"Why Avoid?"
Notes
Transcript
Intro: We all have stories of wanting to avoid someone, right? (Mute button in Hoxie)
It's one thing to understand what Jesus does, but it's another thing to understand who he is. Our confidence in what he does is rooted in who he is.
Because if Jesus is not who He says He is, then what He says He has accomplished for us doesn't matter at all friends.
With that said, let's look at John 15. I'm going to start in verse 1. We're going to read 11 verses, and then we'll just hang out a little bit and chat. Read: John 15:1-11
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
There's some imagery in here that probably doesn't strike us like it would strike some Jew in the first century. If I could unpack this quickly for you…
When Jesus says, "I am the true vine," that is loaded with meaning. Throughout the Old Testament, that imagery of the vine is used toward God's people.
In the OT, if you came across this imagery of someone or something being the vine, that was always Israel or the people of God, and yet every time it's used in the OT it's used negatively.
In the OT, when Israel was the vine, it was always accompanied with a declaration that they were a vine that did not bear fruit and, therefore, the wrath of God was coming.
When you heard vine terminology in the first century if you were a Jew, it was almost always a pronouncement of judgment, yet Jesus here is turning that on its head.
He says, "I am the true vine." In short, he's saying, "I am doing what you cannot do, and I am being what you have not been able to be."
This is nothing short of a gospel declaration from Jesus. He's entering into this banner of failure over their lives, and he's saying, "I've got this."
That's what just happened when Jesus said, "I am the true vine. You have not been able to be fruitful in a way that pleases God, but I've got you. I am the true vine."
He's rescuing this imagery of judgment, this imagery of failure, this imagery of no matter how hard they worked, no matter how hard they tried, they always fell short.
He's stepping into that mess that you and I are just as prone today to feel as they were to feel in the first century, and as hard as it is for us to believe, it was hard for them to believe too.
He's saying, "No, I've got you. I'm the true vine. You're not the true vine. The type of fruitfulness that pleases the Lord that you have been unable to walk in I will now make possible for you."
That's what's happening in this simple statement and that was hard to believe then as it is for many today., "I am the vine." That's what's happening in this imagery.
I could spend a long time there, but what I'd rather do is keep digging in the text and tell you what that means. There are three things in particular I think that means.
The first is since Jesus is the Vine, since Jesus is what we cannot be, a much as we strive, as much as we work, as hard as we try to be moral, upright, and good people…
We're going to fall short over and over and over again, and that's all of our life stories. Now he's saying since Jesus is the true vine, you can expect pruning.
Didn't see that one coming, did you? You're like, "Oh, that's great. What's next then? Do we sing? Do we skip? What happens? Where is the cool t-shirt we can wear?” No, you get pruned.
If Jesus is the true vine, Jesus said, "Expect to be pruned." I'm just going to lay my two cents down. I wish something else was there, like "Be blessed."
Here in a second, you'll see that being pruned is to be blessed. We don't have a lot of categories for that, but it's true. So, expect pruning. Our position is now in his presence.
Then lastly, Jesus being the true vine gives us the power to love, and that power to love is going to be, I hope, a profound moment for us.
Let's look back at the text. Expect pruning. Jesus is the Vine. He is what we could not be, so expect to be pruned. Look at verse 2. Read John 15:2
2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Quick hard conversation. If you're a guest, you might not trust me enough for me to say this to you, but I'm just going to say it and let the Lord handle me in time.
To be a Christian is to bear fruit. If there is no fruit, there is no genuine belief. How you define that fruit starts to matter.
If you define that fruit in external moral religious ways, you're no better than the Pharisees, because that's not how Jesus defines fruit.
He's saying here if you don't bear any fruit at all, you get cut off. Then what about those goody ones of us who do bear fruit? You get cut back.
Why would the Lord prune what's fruitful? Well, he says. So, we would bear more fruit. So, bear more of what? What does it mean to be fruitful?
Does it mean we're all going to have awesome careers and we're never going to get sick and everybody is going to love us?
Is that the kind of fruit we can expect as Christians? Well, no. He's going to say it like this in Read: Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Jesus says because he is what we could not be he is pruning us so we can grow in these areas.
If you lack patience, you're probably not loving. If you lack love, you probably aren't walking in any real joy. If you lack joy, you're probably lacking in kindness.
If you lack kindness, you probably aren't walking in a lot of goodness. If you lack goodness, you're probably not faithful. If you lack faithfulness, you're probably not gentle.
