The Cure for a Troubled Heart, Part 4
Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsBig Idea: The true source of all fruit is the vine, not the branches. This truth provides a cure for the troubled heart that believes it is responsible for it’s own fruit.
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Outline
Big Idea: The true source of all fruit is the vine, not the branches. This truth provides a cure for the troubled heart that believes it is responsible for it’s own fruit.
The Players
The True Vine - John 15:1.
The Vinedresser - John 15:1.
The Fruitless Branches - John 15:2.
The Fruitful Branches - John 15:2.
The Source of Fruit - John 15:4-6.
The Source of Provision - John 15:7.
The Evidence of Abiding - John 15:8-10.
The Source of Joy - John 15:11.
Introduction
Introduction
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 7143 To Dwell with the Rose
7143 To Dwell With The Rose
A Persian fable says: One day
A wanderer found a lump of clay
So redolent of sweet perfume
Its odors scented all the room.
“What art thou?” was his quick demand.
“Art thou some gem from Samarkand,
Or spikenard in this rude disguise,
Or other costly merchandise?”
“Nay, I am but a lump of clay.”
“Then, whence this wondrous perfume, say!”
“Friend, If the secret I disclose—
I have been dwelling with the rose.”
The clay, having abided with the rose, was changed.
Nothing the clay had done contributed to the cause. Merely ABIDING with the Rose produced a fruit, a byproduct of smelling sweet.
A simple but powerful illustration of today’s text in John 15.
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.
Big Idea: The true source of all fruit is the vine, not the branches. This truth provides a cure for the troubled heart that believes it is responsible for it’s own fruit.
Sermon Body
Sermon Body
The Players
The Players
The True Vine - John 15:1.
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Vine - grapevine
For the original hearer of this statement, they would understand this differently that we will.
In the OT, the vine is used as imagery to describe Israel.
Psalm 80:8-11.
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River.
Other places, vine imagery used to describe the failure of the nation of Israel.
Is 5:3-5
Is 51:1-8; 27:2ff
Je 2:21
Ezekiel 15:1-8; 19:10-14
Ho 10:1-2.
“I am the true vine” then, is a statement intended to replace or supercede the vine that is Israel. JESUS IS THE TRUE VINE, more so than the vine of Israel.
AND as we spoke about last week, to be blessed by God during the OT times, you HAD to be connected to Israel somehow. Not necessarily converting to Judaism, as there were God fearing Gentiles, but they were connected to Israel in someway and through Israel recieved the blessing of God. They were ATTACHED to the vine of Israel.
Now, the gospel having gone DIRECT to Gentiles, we do not necessarily have to have a direct connection to Israel THOUGH OUR BLESSING still comes THROUGH them because of the Messiah coming through them.
BUT for the original reader/hearer of this text, they would understand these words to mean that JESUS is the TRUE VINE, over and above that of Israel.
The Vinedresser - John 15:1.
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Vinedresser - One who cultivates and prunes grapevines. One who works the farm and crops.
The Father is the Vinedresser. He is the one tends, cultivates, prunes etc, the vine itself. He is the one responsible for caring for the vine to ensure it thrives, produces fruit, and grows.
IN addition to the VINE and the Vinedresser, there are two types of branches
Branches of course, being a secondary shoot or stem arising from the main axis of the vine. It is something that extends form the main body of the vine.
The Fruitless Branches - 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.
We see something similar again down in verse 6.
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.
Every branch does not bear fruit…
…Who does not abide – Verb, Present, active, Subjunctive (continuous action)
Fruit – natural product of something that is alive. OR in this case, there is fruitlessness
Throw – Put out, cast, to lay, spew, etc.
Away – out of doors, outer, external, foreign, not belonging to one’s community,
Withers – Dries up.
Burned – Consumed, burned up.
Inherent in abiding (which is our key word) is bearing fruit. Failure to bear fruit reveals they never were abiding.
So intricately connected. Bearing fruit is evidence of abiding.
Problem words – “in me” – Sounds like loss of salvation.
Understood in three ways: 1. Loss of salvation, which contradicts much of scripture (esp. John 6), 2. Loss of rewards for believers (but imagery is dead branches) and 3. Professing Christians who never truly embraced Christ in salvation and is in word only.
A statement of loss of salvation would directly contradict John 6:37-40.
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Vs. 2 – Every branch in me that does not bear fruit – does not imply loss of salvation, having belonged and threw that away by failure to abide but rather revealing that casual connection to Christ is not sufficient. Being a Jew, being part of Israel, being part of the church, etc, is not sufficient. Casual connection is not sufficient
True abiding means you are close enough to the source that there are changes and physical evidences of your connection to the source!
