And so much joy this morning. Let's just take a moment and praise God and thank Him. Lord, thank you. Thank you for the joy of being together this morning. The joy of worshiping you, of being gathered together as your people. Lord, would you come? Would you rest on us? Would you pour your spirit out on us?
Not my words, but your words, Lord. Come Holy Spirit. Amen.
Mary Mitchell Slessor was a missionary to Nigeria. She was born in Scotland and grew up in a poor family with an alcoholic father.
But despite her dark childhood, her mother had this really strong faith. And she became a Christian at a young age. She talked about how her mother's faith in the church was a ray of light for her, despite the pain of what she was going through.
By the time she was 14, her father and two brothers had died. And she worked 12-hour days to care for her family, to bring an income for her mother and two younger sisters.
Because of her work, she wasn't really able to be educated. She had some schooling here and there, but she managed to teach herself how to read.
And the things she loved to read the most were her mother's monthly missionary magazines.
This was like a thing in the mid-1800s in Scotland, in the Presbyterian Church. There was like missionary monthly.
And Mary loved these magazines.
And so she decided she was like, I want to share the gospel.
I want to talk about Jesus with people.
So she started out by doing that in her neighborhood, by teaching Sunday school through the church.
But eventually, she felt this call to go to Nigeria as a missionary, as a single woman in the 1870s.
And once she got there, the thing that was really remarkable about Mary Slessor is that she didn't live in a missionary compound.
That was pretty typical of the time, that the missionaries kind of lived apart from the people they were doing ministry among.
But she decided to embed herself with the people and lived life with them day in and day out.
She adopted their culture, their dress, their food.
She learned their language.
And there had been many male missionaries killed in this area.
The people that she was ministering to were known for being really violent.
But she was able to go into this place and minister because she was a woman.
And because she was so deeply abiding with these people, they recognized her as a friend and confidant.
She was able to start speaking boldly against tribal religious practices that involved human sacrifice and infanticide.
Several tribes in this area practiced infanticide of twins because they believed that twins were offspring of demonic spirits.
So when twins were born, they would be abandoned and the mothers would be ostracized or killed.
Over the course of her ministry, Mary adopted these children and saved hundreds of them from death.
Placing them in various mission compounds throughout Nigeria.
But she adopted eight children and raised them herself as a single mother.
And the people she lived with recognized her presence as so remarkable that she was eventually named vice consul of the court in Okoyang where she lived.
And I think Mary's story takes this idea that we read about this morning in John 15 of abiding and bearing lasting fruit and flushes it out really beautifully.
So as we look at this passage together, we're going to look at three main actions that Jesus talks about.
We're going to talk about this concept of grafting, being grafted into the vine, abiding in the vine, and bearing fruit.
First, we're going to talk about grafting.
And a big part of this grafting is the vine analogy.
Verse 1, Jesus says,
So why this analogy of the vine?
Well, because in the Old Testament, Israel is the vine planted by the Lord.
There are several passages that talk about this.
But almost all of them also refer to Israel as a vine that was rotten.
That her fruit was wild.
That the vine was out of control.
Ezekiel 15 lines up really well with what we read this morning.
Let me just read this quickly.
Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says.
As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire,
so will I treat my people living in Jerusalem.
I will set my face against them.
Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them.
And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the Lord.
I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful.
It's safe to say that Israel the vine was in bad shape.
She was desolate and burned and exiled because of her rebellion and her apostasy and sin.
But this is the framework that Jesus is using when he starts talking about himself being the vine.
I am the true vine, he says.
There are two implications here.
Jesus is the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets.
By saying he is the true vine, he's not only stopping Israel's downward slide and wildness,
he's reversing it so that all creation can be restored.
And throughout the Gospels, we see him doing this.
The places where sin and disease and death and decay are reigning,
Jesus came and he corrected those things.
Jesus triumphs where Israel failed.
And secondly, when Jesus says,
if anyone abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit,
this is an offer that's available to all people, not just the Jews.
All people, all of us,
now have the opportunity to be grafted into Jesus,
to be attached to him as the vine,
to be branches, to abide,
and to bear good fruit.
So the second part of grafting is how.
How do we get grafted onto the vine?
How do we become branches?
And the answer is all throughout John's Gospel.
We respond to Jesus' words.
