Sunday, May 2, 2021

Fifth Sunday of Easter
Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 150
1 John 4:1-11 [12-21]
John 15:1-8

If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.

The book of Acts tells the story of the early days of the Church as the apostles and other disciples began to take the Gospel out into the world. The disciples were scattered, but they didn’t go into hiding. They went to the four corners of their world to preach the message of Jesus to the nations. Philip was one of the deacons chosen in Acts 6; he wasn’t one of the original twelve. That didn’t stop him from doing the work of the kingdom. Acts 8 tells us that Philip went to Samaria. The crowds listened to him and they saw the signs which he did. He cast out demons and healed. There was joy in Samaria. He had a successful ministry. The people were experiencing the joy of the Lord, watching Philip do incredible things; they believed what Philip taught because of the work he was doing.

This is terrific. I’m sure most pastors and evangelists out there would give their lives for a congregation willing to listen to everything they have to say. They would be very happy to have such a successful ministry. But we read on in Philip’s story that an angel whispered in his ear, “Go now.” “Now?” we would ask. “But I’m just beginning here. There is too much work left to do. There are too many people left to save!” We might even reject the voice, claiming that it is the devil trying to confuse us and make us lose our place in God’s work.

That’s not the way Philip responded. Luke tells us that Philip, “arose and went.” He was so confident in the word of God that he willingly left a successful ministry to go into the unknown. It was not only an uncertain command, but it was dangerous. The road from Jerusalem to Gaza was infested with criminals like killers and thieves. It was not a place where one would wander alone. The Ethiopian eunuch was certainly not alone. He was probably accompanied by a large entourage, including soldiers, servants and guests. He was representing the queen of Ethiopia, so he had the resources of the kingdom at his disposal.

So, as Philip is walking down this road, he hears the voice again, telling him to go near the chariot. Again, we think, “Are you kidding me? Those soldiers don’t look like they would welcome my presence so near to the official.” I surely would not run toward the group. Philip, however, ran to the chariot; he found the eunuch reading the book of Isaiah. He was probably taking the scroll back to Ethiopia where there was a small but faithful community of Jews from the days of Solomon. It is not only amazing that this man had a scroll, they were rare and expensive, but he also knew the language. We know now that this was obviously where Philip was really meant to be. While we might have had doubts that the voice was really from God, we know now that Philip had work to do. The Ethiopian community needed to hear the Gospel message, too.

Philip asked, “Do you know what it means?” The Ethiopian admitted that it didn’t make sense. Philip joined him in the chariot and told him the story of Jesus. The eunuch was so transformed by the story that he asked to be baptized, so they stopped the caravan by a puddle at the side of the road and Philip welcomed him into the kingdom of God. Philip immediately disappeared as the Holy Spirit whisked him off to another mission and the eunuch went on his way rejoicing.

From this story we learn several things. First of all, we learn that we might be called out of a successful mission into the unknown to do something that seems dangerous and ridiculous. We also learn that ministry moments that seem insignificant might have a significant impact on the world as Philip’s conversation with the eunuch had on Ethiopia. Finally, we learn that we should be ready for anything. Could you explain Isaiah 53 to a stranger in a chariot if God called you to do so? Yes, God is with us when He takes us into the world to preach the Gospel, but we should keep actively in the scriptures so that we will be confidently ready with an answer whenever we are called to give one.

We can see in Philip’s story that he was intimately connected to His Lord. He knew the voice he heard was from God. He willingly gave up what was happening in Samaria to follow God’s call into the world. He recognized the Good Shepherd’s voice and followed.

This week’s lessons follow with a different kind of image, that of the vine. I’m not a horticulturalist; I can barely keep a plant alive. As a matter of fact, I bought a pot of petunias and a few other flowers a few weeks ago and I’m already seeing them droop and turn brown. I water regularly, but I’m still doing something wrong. I’m not surprised; it is typical of all our plants. Anything I buy usually looks pretty for a few days or weeks, but it doesn’t take very long before they are dead in the dirt.

That is why I’m not expert on anything horticultural. I know that there are people both professionals and home hobbyists, who do wonderful things with plants and end up with spectacular gardens. They know what to do to make the plants grow up healthy and strong. Some plants need a lot of water, some need special plant food. Some need a lot of light. Some need a nice cool shady spot. Special care needs to be taken on plants that are vulnerable to pests. A good gardener knows just what to do to deal with all those situations.

Some horticulturists use a method called grafting to make plants stronger and better. Grafting is a process that combines the branch of one type of plant into the roots of another. For instance, the gardener takes the roots of a plant that does well in certain soil conditions and ads a plant that generally does not do well in that environment, such as roots of a drought resistant plant and the stem of a favorite that needs more moisture. The roots of the plant will become strong and healthy despite the lack of water, while the branches will grow to be beautiful. Others will graft different types of fruit so that the tree will produce a unique variety. Some will graft to combine a male and a female tree into one. Grafting can repair damage, create a mutation, or make it easier to propagate the plant.

