The Lutheran Hour
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"You Can Live a Meaningful Life"
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Text: John 15:1-8
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Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing…… If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Amen.
“I want my life to mean something!” Have you ever heard someone say that? Have you said it? I hear that statement all the time. It goes to a deep longing in every human heart that truly wants to be human, human the way God created and redeemed us to be.
But many today aren’t living purposeful lives, they’re just busy. Do you know what I mean? It could be a good busy, it could be a bad busy, but for many of us, we’re just busy.
That was Clifton Reese. He was a busy man, but in a bad way. If he wasn’t hustling a new drug deal, he was running from the police or figuring out how he could live in his car for another night. Life was very busy for Reese, but he wasn’t really getting anywhere. He was stuck in a cycle of destructive behavior, getting what he wanted on his terms alone. It didn’t matter if he was hurting someone or going to jail or living on the streets—until one night Mike Fechner asked him if he wanted to live or die.
Mike Fechner was a busy man, too, just not like Clifton Reese. He had just about everything, but he knew his life was busy, but it wasn’t complete, something was missing. Then he met Velma, a faith-filled single mother who regularly gave up meals so her son, Ramon, could eat instead. Her faith in Jesus drove just about everything she did and what she did was serve others in His Name. Mike was supposed to be mentoring Velma, but discovered that she was mentoring him about the power of faith for life. For two years they walked together, learning, growing, and gaining new insight about the things that really matter.
Then tragedy struck. Ramon was killed–a random victim in a drive-by shooting in Bonton, the south Dallas neighborhood where they lived. The neighborhood was a place of danger, but worse, it was a place with a sense of hopelessness, broken hearts, and crushed lives. Mike was busy before, but now he really put his faith to work. They, together, wouldn’t shrink back from the tragedy. Instead, he and Velma teamed up to start a ministry that would bring the hope and encouragement they found in Jesus to the streets of Bonton. They called it BridgeBuilders.
And, one night, you guessed it, at a BridgeBuilder group meeting….these two busy men met. Clifton Reese and Mike Fechner. Reese heard Fechner challenge him about life and death, about living a life of purpose. When Mike asked his question, “Do you want to live or die,” Clifton thought, “I had tried so much stuff. I decided I’d try this God thing.”
The “God thing” worked. Clifton Reese’s life changed from being a taker to a giver. He started to give back to the community by starting a productive business, the Bonton Honey business. Clifton Reese and Mike Fechner went from busy lives to productive lives–not simply because of the work they were doing, even more importantly, it was because of the lives they were influencing in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Our text for today asks that purpose question of you and me; meaningful life and meaningless life, which one are you living at the moment?
Do you feel like you’re busy but not getting anywhere? It is a danger of life in our world. It’s a temptation to live life only for the moment, only for ourselves, a life of no eternal value at all.
And it’s so easy to do. You can fill your day with activity, fight traffic, do your job, run errands, and fall into bed at night wondering if you really accomplished anything. Then you get to get up in the morning and do it all over again.
You can try to overcome the sense of emptiness by buying things that look shiny, smell good, and feel fun. You can try to fill the sense of meaninglessness by having a drink, or finding your latest love, or taking a trip, or getting wild for a night.
Now listen, I’m not trying to rain on your parade. There are great blessings in life and there is activity involved in worthy pursuits. Busyness gets in the way, though, of all that. But maybe that’s not you. Maybe you’re sidelined, empty, wishing that there was something meaningful to do, anything at all. You yearn for fulfillment and purpose too.
If that’s you, whether you are busy or sidelined, I’ve got good news for you that God wants you to hear. Jesus wants to make your life purposeful, meaningful. He wants you to be the person that He created and redeemed you to be, one who can make a difference in the lives of others, now and forever!
That’s the very reason that Jesus says, “I am the vine, and my Father is the vinedresser……I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he is the one that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:1-5).
He wants you to not only know, but to receive His eternal, gracious life today. He doesn’t mince words. He says, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” Wow, that’s direct. If you want to do nothing; if you want to be busy getting nowhere; if you want to live life having no lasting impact or meaningful result, then live a life disconnected from the true Vine, Jesus Christ.
