Stay Connected

Title: Stay Connected

Scripture: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5

Do you feel connected with God? The iron can reach very high temperature when it is block into the socket. The moment you unplyg it from the socket it is just a matter of time before it loses heat.Our text from John 15 in which Jesus tells us that he is the vine and we are the branches is a familiar one. But do you know when Jesus spoke these words? He spoke them some time after he and the disciples got up from their last supper together and headed out to the garden of Gethsemane. Some Bible students suggest that Jesus expressed himself as he and the disciples passed the temple gates which featured vines of gold with grape clusters as large as a man. If so, that would have been a dramatic backdrop to these words: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Just why do we need to stay connected to Jesus? Because without him we don’t have life any more than a branch broken off from a tree has life. “Are you serious?” snorts Satan. “You’re telling me that your unbelieving neighbor doesn’t have life? He has more of a life than you! What do you think he’s doing right now? He didn’t have to hustle off to church like you leaving half-eaten bagels littering the breakfast table. Oh no. He’s stretched out on the couch with the morning paper or flipping through the cable guide to see when the golf tournament will be televised. And kids, your classmates may be enjoying a birthday party right now. Are you having as good a time as they?”

Satan’s seditious hissing needs a response. Let me first of all say that missing a church service or two doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re disconnected from Jesus. We stay connected to Jesus by remaining in his Word (John 15:7), which of course we can do by coming to church. But we can also remain in his Word at home when we have private and family devotions. But don’t let that be a regular substitute for gathering here. Those who faithfully study the Word at home know that God says we need to be in church so that we can be an encouragement to one another, as well as to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion

Friends, could you be a broken branch? When you hear God’s Word do you take to heart his promises or scoff at them? Satan doesn’t want you to think that there is any advantage to being connected to Jesus. He’d rather you think of that as being shackled – like a prisoner chained to the wall of his cell. But do you really gain freedom by disconnecting yourself from Jesus? If tree limbs could talk, those branches that snapped off in the snowstorm would not boast that they are now free to see the world. They know they’re doomed, for they have lost their means of life. They aren’t getting the sap and nutrients they need from the trunk and as soon as they fall to the ground (or as soon as someone can shimmy up the tree to snag them), they’re headed for the dump. That’s freedom? (Mark Paustian) Likewise true freedom comes from staying connected to Jesus, for only through faith in him will we enjoy the benefits of forgiveness and therefore have life eternal even as this world is burned up.

But Jesus wants us to know that we don’t have to wait until heaven to enjoy this freedom. He said: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7). Wow! You’d think that this promise alone would cause people to break down these church doors to learn more about Jesus. Connect to Jesus and we can ask whatever we wish and expect that it will be given to us? But perhaps you’ve already tried this. You’ve asked to be made smarter, richer, healthier and God hasn’t given you those things. What gives? Think again of the picture Jesus is using. He said that he is the vine and we are the branches. Would a branch ask to be made a butterfly? Possibly but that’s not a prayer God is going to answer with a yes. But when a branch asks to be allowed to do what God created it to do, that is, to produce fruit, God will answer that prayer with a resounding “Yes!” Jesus said: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8).

Prayer Point