Grapes
What comes FROM you when the pressure is ON you reveals what’s IN you.
Can you say that with me?
What comes FROM you when the pressure is ON you reveals what’s IN you.
Who likes grapes?
I like grapes. I don’t eat them as much as I used to.
But I like grapes.
A few years ago our family got to spend Thanksgiving in Temecula, CA. I didn’t know this, but Temecula is known for it’s grapevines. A friend of mine there has a vineyard. He has his own grapes growing on his own vines. And he has a place to press the grapes.
What happens when you squeeze a grape?
What do you get?
That’s right, grape juice!
Pressure
You may be wondering why we’re talking about grapes. The reason we’re talking about grapes is two fold. You see, two things happened this past week. We had a hurricane and then news broke about an assassination attempt on a former president.
So we need to talk about grapes. We could talk about other things and pretend those things didn’t happen. But they did.
And you may be wondering, what does any of that have to do with grapes?
Here’s what it has to do with grapes:
What comes FROM you when the pressure is ON you reveals what’s IN you.
And we’ve been under a lot of pressure.
How many of you have been without power because of Hurricane Beryl? Without Air Conditioning? My guess is many of us who live in the Houston area have been affected in some hard ways by the hurricane that hit on Monday morning.
Some have had to live with friends or family, or take friends or family in, or get a hotel room, or try to sleep in the heat, or do other things that were extremely difficult.
Some of you haven’t been able to work, or it’s been very difficult to do your job, meanwhile trying to clean up your yard, or start making repairs, and the list goes on and on.
And it’s been stressful. You’ve been under a lot of pressure.
What comes FROM you when the pressure is ON you?
Then Saturday, July 13, 2024, as if we needed a reminder that we live in a broken world filled with hate and gun violence, we hear about gunshots at a political rally. Our world right now is under a lot of pressure. Our country right now is under a lot of pressure.
What comes FROM us when the pressure is ON us?
The Vine & The Branches
Today I have one verse for you. One word from Jesus himself.
This summer we’ve been leaning into the gospel of John as we have been striving to accept his invitation to Come & See Jesus. Given recent events, I want us to consider these words of Jesus and our particular calling to be different and to live different in this world.
In John 15.5. Jesus is talking to his disciples. To his closest friends and followers. And I want to invite you to lean in and listen to what He said…
“Yes, I Am the Vine, you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15.5
Jesus takes something very common & well known to try to convey to his closest disciples who He is & what He is like.
He says HE is the vine.
You may or may not be familiar with grapevines. But the idea is simple. The best grapes are produced by a quality, well tended grapevine. And here, Jesus says He is the TRUE grapevine.
What Jesus means is that He is the source. He’s the lifeblood. He’s the one that gives life, the good life, the life that flows from God.
And then Jesus begins to tell us who we are. Who we are is found in who He is.
If He is the vine, then we are the branches.
And the question Jesus presents us with is simple… Are you connected to me? Are you remaining in me? Is your life fruitful? Are you experiencing what life in Christ is like?
This is what it looks like… this is what it means to be Christian, to be a Christ follower… its life connected to Jesus, in the presence of Jesus, producing the fruit of Jesus.
Who you are is found in WHO you’re connected to.
Who are you connected to?
How do you know if you are connected to Jesus the Vine?
Here’s a test.
You always find out who you really are when adversity comes. Adversity has a way of revealing what is most true about us. And here’s what I want to be true of you & me…
That when life puts the pressure on, when we feel squeezed, what comes out of us when the pressure is on us reveals that what’s in us is Jesus.
I know grapes have been connected to the grapevine because when I squeeze them pure, sweet grape juice comes out.
When you’re life comes under pressure, what is revealed in you? What comes out of you? Is there really Jesus in you?
Jesus will flow out of you if that’s what’s in your heart right now. When we come back to the start, when we come back to a real relationship with Jesus, that’s what’s revealedo when life puts the pressure on. Jesus comes out.
We drip Jesus.
And let me tell you, it’s alarming to people. It catches their attention. Because what they expect is one thing but what they see revealed in you is something else altogether.
They expect you to be mad. They expect you to act out. They expect you to be angry. But when they see Jesus coming out of you… they are blown away.
What comes from you when the pressure is on you?
Is it Jesus?
When Jesus was crushed on the cross, what came from him was forgiveness. He said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. What dripped from Jesus on the cross was nothing less than pure Love.
Perfect Grace.
What came FROM Jesus when the pressure was ON Jesus revealed what was IN Jesus. It was Love.
May the same be true of us as we strive to be transformed into the image of Christ.
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