I Am The Vine

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Introduction

This month marks four years since I was called to pastor Cornerstone Church. It has been four years that I will never forget, filled with joy and sorrow, hope and heartache. Thank you for four great years. It has grown me so much and for that I am forever thankful for you. I’m praying that you have grown as well.

What do you do when you face conflict? How do you handle it? Fight or flight?

I want to start by telling you a story of one of the times where I was hurt the most at church. We have all experienced some sort of hurt in church or hurt from other people in our lives. A little more than 20 years ago I was serving as an assistant pastor for a church in the Virginia Beach area. The man I was serving with, I loved. He was a great man of God and I loved him like a father. He passed away about five years ago from a heart attack, and I miss him.

And as much as I loved him and looked up to him, I can say without a doubt he had his issues. One of the issues he had was that he was always late. Anyone relate? Well, he was the pastor and one of the worship leaders, and typically if the pastor is late, church doesn’t start on time. He and I had moved to Va Beach to take over a church that was dying. There were only a handful of people there when we got there, but over the course of a year or two, it had grown to over 150 people.

Now, there are things you can get by with when you are small that you can’t get by with as you grow. When you have 30 people, they will laugh it off and say, oh, the pastor is late again, hahaha. When you have 150 people waiting on the pastor, things get a little more tense. During one of these tense seasons, the church was getting fed up with the pastor and there was a lot of gossip and backbiting going on about him. All of a sudden all of his faults were evident.

Church people are terrible at giving grace to others. I know I’ve been guilty of that. So the pastor comes to me and asks a favor of me. I preached for him regularly, but he never asked me to preach on an certain subjects until this time. He asked me if I could preach something that would help get people off his back. So I decided to preach a sermon called, “Don’t Wear Absalom’s Coat.” I don’t have time to get into details, but Absalom was David’s son and he essentially starts a coo against his father by gossiping about him in the gate of the city.

So my message was simple, stop all the backbiting and gossip. What I didn’t think through or realize at the time was this. People don’t listen. So here’s what happened, rather than backbiting and gossiping about the pastor, now the people had turned on me and were angry with me. All of their anger and vitriol was now directed at me and guess what the pastor did to help me? Nothing.

I was devastated. I had never experienced anything like this in a church. Typically I’ve always been a pretty likable guy, so I had never experienced so many people turning on me all at once. It was devastating. I was hurt. This is more than church hurt, this is ministry hurt. I was just trying to be faithful, but here I was being attacked from all angles.

When I tell my story of why I stayed out of ministry for so long between the ages of 25 and 40, this is one of the main reasons why. I had people I loved turn against me and say all types of evil things about me. And it sucked. Now, to make things worse, I didn’t handle it well. I always tell people that you can’t control other people, you can only try and control yourself. That’s marriage advice. That’s work advice. That’s life advice.

I didn’t control myself well. I ended up leaving that ministry opportunity. I ended up leaving the ministry. I left Virginia Beach and my life was changed forever, mainly because I ran away and wouldn’t voice my hurt. I never told him how much he hurt me by leaving me high and dry like that. In fact, for many years, I didn’t talk about it at all.

That’s my story, but I think all of us have experienced some sort of hurt in our lives that we didn’t handle well. In fact, I know we have. We have all experienced a trial or something in our life that we responded to it by running. Things are tough, I’m out. I see this happen in church all the time. People would rather run than talk through things. People would rather slander others than to deal with the sin in their own hearts.

Today I want to finish out our series called “I Am”. if you have your bibles, please turn to John 15. The words will be on the screen and notes are loaded into the Cornerstone Church App. Today we are focusing on the last “I Am” and I want to talk about how God thinks we should handle trials and conflict in our lives…and spoiler alert, the correct answer is neither fight or flight.

So today, I want to start with my main idea and we are going to spend the rest of today, digging into it. This is the main idea that I want you to take home with you today.

Everyone Gets Cut, Fruitful People Grow

Let me repeat that. Everyone gets cut. You will not get out of life with out getting cut, without getting hurt, without being damaged. You will be bruised, beat down, tossed aside, tore up and as the young people might say, triggered. You can’t avoid it. This happens to monks who take a vow of silence. He looked at me wrong. You know its true! Some of you likely got cut this weekend around Thanksgiving.

