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Sabbath, September 18, 2004 Pastor Tom Hughes
Communion Newark Seventh-day Adventist Church
"The Vine"

John 15:5—"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing.
"…apart from me…"
It means "You are hopelessly lost apart from me."
It means, apart from Christ’s righteousness, all the good works you do are valueless unless they are offered to God on the altar of Christ our righteousness.
It means that all of our accomplishments are nothing unless Christ is in our heart.
Our spiritual and religious observances— keeping the Sabbath, paying our tithe and those things that we love to do to show our love to God— are worth nothing apart from the true vine; apart from Christ our righteousness.
Now there is good news here for those of you who have come to the church today with a heavy heart because your sins are many. Jesus says, "If you come to me and accept me and remain in me, you will bear much fruit." The Bible says our lives will be changed.
One of the things Ardyth likes to say is "Jesus accepts us just the way we are but He loves us too much to leave us that way!"
And I think that’s a wonderful way of putting it. When you come to Jesus and accept Chris as your Savior, when you’re born again the Holy Spirit fills you with the divine nectar of Christ and His wine, His blood, His Spirit begins to flow into you and as that life-giving, nurturing content comes through the Spirit into your heart, "you will bear much fruit" the Bible says.
The word ("abide") "men’-o" (in Greek) means "to remain." It means "to stay in or remain with."
Can you remain in this church if you were never in the church? ("No.") So obviously this passage is talking about someone who’s converted; someone who’s "saved," someone who is in Christ. Can you remain in Christ if you were never in Christ in the first place? No!
It says here that if you don’t abide in the vine… Once you accept Christ if you don’t remain in the vine, that you will be burned at the end of the world.
If Jesus doesn’t die on the Cross and pay for your sin, and if His sacrifice is not applied to your life then who, in the end, pays for your sins? You do. You and the devil will be destroyed in hell together. He’ll pay for all the temptations he’s foisted upon you, he’ll pay for his part in your sinfulness, but you will bear the full brunt of the burden of your sin apart from Christ. If you do not remain in Christ, you will be burned as a branch that is withered.
Now, when you are buying a tree and planting it, you have high hopes. After you’ve just paid money for a bush and then a month later, you come out and the twigs just snap off because it’s totally dried up and dead, how good does that make you feel?
What good is a dried up dead branch? It’s good for one thing—to be cast into the fire and burned.
How hopeless it is for a person who has rejected the offering of salvation that Jesus Christ has made to each one of us!
How hopeless is a person who, "…like a dog returning to its vomit…" the Bible says—
Is that a strong enough picture for you? The Bible says a person who was once in Jesus and loved Jesus and returns to their sinful way of life is like a dog returning to its vomit.
I think God’s trying to tell us something. When God uses language that graphic, He’s trying to say how sad it is for anyone who has once known Jesus and tasted the sweet nectar of His Holy Spirit to reject Him and go away and serve the world!
The world is like vomit to God. The pleasures of this world, the alcohol, the drugs, the pornography, the sex, the violence—all the pleasures of the world are filth to God and He says to us, "Turn from the world. You’re either an enemy of the world and a friend of God or you’re an enemy of God and a friend to the world.
Which is it gonna be? This day you must make your decision. "You’re either for me or against me. If you remain in me, you’ll bear much fruit. If you go the worldly way you’re gonna lose your soul in hell."
Could God make it any plainer?
Now, once you’ve accepted Christ, then you’ll bear fruit, and you’ll bear much fruit.
Have you ever seen an apple tree straining to make an apple?
Have you ever seen a grapevine sweating and straining trying to grow a grape?
Can you just imagine the apple tree? "Oh, I gotta make an apple!" (grunting)
Can you imagine the grapevine going, "I need to make a grape! (grunting) I really have to try harder to make this grape!"? (grunting)
And yet, I see a lot Christians doing just that.
"Well, the Bible says if I’m a Christian I have to obey God. I have to be obedient. And I need to really try hard to be perfect and do everything right (grunting)." Straining, trying to grow.
What’s the only way to make that apple grow? —water and fertilize the tree! If you fertilize the tree, and water the tree, and it gets plenty of fresh air, and sunshine and good water, and lots of good nourishing fertilizer, the apple just comes naturally, doesn’t it? The apple tree doesn’t work and strain to try to give birth to an apple, the apple just grows!
And so it is with the Christian. It’s not about you trying harder to give up your sinfulness! THAT DOESN’T WORK, PEOPLE! Some of you have had sins you’ve been struggling with for years and you’ve never been able to turn your back on ‘em and walk away. Because no matter how hard you try, the chains are still on. You need God’s chain-cutter. Jesus can cut the chains that bind you.
If you abide in Jesus, you’ll bear much fruit.
Why don’t you work on the abiding and let the fruit-growing to the tree!
Why don’t you let the vine worry about producing the fruit and why don’t you just work on abiding?
You know how you work on abiding? Attach yourself to the vine! Become a true branch and drink the nectar of God’s word! Open your Bible every day and study it and let the nectar flow into you!
"Pastor, I’ve tried so hard to be patient with my children and I just can’t seem to get the victory."
"Pastor, I’ve tried so hard to quit doin’ drugs and I just fall back into it."
