"Christian viticulture"
Noel K. Anderson
First Presbyterian Church of Upland
John 15: 1-11 New Revised Standard Version
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 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. 5 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. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.†
Homemaking
Who remembers "homemaking"? Home Economics used to be a standard course taught not only in high schools but in colleges. My mother earned her bachelor's degree in home economics from the University of Wisconsin in Madison (which may have also been the first college in the country to abandon that degree).
Home economics and homemaking were pre-feminist disciplines devoted to home and family life excellence. People once upon a time took it for granted that raising healthy, happy families stood at the center of building a healthy, happy nation. If all is well at home, then children perform better as students, adults become better citizens, and the shared values of community and society are more likely to be achieved. Start4é with the home and grow health and wholeness outward from there. What an idea!
My home, run by a college-degreed home economist, featured many family routines. My siblings and I had bedtimes, despite constant protests to the contrary. We ate all our meals together at the table in the dining room, with knives, forks, spoons, plates, napkins, water glasses, etc. For us, that included breakfast. We ate at the same time, which means aside from a bedtime, we had a waking time. We had to be at the breakfast table with everyone else. Lunch may have been at school or work, but my mother had made all our lunches (including Dad's) thoughtfully packed into brown paper bags folded and stapled twice at the top (so we could carry them like a handle). It was rare not to have everyone home for dinner—at the dinner table—and often one or two friends joining us.
We children were regularly instructed and corrected in our table manners. We had conversations and learned what not to talk about as well. When arguments between siblings rose up (and they did), we had to sit there and work it out; no one was allowed to run away from the conflict they'd created.
We went to church every Sunday; again, all protests were overruled.
So What Happened?
All this was part of homemaking. So what happened to it? Where did it go? We dropped home economics—ostensibly because it belittled women—but where have we gone? Who today is responsible for the birth and nurture of children? Who takes primary responsibility for the health and happiness of families—especially since Mom and Dad both have to work to pay the mortgage or rent?
How have marriages fared since the death of professional homemaking? Not well.
How has society-making improved or our idea of what constitutes good citizenship? These, too, have declined.
Motherhood and homemaking were once regarded as sacred in America. Sacred. The home didn't exist for industry and national progress, but rather the reverse—society and government existed to support and protect the sanctity of the American home. Motherhood was knocked from its holy pedestal down to something bourgeois—bland, white bread, middle-of-the-road, ordinary, uninteresting, and unworthy.
The shift away from homemaking has changed society and the American family in more ways than we could name in an hour. In short, America ended one kind of motherhood and began another. But the ripples go out from there.
You know the saying, "If Momma ain't happy, nobody's happy." That was true in my house! It's also true in America, but America sent much of motherhood packing decades ago. What are our norms today? Divorce, Identity confusion, isolation, drug abuse epidemics, skyrocketing abortion rates, sexual chaos, and women suffering the same work exploitations as men. It has changed fatherhood as well. Where are the fathers in a nation with no adults in the room? Fatherhood has been weakened, emasculated, and reduced to something like friendship (but more of that on Fathers' Day).
Why this rant? "Come on, Pastor, we wanted something light and cheery on Mothers' Day!" Yeah, I know.
Understand: I am all for mothers and motherhood. I believe more strongly in the things The University of Wisconsin-Madison taught in the 1940s than what is coming out of Harvard today. Those old home economists? They were right. They were prophets. I never heard one of them speak, but I can imagine them saying:
"Do you ladies have any idea what could happen to this country if homemaking were ever abandoned? Can you imagine 60 or 70 years from now what America would look like? Families in dissolution, divorce the norm, children running aimlessly through the streets of our cities throwing constant tantrums! It wouldn't be pretty, I promise you!"
[Just reminding you—I imagine them saying this]
"And whom do you expect will pick up the ball for all this? The government? Do you think they could? Do you think you would want them to? Can you imagine turning your children over to the DMV for character formation?"
Mother’s Day Matters
Our mothers matter. Others' mothers matter. We not only require a mothers' day in America, but we must recover a vision of the sacredness of motherhood. We busted that pedestal, and we have been living in the ruins ever since.