A lot of us have been cut by our own family! That’s not abnormal. You’re family is messed up. So is mine. God knows that and God uses that. Wait. He didn’t just say what I think he did, did he? Yes, God uses our cuts. It’s called pruning. Let’s read together John 15, 1-5.

John 15:1–5 ESV

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 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. 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.

Jesus starts this passage with an identification. He is the vine and his Father is the vinedresser. This is the part where we learn something about God’s identity. He is the vine. He is the source of life. Branches are connected to the vine and as long as they are connected to the vine, they receive life. IF they become disconnected from the vine, they don’t have life anymore. They die.

The vinedresser is the manager of the vineyard. In other words, God has the responsibility of making the vine produce as much fruit as possible. In biblical times and in this part of the world, many people grew vineyards. They were very familiar with vineyards. Wine was probably the most popular drink during this time. Water was not always safe to drink, so most people drank wine. I’m sorry if this offends your baptist upbringing.

So this analogy is perfect for people who likely knew multiple vineyard owners or even owned a small vineyard themselves. This the equivalent to knowing a doctor today. Everyone in this room knows a doctor, been to a doctor’s business, understands the process of going to the doctor for a checkup, etc.

So God the Father is in charge of the vine’s growth. He determines its limits and the direction it grows. In other words, a vinedresser would construct a trellis, and the vine would be pruned in such a way, that it would grow along the trellis and the trellis would hold it up.

But here’s the thing I want you to recognize in this passage. Verse 2 says that every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away (or he cuts away), and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes (or he cuts back), that it may bear more fruit. So everybody gets cut. If you are in Jesus, you will be cut on. There’s no escaping it. It does not matter who old you are or how young you are, who your parents are or how much money you have. You will be cut. The question is this. Will you be cut away or cut back?

You Will Either Be Cut Off Or Cut Back

Everybody gets cut, fruitful people grow. I know for part of my life and maybe you experienced the same, I did not understand this thought. I thought that if I was a Christian, I would be blessed and that meant that I wouldn’t go through any hard times. God wouldn’t want me to suffer, he wants to bless me. I would go around quoting Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

So any problems that came into my life were definitely the enemy. Car broke down? Satan did it. It certainly wasn’t the fact that I never changed the oil. Lost my job? Satan did it. I never saw my trails as a pruning process from God. It never occured to me that he would allow me to go through certain trials to try and prune me in a way that I would actually bear more fruit.

In fact, most of the time, I would have responded with the thought, I went through this, now I’ll never amount to anything in the kingdom. I’m damaged. I can’t serve God. Look at me, I’m worthless. Have you ever felt that way?

The trials of the saint are a “divine pruning”, by which he grows and brings forth abundant fruit.

Charles Spurgeon

So every branch gets cut in this passage. If you are attached to Jesus, you are going to get cut somehow. It will either be cut down to the spur or cut back for pruning. I don’t have much experience in a vineyard, so I had to watch some videos and read some articles this week to get the gist of this. But here’s the basics, the vine grows up and the vinedresser decides in which direction it needs to grow. If you’ve seen a vineyard, they typically grow up and then out along the trellis.

Once they get to that stage, they can bear fruit. So the vinedresser looks at the vine and the branches and He is looking for certain things because the vinedresser has one goal. He wants his vine to produce much fruit. That’s the point. That’s the goal. In order for a vineyard to make money, it needs to produce a lot of fruit. This cutting season, which is typically early spring, late winter, is a labor intensive process, but it’s totally worthwhile.

Here’s what I found fascinating. Most of what the vinedresser is deciding when it comes to cutting has to do with branches exposure to the sun. The branches can’t have to much exposure because if they do, in the heat of the summer, it will scorch the fruit. But, it has to have exposure to the sun in order to grow. So the vinedresser looks at the branches and some leaves and shoots he trims away because they will block too much of the sun. Other branches he trims back because they produced good fruit last season, and he wants them to grow more to produce even more fruit. All of this is a process and it takes time and forethought. What may look good in the moment may not be what’s best for the vine long term. So the vinedresser is making decisions in the here and now that will affect the growth of the branches for the rest of their lives.

