Abide in the True Vine: Bearing Fruit, Reaching the World

Yet apparently, there's nothing about Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit to hold the Ethiopian back from baptism. Now while all this is going through Philip's head, a miraculous spring bubbles forth in the desert. Surprise. So even though it's the desert in the middle of the day, and even though this Ethiopian is from the end of the earth, so far as Philip was concerned, And even though Philip did not have a theology that explained what he was doing bringing this foreigner into the household of God. Philip listened to the spirit, abided in God, and Philip baptized the Ethiopian. [00:41:27] (50 seconds)  #DesertBaptism

This God has a gregarious determination to draw all things unto God's self. Don't you think it's kind of wonderful that God wanted you? By the way, have you ever noticed how relentless speaking of a relentless God. Have you ever noticed how relentless vines can be? I have. Especially things like ivy. And while we want to grow, we also have to be pruned in order to produce more lush fruit in order to flourish. It is said that in a vineyard the best grapes are produced closest to the central vine. Stay close. [00:43:34] (48 seconds)  #StayCloseToTheVine

Philip baptizes the Ethiopian, and a new family, a new nation is being constructed here by the expansive work of the Holy Spirit. Nothing keeps anyone out. Come on in. The Ethiopian goes his way with joy, and the church under the instigation of the Holy Spirit learns something about the expansive work of God. We all now know the truth about God that we are commissioned to share with the whole world. This story of Philip and the Ethiopian reveals that it is the nature of this God to reach out. [00:42:19] (38 seconds)  #SpiritExpands

And what was Philip doing but producing fruit on his desert road trip? Clearly, Luke, whose gospel tells of outsiders like a Samaritan who cares for a Jewish traveler in his time of need in chapter 10. Clearly, Luke wants to show how the gospel leaps all over boundaries and crosses barriers and goes all the way to the end of the earth, even an Ethiopian. And so in this week's reading from Acts, Luke tells of Philip being led by the spirit out to an unlikely place, the desert at noon. [00:37:02] (42 seconds)  #GospelAcrossBorders

The prophets loved to talk about the vine, but for them, it was Israel. The vine was Israel, the vine uprooted from Egypt and planted in the promised land. A vine that bears fruit to feed many, but also a vine that withers when it neglects the source of strength, when it becomes unconnected. This sounds surprisingly like what Jesus says here in this farewell discourse. Stay connected. Remember the source of strength. Bear fruit. That's what that abide in me part is all about. [00:35:04] (38 seconds)  #AbideAndBearFruit

Instead of the people being uprooted and planted by God and sometimes withering when they forget that, now the source of strength is right there with us, within us. We are connected to it. It is right there, right here. We abide in it. The people of God still produce the fruit. That is how God decided it would work. God just moved a little closer because we could use the help. Apart from God, apart from the source of strength, the vine, we can do nothing, and we have to stay close, abide, while at the same time growing, branching out, producing fruit. [00:36:18] (44 seconds)  #RootedInChrist

What changes with this New Testament passage is that instead of a nation, the vine is now a person. I am the true vine, says Jesus. Kind of startling about at that time, no doubt about it. And maybe even a little offensive. How could one man replace a nation? But look again, Jesus differentiates between vine and branches. I am the vine. You are the branches. He is simply bringing the source closer to us. [00:35:42] (35 seconds)  #IAmTheTrueVine

Remember Peter? And in the darkness we feel so alone. Again, so alone like no one understands. Like no one is on our side. Like there's just no one for us. No one. We are apart from Him and can do nothing, because we are apart. Or nothing that we can do seems worth doing. Or nothing we have done seems to amount to anything anymore. Apart from him, life is emptier. The colors are muted. The air is heavy, and gravity seems stronger apart from him. [00:49:14] (42 seconds)  #LifeWithoutHim

Because we need to be pruned. We wish it weren't so, but we do. Gardeners know this. Pruning is a it's an art form as much as a horticultural technique. Sometimes it looks like you're killing a plant or bush or whatever you're pruning, but if the pruning is done right, then the plant always comes back stronger. Always. It produces more. It flourishes. It it grows beyond where it was cut back. Pruning, I'm told, is necessary for a certain kind of plant or it will wither and die. [00:44:22] (37 seconds)  #PruningForGrowth