The people in Jesus’ day were not agricultural experts, but they were familiar with the language of gardening. Grafting has been around for millennia, the Chinese did it two thousand years ago. The Romans used the technique and for the Greeks it was commonplace. They would have heard the words in John’s gospel and would have understood the idea of grafting. We are grafted into Jesus, He is the root and we are the branches. With Him as the root, we are made stronger and more resistant to the dangers of this world. We grow beautiful because of what Jesus gives to us. We are joined together, even if we are different than one another, into one plant that bears good, though different, fruit. Bonded together in this way, we also encourage one another to healthy growth. As part of the new plant, the Church, we look different, we are healed and we grow.

As grafted branches into the root which is Christ, we are intimately connected with Him. We dwell in Him as part of His body, as part of His Church. We are individuals, but we are made part of the whole. We do not glorify God on our own. Without Christ we would be like my withered and dying plants that I try to grow. God is glorified in Him, with Him, and through Him. Through our lives He is made known to the world. We are reminded in this passage that God is the master gardener who prunes the bushes, but even in this warning there is comfort and grace. As we abide in Christ, we have nothing to fear. God knows what He’s doing: He is the Master. He only prunes what is necessary to make the vine grown strong.

Jesus said “I am the true vine.” He was standing in the shadow of the Temple which was decorated with a large gold decoration of a grapevine. The symbolism is obvious, as the scriptures often describe Israel in terms of vineyards and grapes. The golden vine was so large that some of the grapes were as large as a human head. It was created from donations from God’s people. The gold was even engraved with donors’ names, much like we put names on bricks for sidewalks or park benches. It was beautiful, but it also had a purpose: the grapevine represented the relationship between God and His people, but the people were often too focused on the symbol that they lost touch with the relationship.

Jesus reminded the people that He is the true vine; He is the One through whom faith and fruit comes. “Look to me, abide in me, and bear fruit.” Unfortunately, we often spend so much time looking outward, away from God, focusing on our fruit that we lose touch with Jesus. We can’t bear fruit without Jesus; we can’t bear fruit without faith. It is not wrong to spend time and resources on the buildings where we worship, but it is possible to make those things our gods. It is possible to put so much attention in the symbols that we ignore the true.

It is even possible to give so much attention to our ministry that we forget the one who has called us to it. Philip could have thought to himself, “I will go later, after I get some more done here in Samaria.” He may have thought it was necessary to train someone to continue the work. He may have thought that he needed to baptize just a few more people. He may have had a notebook full of sermons to finish sharing and then he’d go. But then it would be too late and God would use someone else to do His work.

We have an advantage over Philip because we have two thousand years of the history of the church behind us. We have the writings of the Apostles, the Gospel stories and the letters of Paul, Peter, James, and John. We have the writings of the early Church fathers who knew the Apostles or were only a generation or two away from them. Their writing has been tested for millennia, and their understanding has developed into the basic beliefs of the church today. The most important points were written into the historic creeds and the faithful have built on that foundation of the Christian Church.

We must remember, however, that the one voice that truly matters is our Good Shepherd’s. We need to know Him intimately so that when He speaks we hear. The devil will try to lead us on paths that will take us the wrong way. The devil will even try to convince us to hold on to the successful ministry to distract us from the work we are really called to do. The devil will send opportunities for us to work that seem good, while keeping our eyes off the work that we are really meant to do.

We have to be careful that we do not rely on the wrong voices. John reminds us that we should not believe every spirit. There are many false prophets and have been from the beginning of time. People believe the words they hear words that tickle their ears and satisfy their desires. There have always been competing understandings of Jesus even in the early days, but so many ideas were rejected by the early Church for good reason. There are still many false teachers selling a Gospel that does not fit the Biblical witness of faith. They have turned the focus from God to their own expectation. Isn’t that what the devil tried to do when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness?

We have to be careful about listening to the wrong spirits, but we also have to be wary of our self understanding. We can be easily swayed by our own life experiences. We are selfish and self-centered. We are sinners. We interpret God’s Word to benefit our own desires. We often twist the scriptures to justify our biases and points of view. We can be swayed by every thought, inward and outward, and if we are not abiding in God, those thoughts can come from the wrong spirits.

Jesus is the true vine and we have no need to fear living and working in this world because God will be with us through the good and the bad when we abide in Him. Even when we experience difficult times, we can be at peace knowing that in the end God will use it all for His glory. He calls and sends us out into the world, sometimes He sends us outside our comfort zone into unknown experiences. He will not throw us on the heap to wither and be burned when we keep our focus on Him. He will produce the kind of fruit that makes a difference in the world. Who knows, we might just be the one to explain the scriptures to a stranger on the road, sending them off with joy in their heart.

