Joy, not Misery - John 15:1-11

Introduction

A recent study showed that 1 in 4 adults are lonely. That means there could be as many as a hundred of you here that feel that way. And, if you don’t feel lonely today, then you have or you will. None of us will miss out on the ache of loneliness.

You may be a teenager whose always on the outside looking in, or you may be in your 20’s and realizing that you don’t have the support system that you thought you have. You may be in a bad marriage with a cold house or a senior adult whose children hardly ever find time to visit. You may be a stay-at-home mom who feels like no one knows you exist, or a dad who goes to work every day to just be a cog in the machine. You may be struggling with a mental illness no one understands or a childhood trauma you haven’t been able to process. But, the truth is that this life is frequently a lonely one.

God’s Word

Loneliness is the heart’s ache for reconnection with God. You and I were meant to live in intimate, ongoing, unbroken relationship with God, but that has been severed by sin. And, we were meant to exist intimate, life-giving, purposeful relationships with one another, which has also been complicated by sin. That is, we were never meant to be alone, and what Christ offers to us is an invitation to become once again connected — to him and to others— in the way we were intended. This is our hope for a joyful life, and not a miserable one, that we would abide in Christ and with his people. We’ll talk about this over the next four weeks, and we’re going to see how it revolves around the word “abide.” So, How do we abide: (headline)

“Find” the true “Vine.”

Everyone wants to be happy. That’s the most central pursuit of every person’s life. Pascal says: “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end.” Some eat all they want, and some weigh every spoon that goes into their mouths. Some run long distances, and some watch long tv series. Some sacrifice for their children, and others abandon them. Some follow Jesus, and others follow their own hearts. But, it’s all for the same end: we make the decisions we make with the expectation that it will lead to a higher degree of happiness and satisfaction with one’s life.

But, what we must admit is that our way isn’t working. Most people aren’t happy or satisfied with their lives. They’re making all of their decisions for the purpose of their happiness, and they’re not happy. (The happiness statistics are worse than the loneliness ones.) That’s when despair sets in. And, Jesus is here preparing his disciples in this section of John for lives in which both suffering and joy can coexist. So, He wants to be sure they……

“Avoid” the poisoned “wells.”

John 15:1–2 ““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.”

By saying that He is the “true vine,” Jesus is also warning us that there are many pretender vines. They’re imposters that look like they have a lot to offer you, but dry you out and wither you instead of giving you the life-giving nutrients they promise. By using “vine,” Jesus is referring to himself with a term that is used frequently for Israel in the OT. God frequently calls Israel his vine or vineyard and him the Vinedresser.

The problem with Isreal, though, was that they were always sinking their roots into poisoned wells and so they produced bitter fruit. They were always up for trying a new god or building a new alliance or trying a different way than the way the Lord had prescribed. Why? Well, because they wanted to be happy. They wanted to be at peace. They wanted to feel secure.

We shouldn’t be so hard on them. We do the same things for the exact same reasons. You only go a different way than God’s way because you believe it will make you happier. We don’t mean to build our lives around a career to the neglect of God and our families, and we don’t mean to jump from relationship to relationship. We don’t mean to be selfish or greedy or harsh. We mean only to be happy, and we’re trying to find happiness in the ways that we see on TV and in the halls of our high school and in the lives of our coworkers. But, just like Israel, when it doesn’t lead to the results you expect, you’re always changing. Always looking for a new god to honor. Always looking for a new secret ingredient because all of your attempts end in vain. A new relationship or a new purchase or a new job or a new diet. But, they all turn out to be poisoned wells that you’ve sunken your roots into, and its led to bitter fruit in your life. Ironically, it’s our pursuit of happiness that often ruins our lives.

So, Jesus is extending to us a kind and generous invitation when He says: “Abide in me.” He’s inviting us to connect ourselves to the Vine that is true and good, life-giving and endless. He’s inviting us to sink our roots into the well that will end our search. And, to remain there with him.

“Remain” in the proper “Vine.”

John 15:4 “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.”

By saying that He is “the true vine,” Jesus is saying that He is the true Israel. He has been faithful to all the ways of God and produced the good fruit of God. And, when He invites us to abide in him, He’s inviting us to become part of true Israel ourselves so that we can enjoy the full benefits of what God has always intended for his people.

And, by inviting us to abide, He’s inviting us to completely change the environment in which our lives are lived. To “abide” is to “remain,” to “stay,” to “dwell,” to “lodge.” Branches don’t hang out by themselves and then jump on the vine when they need some encouragement. The Vine is their dwelling place, the place they are pleased to stay. So, Jesus’ invitation isn’t drink, and come back when you’re thirsty. It’s to stay by the spring so that you never get thirsty again. We don’t have to leave, and we shouldn’t want to. We find in Jesus everything we’ve been searching for.

