Finding Meno
John 15:1-11
Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, I realized next week is my ninth anniversary at First Methodist. When I arrived at FUMC in 2013, my life was in the midst of a huge transition. I not only started a new job at a new church, in a new city, in a new state, but I also started a doctor of ministry academic program. And I should tell you, I HATE change. I resist it at all costs. BUT, it appears God loves change! Or He at least uses times of transition to change me. Apparently, that is when I'm ripe for the molding. Maybe it’s because I'm at my most vulnerable state. Or maybe it’s because when I’m anxious and nervous, I find myself totally relying on God to see me through the transitions.
So here I was in Shreveport, Louisiana, studying cross-cultural partnerships, and creating a global missions ministry with our team. Now, what I am about to say may shock you…but I LOVE missions! I love missions. I started going on international mission trips when I was 16 years old. I ended up living in Mexico for a bit, and then in Haiti off and on for a couple of years.
And the more I studied missions and how we, as Unite States Americans, have historically gone about missions, the more I learned that we, or at least I, had been doing it wrong:
• I was loving people by trying to fix them.
• I was loving people by trying to do things for them, because I thought I knew better.
• With no humility, nor curiosity, I was loving people by assuming I knew them and knew what was best for them.
And then I began to study my relationship with God...
• Do I treat God the same way?
• Do I call upon Him only when I think I need Him?
• Am I spending time with Him only to consume, or am I taking the time to learn who He is and obey His commands and walk on His path for my life?
• Was I really loving God with all my heart, soul, strength and mind?
When I was a kid, I created a personal mission statement for myself: “Love God, Love People.” But was I really living into it? So the year 2013 became a huge reexamining of who I am...who God is…and our relationship with each other!
Fast-forward to 2015 when I was flying back from Uganda, and I opened up my Bible, and it naturally fell to John 15. The passage struck me so much at that time and place that I studied the first 17 verses for the next two years. The vine and the branches proved to be a model for cross-cultural partnerships - God being the vine, and we being the branches growing from the same vine.
You know this story that Maddie read earlier. Jesus arrived in Jerusalem after a long journey, probably from Capernaum. It was a journey He had made every year since He was a boy. And I imagine He was exhausted. Travel wears me out! When He arrived in Jerusalem, He was greeted like a King, but then the religious leaders turned on Him, and questioned Him, and tried to trap Him in His responses. It was exhausting. And He knew what was coming. On that Thursday, He just wanted to spend time with His friends around the table and BE with them. When they arrived in the Upper Room, He washed their feet. It was a beautiful act of humility. And then they shared the Passover meal. And the best conversations always happen around the table. Jesus used this time to emphasize all the big teachings of the last three years He had spent with them. Following dinner, they went on a walk to find a place to pray. On the way, they passed a vineyard, and Jesus loved using a visual, an object right in front of them, to make His point. So, these were His words…
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Abide in me, and I will abide in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you abide in me.
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
As you may know, we’re in the midst of a sermon series entitled, Babel, where each week we explore a Hebrew or Greek word. Each of these words is like an over-stuffed suitcase, bulging with extra meanings to fully describe its reality. And this week’s word is Meno. M-E-N-O. You may know it as Abide.
When Jesus walked the earth, the main phrase He used when He spoke of the disciples’ relationship to Himself was: "Follow me." But, when it became closer to the time to leave for Heaven, He replaced the word "follow" with a new word. It was a more intimate word. It was this word - meno - abide. His new chosen phrase indicated not just obedience, but a spiritual union, an intimacy of fellowship, oneness of life. He invited His disciples to "Abide in me."
Meno is one of the Apostle John’s favorite words. He used it 34 times in the Gospel of John and 19 times in his letters. Meno refers to both a place and an attitude: to stay at home and to be at home – which serves John’s narrative very well. He uses meno to say God abides in Christ. He dwells in Him, and therefore, has a constant influence upon Him. The divine presence is continually operating in Him. Jesus said, I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me. John then tells us the story of how we disciples abide with Jesus, going wherever He goes, but also how His Word abides in us – taking up residence in our lives. To abide in Christ means not only to stay with Him no matter what, but also to find shelter in His words.
But my favorite definition of meno is four simple words:
Inward, enduring, personal communion
Say it with me… INWARD, ENDURING, PERSONAL, COMMUNION.
Let’s break these four words down:
INWARD
What does inward mean? - Spiritual, Mental, Emotional Connection; God with us.
Abiding in Jesus means to have a life-giving connection to Him. The Spirit lives within us, and this connects us, as branches, to the vine. A branch is connected to the vine, and a vine is connected to the branch. Theologians frequently describe this as “union with Christ.” Notice that this connection, this union, is mutual. We abide in Him, and He abides in us. If there is no connection, there is no life, no fruit.
But abiding also implies dependence. This aspect of abiding, unlike connection, is not reciprocal. The branch is dependent on the vine, but the vine is not dependent on the branch. The branch derives its life and power from the vine. Without the vine, the branch is useless, lifeless, powerless. Sap flows from the vine to the branch, supplying it with water, minerals, and nutrients that make it grow. And we believers receive the “sap” of Christ’s grace through our life-giving connection to Him. We are completely dependent upon Jesus for everything that counts as spiritual fruit. Apart from Him, we can do nothing.
To abide in continual, enduring dependence upon Christ is to keep ourselves in the position of child-like trust and dependence upon Him. Jesus said He could do nothing on His own; therefore, we can do nothing on our own. Everything about abiding means we must remain united with Him, just as the Son remains united with the Father. Which leads us to the second word…
ENDURING
What does enduring mean? - Ongoing, Continuous, Forever; He never leaves nor forsakes us.
In some of your Bibles, the translators may substitute the word “abide” for “remain,” because abiding involves continuance.
