Rev. Matthew Versemann Trinity Lutheran Church Decatur, Illinois
5th Sunday @ Easter May 2nd, 2021
“The Vine-Branch Relationship” Christ Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed! Hallelujah!
Hear the Word of God from John 15,
“Jesus said, ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser…..I AM the vine; YOU ARE the branches. If (anyone) remains in Me, and I in Him, he will bear much fruit. 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.”
DEAR FRIENDS IN CHRIST,
Which one of these best represents your life spiritually: A living, vibrant, fruitful branch, a withering and fruitless branch, or a totally dead branch? Jesus said, “I AM the vine, YOU ARE the branches.” So those who are grafted into Jesus, ARE living branches, whether you were grafted into Jesus by the Word or Baptism. Romans 6, ‘We have been united with Christ by baptism, into His death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too may live in newness of life.” You may be living vibrantly in the vine/branch relationship that is yours’ in Jesus, being nourished regularly with the Good News of Christ’s forgiveness; or you may be living against that vine/branch relationship, by letting your sin have its’ way with you, but if you are grafted into Jesus, you are a living branch! And if you are baptized and believe, you are grafted into Jesus. The only other option is that one is a dead branch, because of their disconnecting sin, or refusal to be nourished by the vine. And that’s the theme of our message today.
As a result, Jesus tells the branches – that’s us, folks - “Keep on abiding in Me, and I will keep on abiding in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine.” Notice, there’s a danger here - even for living branches? If you cut off a branch from the vine, what happens? It withers and dies. Why? It’s separated from the life of the Vine. And without the life of the vine flowing into it, the branch has no life, no fruit, and no purpose, except to be thrown into the fire. The only hope for such a branch is, if, BEFORE it’s completely dead, a vinedresser grafts that good-as-dead branch back into the living vine. That’s why Jesus said, “My Father is the vinedresser.” But if a dying branch isn’t grafted into the living vine, there’s no chance for it to survive.
Jesus said, “I AM the vine. YOU ARE the branches.” Since Jesus is Risen and living, we branches are risen and living. But there is a problem. We still have sin in us, and if we let that sin have its’ way with us, it will sever us from our life-giving vine, Jesus. Isaiah 59, “Your sins will sever you from your God.” When you and I choose to sin, it’s as though we get out a pruning saw, or chainsaw, and begin cutting ourselves off, little by little, sin by sin, from our saving vine, Jesus. Why do we do it? The fake vines of this world are so alluring. And like Adam and Eve, they deceive us with the fake fruit of endless pleasure, and with the fake promise of no consequences, but it’s all a deadly lie. Yet, because those fake vines promise us life or pleasure, we bite: an illicit sexual relationship, the idolatry of looking for real life in the sports’ god, the pleasure god, the belly god, the money god, the popularity god, the pornography god; the don’t-make-my-family-members-mad-at-me-by-telling-them-they-need-Jesus god. But the key is: they’re all fake vines. They can’t give you real and lasting life. But once we taste of the pleasures of those sinful vines, then another sin follows close behind? Like Adam and Eve we hide from God in the bushes. We start cutting ourselves off from our life-giving Vine, Jesus, by skipping worship and Bible study, because we don’t want to hear that the sins we love will sever us from Jesus. Why? We love the pleasure of sin, more than we love the life of our saving vine, Jesus! But this is actually the long, dusty road to becoming withering and lifeless branches that have no value left in them except to be thrown into fire.
So what should we do? Repent! Turn away from looking for life and love in all the fake vines of sin; and return to your sin-forgiving, death-conquering, devil-defeating, life-giving vine, Jesus, Who gives life not only to withering and dying branches, but can even raise severed and dead branches back to life. Sinful and withering branches need more than just a 20 minute sermon once a week. When is the last time you really drank deeply of the life-giving nourishment of your vine, Jesus? You will never find a greater joy than when you study God’s Word, and discover in ways you never imagined, never heard, and never dreamed of, how much God loves, forgives, and restores, dying and dead branches. It’s time to come back to Bible study, branches; and permit the life-giving nourishment of your saving vine, Jesus Christ, to flow into you fully, freely, lavishly and lovingly. It is restorative! You won’t be asked to answer questions. You won’t be asked to read. But you will receive the nourishment and restoration you need from your saving vine, Jesus.
Maybe we really don’t believe that our sin could ever detach us from Christ. As a pastor for 30 years – this July - one of the things I’ve noticed, is that those who worship the least, are often the first to say: “Oh, don’t worry about me pastor, I’m strong in my faith”; while those who worship and attend Bible study the most quickly admit: “I’m weak in my
faith, and I have GOT to hear God’s Word, remember my Baptism, and receive the
Lord’s Supper, or I’m lost.’ When Luther visited those who stopped worshiping, and they
told Luther ‘Brother Luther, don’t worry about me. I’m strong in my faith!’ Luther’s response was, “Well and good, the strong do not need to hear their forgiveness. But we
who are beset by our sins on a daily basis, need to daily hear our forgiveness, lest we forget our forgiveness, and lose our Savior.” And then, if they still insisted they didn’t
need to worship because they were strong in their faith, Luther told them, ‘You’re a fool!’ For God says in Hebrews 10, “If we deliberately keep on sinning, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins remains, but only a fearful expectation of judgment, and of raging fire, that will consume the enemies of God.”
Certainly we all have plenty of excuses why we don’t need the vine, why we don’t want the vine, why we don’t have time for the vine, or why we’re not bearing fruit for the vine; but what good are excuses, if the end result is that we sever ourselves from the only vine, Who can give us life? Jesus said, “My Father cuts off every branch that bears no fruit …….and those branches are thrown into the fire.” Let me ask you: ‘What fire do you
think Jesus is referring to?’