But Jesus Christ isn’t merely chastising disconnectedness. He’s offering a connected, abiding, meaningful life in Him, with Him, now and forever.
Now, let’s make something clear. This isn’t merely a different call to just get busy, no! In fact, the very first thing about living a purposeful, meaningful life with God is to know that God already made the connection with Him possible, through the death and resurrection of His Son, your Savior, Jesus Christ.
Before you start searching for Him, know that He is seeking you. Indeed, He has found you. Let me explain. When Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, the Father made it possible for you, indeed for all people, to be grafted into the Vine of life, Jesus. Today, by the power of His Word, He wants you to know that joy of being found, being grafted into Him, by faith. And He wants you to experience the power of being His forever.
So, let’s get the picture that Jesus is painting for us about God the Father and His love for you. He calls the Father, the Vinedresser. The word for “vinedresser” is the Greek word for “farmer.” Jesus says, “I am the Vine,” and you are connected to me. God the Father is the Vinedresser, the One who farms you in and through Me.
Get the picture? God wants you thinking about the things that ultimately matter. Farmers worry about food and water, God the Father wants you think about “Food for eternal life! Water for eternal life.” We take all of this for granted today in so many ways. We just think that food belongs on supermarket shelves. We forget who labors to provide it. Even worse, we forget about our connection to God who is the Author, even the Source of life, now and forever!
That’s why Jesus uses this image. This is about life that comes from the eternal Vinedresser, the eternal Father. He’s saying, like the careful work of a good farmer, the Father cares for you, seeks for you to be connected, nourished, even challenged to a meaningful life! He’s up at the break of day, still there long after you sleep. He keeps His promises and desires your best. God’s Word states it clearly: “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
And the Father wants to grow you, mature you with the nutrients of His life-giving Word. The Bible says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).
The Father wants you to be washed clean, nurtured in the power of Baptism in His Name. He wants you fed deep in your heart and soul, through the life-giving body and blood of Jesus Christ through the bread and wine of the Supper of His grace. What a Vinedresser! What a Farmer! Your faithful heavenly Farmer tends to you as His beloved branches connected to His Son, the true Vine.
Life from your Savior means that your life was not merely meant to be busy or meaningless; it was meant to be meaningful, fruitful, and eternal.
That’s the point of Jesus’ Word to us today. You can live a meaningful life. In fact, He doesn’t just offer it, He goes on to describe what it looks like. Listen to what He says, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5-6). So, a truly meaningful life abides in Christ.
What does that mean? Does it mean that your life has to be heroic and famous–packed with high profile things to do? No. To abide simply means to stay–like staying with someone when you visit for a few days. It means to stick around. It means to endure.
Abiding in Jesus makes your life meaningful because you hear and receive His meaningful, grace-giving Word. You connect to His wisdom, counsel, and leadership. You receive His love, His forgiveness. You develop a heart ready to share His gifts of gracious love and forgiveness with hurting and stressed out people. Abiding in Jesus makes your life meaningful because you receive God’s grace and you are ready to move forward with His eternal agenda!
A meaningful life is a life in the Word; it’s also a life immersed in prayer. Prayer is so misunderstood these days. It’s not merely crying out to God, hoping that He hears. No, God invites us to dialogue with Him, to read His Word, then to petition Him in prayer, to seek guidance in applying it to our lives, to the lives of those we love.
When Jesus says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:7-8). Wow! That doesn’t mean that we have some secret way to coerce God into acting the way we want. It means that we, through prayerful dialogue with His Word, we start to see life with His eyes, with His focus. That kind of prayer starts to ask Him things because you know that His view of life is what matters in your life. You get to know Him. You start to ask Him about what He wants to happen in your life and in the lives of those you prayerfully love. You start to understand what God wants and you ask Him to come through, and to grant you courage to stay in that conversation by faith until you see Jesus face to face!
If you can hear this message today, you can pray. You can talk to God. You can ask Him to help you, save you, change you, renew you. You can respond to His Word right now! Your conversation with God can change your life; it can change other’s lives for eternity too. If that isn’t a meaningful life, I don’t know what is. If that isn’t a productive life, nothing is.