The word translated “remain” in the focus verse for today is the Greek word “meinete” which can also mean “to stay,” “to be permanent,” or “to abide.” “To abide” means “to remain stable or in a fixed state.” Do we abide in Christ, or are we just living? Perhaps the difference between living and abiding seems insignificant, but I wonder how our life of Christ would change if we made a conscience effort to abide in Him rather than just live. In this world change is not only acceptable, it is inevitable. I’ve known too many people who got married with the understanding that if it doesn’t work out they can just get a divorce. People don’t stay in a single job for forty years anymore; they get jobs on their way to the next job which will lead to the next. Thirty years ago the cars were made so well that we could keep it, and drive it for decades. There are those who say that even the scriptures have changed over time and that God has changed. We live, but do we abide in anything anymore?

It takes work to live this kind of Christian life, and it is work that we don’t always like. The Master Gardener, our God, will trim from our lives that which is not healthy so that we will grow stronger and more holy.

Our neighborhood has undergone so much trimming. Too many plants died during the storm in February, and we have had to remove many plants to make our space look nice. But it isn’t just about appearances. Those dead bushes are dangerous. They can easily catch on fire, especially in the dry summer heat. The ranchers are also undergoing a cleansing process out in the country.

Many of the scrub fields need major maintenance. In ancient times, the earth healed itself with fire. A lightning strike set a field to blaze which burned the dead wood and made the earth ready for new growth. Those same fields today have homes and businesses that need to be protected. It is important that those owners do something to clean up the dead to protect the living.

As you drive down these roads of Texas at this time of year you can see the work as it is happening. The old trees are cut and stacked in tall piles. They are left to dry for days, weeks, perhaps even months depending on the weather. When everything is ready, they carefully burn those piles of wood, protecting the surrounding field. You can often see fire crews standing by to ensure the fire does not get out of hand. The ranchers end up with smoldering piles of ash. The removal of the old dead trees leaves room for the living ones to grow. The landowners know how to make things right by removing that dead wood which is ugly, useless, and dangerous.

It might seem like a lot of trouble for the wide open spaces of unused wilderness, but a healthy field is better for all those who dwell there, including the birds and animals. A tended field has much more wildlife because there is good food and shelter for them. That’s why the earth naturally heals itself, but as caretakers of God’s creation, we are given the task of helping the world be as fruitful as possible even while we subdue it for our use.

This is what God does for us. He removes that which is old and dead so that there can be new growth in our lives. It is painful to discover that God is moving us away from the work that seems so good to the unknown. I imagine it was difficult for Philip to respond to angel’s quiet whisper. It is equally difficult for us. Yet, as we live grafted into Jesus, intimately connected to the root that makes us strong, we will hear His voice and obey with trust and faith. Abiding in Christ might mean taking risks, but the blessings reach into eternity.

Maria was in her room preparing for bed while a storm thundered outside her window. One by one the children ran into her room, frightened by the lightning and thunder. Maria calmed their nerves with singing that got their minds off the storm. She told them that when she was sad or scared, she simply remembered her favorite things and then she didn’t feel so bad. This song is from the movie “The Sound of Music” and is filled with remembrances of the most wonderful things. “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens; bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens; brown paper packages tied up with string… You can probably sing the rest of the song yourself.

We all have something that we use to get our minds off the things that bother our hearts and minds. For some it is family; for others it is a favorite book, movie or song. When I am upset about something, I find it difficult to even think straight. It is best to take at least a moment to get my mind off my problems so that I can return to my work with a clear heart and mind to face it with strength and courage.

There are too many storms brewing in the world today. War and rumors of war leave us frightened and angry. The suffering in the world saddens us. Families are divided and communities are broken. Even the church is facing more schism because there are so many differing perspectives and ideas. It is heartbreaking to see this discord among brothers and sisters in Christ, to see so many people arguing, often over the most ridiculous things.

So, as we face these storms of life, we can look to the advice from Maria and get our minds off it, if even for just a moment. The best way I know to clear my heart and mind is to turn to God in praise and prayer, for He is always ready with comfort and peace. The words of today’s Psalm are a great place to begin.

Our problems will not go away so easily; the storms will not stop because we have sung a song or said a few words of praise. However, we will look at things much differently if we keep God in the midst of our troubles. When we are sad or afraid, we should not let those emotions cripple us, but we should take them to the Lord in prayer. When we do so, we remember that He is in our midst, comforting and teaching, transforming and blessing us with all we need to share His hope and peace with the world. The storms do rage outside in our world today, but God goes with us when we obediently follow Him into the unknown to do whatever it is He is calling us to do.