But our heavenly Father loves us branches so much, that He had Jesus die and rise again, because He knew that Jesus’ death over our sins, and His resurrection over our death, were able to give life to dying and dead branches. However, since the Father loves us this much, He’s not going to let you sever yourself from Jesus without a fight. If you and I are living in sins that will sever us from Jesus, PREPARE TO BE PRUNTED! And while pruning is good for the branches, it’s painful. IF the Father needs to cut off the death-dealing sins in our lives, He’ll do it. But since we love our sins so much, God’s pruning hurts. We will either face the little hurt of turning from our sins in repentance now; or the greater pain, of giving God no other option but to use suffering to prune our sins away. When you prune a grape vine it’s not a pretty sight. After the pruning all that’s left are a few short stubs, with a couple of buds. But that’s how the vine gives life to the branches.
Many times we wonder: ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ ‘Why is God
permitting the pain I’m going through?’ ‘Why does He allow people to lose house and health, jobs and joys?’ Are you ready for the answer: ‘The Father cuts off every branch
that bears no fruit.” When everything’s going great in our lives, we often take our eyes off of Jesus, forget our Savior, and stray into sin. And when everything’s going great in our lives, we conclude God must not have a problem with my sins. As a result, we leave God with no other option, but to use suffering in our lives, to lead us to repent and cling to the only saving vine we have, Jesus. Often times, it isn’t until we’ve experienced suffering, that we rediscover that real life, love, peace, and joy are only found in Jesus.
Dr John Kleinig wrote in His book ‘Grace Upon Grace’ ‘God will often let us face
sufferings we cannot solve, to teach us the art of returning to Him.” God’s goal is to
prune away everything in our lives that’s getting in the way of Jesus, our Savior; or that’s getting in the way of our bearing the fruit that will bring the forgiveness, life and
salvation of Christ’s blood to a world of lost and dying branches. As God does His pruning in our lives, remember: when you suffer, as a Christian, you are being pruned, but NOT condemned. Romans 8:1 says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” But God is doing His pruning so that our sins don’t sever us from Jesus completely, and we end up condemned with all the dead branches on the last day.
Now, when we’re being pruned by God – and all of us need that pruning, because we all sin - there’s a critical point in your pruning, in which you will either draw closer to God, as your only hope; or hate Him for His pruning. But rather than shake your fist at God, remember as He prunes you, that His cross reveals in no uncertain terms how much He loves you, and wants you to live. Turn back to the healing forgiveness of YOUR vine, Jesus. Treasure the wood of Christ’s cross, and the blood He shed on it, that heals you; and cling, more than ever before, to the resurrection of Jesus, knowing that His cross and empty tomb are your victory and never-ending life that God’s pruning is pointing you back to, for He’s come to love you and not to condemn, and He offers a pardon of peace. If you return to His mercy, you will receive, the greatest forgiveness, the greatest release.
And then, when we have a healthy, and well-fed vine/branch relationship with Jesus – wonderful things will happen in your life. Jesus’ forgiving blood, and His conquering of our death, reinvigorates and revitalizes us, to live our lives for Him. You don’t have to squeeze good fruit out of yourself. Jesus’ forgiveness and salvation will produce good fruit through you. Out of Jesus’ righteousness covering you; out of His innocent suffering and death forgiving you; out of His open and empty tomb raising you; and out of Baptism grafting you into your forgiving and Risen Savior, YOU ARE fruitful branches. The life of the vine, Jesus is in you. It’s yours’! So what should you expect? Jesus said, “I am the vine, YOU ARE the branches. If a person remains in Me, he will bear much fruit.”
However, if we cut ourselves off from the Vine, if we sin against our baptism, if we stop hearing our forgiveness; if we refuse the life of His body and blood, if we stop receiving our resurrection from death to life in Jesus, why should we surprised when our lives are lifeless, withered, fruitless, and dead? This isn’t rocket science folks. If we cut ourselves off from God’s ‘be-of-good-cheer-your-sins-are-forgiven’ Word, His “Baptism now saves you” Water, and His “for the forgiveness of your sins” Supper, it’s like taking a chainsaw or pruning shears to our relationship with Jesus. And it’s all so unnecessary. Jesus said, “I AM the vine! YOU ARE the branches!...And, in Me, you may have life….and life abundantly.”
So don’t blame God if your life is lifeless, withered, fruitless, and dead. It’s not His fault. The problem is we’re severing ourselves from our saving Vine, Jesus, either by living in our disconnecting sins, or by refusing the saving nourishment of our vine, Jesus. We need more nutrition in our life, and for our faith, than just a 20 minute sermon once a week, or once a month. If you only fed yourself literal food once a week or once a month, people would say you have an eating disorder. May God rescue us from the disordered eating of His Word and Supper. Jesus has given us everything necessary for vibrant, reinvigorated lives that bear sweet fruit for Jesus and the world. You cannot find any other life-giving, sin-forgiving, death-defying, fruit-producing vine, than Jesus in this world. 2nd Corin. 5, “Christ died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves alone, but for Him who died for them, and was raised to life again!” Colossians 1, “God made peace with us, through Christ’s blood, shed on the cross.” John 5, “Whoever believes in Me already has eternal life, and will not be condemned. He has already crossed over from death unto life.”
That Good News is restorative and life-giving. And it regrafts us to our saving Vine, Jesus. And it is that Good News, for the Branches, that is being given out continually in the vineyard of Christ’s church, including Trinity. The needed pruning of sin is