We believe in him.
We receive him.
And he gives us the right to become children of God.
And this is what he means when he tells the disciples in verse 3,
already you are clean because of the word I've spoken to you.
The disciples have been grafted in
because they've responded to Jesus as the word of God,
not because they're Jewish
or because of any merit or skill set of their own.
In fact, you guys, the disciples were not,
they were not the best and the brightest.
If you've read the Gospels, you know this, right?
It's almost tragicomic sometimes
when you're reading the Gospels
and you're just thinking,
wow, how did you miss this, right?
But it's all of us.
And if you're going to choose people
to be the representative for a religion,
these guys really made no sense.
But that's something that really sets Christianity apart, y'all.
Every other religion has some sort of merit piece built in.
You do certain works.
You behave a certain way.
That makes you worthy of salvation.
You level up.
But with Christianity,
salvation rests on the worth and merit of Jesus Christ.
Our salvation isn't based on our quality,
but the quality of our Savior.
So let's move from grafting to the second action here,
abiding.
Abiding.
John uses this Greek word for abiding,
meno,
11 times in this passage.
So that's a good one to look into.
And what he means here by this word
is really kind of multi-layered.
Abiding means that Jesus dwells intimately with us.
He makes his home in us
and we make our home in him.
There's a two-way relationship there.
And this intimate dwelling,
this homemaking,
is what enables us to endure,
to persevere,
to continue,
to rest in him in our faith.
That's the other part of abiding.
And the beauty of Jesus' incarnation
was that he showed us what this looked like
in his relationship with the Father.
He even tells us,
everything the Father has given me,
I give to you.
You can almost hear him in this passage
responding to questions that might come up.
Like,
Jesus,
how am I supposed to love you
and keep your commands?
How do I do this?
And he says,
just as I have loved my Father
and kept his commands,
I've shown you the way,
right?
And he sends his Holy Spirit
to work
to make all of this possible in us,
to help us remember
all that he said,
to guide us into all truth.
Now, I think a lot of us have questions, right?
We're thinking,
how do we learn to distinguish God's voice
from just all the other clamor, right?
That's a great question.
We think,
is that me or is that God?
I want to hear from God.
And friends,
I think a lot of learning to hear God,
to abide in him,
means assuming a posture,
a posture of humility
and submission and attentiveness
that recognizes we are branches
dependent on the vine
for our entire life.
So do we expect to hear from God?
Do we want to hear from God?
Do we have conversations with God?
In my own life,
I would say the days
where I feel most attentive to the Lord
are the days
where I wake up in the morning
in a posture of prayer,
where I wake up
and I immediately recognize
I'm totally dependent on you, Lord.
Would you teach me today to abide?
Would I hear with your ears
and see with your eyes?
Would I know your heart and your mind?
And then throughout the day,
we can kind of check in with him, right?
We can,
as things come up,
what do you think about that, Lord?
What do you think about this situation?
How can you love this person through me?
What does this mean?
And he wants to be known.
He wants to talk to us.
He wants to be part of this with us.
And this is something
that we're going to continue
to just talk about
more and more
at Church of the Advent.
Just this ongoing relationship
and hearing from the Holy Spirit.
Now, as part of this concept
of grafting and abiding,
we also have to talk about verse six.
These challenging verses
that say we can be thrown away and burned.
This is one of those verses
in the Gospels
where you're going along
and like maybe you're starting
to feel some warm fuzzies
about Jesus
and then all of a sudden
it's like, right?
It's like a record scratch.
If anyone does not abide in me,
he's thrown away like a branch
and withers
and the branches are gathered,
thrown into the fire
and burned.
And, I mean, it says it.
And the thing is,
the disciples probably
would have felt less jarred by this.
And John's Jewish readers
would have felt less jarred by this
because they would have connected
what Jesus is saying here
with that passage in Ezekiel
and some of these other
Old Testament passages
that they were steeped in.
And by making this clear connection,
again, Jesus is underscoring this fact.
I learned this term,
foot stomping.
He's helping his disciples
and other Jews understand
that belief in him
grafts them in,
not their status as Jews.
And this was an important point
to make to people
that had always assumed like,
oh, being Jewish means that
I'm in, right?
So like we said earlier,
Jesus is expanding the status
of his chosen people to everyone,
not just Jews.
