Remain in me, the true vine!

As you drive around Rockwall County and the surrounding areas in Texas, there are still signs of the severe winter storm from a few months ago. The clearest signs are the trees and shrubs that are brown. It is spring time and you expect to see all the plants and tree full of green leaves, flowers and even fruit beginning to form, but for those plants that did not survive there is only brown, dry death. There is nothing you can do about those plants that did not survive; they are ready for the trash pile. Unless, you have a firepit, in which case you may have some trimmings that could be used to cook s’mores.

As you would have driven around in your chariot in the city of Philippi, there were signs of a severe lack of believers in God. Philippi was a Roman colony, meaning they were free to self-govern and did not have to pay tribute to Rome. Many of its residents had served in the Roman army and it enjoyed a spot on the Roman road linking Rome with Eastern trade. All of these worldly benefits made Philippi appear as a thriving city, but when Paul and his other missionary companions went there to share the message of Jesus, they could not follow their regular pattern. Philippi had no synagogue, which is where Paul usually went as he entered a city hoping to share Jesus first with the Jews giving them the good news that their long-awaited Messiah had come to save them. Instead, Paul waited for the Sabbath day when believers would gather, and he went outside the city to the river where he shared the message of Jesus with women who gathered there. And we read in Acts 16 that, 14 “One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” By God’s grace, Paul and his fellow missionaries saw the Word of God connect a worshipper of God to her Savior.

Jesus illustrated what it means when someone like Lydia is connected to him in John 15. The night Jesus was arrested, while he was eating the Passover meal with his disciples, John records the long dialogue between Jesus and his disciples. John’s record of this is unique from the other three gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. The words of John 15, fall into this last will and testament of Jesus, and are rich with encouragement. The phrase Jesus expanded on in John 15 is, 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches.” He went on to explain that he is the vine and believers are the branches. Jesus made it clear how vital it is for his followers to remain connected to him. Without a connection or losing the connection to Jesus, he explained, 6 “If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” His point stretched beyond the upper room in Jerusalem speaking with his closest disciples and was also written for each of you. If you do not remain connected to Jesus, your faith will not last. When you do not remain connected to worship or other believers to face your sinful nature, the sinful world and the devil alone, you are in for a terrible fight. When you avoid reading and hearing God’s Word from the Bible itself, and fill up on others opinions on the Bible, God, religion or life, then you may not be connecting to the real Jesus. When you avoid how serious your sins are so that you do not repent or have any Spirit driven desire to stop sinning, then you face this future Jesus spoke of in John 15, 2 “He [the Father] cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.” When you stubbornly suppose that you know what God wants you to do with your life, and avoid checking your plans with Scripture, then you are in danger of walking right into the fire and burning in hell. Jesus’ point to his disciples the last time they were together before his death and resurrection was to remain in him or you are dead.

 Jesus left the disciples with every reason that they would not be dead, but alive. Jesus said, 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches.” Whether or not the branches lived depended on the vine. And, when the disciples saw Jesus risen, when Jesus opened their minds to remember how often he told them he would die and rise, and when he allowed them to believe from Scripture that all of this would happen, they had peace. When Jesus appeared to the disciples on the first Easter and a week later, he said in John 20, 19 “Peace be with you!” Jesus had given them this promise of peace that night he was speaking with them during the Passover meal. Before our reading from John 15, Jesus spoke these words in John 14, 27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” The disciples and you have peace because Jesus rose from the dead. He is the vine that cannot remain dead. He is the vine that lives. And you are connected to him. You will die and rise just like Jesus. You will go on to live with Jesus forever in heaven with sins forgiven and the fear of death left behind.

There is no middle ground when you remain in the vine. When you remain in Jesus, you have the forgiveness of sins meaning any time you confess your sins to God, your sins are forgiven because Jesus paid for them on the cross. When you remain in Jesus, you will be raised to life because Jesus rose from the dead. When you remain in Jesus, you have eternal life with him in heaven. When you remain in Jesus, you will produce fruit as Jesus said in John 15, 2 … “every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” Jesus produces fruit through you. At times, it may not feel that way because there is pruning going on. God does allow there to be hardship in your life, all of which is the result of sin, whether yours or someone else’s, but those moments are times to remain in Jesus, not run from him.

Often, you and I do not realize that the best form of worshipping God is having joy in receiving everything from him. Often, the best fruit God produces in you is to simply stop trying, fighting, working, arguing, performing, rationalizing, explaining, searching, etc. and open the Word of God to hear all he has done for you. The same John who wrote the gospel of John was also given three letters to write, and in 1 John 3, he wrote, 18 “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” As you remain in Jesus, his love pours out of you not in flashy hashtags from social media, witty catch phrases from a tv series or empty promises spoken to get our way in relationships personal or professional, but with love to one another. Remain in Jesus and love remains in all you do. After God opened Lydia’s heart to trust in Jesus as her Savior, we continue to hear what was done for her in Acts 16, 15 “When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay at my house.’ And she persuaded us.” Lydia remained in her Savior Jesus. After she was baptized, the new life she had being connected to her Savior showed itself. It was not a great speech or grandiose display. Instead, it was welcoming those who shared Jesus with her into her home to care for their simplest of needs; food, shelter and the company of loving friends in Christ.

As you drive around Rockwall County and the surrounding areas in Texas, there are still signs of the severe winter storm from a few months ago. The clearest signs are the brown verses green trees and shrubs. As you drive around your community, there are also signs that people are not connected to the vine. You were like Lydia and someone like Paul shared the good news of Jesus with you. Share Jesus with the branches that need the life, forgiveness, peace and love Jesus fills you with each day. As you drive home today, give thanks to God for your resurrected Savior Jesus who loved you so much that he died and rose to save you. Remaining in Jesus means you have life. God bless you with a life of peace and love as you remain in Jesus, the true vine. Amen.