, withered lives are cause for alarm, they both end up in the fire.
3. God’s love is perfected in us when we love one another and when we tap into the vine.

I. Separated from God, from a relationship with the vine, Jesus Christ, we are nothing. Jesus said a branch cannot bare fruit on its own without the vine as a base.

If we look at our Gospel lesson this week we see lots of law. In our Lutheranism 101 class we have been talking about law and Gospel, the difference between them and why it’s important to know the difference. Law is tough as nails, it demands we live a certain way. Gospel is full of promise, full of hope, but this gospel lesson is full of law.

But I thought Jesus was all about love, about not hurting anyone’s feelings, about everybody being saved. As Lutherans we embrace scripture, we encourage the study of scripture, but we must recognize when we read scripture we read it through the lens of law and gospel. This is how God has chosen to deal with us as a people. There are many historical precedents here.

In our Gospel today we see sections where the law demands and threatens; on the other hand we also see where the Gospel forgives and promises. In this passage we can see that Jesus is not always a warm and fuzzy bundle of love, Jesus is a truth teller, but do we want to hear it?

Perhaps some of you remember a few years back there was a movie called “A Few Good Men” where Jack Nicholson is playing a Colonel in a trial where he is defending some actions of his men that were very controversial. He told the prosecuting attorney that his men had to do what was necessary to protect and defend their post and accomplish the mission. The battle was rough, the men were challenged, they had to make decisions that would not be popular, but they were the right decisions. The prosecutor keeps pushing him for the truth again and again and finally Jack tells the attorney “you can’t handle the truth.” At times as a Pastor we come across scripture where I feel the same way. The battle is rough, making the right decisions about life is hard, Jesus the truth teller says apart from the vine you can do nothing.

II. Withered branches, and withered lives will be tossed into the fire. Can you handle that truth? Our Gospel text is all about life, about life on a farm, about life in the city, about life today, about your life and my life.

Jesus says when we are not connected, when we lose touch with the Lord of all life, we suffer, we whither like a branch cut away from the trunk. Jesus says a branch cannot bear fruit by itself. But I thought being a solitary Christian was just fine. Show me a solitary Christian, a loner, a person who says I can do it on my own and I’ll show you a self-centered, withering branch that will end up in the fire for all eternity. God has created us a beings needing relationships.

Jesus doesn’t make it complicated for us. For our second principle about life Jesus says, “Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers” I said this passage was full of law, statements that threaten, that use terminology like if-then. If you do this here’s the result, if you don’t do this here’s the result. The law confronts, it challenges……

A very zealous soul-winning young preacher recently came upon a farmer working in his field. Being concerned about the farmer’s soul the preacher asked the man, “Are you laboring in the vineyard of the Lord my good man?”

Not even looking at the preacher and continuing his work the farmer replied, “Naw, these are soybeans.”

“You don’t understand,” said the preacher. “Are you Christian?”

With the same amount of interest as his previous answer the farmer said, “Nope my name is Jones. You’d be lookin for Jim Christian I recon; he lives a mile south of here.”

The young determined preacher tried again asking the farmer, “Are you lost?”

“Naw! I’ve lived here all my life, son” answered the farmer.

The frustrated preacher now asked even more concerned “Are you prepared for the resurrection?”

This caught the farmer’s attention and the farmer asked, “When’s it gonna be?”

Thinking he had accomplished something the young preacher replied, “It could be today, tomorrow, or perhaps even the next day.” Taking a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiping his brow, the farmer remarked, “Well, don’t mention it to my wife. She don’t get out much and she’ll wanna go all three days.”

Our second principle is all about the resurrection. Are you ready or are you withering? We must stay connected to the vine to be ready.

III. God’s love is perfected in us, when we love God and one another. Jesus promised, “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.” Here is some gospel, God’s promise for us.
In our second reading from (1Jn 4:7) We read, “let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” I think people who care for children know this better than most of us. I ran across this statement written by a mom…..

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but have not love, I am a noisy housekeeper–not a homemaker. If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have not love, my children will learn cleanliness – not godliness. Love leaves the dust in search of a child’s laugh. Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window. Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk. Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys. Love is present through the trials. Love may reprimand, may reprove, but it’s always responsive. Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child, and then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood giving them wings to fly. Love is the key that opens salvation’s message to a child’s heart. Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection. Now my glory is God’s perfection I see in my child.
As a mother, there is much I must teach my child, but the greatest these is love.

God’s love is perfected in us when we love God and love one another as we tap into the vine, which is Christ. (1Jn 4:12) Mothers, caretakers, even teachers know this truth they live this truth.

Jesus has given us some advice and a promise to accomplish this tremendous responsibility. He said “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” This is a Gospel moment, a Gospel promise. Do we believe that promise today? If we do we must pray hard, tap into the vine, which is Christ!

1. Apart from God, from the vine, from Christ, we can do nothing.
2. Withered branches, withered lives are cause for alarm.
3. God’s love is perfected in us when we stay connected with the vine.

Today we experienced a baptism. Baptism is not just plain water, but it is water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word. Command and promise, Law and gospel.

Baptism is efficacious, it works because it connects us to the resurrected Christ. Paul explained this in his letter to the Romans: (Rom 6:3-5) Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

To be baptized is to die, with Christ, and rise again like Christ. Parents and sponsors – remember this and live it out in what you do, not only in your own life, but in Zoe’s life as well.

Tap into the vine, without it we can do nothing, but whither and die. But with it, with the water of life received in baptism we can all live connected to the vine for all eternity.

Amen

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