Life on the Vine: Cultivating Joy and Peace

Second Sunday of Lent

March 7, 2004

 

INTRODUCTION

Jesus said,

“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. (John 15:1-2)

We’ve come to call this fruit “the fruit of the Spirit”

Apostle Paul identified in letter to Galatians

                        Love  joy  peace  patience  kindness  goodness  faithfulness  gentleness  self-control

                        It is these nine “fruit” that grow from the “branches” attached to Jesus, the “true vine”

                        If they do not grow abundantly from us > God finds ways to “prune our branches”

All during Lent we are focusing on this “pruning” task

            Last week the fruit was “love

            This week it is “joy” and “peace”

we’ll have to prune two each week to get through by Palm Sunday > listen fast

 

SPIRITUAL FRUIT OF JOY

Definition of joy

If our vine produced joy > what would “joy” look like?

Joy looks a lot like pleasure > sometimes it’s hard to tell one from the other

But Phil Kenneson says there is an essential difference

            While they both involve taking delight in something or someone

pleasure focuses inward

eating a great meal > pleasure for me > not for the hungry

stimulating conversation > pleasure for me > not for the lonely

                        Joy, on the other hand, move pleasure from inside to outside

                                    Sharing a meal with someone who has not eaten expands my pleasure to joy

                                    Having conversation with someone who has no friends

                        Eating lunch one day in Malawi > meal was HUGE > could not eat it all

                                    Invited cook/server to share it with me > she practically gobbled it > hungry

                                    I felt joy in a way I didn’t feel simple pleasure at filling up on a good meal

            Joy is one of the consequences of being open to that which is beyond ourselves

Love [last week’s fruit] and joy are closely linked > both move outwardly rather than inwardly

Obstacles to joy

Since “joy” is not the same thing as “pleasure” . . .

What keeps us from being filled with joy rather than pleasure?

            I’m afraid our “American Dream” is the culprit

                        Manufacturers bombard us with ads for their products

                                    If we buy whatever it is > THEN we will be filled with pleasure > we will be happy

                                    But have you ever noticed that we’re always wanting a newer version > bigger?

                        Possessions are a death-trap > they suck us under until we suffocate

no wonder Jesus had so much to say about our relationship with our “stuff”

Society teaches us to want most and newest > we become anxious if we don’t have it

            don’t want to be too different from our friends and neighbors

            to have more joy in our lives > we need to prune this branch > I especially need to prune it!

Cultivating joy

Three ways we can prune this joy branch in us

1.      rejoice in worship > focus on what God wants during this hour

2.      be content with what we have > the way to have more is to want less

3.      enjoy young people > hang out with kids > they see the world differently > nearer to God

Let’s cultivate joy in our lives

SPIRITUAL FRUIT OF PEACE

Definition of peace

That’s briefly what joy looks like when it grows abundantly on The True Vine of Jesus Christ

What about peace?  What does the “fruit” of peace look like

We often say peace is absence of conflict, absence of war

            Biblical displays peace in much different sense > Biblical peace literally means wholeness

well-being and harmony in all of our relationships > with God, each other, and ourselves

peace is social > to have only inner peace is to experience half of this “wholeness”

Peace is third fruit on spiritual vine because is so closely associated with love and joy

            Love and joy that project outward intermingle with the grapes of peace

Obstacles to peace

What keeps us from growing this kind of peace?

Our culture continues to be the culprit

            We have incredible competition in workplace and entertainment and grocery store lines

                        “By golly!  Nobody’s gonna get ahead of me!”

            In addition to individual competition > so many groups are claiming their “rights”

                        Can you think of any person who doesn’t fall into some group that wants its rights?

            And there is one more obstacle

Goes without saying, major obstacle to peace is the violence that confronts us

                        Whether it’s in TV or movies or with someone we know > violence intrudes every day

Cultivating peace

How in the world can we cultivate “the peace of Christ” in our world that is so competitive and violent?

            First > we can use our creative energy to build up each other

                        Saying or doing something that affirms each other makes difference in our common life

            Second > be honest with each other when something goes wrong > work it out together

            Third > forgive each other when things go wrong > we forgive because we have been forgiven

                        When Jesus was dying on the cross he prayed “Forgive them, they don’t know”

                        Although he prayed specifically for those who killed him > prayer had lasting effects

                                    We, too, are clueless > we don’t know little things we do that hurt others

 

CONCLUSION

Cultivate joy and peace in your lives

let God, the master gardener, prune your branches as they sparkle in the sun

I’ve gone through these two fruit of the spirit much too quickly

perhaps we should be spending one week on each of the fruit

my prayer is that each of us will let God prune these two branches in us

so joy and peace will grow and flourish in our lives > and make a difference in the world