Have you ever wondered what God really wants you to do in life?  Ever wondered what His plan for you is?

          I was once helping my father bail hay on an intensely hot day.  It was so hot and humid I could hardly breathe.  After about the fifth load, I just quit.  I jumped off the bail wagon and started walking home.  "Where are you going?" Dad asked.  "I'm done," I said.  "It's too hot to work."  Later my Dad said something I never forgot, "Bob," he said, "don't ever become a farmer."

          I didn't become a farmer, but I did go to work in a vineyard.  58 years ago this month, in a small southern Minnesota church, Pastor Henry Brill sprinkled a little water on my head and said, "Ich taufe dir im Namen des Vaters, und des Sohns, und des Heiligen Geistes." (I baptize you, in the name...)  44 years ago this month I was confirmed there, and 32 years ago I was ordained there.  On my Confirmation Day I was given a memory verse, John 15:5.  It's been one of God's best gifts to me.  Time and again it has reminded me to hold onto the Vine, the Lord Jesus.

          You and I live in an age of paradox.  We have so much, yet value so little.  We know so much, yet understand so little.  We work so hard to get what we think is important, and cast aside eternal things.  Ours is an age of exalted humanism and raging individualism.  A Christian newspaper I read recently said youth of today are learning three lessons from life:  "Buy things, dress and act sexy, and be #1 in all you do."  These things sound so good, yet provide so little.  They say nothing of substance, nothing of sacrifice, nothing of lasting value.  Now more than ever, we must hold onto what's lasting, something of substance.  Hold onto the Vine, Jesus Christ.

          There are two points in this verse, abiding in Christ and bearing fruit.  Both are under attack!  The world considers faith in Christ a childish thing, but if you get serious about it, you're labelled a religious fanatic.  The "wise" of our world blame Christians for everything, from war to global warming.  Upholding the Ten Commandments is a hate crime on many college campuses.  John 15:5 may sound good, but to the worldly wise, it's seen as fanatical, even subversive.

          Yet if you and I wish to live as Christ's people, this verse speaks to the heart and center of our faith.  "I am the Vine..." says Jesus, "and you are the branches.  If you abide in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."  For sure, He will abide in us.  Question is, we will abide in Him?

          It's hard to be a Christian today.  There's a war going on for our souls.  We don't have the famine of war, but we have the poverty of excess.  If we stand up for God, we aren't beaten up physically, but we're beaten down verbally.  We're not attacked during worship by armed police, but we disarm ourselves with raging consumerism.  It's not easy to hold onto the Vine.  My old neighbor Mike had grape vines.  They grew like crazy in that clay, sometimes out into my trees.  One branch grew out into the aspens, so I had to cut it off.  Once a branch is cut, you can't make it grow again.

          Being attached to the Vine is vital.  Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches.  If we abide in Him by regular worship, by daily prayer, by regular fellowship, we'll bear fruit.  Some think you don't need to go to church to be a Christian.  But stay away from church, and you risk your faith.

          Martin Luther was asked why a man needed Sunday worship when he had the Bible.  He took a burning log from the fire and placed it on the mantle where it soon went out.  The parishioner got the point.  You and I can be Christian alone for awhile, but unattachment soon leads to unbelief.

          "Apart from Me you can do nothing," Jesus said.  My parents taught me God's love by example.  Pastors and teachers taught me the basics of the Bible.  But it was the Lord who brought me into fellowship with Him and with His people.  Being together with other branches makes each branch stronger.  You and I strengthen each other.  Alone, we're targets for a sniper named Satan, picked off when we're not looking.

          Yes, we do stray from God, usually when we're angry, or sometimes when things are going very well.  In the good times it's easy to neglect prayer, and in the bad times to dwell on the negative.  It's easy to become detached from God when we think we have all the answers.  God becomes unimportant when we have everything all figured out.  Who needs God when you're rich?  Who needs God when you're smart?  And who needs people when you can fix everything by yourself?

          A man came home from work and saw his dog dragging a dead rabbit.  He realized it was his neighbor's pet rabbit and was shocked his dog had killed it!  Feeling guilty but not wanting to face his responsibility, he washed the dirty old dead rabbit and sneaked it back into its cage.  The next morning he saw his neighbor as both were leaving for work.  "It's the strangest thing," said his neighbor, "Yesterday my rabbit died so I buried it.  Today it's back in the cage all cleaned up!"

          That's us!  No matter how hard we try to hide our mistakes or wash them clean, we're still dead in our sin!  Only God can make us clean.  Only in Jesus are we forgiven and grafted into the vine.  Once connected He'll never abandon us.  We may leave Him, but He won't leave us.  Psalm 139 says, "Where can I go to hide from Your Spirit, or where shall I flee from Your presence?  If I run to the heights of heaven, You are there; if I go to the depths of Sheol, You are there, too."  The Vine loves its branches and holds them tightly.  He holds us with His iron grip of love.

          Being a perfect branch is unimportant -- just hold onto the Vine!  Whether or not you feel worthy of God's love is unimportant -- hold onto the Vine!  Whether you've doubted or struggled with God is unimportant -- hold onto the Vine!  The Vine reaches out to us in love, and He gives Himself for us.  He wants us to hold onto Him.  Whether you feel saved is not the point.  We don't have to feel saved to be saved.  But the world can snap us off so easily - hold onto the vine!

          Have you ever tried grafting a tree branch?  A tiny slip of new growth from one tree is cut and placed next to the healthy bark of another branch.  Soon they grow together and the tiny branch is joined to the new tree.  You and I aren't born on the Vine.  By baptism, we're grafted into it.  By faith in it we grow strong.  Christ connects us to God and gives us new life.  It's like starting over again, like being born again.  Hold onto the Vine!

          A branch also needs to bear fruit:  "If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit."  Grapes provide food and drink, and grafted grapes bear the best fruit.  When you and I are grafted into the True Vine, we do grow strong and we will bear much fruit.

          You know the fruit I'm talking about:  "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control...." (Galatians 5:22-23)   Fruit grows because that's the nature of the tree.  When you're connected to Christ, good things appear, kind things, gentle things, loving and thoughtful things, fruitful things, God's fruit of the Holy Spirit.  If you don't have that fruit, pray for it, because something's missing.

          Before we left on our trip I planted the seeds - beans, peas, corn, lettuce, carrots.  Some is already up, but some has already been nibbled by rabbits.  If you pull up vegies, you can't replant them.  They'll wilt because they've been torn from their roots.  If your life is wilting, perhaps you're disconnected.  God can fix that.  Ask Him to reconnect you.  The Vine can do that!  Trust Him.  Believe Him.  Stick with Him, and you'll go places you've never dreamed.  Dear Jesus, never leave us.  Keep us connected to You always.  Amen!

Copyright © 2003 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.