But I think there's an additional
explanation here for us
that we need to,
that we really need to consider,
hinging on those two words,
if anyone.
So he says that a couple times,
if anyone abides in me, right?
He also says,
if anyone does not abide in me, right?
So just as Jesus is offering
salvation to all,
he's also being really clear
that he's the only way.
Remember, Christianity
is exclusive in its savior,
but it's inclusive
in its salvation.
All are invited,
but not everyone
receives the offer.
And then there are also some
who do receive it initially,
but then they fall away.
Like Jesus says
in the parable of the sower,
they receive the word with joy,
but then the cares of the world
choke it, right?
They don't persevere.
And I think this is
an important point
about abiding.
Abiding doesn't only mean
a one-time decision.
It means an ongoing posture,
like we said,
of persevering in the faith,
continuing in the teachings
of Jesus and the apostles,
and remembering
that everything he said is true.
And Paul says this so beautifully
in Colossians 2.
Therefore,
as you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord,
so walk in him,
rooted and built up in him,
and established in the faith,
just as you were taught,
abounding in thanksgiving.
Okay, so what does abiding
look like practically for us?
You can't just sit there saying,
abide, abide.
Okay, now abide harder, right?
It doesn't work that way.
But this is where we,
as Anglicans,
have some beautiful tools
to help us abide.
We have the Book of Common Prayer,
full of Scripture-based liturgy
that helps embed the Word of God
deep into us
as we recite the creeds
and we say the collects
and prayers together,
day after day,
week after week.
And we have the sacraments,
especially the Eucharist.
Friends,
it's no accident
that this whole conversation
came on the same night
Jesus instituted the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is a tangible means
of grace
that fuses the spiritual
and the physical.
And this is why we come to church
each week with excitement,
knowing that when we come
to the Lord's table,
we are encountering
the risen Christ there.
And the church fathers
considered the Eucharist
central to life in Christ.
One of my favorite Eucharist quotes
is by Irenaeus.
Just as the bread
is transformed spiritually
by the prayers of the Eucharist,
so are our bodies transformed
when they receive communion.
And all of this leads us
to our last point.
We know that we are connected
to the vine and abiding in Christ
when we bear lasting fruit.
That's the transformation.
And all of that
comes through the Spirit.
Let's consider three aspects
of bearing fruit.
First,
what does fruit look like?
Fruit looks like transformed lives
and communities.
It looks like that transformation
that Irenaeus wrote about.
We see all throughout
the Gospels and Epistles
in the New Testament
that the clearest marker of faith,
of abiding love,
of abiding in the love of Christ
is measurable fruit.
Individuals and communities
transformed
in the love of Christ,
marked by love and joy
and peace and patience,
kindness, goodness,
gentleness,
self-control,
compassion,
courage,
faith,
and hope.
And one of the things
we've been praying about
and talking about
as a staff at Church of the Advent,
and I know many of you
are sharing in this prayer with us,
is that our church community
would be a community
marked by that transformation
and that we would be able
to work on behalf
of the common good
of everyone around us,
whether they share our faith or not.
We just heard
from Travis and T.R. Barnwell
this morning,
missionaries to Thailand,
and they're doing this
in a community
that's largely Buddhist
in Chiang Mai.
What does it look like
for us to do this?
We want,
if our church
were to suddenly
cease to exist in D.C.,
that the city would be,
that people would notice
that there would be a loss,
that there would be a grief
because of that,
because we're a community
marked by Christ's love.
And coming back
to Mary Slessor,
there were many instances
where people didn't
actually believe
and receive,
she didn't have
a noticeable convert necessarily,
but they loved her
because Jesus worked
so tangibly through her.
In fact,
she was called
everybody's mother.
They called her Ma.
And as branches
connected to the vine,
Jesus works through us
in the same way
to care for our friends,
our workplaces,
our neighborhoods.
And let me just emphasize again
that abiding in Christ
comes ahead of these things,
trying to do these things
without abiding.
It's like putting
cut flowers in a vase.
It might look okay
for a little while,
but eventually
they wither and they die.
And that's what it means
to try to do these works
apart from Christ.
It becomes a kind of striving,
of white knuckling.
The speaker on our clergy retreat
last week
that Thomas and I were at,
Steve Nicholson,
said,
if we're ever going
to make it to the end,
we have to stop
trying to make things happen.