"Pastor, I’ve tried so hard to give up the alcohol and I can’t."
"Pastor, I’ve tried so hard to live a straight life and not live in the homosexual lifestyle. I just don’t seem to be able to gain the victory."
"Are you workin’ at it?"
"Yes (!) I’m workin’ at it!"
"Are you workin’ real hard at it?"
"Yeah, I’m workin’ real hard at it!"
"Quit workin’. Quit workin’ so hard and start workin’ on abiding."
Instead of worrying so much about what you’re doin’ or not doin’, how ‘bout if you read your Bible for a half hour every day?
How ‘bout if you get The Desire of Ages out and read a chapter every day and look at the life of Christ and contemplate the life of Jesus?
The reason we’re not gaining the victory is because we’re not bearing fruit! The Bible says this is the victory even our faith! We are saved by grace through faith, and the works come when we abide in Christ!
Come to prayer meeting! At prayer meeting, I will take a big spoon and spoon-feed the Bible into your mouth! (laughter) Some of you aren’t havin’ worship and you can’t seem to get your…get your program goin!
Come to prayer meeting. I will shovel God’s word into your mouth! And maybe, if you come to church and prayer meeting, and I shovel the word in there, maybe you’ll get enough faith and enough enthusiasm about it that you’ll actually start pickin’ the Bible up and readin’ it for yourself every mornin’!
Now, some of you are already doin’ that and I’m not talkin’ to you (!). If you’re already doin’ that and you know what I’m talkin’ about, praise the Lord! Hallelujah! There is power in the word (!).
"IF YOU ABIDE IN ME, YOU’LL BEAR MUCH FRUIT."
This isn’t cheap grace, this grace changes your life! We all what you to change for the better don’t we? It’s just how ya gonna get the results. Workin’ on it, and legalism and tellin’ everybody how wrong they are all the time, and criticisn’ everybody, and bein’ hard yourself and all those around you, DOESN’T WORK!
Lifting up Jesus, loving Jesus, talkin’ about Jesus, abiding in Jesus, reading about Jesus, talking about Jesus, praying to Jesus, letting Jesus fill you with the nectar, He is the vine and you are the branch—when He begins to flow through you the fruit will come.
I want obedience more than you do (!) but I want the obedience of faith, ‘cause the other side isn’t worth a nickel (!).
"The righteousness of man is valueless in God’s sight. But the obedience of faith is a sweet-smelling savor in the nostrils of God."
You want to walk by faith? —drink of The Vine.
You want to avoid being burned in hell and paying for your own sins? Accept Christ who died on the Cross for you.
Today we’re gonna wash our sins away. We’re gonna wash our feet. We’re gonna wash away the sins that have held us back for so long and then we’re gonna receive the body and blood of Christ. And I’d like all of you to just as quickly as you can wash one another’s feet, come back quietly, sit every other row, and we will be out of here by one o’clock if you do that. You think I’m kiddin’! I’m not.
Let’s pray.
Father, as we practice the Ordinance of Humility, may we not be too proud to serve each other. May You wash away our sins. We want to connect to the vine and drink deeply of His nectar. We want the life-blood of Jesus to flow into us and we want to bear much fruit for Christ. We know that through Christ, we can do all things but without Him, we can do nothing. Fill us with Your Spirit today as we celebrate His death and resurrection. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Ordinance of Humility (foot washing)
Congregation leaves; then, returns.
(Pastor Tom): …and I am the branch. In order for me to be a branch, I’ve been washed in the blood, I’ve had my sins forgiven, my sins have been washed away, and I am one with Christ because I am a branch on His vine. That means Communion can truly be today a celebration of the sunny side of the Cross.
The movie, The Passion (of the Christ), really emphasized the dark side of the Cross—all the violence and the beatings and the buffeting. The movie really emphasized what the devil was doing to Jesus without realizing it but they tried to also emphasize what Christ did for us in sacrificing His life. And I’m sure, though the film isn’t perfect, many will be brought to think about the risen Savior.
In the Sprit of Prophecy, as Seventh-Day Adventists, we have the joy of reading from her writings, and she says that we need to dwell as much as possible on the "sunny side" of the Cross.
I’m glad the wounds are healed and that Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God in glory and there’s no more gloom and doom, it’s all joy and exaltation and glory now. And very soon Jesus is going to come again and rescue us! Because the only way out for many poor people, disadvantaged, hurting, disabled people, is going to be up (!) when Jesus comes.
We can make this world as good as we can make it, we can minister to the poor for the next hundred years, but it’s still gonna be this old rickety, raggedy, planet earth with all its heartache and pain. It’s still gonna be great when Jesus comes (!). And so I just want to make sure that you’re hooked into the body and that you are one of His disciples today.
Have you been washed in the blood? ("Amen.")
Have you had your sins washed away? ("Amen.")
Have you served your brother and your sister? ("Amen.")
Then let us partake of our Communion Service today.
I’ve asked Brother Ralph if he’ll read verse 23 and 24 of First Corinthians 11, and share his comments, and then he’ll have prayer for the blessing of the bread.
1 Corinthians 11:23, 24—"23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,
24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." NIV
This is a time of great celebration, for we are all God’s children today. We have rededicated our lives, our weaknesses and asked for our share of His love and forgiveness. We get a new start today. This is a new beginning of the Blessed Hope which is Christ Jesus.
Let us pray.