But, to remain in Jesus requires us to forsake everywhere else we’re tempted to run forever. That’s the point. As He says in verse 3, those in Christ are in a sense already “clean,” and connected to the vine. But, there’s another sense in which we must constantly let our hearts be drawn to the vine and not to the poisoned wells that tempt us. We must be sober about our own hearts tendency to be drawn to poisoned wells and to see the bitter fruit they’ll produce. Another fling won’t make you happy. It didn’t last time, did it? Another promotion won’t help and neither will another purchase or another drink. No, don’t accumulate the bitter fruit of debt and scars and self-inflicted trauma. “Abide” with Jesus. “Remain” with Jesus.

And, once you’ve connected to the true Vine……

“Depend” upon him “entirely.”

It’s important for us to acknowledge that the Christian life can be a miserable one. I think this gets to so much of the exvangelical movement today. Many of them were raised in very fundamentalist churches where there were so many rules to keep and so many things to do that it just made them miserable. All of their lives were built around not wearing the wrong thing or saying the wrong thing or being in the wrong place that it smothered them. They felt like the very belief system that was being handed down to them was drying them out.

I actually think this is a major point that Jesus is making in John 15 as He prepared his disciples for their ministries. There is a way to go about bearing fruit for the Kingdom that will actually ruin your life and make it not worth living. But, as we’ll see, Jesus is for your joy, and so, it’s imperative that his disciples understand that……

We’ll die “alone.”

John 15:4–6 “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. 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.”

Three times Jesus indicates the extent of the fruitfulness that’s to be expected in the lives of his disciples. Those abiding in the vine are meant to bear “much fruit.” They’re to be prolific for the kingdom of God. But, first, Jesus wants us to realize that it’ll kill us if we try to produce this fruit by our own grit and giftedness. “Neither can you” are blunt words by Jesus to his disciples. You have zero hope of living the Christian life in your power. You won’t have peace. You won’t have joy. You won’t love well. You’ll be living a life of constant depletion and sacrifice, and it won’t take long for you to find the bottom of what you have to offer. Left alone to your own strength and your own resources, the Christian life is a recipe for misery and certain death.

(Perhaps, have a branch on stage.) I think this speaks to a common frustration among Christians: There’s nothing more miserable than trying your hardest to produce a fruit that you are incapable of producing. Imagine trying to get apples from a severed branch. You could water it. You could reposition it for more sunlight. You could fertilize it. But eventually, you’d just start yelling at it and break it over your knee. And, that where so many people end up in their walk with Jesus. Many of us are yelling at ourselves to produce the fruit of the Christian life the same way. “I must be patient. I’m trying to be patient. I’m not being patient quickly enough. I hate myself for not being patient!!!” Y’all, this doesn’t work. It only leaves us frustrated, beaten up, and with our faith broken over our knees.

Any branch has only one hope for a long and fruitful life: It’s connected to a good vine. The branch doesn’t possess the resources to produce any fruit at all. It’s just a fruit hanger. All the resources for the fruit comes from the vine or the tree. And, that’s what Jesus wants us to recognize. We’ll die alone, but if we’re his……

We’re never “alone.”

John 15:4–7 “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. 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. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

There are conditional statements all over this passage. That is, you must be prolific in your Christian life. The fruit of Christ ought to be all over your life. You ought to be patient, gentle, and kind. You ought to be making disciples. You ought to be praying and seeing your prayers answered. But, it’s all contingent upon a condition. “Unless it abides in the vine..” “Unless you abide in me…” “If you abide in me..”

You see, Christianity cannot be another thing you try to feel better about your life. It won’t work. If it’s just trying to adopt a different set of life principles or rules to live by in your attempt to overcome your misery, you’ll quickly find yourself wearing out and falling away. Christianity only offers DISTINCTIVE HOPE when you realize it’s not a set of principles you live by or rituals you practice, but a person whom you know and in whom you rest. It’s resting in Christ that leads to producing for Christ. No one works so hard for Christ as those who are well rested in him.

So, our foremost responsibility is not to bear fruit. Our foremost responsibility to stay, dwell, remain, ABIDE with Jesus. It’s to rest in Jesus. It’s to get to know him. Oh, get to know him! Spend your time with him! Let his “words abide/dwell/remain” in you. Let them seep into your bones and redefine how you see reality. Get to know him so well that you know what He wants and loves. And let it transform your “wishes” so that the cry of your soul are the very things He wishes to give you. And, the better you get to know Jesus, the less pressure you realize is on you. That’s what we mean by resting in Christ. You don’t have sustain your family. Jesus will do that. Just serve them. You’re a fruit hanger. You don’t have to sustain your church or your ministry. Jesus will do that. Just serve them. You’re a fruit hanger. The lifeblood of the Christian life is the realization that the world doesn’t rise and fall with you. It rises and falls with Jesus, and He’s already said the victory is certain.

