Stay Connected

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, November 14, 2021.  The Bible verses used are John 15:1-8.

            Jesus is trying to explain to his disciples how faith works.  He uses the analogy, which some of us have heard many times, of the vine and the branches.  If you cut a branch off from the vine, it will eventually wither and die.  If the branch stays connected to the vine, it will grow and thrive and bear fruit.  

            Jesus then goes on to say that He is the vine, and that His disciples--which includes you and me--are the branches.  As long as we stay connected to Jesus, we will grow and thrive and bear fruit, the way we’re supposed to.  If we somehow get cutoff from Jesus, or if we break away by ourselves, we will eventually wither and die.  Jesus goes on to say, “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

            And if our purpose today was just to learn Jesus’ message in these verses, we could stop right there.  Because there it is.  There are times when Jesus’ message seems unclear, when we’re not totally sure what Jesus is saying, but this is not one of those times.  Jesus says it very plainly and simply.  Remain with Jesus, and our faith will bear much fruit.  Go away from Jesus, and we will accomplish nothing for the Lord.  If our goal was just to understand what Jesus was saying, we could end the sermon here, say a prayer, sing our closing hymn, and be done.

            But the thing is, our goal is not just to understand what Jesus is saying.  Our goal is to live the way Jesus wants us to live.  So here’s the question:  if we know what Jesus is saying, if we know that the key to it is to stay connected to Jesus, why does it seem like it can be so hard to actually do that?

            Now, maybe for you it’s not.  I cannot claim to speak for everyone.  But I think for at least some of us it can be hard.  We know we should be connected to Jesus.  We know we need to be connected to Jesus.  And yet, sometimes, we don’t feel like we are connected to Jesus.  Why not?

            Well, there can be lots of reasons.  Sometimes we just get caught up in the busy-ness of everyday life.  We have jobs, we have family obligations, we have community obligations, we have lots of things going on in our lives.  And sometimes, without meaning to, we allow Jesus to get crowded out.  We don’t make a conscious decision to stop making time for Jesus.  It just happens.  And before we know it, we don’t feel connected to Jesus anymore.

            Sometimes, when we don’t feel connected to Jesus, it’s because we feel like He’s let us down.  We prayed for something, and we did not get what we prayed for.  And we look at it, and we feel like what we prayed for was good.  It was reasonable.  In fact, it seems like it would have been a wonderful thing, not just for ourselves but for lots of people.  We cannot see a downside to it.  Yet, it did not happen.  And we don’t understand why not.  So, we feel like Jesus is ignoring us.  We feel disconnected from Jesus.

            And of course, sometimes we don’t feel connected to Jesus because we just don’t want to do what Jesus told us to do.  We’ve talked about this before, but some of the things Jesus told us to do are hard things.  Loving our enemies.  Going the extra mile for people.  There are all kinds of things Jesus told us to do that are not easy to do.  It’s a lot easier to not do them, and so we don’t.  But when we make that decision to not do what Jesus told us to do, the chances are that we’re going to feel disconnected from Jesus.

            There are other reasons, too, of course.  We could go on and on with them.  But the question is, when we feel disconnected from Jesus, what can we do about it?

            That’s the question, but the chances are you already know the answers.  They’re the same answers we’ve gone through any number of times.  Pray.  Spend some time with Jesus.  Open our hearts to Jesus.  Ask for forgiveness for the times we’ve drifted away.  Ask God to take us back, to give us a second chance.  Ask for God’s help in taking advantage of that second chance.  Ask for God’s Holy Spirit to be poured out onto us, to come into our hearts and into our souls.

            In listing those things, I know I have not given you any brilliant insights.  You probably know those things as well as I do, maybe better.  We know how to get back to feeling connected to Jesus again.  But there’s that question again.  If we know what to do, why does it seem like it’s so hard for us to do it?

            Again, maybe for you it’s not.  I don’t claim to speak for you.  But again, for at least some of us it can be hard.  Why?

            Well, let’s think about Jesus statement again.  He is the vine, and we are the branches.  Jesus is the one from whom we get all of our power, all of our strength, all of our life.  We can do nothing without Him.

            When we sit here in church, and we hear that, we probably nod our heads.  Yes, that’s right.  It all comes from Jesus.  Without Jesus, we can do nothing.

            But then we leave here, and we start making all kinds of decisions.  Big ones and small ones.  What we’re going to do.  How we’re going to spend our time.  Who we’re going to spend our time with.  How we’re going to spend our money.  We make these and any number of other decisions every single day of our lives.  

            How many times, as we make those decisions, to we stop to consult Jesus about them?  How many times, as we make the decisions that affect our lives, do we ask Jesus what we should do?

            For many of us, probably not that often.  For some of us, maybe never.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not suggesting that we should ask Jesus what we should have for lunch today--although, when you think about it, that certainly would not be a bad thing to do.  And maybe, when we know we have a major decision to make, we do ask the Lord about it.  But how often do we ask the Lord about our day-to-day decisions?  How often do we invite Jesus to be part of our everyday lives?  Again, for many of us, it’s probably not very often, if ever.

            We say we believe what Jesus said.  We say we believe that apart from Him, we can do nothing.  But what makes this so hard is that, a lot of times, we really don’t want to turn control of our lives over to Jesus.  We want to keep control of our lives for ourselves.

            And that’s what can lead us to become disconnected from Jesus.  Instead of being the branch, receiving what we need from the vine, there are a lot of times when you and I want to be the vine.  There are a lot of times when you and I want to be the ones in charge.  We want to be the ones directing the branches, making them grow the way we want to.  And in fact, sometimes, we want Jesus to be one of the branches, instead of the vine.  We want to direct Jesus on what to do and how to grow, rather than letting Jesus direct us.

            You see, that’s the thing about being a branch--it takes humility.  It means trusting the vine to provide what we need, rather than trying to provide it for ourselves.  It means growing the way the vine wants us to grow, rather than just going our own way.  It means allowing the vine--Jesus--to be in control of what we do and where we go, rather than going our own way.  And that can be really hard for we arrogant, self-centered human beings to do.

It can be hard--but it’s worth it.  Because Jesus--our vine--knows so much more than we do.  Jesus--our vine--is so much better than we are.  Jesus--our vine--sees so much farther into the future than we ever can.  You and I like to think we know best, but there are so many times when we don’t.  The Lord always knows best.  Every time.

            Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing.  If we want to do something--do something for the Lord, do something for our neighbors, do something for ourselves--we need to stay connected to the vine.  We need to be content to being a branch, letting Jesus nurture us in the way we should go and trusting Jesus to help us become what we’re supposed to become.

            Being a branch is not always easy.  Staying connected to Jesus is not always easy.  It takes time.  It takes commitment.  It takes humility.  But it’s worth it.  Because if we stay connected to Jesus, Jesus will show us how to live our best life.  He’ll show us how to live a fruitful life.  He’ll show us how to live the life we are meant to live.

            Jesus is the true vine.  If we stay connected to Jesus, we will be the people Jesus wants us to be.