God is the one
who makes things happen.
And this illustrates
our second point
about bearing fruit.
Ultimately,
God is the one
who determines
the amount
and kind of fruit
we bear.
He's the vine dresser.
We don't look around
at other people
and what they're doing
to determine
the measure
and value
of our fruit
because our value
rests in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And honestly,
this fruit
most clearly glorifies God
when it's something
we could never
do on our own.
It's like Paul writes
to the Corinthians,
I resolved to know nothing
while I was with you
except Jesus Christ
and him crucified.
I came to you
in weakness
with great fear
and trembling.
My message
and my preaching
were not with wise
and persuasive words
but with a demonstration
of the Spirit's power
so that your faith
might not rest
on human wisdom
but on God's power.
Y'all,
we don't want to be,
we don't want people
saying,
oh, you're so great.
Like, Hillary,
you're so great.
Like, no,
we want people saying
Jesus Christ is great.
We want the fruit
to point people
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ.
Again,
Mary Slessor
in this violent region,
she often
was in danger
of death
but people started
noticing her wisdom
because of the Holy Spirit
and they would call her
into these conflicts
and she would pray
for the peace of Christ
as she entered in
and she would say,
Lord,
this task
is impossible
for me
but not for thee.
and again and again
the Lord used her.
Third and lastly,
bearing fruit
requires pruning
and pruning hurts.
In a physical vineyard,
pruning is done
for three reasons.
To protect against disease,
to allow branches
to bear more fruit
and to help produce
the greatest quality
of fruit.
And I think this is true
for us metaphorically too.
I think we tend
to think of pruning
when we read this passage
as like,
oh,
these are some
maybe not great behaviors
that the Lord
is asking me to give up.
And it can be that.
But like I said,
in a physical vineyard,
it can also mean
pruning good fruit.
It might mean
some good things
in our lives
get pruned too
because God
in his goodness
knows how he wants
to use us.
He's a good
and loving
vine dresser.
And as Jesus
went back to the Father,
as he was resurrected
and ascended
back to the Father,
we are the means
that he works through
to bear fruit.
And sometimes
the pruning feels
like a measured process.
It's like a little clip here,
a little clip there.
You know,
we think it's like
kind of gentle,
maybe.
And we think
we're listening
to the Lord's invitation.
We're approaching work
or relationships
or school differently.
And that's true.
That's true sometimes.
But there's another way
that branches get pruned.
And sometimes
that's by disaster.
Sometimes that's
by a hailstorm,
lightning,
drought,
storms.
But an experienced
vine dresser
knows how to use
those things
for the good
of the vine.
And it's the same way
in our lives.
these big things
that happen.
Death,
maybe a cancer diagnosis,
betrayal,
infertility,
unwanted singleness,
failed marriage.
This is when we want
to scream at God, right?
We want to say,
this isn't pruning.
This feels like
an amputation.
And friends,
I want you to hear me
on this.
God does not
will suffering
to happen to you,
but he can wield it
for our good
and for his glory.
He can wield it
because he's the
master vine dresser,
because he loves us
and he's for us.
And he wants,
he wants people to know
that we're his disciples.
He wants to bring
glory to himself.
He uses big
and small things
to refine
and strengthen us.
Another way
we could think about
this kind of pruning
is the concept
of the fiery trial
that Peter writes
about in his letters.
He writes that
these trials
prove the tested
genuineness
of our faith.
More precious
than gold
that perishes
though it is tested
by fire
may be found
to result
in praise
and glory
and honor
at the revelation
of Jesus Christ.
Again,
we want people
to see not us
but Jesus.
Yet not I
but through Christ
and me.
We sing that.
And that happens
through this pruning process.
What I haven't told you yet
about Mary Schlesser
was that when she arrived
in Nigeria,
she was 28
and she almost
immediately
contracted malaria.
and she ministered
with regular bouts
of fever
from malaria
for 40 years.
By the end of her life
she was so weak
that she had to be pushed
from village
to village
in a cart.
But she abided
in Christ.
She continued the work
that God had called her
to do.
And hundreds
of men
and women
and children
were saved
physically
and spiritually
as she ministered
both in word
and indeed.
