Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Andy Cook
Scriptures: John 15:1-8
Main focus of this message: From God's point of view, your purpose is very simple. Just as a
grape vine must do, the main purpose of our lives is to produce fruit. Even more fundamental of
a lesson, we must never forget that the owner of the vineyard is in charge, in control, and focused
on receiving as much fruit as possible from his vineyard.
Introduction
How important is the teaching of John's 15th chapter? Remember the when of this passage. Jesus
had just washed the feet of his disciples, led them through a final meal, instituted the Lord's
Supper, and now walked with them to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he will soon pray, and
later be arrested. By the time the sun finds its way to mid-day, the very next day, Jesus will be on
a cross.
Jesus knew the timetable. He was using care with every word. And just here, just then, he used
an object lesson from the garden. Amidst the olive trees was a grape arbor. The vines of that day
were just beginning a season of growth. The signs that a gardener, or a vinedresser, had been
there, however, would have been clearly obvious. The vines would have been tended, pruned,
cleaned, and tied to the arbor. The season of growth would have been a season of care, and
would have been a prelude to the season of harvest.
Illustration
There's the tale of an older woman who had finished shopping and returned to her car. As she
approached her vehicle, however, she saw four men inside her car! The increasing crime rate in
America had disgusted her, and she had long prepared for this very moment. She dropped her
shopping bags, drew a handgun from her purse, and screamed, "I have a gun, and I know how to
use it! Get out of the car!"
The men did not wait for a second invitation. Doors were opening, bodies were flying, and four
men ran like crazy from the gun-toting grandmother.
Despite her Clint Eastwood imitation, the woman was shaken by the experience. It took her a
moment to gather her shopping bags and get into the car. She kept an eye out for the hoodlums,
but they didn't return. She put the gun back in her purse, and got her keys. For a moment, she
thought the problem was her trembling hand, but no matter how she tried, she simply could not
get her key to turn the ignition. In time, she took a better look at the car. It didn't seem as familiar
as it once had. About that time, she noticed an identical car parked four or five spaces away, and
realized that she'd just become part of America's crime wave. She'd stolen someone else's car!
According to the story, she transferred the groceries to her own car, and drove to the police
station to turn herself in. The desk sergeant to whom she told the story nearly fell off his chair
laughing. He pointed to the other end of the counter, where four very frightened men were
reporting a senior-adult carjacking. After she made a full apology, no charges were filed.
There is no mistaking this principle. Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches." ... At the
very beginning of the passage, he says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener." My
Father is the vinedresser. He is the owner of the vineyard.
Illustration
It seems all of us are born with selfish instincts. It doesn't take long for a toddler to learn a couple
of powerful, one-word sentences.
"NO!" "MINE!"
Have you been amazed at the feelings of ownership a toddler can have? If he gets his grubby
little hands on an empty, plastic butter dish, it won't matter what Mom intended for the dish.
"MINE!!!" screams the selfish little man, and the battle is on. It wouldn't matter if the object
were a piece of trash, or a priceless work of art. Once his hands are on it, it's "MINE!"
How ridiculous. Little children can't comprehend the value of things, or that someone worked
hard to buy a work of art. Children can't understand responsibility, time, earnings, or value. But
they immediately understand the concept of possessions.
We don't grow out of it just because we have a third birthday. By the time a person is 30, or 50,
or 70, he has usually had a chance to look up to the heavens, curl his grubby little fingers into a
tiny fist, and say, "But God, it was MINE!"
"But God, that was my good health. It was mine. I want it back. I don't want the disease. I'm tired
of the way I feel. I'm scared of the surgery. I'm sick of the treatments. It's not fair that it costs this
much. God it was my health ... it was MINE!"
"But God, I earned that money ... why did the stock market have to do that, now? That was my
retirement ... It was MINE!"
"But God," says the man by the fresh grave ... "she was mine."
"But God," says the mother staring at the empty room of her 18-year-old son. "He was just a
little boy, and I liked him that way ... he was mine."
"But God," says the young adult, "this was my future. I planned it. I worked for it. I went to
school for it. I've made the promotions. This was all mine. I don't want to change in midstream."
"But God," says the church member, "I gave years of my time to that church. I gave thousands of
dollars, and more sweat than I could count. Now it's changing. It's not what it was. God, this was
my church, and I want it back."
"No," says God to the 2-year-old in all of us, "it wasn't yours at all. She wasn't. He wasn't. The
church wasn't yours. You're not even yours! It all belongs to me, for I am God."
Danny Simpson lived in Ottawa Canada. The year was 1990, and Danny was desperate. He
didn't have the resources he needed to survive. He was short on cash, and shorter on skills. He
had run out of time and options, so Danny took the gun that had been handed down through his
family's line, went to a bank, and robbed it of $6,000 in a hold-up.
Danny wasn't very good at robbing banks, and he was promptly arrested. At the trial, two
significant things happened. First, Danny was sentenced to six years in prison. His opportunities
to succeed in life dropped to minute proportions. But second, as the courtroom looked closely at
the evidence, folks really looked at the weapon he'd used. It was a .45 Colt semi-automatic, the
kind gun collectors look at with salivating stares. it was an antique, this gun, made by the Ross
Rifle Company in 1918. And it's value? About $100,000.
Did you catch that? Danny robbed a bank for $6,000, all the time holding $100,000 in his hands!
In other words, Danny already had what he needed, without even knowing it.