WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.140 I once heard someone say that the Bible should be understood not as humankind's book about God, 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:15.000 but as God's book about humankind. I don't know about you, but I find that really compelling. 00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:23.719 One of the things that draws me into Christian faith is the way its claims resonate so engagingly 00:00:23.719 --> 00:00:30.559 with human experience. I find that the more deeply we probe into the Bible as a whole and the teaching 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:39.019 of Jesus in particular, the more we discover about the reality of what it is to be human. 00:00:40.739 --> 00:00:43.019 C.S. Lewis famously wrote, 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:53.140 I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, 00:00:53.719 --> 00:00:59.039 but because by it I see everything else. 00:01:02.019 --> 00:01:07.359 Over these last few weeks, we've been looking at the seven I am sayings of Jesus. 00:01:07.859 --> 00:01:15.219 And in this last one, Jesus says, I am the vine. It's the only one in which he not only tells us 00:01:15.219 --> 00:01:22.739 something important about who he is, but he then goes on to spell out what we are. He says, 00:01:22.739 --> 00:01:31.259 I am the vine and you are the branches. Interestingly, when we look at the other six I am sayings of 00:01:31.259 --> 00:01:39.539 Jesus in John's gospel, in each case, we can see how in saying something about himself, Jesus also 00:01:39.539 --> 00:01:46.039 exposes something important about us as human beings. Except in all of those other sayings, 00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:54.060 he always leaves it for us to work out what that is. So for example, when he says, I am the bread of life, 00:01:54.460 --> 00:02:02.560 he's pointing us to the reality of our spiritual hunger. It's in our human nature to spend our whole 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:09.099 lives craving satisfaction. Most of the time we may not even recognize it, but often that craving is 00:02:09.099 --> 00:02:15.560 expressed through things like the quest for material possessions, financial security, or trying to find 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:24.479 fulfillment through human religious activity. But Jesus says we can only find what we really need in 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:31.840 relationship with him. When Jesus says, I am the light of the world, he reminds us that we can spend our lives 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:40.199 stumbling around in the darkness with no sense whatsoever of where we're going. We're in the dark 00:02:40.199 --> 00:02:48.060 and we need relationship with him to throw light into our lives. And when Jesus says, I am the gate, 00:02:48.180 --> 00:02:54.300 he highlights our deep longing to be able to access a sense of lasting security. 00:02:54.300 --> 00:03:02.920 When Jesus says, I am the good shepherd, we're challenged to ask ourselves just who do we look 00:03:02.920 --> 00:03:12.080 to for leadership? Who do we follow? And who do we entrust ourselves to? Because whether we're aware of it 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:20.500 or not, we do all have that mysterious tendency to be led by someone or something. If that's not God, 00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:29.060 it will be someone or something else. When Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life, he puts his 00:03:29.060 --> 00:03:37.159 finger on what is arguably the greatest and deepest reality that lurks beneath all our human angst and 00:03:37.159 --> 00:03:46.520 fear. I'm talking about death and dying. We can live our lives trying to avoid or deny that reality or by 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:52.460 employing some kind of coping strategy, but nothing will actually make it go away. 00:03:53.920 --> 00:04:02.280 And Jesus highlights that very same sense of longing for assurance and peace and direction that lies deep 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:10.800 within our souls when he says, I am the way and the truth and the life. So we can see a pattern. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:18.560 We can see that each and every time Jesus says, I am, he then points to something about what we are too. 00:04:19.879 --> 00:04:25.420 But when he says, I am the vine, it's the only occasion on which he actually spells that out 00:04:25.420 --> 00:04:31.580 explicitly what it means for us. He says, I am the vine and you are the branches. 00:04:31.579 --> 00:04:40.659 It reminds us that first and last in Christ, God tells us that faith is all about relationship with 00:04:40.659 --> 00:04:49.899 him. Whenever God in Christ says, I am, it puts the question back to us. And you are. 00:04:50.719 --> 00:04:57.259 I'm reminded of the story in Mark chapter eight, when Jesus is talking with his disciples at Caesarea 00:04:57.259 --> 00:05:03.899 Philippi, as various rumours and theories about his identity are bubbling to the surface. 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:12.379 He makes it personal and he puts it to his disciples. But what about you? Who do you say I am? 00:05:13.740 --> 00:05:21.099 You see, faith comes down to how we respond to that question. When we make a statement about who we 00:05:21.100 --> 00:05:28.520 believe Jesus is, then we make a statement about ourselves, about who we trust and about what we're 00:05:28.520 --> 00:05:39.840 choosing to live for. Think about that. Now, let's just take a few moments to ponder specifically on the 00:05:39.840 --> 00:05:46.620 imagery that Jesus presents us with when he says, I am the vine and you are the branches. 00:05:46.620 --> 00:05:58.780 I just happen to have here a branch. It's not from a vine. I don't have in a vineyard in the back 00:05:58.780 --> 00:06:06.780 garden of our mants, but that's OK. The imagery still works. Think for a moment, what would happen 00:06:06.780 --> 00:06:14.340 to this if I just held it like this for a few months or weeks or days or even just a few hours? 00:06:14.339 --> 00:06:21.579 Now, don't worry, I'm not actually going to do that. It would make for spectacularly long and not very 00:06:21.579 --> 00:06:31.459 interesting video. But what would happen if, having been separated from the plant of which this was a part, 00:06:32.019 --> 00:06:39.739 this branch was just held in the air? Would it bear any fruit? No, of course it wouldn't. I could try 00:06:39.740 --> 00:06:45.420 sellotaping some apples or bananas on or something, but it wouldn't take very long for it to wilt 00:06:45.420 --> 00:06:51.259 and then wither and then eventually slowly but completely decompose. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:59.560 That wouldn't happen straight away. For a while, if you were to just look at the leaves close up, 00:06:59.720 --> 00:07:03.439 it might not be that obvious that this branch had been cut off. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:10.600 It's still got its colour and signs of life in it. And our lives can be like that. 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:18.379 During our relatively short time in this world, we all exist, however we stand in relation to God. 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:25.439 And it's quite possible for us to go through our lifetime paying no attention whatsoever to the 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:34.560 God who has given us life. During that time, we gradually wilt and wither away. But Jesus says 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:43.480 this doesn't have to be all there is to it. We can choose to be reunited, reconnected, rerouted back 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:49.899 into the one who is the source of that life. We can abide in him. We can remain in him. We can live 00:07:49.899 --> 00:07:57.620 and grow in him. Living is about dying. That's inevitable. We're mortal beings. 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:14.599 But if we abide in Christ, dying can be living. That's his promise. Not just for this life, but forever.