And I can say
that the hardest things
in my life
and I know probably
a lot of you
resonate with this
the times when
I have cried out
to the Lord
for mercy
and I have begged
for him
to make it stop
have also been
the times
when I've learned
what abiding means.
Because those times
have a way
of loosening our hold
on the things
that we familiarly use.
Right?
The familiar means
of comfort
and they bring us
into deeper places
of oneness
with Christ.
When we're weak
and we have no choice
but to depend on him
weakness is the way.
Philosopher
Nicholas Wolterstorff
wrote a memoir
about his 25 year old son's
death in a mountain
climbing accident.
It's called
Lament for a Son.
If you haven't read it
it's a beautiful
exploration of grief.
And he writes
suffering is the shout
of no
by one's whole existence
to that over which
one suffers.
The shout of no
by nerves
and gut
and gland
and heart
to pain
to death
to injustice
to depression
to hunger
to humiliation
to bondage
to abandonment.
and sometimes
when the cry
is intense
there emerges
a radiance
which elsewhere
seldom appears.
A glow
of courage
of love
of insight
of selflessness
of faith.
And in that radiance
we see best
what humanity
was meant to be.
This radiance
is what it means
to bear fruit
for God's kingdom.
It means to be
the person
he created you
to be
his disciple
to be radiant
!
with his glory
and to know
the completeness
of his joy
as Jesus says
in verse 11.
Let's bring this
to a close
with three final
thoughts.
If you're hearing
this
and you're realizing
I'm actually
not connected
to Jesus
I've never been
grafted into the vine
but I want to be
you can pray
right where you're
sitting
Lord Jesus
I turn my life
over to you
please graft me in
would you come
abide in me
help me abide
in you
and if you do this
or if you have
questions
about it
Pastor Thomas
and I would love
love love
to talk to you
after this service.
If you have
already received
Christ
if you're grafted
into the vine
what would it
look like
for you to
abide more
deeply
in him?
Remember
abiding is a
posture
it's an orientation
it's a participation
in the life
of Christ
it's not
checking boxes
and like I said
I gave you
a couple
things about
the book
of common
prayer
and I just
want to
reemphasize
the Eucharist
I want to
reemphasize
coming and
receiving the
life of the
Lord at his
table
that's abiding
it looks like
patterning our
lives after
Jesus
remember he
showed us
how to do
this
and y'all
it looks like
praying audacious
prayers
because
in verse 7
Jesus says
if you abide
in me
and my
words
abide
in you
ask
whatever
you
wish
and it
will
be
done
for you
so that
means we
can know
the heart
and mind
of Christ
as we
abide in
him
so that
means we
ask what
do you want
me to pray
for
Lord
what do
you see
and then we
pray in agreement
with him
no matter how
big and
unlikely the
request might
seem
remember
what's
impossible
for me
is not
impossible
for thee
and when
we abide
in Christ
a natural
result
is that we
more easily
and naturally
abide with
others
ask the
Lord
as part
of this
audacious
prayer
as you
abide in
me
and I
in you
who are
you calling
me
to abide
with
lastly
if you're
in a season
of pruning
consider
what if
the hardest
thing
in your
life
is the
thing
that God
could use
to produce
the most
fruit for
his kingdom
and friends
I'm not
saying this
lightly
I know
that some
of you
guys
are being
really
pruned
and it
hurts
and it's
hard
I know
and Jesus
knows
if you're
suffering
know that
Jesus sees
you
he
loves
you
he
suffers
with
you
that he
suffered
for
you
but also
know this
that suffering
with him
and for him
is also a
part of
abiding
and that as
we share
in his
suffering
we also
share
in his
joy
his true
complete
and lasting
joy
abide in
him
friends
let's pray
lord thank you
that we are
connected to
you
that you
are the
vine
and that we
are the
branches
would our
posture be
one
of joyful
submission
to you
thank you
that you
are always
working
for our
good
and for
your glory
lord thank you
that you
are mighty
that you
are good
and that you
are powerful
and that you
can do more
than we can
ask or think
or imagine
we love
you
and if
there's
anybody
here
who does
not
personally
know you
lord I
pray that
you would
reveal yourself
to these
people
that they
would receive
you
that they
would trust
you with
their lives
we pray
these things
in the name
of the
father
and the
son
and the
holy
spirit
amen