God's Last Words

“PRAYER, YES PRAYER!”

John 15: 1-8 NRSV

Last week Jesus said we were sheep, and this week Jesus says we are fruit. Sheep can get away with being failures but grapes have to grow well to be a fruit that is desired and considered valuable to its vine-grower.

So on the one hand we’re miserable wretches, unable to care for ourselves and on the other hand, valuable and prized by the Eternal All-knowing, All-powerful God?

Why can’t Jesus settle on the right metaphor and stick with it? Using multiple illustrations and metaphors confuse people and allow controversy and differing interpretations to flourish, and t sometimes allows people to choose theology.

Actually, Jesus was fulfilling His role as a Jewish teacher of righteousness by using examples, metaphors, and parables to draw us near to Himself and His Heavenly Father in ways that show us who they are, who we are, and what they expect.

And He’s telling us how we can change from being a failure into a success. And it has nothing at all to do with a prosperity gospel taught by Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland, Oral Roberts, or even Joyce Meyer.

God never promised us a Cadillac, a 62 million dollar plane, or our best life right now!

I do believe that the whole story of the Bible is about God longing to have a personal friendship and relationship with human beings. But we develop friendship with God by spending time abiding in Jesus in prayer, abiding in the Word, and abiding in His love, and not by personal empowerment and self-actualization.

In our Gospel lesson for today from John 15: 1-8, the Greek word used for abide is “menõ” and means to remain, sojourn, tarry, not depart, to continue to be present, to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure, to wait for, and await one’s coming.

We are to abide, that is remain in contact and accept God’s Will in our lives. Jesus said we are to abide in God’s Word, God’s Love, and in Him, Jesus, in prayer. I want you to focus on that third thing: the theology of practical prayer.

Three preachers sat discussing the best positions for prayer while a telephone repairman worked nearby. "Kneeling is definitely best," claimed one. "No," another contended. "I get the best results standing with my hands outstretched to Heaven." 
       
"You're both wrong," the third insisted. "The most effective prayer position is lying flat out, face down on the floor." 

The repairman could contain himself no longer. "Hey, fellas," he interrupted, "the best prayin' I ever did was hangin' upside down from a telephone pole.”

A lot of us do our best prayin’ only when we have too, and mostly as a superstitious behavior like throwing salt over our shoulder when we spill it.

Listen to our Gospel Lesson for today from John 15: 1-8:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.

Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

R. T. Kendall once wrote: “I cannot imagine a greater motivation to pray than that God enjoys having me in His presence. He enjoys my company. He delights in listening to me… It is such a dazzling thought, that the same God who has countless billions of angels worshiping Him sixty seconds a minute, day and night, to whom the nations are but a drop in the bucket, and who knows all about every leaf on every tree in the world, also welcomes my company – because I am very important to Him.”

What if this notion of fruit is relationship with God and has nothing to do with mission trips, charity giving, or changing stranger’s flat tires?

God’s promises a personal relationship that remembers shoe-sizes, hat-sizes, ice cream flavors, colors, and even knows every childhood memory. God is always home for each of us. After all, He knew us while we were in our mother’s womb.

If of course, that is, we abide in Him. If we allow Him into our hearts and confess Him Lord and Savior and trust Him. If we don’t we’re just so much sour grapes.

It is a trust that can never be broken or betrayed: Hudson Taylor once said: "The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus."

Abiding in prayer is like what a 4 year old once prayed in Sunday School, “And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets!”

Let Him handle the trash removal in our lives – let Him have control over everything. (Abiding means surrendering control.)

Abiding in Christ means developing patience. A small boy was looking at the red ripe tomatoes growing in a farmer's garden. "I'll give you my two pennies for that tomato," said the boy to the farmer, pointing to a beautiful, large, ripe fruit hanging on the vine.

"No," said the farmer, "I get a dime for a tomato like that one." The small boy pointed to a smaller green one, "Will you take two pennies for that one?" "Yes," replied the farmer, "I'll give you that one for two cents."

"OK," said the small boy, sealing the deal by placing his coins in the farmer's hand, "I'll pick it up in about a week."

In Christ the good things are coming, they are paid for, but we must wait for them.

A man once remarked that when his children were small and being taught to pray, they had three kinds of prayer: "Please prayers," Thank you prayers," and "Sorry prayers." (Abiding in Christ means relationship appropriate prayers count).

We call such things in human relationships “maintenance” activity and is necessary because otherwise the relationship becomes boring, tedious, and one-sided.

A man took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands. When lunch time arrived, the two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him. They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food, the father said, "Son, we'll just have a silent prayer."

Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer, but he sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, "What were you praying about all that time?" With the innocence and honesty of a child, he replied, "How do I know? It was a silent prayer."

Sometimes abiding in Christ means just being silent and listening for/to Him.

If we abide in the Lord, and continue a daily existence with Him, He will know what our needs are, what our dangers are, what our wants are, and who we are concerned with or about.

It just like having a constant communication connection, abiding sustains the relationship.  It can never be hacked, turned off or blocked by anyone else. Amen.