St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church – Watertown, WI
Pastor Mark Gartner
Sermon for November 25^th, 2001

John 15:1-8
¹"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

How many of you were born with a "green thumb?" How many of you know when to plant things at the right time and know when to water and how much fertilizer to put on the plant? How many of you when you grow tomatoes, grow the biggest and juiciest tomatoes around and grow the plants that bear lots of tomatoes? How many of you really know the trick to pruning your plants and bushes so that they will grow back bigger and stronger the next year? I have to admit that I don’t have much of a "green thumb", and I don’t know that much about pruning and so on, but I know some basic concepts. I know that you are supposed to prune out all the dead branches from your bushes and plants so that the other plants can flourish. I also know that there are certain times that it is helpful to trim back healthy branches so that the other branches will get the needed water and the plant doesn’t get too big. But that is about as far as it goes. I guess I haven’t watched enough HGTV.

Today we are looking at a text from God’s Word which uses the picture of a gardener working on some grape vines. Even if we are not the best of gardeners, we can learn some very useful things for our Christian faith and lives from the picture of the gardener and his vines. It was Jesus Himself who told this parable of the vine and the branches so we know the lessons taught are true. Let's us the theme this morning of:

Jesus spoke these words, because he wanted to prepare His disciples for the day of His crucifixion and to remind them that even though He would no longer be present visibly He would still be with them. In fact, they would be as close to each other as a vine and its branches! "I am the vine, you are the branches." The disciples had no problem understanding the picture. Even today some hillsides in Palestine are covered with vineyards. At that time raising grapes was one of the main occupations. The people knew from experience that where the grapevine was healthy and sturdy the branches would flourish and that where the vine was sickly and filled with dry-rot, there wouldn't be much of a crop.

The lively hood of a man owning a vineyard is in the vines he possesses. They work and work to make sure that every vine is strong and is prepared for growing grapes. They are the best vines he could have. They know that the branches and the grapes on those branches will only be good if the vine is good itself.

Isn’t that very true for us as Christians. Jesus says: "I am the vine." He is a perfect vine! Look at Jesus. He was as the Nicene Creed says, "eternally begotten of the Father from eternity God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God." You can't improve on Jesus as our eternal vine. He is a perfect vine! Look at His nature. He is clean, smooth, and sturdy. No dry-rot or sin in Him. As the apostle writes: "He is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens (Heb. 7:26). He is a perfect vine! Look at His power or vigor. "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." (John 1:3). He healed the lame, the blind, the crippled, and gave health and strength to the sick. He is a perfect vine!

Look at His mission! He carried our sorrows and died to bring us eternal peace. He was crucified and died, but early Easter morning He rose again. It was such an unbelievable feat that even the disciples had trouble believing. "Look at My hands and feet. It is I myself." (Luke 24:39) He pleaded. He is still alive! He is a perfect vine!

He rose on the third day, ascended into heaven, sits on the right hand of God the Father. That’s what we confess Sunday after Sunday. Too bad that some don't truly understand what they are saying or don’t care to know what they are saying. Jesus is the perfect vine as he rules in all power and might. Jesus is the perfect vine as he gave his life so that his branches might have eternal life. He is a perfect vine! What more do you want in a vine? Do you want forgiveness? He has it. Do you want eternal peace? He has it. Do you want the power to live for God? He has it. Do you want an eternal life? He even has that too. He is a perfect vine!

Worthless branches, worthless branches, worthless branches! That was the complaint of a farmer because his scrawny peach tree wouldn't bear any fruit. One day a friend came out who knew something about grafting. He cut off one of those worthless branches and grafted it into the trunk of a sturdy tree; and, guess what happened? That worthless branch took on a new life and shortly bore some of the most luscious fruit in the orchard. We at one time were also worthless branches. We came into this world as dead branches that were not attached to the vine of Jesus. Our thoughts were corrupt and our lives were full of eternal destruction. We were completely controlled by the lusts of our sinful flesh, the lust of our sinful eyes, and the pride of our sinful hearts. We were not attached to vine and we were not producing good fruit for our Lord.