Our most precious Lord and Father, we are so weak, and so immature, and so lonely, and so unloved but yet, we have come to reimburse Your likeness in each of us. You have come to reassure us of life-everlasting As we partake of this bread which is Your body, Father, we pray in a special way that You’ll touch each heart as You break our hearts, and heal them all in the same motion. And that we’ll be glad to be in the house of the Lord today. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
(Pastor Tom): Amen! Amen. Thank you, Brother Ralph.
Organist plays softly while the unleavened bread is broken and distributed to the congregation
While you’re being served and the organist is playing quietly, I wonder if there is someone today who would like to give a little testimony or say something to exalt the Lord?
Testimonials given.
Certainly, Jesus did do a lot of suffering for us. He was willing to have His body beaten and broken on our behalf. Let us partake and remember His suffering.
Congregation eats the broken pieces of unleavened bread.
I’ve asked Brother Jim to read verses 26 and 27 of First Corinthians 11 and we are going to…after he has his remarks…he’ll be offering prayer for the wine.
1 Corinthians 11:26, 27—""For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." NKJV
Well, this is a very solemn time and this is a grape juice that is representative of the Lord’s blood. It helps us to realize that we must forgive one another and ourselves. And we must ask the Lord to forgive us.
Let’s bow our heads as we have a word of prayer…
Heavenly Father, as we come to you this Communion Day, we thank you for instituting this to make us realize our deficiencies, our sins, and to forgive others and, then, Lord, to ask You forgiveness.
This blood is a symbol, this wine is a symbol of Your blood that was shed on Calvary’s cross. We thank You for doing this for us. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
Organist plays softly as the grape juice is distributed to the congregation. (Pastor notes new procedure for distributing emblems to the congregation.)
(Pastor Tom): When you get a new pastor, it’s kind of like, almost like getting married. You don’t know how the pastor’s going to do things and he doesn’t know how you do things, and he zigs and you zag, and he doesn’t want to zig when you’re zaggin’. But even with Communion, we’re all learning. After a few more of these we’ll now each other a little better and we’ll know how it works.
But I guess the main thing we need to do is just relax and know that God loves us and just enjoy our experience in church—not get too nervous or worried—because it doesn’t matter if we say something a little perfect. It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake once in awhile. Do we ever make a mistake? Is it okay to make mistakes sometimes? I mean, hopefully, they’re not fatal! Some mistakes aren’t very good, like if the druggist puts the wrong amount in your prescription or something.
I always tease my wife. I say "There’s two times when I want a perfectionist: when my druggist fills my prescription and when my pilot lands my plane!"
But other than that, you know, we all make mistakes and it’s okay to make mistakes. Sometimes we fail. We never want to be comfortable and happy about it but we all do it.
The Bible says, "The righteous man falleth seven times but he rises again." I think the definition of failure is not falling down, it’s lying there and wallowing in your sins after you’ve fallen. You know sometimes after you’ve fallen, God will take that lesson and teach you something you needed to learn that will help you for the rest of your life.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we all could just have one victory after another? Amen! And God can do that for us, but He knows we’re human. That’s why John said, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the righteous."
Is there someone else that would like to share something today?
Organist plays softly as testimonials are given.
He suffered and gave every last drop for us, so drink ye, all of it.
Organist plays softly as the Congregation drinks the cup.
I’m going to share something with you while they’re collecting things.
John 16:1-14—""These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.
2They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.
4But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.
And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
5 But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, "Where are You going?'
6But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
7Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
8And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;
11of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
14He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you."
Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men, I guess I’m a wee bit past one (o’clock) there. You’ll have to beat me with a wet noodle after the service, I’m sorry (!)
Ladies, if you’ll cover our Communion. We appreciate so much the ministry of the deaconesses.
Let’s do something a little different. It says in the Bible when they’d sung a hymn, they went out. Let’s all stand and let’s sing a hymn a capella—the way we’ll have to do it in the caves when we don’t have any musical instruments…ministers exit to the back of the sanctuary.
"Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to stumble (tremble), stumble, stumble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?"
Go in peace.
Closing Hymn: No 158, "Were You There?" American Negro Spiritual. (Seventh-Day Adventist Hymnal, Review and Herald Publishing Association, ©1985)
Organist: Ardyth Loveridge

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All Scriptural References: King James/New King James Version
www.BibleGateway.com, and www.StudyLight.org

Ellen G. White References: www.whiteestate.org

Transcription: Wendy J. Riebel

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