True abiding is personal faith, personal repentance, personal FRUIT that reveals the evidence of being rightly related and connected to the true vine, Jesus. If that is not present, they never were connected to Christ.
The Fruitful Branches - 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.
Prunes
(Webster - to reduce especially by eliminating superfluous matter , to cut off or cut back parts of for better shape or more fruitful growth
(Greek) to clear, cleanse from sin, make expiation.
Pruning is necessary to make room for the fruit to grow.
Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing
Pruning may be difficult and painful but necessary.
Reminiscent of Hebrews 12:4-11, just put in different imagery.
4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
God the Father is the Vinedresser who prunes, disciplines, molds, and shapes us so that we produce more fruit.
Having referenced Hebrews, know this, discipline for sins and poor choices is pruning, yes. But pruning is more than that. Circumstances, hardships, trials, even blessings (and how we respond to that and what those responses teach us about ourselves) are God’s pruning.
The product of our abiding, our relationship with God is fruit. It is the natural result. No true abiding without.
God will prune, through whatever means necessary to help us produce more fruit in our lives.
Putting this all together we get a picture….
Christ is the Vine (the source from which all else comes; Branches cannot exist apart from Vine; Get their life, fruitfulness from the vine.); God is the Vinedresser (the one who tends to the vine and the subsequent branches); We are branches, flowing from the vine. The evidence of our ABIDING, being VITALLY connected to the vine IS FRUIT. Where there is no fruit, we are not connected to the Vine.
From here, we flow in THE imperative of the passage. From here, we flow into the key of this entire passage.
The Command to ABIDE. The NEED to abide.
It is in this command, in this need that we discern the true source of all fruit in our lives.
The Source of Fruit - John 15:4-6.
The Source of Fruit - John 15:4-6.
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.
To ABIDE means to remain or stay. To continue to exist, to remain, to last persist, continue to live.
ABIDING in CHRIST means to CONTINUE TO EXIST IN, to REMAIN in Christ. TO CONTINUE TO LIVE IN HiM.
It means to be VITALLY CONNECTED TO CHRIST at all times.
This is THE command of this entire section
AND IT IS THE COMMAND that provides a cure for the troubled heart.
THE BRANCH, by itself, cannot bear fruit. The branch is DEPENDENT on the vine.
In the same way, WE CANNOT bear fruit unless we abide in Jesus.
WE ARE DEPENDENT ON GOD.
Church, this point is crucial. And it is crucial that we understand it. I am convinced that this is one of the reasons why God keeps so much instability in our lives, to remind us that we are NOT independent, that we NEED Christ and we need to ABIDE in Him remain IN HIM moment by moment.
“When you and I feel insecure, we are more open to God speaking to our hearts. Stability often produces passivity: the same old same old. But upheaval – a move, graduation, a job change, a broken relationship, sickness, a deep disappointment – breaks our hearts, reveals our needs, and somehow opens us up to listen.” David Nasser in A Call to Die.
Our problem? God is not nearly important enough to us.
We are content to ADD Jesus to our life, to give to Him a little of our time on Sunday’s….but no more.
ABIDING in Christ is about being VITALLY connected to Christ throughout each and every day.
Abiding in Christ is about making CHRIST our life and finding our hope, security, and sufficiency in Him.
God wants to be ALL for us. He wants our EVERYTHING to be rooted in Him.
He will do whatever it takes to draw us to that place where we rest in Him and in Him alone.
Apart from HIS strength, HIS person, HIS presence, HIS wisdom, HIS goodness, we have nothing.
THUS we are CALLED TO ABIDE in Him. To remain vitally connected to Him.
Problem is, we are too prone to striking off on our own, thinking we can do it by ourselves.
HOWEVER, whoever abides in the Christ HE WILL BEAR MUCH FRUIT. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing.
Listen, if we are unable to do anything on our own, if we cannot bear fruit apart from Christ, apart from the true vine, then….WHERE DOES THE FRUIT ACTUALLY COME FROM?
The VINE.
WE are not responsible for producing the fruit.
We are are only responsible for…what? What is the command?
ABIDING.
WHEN WE abide, Christ produces the fruit in us.
Fruit is THE PRODUCT of abiding church, not the foundation of abiding.
Galatians 5:22-24.
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.
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
The FRUIT of the Spirit is what?
All those things we tend to say are up to us to produce in our lives….they are the FRUIT of ABIDING in the Spirit, of walking in the Spirit.