But, by God's grace, a miracle occurred. The Holy Spirit came and grafted us into Jesus. For most of us he did this at our Baptism. That's why our lives are different. Christ says in our text: "If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit" (v. 5). A good tree will bring forth good fruit. So will a good vine.. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. No wonder we bring forth good fruit. Jesus is holy. We are made holy by God’s mercy that was willingly showered on us at the cross of Calvary, and we are led to do good things to show our love and thanks to God. Jesus is love. We became filled with God’s love and bring forth works of love. Jesus is forgiving. We are forgiven, and we bring forth fruits of forgiveness. Jesus is peace. We become full of God’s eternal peace, and we bring forth fruits of peace. Once worthless branches, we have become good, living, fruit-bearing branches in Christ.

This explains why there are people in this house of worship each week. This explains why there people sitting here who put offerings in the offering baskets. This explains why people forgive those who mistreat them, love even those who are unlovable; attend voters' meetings, become Sunday School teachers, or become part of other boards and committees. This explains why people rejoice in the midst of hardships and look heavenward when they are about to die. All this and much more is possible for us as Christians who are attached firmly to vine of Jesus and his Word.

Every beautiful vineyard has a good gardener or caretaker. Every good gardener know that he has to do more than just plant the vines. I remember reading a story about life on a farm. On this farm were a couple of grapevines.. One day the professional gardener was coming to work on vines. The kids didn't know what a vinedresser was so they anxiously awaited his arrival. As he got out of his car the kids noticed a large knife and a pair of shears in his hands. He proceeded down the row cutting out all the dead branches, piling them up, and burning them. That seemed to make sense to the children. No use leaving those old dead branches in the vineyard.

But then he took his pruning knife and started cutting out some of the live branches. The children became disturbed. It looked awful. Why was he cutting off so many of the good branches? The kids rushed to tell their father what the man was doing to their grapevines. Their father assured them that the man knew what he was doing, and he did. The next year we had much larger and sweeter grapes than ever before.

Jesus says: "My Father is the gardener" (v. 1). God the Father is the gardener of all his vineyard. Aren’t those some of the most wonderful words we could ever hear? He certainly knows what He is doing to His vineyard. Yes, He too goes down the row of grapes and cuts out all the dead wood or branches and piles them up for the judgment when they will be burned. "He cuts off every branch that does not bear fruit" (v. 2) . ⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned." (v.6) God is long suffering and patient but sooner or later for the sake of the vineyard He will cut out the dead wood and burn it. Those who do not trust in him will be judged eternally by our heavenly Father.

But, even more. Like that vinedresser on our farm He even prunes those who bring forth fruit. Says our text: "While every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." (v. 2). Most of you know from experience what it means to be pruned by God. He might prune us by temporarily by taking away our job; by some accident; by some hardship in life; by lightning or fire; by sicknesses such as: a pain in the back, stomach ulcer, gallbladder or heart trouble; by the death of a dear one; by loss of money or possessions; or by some other affliction. At times His pruning hurts and our first reaction might be: "Why is God picking on me?" job. We at times have wondered, until we remembered that God like a skillful gardener knows exactly what He is doing. Every pruning is for our blessing, for under His skillful and loving guidance we bring forth not only more fruit but fruit more beautiful.

We have experienced this in our own lives. We have seen it in every Christian congregation. There was the member who after his own sickness was twice as patient as before with others in the family who were sick; the man who came back to church with his family every Sunday after he was in a terrible car accident; the good mother who became a more loving mother after one of her children almost died; or the patient member who became even more patient after suffering a terrible illness. So, step by step, God leads us, cultivates, and prunes us, so that we grow stronger and stronger in our faith and life..

As we leave here this morning we realize that God’s Word which is before us whenever we want it is the way that God draws us closer and closer to himself. It is God’s Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper that are God’s tools to draw us closer and closer to our God who watches over our every move. May we every remain in Christ and his Word no matter what troubles this sinful world may bring. Amen.