Abiding in Jesus, immersed in His Word, confident in your prayerful conversation with Him; that really changes things. In fact, abiding with Him means that meaningful life is ultimately about following Jesus in all you do.
You heard Jesus say, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
What does it mean to follow Jesus? Does it mean you have to have the stamina to climb a mountain and discover spiritual truth, or memorize the whole Bible, or be flawless and perfectly behaved at all times? No. Perhaps the best way to sum up what it means is to use the summary Jesus did. In John 15:9, He said it this way, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love” (John 15:9-10).
Following Jesus is summed up in loving people as you have been loved by God. That’s a meaningful life in action!
When God grafts us into His Son, the Vine, when He makes us part of Jesus’ life-giving power, things change. That’s a meaningful life at God’s disposal right where you are today. That’s being a vessel of character, of grace, of service, empowered by God’s love to those in your life right now. You can’t believe what a change will come when you love others His way!
I just visited a place where miracles like that are happening every day, Angola Prison, a maximum security prison near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. At one time, it was considered one of the worst prisons in the country. Most of the inmates there were serving life sentences without parole. It was aptly called the “Bloodiest Prison in America” for all the murders, stabbings, and fights that happened each and every day inside the prison walls.
Twenty years ago, something changed. Faith came to the prison in a very special way. It didn’t just come through an occasional preacher or teacher. No, it came in the form of intense study of the Bible, a four-year, in-depth, seminary degree behind bars for prisoners who earned the right to study God’s Word.
These men started abiding in Christ, really digging into His life-giving Word, and things changed. It wasn’t just repentance and forgiveness for their sakes alone, it was a changed life that could stop taking and start giving back to others in service, the way of Christ even behind bars.
So, they started serving with each other, amidst unheard of violence and distrust. When they graduated from this seminary behind prison walls, they started to serve other inmates, to lead Bible study, to counsel. They started to walk the cell block to challenge people to see what life in Christ could be for them even there. And things changed! Incredibly, no more bloodshed, no more blaming others, getting lost in anger and resentment, no more trying to game the system. No, these guys were called to serve, and in Jesus, they served.
John, if you are listening. I send you my greetings and blessings to you and all serving others in Jesus’ Name at Angola. John was one of the first graduates of the “seminary behind bars.” He said, “The first thing that you realize when you graduate, is that now, by the grace of Jesus, you get to follow Him in service to others.”
I was thinking, “That’s right. Jesus is the Vine, connected to Him; we bear fruit in service….”
John said it this way, “Now we get to have lives that display the mind of Christ willing to endure hardship, ridicule, even struggle to show the Father’s love to those who need it.” He said, “I realized what that meant when I walked the cell block on Death Row to counsel and pray with the inmates.” The first thing the guards do is to strip you naked because they don’t want you to bring any contraband in or out of the facility that might destabilize the prison. It’s very embarrassing, even humiliating. So, there you are naked before the guards, naked before these prisoners, asking them all if you can pray for them or share God’s Word with them. You go to them just as Jesus came for you no matter the cost!
Incredibly, after the initial humiliations and abuses from the prisoners and guards alike….things started changing. John said, “People wanted to know more about a Jesus who would keep coming to visit them through men like us. Guards started to see our integrity, honoring them too. Things changed even in here.”
Meaningful life; that’s what God the Father offers you today in Jesus, His Son. Abiding in Christ, prayerfully following Him, that’s power to serve others in His Name, power to reap a harvest of righteousness now and for eternity. Trust in Jesus today, keep abiding in His Word with you and begin to live a life of purpose that will satisfy your very soul! That’s my prayer for you, dear friend, and that’s Jesus’ offer to you, now and forever! Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for May 03, 2015
Topic: What is a Quinceañera?ANNOUNCER: And we are back once again with Pastor Gregory Seltz. I’m Mark Eischer. Pastor, here’s a question we haven’t covered before. A listener says they’ve noticed a few new traditions in their church since they began having Spanish services. One of them looks something like a wedding, but it’s called a quinceañera. What is that?