Now here’s how I’m interpreting this on the spiritual side, when something is cut off or cut away, there are some things in my life as a Christian that God simply removes from it. These may be relationships or habits or a job or whatever. These things in my life, aren’t producing fruit, in fact, they are hurting me so, He takes them away. He cuts them off.

The second part is the pruning. Some things in my life were cut back. They were pruned. It’s not that I can’t take part in them, but it’s that I need to limit them. For instance, it may be a relationship. If a certain person in my life is helping me grow, that’s great, but I don’t need to spend all of my time with them. God will cut them back. He will force me to limit those things.

Now here’s the tricky part of this passage and where I’m going to do some speculating. Jesus doesn’t tell us this in this passage, but I believe the reason He presents this to his disciples is to get them to realize they are going to have to make choices in how they respond to God and his pruning. Everybody gets cut, fruitful people grow.

In other words, when you are faced with a trial, how will you respond? Are you going to go the path of fruitfulness? Trials in your life are going to cause you to respond in multiple different ways and in the end, they will either produce fruit, or they won’t. Those things that don’t produce fruit are cast away. They are cut off.

The Greek word in this passage for pruning (Kathairo) means to cleanse or to purify. In other words, there is a point to these trials, they are to purify you. They are to cleanse you, to help you grow. There’s some things in your heart that are not good and in order for you to grow, you need to deal with them. And i believe that it’s a choice. Every trial presents a choice.

2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Paul uses this same root Greek word in this passage, Kathairo. Let us cleanse, purify, prune ourselves from every defilement, bringing holiness to completion. Jesus is telling us that everybody gets cut. Life won’t let you get through it without you getting hurt. How are you going to handle it? Are you going to fight against it? Are you going to run away? How are you going to handle your cuts?

I think Jesus gives us the answer to how we should handle it.

Abide In The Vine

This passage really has one theme running through it - Abiding. We instructed to abide in the vine. Now I’ll be honest, when I hear that statement, I get a little frustrated. I don’t understand it. We don’t use that word much. Abide. What is that saying, what does it mean?

Literally, it means to remain. To stay. To make your home. Abiding in the vine means to make your home in the vine, in Jesus. You are to stay. You are to remain in him. Don’t run away. Remain. Stay with Him. Yes, he’s allowing and even orchestrating your cuts. If you don’t believe me, look at what Job says. Everyone know what happened to Job. Satan did it, but God allowed it and God used it. That’s the message of Job. But look at what Job says in the midst of his trial.

Job 13:15 ESV

Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.

Job 14:7–9 ESV

“For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant.

In other words, God, I recognize that you are cutting me. That you are slaying me, but I know this is for my good. I’m not running. I’m not losing sight of you. I’m not happy, but I know this is for my good. There is hope. You can cut me down to the root, but I can sprout again. Everybody gets cut, but fruitful people grow.

So what am I asking you to do with this today? How are we supposed to live our lives with this in mind? Like Job, I believe when we are cut (remember everybody gets cut, fruitful people grow) we are to find ways to grow through it rather than fight it or run from it. Let me give you a couple of examples. In the first example of what I dealt with in church hurt, it would have been much better for me to stay and work through it than run from it. That would have been the mature thing to do. Sit down and talk with the pastor and let him know what I was feeling and believing.

When we refuse to discuss our feelings, we are being immature. As Christians, our goal is to be mature. Why? Because maturity brings fruitfulness. Mature people abide. They remain in Christ, they don’t let their emotions run them. They rule over their emotions. We abide.

Here’s one more example and then we will close. Once upon a time, God brought someone into my life and they really tested me. Have you ever met someone that just really pushes your buttons? Don’t look at your spouse. But God brought this person into my life to test me, so I could see if I had patience, love and grace towards this other person. Every time I’m around this person, they test me. Now, I have a choice, I can respond in grace and love or I can respond the way my flesh wants, I can run away from them, tell them off, embarrass them, all sorts of things, but when I do, I’m not abiding in the vine. I’m not being fruitful and here is the promise of God. If he prunes me, if he brings trials into my life to cut me, to test me, then if I’m fruitful, I will produce even more fruit.