We find meno again in John 1:38-39, where two of the disciples who first encountered Jesus asked Him, “Where are you staying?” They wanted to know where Jesus made His residence. The word “staying” is the same word translated “abide” in John 15. To abide is to reside. Where we reside is HOME. So, I think of abiding as being at home in Jesus and remaining in Jesus. This simply means that we go on trusting, that we keep on depending, that we never stop believing.
I don't know about you, but I learn lessons best by repetition. One of the lessons I have learned is that being a disciple of Christ is not just a one-time commitment. It means every morning waking up and committing again to Jesus. It is the ongoing invitation and acceptance to abide in Him. When we continuously fix our minds on the lessons of faith, that is when we, believers, will gradually come into the spirit of abiding in Christ.
PERSONAL
What does personal mean? - Intimacy, Closeness; Nurtured, Individual; God knows me, I know God.
I love when Stefania, our missionary from Romania, comes to visit. We are the best of friends. But you know what I love most? We can sit in my living room, or ride in the car, and not say a word to each other for hours, yet come away having the BEST TIME EVER. It's when you cultivate this personal closeness, this intimacy, which comes from spending significant amounts of time with one another, that you can let your guard down and BE with each other.
One of Jesus’ earlier personal invitations is found in Matthew 11:28-30:
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Do you hear the earnestness, the faithfulness in Jesus’ invitation? It is kind, loving, and tender. His invitation to “Come” is full of compassion. Yet, in John 15, Jesus grants us a personal invitation to abide. And this invitation is full of grace:
• He opened His arms, to envelop you and hold you close.
• He opened His heart, to welcome you there.
• He opened up His divine fullness of life and love, and offered to take you up into its fellowship, to make you wholly one with Himself.
It's when we abide that Jesus gives us rest in Him.
When I was studying this invitation, I noticed the promise of rest is repeated twice. Perhaps it is because the abiding rest could only be found in abiding nearness? First Jesus says, “Come to me, and I will give you rest.” The very moment you come, and believe, He will give you rest - the rest found in forgiveness, the rest found in acceptance, the rest felt in His love.
Then He says, "Come to me. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me." He wants us to become His scholars, yield ourselves to His training, submit in all things to His will. He wants our whole lives be one with Him. In other words... ABIDE in Him. And then He adds, not only, "I will give," but "you shall find rest to your souls."
The first rest He gives at "coming.” But the deeper abiding rest comes from longer acquaintance and closer fellowship, from entire surrender and deeper sympathy. "Take my yoke and learn from me." Abide in me. That is the path to abiding rest.
COMMUNION
We find meno again in John 6:56 where Jesus says:
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
Jesus' goal is to have a life of abiding, unbroken fellowship with us. He has destined us for something better than a short-lived blessedness. God did not create humans to just spend time with them when they could make time in their busy schedule. He created humans for fellowship. He created humans for friendship. Yes, we have lives, families, and responsibilities, but He has prepared for us an abiding dwelling with Him. He wants to be part of our everyday lives, where all the while we might enjoy unbroken communion with Him.
The experience of living in union with Him, the experience of His daily and hourly presence and keeping... That is unbroken communion.
Yesterday, I stepped off another plane, this time after spending two weeks with our mission partners from around the globe. The veil between heaven and earth was as close as I have ever felt it… and not because we were holed up in a beautiful Tuscan villa, but because we sat in the midst of seven physical vineyards coming together on one hilltop with seven global missionaries and their families, marveling at how God had intertwined our lives through First United Methodist Church.
And though some were meeting in person for the very first time, it truly felt as though we were in the midst of a family reunion. For nearly ten years, we’ve worked toward creating abiding relationships with our mission partners both locally and globally –
· an inward connection because of the love of Christ;
· an enduring relationship, not just short-term trips and projects;
· personal partnerships, based on the individuals we have come to know and love;
· all the while communing with God and each other through the ministry of presence.
As we walked together thru the rolling hills of vineyards, the object lesson Jesus spoke had never been clearer. Yes, He is the vine - strong, purposeful, and true - and we, each of us, are different branches growing from the same vine - all with different gifts and callings, but united in our love for God, our love for each other, and our love for those He has entrusted to us. God has intertwined His people with a beautiful abiding love.
Friends, Jesus invites us to abide in His love. That means to dwell with all that I am in Him. It’s an invitation to a total belonging, to full intimacy, to an unlimited being-with. As my favorite theologian, Henri Nouwen, said, “Through abiding, we can keep ourselves from being pulled from one urgent issue to another and from becoming strangers to our own heart and God's heart. Abiding keeps us home, rooted and safe, even when we are on the road moving from place to place, and often surrounded by sounds of violence and chaos. Abiding deepens us in the knowledge that we are already free, that we already found a place to dwell, that we alreadybelong to God, even though everyone and everything around us is suggesting the opposite.”
Friends, we abide in Christ, and He in us, when we enter into a personal relationship by putting our trust in Him as our Savior. I ask you…. Where are you finding meno? How are you living in an inward, enduring personal communion with Christ?
Let us pray:
Abide in me, I pray,
for apart from You
there is nothing I can do -
nothing of eternal value,
that truly matters,
that I will care about, in the end.
So, help me, Lord, to abide in You,
when so many things try to pull me away.
Help me to turn to You,
and return to You,
throughout this and every day.
Help me to dig my roots deeply
and stay planted by the stream.
But not for me, I pray -
for the fruit You would bear in me,
throughout this day,
throughout this world,
as I share the love and peace
that You first gave to me.
This I want, above all else,
to bear this fruit for You.
But apart from You,
I wither like a branch
cut off from its vine.
So, abide in me,
my vine-growing Lord,
bear Your fruit in me this day.
Amen.