Jesus doesn't talk about homemaking; he talks about viticulture—growing grapes for wine-making. But it is the same thing as homemaking. Listen to verses 4-5 again:
"Abide in me as I abide in you. [That word, abide, means to dwell with—"make one's home with"—which is all about homemaking] Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 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.
Our spiritual life depends upon being connected to Christ—abiding in him—which is a way of saying that we stick with him no matter what. We make our home with him, and he with us. You'll remember, that is the very promise of the prophet Zechariah. From Zechariah 2: 10-11:
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord. 11 Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day and shall be my people, and I will dwell in your midst. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.
Home with Jesus
So how do we "make our home" with Jesus? I'll briefly name four:
1. Prayer in response to the preaching of God's Word. That's our path of conversion. We hear God's Word, feel God's conviction, and pray in response. That is remaining in the vine, making our home with Jesus.
2. The Lord's Supper. Don't let anyone underestimate the value of the Sacrament. Taking communion is our spiritual nourishment in the vine.
3. By continuing in God's Word. We study the Bible non-stop because we encounter the living Christ when we read Scripture under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If you're not studying Scripture—not in a lifegroup or even one of my classes--or classes elsewhere, you're drying up.
And 4. We make our home with Jesus by keeping his command of loving one another. When we love others, God feeds us for more love. When we withhold love, we dry up.
Rooted
Lively, fruit-bearing branches never dry up. The Father regularly prunes out the deadwood—everything that does not draw its life from Christ--but whatever is Christ-nourished bears fruit.
Root yourself in anything other than Christ, and you'll bear no fruit. God made us to bear fruit and to bear fruit for his glory.
But notice that even fruit-bearing branches get pruned back regularly so that they might continue to bear fruit and grow even more fruit.
So every branch gets pruned. Good branches improve through pruning, but the disconnected branches just become firewood.
Pruning
Taking it right down to earth: what does it mean for a person to be pruned by God?
I think it has to do with life's challenges, disappointments, and callings. The trials we didn't see coming. The heartaches and tragedies. The changes God calls us to make to conform with His will and Word. Yes, these all feel like being pruned, don't they? But unless we go through those ringers, we don't bear fruit that is as good as it can be.
The point is that we would bear fruit for God--good fruit. That fruit is the fruit of the Holy Spirit: things like peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, faith, hope, and love.
Invitation
Don't we all want our lives filled with those things? To feel wholly connected to Christ and fed by his life every day? I want nothing more!
We can't get there by personal effort, but only by remaining in the vine—making our home with Christ. Abiding in him. His promise to us comes with the last two verses: Hear them:
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
There's life! The joy of Christ in us, and joy that is complete. That's total joy. It starts with you making your home in Christ—Hearing His Word, praying through all things, continuing to grow through His Word, and committing to really live out that love command. That is the new life in Christ.
From each one of us, to our families—our homes—to our neighborhoods, our community—our workplaces, schools, and yes, also here at First Pres—and on to the nation. We already see branches withering and deadwood falling, fit only for bonfires. The only hope I have for America is a large-scale, widespread return to faith in Jesus.
May this Mother's Day be for us a clear call to return to the high calling of homemaking. In Jesus’ name, let us grow homes and families rooted in the life and love of Christ. Let us never fail to honor women—and men—who devote themselves to the care and nurture of children.
And make darn sure you give a lot of love and say thanks to the homemakers who have made your life joyous, and whose love has blessed you into being.
Happy Mother's Day. God bless, and at the name of Jesus, let every knee bow and every tongue confess him Lord, Lord, Lord of all.
Let’s pray now and call him into our homes and nation….†
- As a gardener why would you prune a bush or tree?
- What does each element in vs. 1-3 represent?
- Jesus describes the connections between gardener, vine, and branches. How does our relationship as disciples relate to Jesus’ description?
- How do we remain (abide) in Him? What does this look like in practice?
- How does God do His pruning work in our lives?
- How can we bring joy to Jesus and joy to our lives? (See Phil. 4:4)
- What are the highest forms of love? (vs. 12,13)
- What are some practical ways that we can love others in a sacrificial way that Jesus has loved us?