SELTZ: Now, Mark, that is a great “missional question.”
ANNOUNCER: How do you mean?
SELTZ: Well, remember, Jesus told us to go to all nations, all ethnicities, and share His Good News of life and salvation with them so that they would believe. If we do that, we shouldn’t be surprised to come across traditions we aren’t familiar with but are loved by the new people we meet.
ANNOUNCER: And all ethnic groups have unique things that make them unique people.
SELTZ: Right, and to share the Gospel, one needs to understand these cultural things, these traditions that are important to others, on their terms, because the mission statement is true. People don’t care what you know, until they know that you care.
ANNOUNCER: So, there are these traditions that people hold dear, but Christianity has a message that is true for all people.
SELTZ: It does, and we have to remember that there are Traditions, that’s with a big “T”, a capital T, that we all share as Christians and there are “traditions” (with a little ‘t’) that we might hold dear that make us unique as a people.
ANNOUNCER: Maybe you could give some examples that make this distinction clear.
SELTZ: The big “T” items, those are things that Jesus gave to us to celebrate and to share; things like the Lord’s Supper, baptism, prayer, confession and absolution, and more. These are essential, unchangeable practices of the Church that are established by God.
ANNOUNCER: Okay, so that’s the big “T” stuff, what about the little “t” items?
SELTZ: Small “t” items are the customs and practices we incorporate into our worship and fellowship that are helpful but certainly can change from place to place and century to century. They are things like “language, styles of music, specific customs, and the like.” They too can flow from faith and God’s work in our life but they aren’t necessarily commanded by God for our lives with Him and with others.
ANNOUNCER: So what should we know about this quinceañera tradition? There are fancy clothes, beautiful dresses, singing, and dancing and it kind of looks like a wedding.
SELTZ: It does; but it’s not a wedding. It is a rite of passage for a teenage girl on her fifteenth birthday that is celebrated by many families who have roots in Mexico.
ANNOUNCER: All right, like we might think of a “sweet 16”?
SELTZ: That’s right. It marks the beginning of a girl’s move into adulthood in the Mexican culture.
ANNOUNCER: Okay. A “rite of passage” then.
SELTZ: It is. The quinceañera is a small “t” tradition emphasizing the important things in a girl’s walk with the Lord. When Lutherans celebrate a quinceañera, they maintain the important practice of gathering in the church for a service of prayer and thanksgiving. Afterward there is a meal and usually a dance. There is a lot of variety in the details depending on the young girl’s preferences and the girl also usually invites other teenage boys and girls to be part of her court.
ANNOUNCER: Court? Like the attendants of a wedding party?
SELTZ: Correct, and they dress the part too. The birthday girl traditionally has worn a very special dress. The boys and girls that make up her court dress in elaborate tuxedos and dresses as well. In addition to dressing up and spending the day with the quinceañera, they meet weekly for a couple of months leading up to the celebration to even choreograph a dance that they present together at the quinceañera party.
ANNOUNCER: Wow. What a party, but there’s also a church service in there somewhere.
SELTZ: There is. In fact, the church service is the most important part of the day, though it can be overshadowed by the rest of the day’s festivities if the family isn’t careful. First and foremost, the reason for the service is to give thanks to God for the life of the girl turning fifteen. The service is a huge “Thank You!” to God, a time set apart in the day to listen to God’s Word, remember God’s Good News for life in Jesus, and pray for the Lord’s guidance.
ANNOUNCER: And a service of thanksgiving is a great way for a young girl to begin her life as an adult.
SELTZ: Right. And that’s why these “new traditions” (little “t” traditions) can be new opportunities to emphasize those capital “T” traditions of our common faith in Jesus, helping us see what’s really important in a new and a fresh way.
ANNOUNCER: And we can find a special joy in being open to God, and then open to those people that He is continually bringing into our midst.
SELTZ: Yeah, that’s a special joy indeed!
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Seltz. And with that we come to the end of our broadcast for another week. We thank you, the listener, for making this program part of your day. We hope you’ll join us again next time. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House)
“I Am Content! My Jesus Ever Lives” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House)