This is a fruit that grows symmetrically over time. There wasn't anybody in the room who when I read Galatians 5 went, "Nailing it! You don't have to say anything else.”
That's not where we find ourselves. All of us, everyone in this room, pastor included, is not where I once was but not where I ultimately will be or even want to be in the growth of the fruit of the Spirit.
Therefore, the Lord in his kindness prunes so that I might grow in these areas.
This idea of utopia on earth is absurd. It's nowhere in the Bible. The Lord prunes, and we grow. The Lord prunes, and we grow. The Lord prunes, and we grow. The Lord prunes, and we grow.
Jesus says, "I am what you could not be, but I am going to grow you in who I am. And who am I? I am perfect love. I am perfect joy. I am perfect peace. I am perfect kindness.
I am perfect goodness. I am perfect faithfulness. I am perfect gentleness, and I have perfect self-control. I'm going to grow you in these areas. How? I'm going to prune you so you can grow more."
It's actually encouraging, because he's going, "You have some of this fruit. Now I'm going to prune it back so you can have even more of it."
Here's what I want to help you with. If you're in a season right now where you feel this pruning, that doesn't mean you've done anything wrong.
It doesn't mean you're being punished or that you haven't quite dialed in your discipline enough to have a happy Christian life. Again, we must get rid of this notion. We will be pruned.
Our position is in his presence. This is a scandalous text. Look back in verse 3. Then he says to his disciples…
"But you are clean, and you're clean because you've believed my word.” You see they believed what He said to them about being the I am, the Christ, the Messiah.
Keep in your mind that these men are 24 hours away from betraying and denying Christ outright. They're 24 hours away from with curse-filled lips saying, "I do not know this man. I don't know him."
Yet Jesus says, "You're clean because you believed in my word." This is where I'm saying our position really is in his presence because of who he is not because of who we are. Read John 15:4-7
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
One of the great supernatural mysteries of what it means to be a Christian is around this idea of union with Christ, that I am in Him, and he is in me. That works in a couple of different ways.
Mainly that works in how God sees us. If you're a Christian, when God sees you, he sees the perfect obedience of Christ. Not your failures but the obedience of Christ, which was perfect.
There's also this union with Christ that's celebrated in Communion. It's celebrated at baptism and celebrated in the proclamation of the gospel.
It infers to this intimacy we have with Christ, that we are welcomed and delighted in. That's so hard for us to believe, and here's why. It's human nature that if we believe we have offended, we avoid.
I think what's so stunning about what's happening here is Jesus is saying, "If you abide in me, I abide in you," and we're welcomed and delighted in because of Christ. There's no reason to avoid God.
I can't tell you how often and how normal it is for people to think they have to clean themselves up before they can approach the Lord. The Bible doesn't play it out like that.
He doesn't ask you to clean yourself up to follow. He asks you to follow so he can clean you up. Here's a perfect picture of what it looks like to really understand the love of God for you in Christ.
Post resurrection. The Bible says the disciples went back to all they knew. They went back to their old jobs. They're fishing. Now they see Jesus, and what does Peter do seeing Jesus on the shore?
Does he hide under the boat and go, "Oh my gosh! There he is. I can't believe it. Last time I saw him I was cursing his name and said I don't know who he is." Did he hide?
No, the Bible says he dove into the sea, swam to the shore, and ran and fell at the feet of Christ. Do you see how huge this is?
To understand our position in the presence of God is to understand that in Christ we don't have to avoid but can run to regardless of what we're guilty of.
That's stunning right there. Peter didn't hide but dove into the ocean and swam toward him. Goodness!
They were trying to turn the boat around to all get there, but Peter, who was most guilty, was the one who jumped into the water and didn't wait for the boat to get to the shore.
Guys, this is unbelievable. When you truly understand, you run to him; you don't run from him.
It's the guiltiest, when they understand what Jesus is saying, who run to him and not from him.
That leads us into verses 8-10, which I called the power to love. Lastly, in Christ, in this position, we're given the power to love. I'll show you why this is so important. Read: John 15:8-10
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
We begin to read this text and say, "Okay, I see that if I obey his commands, then I abide in his love." That's not what he just said. He says, "If you abide in my love, then you'll obey my commands."
It's not, "Obey my commands and you'll love me," but "As you grow in your love for me you'll obey my commands."
When you get this backward, you totally enslave yourselves and step outside of the orthodox Christian faith.