Because it is trying to sustain something that isn't necessary, or isn't healthy, or is a distraction from its true function of bearing fruit or flower. Step away from the metaphor for a moment and realize that pruning hurts. Cutting away what we've become attached to, no matter how unhealthy it is for us, is hard and painful. And it makes us ask that question we don't like to admit that we ask. Is it worth it? Is it worth the struggle, the pain, the self denial to live this life that Jesus offers us? [00:44:59] (40 seconds)  #PruningHurts

But then, instead, we are grafted into the vine and we receive the strength we need to bear fruit. Instead, we abide in him. We grow. We flourish. We are pruned. We reach out with our branches. It's all real. All these I am messages we see in John, I am the true vine. I am the way, the truth, the life. I am the light of the world. I am the word. I am love. Abide in me. When it seems hard, abide in me. When it is dark, abide in me. [00:49:57] (38 seconds)  #GraftedIntoTheVine

Philip only tells them a little bit about Jesus, but it's enough for the Ethiopian to get the idea that God is reaching out to him. What's to hold me back from getting baptized? Asked the Ethiopian. Well, there's actually plenty to hold him back. He's not a Jew. He's an Ethiopian. He's a eunuch. Someone all the way from Ethiopia from the ends of the earth. Of course, is, in Philip's mind, held back, prevented from baptism. He's not a Jew. He's had no instruction in the faith. He's of another race, another nationality, and he is a eunuch. [00:40:50] (37 seconds)  #BaptismForAll

Have you ever been in the desert at noon? Even here in California, in Palm Springs, in the summer? Yeah. I'd jump in my car and turn on the air conditioner. Right? Anyway, unlikely place. The desert at noon. And there, Philip will encounter an Ethiopian, a man from the ends of the earth. The story is set in motion by an angel who tells Philip to go south on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. [00:37:44] (34 seconds)  #DesertEncounter

So we know we want more. More of him, more of love, more joy. So stay close. Abide in me is the way he says it. We are learning to abide, to seek those moments when we can be in Christ's present, can soak up that word, can sing of praise and healing, loving and reconciling. We want to stay close and to grow, reach out. But how? Well, that's probably too big a question for the time we have left. But the short answer is we need to be grafted into the vine. [00:46:15] (39 seconds)  #LongingToAbide

In the Trinity, God the Father sends the Son, and the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit, and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit send the Church into the world. There you have Trinity Sunday all taken care of right there. This God insists on having the last word. Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news. A chief defining content of this good news of God is this sort of relentless reach. [00:42:57] (38 seconds)  #RelentlessGoodNews

Now by the way, Philip had just a short time before caused some trouble among the saints in Jerusalem by converting many Samaritans. Oops. Though some are troubled by a church, the church offering baptism even to Samaritans, now the spirit will move further from the church's Judean center all the way out toward an Ethiopian eunuch. The storyline will continue after the eunuch's conversation with the conversion of church enemy number one, Saul. That spectacularly unexpected lurch outward by the spirit leads to the baptism in Acts 11 of a Gentile centurion. Okay. Back to our story. [00:38:18] (52 seconds)  #SpiritMovesOutward

Of course, sometimes when the glow dies down and the new outlook looks a lot like the old looks and takes just as much effort to hold onto, if not more, our disillusionment grows and we look for someone to blame, a scapegoat who must be at fault for the rotten life we've been given. We lash out. We cast aside that which only recently seemed so full of possibility and hope, and now tastes like ashes instead of bread and wine. And we turn our backs on the one we wept over, and we flee in fear and shame and doubt. [00:48:40] (34 seconds)  #WhenFaithFades

To enjoy this abundance that he wants to pour down on us? Is it the fruit we bear, this commandment to love God and neighbor with equal amounts of passion and service? Is that worth the effort it takes to bear it? No. Jesus said so. I have said these things to you that my joy might be in you and that your joy may be complete. He says it is more than worth it, and we have chosen to trust him. And the moments of real joy that we have experienced in life are always caught up in loving and being loved. [00:45:39] (36 seconds)  #JoyCompleteInLove

That's what Jesus says. That's what God says. Abide in me as I abide in you. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. Let us abide, grow, flourish, and branch out. Amen. Amen. [00:50:35] (25 seconds)  #AbideAndFlourish