……the point is clear: continuous dependence on the vine, constant reliance upon him, persistent spiritual imbibing of his life—this is the sine qua non of spiritual fruitfulness. The Christian or Christian organization that expands by external accretion, that merely apes Christian conduct and witness, but is not impelled by life within, brings forth dead crystals, not fruit. DA Carson
You want a fruitful life?
You want a Christlike character?
You want joy and peace?
ABIDE in Christ. Walk in the Spirit. Foster intimacy with the Almighty!
Surrender all for Him. Repent of your sin. Surender your will to His. Immerse yourself in His word. Study, memorize, mediate, pray, worship, and obey Him.
Let HIS cleansing and sanctifying power transform you and cause your life to produce the fruit that ONLY HE as the Vine can do.
The Source of Provision - John 15:7.
The Source of Provision - John 15:7.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
There is a promise in this verse
But it is conditional
IF
You abide in me
AND
My words abide in You
IF these two conditions are met
THEN
Ask whatever you wish AND it will be done for you.
Here’s the deal…
WHEN you abide in Christ
WHEN His words abide in You
You are CHANGED by that abiding
You are CHANGED by His words abiding in You
THUS, what you ask for IS CHANGED to reflect that which you are abiding in and that which is abiding in you
MEANING, the request you are make are being influenced by the one in whom we abide.
The SOURCE of provision THEN comes from the one in whom we abide and whose words abide in us.
If we are abiding in Him IF His words are abiding in us.
If we are VITALLY connected to Christ
If we are drawing our sustenance from Christ
If we are drawing the source of our passions and desires from the vine to which we are attached
If we are dwelling upon and meditating on HIS words as the very spiritual food that nourishes Your soul
If you are keeping HIS WORDS and HIS TRUTH close to your heart, living by them as your conviction, standing upon them as your foundation
THEN
Whatever you ask, WILL BE IN LINE with His will for your heart will be beating as one with His.
THIS IS THE EVIDENCE OF RELATIONSHIP AND INTIMACY.
Matthew 7:7-11.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
The granting of good gifts from the Father is not about him rewarding us for good behavior, it is not about our EARNING favor with God…it is about His responding to our intimate relationship with Him.
Problem is…so few of us live here. Too many of us, myself included, allow self and self kingdom desires to rule out.
THING IS…when you are abiding, remaining close to, persisting in, staying vitally connected to Christ, you cannot help but be influenced, changed, and powerfully altered by His presence and being.
Truth is, there will be evidence of one’s abiding in Christ. If there is no evidence, I suggest you question the abiding part…
The Evidence of Abiding - John 15:8-10.
The Evidence of Abiding - 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.
What is the evidence of abiding?
Fruit
Obedience.
Keeping his commands is both a means of abiding and the evidence of it. This is not a means to EARN God’s love…this is a outflow of abiding in God, an evidence of our love and devotion to Him.
AND, at the same time, it is a PRODUCT of our abiding, a fruit of it.
1 John 2:28-3:10.
28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
Abiding is marked by such close fellowship and intimacy with God that righteous living (rejection of sin) is reflected in your life (one way is by love for others).
BUT whats more is this…Our obedience IS the evidence of our abiding BUT the more we obey, the more deeply we abide, the more richly we delight in God, the more we ABIDE in him.
John 6:53-59.
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
Eating His flesh and drinking His blood, not literally, but in finding our life, our satisfaction, our fulfillment, our everything in HIM.
Abiding, then is maintaining and strengthening one’s fellowship and devotion to God so that we believe, think, feel, and act like HE does and we live according the righteous standard that He exemplifies.
We strive to know and be like Him. Waging war on all that gets in the way.
How do we abide? How do we get to know Him and deepen our love for and intimacy with Him? Put it in terms of human relationships – EG Husband and Wife
Talk; talk about everything and every topic
Ask questions; Get to know likes and dislikes
Spend time with; Do things together you enjoy; Do things you know your spouse will enjoy even if you don’t
Pray with and for; There is intimacy in prayer
Share joys and blessings
Share hardship and struggles
Date nights; protecting time together
Serve and care for needs of each other
Practical Ways to Abide in Christ….
Talk to Him; talk about everything and every topic
Ask questions; Get to know God. Read the Word to know who He is and what He is like.
Spend time with; Walking and talking to him.
Sing/worship in song
Prayer – Not simply requests but adoration, praise, thanksgiving; even writing them out
Scripture reading – Slow, deliberate, reading for conviction and comprehension
Scripture memory and mediation – Not rote, empty recall of words, but passionate understanding, application, and appreciation.