So, get to know who Jesus is, and it’ll change who you are. And now, you’re ready to……

“Produce” the Vine’s “fruit.”

Modern vehicles come with a gauge cluster that is meant to tell you if there’s an issue with your vehicle. My grandad calls them “idiot lights.” You’re welcome for that, my fellow millennials. These lights function as a quick diagnostic of the condition of your car. Jesus often points to the fruit of our lives in a similar way. He says in Matthew 7 that you’ll know the tree by it’s fruit, or you’ll know the vine to which it’s connected by it’s fruit. He says that it’s out of the “overflow” of the heart that the mouth speaks.

Disciples of Jesus always bear the fruit of Jesus, even if it’s not at all times. So, Jesus is calling for his disciples to continually inspect the fruit of their lives to ensure they are fully abiding in Christ. You see, what we have here is Jesus is telling us how He lived his life so that we can live it too. That first, just as He did, we must……

“Experience” Jesus’ “love.”

John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”

Jesus starts by showing us the grounding principle of how He lived his life. Jesus lived his life in light of the continual realization of his Father’s love. In fact, every, single time we hear God speak audibly to his Son, He says: “This is my Son with whom I’m well pleased.” This is how Jesus’ ministry started before his temptation, and this how Jesus’ ministry climaxed at the Transfiguration before his crucifixion. Jesus lived every second of every day with the certain knowledge that He had the complete and perfect love of his heavenly Father perfectly secured. Rejection couldn’t stop him. Fear couldn’t overcome him. Disappoint couldn’t crush him. Because through it all, He knew He could trust his Father’s love. And, now, wonder of wonders, Jesus says that you can live your life with that same realization. That is, He loves you with the same intensity and to the same extent that the Father loves him.

The verb tense here is not really meant to be chronological — as if this is something of the past. It’s meant to show completion and perfection. It’s so complete and perfect it’s as dependable as something already done. That is, God’s love for his Son is complete and perfect. It cannot be increased because there’s not higher degree. It cannot be intensified because there’s no greater intensity. It cannot be more perfect because there’s not greater perfection. And, Jesus says ‘AS the Father has loved me, SO HAVE I loved you.” Your love for Jesus may be new, but his love for you is eternal. Your love for Jesus may be hot and cold, but his love for you is hotter than a thousand suns. Your love for Jesus may not yet include your sex life or your money, but his love for you is comprehensive and total. It’s perfect.

So, stay there, Jesus says. “Abide in my love.” Make this the dwelling place of your mind. Live every second of every day with this glorious reality at the forefront of your mind. Let it hunt down your insecurities. Let it humiliate your greed and selfishness. Let it shine light on the decisions you have to make. Let it comfort you when you’re suffering and embolden the ministries to which He’s called you.

Every day, wake up to the fresh experience of his perfect love for you, and then watch the fruit that begins to spring forth from your life. Because when you experience Jesus’ love, you……

“Express” Jesus’ “joy.”

John 15:10–11 “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. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

You see, flowing from Jesus’ invitation to abide in his love come two thoughts from Jesus — “my commandments” and “my joy.” Well, we don’t often associate commandments with joy, but Jesus does. Why? Because it starts with love and leads to love. You see, the starting line for a life in service to Jesus is first Jesus’ love for us. And, when the love of God becomes the dwelling place of your mind, loving God yourself becomes the joy of your life. There’s no greater joy in this life than expressing love to one from whom you’ve experienced love. And, don’t you see? That’s the “my joy” that Jesus is talking about. Loving and glorifying his Father. And, that’s the “my commandments” Jesus is talking about: Loving and glorifying his Father.

So, abiding isn’t just something that happens in your headspace. It’s something that transforms your life into the life of Jesus. You begin to love what He loves and enjoying what He enjoys and so you do what He does.

And so, God’s glory and your joy become one and the same. This is how vines and branches work. The glory of the vine is manifested in the branches. The power of the branches finds its source in the vine. So, when someone talks about the beauty of the flowers or the sweetness of the fruit on the branches, they’re bringing glory to the vine the made it all happen. And, in this way, the transformation of your life and the fruit of your life and the way that you love others and serve your church and raise your kids, comes from God and brings glory to God. And, in this way, it supplies you with the steady joy of being a part of the greatest work in the world — glorifying God.

So, in 2024, I want to invite you to leave behind the misery of trying to be a Christian, and invite you instead to a joyful life of abiding in Christ. You never have to do this alone again.