Orthodox Christian faith is not, "Do so you might be approved." It's "Love so therefore you'll do."
What we see happening in this power to love, what we see happening in this back part, these last couple of verses, is that what I'm called to is to work on and grow in my love for Jesus Christ.
That in turn will affect my obedience. Not to work on my obedience in order to love but grow in my love so it will straighten out my disobedience.
So, what does that mean? I think what this means for Christians is that we want to fill our lives with things that stir our affections for Jesus. That's the bottom line.
I want to fill my life with stuff that stirs up my affections for Jesus. Simultaneously, I want to cut out of my life anything that robs me of those affections.
If I'm first called to love Jesus, and then in loving Christ if that straightens the crooked paths, then the best way to spend my energy, my time, and my efforts is not trying not to do bad things.
No, we don’t want to waste our energy, but rather give ourselves over to a growing love for Jesus Christ.
I think a good right exercise for you would be to spend time paying attention to what stirs your affections for Jesus.
My closest friends stir my affections for Jesus. Not all my friends, but my closest friends stir my affections for Jesus. Epic stories and narratives stir my affections for Jesus.
Good music stirs my affections for Jesus. Then there are certain things that rob me of my affections for Jesus. I've said this over and over. I can't watch too much TV.
I don't think TV is the demon box, and if you watch a lot of TV, you're going to do meth and kill your parents. I don't think that's true. That’s just silly.
But I will tell you that if I watch too much of it, I become really numb to dark things. I begin to be amused by what breaks the heart of God, and I don't want to put myself in that position.
To work on growing my capacity to love the Lord empowers and fuels my obedience. It's the power to love and being positioned in his presence that fuels and drives our obedience.
Our transformation to look more and more like Jesus Christ all hinges on Jesus being what we could not be, becoming what we could not become, and accomplishing what we could not accomplish.
If you're here and you're like, "Man, I am exhausted trying to be more and do better and do the right thing; gosh, I don't even know what the right thing is," let me lay this before you.
Christ has become what you cannot become. Christ has done what you will never be able to do. I'm looking around the room.
We're all sorts of ages here, but I'm just telling you I don't care how old you grow to be. You're never going to get really, really good at being righteous. I say this all the time.
Your best righteousness is that you're not someone else. "I'm not this guy at work I know." This is no righteousness at all. That's that you're a little bit less of a moron maybe. That's not a win.
It's not a win before the holiness of God. Now let me tell you why all this matters, and then I'm going to conclude. Look at verse 11. What's at stake in all this that I'm talking about? Read John 15:11
11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
"These things I have spoken to you…" This is why Jesus is teaching this. "…that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." I've argued with you that joy and happiness are not the same things.
Happiness is frail and fragile and can be affected by all of our external circumstances and situations. You know this. You've felt this. (Happy and singing, then FB sets you off)
Joy is different than happiness. It's built not on external circumstances but on ultimate spiritual realities, that I belong to Jesus, and he belongs to me.
I am positioned in his presence and he is what I will never be, and I get to melt into that and rest into that. I don't ever feel like I'm going to be outed by somebody.
Why these things matter is the God of the universe is serious about your joy, your deep-rooted, deep-seated confidence that he has you, that he's for you, and that he will make a way. Let's pray.
Father, I thank you for these men and women as always, just the opportunity to open up your Word, that you would speak to us, that you would want to direct and guide us, that you would not leave us to our own imaginations or our own devices but that you would lead and guide us, that even in this text you would remind us that you have done for us what we could not do for ourselves, that you are the true vine. We are not the true vine.
Real life, real fruitfulness will not come from our efforts but come from abiding and being with you, and you have made a way for that in your life, death, and resurrection. So I pray where we're skeptical about this that you would convince us, that you would seer into our minds the image of Peter the apostle, the disciple, jumping out of the boat and with all of his energy swimming toward you.
Where we have avoided you and have a long list of reasons why you would reject us and so we reject you because we think you will reject us, Holy Spirit of God, I pray you would overcome those objections and that whether it's addiction or lust or whatever it is, that in looking in your eyes and with curses spewing from his mouth Peter screaming that he did not know you despite his brazen confidence just hours earlier, that you would in a very real way convince us to come to you, that you are safe, that you are kind, that you are gracious, that you are merciful. We thank you that you cover all of our sins, Jesus, the good and true vine. It's for your beautiful name I pray, amen.