Studying attributes of God
Writing poetry or songs reflecting the person and work of God
Sharing in community with others about who God is, what God has done, and allowing true intimacy, fellowship, and accountability to flow from a shared love of God
Passionate worship in song and music
Journaling – not details of day but spiritual insights, thoughts, and conversation with God.
Self evaluation, open evaluation by spiritual and godly mentors, family, friends, to focus on areas of sin or weakness
Repentance and sorrow over failures and sins – Appropriate steps of reconciliation and restoration.
What is the result of such abiding?
God is glorified
By our abiding
By our bearing fruit
By our asking of God and His granting
By THIS…is God’s glory, God’s brightness, God’s character, God’s worth revealed.
When we ABIDE in Him, we show HIS WORTH in being the one thing we are willing to give ALL for, that we are wiling to sacrifice ALL for.
By abiding in HIM, we show His desirability and value.
By obeying, we show He is worth serving and putting before ourselves.
By asking of Him, by being dependent on Him, we show his reliability and trustworthiness.
And in so doing……
We prove our status as disciples of Christ.
And here is the thing…there is a cyclical affect to this abiding.
As we bide, we will produce fruit and we will obey BECAUSE WE DESIRE TO PLEASE THE ONE IN WHOM WE ARE ABIDING.
AND
As we abide….as we bear fruit…as we obey, we will know an even deeper experience of abiding in Christ’s love.
The more we evidence our abiding, the more we will grow in that abiding, the more we will delight in that abiding, the more delight and pleasure we will know.
And the more we abide, the deeper the delight in abiding, the deeper satisfaction and delight
The Source of Joy - John 15:11.
The Source of Joy - 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.
Christ knows how troubled their hearts are and He is providing the remedy for all that which ails their hearts; HIMSELF.
When we embrace Him, we will find joy it its fullest.
Joy – joy, happiness, gladness
God does not desire for fear to rule our hearts but in the midst of hardship and trial we may have FULLNESS of joy.
Joy is not the absence of hardship but the presence of God at all times.
We can have joy in trial BECAUSE we have HIM. This is the power of abiding in Him. He is the source of our joy, nothing else is.
NOT dependent on good circumstances which the disciples do not have. Joy is dependent on the PERSON of Christ.
We can have JOY, HIS Joy, not the world’s kind of momentary joy in monetary gain, sexual pleasure, drugs, alcohol, or success, but HIS eternal and everlasting joy.
This joy is found when we abide in His love and as we obey completely the commands given to us by the Father.
Let not your hearts be troubled, God says. Believe in God, believe in me.
I say all these things that you may have peace.
These things I have spoken to you that your joy may be full.
God is providing HIMSELF as the cure for all that ails our fearful hearts.
Will you come to Him? Will you abide?
Conclusion
Conclusion
Church, ABIDE in Christ and find the fruit of your abiding your growing together to become more like Jesus for the glory of God.
Big Idea: The true source of all fruit is the vine, not the branches. This truth provides a cure for the troubled heart that believes it is responsible for it’s own fruit.
The Players
The True Vine - John 15:1.
The Vinedresser - John 15:1.
The Fruitless Branches - John 15:2.
The Fruitful Branches - John 15:2.
The Source of Fruit - John 15:4-6.
The Source of Provision - John 15:7.
The Evidence of Abiding - John 15:8-10.
The Source of Joy - John 15:11.
Application
Application
Why is it so hard to abide in Christ?
We don’t know how or even what it means
Too busy, too tired, too stressed
Too preoccupied with other passions and interests.
Too religious. Church and Christianity has become more about head knowledge than about intimacy and relationship.
Too isolated from the community of Christ. Living too independent and too isolated will make it harder to fan the flames of intimacy with Christ.
Why is it so important to understand that fruit is the product of abiding?
If we reverse it, we make our relationship with God performance based, works based. We will seek to earn his favor, to earn intimacy with God, to earn our spot in the church. We will begin to depend upon our own strength instead of trusting in His. Yes, we are required to be obedient, but that is all. God will produce the fruit in us as we abide in Him. And as we abide in Him, we will obey, and our obedience will strengthen the depth of our abiding and compel us to greater depths of obedience.
What steps must we take to increase the depth our abiding in Christ?
Change our priorities.
Guard our time
Put greater intensity and purpose behind our time in the word
Get into closer fellowship with the community of Christ so as to be encouraged by and to encourage greater pursuit of Christ.
Change our thinking about what is important
How is abiding in Christ a cure for our troubled hearts?
The pressure to produce fruit is off. Simply ABIDING and OBEYING is all we have to do. God produces the fruit.
The loss of things is less devastating to us because our VITAL connection is Christ. This cannot be removed and thus, we have hope and joy still even when loss and sorrow happens.