Bearing much fruit - 5/2/2021
Call to worship:
L: Come and sit with me; we shall study the Word.
P: Together we shall read and understand.
L:Come and kneel with me; we shall break the bread.
P: Together we shall eat and be satisfied.
L: Come and walk with me; we shall part the waters.
A: Together we shall risk, and, behold, we shall be changed.
Opening Hymn: I Need Thee Every Hour #397
1. I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
no tender voice like thine can peace afford.
Refrain:
I need thee, O I need thee;
every hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.
2. I need thee every hour; stay thou nearby;
temptations lose their power when thou art nigh.
(Refrain)
3. I need thee every hour, in joy or pain;
come quickly and abide, or life is vain.
(Refrain)
4. I need thee every hour; teach me thy will;
and thy rich promises in me fulfill.
(Refrain)
5. I need thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me thine indeed, thou blessed Son.
(Refrain)
Opening Prayer:
O Lord of the broken chain, the peoples of your earth seek their freedom. We kneel in the night, breathless runaways, breathing the silent prayer of the preyed upon.
O God of the North Star, we shall not be able to find our way unless someone guides us. Bend to us and lift our chins, and point our eyes to the brilliant light in the sky, that we may have a beacon upon which to fix our hopes. We have dared to stumble away from slave row, but unless you lead us, Lord, we can go no further.
Epistle Reading: 1 John 4: 7-21
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
Hymn: Bread of the World #624
1. Bread of the world in mercy broken,
wine of the soul in mercy shed,
by whom the words of life were spoken,
and in whose death our sins are dead:
2. Look on the heart by sorrow broken,
look on the tears by sinners shed;
and be thy feast to us the token
that by thy grace our souls are fed.
Prayer of Dedication:
O God, in the beginning you created heaven and earth. And, one day, as you walked upon the land, you came upon a very fertile hill and imagined there a vineyard purple with grapes. So with your own hands you dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; long you tended it and looked for it to yield its fruit, but it yielded only wild grapes.
Your pleasant planting turned bitter and rebelled against you. You could have become angry. You could have left us unprotected. You could have left us. But you have continued to love us, your creation, for all of eternity. And because you first loved us, even when we were unlovable, we return that love with all our heart and soul. Amen.
Gospel Reading: John 15: 1-8
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide 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. 5 I 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. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
Sermon Title: Bearing much fruit
“I am the true vine .” This statement from Jesus is the last of the “I am” sayings that he utters in order that his followers might know not only who he is, but also what he is and why he is here. And then he goes on to use the central metaphor of the vine and the branches. He tells the disciples that he is the vine and God is the vine grower and we are the branches on the vine. This solid imagery to show us that if we are separated from Jesus; and without Father God, we are just branches that wither in the sun and are gathered into a pile to be burned.
Now to be frank and honest, there are those who believe this to be some sort of threat. That the pruning that needs to be done on the branches is a punishment. These people do not know God, for God is love; were he not love, he would never have sent his Son to earth to ultimately die on a cross just to save us. When we know God in our hearts and Jesus as the Savior of our eternal souls, then it is understood why the pruning is necessary.
I remember as a child when I would get into trouble, which was way too often, that my parents loved me enough to punish me. They wanted me to know the difference between right and wrong and what happens when you do wrong. They didn’t enjoy punishing me any more than God enjoys seeing us meet the ramifications of our actions. The truth is, though, that these lessons must be learned.
Jesus goes much further than just letting us learn our lessons. In verses seven and eight, he gives us hope as well as reason to do right; to be righteous in our thoughts and actions. “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
Don’t be fooled into thinking that God is a genie in a bottle, though, because that is certainly not the case. When we abide in Him and we live by His words and instructions, then we are more than likely not going to be wishing for a mine full of diamonds. Rather, when we are with Christ and endeavor to live the way that he would have us live, then our “wishes” turn into prayers for our brothers and sisters, our neighbors whom we are directed to love, and even the occasional stranger and a person that we don’t really care for.
When we abide in Christ and His words abide with us, then we are extremely motivated to bear much fruit. And I’m not talking about apples and oranges. Nope, our “vitamin C” comes from Jesus the Christ and will give us all the nourishment we need to live like Christ, even in a world that does not know Him well. Our boost comes from Jesus himself and he will give us the strength, the talents, and the courage to tell the Good News to all we see. We will be the fruit-filled branches that are bearing much fruit. Amen.
1. Come, sinners, to the gospel feast, let every soul be Jesus' guest. Ye need not one be left behind, for God hath bid all humankind.
2. Do not begin to make excuse; ah! do not you his grace refuse; your worldly cares and pleasures leave, and take what Jesus hath to give.
3. Come and partake the gospel feast, be saved from sin, in Jesus rest; O taste the goodness of our God, and eat his flesh and drink his blood.
4. See him set forth before your eyes; behold the bleeding sacrifice; his offered love make haste to embrace, and freely now be saved by grace.
5. Ye who believe his record true shall sup with him and he with you; come to the feast, be saved from sin, for Jesus waits to take you in.
